There are moments that you'll always remember. Some of them are so common as to be nearly ubiquitous: first kiss, first love, losing your virginity. There are others that are a little less common, but not by much: your wedding day, the birth of your children. And then there are the more rarified experiences: bungee jumping, say. Or having some rich asshole offer you half a million dollars to spend the night with your wife.
"I'm... I'm sorry, what did you just say?" I couldn't have heard that right.
Simon Richards chuckled, amused at my consternation. The multimillionaire was in his late 40s, but he could easily have passed for his mid 30s. He was tall, fit, tan, and blandly handsome. A small scar under his lip was the only interesting thing on his face, the only imperfection that gave it even a hint of character. A well dressed man, even his shorts, t-shirt and Hawaiian shirt seemed to be tailored. Richards was one of those quiet, reclusive kinds of rich people, the ones that avoid the limelight. The dangerous ones.
"I said, Adam, that I would like your wife to spend the night with me. In exchange, I will pay a half million dollars, half for her and half for you. I promise, she will have a wonderful time, and you will be well taken care of." He gestured to the woman at my side, where my wife should have been, an exotic beauty named Grace. "Grace will, I assure you, make the time go by quite swiftly. In fact, you may wish to extend your time with her for another day or so, once you've sampled her charms."
Next to him-- too close to him-- sat Erin, my wife of nine years. She was a beautiful woman, with hazel eyes and golden blonde hair. Fit, too, but, if I'm honest, not a patch on Grace. If I were to see both women in a bar, I'd... well, I'd probably go strike out with Grace and then try to hit up Erin. I was realistic about my chances there; I'm nothing special looks-wise, although I'm in reasonably good shape.
Erin was why we were here in the first place. She was the executive assistant for the CEO of a small firm which Richards had acquired. Once the deal went through, she, along with her boss and a few other higher ups that had worked on it, had been invited to Richards' private island. Spouses were required to attend in order for the employee to come, according to Erin. But I'd noticed pretty early on that several wives somehow didn't get that note.
I'd quickly noticed how enthralled she was with Richards. I hadn't met him previous to our arrival, but once we were on the island, he had taken the whole visiting delegation around on a tour. However, anyone with half a brain could see that he was giving her a tour, and the rest of us were just following along.
Erin had made no real effort to stay by my side during the tour, but after we were shown to our bungalow, she fucked me into the mattress for hours before we went to dinner together. After a wonderful evening of dining and dancing, we returned to our quarters for a sampler of usually forbidden sex acts that she pulled out on special occasions. I should have been suspicious then.
The next morning, she told me about the various excursions I could go on: scuba diving, snorkeling, parasailing, and more. I asked if she wanted to come as well, but she just laughed, kissed me lovingly, and told me she just wanted to work on her tan. I'd always wanted to try scuba diving, so I went out in the morning. When I returned near noon, one of Richards' assistants told me that we were invited to lunch with him, and that Erin was already there.
And she was. Already close enough to him to touch, heads close enough that a slight shift by one or the other would destroy me. To her very small credit, she jumped slightly away from him when I entered, and he rose to greet me warmly. I growled, "I think that's my chair, Mr. Richards."
He just chuckled, that irritating little superior chuckle, as he sat again. "Ah, but our drinks are already here. There's no reason to shift around, Adam. Besides, you'll find Grace to be a wonderful companion." She nodded politely to me, the beginnings of a come hither smile on her lips.
I almost walked out then. Something had gone wrong; this was some kind of ambush. I'm a reporter, and I grew up in a bad neighborhood. The locale and my wife's ministrations the night before had dulled my senses, but now I was sharp again. Erin's boss, Mr. Elgin, was there, as well as his wife; a couple of blue bloods hanging out with a Bluebeard.
More importantly, two of Richards' security retinue were there as well, a whippet-like male model-cum-Blackwater merc and a huge Black man that looked like a bouncer. Of the two, my instincts told me to be more afraid of the former. The latter moved behind me, not quite blocking my exit.
I reluctantly sat. So far, nothing had happened that we couldn't walk back from, I hoped. Erin had always been dazzled by the rich and famous; unlike me, she grew up in the upper middle class, that razor-thin liminal space between comfort and true wealth. Her parents had always been disappointed that she'd married me; recently, I had started to think she felt the same.
I looked at the assembled throng and decided the best option was to simply cut straight through the bullshit. "What is this?"
And that's when he made his offer, the one that destroyed my life and decided his fate. I was stunned at first, unable to speak, but I'd always been quick witted. I recovered sooner than I think any of them expected, rapidly going on the offensive.
"Erin, what the hell is he talking about?"
She could barely look at me. "We've... I've enjoyed his company." Her gaze snapped back to me, mild panic on her face. "Only company! We've talked and had dinners together, all of us. Once or twice lunch with just me and him when... well, when Mr. Elgin was called away suddenly."
Quick witted or no, I couldn't hide the disbelief and hurt in my voice. "You-- you planned this? This isn't... he didn't just approach you about it when we were here?"
"No." She was quiet. "He said it would be an adventure, and that you'd be well cared for. We're... honey, I turned thirty this year, and you're thirty one. We're going to start trying for kids soon! I love you, but this might be the last real adventure, the last crazy bedroom adventure we have."
"Yeah. Yeah, it will be." I couldn't stand to look at her.
"No, please! Don't be like that! Simon has told me how amazing Grace is, and if... I'll only spend one night with him, I promise, but if you want to take the whole week to be with her, that's fine. I know I've ambushed you, but I knew that--"
I exploded, "Yeah, you knew! Knew I wouldn't be down for this fucked up bullshit, which is why you waited 'til I was trapped here to bring it up!" I looked at Richards. "Fuck you, Robert Redford. No dice. I'm not playing. My vows actually mean something to me."
His face was placid. "Which is why I'm offering you half a million dollars, Adam. Think about it: you could write your own ticket. Pay off your house, all your debts, start working on that novel Erin tells me you've always wanted to write. A detective story, she says. I've always loved the old Christie novels, what about--"
