You Just Don't Understand

YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND

"You just don't understand!"

"No, I understand fine. I just don't agree!"

"Scotty, if you really loved me, you would let me do this. It's only sex. It won't affect our marriage at all. If anything, it will make it better."

"I'm hearing about it now, Amber. Does it look like I am feeling better?"

"You are my husband and I want us to grow old together. Why can't you be a good husband and let me do this?"

"The problem is I am not longer your ONLY husband."

"That's nonsense."

"No, it's not. You have two husbands now. One you married, one you had children with, one you share income and expenses with, one you shared your life with, and that you now propose give sloppy seconds to in place of sex. Your other husband is your priority for having sex with. The one with whom you will share stories of how inadequate your husband by marriage is in order to justify your cheating. The problem your bigamous marriage arrangement is causing is that I don't agree to it. I don't remember at our wedding of marrying you and Ralph, or whatever your lover's name is."

"That's ridiculous. You're my one and only husband. Tim is just an outlet for sex you aren't able to provide. I will never give you sloppy seconds, I promise. Scotty, you are backwards thinking. You would be surprised how many of the women friends we have that have a lover on the side and their marriages are doing fine."

"You mean like Danielle who's on her third marriage? Amber, do you realize that you are going to a slut to get permission to act like a slut? Gee, I wonder what she will recommend you do?"

"Calling me and Danielle names is not going to help. Look, I've made up my mind I'm going to do this. I deserve it after all of these years of turning down men who were interested in me. I stayed loyal and contented myself with my husband and been an equal partner in finances, child raising, and sex. Now that the children basically take care of themselves, it's time for me to start rewarding myself for all the hard work I have done. Having a little sex on the side is very little to ask after all I have provided you and this family. And don't you dare threaten getting a divorce. It will ruin you and your business while the kids and I will get along just fine."

"You know Amber, now that I think of it, you having a lover might not be so bad after all. I will agree to you having an affair on one condition."

"Finally, you're getting the big picture. What is the condition? I promise to meet it if at all possible."

"Oh it's easily possible. In fact, it's simple. If you hadn't planned on doing this already, please video your fucking and sucking and give me a copy."

"What? Have you become a pervert where you want to watch you wife make love to another man? Why would you want a video? To help you masturbate?"

"I would just like to test your belief that 'everybody does it' and 'it's not big deal.' I plan on showing it to our kids, sending it to your parents and siblings, our friends and neighbors as well as those who are related to and know me. I would like to see if any of them are as 'hip' and 'modern thinking' as you. I will let them tell me where I was wrong to think otherwise."

"Well, you can just forget it, buster. I will meet my lover and you will not get pictures. You don't know where we will meet, but it will be somewhere you could not possibly get pictures. If you would just accept this, I will have my fun and then come home, and we can resume our life with no harm done."

Scotty went upstairs and started packing while Amber stayed downstairs ranting and raving. He came down and said, "You go ahead and meet your lover. I will get proof of your cheating whether you provide it or not."

"Oh no, you won't."

After he left, he said to himself. "She's in for a surprise when I show up at Room 433 at the Holiday Inn Express tonight. I can't believe that idiot Tim texted her the location. I just 'happened' to pick up her phone when she was in the bathroom."

*****

Amber knocked lightly on the door of Room 433. She continually scanned the hallway for signs of anyone lurking around. There was no one. Tim opened the door dressed only in his boxers. She slipped in.

"Someone's anxious I see." She kissed him.

"I just don't want to waste a minute we have."

"Don't worry. This is just our first time. I laid down the law to my hubby tonight about us. We'll have lots more chances."

"How did he react?"

"He was upset a little. I think he understands he has no other reasonable choice. I'll be extra nice to him in bed a couple of nights and things will be back to normal, the new normal that is. We do need to do something before we start. Scotty threatened to find us and get proof of our liaison. Just to be safe, we need to check the room for camera and microphones." They spent the next 15 minutes looking at every feature of the room. Nothing was found.

Amber took her time taking off her clothes in front of a nude Tim laying on the bed with his head propped up to watch. His dick seemed to want to imitate a flagpole by standing up rigidly. Pre-cum was leaking out.

Once naked, Amber knelt down and took Tim in her mouth. She was a little disappointed that he was not bigger than her husband, but since it was a different dick, a 'forbidden' dick, she still felt the excitement and almost overwhelming lust. It didn't take much licking and bobbing for Tim to shoot off his first load. Amber gagged. "Damn, why didn't you warn me?"

"I figured you would swallow. I thought all women do it now."

"Well, I like that to be MY choice. I don't have a chance to choose when you don't warn me. Now I have a mess to clean up before Round Two." She got a washcloth and a hand towel to clean the sperm that was on the bed cover and floor. Amber was glad that they did not create a wet spot yet in the middle of the bed. "He better eat pussy well. I plan to make a bigger mess than this." She grinned.

She lay down on the bed with her legs spread. "Skip the tit fondling and get to eating." Tim readily obeyed and began licking and flicking between her lower lips. Amber was not overly impressed technique, but he was enthusiastic. It didn't matter too much because she was primed and ready. An orgasm washed over her body within a few minutes. She was ready for the main act. "Stick it in now, lover. Fill me up with your cum."

Tim lined his penis up with the reddened pussy he had just fucked with his tongue. Suddenly, a huge THUD! was heard at their hotel room door.

"What the hell was that?" Both had shouted.

Tim walked cautiously to the door. He looked out the peep hole. "There's a man down on the hallway carpet. He looks like he is unconscious."

Amber got up and came over, "Here let me look." After she looked, she exclaimed, "It's my husband, Scotty! Oh my god. How did he know where we were?"

Tim offered, "Should we call 911? I think he really hurt himself trying to break down our door."

"No, wait. He's probably just knocked out. Scotty believes we are in this room, but he hasn't really seen us. If we leave before he wakes up, he can't prove we were even here. Maybe that will show him to not try to spy on us."

"You just want to leave him there?"

"Sure, if he doesn't wake up soon, someone will find him and call for help. He'll probably only have a big headache to go along with his big humiliation." Amber and Tim quickly put on their clothes and left. They had to step over his body to get out.

Amber and Tim called it a night. Amber returned home figuring Scotty would go back to whatever cheap hotel room he was staying in and take a few aspirin. She had brief, but good, memories of her time with Tim. She was hoping to dream of her next, uninterrupted, time with him.

About 2:30 in the morning, the doorbell rang several times and there was heavy knocking on the door. She put on a robe and went to the door. Looking out the peephole, she saw a deputy sheriff standing there. He looked old to be a law officer and his belly was straining the buttons on his shirt. She partially opened the door and asked, "Yes. What is it?"

"Are you Amber Stephens?"

"Yes. What's the matter?"

"Is your husband, Scott Stephens?"

"Yes, has something happened to him?"

"Yes m'am. I'm sorry to tell you that he is dead."

"What? Dead? It can't be. How did it happen?" She started crying.

"Damn, I hate these type of calls. The old guy close to retirement gets the shitty duties. I'm sorry for your loss m'am. I'm even sorrier that I have to ask you a few questions.

"He was found dead lying in the hallway in front of Room 433 at the Holiday Inn Express about midnight. I'm afraid you can't see the body for a while. They're doing an autopsy."

"An autopsy?"

"Any time foul play is suspected an autopsy is performed. It's the law."

"Foul play?"

"Yes, someone usually don't keel over dead in a pool of blood of their own free will."

"Blood, there was no blood." Amber realized immediately she had messed up. "I mean . . . "

"It means you just admitted to knowing your husband was attacked, if you didn't' do it yourself."

"We had nothing to do with it. He ran into the door and knocked himself out."

"I assume by we you mean you and a Tim Grace?"

"Yes, we were having a . . . meeting in Room 433 when Scotty tried to break down the door. He mistakenly thought we were doing something we shouldn't be doing."

"Look lady, I'm not the morality police. I don't care what kind of 'meeting' you and Mr. Grace were having. Mr. Grace, as the person who rented Room 433, has already been questioned and confessed the sexual nature of your meeting. He even said that you had told him your husband had been agreeable to you and him having sex. I would say he was wrong in that assumption."

"Are you . . . arresting me?"

"Not at this time. I wish I could arrest you for leaving your husband to die on a hallway floor, but . . .

"I swear I thought he was only knocked out. I never saw any blood. I was sure he would only have a bad headache."

"Whatever. I think there may be a charge related to leaving a person in distress without notifying the proper authorities, but for right now I'm not putting you under arrest. You and Mr. Grace are, as we say 'persons of interest' in the death of Mr. Stephens. Do not leave town. I'm sure you will be brought downtown for questioning after we have the results of the autopsy. You might want to think about hiring a defense attorney, especially if the charge becomes murder."

Amber didn't get any sleep that night. She tried calling Tim, but his phone went to voice mail all seven times she tried. Later that Saturday morning she made a pot of coffee. When she realized she had made a full pot because she was used to making coffee for both her and her husband, it hit her how lonely it was and would be without her husband. She was overwhelmed by what all she would have to do to maintain a home and family without Scotty. Besides the funeral, there would be taking over all the household bills, the insurance matters and the loans and who knows how many legal matters. How could she financially manage as a single parent? And what if Tim and I get charged with murder? We didn't kill him, but innocent people are found guilty all the time. By leaving him without calling for help, it makes us look guilty. The crying returned in earnest.

She looked at the clock. It was close to 9:00 am. There were three hours before the kids returned from there visit to their Aunt and cousins. Scotty's sister Beatrice had two kids close in age to their two kids. They were like brothers and sisters, alternately loving and hating each other but always wanting to be together. She wondered, "How in the world can I explain what happened to their father? The whole truth would devastate them and make them hate me forever. How can I face his sister and his parents? How could I face my parents? How in the world will I explain if they find- out that I just left him there to die? Why did I betray the best man I have ever known just to get a bit of mediocre sex?"

Noon came around and the children had not returned. She figured that his parents had been notified and they, in turn, had told their daughter that Scotty was dead. At least they won't have heard about my part in things.

His sister may have told the kids. But if that was so, why hadn't they called her? Why hadn't her children been anxious to return home to their mother in this time of crisis? Surely, they couldn't know about her and Tim and us leaving him there to die.

Without hearing from the kids or her sister-in-law parents by 2:00, Amber made a phone call.

"Hello?" It was Beatrice, Scotty's sister.

"Bea, this is Amber. Have you heard . . . "

"You've got a lot of nerve calling here. Yes, we've heard about my brother's death AND your adultery. I might have forgiven your adultery but leaving him to die in a pool of his own blood without calling for an ambulance. What kind of sick person are you?" Bea started crying before continuing, "The kids know he's dead and that you left him to die. They have told me in no uncertain terms that they don't want to go home to you. Not now, not soon, maybe never. I intend to keep them until they say they want to go home, or a court of law says I have to give them to you. I'm hoping before then you will be in jail, bitch."

"How could you know about what I did?"

"Duh? I'm married to the Sheriff, or did you forget that when you forgot your marriage vows?"

"Bea, I swear I didn't . . . Hello? She hung up on me."

She called Tim several times more with no success. Amber had no one to turn to. She was seriously considering suicide. A bottle of vodka became her source of comfort instead.

Amber ate little and drank a lot over the rest of the weekend. The only task she completed was going to the liquor store for more vodka. Monday morning, she called in sick to work. Evidently, no one at the office had heard about Scotty dying. No one said anything to her except 'I hope you get to feeling better soon.'

Amber chastised herself. "Feeling better soon? How about feeling better EVER? I am in the worst situation of my life and it's all my fault."

Around noon that Monday, the doorbell rang. "I guess that's the police coming to question me." She opened the door and saw a young man with a package.

"I have a package for an Amber Stephens."

"That's me."

"I'm sorry Ms., but I have to see some ID. I'll get in big trouble with my boss if I didn't prove I got the package to the right person."

Amber went and got her purse. She showed the young man her driver's license. He smiled, handed her the package and said, "You've been served. Have a nice rest of the day."

She tore open the package. There was a Dissolution of Marriage petition. Her first thought was that Scotty had started divorce proceedings before he died. There was also a letter inside. The envelope had her name on it. It was in Scotty's handwriting. The letter inside said:

"Amber,

"Although I hate to give you a break from your mourning, no, I'm not dead. I hope you've been totally miserable and guilty and ashamed about what you did with Tim and what you thought you had done to me. I had not planned all of this to happen, but it accidently became even better than I had planned. This may seem like bragging on my part, but so what.

"You idiot boyfriend texted you the location for your tryst. I saw it on your phone when, as usual, you left it in one room while going to the bathroom. That's how I knew where you were. My original plan was to break down the door and take pictures of you two to send out to our kids, my relatives, your relatives, your boss and co-workers, and anyone else I knew you knew. Then I was going to divorce you regardless of how bad the division of assets would be.

"Well, I found out that hotel doors are a lot harder to break down than what you see in the movies and on the cop shows on television. I cracked my skull and knocked myself unconscious. No, there was no pool of blood, but I thought making you think so was a nice touch. Anyway, when I woke up, I saw that you two had left and that you probably figured you had thwarted my attempt to embarrass you two.

"I don't know if it was the bump on my head or what, but I got this fantastic idea. I called my brother-in-law, the Sheriff, and told him my idea. He said he could not use his real deputies to help me, but he hooked me up with a guy who had recently retired. For a few bucks, the guy studied the script I gave him, put on his old uniform, and came to see you. While he was seeing you, I visited Tim with my friends Smith & Wesson and made him an offer he couldn't refuse regarding talking to you. With a little persuasion, he made a confession as to what you two did and were planning to do. Coincidently, I just happened to record it. By the way, he probably won't be brave enough to contact you at least until the divorce is finalized. His balls should have healed by then.

"My sister loved my idea for revenge and played along. She told the kids that we had asked for her to keep them a few days longer and threw in a trip to Holiday World as a way to distract them. Don't worry. They never heard that I was dead, or you were a bad Samaritan. I still plan to tell them the truth about why we're divorcing unless you do, and I mean the whole truth. I'm not sure about playing them the tape. Maybe if they doubt we are telling them the truth.

"Yes Amber, we are divorcing. No, you are not going to rape me in the divorce. Tim's confession is quite convincing and at the very least, make people wonder about you and your modern morals. So, unless you want lots of people and I mean lots of people hear Tim's version of your affair, you will take the fair distribution of assets I have proposed.

"Whatever you do, don't tell me that you really didn't have sex because Tim's penis didn't make it into your vagina. You cheated on me enough to warrant a divorce as soon as you came up with the idea to fuck Tim.

"Why didn't I just file for divorce? The first reason was that I needed leverage to get a fair settlement. After breaking in and getting pictures didn't work, I created the drama play you participated in was to get leverage I needed. The second reason was revenge. I desperately wanted to inflict a great deal of pain on you for having done something that tore my heart out. I think I succeeded beyond my hopes.

"Amber, I loved that's the past tense of love you above anyone or anything else in my life. You asked me to do the one thing I could never do for you: share you with another man. Now, you've found that out.

"Bottom line, you got busted and you've paid part of the price. Reduce your future suffering and sign the papers.

"Your former husband but never a cuckold,

"Scotty"

*****

EPILOGUE

Amber was a broken woman. She signed the papers and in the months that followed was faithful in letting Scotty have the children whenever he wanted. She told the kids the whole truth about what she had done. It took them a while to talk to her, much less forgive her. Their Dad had not found a place he could afford that was large enough for them to stay more than a couple of overnights. They never felt as close to their mother, however, than before her betrayal.

She was always friendly towards Scotty when she saw him and made it a point to invite him for family gatherings like birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Anniversaries that would have been celebrated had she not messed up, were days of mourning instead. Amber even welcomed Scotty when he brought a female friend with him a couple of times. Privately, she prayed that he would not become serious about any of them. For her part, she didn't date or even flirt with men anymore.

On the second Christmas Eve night after the divorce, presents were opened and everyone seemed to forget the past and acted like a whole family for a few hours. The kids said goodnight to their Dad and went to bed. Before Scotty left, Amber asked him to stay for a cup of coffee. She said there was something she wanted to talk to him about. He agreed.