~~~~~~~~~~
This is my first (and most likely only) Loving Wives story. I recently read one where I didn't like the cuckold ending, so I decided to write a LW story of my own.
Thanks to JuanaSalsa for her editing and plot feedback, even though she is quite happily married and will
never
be a Loving Wife herself.
~~~~~~~~~~
Science manuals will tell you that rogue waves are an open-water phenomenon, in which the physics of high winds and strong currents cause smaller waves to unify, creating a single exceptionally large wave, far larger than the surrounding waves.
Let me be the first to tell you, if you happen to be on a boat out on the open ocean and see a rogue wave bearing down on you, the very last thing you'll be thinking about is wave physics. Upon seeing one, foremost in your mind will be
How the fuck will I survive THIS
?
Trust me on this. It's not mere speculation on my part, it's based on actual experience. It was the first thing that crossed my mind when I looked up at a wall of dark water while standing on the foredeck of the R/V Apotheosis, a Maui Ocean Center Research Institute vessel based out of Maalaea Harbor on Maui. Her name meant excellence, which is what MOCRI always strived for.
The Apotheosis was a good-sized boat, 85 feet long with a 23 foot beam at her widest point. A former fishing vessel, she'd been purchased by MOCRI, then repowered with new engines and refitted for deep-water research. She carried a sophisticated remotely operated vehicle, the TrenchRover LNE 235, aka 'Lenny' -- basically a torpedo-shaped robot, capable of reaching depths of 6,000 feet for the purpose of mapping the ocean floor.
The Apotheosis had room for a team of twelve, but the day of the wave, there were only five: Captain Will Whatley, chief mate and engineer Anton Volkov, our ROV pilot Saniya Sharma (who had, until recently, dated Anton), Jane Akron, a marine scientist and hydrographer, and me, Nick Akron, an oceanographer and underwater electronics specialist. I was also Jane's husband. Jane was 34, I was 42, and after being hired the same day at MOCRI, we'd eventually fallen in love and married 7 years ago.
It should be noted that Anton was immigrating to the US and in the process of getting his citizenship. Of the five of us, I was the only one who knew that Jane was deep into an affair with the man. Oops, correction: Of the three of us who
weren't
Jane and Anton, I was the only one who knew. As brilliant as Jane was at her profession she was terrible at keeping secrets, and this affair was no exception.
I'd wanted kids since almost the beginning of our marriage, but Jane had insisted on having her tubes tied so as not to interfere with her career. I'd reluctantly agreed because, well, I loved and supported my wife and kissed goodbye to my dreams of being a dad. Not long after that is when she'd allegedly developed chronic fatigue syndrome.
We'd had a dead bedroom for a while. (Why fuck her husband when she was fucking her Russian stud, right?) She claimed her lack of interest was due to her CFS, yet she never appeared to attempt any remedies -- medication, therapy, acupuncture, and so forth -- that a true CFS sufferer would pursue. Nonetheless, I loved my wife and respected her wishes, started living a celibate life.
I became suspicious one night when, after many months, Jane made a pathetic attempt to seduce me. I should add that while pathetic, after so many weeks of my involuntary celibacy, it still worked. My joy turned to dust during the act when she just kind of laid there, passionless to the point where afterwards I felt I'd inadvertently engaged in necrophilia.
In the weeks that followed, Jane made no further effort to initiate sex, coldly rebuffing me when I tried. In retrospect, I believe she did it the one time just to cement the concept in my mind that the two of us having sex was unworkable.
The one-time exception struck me as odd, sparking my suspicions. In checking her phone records, there were tons of texts to a certain number. Based on how she lit up when we travelled on Apotheosis excursions together with Anton, I entered the number in my own phone to test my theory.
At work the following day, I was scheduled on the Apotheosis for a day trip, and Anton happened to be on the crew. Taking a seat belowdecks, as we pulled out into the harbor I dialed the mystery number. Immediately I heard Anton's phone ring. Just to make sure it was not a coincidence I disconnected, then dialed again. The results were the same.
Not too long after that, Anton came below and asked, "Did you just call my cell?"
Trying to laugh it off, I said, "Must have been a butt-dial, sorry!"
He shrugged and said, "Oh OK." Then he turned to go topside, but the gears in his stupid brain must have finally meshed; he turned back to me and asked, "How did you get my number?"
I did the only reasonable thing and lied my ass off. "Captain Whatley gave it to me, I believe." This ruse seemed to satisfy him, and he dropped the matter.
When we returned to the Maalaea marina, I promptly called the first private investigator I could find and soon all was revealed. I was devastated, of course, especially when the PI somehow hacked their messaging apps.
The thread of messages the PI showed me featured the two of them laughing at my naivete, loving Jane while being cuckolded by her Russian lover. My wife continued to mock my every flaw, comparing me to her superior lover. Let me tell you, friends, the taste of betrayal is bitter, and humiliation is not an entrΓ©e I'd wish on any man. Except Anton, of course.
To say I was on an emotional rollercoaster was putting it mildly. At night I would look at Jane sleeping and remember the joy of our young love and marriage, then in the harsh morning light remember every taunt and jab at my imperfections she'd made with her lover. Finally, I decided to end things by remove myself from the equation. Not by gunshot or pills, though that would be far too messy and clichΓ©.
No, I would simply take advantage of the ocean that I loved by flinging myself into it at the proper time. It would be cleaner, with the added advantage that, Jane being a marine scientist, would be reminded of me each time she had to go on the ocean.
~~~~~~~~~~
When Mike Tyson was asked whether he was worried about Evander Holyfield and his fight plan, he answered, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." I would amend that to, "until they get hit by a rogue wave." The day of my planned demise, my strategy was to position myself on the bow when everyone else was at the stern, gathered around the deck boom as they watched Saniya launch Lenny to survey the area.
Had I been at the stern with the rest of the team, I wouldn't have been the first to hear and see the growing wall of water headed straight for the Apotheosis. As it was, I had just enough time to shout a warning to the rest of the team and pull the emergency ditch bag from its storage before Mother Ocean turned off the damned lights.
~~~~~~~~~~
I returned to consciousness, surprised to find I wasn't dead. I was on my back in the sand, looking skyward when a face loomed over mine -- one belonging to Saniya Sharma.
"Welcome back to the land of the living."
"I'm as surprised as you are. How did I get here and not drown?"
"Thanks to your warning, Anton, Jane, and I managed to get into the inflatable runabout. After the wave passed, we spotted the ditch bag floating on the water, and somehow you were tangled in the handle straps. Between the bag and your flotation vest, your head somehow managed to stay above water and we were able to pull you in."
"What about Captain Whatley?"
"Instead of getting on the inflatable, he ran back to the bridge to see if he could steer the Apotheosis to safety. It was too late. The rogue wave came down on top of the boat, and he was gone. What's left of him washed up on the beach about a quarter mile further down. Looks like a shark got him."
"Where are Anton and Jane?"
"They're scrounging the beach, looking for anything salvageable from the Apotheosis that washed up."
Yeah
, I thought to myself cynically,
I'll just bet they're scrounging
.
The ditch bag contained some protein energy bars and pints of water, along with some aerial flare guns, hand-held smoke flares, six blankets, a first aid kit, a small 25-watt VHF radio, a box of 40 waterproof matches, a pair of waterproof marine binoculars, two canteens, and a handheld air horn. The first night, the four of us shared two bars to conserve the food. With four people, those bars wouldn't last long.
Each of us had a blanket, and using driftwood and the remaining two blankets, built a lean-to. All the other crucial equipment such as the Garmin position tracker, flares, survival suits, and emergency beacon resided with on the bottom with the remains of the Apotheosis.