Chapter One -- We All Have Them
"Have you ever thought about having an affair?" My wife asked as she climbed into our bed beside me. I knew where this was coming from and looked at her unaffectedly.
We had spent the day at a friend's cook out; and he decided to drop a bomb on us, while embarrassing his wife in the process. Evidently, the story goes, as told by him; he caught his wife having an affair with a much younger and much better looking young man she met off the internet.
"No, I have never even considered doing that." I told her seriously; as I have never cheated on my wife, nor even thought about it.
She smiled as she pulled the covers up to her midsection. Grabbing a magazine from the nightstand beside her, she wasn't done; I could tell. "I just don't understand what she was thinking." She said, not even opening the periodical and setting it on her lap. "I mean Dominic is a very handsome man, why jeopardize what they have for a little strange?"
I dog eared my book as I could tell this was going to be a lengthy conversation; and set it on the table beside me. Leaning closer to her, I started stroking her cheek with my finger. "Veronica; I have no reason to stray. You fulfill every need I have; and even if you didn't.... we have an internet connection." I said to her with a smile on my face.
She smacked her lips and glared at me. "Not funny Ethan" was all I got, before she started up again. "I had no clue she was even doing anything; and she's my best friend!"
My hand retreated back to my stomach and I let out a rather deep breath. "Did you know?" She asked turning her body to me even more. "Oh, how could you? She wouldn't share that with Dominic's friend." Her eyes looked vague, as she continued to contemplate what she now believed to be, a very surreal, harsh lie. "I just don't know" she said, her hands now crossed over the magazine she apparently was not going to be reading tonight.
I scooted myself closer to her and tried to console her once again. "People cheat" I started, "I mean there are a ton of reasons she might have done it." Veronica snapped her face to me as I said this. Her mouth slightly parted and her eyes widened.
"Name one." She said with a snappy tone to her voice.
"Maybe he was hotter?" I joked. I could then see, my joking was not going to go over very well with her. "I mean" I tried to rephrase and fix my blunder. "There is a good possibility she was unsatisfied with their sex life."
That did give the impression to accomplish my goal of fixing what I had done, only it also seemed to lead the conversation astray; just a bit. "And if I had cheated?" She looked at me sternly. "Would you be just as calm and joking with me?"
I let out an exacerbating breathe and tried to think of what I could say to turn this conversation around again. "Yes." I said as her eyes widened once again.
She gave me a sarcastic chuckle, "OK, so if I told you I fucked Lou from work the other day; you would sit and joke about it?" I could see her frustration with me build.
I decided to talk a different approach. "Why did you choose Lou as your theoretical fling?" I asked her as I watched her head flinch backward.
"I... I just..." she began to stammer. "Randomly... picked a name..." She was showing obvious anxiety in her voice.
I smiled to myself, but keeping a stern look on my face; I decided to push this as it way more entertaining than talking about Dom and Beth's little problem. "And his was the first name you thought of... out of every name you could have chosen?" I began to cross-examine her.
Taken back, she tried to regroup and come from another angle. "No, he was just the last person I saw at work yesterday." She said, giving a slight smile as I could tell she was thinking she'd fixed her little faux pa.
"So, you were alone with him?" I said, sitting up and trying to fake my anger the best I could.
"Ethan, I did not cheat on you with Lou; stop acting like an infant." She said, in a final attempt to stifle my little game. I relaxed my body back down to the bed.
"So you're saying you don't find him attractive" I asked turning my head in her direction.
Her facial expression began to change from annoyance to wonder. I could see she was actually considering what she thought about Lou, 'that way'.
Now, Veronica was a very, very sexy classy woman; very conservative also. She was 5'6", and all legs. Her dark hair, which was recently cut, was in a 'pixie' cut; which seemed to make her dark brown eyes even more inviting. She carried her 34 C-cup breasts well, also.
I studied her face as she continued to, from what I could only guess, was imagine herself and Lou doing questionable things together. I almost got the feeling she had never even fantasized about another man as her expression was like an idea had just been planted that she'd never even considered.
"Ronnie, are you telling me you're so wrapped up in our marriage that you've never even imagined what another would be like? Not even a fantasy?" I was finding this really hard to believe, not from her specifically; just from humans in general.
I gave a slight chuckle as I watched her now contemplate another idea. She was acting like a child on Christmas, mesmerized by all the presents under the tree. The odd part; she wasn't given anything that had not already been there all along. "Ronnie!"
She snapped back to reality. "Where ya been babe?" I asked her smiling.
"I... uh... um... was just thinking." She said, still not completely back from her short dream state.
I reached in and kissed her cheek. "I could hear the gears turning..." I said, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "But... I really have no idea where you were, but it wasn't here." I joked.
"I'm sorry." She said, appearing to be back completely now. "I just never thought of Lou that way." She said, giving out a faint chuckle.
"And..." I hinted to her.
"And... I don't know." She said and I then realized this wasn't going to be the easiest task I've had so far.
I sat up in the bed, once more. "OK, would you fuck him?" I blurted out, surprising her as her face began to show just how much. "I mean, if I wasn't here... let's say... I died and you were a widow?" I rephrased.
She looked at me sneeringly. "That's a horrible analogy." She said, certain disgust running across her face.
I rolled my eyes and shrugged. "For arguments sake... just pick whatever mundane reason you would need for it to be feasible that would ever come up" I said with a smile on my face. "Just answer... would you fuck him, given the chance, with nothing in your way?"
She eyed me harshly, and I could tell she was reading the question to make sure there wasn't a trip wire at her feet. She breathed in and out very deeply a few times; then... she answered "Yes."
Well, there you have it; I thought to myself. I've had trips to the dentist office that were less of a struggle than this conversation had become. "OK" I said. "Now, can you see, even minutely; why Beth would have done what she did?"
I saw a 'eureka' moment flash in her eyes. She got it. She understood.
"I would ask if you ever thought about it before, but apparently you've never even looked at another man like that." I said, continuing my teasing of her. She gently punched my shoulder.
"Stop it" she said. "Isn't that a good thing though? I mean, would you rather me have dirty thoughts about every man that walks in front of my face?" Her laughter was contagious and spread to me like the flu.
"Well, not EVERY man." I said while I joined her laughing.
She sharply stopped laughing and looked at me with another look that could sink the Titanic it was so icy. "What?"
"Well, it's nice to know you're not a robot. I mean, a marriage certificate is not an operation that drugs your sex organs into only finding your spouse attractive; for the rest of your life." I said, attempting to coax more laughter from her.
She giggles slightly, and I knew she understood. "Do you fantasize about other women?" She asked, all giggles dissipating from the room.
"Well, sure" I said, going for broke now.
She let out a quiet "huh". She then reached over and kissed my lips as she lay down and pulled the cover up.
"Ronnie?"
She had already rolled in the opposite direction, and I could tell I had pissed her off with my honesty. I lay down as well, but threw my arm over her and cuddled her close to me. "I love you." I said, kissing the back of her head.
When the alarm rang the next morning, I groggily smacked it to hit the snooze. Blinking the sleep from eyes as I sat up and looked at Ronnie sleeping soundly next me. Flashes of last night's discussion began to flood my head.
I honestly did not feel bad. I was honest and it's not like I pulled a Beth and dropped a bomb on her that she wasn't expecting. All I did was admit to fantasizing about women; perfectly normal for a man in his thirties, hell perfectly normal for a sixteen year old boy.
I went to the bathroom and began my morning routine with a shower. When I got back to the bedroom, I saw Ronnie sitting there, what I thought, was thinking about the fact I was human and think of other women; but I was soon going to find out that was not even close.
"Did you play with yourself in the shower, just now..." She said, in an oddly joking tone rather than the judgmental one I would have expected from her. "Thinking of all those women you fantasize about?" There it was, I thought.
I toweled off my hair and stared at her as I chucked the towel over my shoulder. "Not just now." I said undoing the towel around my waist and exposing my flaccid cock to her.
I could see her eyes dart down and give a good inspection.
I gave her a quick scolded look as I spoke. "So what, now I'm not supposed to jerk off anymore?"
She flashed a bit of a smirk. "I didn't say that." She got up from the bed and walked over to me grabbing my limp dick. "I'll just have to fantasize too." She snickered as she released my cock and headed out of the room.
I was dazed for a second trying to understand what the hell she meant by that last comment. My wife was not usually the revenge type of person, but that sure sounded like a threat. I quickly picked my towel up off the floor and sped off to follow her, wrapping it as I departed.
I caught up to her in the kitchen as I finished securing my towel. "What did that mean?" I questioned her.
She did not look back at me and merely continued making her coffee. "Exactly what I said" she dipped her spoon in the cup and began to stir the sugary coffee.
I walked over to where she stood at the counter and nudged her chin to look at me. She complied and smiled. "What the hell have you been masturbating to all these years, then?" I asked showing my confusion.
