AUTHOR'S NOTE: This fantasy story contains scenes of a sexual nature, including extramarital sex, unprotected sex, and group sex, and a man watching his wife with another man. If these ideas offend you, please feel free to move on to another story.
Thanks for reading!
"Before we go to get her, there are some things you need to know."
"No, we should leave, now. Now."
"Tom, no, please listen to me." Darla walked him to a chair, guided him into it. She pulled the ottoman closer and sat on it, facing him. "Tom, please", she started, but he was distracted, thinking about Liz. She reached out, touched his face, turning his head towards her. "Tom, please, it's important that you understand before we leave." She looked him in the eyes, wondering if this was going to turn out the way it was supposed to. She took a deep breath, tried to keep her nervousness from showing.
***
Tom Raines struggled against his desire to leap out of the chair and storm out of the house. He glanced at Darla, and quickly turned to avoid her eyes. He didn't want to lash out at her; she was his only connection to Liz right now. Darla was Liz's best friend for almost ten years, since before Tom and Liz were married, and Tom trusted her, knew her and her husband.
Two weeks ago Liz had gone out on Friday night with Darla to celebrate Liz's 29th birthday. "Girl's night," they said. "Out with friends," they said. Liz had seemed preoccupied, but he had put that down to getting close to thirty.
She didn't come home that night.
The next day Darla was at Tom and Liz's house early in the morning. "Liz is OK," she assured him, "she's fine, she's not hurt or in trouble or anything." Her voice, normally confident and cheerful, was guarded. "She, uh," she told him hesitatingly, "needs some time to, um, find some things out," she stammered, "about herself."
In the almost decade Tom had known Darla and her husband, he'd never seen her so reserved and controlled.
"No, you can't see her, or call her," she'd replied to Tom's question. "She's fine, like I said, but she needs to be, uh, she needs to be away for a little bit." Her expression changed to a horrified panic when she saw Tom's face, and she quickly added, "No, not like that, nothing like that, Tom, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She smiled, and for a second Tom saw the Darla he knew, the smiling optimist. "She misses you already, I'm sure, no, she's not leaving and she loves you, you can count on that," she assured him. "She's not like, running out on you, or in detox, or anything. No. Nothing like that." He voice tailed off at the end, returning to the careful, slightly nervous delivery. "She just needs to sort some stuff out." She paused. "I know you miss her." Another pause. "I'll hear from her every couple of days, you know," she added, brightly. "I'll stop by and let you know how she's doing, if you want." She read the eagerness on his face. "I'll do that, then, when I hear from her, I'll stop by." She kissed him on the cheek as she always did. "You'll see, she'll be fine. She'll be better than ever, Tom. Two weeks is all, just two weeks." She was walking back to the car, and turned to call out before she got in. "Don't you worry, sweetie, she'll be fine."
Four times over the two weeks Darla had stopped by to reassure Tom that she'd heard from Liz, that she was fine, doing well. Was feeling good. Was coming along. Was having fun. Generic, non-descript statements. Liz could have been at a spa, a hospital, a camp or a hotel. The first report was welcome, was upbeat, and encouraging. The second and third were just frustrating, and started to feel too vague, like a cover-up, and not a good one. By the last one he was so scared and angry he nearly yelled at her, but by then there were only a few days left, and he didn't want anything to ruin Liz's return. He stressed, and internalized, and rode it out.
And now it was Saturday morning, two weeks had gone by, finally. And Darla was here to take him to Liz.
***
"Liz is OK, I promise."
"You told me that before."
"Tom, please. You have to listen." She took another breath, started again. "She's fine. I know you've been worried," she paused when she heard him grunt, but she kept on, "and that you're anxious to go get her, to bring her back." She watched as he took a deep breath, and he seemed to relax. "But really, she's fine, she's happy. You have to trust me." She watched him for a reaction. He was listening, but he was trying hard not to be convinced.
"I know it's been tough for you without Liz, being alone, and being worried, not knowing where she was or what she was doing. Who she was with. Or why." She put her hand on his knee. "Believe me, I know it's been tough for you. But soon we'll go, and in two hours we'll be there, and you'll see for yourself. She's fine, really. The people who have her would never harm her, or mistreat her, or anything."
"Have her?"
"What?"
"You said, 'the people who have her'. Not the people she's with. Have her. Like she's being held."
"Oh, no, it's not like that, not at all," she explained. "She's not being kept against her will, or anything like that. No," she shook her head, waving her hand dismissively, "no, nothing like that, don't you worry. She wants to be there, you'll see when you talk to her. She wants to be there."
"She wants to be there. Not here, with me." He turned his head, resisting again.
She leaned in closer, speaking softly, more urgently. "Tommy, honey, don't you even think that way. She loves you, you know that. And you love her, or you wouldn't be so worried about her." She rubbed his leg, gently, feeling the muscle flex beneath his pant leg. "She's my friend too, remember. Do you think I would let anyone hurt her? Ever?" She let her hand linger there, reached with the other and turned his head back to face hers again, gently. "She is fine, she's happy, and she loves you. You have to believe me." She sat, leaning towards him, both hands on his thighs now. "I can't let you get in that car until I'm sure you're all right. I need you to relax, it's a two-hour drive, and I want to be sure you're relaxed before we leave."
Two weeks without Liz, she thought, I bet he's tense. Poor thing.
Tom tried to hold her gaze, but couldn't. His mind was racing with anxiety and frustration. He was half elated to see Liz again, and half furious at her leaving. He was angry at Darla for defending her absence and grateful for the information she brought, but confused by her role in this. He imagined she wanted to come back to him, didn't want to come back, would come back changed, a different woman than who he married, wouldn't love him anymore. All these thoughts and emotions kept his brain under a constant barrage, distracting him, making it hard to concentrate, stopping him from thinking clearly.
"Tom."
He struggled again to focus on her, to listen to what she was saying. He knew she wouldn't bring her to Liz until he was under control.
"I'm having a hard time with this." He tried to keep the tension out of his voice, but failed.
"Of course you are. You miss her, and you're worried about her, even though I've told you that she's fine, and happy. But then you worry because how could she be happy away from you for so long? Right?" She recognized the relief in his expression, and his face relaxed. "Sure, I understand, but you need to understand that she's doing this for you. For both of you. Because she wants it for both of you." She leaned in closer, held his face in her hands, focused his attention on her words. "You are going to love the change in her. She's the same person you love, the same one I love, only better for her, and for you." She looked into his eyes, and finally felt the tension slip out of his frame, saw his face de-stress. He was ready. "We're going to go now. When we get there, you have to promise me you'll listen, and not be angry, or lose your temper, and behave yourself. She's nervous about what you will think, and she needs your support." She was standing up, grabbing her bag, heading for the door. She stopped before she opened it. "You're nervous, because you don't know what she's thinking or doing. She's nervous because she doesn't know how you'll react. She has a lot at risk here, and it's important that she get your support."
Tom followed her to the cars, closing the door as he left. Needs his support? My support for what? New imaginings crowded his brain as he got into his car, and got ready to follow Darla, for the first half of a two hour drive, trapped in the car alone with his thoughts.
***
As they had arranged prior, after driving mostly west for about an hour, Tom followed to a parking garage, where he left his car. He came back out to the street, and got into the passenger seat of Darla's car. "Sorry, Tom, but it's the only way they'll let me bring you." Tom remembered their conversation as Darla wrapped the scarf around his head several times. The people, this organization where Liz was, did not want him to know their location. A secret religious cult? Political dissidents? Darla tightened the scarf at the back of his head, and then he felt another one wrapped over that one. "Just making sure," she said, "we want to make sure they allow us in without trouble."
Darla put his seat back down, reclining him. "Just so you're out of sight until we get back on the highway," she told him. She felt him pull away, and he receded back into his thoughts of his wife. He didn't notice when they left the side streets, or entered the highway. He had no awareness of time passing. He didn't hear her occasional comments and questions. He remained calm and blind for the next hour. He finally heard her tell him they were about a mile away. Not long after that he heard the tire sound change, felt her drive, slowly, for a minute of so, then come to a stop, and turn off the engine.
He heard her door open, and she said, "You can take that off now, we're here." He yanked the scarves off his head, blinking into the sudden late-morning light. He looked around as she approached his car door. They were parked in front of a house, large and old, but well-kept, possibly refurbished. The circular driveway they were parked in had a section leading off behind the house, but the main exit curved away into a break in the trees. The property that he could see was neat and expansive, but surrounded by a line of woods that blocked all view outside. Or in, he assumed. Whatever this place was, you'd never see it from the road.
He was getting out of the car as she came around from the side to join him.
"Are you ready?"
