Twelve years earlier, 1998; Delicia, age 26; Humberto, age 41:
Humberto had been out of the penitentiary for three years. As soon as he was again the patronly figure in his own home, he started taking the family to church, to Delicia's church.
Delicia was 23 and practically a newlywed. She had been married two years and she had a baby son.
Humberto took the family to church as part of his efforts to reform his image. He wanted to set a better example to his children.
His daughter, Paulina, was only 13 when her father came home. He had been in prison for seven years, so she barely knew him but she harbored illusions of his as a gallant, working class man, a victim of a corrupt judicial system. Humberto's son, Pedro, was 15 when his father came home and Pedro was already enmeshed in the same activities that sent his father to prison.
Pedro sold drugs, just as his father had before him. Aged 38 upon his release, and still on parole, Humberto cultivated good relations with the pastor, who vouched for his character with the parole officer. The pastor helped Humberto get a job.
An industrious man, ever the hustler, Humberto soon started his own general contracting business. He went from bricklaying to concrete forming and was soon landing jobs preparing foundations.
Everything seemed to be going well for him. But Humberto's wife Gladys saw another side. Two years older than her husband, Gladys was 33 when he was sentenced and led away from the courtroom in handcuffs.
In Humberto's mind, his wife was still a good looking woman and a good fuck when he began his sentence. But once freed, he came home to a 40-year-old woman who had changed too much for his taste.
She had had seven years of freedom from his abuse. Seven years since he had used her like a whore. Sex with him had always been extreme. He pushed her to her physical and psychological limits. He was a dirty-talking, ass-slapping, alpha dog who had kept his bitch on a tight leash. She had been free of his leash for seven years and she wasn't sure about how she felt letting him put the collar back on.
But she didn't have much to worry about. He saw a woman that had put on 55 pounds. Her face sagged. Her whole body seemed to sag. He found her unattractive, and not so politely kept her at a distance.
He didn't want a split. She was still useful, after all. She was his maid, the mother of his children, a good cook. She also vouched for him in the community. And she worked, she definitely pulled her weight. He just didn't have the old fire in him to be the caveman/pimp and give it to her the way he had the urge to give it to a woman.
Whenever they talked about sex, Gladys understood her place. And she was prepared to have him get into extra-marital affairs so long as he remembered to come home after he had had his fun. That became their arrangement, and Humberto's wicked eye began to wander.
It didn't take him long to notice a beautiful young woman in this church they attended. She was 15 years younger than him and easily the hottest woman in the congregation, and he noticed that her husband never attended church. She dutifully came with her son, and sat with her parents through every service.
Delicia was a smart and observant woman, but she had a weakness for bad boys. Her own husband had been in a gang in his youth. He had grown out of that lifestyle, and although he didn't come to church he did take fatherhood seriously.
Delicia was in love and the bloom had not fallen. But she was immediately aware of Humberto's glances. He always seemed to linger near her at church activities and she was always careful to keep distance, or the other women, between her and that man.
It bothered her that she felt an instant physical attraction to him. He was tall, probably the most muscular man in church. He had thighs like tree trunks and a boastful banter.
He was sure of himself and always had an opinion about something. The other men found him endearing in a band-of-brothers way. They seemed to look up to him, even though they should have been wary of him. But he gave convincing testimony as to his reformation.
He spoke earnestly and often of his spiritual enlightenment and volunteered good counsel to the others. He seemed a transformed man, an example of the power of the Lord to redeem the wicked.
His demeanor and expression toward the others softened Delicia's opinion of him. When he engaged her in conversation, she allowed herself to smile and she made an effort to be friendly, just not too friendly.
She was struck by the contrast between Humberto and her own husband. Her husband was lazy, did not help with house chores, not even chores men typically gravitated toward.
Delicia mowed the lawn. Delicia had to fix things around the house or hire a handyman or a tradesman, as her husband was generally useless. She seemed to do all the work and she grew to resent it.
But Gladys wanted for naught and often bragged about what a great husband she had. And it was obvious to the others that he was a great husband, a good man.
Delicia listened to Gladys and the women, looked at Humberto and sighed. Then she pushed him out of her mind as best she could. There was something about him that frightened her; she knew in her heart that if he made a play for her she would have trouble resisting.
So, she kept her distance.
But Humberto did not keep his distance. He was patient, and he patiently made himself useful to her. Acting like some surrogate father figure. He came to the house and fixed her front door when she complained to her own father that the hinges were broken.
He found a roofer who gave her a good deal when she had a leak. He doted over her son like some loving uncle.
She sometimes nervously looked at his wife, wondering if she objected to the attention he paid to this other, younger woman. Delicia even asked Gladys if she felt anything was improper about their interactions.
Delicia didn't understand that Gladys wanted her husband to open Delicia's legs. And Gladys would never say anything so crude, but Gladys was annoyed by Delicia's beauty and naiveté and thought it would be divine justice for this young tart to find out what a bastard her husband was in bed.
Humberto wasn't entirely patient. Delicia was proving a difficult cunt to crack and he sought out an occasional slut in the usual places, the bars and dance halls frequented by low-income, low-class Mexican putitas.
But he didn't lack for confidence. He knew in his mind that she would eventually give in.
Three years passed. And in that time, Delicia grew increasingly disillusioned with her husband. At age 26, it came to a head for her; she began fights with her husband about his lack of effort, his taking her for granted. The fights got worse and Delicia's temperament at church changed.
Humberto noticed it, and he kept his ears perked and heard from his wife that things were going badly in Delicia's home. "Marriage problems," she told Humberto.
He smiled, patted his wife on her ample ass and treated her neglected clit to a hot tongue fuck. Gladys cried, came, then thank him.
Lying in her own wet spot, soiled sheets rustling, Gladys turned to her husband, rested her head on his chest and asked, "Do you want me to help you fuck her?"
