Web of Lies

Morning traffic was slow, and I was gripping the steering wheel hard in frustration. I wondered for the millionth time how I had ended up in this situation. I knew it was not my doing but no matter how I twisted or tuned I could not come up with a way to get out of it.

My job was on the line and I could not afford to lose it. I was willing to do anything to keep it, no matter how degrading. It was the reason why I was sitting in this slow traffic and inching forward.

I work at Bloomingdale's department store in Los Angeles. I am a sales assistant manager in the household appliances department. It is not fancy, but it was a reliable job. A while back I was called into a meeting with my boss and she said that I had to be let go. I panicked as I needed my job and pleaded with her to keep me. She told me that items had gone missing and she had from a reliable source that it was I who had been taking them. I professed my innocence and said I was willing to do anything to prove it.

I ended up agreeing to have Zack as my supervisor. He would make weekly reports about my performance and if they were positive, I would not be let go. I had a sick feeling of misgivings as I agreed to this arrangement. I did not voice my concerns as I was willing to do anything to keep my job.

Zack was one of the youngest employees and he had given me nothing but grief since day one when he started. He was only 19 years old and fresh out of high school. He thought he owned the world even if he was nothing more than an immature brat. He was arrogant and lazy, but he always managed to pass on the blame for things he had messed up to someone else. Most of the time he hung around playing with his phone all day and soon everybody disliked him. I tried to get him to straighten up and take responsibility for his actions, or rather lack of actions. But he took it badly and felt like I was out to 'get him'. Quickly it escalated to where we hated each other's guts, and he went out of his way to cause me misfortune. It got to the point where we could almost not be in the same room and be civil to each other.

He had one advantage over me. He was young and much too good-looking for his own good. He had most of the female staff eating out of his hand, including my boss. I was sure Zack had stolen the goods and convinced her it was I who was guilty. I guess he had assumed I was going to be fired. He seemed annoyed he had to supervise me and make weekly reports to our boss, feeling it was extra work for him.

To my misfortune, he in a short time realized he had me by the balls, and he could make me do anything. I was desperate not to lose my job and he started using it ruthlessly. The first week was a pain. He got me to do his work besides my own and each day he got more and more sure of himself. Gradually he became petty and cruel like having me bring him coffee and buying him lunch. The guys started to notice I was loyal to Zack. I had to justify myself and say I had discovered he was not such a bad person at all if you gave him a break. I felt I could not tell the truth about my predicament. It was too humiliating what Zack made me do so he would write good reports to our boss.

Every week got worse. He was more and more petty and childish how he ordered me around. I swallowed my pride and did everything he asked of me even if I hated it. The dislike was mutual, and he loved seeing me suffer. He was all the time pushing on how much he could boss me around without me losing it. After some time, he discovered that he could even get me to do things outside of work. It had led to me sitting in this traffic jam as for several weeks Zack had made me drive him to and from work.

Finally, I arrived at Zack's apartment building and he was waiting outside.

"You are late," Zack said as he got into the car.

"Traffic is bad today," I replied.

"Well, tomorrow I want you to leave earlier," Zack said.

"Whatever," I muttered and gripped the steering wheel hard as I pulled into traffic. I was hating my life right now.

We were silent in the car on our way to work. Even if we spent a lot of time together lately, we were disliking each other more than ever. We had nothing in common to talk about. It was a relief when we got to work, and we went our separate ways. But I knew it was not going to be long before he came and ordered me to do something demeaning for him.

On our way home Zack made me stop and buy groceries for him. He had made me a list and he waited in the car while I went inside. It was frozen pizza and similar stuff and beer. He said I was not good for much, but I was at least useful for buying beer since he was too young to do it by himself.

Zack lived in a two-room apartment his parents had bought him. I secretly believed they had bought it so he would move out of their home. Zack made me park and follow him inside, carrying his groceries. I had done it before, and he did not even have to tell me what to do with the stuff. I heard how he sat down in the living room and turned on the TV. I felt humiliated as I was putting groceries into his refrigerator and freezer. Zack was a slob and the whole apartment was a mess.

"While you are at it you can do the dishes and take out the trash as well before leaving," Zack yelled from the living room.

I groaned. I hated that Zack was ordering me around. My fear of losing my job was the only stronger feeling. I looked at the dishes in the sink. I knew in the pit of my stomach that if I did not do as the little bastard asked, he likely was getting me fired. If that happened, I would be even worse off than I was now.

The pile in the sink was high. I had done Zack's dishes the week before and it did not look like he had bothered between. I dug into the task. At least it was not as bad as two weeks ago when I did his laundry. It had been sickening to handle his used underwear and stinking sports clothes. The worst was when I found two used condoms when I undid his bed. Zack had laughed at me when I used toilet paper to pick them up and throw them away.

"Do you know Lisa in Accounting?" Zack asked.

I knew Lisa. She was a cute petite girl. I guess about 28 years old. Lately, she has been coming around often. I had noticed she had been rather touchy with Zack when she thought no one was paying attention.

"Yes, I know her," I said. "I thought she was engaged, and they are getting married soon," I replied.

"Well, you could have fooled me." Zack chuckled. "Last Saturday I was texting with her and asked if she wanted to come over. She must have gotten into her car as soon as I gave her my address since she was here in no time."

Zack mused at the memory. "I did not even bother trying to be nice or sweet-talking to her or anything. I dragged her into the bedroom and stripped her naked. She was hot as hell and screaming almost from the start. She is all prim and proper at work but once I got my cock inside her she was a freaking slut. I had to fuck her a second time before I could convince her to dress and leave."

"You are a bad person. Do you know that?" I asked, feeling sorry for Lisa because of how Zack was diminishing her.

"She wants to fuck again but I told her she has first to invite me to her wedding," Zack said with an evil grin.

I had come to recognize that particular grin and hate it. It was the grin he got when he intended to be cruel and I had seen it a lot lately.

It took a while until I finished doing the dishes. I replaced the full bag in the trash and took it with me when I left. I shut Zack's front door behind me without bothering to say goodbye to him.

Once in the car, I started it and with a sinking feeling, I looked at the time. It was late and it meant I had to lie again. Feeling miserable, I made my way home. At least rush hour was over, so I made the drive home in good time.

I parked the car on the driveway and went inside the house. It was empty and I exited on the backside and found Lauren sitting in a bikini, catching the last rays of the sun. Lauren is my wife, and she loves to have a dip in our hot tub when she gets home from work. The hot tub is more or less the only luxury we could afford and we both loved it.

I looked her over and she looked hot. She is blond with a nice skinny body that somehow looks slim but curvy at the same time. She is petite but her boobs are unusually large for her size and I love them. She thinks they are a pain since it is very difficult for her to find clothes in her size that can button up over her chest. I might be biased since I am married to her, but I thought she looked incredible in her bikini.

"You are late," Lauren said. Shading her face with her hand so she could look at me.

"Sorry, honey," I said as I walked over and kissed her.

"Zack and I stopped for a beer on the way home." My stomach felt queasy for lying.

"Again? You two seem to have become best buddies." Lauren replied.

I winced.

"Yea, who could have guessed?" I replied and kissed her again.

"You look gorgeous," I said. Lauren had turned 30 a few months back and had a bit of a crisis about becoming old. I was four years older than her but had never gotten as skittish about turning 30 as she.

Lauren laughed and I could tell she appreciated my compliment.

"I start making dinner," I said and started making my way inside again. I did not want to talk more about Zack.

It had started when I decided not to tell Lauren about the mess I had ended up in at work and that I could lose my job. First of all, I did not want to tell her because I felt embarrassed about the whole situation with Zack. I also did not want to worry her. She knew just as well as me that we could not afford to live on her paycheck alone. I justified not telling her that I would be able to bully myself through this situation in a short time.

What had started with a small lie by omission quickly escalated. When Zack started making me drive him to work, I had to tell Lauren something. I had to explain why I had to leave over half an hour earlier than usual to pick up Zack and come home later in the evenings.

I was in a difficult situation. I had often complained to Lauren about Zack and how terrible he was.

When you intend to lie you should put in a bit of truth in it to make it plausible. Now I changed my opinion about Zack, and I told Lauren how he had matured in the last months. I said he was now actually a decent guy and we got along much better. After a few days, I told Lauren that Zack's car had broken down and I had offered myself to help him get to work. I said I was doing it until he could afford a new car. It was a bit far fetched but luckily Lauren bought my story.

It worked for a while but then Zack made me buy groceries for him and follow him home and make dinner for him. I had to invent more stories to tell Lauren why I was late. Unable to think of anything better I said Zack and I had stopped for a beer on the way home. Then it was easy to reuse the same lie every time Zack forced me to do things around his apartment.

Lauren thought it was funny I bonded with someone I had earlier disliked so much. She would joke and say that her 30-year crisis was rubbing off on me since I was hanging out with someone who was only 21. I had lied about how old he was as well since I said we drank beer together. The lies were piling up. I did not want to make Lauren worried about me losing my job, so I still felt I was doing the right thing. Besides, I was still hoping I would get out of my mess at work and get rid of Zack once and for all.

The weekend came and it was a relief, so I did not have to cope with the shit Zack was putting me through. I did have to cope with Lauren bringing up Zack several times though. I was reluctant to talk about him since it meant I was lying through my teeth and I hated myself for it. I tried to change the subject, but Lauren's interest was piqued. I spent so much time with him, and it was such a 180-degree turn compared to before. Somehow, I got through the weekend keeping my story straight.

Monday morning arrived and it did not feel better. The first thing was Zack chastising me again for being late picking him up. I had to 'compensate' him by buying him lunch. Not that it was that difficult. None of the other guys wanted to eat with me since I sided with Zack and even covered for him when he messed up as usual.

I do not know if it were pride or what, but I could not admit to my colleagues that Zack had set me up. I did not want to tell our boss had made me be Zack's puppet. Deep down I knew everybody would believe me if I told them the truth. The situation had all the hallmarks of Zack's malice. I would get their support, but my own stupid pride was holding me back and I could not make myself tell them. I was living in a lie and it was becoming more and more difficult. Both at work and at home.

One Thursday was a disaster. Lauren commuted to work by bus, but she needed the car. It happened once in a while and usually, we solved it by her going with me to work and then she would take the car. It meant that Lauren would meet Zack and it was bad on so many levels. It was with more than a bit of trepidation I drove us over to Zack's apartment to pick him up.

Zack looked surprised when I was not alone but found himself and got into the back seat. He and Lauren started talking after introductions and they chatted along all the way to work. I could not believe it when Zack actually flirted with Lauren and she coyly flirted back. I felt relief when we finally arrived.

We all exited the car and Lauren walked around to the driver's side and embraced me.

"You never told me Zack is a hunk." She cast a meaningful glance over the car at Zack. She gave me a kiss and deliberately pressed her mound against me in a suggestive way.

"I should get to know him better." She giggled and let me go and got into the car.

Zack and I stood next to each other and looked at the car driving away.

"You never told me your wife is hot," Zack exclaimed. I cringed and did not reply. I did not want to talk about Laura with Zack.

"She has amazing boobs! And her ass looked hot too." Zack gushed. "I bet you fuck her all the time. I know I would do it if she was my wife." He had his evil grin as he looked at me.

I knew he was goading me, and I tried not to become upset, but it was difficult.

"I rather not talk about her," I replied.

Zack looked at me, his eyes narrowed.

"You haven't told her, have you?" He asked.

I did not say anything, but I could not meet his gaze and he started chuckling.

"Man, you are in a pickle now." Zack goaded me. "You should never lie to your woman."

My cheeks burned. Zack was the last person I wanted to find out I was lying.

"It is none of your business." I tried to defend myself.

Zack was still chuckling with his evil grin.

"Bet you were scared she was meeting me, and not because she did not mind me checking out her boobs while we were talking." He continued.

I did not reply but started walking. Zack followed, still chuckling to himself. He was becoming better at getting under my skin and he had really unnerved me with his comments. He might goad me with sexistic comments about my wife, but it was a lot worse when he realized I was lying to her.

But I was more rattled about Lauren's comment about Zack being hot. Back in the days when we started dating and became a couple had we been rather wild. We had done all sorts of kinky stuff together and experimented a lot. One time we had on a dare booked a vacation at a nude resort. It was exciting and a lot of fun. We had met another couple and ended up swapping. It was a strong experience, and we talked many times about it afterward when we were home again. I admitted I had liked the girl but had been more excited about the other guy having sex with Lauren.

It developed into a recurring bedroom fantasy about Laura with another man. One night when we both were a bit drunk, we put an ad on a dating site looking for a man who did not mind that I was present. We were surprised by how many answers we got, and we met a guy. His name was Lucas, and he was a nice guy, both good looking and easygoing. After meeting a couple of times, we took him home and he had sex with Lauren while I watched. It was an even stronger experience than when we had been swapping. It did not take long before we invited Lucas again.

We met other men as well, but we kept coming back to Lucas. We got to know him better and our meetings evolved to him taking Lauren out on dates and bringing her to his place. Lauren would spend the night and he would drive her home again in the morning. She was reeking of sex and another man and I would be on her as soon as she had closed the front door. The last time Laura met him was the same week she and I got married. It had been a strong experience since it was so close to our wedding. But on our honeymoon, she told me she wanted to become a faithful wife. She said she wanted to stop meeting other men, including Lucas.

Lately, Lauren had told me she wanted to feel young again and do crazy stuff as we did in the beginning when we had met. It was a clear message to me when she had pressed her mound against me. She had liked Zack's attention and she was open for more. She had also commented about him being good-looking.

I did my best to avoid talking about Zack with Lauren. But on the weekend, she asked me if I should invite Zack over for dinner. It was bad in so many ways but as Zack had put it, I was in such a pickle that I had no plausible way to turn the idea down.

All through the following week, Lauren asked me and I lied. I said I had asked Zack, but he could not come for one reason or another. Lauren was more insistent the following weekend. I did not want to admit it to myself, but I knew Lauren found Zack attractive. She had never been shy telling me and I had seen her go all the way and have sex with several men. I knew well what made her interested and Zack was definitely her type.

We had both enjoyed it when we had been fooling around. We had liked it even when she had been dating Lucas like she was his girlfriend. I knew she was still occasionally texting with him. I did not think it was something bad or feel the least bit jealous. From Lauren's point of view, Zack was just another guy and it was normal for her to tell me she was attracted to him.

The week after Lauren reminded me every day to invite Zack and I invented reasons why he could not come. In the end, she got enough of my excuses and said she needed the car again on Thursday. I could not prove it, but I was sure she said it to meet Zack. Again, we were the three of us in the car and Zack and Lauren were definitely flirting. Lauren wore a tight top and I could tell she did not mind how Zack was ogling her chest.

She said she would be happy if Zack could join us at dinner on Friday. I felt ice-cold when she told Zack she knew he had turned down our offer several times, but she wanted him to come. I had not mentioned anything about dinner to Zack, but he took it in a stride and apologized. Then he said he would be happy to be with us on Friday.

We arrived at work and Zack began chuckling while we watched Lauren drive away. Then he turned towards me.

"You are really stuck with your balls in a vice." He said with his usual evil grin. "You have been lying again to your wife, haven't you?"

His chuckles turned into a laugh when I did not reply.

"Don't worry, I've got your back." Zack continued with his evil grin. "I will agree with everything you have told Laura. Tell her to put on sexy clothes for me tomorrow and your secrets are safe with me."

He walked away leaving me feeling miserable.

Friday night came and Zack made me swing by his apartment to freshen up before continuing home to my house. He put on jeans and a tight T-shirt that showed off his muscular chest and arms and I tried not to admit he was looking good.