I wanted to talk to Ian, to try to explain, although I wasn't sure I understood why I had done it myself, nor why I'd let it continue for as long. I waited up for him but by midnight I reasoned that he wasn't coming home or if he did, he wouldn't be in a state to listen. I went to bed. He was gone again when I rose the next morning, if he had actually come home at all. I looked at myself in the mirror, still red-eyed from the night before. I despised myself. I couldn't continue like this. I couldn't bear to see the pain in Ian's doleful eyes any more.
I called my mum and asked if I could come to stay for a few days. I steeled myself for an interrogation, but she didn't question me. I guessed that would come when I got there. I then rang in sick, which was partly true, and sent an apologetic text to Ian, telling him where I was going if he wanted to see me. I packed a suitcase with my clothes and set off. As I drove, my mind drifted back over my affair.
Surprisingly, it had settled into a pattern. I would visit Nick on Wednesday evenings and alternate Saturday afternoons while Ian was at the rugby. I'd have thought that an affair would have been impulsive, less structured, getting together when the fancy took us. Although when I considered it, a routine did make sense. It was obviously easier for Nick being single. However, I didn't want to be seen sneaking off with him from work in case the rumour mill kicked off. At home, I would need to keep telling Ian where I was going. It was just easier to have one regular excuse rather than having to concoct a new alibi every time.
But the sex was never routine. Nick was such an adventurous lover. Every time would be novel and different. Sometimes we would go to a quiet country pub for a flirtatious drink in a darkened corner, sometimes for high tea at a stately home with surreptitious fondling below the starched tablecloth. He would devise various titillating scenarios to tantalise and tease me before slowly building up to the final act. The uncertainty and anticipation of what was to come excited me more and more, the closer it got. By comparison, life at home was predictable and monotonous. I spent the days in between our liaisons, fantasising about our next date. By the time I arrived at Nick's place I was seriously horny. But then, in January, it all changed.
I suddenly realised that I was outside my mum's neat suburban semi. I hauled my case out of the boot and dragged it up the front path. Mum was very good. She didn't give me the third degree as soon as I walked in the door. But, as I told her what had happened over a cup of tea, my emotions spilled out. She sympathised but I could tell she was disappointed with me, as I was myself. I had let myself down.
My phone rang. Mum picked up the cups and saucers and disappeared back into the kitchen. I delved into my bag hoping it would be Ian. It wasn't. It was Nick asking why I wasn't in the office.
'It's none of your business,' I replied testily.
'Just checking that husband of yours hasn't put you into hospital, Emily,' he said casually. I could almost see his supercilious smile. 'Well, it was very disappointing to have to cancel last Saturday's arrangement but I can reschedule it for next weekend. You'll be able to stay that bit longer now that Ian knows, won't you.'
'I'm not coming.'
'And I've organised a special celebration for you on Wednesday evening,' he continued, ignoring my rebuttal.
'I've told you. We're finished.'
'Don't be like that, Emily? You know the videos will only get dirtier.'
'Damn you,' I said, cutting him off.
I wandered back through to the kitchen. Mum saw I was even more distraught.
'Ian?' she asked gently.
I shook my head, holding back the tears. She didn't press me and I decided to take my case up to my old bedroom and try to console myself in familiar surroundings.
It wasn't until the next day that the video arrived and I saw that Nick had already copied it to Ian. I was still at my Mum's and I rushed up to my room to view it alone. The video started with Nick and I facing the camera standing at the foot of a bed, but this wasn't Nick's bedroom. I knew immediately where and when this had been recorded.
It was the first Saturday in January, a bright wintery day. The Christmas holidays had disrupted our routine and Nick had finally had some time with his children. We hadn't seen each other for a couple of weeks and I was feeling a desperate itch.
Ian had gone with his rugby mates to an away game so I'd been able to get to Nick's a bit earlier than usual. He'd taken me out of town for a light lunch and we'd shared a bottle of white wine and some gentle flirting. Actually, Nick had only sipped one glass because he was driving. On the way back he turned off our route.
'Where are we going,' I asked.
'We're going to meet somebody.'
'Oh no,' I exclaimed. I couldn't hide my disappointment. I had been looking forward to having a more leisurely session with him today. 'Can't you put them off. The last thing we want is someone to play gooseberry.'
Nick smiled. 'He won't be playing gooseberry. We're going to have a threesome.'
'What,' I cried. 'You're expecting me to have sex in front of a complete stranger.'
'He's not a complete stranger; it's the Managing Director. And you won't be doing it in front of him. He'll be having sex with you as well.'
'What,' I repeated. 'No way. It's gross. He's old enough to be my father. What on earth made you think I'd agree to this?'
'Come on, Emily,' he coaxed. 'Just humour the old man. You'll enjoy it.'
'No, I won't.'
'Have you ever tried a threesome?'
I pouted.
He took my silence as a negative. 'How do you know you won't like it, if you've never tried it?' he asked.
'Please, don't do this Nick,' I pleaded.
'It'll be a new experience for you, Emily. You'll have twice as much fun with both of us. I've been looking forward to this for weeks and I can tell, you're aroused as well.'
'Yes, for you. Not with somebody else there.'
'Come on, Emily. You enjoyed our role play sessions when I dressed as a masked intruder. It's just a little step further.' I tried to explain why it was different but I couldn't find the words.
'Besides, you wouldn't want to disappoint the MD, would you?'
I was stunned by this last implied threat. How would the MD react if I refused to pleasure him? What consequences would that have at work? I was silent for the rest of the journey as I tried to work out how to withdraw without causing offence. I wondered if I should just accept the arrangement. Nick took this to indicate my acquiesce, which I suppose it was.
He drove through the gateway and parked on his drive. Nick escorted me up the shallow stone steps with his hand in the small of my back. As he rang the bell, I watched the wrought iron gates slowly swinging shut behind me.
The MD opened the oak panelled door himself. 'Gosh, it's cold out there. Come in, come in,' he boomed, ushering us quickly inside. 'How wonderful to see you, Emily.' I was surprised that he knew my name as I had only seen him in passing and never spoken to him directly before. Without warning he engulfed me in a huge bearhug.