Putting It All On The Line

This is a "Honey we need to talk" story arc, but I have written in a totally different way to the way I normally write. Normally, I write in the first person; this time, I have tried to write in the third person. I have also split it up into acts, as I have written it to flow like a play with the different characters in the Acts.

For a change, I have not given you an evil cow for a mother-in-law. I needed another villain. I have written the "other man" into this story, so we can identity his motivation. The key point is the wife is not as stupid as you might think, she just has a perception of her husband and she tests her own assumptions to destruction. It amazes me in real life some people cannot see past their own assumptions until it is too late. This story is about that process of misjudging someone and refusing to accept you might be wrong.

Once again, thank you to my editor kenjisato. The help he gives is invaluable. As a note directly to Kenjisato I have changed the Epilogue to the story your edited. I didn't like my ending when I wrote it and I think I have improved on it.

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Act 1 -- The Ambush

John Dundee sat at the kitchen table, his heart racing. His wife of three years had just told him she had a business meeting with one of the suppliers on Friday night. The timing had raised every alarm bell in his head. Not Friday afternoon, but Friday night, after business hours. Two questions raised the decibels of those alarms from loud to screaming-- "Where is the meeting taking place, and who will be at it?"

His wife, Beth, tried to look him in the eye, but couldn't quite do it. "Oh, it will be at Harvey's on Main Street and it will just be Martin Harris and me."

John took a very large drink of his then cold coffee and stared at his wife. She was definitely uncomfortable with the exchange, and he was not going to make her feel any better.

He raised his voice slightly and responded, "You mean Harvey's Restaurant, which is right beside the Holiday Inn? Don't treat me like a fool, Beth, this is a dinner date and if it goes well, you are both planning on it being a lot more."

By then, Beth's head had fallen so she was looking at the table, but it was clear she had made a decision and this was not a discussion, but an information session.

She lifted her head and announced, "Look, John, this is something Martin and I need to do. I am telling you what is happening and you need to deal with it."

This was typical of Beth, she often ended arguments with "I am telling you..." and John usually let her get away with it because, usually, it was about the colour of the curtains, or if they were going out with some of her friends, who John universally disliked. These were minor things in John's life, but big things in Beth's. John wondered if she had mistook his lack of concern on these minor issues as some sort of agreement that he would be subservient to her on vitally important issues. He hoped she was not that stupid.

"I suppose you are going to tell me it's your body and you can do what you like with it," John commented with a streak of sarcasm running through it.

As always, Beth missed the sarcasm, and nodded at John with a smile, thinking he was going to accept her plan.

John looked her straight in the eye and announced, "Well, this is my body," pointing to himself, "and I will do what I want with it. And if you go on your date on Friday night, the first thing this body will do is divorce you."

Beth opened her eyes wide and looked at John. Initially, there was shock on her face, but it rapidly morphed to anger. She raised herself in her seat and announced, "What do you mean divorce? You love me, you know you do. I want to have your children. This is one night, one bloody night for me, and you come up with this crap.

"Martin will be phoning you in one hour, you better tell him that you are good with this, and that it will not harm our marriage."

John shook his head; how could his wife be that dumb. "So you want me to lie to him? Because I won't. I will tell him I do not agree with this and if you do it, I will divorce you."

"John Dundee, you will do what I ask you to do. This is my marriage as well, and if you screw this up for me, I will never forgive you!" Beth shouted, as she stood with her hands on the table, looking down at John.

John stood up, rising above her by several inches. "Well, looks like our marriage is fucked then," and he turned and walked into his office come den, slamming, then locking the door.

Act 2 -- The Hard Sell

It was about an hour and a half later, that the house phone rang. The phone in the office had caller ID. John didn't recognise the number.

Beth came to the door and tried to open it. When she discovered she couldn't, she shouted, "John answer that, it's for you!"

John ignored her and let the phone ring out. Almost immediately, Beth's cell phone rang. The conversation through the closed door was indistinct, but after it went quiet, Beth knocked on the door very loudly, and shouted, "John, Martin is phoning again, answer the goddamn phone and tell him you are good with this!"

Within a few minutes, the phone rang again from the same number. John picked it up, and asked, "What do you want, asshole?"

Martin was perplexed. He had spent months setting Beth up, and he was sure her husband was submissive to his wife's desires. He had played this game many times, and he was never wrong about the husband. Martin decided to take the forceful approach. "Look, John, your wife wants a date on Friday night, one date then you and her get back to your normal life. So, I can assume you are happy for her?"

John was astounded by the brazen attitude, but decided to fight fire with fire. "I suppose you are one of these men that gets off on having sex with married women. Is it the sex, or the humiliation of the husband, that gets you off? Well, let me tell you, I am not comfortable with this, I am not going to accept it. Make sure you tell her I am starting divorce proceedings tomorrow. Goodbye." With that, John hung up.

Seconds later, Beth's cell phone rang again; she had obviously been standing outside the door. Beth let out a shriek, then thumped the door. "John, I told you to tell him you were good with this. And what the hell are you talking about divorce? So help me, if you don't get out here now and apologise, I will be cutting you off for months."

It was at that moment, John knew his marriage was in its death throes.

Act 3 -- The Planning

Martin had brought Beth under his spell. Martin had a fetish for married women, especially those who were getting broody. He had bedded several women in that state, and he loved meeting the husband as he took the wife away and then again the next morning when he brought her back. The look of total defeat was the greatest thrill of all, it was always far better than the actual sex.

Once, he had managed to bed one of the women after she had gone off birth control. She got pregnant that month and Matin loved meeting the couple and their baby in the street. The wife smiled at him, while the husband went red and looked away. He so much wanted to do that again and he was working on Beth to go off the pill now and to make this date a monthly thing, until she was pregnant. He didn't think she would go for it, but he was definitely trying.

Beth was excited. She knew her long-term future was with John, and she saw a bright future with children, grandchildren, and if she was very lucky, great grandchildren, but she needed a thrill before she settled down to motherhood. Something different, something John was not involved in and would never do. Beth shivered at that.

"So help me god if he tries to take another woman, I will cut his balls off," she thought to herself.

The irony that John might feel the same way about her, never occurred to Beth.

The date had been arranged for Friday night. It was Monday. The plan was simple -- dinner then straight to the room. Martin was handsome and well built. He could sweet talk anyone and just listening to him talk about sex and what he would do to her made her whole body shake and her pants wet, but he was shallow. She didn't want to go dancing, she wanted what he offered -- lots of sex in different positions and at different tempos, going on until she screamed for him to stop because she couldn't take it anymore.

Beth knew John would not take it well, but she had used this tactic of getting him to tell someone he is okay with it before. From there, she could always get her way because Beth knew John loved her beyond anything, and once he agreed something was okay, no matter how reluctantly, he would never go back on his word.

Added to that, Beth was able to reward him with her body, a reward John could never turn down. The one fly in her ointment was the way John had treated Martin. Not only was he rude, he swore at him and even said he would divorce her. His behaviour required a new tactic; she would threaten to withhold sex from him-- see how long he would last.

John knew his wife far too well. She was one dimensional. Telling him what she was going to do, force him to agree, quite often by getting his mother to phone him and tell him how much Beth wanted something. Once he said yes, Beth would kill him with sex. If he didn't agree, Beth would withhold sex. The problem was this time, John didn't want to have sex with Beth. The idea of touching her while she was thinking of Martin, meant the sex would be mechanical and the idea of touching her after she had been with Martin repulsed him. John knew he would be getting emotional sloppy seconds and he would never accept that, never mind the physical sloppy seconds.

Martin decided he needed to reassure Beth. Calling her cell, he started, "Well, sex bomb, I hope you read him the riot act. Why not tell him you will bring him home a pussy full of my cum? You know, he might just have a fetish for cleaning up. Could you imagine that? You could offer to do it every Friday for him. What would he think if you went off the pill? God, just imagine how hard he would have to work just to suck my cum out of you then to make sure he was the one to get you pregnant. God, I am hard thinking about it."

Beth sniggered. Martin just came out with it. She loved that. She knew she couldn't risk having Martin's baby, but she did wonder if John was really that submissive. John would often fight her, but as soon as she got her way, he liked the result. Last year, she had wanted an SUV; John had said, "No," but eventually gave in-- and he drives it all the time.

All she had to do was to make sure she was home early on Saturday, and to get into bed, so he could feel her sloppy pussy. He just might love it.

Beth was bubbling with excitement when she replied, "Oh, I bet I can get him to clean me up. Let's do one night and see how it goes; we can think about ongoing dates if he likes it as much as I hope he does."

Martin was pleased. Not only was there an option for an ongoing affair, meaning he could meet the husband every Saturday morning for the ritual humiliation, but she hadn't shut down the possibility of keeping it going while being off the pill. He still had some work to do, but it was there for the taking.

John started by considering his options. Beth was head strong when she decided she wanted to do something, nothing would stop her. If he said "no" to one of her stupid ideas, Beth would often go ahead and do it, asking for forgiveness after the fact. Just like that expensive and impractical SUV. Beth had done everything for a month to get John to buy it, getting people to tell him how useful it would be, his mother-in-law and mother had both suggested they would need it for the kids they would soon be having.

When that failed, Beth had stopped cooking dinner for him as "punishment" for saying "no". That lasted a week, until he came home to find a contract on the table beside his favourite dinner. Beth had bought the SUV and signed the finance agreement. This was her buttering him up, and she would then kill him for the rest of the week in bed. Three months later, Beth was driving John's car full time, and John was left to drive the SUV, which he hated.

John knew that if he tried to stop this date, she would go do it anyway, and then tell him after the fact. Probably while trying to get him to have sex with her. So John knew he had to find a way for her to decide not to go on this date, while planning for the aftermath if she did.

John had started his research into divorce, soon after the call with Martin. Their state had a no-fault option, which could be filed online. With no children, it would be a fifty-fifty split of all marital assets. The house actually belonged to Beth's grandmother, who was living in sheltered accommodation. The issue was, that in a no-fault divorce, the court could order counselling. John could file under adultery, but that required photographic proof and would actually take over twelve months to finalise, while a no-fault divorce, even with counselling, would be done in months.

Downloading the documents was simple, and John reviewed them. He had to provide evidence of all the assets and any liabilities, including pension assets. He also needed proof of income and household expenses.

The documents also gave him a checklist of things to do upon filing. They included opening new bank accounts, splitting savings and investment accounts, changing the account details for where his salary went into, paying off and closing joint credit cards. As they did not own the house, the utilities were all in Beth's grandmother's name.

The next item on the agenda for John, was somewhere to live. A review of a local real estate website identified a weekly rental just outside of town. It was close to the interstate and John could get to work easily from it. It was actually a holiday let, and this was winter, so he sent an email to the agent asking for a two month rental at a discounted rate. Two months would be plenty of time to find a more permanent home.

Once John had everything he needed, he headed to the spare room. Beth tried to intercept him before he went up the stairs, but John ignored her. Five minutes later, Beth was banging at the spare room door, asking John why he was in there.

Beth said, "Come to bed, I have a big surprise for you."

John just sighed, and responded, "No thanks, I've had enough surprises for one day, and now I want to be left alone."

Beth was a bit shocked by that. John never turned her down, so she ploughed on, "Well, I want to show you how your generosity to me will be repaid multiple times over."

John felt his anger rising again. Was she really such a stupid bitch. John had to bite back a couple of replies because they would have been unrecoverable, so he just grunted and added, "No thanks, I don't do sloppy seconds, either emotional or physical."

Beth didn't catch what he said, so she stood at the door for a few minutes to see if he came out. When John didn't, she went to the master bedroom to think.

Act 4 -- Tuesday Tribulations

John got up early, showering in the ensuite of the spare room. He had no choice but to go to the master bedroom to shave and get some clothes. When he went in, Beth was lying on top of the bed, nude. It was clear she was pretending to be asleep in the hope that John could not resist taking her. Unfortunately for Beth, John was still angry, and seeing her trying to buy his agreement with sex, just made him think of her as a slut. John's love for Beth was being washed away like the suds in a car wash.

Beth had heard John in the shower, and knew he would be in their room soon. All she had to do was get him inside her and all would be back to normal. When John entered the room, he hardly looked at her. Instead, he walked into the bathroom and locked the door. He always shaved when he came out of the shower, then he would go into the walk-in wardrobe for his work clothes. Beth would get him just inside the door. She would have him hard in an instant, then push him back into the bed and away they would go.

John had a feeling Beth would try to jump him, and she would try to do it in the walk-in wardrobe where there was not enough room for two people to pass easily. He had to get his clothes, but he had to keep Beth from trying to suck him off, which she always did to get him hard.

There was an old robe on the back of the door. Beth wore it when she got out of the shower. John put it on, then stepped out of the bathroom. Before going into the wardrobe, John checked the bed. Sure enough, Beth had left it, so John went to his underwear drawer and took out a pair of shorts, pulling them on, under the robe.

As John walked into the wardrobe, Beth was standing in the corner trying to hide in one of the cupboards. John hurried by, using his hand to close the sliding door where she was hiding. This gave him time to get to his own clothes, while Beth struggled to get out.

It certainly killed her mood, as she asked, "Whey did you do that? You knew I was there, I was looking to give you a little loving."

John turned his back to her, taking his pants out of the wardrobe and pulling them on. By this stage, she was right behind him, but he was now clothed from the waist down.

John turned to the other side to get a shirt. "What part of "no" do you not understand? We will never be intimate again, if this stupidity continues."

With that, John pushed past Beth. She tried to stop him, but John pushed much harder than she expected and she half fell. John stepped over her, carrying his shirt and a jumper, and walked out.

Beth tried to get up, but John was down the stairs before she got herself together. She grabbed something to wear, but by the time she was in the kitchen, John had finished dressing and was heading out of the house with his shoelaces untied.

As he left, John picked up the keys to his car, adding over his shoulder, "That SUV is yours, I'm taking my own car from now on."

Beth hated driving the SUV. It was too big and she could not see out of it to reverse. She shouted, "Come back, John!" But it was too late, the door was closed and she heard the alarm of the car sound, indicating it was deactivated and the car unlocked. Beth stood in the kitchen until she heard the car reverse out of the drive, then pull away from the front of the house. What was she going to do?

John drove to work, thinking how transparent his wife was. Had she always been like this, and he was only noticing it, or was this something new? He didn't know, but what he did know was that it was an academic discussion.

Beth went back to bed to think. Clearly, John was much more upset over this thing with Martin than she had predicted. The plan for the previous night was for John to listen, then she expected him to go silent while he contemplated the proposal. Martin would phone and get John to say he was okay with the date, and it would not harm their marriage. Beth knew that once he had said that, he was committed to letting her do it without blowing up their marriage. After that, Beth would have taken him to bed and ravaged him, and by this morning, they would have been back on track. That plan had gone to hell in a hand cart when John had fought back, not only against her and the proposal, but he had been properly rude to Martin and had even suggested a divorce on two occasions.

Beth realised her options were limited. Deep down, she knew this was not going to be a one off. If Martin was half as good as he claimed, she would be going back to the well several more times. If she didn't do this, she would regret it for the rest of her life. If she told John she wouldn't do it then did it behind his back, he would divorce her on the spot. Usually, she asked for forgiveness but somehow she knew that wouldn't work.