Temptation Pt 03

Author's Note:

This is part 3 of the Temptation series. Please read parts 1 and 2 before this one, or you will be confused. As warned before, I like detail and spend a lot of time on the journey to get to the end. You've been warned.

Huge thanks to my editors Guinahart and BlackRandl1958 for their continued contribution. This tale would likely have been horrible to read after the first page without them. Also special thanks to Sbrooks103x for pre-reading and giving me feedback, it's much appreciated.

All characters in this story are fictional and any that engage in sexual activity are over the age of 18. I hope you enjoy reading it!

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Aftershocks

"Did you get it all?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, I got it all. You did great, and that whore looked just like a bitch in heat," replied Kendra, with a very evil looking smile.

The two sat together, having coffee before work the next day. Jake still wanted to get a piece of Kendra, but would settle for her money, instead.

"Jake, you held up your end of the bargain, so here's your reward," as she passed him a thick envelope. "It's all there, just like I promised."

"Pleasure doing business with you," he replied.

Jake accepted the package and stuffed it into his coat pocket. Kendra got up to head to the office. Jake stayed behind, sipping his coffee, dreaming of nailing Anna again. After a few more minutes, his phone buzzed.

"Hello," he said after hitting the green button.

"Hey, it's me. Did she pay you?" asked his sister.

"Yes, Britt, she paid me. I'll give you your share tonight, okay?"

"Good. I'm tired of this already, and feel terrible for messing up that girl's life. You are a real asshole for making me do this. After this, we are done, you hear me? No more favors for you," she angrily replied.

She hung up on him before he could respond. He wasn't fazed by her anger and got up to head to the office. Jake whistled while driving in, and continued until he got all the way in to his cubicle. After logging in, he checked his email and then got up to go see if Anna was in yet.

**********

The morning had been rough on Anna, in more ways than one. The guilt that she felt at having cheated was eating her alive, so she decided to wake Gary up with another morning blowjob. She hoped that he wouldn't notice how scared and sad she was over her actions, if she could distract him with extra sex. Thankfully for her, he didn't seem to notice or care about the extra attention.

Once she had finished him off, he wanted to return the favor, and she really enjoyed his attention. Her guilt almost kept her from enjoying his wonderful tongue, but she came with an overwhelming feeling of love a few minutes later. Anna resolved that she would try even harder in the face of her own weaknesses. Gary deserved so much better, and she knew it.

Afterwards, she got ready for work. While in the shower, she cried again at her inability to say no to Jake. She was so ashamed that she could be seduced by Jake, having sworn to Gary that they would never cheat on each other. She finished up in the bathroom and tried to hurry out the door, before Gary suspected anything was wrong.

Gary had been very appreciative of his wife's ministrations and got a nice slow start to his day. He made breakfast for everyone and kissed Anna before she left for the day. He called his parents and told them he would keep Lilia home with him for the day. He let her sit with him for a bit while doing some trading and then took her with him to lunch.

Anna stopped for a coffee at the Starbucks drive-thru and then made her way to the office. The whole time in her car, she was both berating herself for weakness, and telling herself that she would tell Jake that they could never be alone again. She would not allow him to ruin her life or marriage.

The one thing she did admit to herself was that she had enjoyed the little tryst with Jake, as wrong as it was. She knew what he was after when he started in with his massages, and should have stopped him when she had the chance. The million dollar question was why hadn't she? She asked herself that question out loud several times until she shut off her car.

As she got out of the car and approached the building, she nearly turned around and went back. She slowed her pace, stood taller and walked in with pride.

"I've got everything going for me. I am going to make partner soon, I have a loving husband and daughter and only I can screw it up," she said out loud, as she mentally prepared herself for a tough day.

Anna had no sooner sat down and logged onto her laptop, when Kendra poked her head in the door. She had a look of concern on her face, which made Anna worry about the rest of her day.

"Yes, Kendra, what can I do for you?"

She hesitated, came in, shut the door and sat down. "Anna, there's no easy way to say this so I'll just come right out with it. I saw Gary yesterday, at lunch time, so decided to follow him like you asked.

"He had lunch with that same tall blonde woman, and afterward, he followed her over to some apartment complex. Here's the address," she said as she passed over a slip of paper. "I stayed outside and waited until he came out and drove off about an hour later."

Anna examined the address and immediately pulled up a mapping program on the internet. She punched in the address and was shocked to find it was that same place she had followed Alexia to previously. Her guilt finally had an outlet as she sat there, becoming more and more angry.

"Are you sure he went there? It wasn't someone else?" Anna asked, with no hope in her voice.

Kendra hung her head, "I'm sure. It was him..."

Silence hung in the air for a minute until Kendra got up and moved to the door. "I'm really sorry about all this, Anna. You deserve better."

With that, she left the office and shut the door on the way out. Anna was speechless. She was furious at her husband, but also now had a glimmer of hope to clear her conscience some. She rationalized that two wrongs don't make a right, but maybe in her case they could help cancel each other out.

She waited a bit, and then sent an instant message to Jake that she wanted to see him, right away. He got it and figured he might get lucky again. He knew of what Kendra had told Anna, so he planned to use that to his advantage.

"You wanted to see me?" he asked as he entered her office.

"Yes, shut the door and have a seat," she replied.

"Jake, I can only express this once to you. We are never going to repeat what happened yesterday, or I will go to the partners and have you removed from my team. Do you understand?"

Jake nodded, but countered. "I get it, Anna, but Kendra told me about Gary. I know it's none of my business, but if he is cheating on you, you should be thinking about how that makes you feel. Do you really feel so bad about what you and I had now? I don't regret a moment of it. In fact I still think I will remember it as one of the best moments of my life. You are an amazing woman."

Anna was nearly speechless. "How... She had no business telling you that. Jake, what we did was wrong. It may have felt good, but it was still wrong..." she replied, unsure of herself.

Jake picked up on it, and pressed on. "Anna, I'll never pressure you to do anything you don't want to, but I think what we have is something very special, don't you?"

He got up and moved around her desk to her. She stood as if to back away from him, but he moved in close to her. He wrapped his arms around her again and knew he had her. She was shaking slightly, and once again felt that her body was betraying her.

"Jake... We can't..." was all she got out, before he mashed his lips tightly against hers.

Initially, she pushed at his chest, but he didn't relent. His hands worked their way down the back of her blouse, pulling it up to rub on the bare skin of her back. He put his hands down inside the back of her slacks, to grab a firm cheek with each palm. She shuddered, but was shocked back to reality in a hurry. She pushed him, firmly this time, and glared at him.

"JAKE! Damn it! We CAN'T do this anymore, do you understand! God, I could lose everything... FUCK!" she cursed.

The reality of everything she was in jeopardy of losing hit her full force. She could end up jobless, with no husband, trying to support her daughter with nothing. The thought of losing her loving husband was too much, and she flared with anger at Jake for his part in her fall from grace.

"Get OUT! NOW!" she nearly screamed at him.

Jake, not one to rock the emotional boat, nodded and walked to the door. "Anna, I'm sorry this is hard on you, but you have to know that I care about you, and don't want to see anything bad to ever happen to you."

With that, he left, shutting her door behind himself. She took a deep breath and felt a sudden wave of nausea come over her. Everything was happening so fast that she felt like she was just drifting down a river on a fast moving current. She felt a little more in control, but still helpless to do anything about the past and cheating on her husband.

She went to the bathroom, making sure no one was in there, and retched her guts into one of the toilets. Anna never felt so low in her life, but saw no positive end to this situation. She truly believed that her husband was cheating on her, and she had cheated on him.

When she was clean and presentable enough, she left the bathroom and went back to her office. Deciding to get back to work, as a distraction for her problems, Anna called a team meeting for later that day and went over the progress of the case. She tasked several of them with further research, as well as preparing another deposition of yet another possible witness to corroborate Mr. Middleton's alibi.

She dismissed them and tried to keep her mind off her personal problems for the rest of the morning. By lunchtime, she had resolved to have it out with Gary. She would lay out all the evidence she had and see what he had to say. In all of it, her main fear was still that they were headed for divorce court, and her little daughter would be the collateral damage of their failing marriage.

"I can't fail that little girl anymore," she promised herself.

Lilia called right after lunch, to tell Anna that she had gone with daddy to lunch and they were going to have fun together that afternoon making finger paintings. Anna had tears in her eyes as she told her daughter to have fun with daddy.

Later, on the drive home, Anna steeled herself for the fight that was sure to happen. She went in and gave Lilia the standard welcome home hug, then went to the bathroom to change and clean up. Anna put on some nice blue jeans and a simple tank-top, adding a touch of her favorite body spray.

Looking in her dresser mirror sadly, she thought to herself, 'How can I get mad at him for something I've done, too? That just makes me a hypocrite. I have to try to clear the air between us.'

After she finished getting changed, she found him in the kitchen preparing their dinner. Apparently tonight was to be soft tacos, a favorite of their daughters. Tonight might be one of their last family dinners together, she sadly realized. Anna didn't tear up, but she wasn't happy either.

"Gary, we need to talk," she said in a resigned tone.

Gary, hearing the words that no one ever wants to hear, simply nodded his head. "Sure thing. After Lilia's in bed, okay?"

She nodded with a weak smile and went to go spend some time with her daughter. They usually enjoyed putting the ingredients out on the table, and everyone would just scoop the stuff onto a soft shell on their own plate. That night, there was tension at the table, and their usually jovial attitude was subdued.

Lilia did her best to make her mom and dad smile, but was rapidly frustrated by their quiet demeanor. They finally warmed up enough to talk about her lunch with daddy, earlier in the day, and the fun walk in the park they had afterwards.

After dinner and putting their little girl to bed, they both sat on the couch. Anna turned to her husband and started the conversation that she knew would be tough.

"Gary, when you said that you weren't seeing that other woman from the gym, I believed you. When you said that you would quit the gym and move to a different one, I had hope. When I saw you with her, and was told about your lunch date with her, it broke my heart... but I took your word for it when you said nothing happened."

Anna paused, gulped hard and looked at him. Her knuckles were going white from her tight grip on the armrest of the couch.

"I followed that woman home after the first time, and she led me to some condo building. Today, at work, Kendra tells me that she saw you ride with that woman back to the same building..."

Gary had enough by this point. With anger in his voice he interrupted her, "I've never gone with that woman, anywhere! What the hell are you talking about? WHO is Kendra?"

"Gary, HOW can all of this just be one big misunderstanding after another? Do you have any idea how BAD this all looks? Kendra is another lawyer in my office, not that you've ever asked me about anyone I work with, but at least SHE is someone that I TRUST," she said with no small amount of sarcasm.

At this point they were both frustrated with the other. They were both red faced and glaring across the table. Gary was at a complete loss as to why his wife couldn't believe him over someone at her office. The name Kendra was very familiar to him, but he thought there was no way that Anna worked with the same woman that he had broken up with all those years ago.

'Maybe I should have told Anna about Kendra sooner. Maybe it doesn't matter, and I'm just losing my fucking mind. This is getting out of control,' he thought.

He sighed deeply, as he had no idea how to recover the situation, or make his wife believe that he hadn't cheated on her. Anna was furious, but probably more so because of her own guilty feelings. She felt that he had to cheat on her, to balance things out for them. Her logic was seriously flawed, but was in too deep now to back off her position. If he hadn't cheated, that would mean she was the only one to break their vows.

She had stopped yelling at him, slouched down into the couch and began sobbing. Her tears ran hard, as she continued to shake uncontrollably. Gary went to her, to try to comfort and hold his wife. When he put his arms around her, she cried louder and eventually, pushed her husband away. He was always so gentle with her and it was tearing her up inside, knowing that she had betrayed him.

At a complete loss, Gary stood up. His daughter was crying in her room, having woken up from their yelling. Anna was bawling while glaring at him, tears running down her cheeks. He had no idea what to do and wanted to completely give up.

"Honey, I don't know what the hell is going on, but this can't continue," he said as he turned to walk down the hall to Lilia's room.

Gary got his daughter tucked back into bed after calming her down. He walked back to his bedroom and packed an overnight bag, returning to the living room. His wife was still sobbing, sitting on the couch and she looked up at him as he approached. Her eyes widened when she saw the bag.

"G-Gary... What are you doing?" she mumbled.

"Anna, I love you with all my heart, but I can't keep trying to get you to trust and believe me. I'm going to spend the night at my mom and dad's house. Maybe we can try talking again tomorrow..."

She never got up, stuck in a state of shock. She had calmed to a quiet whimper, but still felt like the foundation of her whole world was crumbling. Denial was about the only thing she seemed to understand at that moment. She was in denial about her husband claiming he hadn't cheated, denial about her own office affair, and of him leaving her.

"Baby, I really don't understand what's happening to us, but please don't give up on us. I love you..." Gary said to her sadly, as he closed the door behind him on the way out.

The click of the door shutting snapped Anna out of her daze, and her head whipped to the door where her husband had just been. Seeing him leaving actually confirmed what she already thought, that there may be no hope left for them.

"I don't want you to go, Gary..." she said quietly to the empty room.

Anna got up, and shuffled down the hall like a zombie. She peeked in on her daughter to make sure she was still asleep, then went to her own room and crawled into bed. She cried herself to sleep, wishing that she could wake up from this nightmare.

**********

Dan and Martha Thomson were afraid for their son. He had called and quietly asked them if he could crash at their house for a night, apparently having problems with his wife. Martha could tell from the tone in his voice that something was VERY wrong. She wasted no time at all when he got in the door, asking him about Anna.

"Garrison, is Anna okay? What's going on with you two?" she asked.

"Mom, please, just let me get some sleep. We can talk in the morning, okay?" asked a tired Gary.

"Gary, we just worry about you is all," stated his father.

As Gary walked down the hall to his old room, Martha looked at her husband with a knowing look. Dan simply nodded to his wife, with a grim expression on his face. As far as they knew, this was the first time Gary and Anna had ever had a serious falling out, since they began dating.

"I'm just so confused... Why would they be fighting? Could it be about Anna and her job?" postulated Martha.

"I have no idea dear, but whatever it is, it sounds bad," conceded Dan.

That night Gary slept very poorly, having nightmares of being surrounded by women flirting with him. He could hear his wife in the background, taunting him, teasing.

"You're such a liar, Gary... You know you want them..." she was chanting.

He woke up in a sweat, nearly an hour before his phone alarm was set to go off. He got up and decided that he was going to try to get through the day, no matter what hell his home life had become.

As he got into the kitchen, he almost ran into his mother, sitting at the table. She was in a robe, sipping some tea, staring out at the back yard.

"I remember when you were just a boy, running around out there... So full of life back then..." she reminisced, knowing he had come in behind her.

"Mom... what are you doing up?" he asked as he went to get a cup of coffee.

"Sit down, honey, and let's talk." She patted the chair next to hers for emphasis.

Gary took his mug and sat next to his mother. He hung his head, and decided that he should just get it all out.

"Mom, Anna is accusing me of having an affair and we had a huge fight about it."

"Are you?"

"WHAT? How can you ask me that?" he yelled indignantly.

"Well, are you? It's a fair question."

"NO! Absolutely not! Mom, I would NEVER cheat on my wife, I love her too much."

Martha nodded her head, and reached over to pat the top of his hands. She was very proud of her son and all that he had accomplished for his family. She hated to see him in such distress.

"Gary, I believe you. I can't tell you what to do, but maybe you should find out why she seems to think so? What is her evidence? Who is telling her the lies?"

For Gary, it was as if a lightbulb had turned on. Why hadn't he thought of that before? He decided he would get to the bottom of why she thought he was cheating, starting with her coworkers.

**********

Anna was still a wreck the next morning, so she decided to call the one person she could trust, her sister, Denise. She answered after the third ring with an exhausted response.

"Hello, Sis, what's up?"

Denise heard a sniffle on the other end and immediately got worried. "What's wrong, Anna? Is someone hurt? Is it Lilia?" she asked in rapid fire.