On His Terms
Took a bit of a break for a few days, but I'm back.
As regular readers know, cheaters in my stories generally do not fare too well.
This story is somewhat different in that regard, however, the cheaters still pay a price.
As always, constructive comments are always welcome and appreciated.
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And remember, this is a work of fiction, meaning that it is not real in any way, shape, matter or form.
Tom Wheeler sat in the booth, nursing his drink with his tablet sitting on the table. The constant pressure he felt in his head made it a bit difficult, but he managed. Tonight would signal the end of what he considered the most fucked-up situation a man could find himself in. It wasn't always that way, though.
He met his wife, Melinda, while they were both in college. They were each working toward a business degree and shared several classes together. They spent a lot of time studying together and when it was all said and done, they had helped each other graduate with good grades. During that time, they dated and fell in love. They married after graduation.
Tom went to work as an accountant with a financial services company, while Melinda decided she wanted to sell real estate. She knew there was lots of money to be made selling high-end property, and Tom agreed. So she took additional classes and got her license, then joined a firm in town.
The first five years for them were great. They both made good money, and ended up buying a house. They christened every room in the house and made love several times a week.
Five years after they married, Tom Jr., came into the world. A year later, Timmy joined him. One year after that, Lisa came into their lives. Melinda had a difficult time with Lisa, and asked Tom to get a vasectomy, which he did.
Tom enjoyed being a father, and actively took part in raising the children -- feeding them, changing their dirty diapers, the works. He was always there for them, rocking them to sleep or holding them to give Melinda a break. Sex between the couple dropped off, as one might expect with three very young and active children. But Tom never complained. He loved his family and would do anything for them.
His job at the firm was steady, and he always worked "banker's hours," meaning he generally never had to work late. He also never had to travel out of town, although he did play golf with some of his colleagues a couple times a month. He received regular increases in pay, along with the occasional promotion. He was just a couple steps below the CFO when his life went south.
Melinda, meanwhile, had progressed well at her job, and was frequently recognized as the top sales person in the area. To be successful in this area, one had to be available at all hours, and one also needed to be available for some travel. Such was the case with Melinda, and Tom accepted it as being part of her job. He knew she could accomplish whatever she wanted, and he promised to support her career.
So it came as no surprise when she would sometimes have to work late into the evening showing property, or would sometimes have dinner with a client. There were also times when she would have to travel out of town for a day or two -- sometimes over a weekend -- for a conference or a meeting with clients. He never begrudged her those times out, so long as they never interfered with things like birthdays, planned vacations or anniversaries. Melinda always gave him plenty of warning and made sure to be available for family time.
As time went on, though, it seemed she was gone more often. Then she starting having "girls nights out" to blow off stem, or so she said. Again, he never begrudged her that, as he sometimes spent time out with the guys. Of course, accompanying this was a steady decrease in sex.
Again, Tom never complained. He believed his wife would never step out on him, so he let her have her time and used that to bond with the children. Life in the Wheeler household went on, but over the years, he began to notice a few things.
For starters, he saw a distinct difference in the children. Tom, or "Junior," as they called him, was the spitting image of his father -- they both had sandy hair and piecing blue eyes. Except for the age difference, they could have been mistaken for twins.
Timmy, however, had dark hair and brown eyes and over time, became physically larger and more muscular than his older brother. Lisa had her mother's blonde hair and green eyes, but very few features from his side of the family. His mother mentioned it to him a few times, but he didn't want to accept the idea that his wife had cheated on him. Besides, he loved the children so much he couldn't bear the thought that they might not be his.
Then he began to notice changes in the way Melinda treated him. She would often be gone till all hours, not even bothering to notify him that she would be out. When he mentioned it to her, she would snap at him, telling him it was none of his damn business.
Many times, after being out so late, she would immediately run into the bathroom to take a shower, not even bothering to say hello to him or the children.
When Junior was ten, he decided it was time to put to rest any question about the childrens' parentage, so he ordered a DNA kit. When it came, he followed the instructions and got samples from each of the children, himself and Melinda, waiting until she was asleep. He sent it off and patiently waited for the results, hoping to finally quiet his mother.
When the results came back, he was shocked. Junior was definitely his son, and Lisa, strangely enough, was also his, but the report said Timmy had been sired by someone different. He wondered if this was a mistake and ordered another kit from another lab. He sent those samples off and waited on pins and needles, but the results were the same.
That meant Melinda had been cheating on him, for somewhere between nine and ten years, at least. He decided to contact a private investigator and had her followed for a couple weeks. When he met the PI for the report, he was completely gobsmacked.
According to the report, which included pictures and video, Melinda was having sex with another man at least once a week. The report said she always met the man in homes she was selling. Her "girls nights out" were essentially cover for public parties with the man. He looked at the man's face closely, and noticed a striking resemblance to Timmy.
He now knew why they hadn't made love much lately -- she was already too fucked out to do anything with him. Worse than the video of her getting fucked was the "pillow talk" where her lover put him down, demeaning him as a wimpy cuckold.
"Who is this man?" Tom asked the PI.
"That is none other than Jake Winthrop," the PI said. "His shingle says he's a family law attorney, but in reality he's a slimy snake. I'd call him a piece of shit, but that would be an insult to pieces of shit everywhere. He has a reputation for seducing married women and destroying families. He's also been known to knock the women up so he can extract exorbitant child support from the husbands whose lives he destroyed. Bottom line is that Jake gets off on fucking up people's lives. And once he has his hooks in a woman, he almost never lets go."
"And he gets away with that?" Tom asked.
"So far," the PI said. "His father happens to be a powerful Superior Court judge with friends in very high places. Anytime Jake gets in a jam, daddy comes along and bails him out." Tom pulled out his cell and brought up a picture of Timmy.
"Look familiar?" Tom asked, showing the PI his phone.
"Yeah, sure does," the PI said. He pulled out a fairly thick folder and handed it to Tom. "You can have this. It's a copy of my dossier on Winthrop. Your wife sure knows how to pick 'em."
"Thanks," Tom said with a heavy sigh.
"Good luck," the PI said. "Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you." Tom paid his bill, thanked the PI one more time and left.
No wonder things had gone to hell in their marriage, he thought. Suddenly, he remembered the few times she would come home and jump him, demanding he eat her out. He felt sick to his stomach thinking that maybe she was feeding him whatever it was her lover dumped in her pussy.
He took the kids to his parents and asked if they could stay the night.
"Sure," his mother said. "Is everything alright, Tom?" she asked. "You don't look too good." He shook his head.
"No," he said. "I'll tell you later."
Back home, he sat at the kitchen table, his laptop and briefcase open and ready. It was after 1:00 am when Melinda finally came through the door. He looked at her, taking in her disheveled appearance. He could smell cigarettes, beer and something else on her.
"Sit down," he said. "We need to talk."
"Later," she said. "I need to take a shower."
"I said, SIT YOUR ASS DOWN!" he yelled. She recoiled from his outburst. Tom had never raised his voice to her like that.
"Please, keep your voice down," she said, pulling out a chair. "You'll wake the kids."
"They're at my parents house tonight," he said.
"Oh?" she asked. "Why?"
"Because we need to have a talk, and I didn't want to upset them," he said.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"How long have you been cheating on me?" he asked.
"How dare you suggest such a thing!" she exclaimed. "I've never..."
"SHUT UP, GODDAMMIT!" he roared, throwing the DNA test results down in front of her. She looked at the report, not understanding what it meant.
"What's this?" she asked.
"DNA test results," he said. "I even had two different labs run tests to make sure. You'll be pleased to know Junior and Lisa are mine. Timmy isn't. Which tells me you've been cheating on me for at least nine years and nine months. Do you even know who the father is?" She shook her head slowly.
"I had hoped it was you," she said.
"But you knew otherwise, didn't you?" he asked her.
"I suspected," she said.
"Yet you had me get a vasectomy knowing full well I wasn't Timmy's biological father. And you never stopped." He tossed down the photos of her in bed with Jake. Her eyes grew wide as she saw the photos.
"You bastard," she exclaimed. "You had me followed. How dare you!"
