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As Beauregard Jackson, "Bo" to his friends and family, sat at the table in the coffee shop waiting for his second cousin, Mary Jane, he wondered what was going on in his life with Bobbi Jean, his wife of two years. Last night she had said some things to him that just didn't make any sense to him and he hoped Mary Jane, or "MJ," as everyone called her, could help him sort it all out.
It's not that Bo was stupid, or anything like that - he was just a simple country boy who lived by a simple set of rules, one of which was that husbands and wives were supposed to be a team working for the same goal. Perhaps he was a bit too trusting, or at worst, naive about the ways of the modern world, but he wasn't stupid.
He had known Bobbi Jean, or "BJ," all through high school and the two were a couple during their senior year. Like every other male in the little town where he lived, Bo had few choices after high school. Go to college, get a low-end job in town or join the military. Not having enough money to go to college, and not wanting to work forever as a laborer, he chose to join the Marines.
He and BJ had talked about getting married, but they decided to wait until he finished his four-year tour in the Corps. Meanwhile, she went to college, having parents with some financial means. After his stint, much of which was spent in vacation spots like Iraq and Afghanistan, he came home.
They got married, even though everyone, including MJ, warned him that BJ had changed in the last four years. But blinded by love - or perhaps lust - he ignored the warnings and married her. Looking at her pretty, smiling face and her sexy body, he couldn't believe that she wasn't the same girl he knew in high school.
He went to work at his uncle's feed store, loading trucks and making deliveries, while taking night courses at the local college for computers and networking, figuring that the veteran's benefits he earned in the Corps should be put to good use. Of course, he knew that at the rate he was going, it would take a while for him to finish his degree.
He had saved enough during his military service to put a good down payment on a nice starter home for him and BJ and bought the house as soon as he got back. BJ liked the house and immediately began putting a "woman's touch" on the place the second he carried her over the threshold.
In the meantime, she had gotten a job with a local law firm, working as a paralegal and making pretty good money for the area. She suggested that he let her take care of them financially so he could focus on school, but he shot that idea down.
"I'm the husband, and it's my job to take care of us," he said. Fortunately, what he made at the feed store was enough to cover the bills, and BJ's earnings went to things like food, furniture and whatever else they might need for the house.
For the first year, things seemed to go well. They got along and enjoyed sex almost every day of the week. They had decided to hold off on having any children until he had finished college and started working for one of the big firms in Springfield.
But as time went on, he started noticing little changes in BJ. She started going out on Fridays with "the girls," allegedly for drinks to unwind from the week. Then the Friday outings started happening more often, sometimes two or three times a week. Worse yet, she wouldn't get home sometimes until nearly 2:00 am and would immediately run to take a shower. He could smell the cigarette smoke on her clothes, and sometimes he caught a whiff of something else, but he couldn't quite make it out.
It wasn't unusual for Bo to pop into BJ's office and take her to lunch, but for some reason, she was never available. It seemed that every time he would go over, she was "out" with one of the attorneys handling issues with one client or another. When he mentioned it to her, she would wave it off and dismiss his complaints.
Then her firm hired Ryan Wallace, a flashy attorney from back east with connections. In their wisdom, they teamed Ryan with BJ and suddenly, she had to take off almost every other weekend to visit with clients out of town. Or at least that's what she said. Sometimes, she'd be in Little Rock, or Memphis, or St. Louis. A few times, she was gone for a whole week to New York, Boston, Miami or Washington, D.C.
At first she would call him every night and they would have wild sex when she got back. Then the calls started falling off, and so did the sex. Now, he was lucky if they got together once or twice a week.
Then the manner of her dress started changing. At first, she wore either pants suits or conservative dresses that fell well below the knee. Now, her skirts were fairly short. And he began to notice lingerie in her suitcases that he had never seen before, and once, he found a tiny club skirt that would barely cover her crotch.
Her attitude towards him also seemed to change. At first, she was proud of her Marine veteran husband who worked hard all day and went to school most nights. Now, she hardly ever said anything to him that didn't include a dig.
Then there was the conversation they had last night in bed. He was still trying to get his head around that.
His reverie was broken by the sound of MJ coming to the table. She sat down across from him with her coffee and snapped her fingers to get his attention.
"Hey, cuz, what's so damned important that you had to drag me out of the office?" she asked. She worked as the office manager for his uncle's feed store so he got to see her every day, but he wanted to talk to her outside the office to stem any gossip.
"I need to talk with you in private," he said. "And I don't want Uncle Les or the others hearing about my personal problems."
"Yeah, I kinda figured something's been eatin' at your craw for a while," she said. "Don't tell me, let me guess, it's BJ, right?"
"Yeah, how'd you guess?" he asked.
"That's easy," she said. "It's written all over your face. What is she doing now?"
"That's just it," Bo said. "I really don't know. I think she's cheating on me, but I can't prove it."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Bo," she said. "I knew she was going to be trouble."
"Yeah, you and everyone else told me, but I didn't want to believe it," he said.
"So, talk to me, cuz, what's going on?" she asked.
"It's something she said to me last night," Bo said. "I don't know what to make of it and I was hoping you could help me make sense of it."
"What did she say?" MJ asked.
"She said something about wanting me to be her cuckold," Bo said quietly. He didn't know what the word meant and seemed confused.
"That bitch," MJ spit. "Do you know what that means?"
"No, I don't," Bo said. "What is that?"
"She wants to fuck other men and she wants your permission," MJ said. Bo's eyes widened as her words sunk in.
"Oh hell no," he said. "I don't understand. Why would she want to do that to me?" he asked.
"Because she's a no-good bitch," MJ said. "What else did she say?"
"She said she wanted to maybe tie me up so I could watch and then maybe eat her cream pie," Bo said. MJ's face turned red, partly from embarrassment, partly from anger. "At the time, it didn't make any sense, but after what you told me, I think I understand."
"I hope so, cuz," MJ said. "You need to get some evidence against her and dump her cheating ass as fast as you can, before she makes good on her threat."
"How do I do that?" Bo asked.
"Listen, you need to go talk to cousin Mike," MJ said. Mike, another second cousin to both MJ and Bo, was a private investigator who often did favors for family, which covered quite a few people in town. "Tell him what you told me. He'll know what to do."
Bo nodded his head, tears coming down his face. MJ took his hand in hers. She loved him, and her heart went out to him.
"It'll be okay, Bo," she said. "If need be, you can come stay with me." He looked up at her.
"Thanks, MJ," he said. "I may just do that. BJ will be leaving again this weekend for something in Chicago so I should be okay till Monday."
"Okay, Bo," she said. "You know my door is always open for you, though. Any time. Just be careful and don't do anything stupid, you understand me? I don't want to have to come bail you out of jail."
"I'll be careful," Bo said.
"Okay," MJ said, standing up. "You take the rest of the day off. I'll tell Uncle Les you need to take some time for personal business. We're caught up for the day anyway." She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. She hated seeing him like this and was determined to do whatever she needed to get him through this.
Bo nodded his head and watched her leave, her ass swaying in her short denim cutoffs. Whoever ended up with her would be a lucky man, he thought. He pulled out his phone and called Mike, who answered on the first ring.
"Jackson Investigations, Michael speaking," he said.
"Mike, this is Bo. You got a few minutes?" Bo asked.
"Hey, Bo. Yeah, I think I can rearrange my busy social calendar for you," he said, laughing. "You wanna come over now?"
"Yeah," Bo said. "If you don't mind.
"No problem," Mike said. "I'll put on a fresh pot of coffee for ya."
"Thanks," Bo said. "I'll be right over." Bo ended the call, paid the bill and jumped in his pickup. Mike's office was on the other side of the small town and he would be there in a matter of minutes. He walked into the office and shook his cousin's hand.
"What's up, Bo?" Mike asked, pouring him a cup of coffee.
"I have a problem with BJ and I need to get some answers," he said.
"Really?" Mike asked. "I thought you two were doing great."
