Bob never mentioned that night. He showed up a few days later; we went to dinner as usual; afterwards we went back to my apartment and made love, again as usual. He left around 10 PM that evening.
The next morning I found the remote for the butterfly on the kitchen counter. I put it with the vibrator in my nightstand.
Things at work were going better. Since I was now being noticed I started to get some appreciation for my work. In a few weeks I was promoted to team leader and put in charge of five other programmers.
I continued to spend money on myself. I invested in nice clothes, had my nails and hair done professionally. I dressed as a business professional at work; nevertheless, I noticed men at work - and women too - continued to notice me. Looking down at my new boobs I thought, "These things are power!"
Bob and I continued to coast along. Our love making settled into a more or less familiar rut. He wasn't so interested in embarrassing me at restaurants any more, seeming content with weekly sex.
Strange I didn't notice his behavior. Strange that I didn't connect the dots, so to speak.
He'd come by on Monday or Tuesday, almost never on a weekend. We'd have dinner and sex; after sex he'd leave, usually around 9 or 10. He never stayed overnight. I never met his friends or family.
One evening around 7 I'd just changed into my jeans and tee shirt after work and was relaxing on the couch, trying to decide whether to go to health club or stay home and watch TV. Bob had visited the night before so I wasn't expecting him when I heard a knock on my door. I peered out through the peephole and saw a pretty blonde woman standing on my stoop.
I opened the door. "Are you Staci Livingston?" She asked. "May I come in?"
Long story short, she was Bob's wife.
Turned out he was sneaking out for a "night out with the boys" twice a week. The nice lady told me she'd had him followed; I wasn't his only girlfriend; and she didn't think I knew he was married but would I please leave her husband alone?
I cried and cried after she left. It wasn't that we were in love (why weren't we? I wondered) but I'd assumed we were exclusive. Poor, dumb me!
I never saw Bob again. I wish I could say he begged me to take him back, promised to leave his wife and I refused but truthfully he never called or tried to see me at all. Which made it hurt even more, like a knife twisting in my stomach.
And so I went to work every day and went home and cried every night. I felt empty inside, used.
Then slowly, gradually, the sadness turned to anger.
I became angry at Bob. Instead of crying I'd imagine I had him tied spread eagled to my bed while I slowly castrated him with a dull knife. Or maybe I'd beat him with a baseball bat. Or sew him up in the sheets while he was asleep and beat him with a frying pan.
I joined a health club and began to exercise every day after work. That helped too, the exercise made me so tired I'd fall asleep as soon as I got home. An added benefit was I looked and felt even better.
Work went ok. My team completed a couple of projects; they were well received. I started to hear a general buzz around he office, my name was being mentioned for a managerial position.
It was about that time the company went bankrupt.
So I found myself out of work. Not a big deal, I had some money saved - plus with two Engineering degrees and five year's experience I didn't think I'd have a problem finding work. I took a short vacation, played around on the beach at Cozumel for a couple of weeks, then returned to Raleigh and started hunting a job.
Now, I'm skimming over a lot here, mostly because it just isn't that interesting. During my "mad" phase I'd gone to the club Bob had taken me too where I met my second man. I never saw Bob or the man with the blue truck there again, but being a lone female in a bar I was an instant target. I let myself get picked up a couple of times, there were a couple of one night stands and a bout with Trich which made me itch like hell and also made me more careful.
Problem was work. I knew if people where I worked thought I was cruising the bars I'd lose respect. Since I wanted the manager job I needed the respect, so I quit going out and didn't date at all. For six months before the company went belly up all I did was work, exercise, and watch TV.
After my vacation I went on a couple of job interviews but wasn't in a hurry to jump into anything. The third interview changed my mind.
The job was in Atlanta. The man interviewing me was nice, polite, in his forties. He had a picture of his wife and two kids on his desk. He wanted me to set up an Internet site and do some programming for him. He was willing to pay me almost twice what I'd been making at my last job.
Intrigued, I asked him more about my job duties. He swore me to secrecy (common in IT interviews) and told me about his business.
"Actually a woman would be prefect for this job," he said. "The other girls wouldn't feel...exploited."
The guy (I'll call him Fred) owned and operated the largest strip club in the Atlanta area, two adult bookstores, and something called a "dungeon". I started to walk out right then but Fred assured me the businesses were legitimate. He told me he didn't have trouble with the police and didn't allow drugs or prostitution. He wanted to set up some websites to advertize the bookstore and strip club, and promote the dungeon.
Fred assured me I'd be working in an office, not in some sleazy club. He gave me "carte blanche" with respect to equipment. He even offered me THREE times my old salary.
I finally accepted.
The next week I started setting up my office. It was on the third floor of an office building, in the suite with Fred's office. He had an accountant and a couple of secretaries and the lawyer who officed down the hall was on retainer.