Win Lose or What

Win, Lose or What?

And the results of marrying a slut.

Thanks to the forwarding feature of the site I got introduced to a new Writer. He forwarded me the draft of this story he had worked on, asking me to see what I could do with it. It was nice to learn that some of my stories had inspired him to start writing. I took this story and modified it and sent it back to him. It is with Imoverit41's blessing that I have posted our story. Hopefully, he will feel that I have done justice to his concept.

Another double Jim Beam and a draft were being set down in front of me. It was being placed there by my favorite sister in law by marriage. Miranda and my wife's brother had been married for years. It's a good thing they owned the bar because they were raising six. Two of their children were named after my wife and me.

Jeff and Ed were having the same. We were sitting in our usual spots

at Scallywags

. We've been coming here for many years to blow off steam and talk shit. Miranda was a true friend to us all and had never steered us wrong. I'm Thomas Ewell, everyone calls me Ewell.

I'm now an automation controls technician still working for one of my uncle's former investments at least until the end of the month. Jeff is an electrician and Ed is an ordnance technician. Jeff has done well and is working as the main Port Engineer at the shipyard. He is the happy father of two daughters.

Ed is working with a well know family that he married into that does building demolition work. He's doing very well. Having married into money his wife often accompanied him when he was on site. They leave their children in the hired staff's hands. Although Ed travels a lot, we still get to hang with him at least twice a month.

As for myself, it's all I can do to manage my newly acquired wealth and estate. My biological father who had been my Uncle Jack during my formative years had passed away a few months ago, and I was still adjusting to the mammoth task of filling his shoes.

Janis Jack's wife had been left a widow with three children ranging from twelve to eight. Two girls and a boy named Jack Evan Ewell Jr. Jack had set up his wife and children for life even though he had left the bulk of his estate to me knowing that because of our history I would do what was right for all.

My wife decided to have her tube's tied after she brought our fourth into the world. Having two boys and two girls was enough. To her, her greatest accomplishment was seeing our brood being raised right. I still thank god every night for her coming into my crazy life. Surprisingly our relationship gets stronger every day.

Today was a special day for the three of us, and no matter where or what we were doing we always made the point of getting back to this bar to be together on this day. It was a day set aside by us for reflecting and remembering the value and importance of our lifelong friendship.

*******

Jeffrey Butler, Edward Davis, and I had grown up together here in Mississippi. We all had joined the Navy together and were stationed together for most of the time we were in. We had all been married for four years and had divorced our first wives at the same time. Those who knew us called us the three 'amigos.'

While out at sea, we all took college courses through the Navy Campus for all our academics. We all did CLEP Tests and applied for credits based on our career paths and knowledge. While we were trying to up our game through education and working hard at our crafts. It was a great friendship because we used our strengths to help the other out when needed.

Our wives we thought were doing the same in their relationship with each other and that they were continuing their education. When we asked them about it, they all seemed to have only positive things to say. The three of them had been best friends forever since they all had started junior high. Let me explain who we are.

My friends and I had grown up just outside Biloxi Mississippi. From my first memories, we were a group. Jeff, Ed and I spent a lot of our time growing up over at my Uncle Jacks. He has a twenty-acre estate on the Mississippi River about five miles from where most of us lived.

Not sure why at the time, but he and my grandparents never spoke. He absolutely could not stand my

Aunt Mary Jane

who was his sister in law and was only cordial with my mom and dad. For some unknown reason, he had fallen out of a relationship with his brother, my father before my mom and dad got married. On the other hand, he always treated me and the guy's great.

He would let us stay over on weekends and holidays in the main house. We played basketball, baseball, soccer, and went fishing out on the river. Jack never seemed too busy to spend time with us or talk to us if one of us had a problem, unlike our parents.

I guess it's like that these days though for most teenagers with mom's and dad's trying to make ends meet. For the three of us, my Uncle Jack knew us better than our parents.

We were in our senior year when the Navy Recruiters came to our school and gave the graduating class their presentation. They told of the educational benefits of continuing our education using the Navy resources available to their enlisted members while building a career. Unknowing they had lit a fire in our bellies.

I and the guys talked it over with our parents and then as a group. Being raised around the river all of our lives we were drawn to water and it was part of us as we were it. Although none of our moms were happy with it, we all signed up to go directly after graduating high school.

Our fathers were all proud and already bragging about us. As for Jeff, Ed and myself, we were excited about the new adventures facing us. Uncle Jack was excited for us as well because he too had been a Navy man himself for a few years.

*******

As a graduation/going away to the Navy present, Jack drove us over to Meridian to see the base. The true reason was to open each of us an account at Navy Federal. He put eighteen hundred in each of our accounts to start us out. That way we had funds to support ourselves the first month.

After the bullshit of Boot Camp, we each went to our respective schools and had done very well. All three of us had signed into their six-year program and were made Third Class Petty Officers after graduating navy school with honors.

During that time all three of us had decided to get serious about life. As a group, during that period we all had asked our girlfriends to get married after our graduation from Navy school. That only gave them a short time to get ready if they said yes.

We thought there would be some resistance from our parents, and we're amazed when all twelve parents were excited and on-board with it. Now looking back, we wonder if it was the girlfriends' parents who convinced our girlfriends to say yes. Little did we realize just how immature we were all about life.

It was a triple wedding at Patriot Park on the river. Our church pastor, a family friend performed the ceremony. The whole church and half the people we went to high school with were there. There were no caterers as all the food was handled by the ladies from the church except for the barbecue. All of the dad's friends had pitched in and it looked like grill city behind the serving line.

If you left there hungry, it was your own damn fault. It was truly one of the greatest events our town had seen in many years. Even the Mayor made a short congratulatory speech and wished us well as we would be headed to our first ship in a month.

For a while, it was like the parents had all achieved celebrity status around town and they would often get together as a group to do things. We had all agreed to wait on starting families. Getting ourselves more established in our careers, and saving money needed to be a priority. So off we went. Our moms were proud but worried.

Because of us all needing to save money for a house we all agreed that we would move in with our wives' parents until we had saved enough for a down payment since most of the time the three of us would be at sea. All three girls would work while continuing to improve their education. At that time the six of us were united in our goals and our dreams.

********

Before leaving out to sea for the first time, we met with the personnel/educational officer and set up the Navy Campus courses we could take online. We kept this from the girls as we wanted to surprise them with our diplomas when we received them.

We worked hard, helped each other and persevered. You know the old sailors saying, "When the anchor is up, time is irrelevant." Time was passing quickly for me and the guys.

When we were on shore leave in a strange port, we behaved ourselves because we were newly married and did not want to have to lie about our conduct to our new wives. Things are always easier to do when you have the moral support of friends who think like you.

We wrote a few times a week while out to sea as did the girls, at least during our first time out. Katie started to write less and less after that. It became a few times a month. I asked about it and she said it was just that they have been so busy with work, school and being tired all the time. I accepted that and was not worried.

After the eight-month cruise, the longest we have ever been on we were granted leave for a month at home. From their letters, we knew that the girls had all gotten jobs together working at the Executive Dinners Club at one of the luxury casinos. Members-only or as a guest of management was the only way you could get in. That's because it was used as a marketing plus for the very posh.

You had to be recommended to get hired by them, so we all knew a friend had set them up as hostesses and greeters. They were making very good pay and gratuities. I was surprised to discover how much money Katie was pulling in.

We all knew about the place. It was for the country club types. Big businessmen and women and their husbands and wives. The girls were happy with their jobs and appeared to be putting away a fair amount of money towards the down payments of our first home. The three of us were proud of their accomplishments and their apparent eagerness towards building their lives with us.

Time moved on and we were back at sea. It was another six months of training and workups. Then a seven-month deployment. We were First Class Petty Officers now after this last deployment and were going to shore duty at Naval Air Station Meridian about 150 miles from where we had grown up.

The girls also had new jobs that they failed to tell us about. They had all three become Personal Assistants for Executives they had met while working at the dinner club. Very good pay with good benefits package. What we would learn later the hard way would be a game-changer for a lot of people's lives.

******

The ship was dockside at zero six hundred. Four years to the day that we had first departed. We all had our vehicles from storage and were on our way home by zero eight hundred. We didn't tell the girls or families we were on our way home on leave for thirty days before starting our shore duty at home.

After four years at sea, it would be nice to work permanently on land. We were wanting to surprise them. The only thing on our mind was seeing our wives again and the start of building our lives like most normal couples would.

We stopped off at Scallywags our favorite haunt for a beer before splitting up for our wives' homes. We got some strange looks and heard whispering behind our backs but couldn't figure any of it out. We were just excited to be home and on leave.

Each of us had our diplomas through SIU. That was part of our surprise to them along with new orders assigning us all close to home. The three of us were coming home as proud educated men.

We didn't go out very much while in port. We worked hard on school and advancement so we would all have a good future. Being stationed aboard ship was tough on a young family.

We had once again all agreed that to help save up for our new homes and starting our families having the wives staying at their parent's home had been one of the wisest things we had ever done. All three of us were looking forward to getting our home and starting a real married life. Our new assignments would allow us to do just that because we would be at home each night.

As such we all still had our bank accounts and owned nothing jointly. We were more than ready now, and more importantly, we were now able to afford whatever that we as a couple decided to do.

Having been together as boyfriends and girlfriends since ninth grade, we never worried about the long separations. They were home waiting for us. Not to mention, all of our parents, mostly the mom's, were great friends. Hell, it was the mom's that paired us all up in the first place. What could go wrong? Right?

I stopped off and got flowers for Katie and her mom. I called my mom and told her I was home and would be over later on. She tried to say something, but in my excitement, I cut her off telling her I had to go, that I was already pulling up to Katie's mother's place. I thought I heard her yelling 'NO 'as I hung up. I was just too excited to think about it. I was home and would be holding the love of my life in a few minutes.

With flowers in hand, I almost ran to the door. Katie's mom Susan came to the door and in total shock dropped her glass of iced tea and ran to the kitchen screaming "Noooo." It caused an uproar because Katie's dad came to see what was going on.

Bob dropped his head down without greeting me as if he was ashamed and came out on the front porch with me shutting the front door behind him. I set the flowers down on the porch because I knew something was not right. Then as he was about to speak, I saw Katie was pulling up with her cellphone to her ear.

She looked at me, I saw her face turn white. She started screaming 'No! this cannot be.' She then did a doughnut in the front yard tearing it up. Having pulled into the driveway she had turned through the yard leaving over the street curb before she sped off.

Her actions made it clear that whatever was going on was such a serious nature that she at this time was not prepared to face me. She had run in a panic because she needed time to figure out what to do.

I just stood there with her dad for a few moments staring at the rear of her car as she flew down the street. I was wondering what the fuck had I come home to. So much for a happy reunion. Everything was upside down from what I had expected. I knew I had come home unexpectedly to where I wasn't wanted. Sonofabitch its a hard way to learn that home is not your home anymore.

I knew whatever I had come home to, it had to be bad. I could hear Katie's mom inside yelling and crying on the phone. Once again, Bob, Katie's dad started to say something, but he stopped when he saw my mom and dad pulling up. Dad had been speeding and had hit the brakes hard. Mom was talking a mile a minute to someone on her cellphone. I assumed it had to be Katie's mom.

Me? Well, I just stood there completely shocked and amazed by what was playing out right before my eyes. My gut was telling me that my marriage was over. Without having to hear a thing from anyone the events in front of me made it appear to be true.

I knew I had to get away to think and plan my next move. While mom and dad were heading over to Bob, I kicked the newly purchased flowers into the air just missing my mom's head by inches. I started walking to my truck before anyone could stop me, I was driving away. Where do you think I went? Scallywags of course.

Inside I was in shock, upset, yet to all who saw me, I was calm. I had to thank the Navy for that. I went to the motel office and got a room for the night after paying for it with my debit card. I then cut through the lobby and into the lounge after leaving my seabag in my room. Convenient setup, don't you think?

I already had a couple of double shots and a draft and had ordered another round when mom and dad walked in. Like any creature of habit, they had known where to find me. I was trying to drown my sorrow as fast as I could.

"Son," my dad said. This isn't going to...."

I cut him off and mom gasped.

I said coldly "Before you start, let me say a few things. I just got in-port this morning. Drove three hours to get here, hoping to surprise everyone, especially Katie, only to find that for reasons unknown to me that my marriage is most likely over and no one thought enough of me or the guy's to let us know that something bad was going on."

It was sad but for the first time in my life, I saw my mother's face turn white. My Dad had his head bent down towards the ground as if he was ashamed to look me in the eye.

I paused taking a big breath after that mouthful, before I continued, "I've got a room. Here's the key card. I don't want to hear anything just yet. I'm going to get toasted as I try to figure a few things out for myself and sleep in tomorrow. Then we can all talk."

They weren't happy about it, but all bull shit aside, in my state of mind I didn't give a shit. After all, they hadn't said a thing. It made me wonder if they had agreed on how to resolve all of this beforehand. This wasn't about them. Or was it?

I gave Miranda my key card, we had all known her for years. She has been a bartender here for about ten years and hears it all. I knew she knew what was going on when I and the guys had stopped in earlier but as the professional, she was, had minded her own business. I had to respect her for that. I figured her to be around thirty and knew that was still quite attractive. She knew my parents as well and told them she would look after me as mom and dad left.

Mom was bitching and crying something about them needing to get me to fall in line with what was going on as all the men she knew did as dad walked her out. That made no sense to me at all. Why the fuck would my mother expect me to accept the end of my marriage and dreams as a normal thing.

"Welcome home by the way," Miranda said as she set me up again. "This rounds on the house."

I gave as good a smile as good as I could and said. "Thanks."

Miranda came around from behind the counter after my father and mother had left and whispered in my ear. "Katie is knocked up and it's rumored to be her boss's."

"Thanks, that explains a lot," I said. "I wonder how long it will take all those involved to tell me?"

About an hour later, I was told, my dad had returned with Bob and put me to bed in my rented room after finding me totally drunk.

*******

I woke around seven or seven-thirty. Surprisingly, not hungover. I was hungry. I had slept at least twelve hours as it had still early when I got to the bar. I have never drunk that much at one time in my life and had no plans of doing it again.

I got up and washed my face and hands, went to the office and asked for my keys when I was checking out. They didn't have them. My dad had taken them with him when he left just to keep me safe.

I got my spare from my hitch safe and headed for home. Mom and dad were just getting up when I came through the door with my sea-bag. I needed a shower and something to eat. I was still wearing what I had slept in.

After my shower and getting dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt, I went to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. I would get something to eat at the Waffle House on my way to Katie's later.

"How do you feel this morning Tom?" my Mom asked. Mom almost had that 'I hope your head is pounding' sound to her voice.

"I'm feeling good physically," I said. "Mentally, not so much. I'm going to head over to Katie's as soon I'm done with my coffee and see what's what. It's time someone told me the truth about what is going on."