After leaving Matt's place that night, she made her way back home and sat on her porch watching his house carefully. Shivering from the chilly pre dawn air, she thought about the bizarre twist events had taken as she twisted the bustier in her hands. There were still lights on over there, upstairs and down. The sex she had expected, but the beating... Then the revelation about why his wife had left him, his emotional outburst... those things she had not been prepared for.
She could feel his cum on her thighs, cold and mostly unwelcome.
The light went out in the upstairs window, and though she sat there and watched for another half-hour, they stayed on downstairs. Good, that meant he'd screwed up. She'd left the backdoor unlocked, and it didn't appear that he'd bothered to go downstairs and check. When he went out during the day, he almost always used the front door. That gave her a chance to get out of this situation.
Chilled, she let herself into her own front door, and went upstairs. She took off the loose dress and the garter belt with the stockings, wincing as she moved the sore flesh of her lower back and buttocks. Looking in the mirror, she saw the still livid welts that would be bruises before long. Matt had been vicious, more than she could have expected of him. Of course, she hadn't expected him to beat her when she'd gone over a few hours before. But then, before he had shown up a few days ago with that photograph, she hadn't known him very well.
She slipped her nightgown over her head, stuffed the bustier, garter belt and stockings deep into the hamper. She told herself that she really needed to get rid of them.
Moving as quietly as she could, she padded to her bedroom and slipped into the bed next to her husband. He rolled over, put his arm around her waist and snuggled in, spooning. She forced herself not to react as he pressed his body against her aching back.
"You're cold," he whispered. "Everything okay with Jane and her kids?" he asked, reminding her of the lie she had had to tell him.
"They're fine, everyone's okay," she told him. "The baby has colic, that's all. In fact," she couldn't believe how easily the story came to her, "Jane was so embarrassed at getting me out of bed in the middle of the night that she made me promise not to tell her husband."
"Really?" He chuckled softly.
"Yes, poor thing. She's so frazzled these days. Don't tell him about it, okay? She'd just feel awful."
"No problem." He was drifting off again, she could tell. She lay there in his arms, amazed at what was happening inside her. She was being blackmailed by her neighbor; she was at his beck and call for sexual favours. While she hated what he was doing to her, the beating tonight being not the worst of it, some growing part of her liked it.
She turned that thought over in her mind... "The beating not the worst of it?" What did that mean? The physical pain she had experienced that night was bad, humiliating, but this control that Matt was exerting over her... that could just be worse. And she had just lied to her husband for the second time in one night.
Here was this man, certainly good looking enough, who wanted her. Who wanted her enough to stoop to blackmail and threats? Her husband was a good man, a provider, and a good father to their daughter. But he was hardly her lover anymore. Oh, there was love there, certainly, but the passion had died long ago. When they did make love, it was simple, straightforward, and more sex than making love. She'd craved more for a very long time, but she knew her husband, and knew that he wasn't going to change.
That's why she had turned to the contractor, Tom, that day. Her first slip in nearly ten years of marriage... And she had opened herself up to this. To Matt and his god-damned camera.
But if he didn't check his backdoor when he went out later that day... there was hope.
She lay in the circle of her husband's arms, contemplating her freedom as she drifted off to sleep.
----
The alarm went off at 7:00 as usual, and even though she hadn't gotten very much sleep, Susan leapt out of bed. She had a plan. She knew how to get out of this situation.
"You seem happy this morning," Jim commented after his shower, as she bustled about the bedroom, making the bed and laying out her clothes for the day.
"Thank you, hon, I feel really good today!"
And she did, aside from the pain still in her back. He slipped his arms around her from behind and again she had to do her best not to flinch as he touched the bruises. There was no way she could explain them away. One maybe, she could say she fell last night. But there were five of them, laddered down to her buttocks.
"I'm glad," he said, nuzzling her ear, "You've seemed so tense the last few days."
She smiled, thinking that soon that particular tension would be gone for good. Patting his hands, she said, "I have to get Lindsay up."
"Okay, love." He kissed her on the cheek and let her go. She left the room and he got dressed.
Breakfast was hurried as usual, then she saw them both off. Jim drove Lindsay to school each day, father- daughter time. They didn't get much of that, with the hours that Jim worked.
Alone, she went back upstairs to dress. Then she made herself another cup of coffee, and settled down by the window to wait. She had a clear view of Matt's house. She couldn't see the front door, but the car in the driveway and the back door were both in plain view. When he left, she would know. And she'd know if he used the back door, she hoped it was still unlocked from last night.
"Let him forget about that," she prayed. He'd been drinking, there was a chance. But she didn't know how much of one.
An hour and a half later she saw him get into his car and leave. She forced herself to wait ten minutes, and she headed over.
Her heart in her throat, she put her hand on the doorknob, and turned it. YES! She had been right, he had forgotten to check the door! She slipped inside, her heart pounding. She stood in the hall, thinking. Where would he keep the pictures? Would the negatives be in the same place?
Upstairs. In the bedroom. She would have bet her life that's where they were. But then, she nearly was betting her life, at least the life she had with her family. She didn't want to go up there, not after what had happened last night. Steeling herself, she went anyway.
Susan knew she had to hurry. Matt had lost his job a couple of months ago, so there was no way for her to know how long he would be gone.
Halfway up the stairs, the phone rang, scaring her half to death. She grabbed onto the railing to steady herself, she could hardly hear for the blood pounding in her ears. Calming down, she heard the answering machine picking up in the living room. She went back to the foot of the stairs, and listened to the incoming message.
"Good morning Mr. Hildebrand. This is Karen calling from the law offices of Michaels and Bains. We have some papers here for you to sign regarding your wife's alimony. I believe we had some questions for you from her lawyer also. Oh yes- and I have a note here about a package you wanted us to hold for you. It's an unusual request, but I believe we can accommodate you. Please call us back as soon as you can..."
She stopped listening and headed back up the stairs. Turning into the bedroom, again she was hit with the stuffy air, the smell of dirty clothes and old wine, now mingled with a whiff of stale sweat, and sex. She looked around, considering. The room looked worse in daylight than it had last night. She opened the dresser and searched through the drawers, nothing. The bedside table, the closet, under the bed, no joy.
There was a sound-- from outside? She froze, listening with every fiber of her. What would she say, what could she do if he came home? But the noise didn't come again, and slowly she relaxed a little.
She started digging through the closet again, maybe she'd missed something? Then she stopped, thinking, running over in her mind what she knew about Matt. Then she walked over to the bed and after a moment's hesitation, lifted the pillow.
There it was. A plastic envelope, the kind pictures come in now. Her hand shook as she reached for it. She flipped it open, and saw that they were indeed the pictures of her with the contractor. It looked like a full roll. And the negatives were there! She breathed a sigh of relief, she had them at last!
But she couldn't linger. She replaced the pillow and fairly fled the house, making sure to lock the door behind her. Just in case. Didn't want him to discover his lapse before she could confront him with it.
She walked across his yard into hers, stuffing the envelope into her blouse. When she was nearly at her front steps, she heard a car. She turned to see Matt's car turn into his driveway.
Susan felt her heart pounding again. There was no reason for him to suspect she had been in the house, but the adrenaline still flooded her. It was all she could do to act casually, kneeling down to dead head some mums. She wanted to run into her house and bolt the door, not be out here in the open, but she couldn't, she didn't dare.
He got out of the car and called, "Hi," with a friendly wave. She stood, looked over at him, and then turned and with measured steps, walked inside. She thought she could hear his laughter following her.
Closing the door behind her, she leaned back against it, breathing deeply, shaking a little. That had really been too close. Another minute, and she would have been caught. But she'd done it! Without the pictures, it was his word against hers, and there was no way, none, that Jim would believe Matt over her.
She felt empowered, like she could take on the world. But she didn't need to. Just one neighbor.
She decided that she would act tonight, once her family was asleep. It would be a long day...
----
A very long day indeed.
But it was over now. The dinner dishes were clean, Lindsay's homework finished, and she had been asleep for hours. Jim had just put the light out after they had read for a little while. The same as usual. Everything the same as the night before. Except that she was waiting for her husband to fall asleep. Waiting for her chance to go to Matt and declare his hold on her broken.
Jim snuggled up to her, fitting his body to hers from behind as she lay on her side, one hand cupping her breast. He started to nuzzle at her neck as he caressed her nipple through her nightgown.
She recognized the gentle overtures for what they were and considered feigning sleep. How could she give her husband the attention he deserved tonight?
His hand moved up from her breast to stroke her cheek and then to turn her face to his. He kissed her, sweet and gentle, and she knew she wouldn't refuse him. She rarely did, as he didn't often make the first move. Kissing him back, she could feel him growing hard against her buttocks.
Susan shifted onto her back, and his hand traveled over her, back down to her breasts, and then down further. He reached up under her nightgown to her sex. She raised her hips and pulled the nightgown up over her hips, to give him free access.
He opened her pussy lips, letting his fingers move around her clit, and then he slipped a finger into her. She stiffened, this was the first thing Matt had done to her, but Jim took her reaction as pleasure and continued to play with her.
With an effort, she pushed the vivid memory aside. It taunted her though, from a corner of her mind.
She kissed him back, and moved her hand to stroke him. They both knew what the other liked. They should, having been married for going on ten years.
Then why did she find herself craving a firmer hand? A rougher touch?
He climbed on top of her and eased himself into her waiting sex. So loving, so gentle, so... boring. NO! How could these unwanted thoughts keep running through her mind? She loved him. He was her husband!
She tried again to push these thoughts away, willing her uncooperative body to respond to her husband the way it responded to Matt.
Jim kissed her as he moved inside her, his pace picking up. She moved under him, raising her hips to meet him, knowing that it wouldn't be much longer before he came. He was silent, as ever; the only sound from him was his breathing.
With a small grunt, he thrust hard, once, twice, three times. She felt his cum fill her, and she arched against him with a moan. Still absorbed in his own orgasm, he took her reaction to be her own climax. He relaxed on top of her, and kissed her one more time before pulling out and rolling off of her, leaving a wet smear across her thigh. He draped a sleepy arm over her, and said, "Good night, sweetheart."
"Good night," she rolled back onto her side, facing away from him. She listened to him, to his breathing. He was asleep in a few minutes.
