Bob and Rose were the first to arrive at the lake. They parked and made their way down to the dock, but nobody else was around. As they sat at a picnic table, Bob watched his wife, suspicious thoughts nagging at him.
"It's a great day for boating," Rose offered, glancing around and avoiding Bob's stares. "I heard it'll be over a hundred degrees again today."
Bob didn't feel like making small talk and just sipped his water bottle. "Wonder what's taking so long," he remarked.
"Are Shawn and Corrinne coming today? I haven't seen them since the party," Rose queried, referring to the swinging party at Jerry and Gloria's house at the beginning of summer when they had first moved to the Dallas area.
"Oh, haven't you heard?" Bob asked, looking somber. "Shawn quit."
"What?" Rose seemed shocked. "I thought he was a partner!"
Bob nodded, "Yeah, he was. Apparently, he had a better offer from one of our competitors, and he jumped ship. Jerry was livid. So, don't bring up their names today. I'm sure Jerry would have a fit."
Rose placed a hand on Bob's arm, "Are you ok? I mean, are we ok?"
"Yeah, I don't see a problem for us," he assured her. "Jerry said he thought Shawn was stealing money from the company too. They're still looking into it." He wasn't totally honest, because he was still debating whether or not to tell her everything he had learned. He was struggling with conflicting ideas and nagging doubts.
Rose gasped, "No way, that sucks! Poor Corrinne, I wish I knew how to contact her."
"You could try facebook," he said. "There's more I wanted to tell you, too. I've been mulling it over, and well," he paused, staring deeply into her eyes, then took a deep breath and continued, "Jerry made me a partner yesterday."
Her face brightened. "What? Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, giving him a puzzled look.
"Well, it all happened unexpectedly, and with so many things going on, I wanted to process it all before we talked."
"Really? What's there to process?" she asked with a smile that implied a bit of sarcasm.
"It means more work for me. Jerry wants me to do my current job and replace Shawn to run sales. I'll have to travel a lot more, but it'll mean a hefty pay raise, sales commissions, and more; now that I'm a partner, I'll receive a share of the profit."
"How big of a share?" Rose asked, curious to know the details.
"Jerry said he ordinarily gives new partners a one-percent share of the company, but because he knows me so well, he doubled it to two." He paused, thinking about how to explain the rest.
"So, two percent of the company is yours? Wow, they did what, forty million last year? That's eight hundred thousand dollars, Bob!" she exclaimed.
He frowned slightly, "Well, that's revenue. We only would see a percentage of the profit at the end of the year. But, it isn't two percent actually."
"No? How much then?" she looked worried and wondered if Jerry were somehow trying to cheat Bob.
"We actually own five percent of the company," he stated. Before he could explain, Rose interrupted him.
"Five percent? Holy shit! How come?
"It was kind of weird. He said that since I would have Shawn's responsibility, I should get his percentage too, which bumped it up to four. But, then he said that he wanted to make sure you were happy, so he bumped it up to five."
"Me?" she asked, bemused.
"Yep." He was nervous. There was more, a lot more, but how would she react? He was debating on telling Rose about the weird phone call he had received from Shawn. He didn't want to upset her, but he had nobody else with whom he could talk. To his surprise, as he was thinking about it, she spoke, as if having read his mind.
"Have you heard from Shawn at all, since he quit?" she asked. Bob winced at the question. Now he had to make a choice, either lie or tell her everything.
"Uhm," he started, "well, yeah. I got a strange call yesterday from a number I didn't recognize. I ignored it, but the caller kept redialing me. So, after the third time, I answered. It was Shawn."
"Is he okay?" she asked, appearing sincerely concerned.
"He seemed ok, just angry. He said a lot of things that were not very flattering about Jerry."
"Oh, no," she leaned closer, "like what?"
"Well, I don't know. It all seemed pretty weird. I thought he'd been drinking. It all just sounded like sour grapes. He was pissed, Rose, irrationally angry."
"Sour grapes? I thought Jerry and Shawn were like brothers. He was one of the 'circle of trust.' Makes you wonder about Jerry's concept, doesn't it." She thought about their situation and all of the promises Jerry had made when he was seducing her. "Maybe this is all too good to be true."
Bob had his suspicions too but kept them to himself. The Jerry he had come to know only seemed interested in partying, whoring around and doing things to appeal to his ego. Jerry had always been a bit of a narcissist, but lately, it seemed worse than when they'd worked together in the past. His success had gone to his head, and he reveled in showing off.
"He accused Jerry of a bunch of crap, a lot of very personal things. He said he knew where Jerry had buried all the skeletons. He blew up when I mentioned that Jerry had accused him of stealing money from the company. He said it was a joke, and that if anybody was stealing money from the company, it was Jerry."
Rose got a puzzled look on her face, "Isn't it his company? How can Jerry steal money from himself?"
"That's what I asked Shawn, but he went on and on about how its a Limited Liability Partnership and that all of the partners had equal rights to the profit, but that Jerry always found some excuses to avoid paying bonuses. Shawn claimed that the company has never shown a profit, never paid bonuses and that Jerry even finds ways to cheat people out of their sales commissions."
"Can he do that?" she asked, squeezing Bob's arm softly.
"I don't know. I'm not into all that kind of stuff. I'm a technology nerd, not a business person. Shawn said we should ask Jerry how he paid for the new boat and the big ass pool at his house."
"I thought Jerry said the boat was owned by the company for entertaining clients and for all the partners to use. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it?"
"I don't know. Shawn implied that the boat is not listed as a company asset. Did you know that our CFO, the guy who manages the books, is Jerry's uncle? Also, the COO is his next-door neighbor. Shawn said they use the company bank account as their personal ATM. Something about how they use their corporate cards for everything from gasoline to groceries and never file any paperwork and the cards are paid directly by the company. Shawn said that as a partner, he had a right to see the financials, but when he asked to see them, he was told he couldn't. He started asking questions and Jerry, Jerry's uncle, and Tom, the COO, all iced him out. The more he dug, the angrier Jerry got, until, according to Shawn, he threatened to get a lawyer involved. That's when Jerry fired him."
"Fired him?" she asked, surprised, "I thought you said he quit."
"Jerry said he quit. Shawn said Jerry fired him. I think the truth is somewhere in between."
"Do you believe Shawn?" she asked nervously.
"I don't know. As I said, he sounded drunk and irrational."
They looked at each other, both biting their tongues about some of their personal misgivings. After a couple of minutes, Bob worked up the nerve to bring up the other thing Shawn had told him.
"Shawn said some other stuff, too," he began, anxiously.
"Do I want to know?" she asked, looking nervous.
"You may not." Bob stared at her intently.
"What is it?" she asked, noticing the look he was giving her.
"He said that Jerry is a manipulator and user of people. He said the whole 'swingers group' was just a way to manipulate the men into getting to fuck their wives. He said Jerry uses it as a power trip to dominate and control the men in his employment, like the alpha dog in a wolfpack."
Rose failed to breathe for several heartbeats.
"He said that Corrinne had been innocent and proper until Jerry got his hands on her. He turned her into a nymphomaniac. He claimed Jerry had been fucking Corrinne regularly behind his back. Apparently, Jerry would send Shawn out of town on business trips or kept him so busy working that he neglected Corrine. The whole time, Jerry would be fucking Corrinne, turning her into his loyal, little slut. He made her feel special. He would take her on trips, wine and dine her at the fanciest places, and shower her with expensive gifts."
"Oh my god, Bob," she almost shouted, "You don't believe that shit, do you?"
Bob shrugged, "I've been with Jerry on trips, Rose. I've seen how he really is. He's a lot different on the road than he seems to be around here. He's a hardcore playboy. He fucked a different woman on every trip we've been on."
She watched Bob, studying his face. The sound of a boat engine could be heard in the distance.
"Anyway," Bob continued, "Shawn said that all the attention on Corrinne stopped around the time we moved here. He said that for the past couple of months, Jerry has had a new wife in his sites; a new married woman to make his fuck toy behind her husband's back."
Rose realized what Bob was alluding to, and her face turned red, "You mean me?" she asked, angrily. "You think I'm fucking Jerry behind your back? Is that what you think?"
"You tell me, Rose. Are you fucking Jerry behind my back?" he asked her point blank. The approaching boat was visible and quite large. It was heading to the dock where they waited. Bob glanced up and could see it coming in fast. They didn't have much time.
"I'm not even going to justify that question with an answer," she stated angrily. "I can't believe you would even think that I would cheat on you."
"I saw the cum stains in that teddy Rose," he said, dropping the bombshell that had been bothering all day. "You lied to me and tried to hide it. He bought that teddy for you."
She froze, and a cold feeling ran up her spine. She sighed then turned to her husband. "Bob, I was afraid you would see that and freak out."
"Ya think."
