Bed and Breakfast by other2other1,other2other1

[:::: Authors Note ::::]

I’ve been a little burnt out over the past few months thanks to some real-life challenges in my businesses. At certain points, I’ve almost felt like a character in one of my stories, a couple of situations where the abuse hurled at me kind of broke me a little. It’s meant that I have not had the energy to finish a number of stories I have been working on, and for those of you who have been sending me private messages and email’s thank you for your concern, it has been appreciated. I am working with editors to finish about four stories, and I have drafts on another three pretty much done, so hopefully, there will be a few new stories from me soon.

Overall, there is not much new and different about this tale. I’m not trying to break any new emotional barriers. The drama in this story is perhaps a little more muted than what you may have been used to from me in my stories.

I outlined the plot for this story and wrote the draft almost two years ago as I began drafting words that I thought I might like to publish. As such, some of the story is not as developed as I see the newer tales I write. I have updated a few sections but have chosen largely to leave it as is.

I would also be remiss if I did not thank my editors, Mike and Larry. All us authors love to tell a story, but it’s the editors that spend their time polishing what we write that make it shine. Thank you, gentlemen.

I hope you enjoy ‘Bed and Breakfast.’

[:::: Bed and Breakfast ::::]

I’ll be honest. I don’t have too much of an idea about how the final scene in my marriage played out. At the time when Candice got home from her conference, I was thirty-thousand feet in the air. I would like to imagine that she walked in the door yelling out a greeting she was home, followed by how much she missed me, and lastly, she was glad to be home.

I bet she was hoping that I would be waiting with dinner on the table like I usually did. I want to think that she frowned when she walked into the kitchen and found the full-colour printout of her less than forty-eight hours earlier, getting fucked by my boss, her boss, one of my close friends and to throw a real kicker in the mix, my lawyer.

As she looked underneath the printout, I’m sure she became upset at the divorce papers staring back at her, the copy of the pre-nuptial agreement and a thirty-day eviction notice.

I would like to think that she was upset and inconsolable, but honestly, I have no idea.

But then again, a little over a month ago, I had no idea my wife was a cheating skank, and my employer, her employer and even my friends were enjoying the pleasures of my wife that were supposed to be mine and mine alone as laid out in our wedding vows.

My name is Thomas Other, twenty-seven years old, and I was the sole heir to a seventy-million-dollar trust left by my grandparents when I turned thirty-two; that was the motivation behind all the shit I was in. Until then, I came of age. I got a payment of eight thousand a month which was part of the interest the fund generated each month. I also got rental incomes from several investment properties around the country and my own luxurious penthouse apartment with zero debt. But I wasn’t a lazy trust fund baby. By day I worked as an accountant for Saymen and Zacks, a high-end accounting firm based in Melbourne, Australia.

By now, you’re guessing that I had grown up on the good side of the tracks, and you would certainly be correct. However, my parents had always taught me never to look down on someone who didn’t have the background we did. I was an only child and had lost both my parents and grandparents simultaneously. They were aboard a private plane that went down over Europe while they were on holiday when I was twenty-one. I was supposed to be on that trip, but I had university exams, so I became the sole surviving heir to the family fortune.

It wasn’t that much of a secret that I was heir to the huge trust, but I never flaunted it. My parents had bought me a beautiful penthouse apartment near the university, which also ended up being a close walk to Saymen and Zacks when I graduated, so I had been situated very nicely for a number of years with no real complaints.

In coming back to my traitorous slut of a wife. I met Candice one evening when a couple of friends and I were out on the town. Candice was with a few girlfriends doing the same thing. We danced, I bought a few rounds of drinks, and she wound up back at my apartment in bed with me when we figured, following the drunken haze, that we liked each other. In what has become a twist of irony, Candice was out that night supporting one of her girlfriends who had found out her boyfriend was cheating on her.

Over the next few months, Candice and I met up several times, each time ending with us fucking up a storm in bed. It was a foregone conclusion when we decided to become exclusive. I truly believe that in those early days, the fact that I had money never really bothered Candice. Until recently, I always thought that she was level-headed. Candice worked at a top-tier marketing firm in the city, making a decent wage herself. Looking back, I thought we had a great married life. As a young couple of means, we rarely ate at home. Tuesdays and Thursdays were gym evenings for both of us and Saturday nights were party nights out on the town, enjoying fine dining, dancing at clubs, or laughing ourselves silly at one of the local comedy clubs.

I cringed with what I now knew when I thought back on asking her to marry me. Of course, she said yes, and at the time, I thought I was the luckiest man alive. In the looks department, Candice was what most men would think is fairly average. She had mousy brown hair and was perhaps a little heavier than she wanted to be. But she had a great pair of tits, D-cups with big nipples, and she loved sex in all its varieties. Missionary, cowboy, doggy, anal, and even some water sports now and then when the mood was right. She loved to suck my cock and always swallowed. We made our own home movies, and after a few drinks, we would often retire to the bedroom and watch a couple while I fucked my woman with all I had, and she moaned through orgasm after orgasm.

We had been married for two years and were starting to talk about a family when in retrospect, it all started falling apart. Every few months, Candice would have to travel for work, a conference or some other reason. At first, I never gave it any thought. I mean, we never have cause to doubt the ones we love, do we? In the bedroom, nothing changed overly much. We still fucked like bunnies and sure, I missed her when she was gone. But I always knew when she came home, I would receive a whole lot of makeup sex. More than once, while my wife was travelling, I relieved the tension by watching one of our home movies, but I never thought of the shit show coming my way until one day it did.

My manager and partner in the firm I worked for, George Saymen, had just announced that he had to travel for three weeks. It happened now and then, but the duration of three weeks caught my attention. Candice, this morning also told me she had a three-week conference to attend next week as well. Of course, being a clueless husband, I thought it more idle curiosity than anything else. But it was one of our interns, a twenty-two-year-old blonde bombshell, Iona from Germany, that clued me in.

“Hey Thomas,” Iona said, drifting into my office after George’s announcement. “You got a minute?”

“Sure Iona, give me a second,” I told her just saving a spreadsheet I was working on for one of our enterprise clients. I turned back to her and studied her for a moment.

Iona Braun was quite short but cute in the extreme. She had long golden hair down to her waist, big expressive blue eyes and the petiteness of a princess. She always wore conservative clothing but in a very professional manner that always told her out to be serious about her job. She was finishing up with us at the end of next week and moving up north as she toured Australia for the next year before heading to Germany for another year to meet extended family. I had shared a few coffees with her during the three months she had been with us. I found her to be honest to a fault, never letting anyone do the wrong thing.

One time one of the junior accountants was under pressure to get a job done, so they tried to cut a few corners. Even though Iona was only an intern, she called it out, and the accountant had to eat crow for a month. So, as I looked at Iona, seeing the solemn expression on her endearing face, I frowned, knowing the topic was going to be sombre.

“What’s up Iona? You look serious, is everything all right?” I asked.

She hesitated for a second, looking over her shoulder out of the office at everyone. Then she frowned at something before looking back at me.

“Thomas,” Iona said very seriously. “I need to talk to you about something, but not here. Would you take me for lunch today?”

Caught out by what this might be, I became curious.

“Not a problem. Make Your Own sound good to you?” I asked, referring to a make-your-own sandwich shop that was quite popular. You could create a sandwich, wrap or salad with whatever you wanted for a few dollars.

She nodded, “Yes, but the one up on George on the other side of William St. please.”

I must admit I was curious but thought nothing heading so far from the office until we sat down with our food and she reached out and put a hand on my arm. I looked at her raising an eyebrow. I would never have thought Iona would hit on me, and she knew there was no way I would cheat on Candice.

Seeing my eyebrow raised, Iona quickly withdrew her hand blushing.

“Sorry Thomas,” she said in her sweet high-tone. She had just a tinge of the German accent. “It’s just I know what I have to say is going to be very hard for you to hear. I didn’t think, forgive me.”

I felt my stomach lurch. I wasn’t sure what this was about, but suddenly knew it was going to be trouble for me. I had only been given the look Iona was wearing once in my life. That was when my grandparents and parents didn’t return from overseas.

I swallowed.

“It’s all right Iona,” I replied with mock confidence, my lunch now forgotten on the table in front of me. “But I have to admit you have me worried. What’s this about?”

Over the next twenty minutes, Iona relayed to me how she overheard George Saymen talking last week to someone about how he was looking forward to fucking ‘everyone’ in two weeks’ time. Iona blushed as she told me he got very descriptive and agreed to meet the group labelled everyone for a coffee to coordinate their upcoming debauchery that evening.

She then blew me away as she told me she quietly followed him, taking photos of George and other men embracing and kissing a mystery woman. Turning her phone with a pained expression on her face, Iona showed me the photo where it turned out the woman turned out to be my wife, Candice.

I just about lost my half-eaten lunch, and over the next few minutes, Iona told me how sorry she was. The only reason she knew who the woman was, was because of the photo on my desk of Candice and me holding each other on our wedding day.

To say I was devastated was an understatement. I must have sat there almost comatose for a few minutes before Iona reached out and touched my arm again.

“Thomas?” she said softly, “Can you hear me?”

I snorted.

“Yeah, sorry Iona, thanks for not asking if I am all right; I’m not,” I replied, then I sighed heaving my shoulders expressively. “I guess I need to call my lawyer.”

Iona frowned.

“I wouldn’t,” she said.

I looked at her, “Um why? In a divorce you always need a lawyer. Why wouldn’t I start with him?”

Iona fiddled with her phone for a minute and, turning it showing me another photo of the ‘everyone’ group. “Because your lawyer is going with Mr Saymen and your wife next week. I overheard them, there are five of them. I’m sorry Thomas.”

I groaned, sitting back in my chair. I felt my chest get tight; a sense of panic grew that I was struggling to keep locked away. I looked at Iona.

“Why?” I asked the question, though I knew she couldn’t answer the question.

“For what I understand, it’s because of money,” she said.

“Money?” I asked quietly.

“Yes,” she told me, not quite sure how to tell me these soul-destroying facts. “I don’t know what they mean by that, but they mentioned something about making sure the money stays where it belongs and that this was their way of making that happen.”

You know those moments where you have a lightbulb go on, or you have a ‘What The Fuck’ thought. Well, I had both at the same time.

“Iona, I need to throw up,” I said suddenly.

She nodded, “I understand.”

I shook my head, my jaw now set with determination despite a raging war of emotions playing under the surface. “No, I mean I need to make myself puke and send you back to the office telling everyone I’m unwell. Ensure that Mary calls Candice and tells her I’m sick. Tell her I am heading to the doctor and will figure out something after the visit.”

Mary was our office manager and acted as an assistant for us accountants.

I stood suddenly; Iona stood with me.

“Iona, I can’t thank you enough for what you have done,” I told her, giving her a tight smile. “I could have been pushed into what I believe may be an unwinnable situation if you hadn’t told me. Are you okay to tell this story to Mary? Can you keep this between us?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Iona nodded her head swearing quietly in German. “Of course. I’m sorry, Thomas, I hope you don’t hold it against me.”

I smiled and stuck out my hand, “No, just the opposite. I owe you big time. If at any time in the future you need a favour, call me. You have made a friend for life today.”

She smiled back and we shook and then departed our separate ways.

I went into a public bathroom and tickled my tonsils, forcing myself to throw up. If I was going to act, I would make it realistic. I called my doctor, but then at the last minute, hung up while I was on hold. I wasn’t sure who was in on this plot. I called another doctor’s surgery and made the next appointment.

I caught an uber to the doctor and was shown in after only five minutes past the scheduled appointment. The doctor, an Indian lady in her late forties, looked at me and told me I likely had a stomach bug, prescribed me some mild antibiotics writing me a prescription and a three-day sick note.

Walking out the doors of the surgery, I decided I needed to make some moves. I got an uber to a little bed and breakfast I always wanted to stay at on the outskirts of the city. It was about a fifteen-minute walk from home, so I never needed to use it, but today it would suit my purposes. I walked in the door and checked in. A few minutes after I lay down on the bed in my room, my phone rang. It was Candice.

“Are you all right baby?” she asked with a note of concern in her voice. “Mary called and let me know you’re not feeling well.”

“Yeah, all good,” I replied, playing it down like I usually would when I was sick.” I just got out of the doctor, and she told me I likely have a bad stomach bug. I’ve checked myself into a place for a few days, so I don’t give it to you before you head to your conference.”

I could feel her frown over the phone, and she hesitated briefly.

“I understand. Is there anything I can bring you?” I was surprised, for a woman that was sleeping with my boss and who knows who else she was showing a large degree of concern.

I thought for a moment.

“Yeah, would you be able to bring me a couple of sets of clothes and my toiletries? If I’m stuck here for a few days, I might as well be comfortable. You can drop it off at reception, and they can leave it outside my door. I told them I wasn’t feeling well, so they’re bringing me some chicken soup for dinner.”

“Aww baby,” Candice cooed, “I wish I weren’t going away so I could look after you.”

I faked a cough, “It’s all right, Candice. I’ll be better in a few days.”

We spoke for a few more minutes, and I would never have believed something was wrong if Iona hadn’t shown me the picture of Candice and George in an embrace. As we hung up, I wondered if there was another explanation.

I had my laptop on me in my satchel, so I pulled it out, connected to the BnB Wi-Fi and searched for private investigators. I spoke to three different agencies until I found someone willing to meet me in the morning. I also called a new law firm, Bradman, Torrens and Clarke. I knew they were my lawyer’s main competitor and set an appointment for two hours after I met with the investigator.

That night I tossed and turned, sleeping for half an hour and then waking up to toss and turn again. I drifted off again when Candice rang, checking in on me and ensuring I got the clothes. She sounded concerned, and again I wondered if she really was stepping out on me. Iona wouldn’t lie; the pictures she showed me certainly didn’t. But I wondered if perhaps she had a doppelgänger that George Saymen was sleeping with.

In the morning, I let the BnB reception know I was heading out and would be back later today. I let them assume that I was heading for a medical appointment in case my wife called, and caught an uber across town to the private investigators firm, Discreet Investigators. Inside I didn’t have to wait long until a very unassuming man came out and ushered me into a quiet office.

I was surprised when he swept me for electronic bugs, and satisfied no one was listening. He had me tell my tale. The guy, Norm was the name he gave me, nodded as I told him what Iona had shared with me, showed him the pictures, and then asked what I wanted.

“Mr Other, we have a number of different services we can offer, but can you tell me what you need?” Norm asked.

I thought for a moment.

“I’d like both my wife and my boss followed, pictures, video, and anything else you think is relevant. If something is going on, I want to make sure I know what it is before I take action.” I hesitated, and Norm picked up on it immediately.

“And?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I eyed the guy and decided to go for broke. “Look, I’m not sure I know what’s going on, but my source tells me money is mentioned between my wife and boss. I stand to inherit a large trust fund in a few years, and I can’t help but speculate if it’s related to this. What I need to know is can I trust you if you know there is a decent amount of money involved?”

Norm looked back at me for a moment, then smiled, “Give me a moment Mr Other.”

He stepped out and came back a few minutes later with a pile of forms.

“I think we can help you get everything you want, Mr Other; these forms are our privacy and financial forms. It lays out our rates and our legal terms.” I scanned the documents noting that they used the same lawyers I was about to visit.

I signed the forms, and we shook hands. Norm told me he would have people on both Candice and George by the end of the day. I let him know I would cover all expenses, including travel as required and headed for my next appointment with the crowd that could be my new lawyers.

Randwick Johnstone had been our family lawyer for years. His grandfather had worked with my grandparents and my parents when the trust was setup. Due to being in the family when his grandfather retired, Randwick, or Randy as we called him, took over. In the years since my family’s death, I never had any reason to doubt the man’s integrity. I knew it was a bit of a feather in his cap to handle my account. In fact, I have been a reference for him several times over the years, and as such, he had a small practice with several people in the firm. However, with yesterday’s revelations, I was not going to wait for the mountain to fall on me. I was going to trigger the avalanche myself and hopefully not get caught in the destruction.

This was why I had Damien Torrens of Bradman, Torrens and Clarke ushering me into his office not two minutes after I arrived. Damien had been trying to get my business for years. A few years ago, Randy had required an extra pair of hands to help with an investment I wanted to do, and Damien had taken an interest, even offering to bring Randy on board at the partner level when he learnt the details.

“So, Mr Other, to what do we owe this rather sudden visit and without Mr Johnstone?” Damien asked me with that questioning stare that only lawyers could give.

“I have reason to believe that my wife, my boss and my lawyer are conspiring against me and I need to protect myself,” I replied with just a hint of worry reflected in my voice.

Lawyers are often portrayed as heartless unfeeling bastards that bill huge amounts of money and care nothing about the people they represent. Damien Torrens was the epitome of that culture. He wore a very expensive three-piece suit and sat in an opulent office designed to be intimidating.

Upon hearing my statement, Damien stood and turned to look out the impressive view over Melbourne behind him. I heard him exhale, and over the next twenty minutes, I told my tale up to this meeting.

“You like to present a challenge, don’t you Mr Other?” he said, turning back to me, a shark’s grin on his face.

“Look,” he said spreading his hands. “If you are happy to bring your business over to our firm regardless of the outcome with Mr Johnstone, I will provide you an overall discount of twenty-five per cent on our services for the next three years, and I will even throw in a hundred of my billable hours for free to seal the deal?”

I looked at Damien for a minute, studying the man.

“Why?” I asked plainly.

“Thomas, may I call you Thomas?” I nodded. He did in return and sat back down. “For us, holding your account means a lot. It’s not just the amount of money in your trust. It’s the business it brings with it. You are smart in how you manage your money, you choose good investments, and I know that if I get your business, several other large clients will end up coming our way. By giving you the incentive to move with us now while you are in trouble, it stops you shopping around and gives us both a longer-term benefit.”

I laughed, this guy was a great white shark, but he knew how to sell it.

We spent the next hour ironing out details and then he got his assistant to take me to another room where I signed my life away in triplicate. Admittedly they made great coffee and brought me lunch at no cost. As I was finishing the forms, Damien popped his head in, smiling.

“Thomas, just letting you know that Norm from Discreet Investigation just reached out and I let him know that you would call him back and confirm we’re now representing you. Just a thought, you may also want Norm to tail Mr Johnstone as well.”

I thought for a moment and nodded, “Good idea.”

“And Thomas?” He said a serious expression on his face, but that looked a lot less professional.

“Yeah?”

“Would you be open to having brunch on Sunday morning? I mean, it’s not like you want to get up to much in your usual circles until this is complete.”

I thought about it for a moment and agreed.

The rest of the afternoon I spent back at the Bed and Breakfast, I started going through our accounts. There was nothing out of the ordinary with any of them. However, no longer being the trusting person I was not twenty-four hours ago, I set up a couple of alerts in case anything happened above a thousand dollars a day.

That night I got an email from George telling me to get well soon and hoped I would be back in the office Monday. I got a call from Candice, that was all lovey-dovey, telling me how much she was missing me. I knew that if there was nothing to this that I was going to have a lot of making up to do. But the thing that kept the doubt in the back of my mind was that at no point did Candice say she was looking at options to cancel her trip and stay to look after me.

I got a call from Norm. He confirmed that he had monitoring on all three targets and now it was just a waiting game. In his experience, once a cheater had a pattern, they didn’t change it unless they had to, otherwise, it was more difficult to maintain the lie. Bottom line, he didn’t expect anything until they left for the conference if indeed they were getting together.

Lastly, I got a text from Iona asking how I was. I replied that I was doing all right, but I was nervous to confirm what was really going on.

By Saturday afternoon, my worst fears had been realised. The conference, if you could call it that, was a hotel a few hours out of Melbourne. The five of them had hired a suite and had not even bothered to close the blinds before they started their debaucherous orgy. Norm’s three investigators had met up with their tails, and each found different places to view everything unfold.

Within an hour, Candice was airtight and was being ridden hard. She was taking it up the ass from her boss while my lawyer was balls deep in her traitorous cunt. A friend of mine Roger was fucking her mouth.

The surprise was my boss bending down to suck Roger’s cock along with Candice. When Roger blew, George was the first to take it, then kiss my wife. Over the next few hours the gang of five swapped and traded positions. The depravity of the scene of not just my wife getting fucked, but the bisexual nature of people I thought I knew and once respected was shocking. It was only when the sun went down that they closed the blinds. However, over the next two weeks, the investigators got more and more pictures and videos of them in almost every conceivable sexual scenario known to even the most perverted porn directors.

Now as I said at the start, Candice and I have an active sex life. We had tried everything. Tongues, fingers and both our sexual organs had been everywhere on our bodies, but that was between man and wife. What I witnessed made me throw up several times, If you’re into that sort of thing, fine, but not my wife and not like that.

Sunday morning, only a couple of days into their so-called conference. I woke and checked out of the BnB. I was feeling ill from what had been reported to me so far. But I needed to head home for a change of clothes and head to Damien’s house for brunch as we had arranged.

As I walked into my apartment, I cringed as I looked around. Everywhere I looked, I saw places where Candice and I had made love. But now I also saw each of her other lovers fucking her in those places they had sat when they visited us.

I threw up again, this time in the bathroom, before I had a quick shower and changed my clothes. I knew I was never going to stay in this place again. Candice had sullied my home regardless if she had entertained them here or not.

An hour later, an uber dropped me off at Damien’s penthouse in the centre of Melbourne. It was a beautiful apartment, and I met his wife, Mel, and his daughter, Colleen. For the next hour the three of them entertained me. I was surprised that Colleen had an air of refinement about her but a humility that I would not expect from the shark’s daughter. After we had eaten a great brunch of potato hash-browns with bacon and spinach and another amazing coffee, Colleen excused herself and left Damien, Mel and myself to chat.

I looked at Damien. The man before me in casual jeans and a t-shirt was the polar opposite to the take no prisoners lawyer I had met with a few days before. He noticed and laughed when I told him of my thinking.

“Thomas, it’s all good,” he said repeating one of my favourite phrases. “At work I need to be that man. I mean, my name is on the door, but after hearing your story, my invitation was an honest expression of potential friendship. I believe that you’re a good man that is being shat upon from a great height by a number of people. When I told Mel of what was happening, she almost insisted that you come.” The couple quickly exchanged a look and Mel nodded. “You see, Mel has been where you are once.” I looked back at the pretty raven-haired woman. She nodded then placed a hand on her husband’s arm. Damien, in a very gentle gestured, placed his hand over the top of hers and encouraged her to speak.

“Thomas, I get what you’re going through.” Mel began. “Several years ago, I had something similar happen to me. My first husband, Lawrence, cheated on me with two other people,” she said, blushing. I saw Damien squeeze her hand. She sighed.

“I hope it’s all right,” she asked looking at me. “But Damien shared just a little of what you’re going through. He said the reports were…graphic?”

I nodded.

“Well, I understand that. When I found my first husband Lawrence, I found him in our bed with two other men…”

“Oh,” I said, “Ohhhh….” I repeated, wincing.

She nodded.

“I’m sorry,” I said automatically, my mind going back to the images in my head of my wife with those four other men. I winced again.

“At the time, it was soul-destroying; I went wild.” She told me, becoming somewhat lost in what was an old memory. “I must have thrown half the house at the three of them in my rage and then threw them out, still screaming in hysterics. I ended up visiting Damien’s law firm for my divorce, and one of Damien’s graduates handled it.”

“Is that how you met?” I asked.

They both shook their heads. Damien smiled, looking at his wife.

“My story is a little different,” he told me. “I was engaged to be married, but Cherri, the woman I was engaged to, couldn’t handle the long and obscure hours that I had as a named partner in a law firm. So we split. Not the worst break-up, but a break-up nonetheless. It was about a month before the end of Mel’s divorce that we met in a café downstairs. I was taken by her face and her pregnant belly.”

“You mean?” I asked, looking at Mel as she blushed.

They both nodded at me.

“Yeah, Colleen is Lawrence’s daughter,” Mel explained. “I found out a few weeks after everything went down.”

“It didn’t change anything for me,” Damien said. “I adopted Colleen without a moment’s hesitation when she turned two and Mel and I married. Lawrence was happy to sign the adoption papers as it meant no child support for him.”

We sat for a moment, the couple letting me digest what was being said. I looked back at them after sipping my coffee again.

“So what happened to Lawrence?” I asked.

Damien snorted, “During the year that followed, he got really sick from several STD’s. We haven’t followed up on him in a while, but last we heard, he was living in a shared house working the service desk for one of the major telecom companies.” Then he sighed. “But if it makes him happy, then good on him, but he should have been honest with Mel.”

Mel squeezed his hand again and looked at him lovingly. “Yes, but it did bring you and me together. I can’t complain about that if it cost me a little pain,” Mel said.

“There is that…” was Damien’s almost guarded reply.

We talked for a little while later, and Colleen came back out and spent some time with us before heading back in to call her friends on discord.

“So what about you Thomas?” Mel asked after getting us each a fresh coffee. Mel, I learned, made a mean coffee. A few years ago, she had taken a barista course and she really knew how to put a cappuccino together.

I looked over at Damien and raised an eyebrow. He smiled waving his hand dismissively.

“You’re not on the clock,” he told me smiling. “This is honestly just new friends showing some concern for someone they want to support.”

I smiled what felt like the first genuine smile I had given since everything went down.

“Honestly,” I looked down into my coffee, almost like they were tea leaves that could give me a direction for the future. “I don’t know. I assume that Damien has told you I stand to inherit a lot of money in a few years?”

Mel shook her head and smiled, “No, he just told me you were in a bad spot and a bit about your wife cheating on you with multiple people.”

I looked at Damien and he smiled. His expression let me know to tell my own story.

“Well,” I said taking a deep breath.

“Candice and I have been married for a few years. We were talking about starting a family soon, but then one of the interns where I work brought it to my attention that my wife was cheating on me. It turns out that it was with my boss, her boss, my former lawyer,” Damien smiled at that. “And, a friend of mine. Candice has been going out to these ‘conferences’ for a couple of years, so I can only guess that it’s been going on that long.

“What I have seen from the reports, video and pictures so far shows depravity that is at the very least in line with your ex-husband,” I blushed a little at the admission. “So I guess first for me is to clean house. They all have to go.”

I watched for a moment as the expression of a great white eyeing its prey again came across Damien’s face. He saw me catch the expression, and this time he blushed. I paused.

“It’s all right, Damien. You can relish the challenge,” I told him. He laughed.

I sighed again, looking from my coffee to the couple in front of me and then out over the balcony to stare at Melbourne. The city was quiet for a weekend, and I felt peaceful.

“I guess the first thing is that I need, is to get the complete report from Norm,” Damien nodded in agreement. “Then I will enforce the full prenuptial agreement with Candice and sue the pants off everyone involved.”

Damien laughed at that, but Mel frowned.

“Thomas,” she said leaning forward, “I get that you need to do those things, but what about you personally? You said you have money, so for this group of people to betray you, your money must have something to do with it. But, from what I am hearing, your situation is much worse than the one with my ex-husband. You have been betrayed by everyone. I struggled with feeling inadequate for some time, and with what you have told me, I am sure its going to be a lot worse for you.”

She halted a moment and looked at me, her eyes soft and caring.

“Sorry, I guess it hasn’t hit you yet in that way, “she told me. “It took me a few weeks, but you’re going to need help, you’re going to need support and you are going to need a shrink,” Mel told me without holding back.

I shrugged, “I suppose,” I said, turning again to look out at the cityscape.

“I mean it Thomas,” she said. “If you will let us, I’d like Damien and I to be there for you. Damien is a shark at work,” I smiled still looking at the city. “But I can tell you he picks the people we hang out with very carefully. That you’re here this morning with us shows that my husband thinks a lot about you.”

I turned back to the couple’s surprise written on my face.

Damien blushed slightly and shrugged.

“I don’t make friends easily,” he told me. “You’re like me in that you are a man of means, you know your stuff and you generally don’t stand for bullshit.” He glanced at his wife. “When you told me your story, I thought of what Mel went through and I figured at least we might be able to be a sounding board.”

I was touched; I never thought this guy would have a softer side or that a lawyer would care. We spent the next couple of hours talking a lot more openly about my situation. Mel kept bringing up the emotional impact side of things and by the time I left to check into a new Bed and Breakfast in another part of the city, I felt a lot more emotional about what I was starting to go through, but I also knew for the first time that I had support.

I spoke to Candice for a few minutes when she called later that evening. She again spoke normally to me like nothing was going on. When I got the report from Norm for that time, I could time-match her phone call with a video of her with Randy’s cock up her ass and the others doing things that were a real turn-off.

Damien advised me that I should continue to go into the office and act as normal as possible until he could get as much of the legal paperwork ready as possible. I tried, but I think everyone knew something was wrong. It was perhaps late Tuesday morning when Iona came in and sat on my desk.

She looked at me.

“Thomas, you look horrible. So, you found out there is something happening?” she asked questioningly but quietly, trying not to talk too loudly.

I nodded slowly.

“I’m guessing from your mood that it’s worse than we spoke about?” she said like she was expecting it.

I nodded again; I sat back on my chair, willing myself not to break down.

“I’m sorry Thomas, I really am,” she said compassionately. “I am sorry that it was me that told you, I feel ashamed.” In her German accent, the word ‘ashamed’ came across a lot more mournful than when said in an Aussie accent. I looked back at her.

“Don’t be,” I told her, feeling my resolve to fight my way out of this grow, as I watched her trying to understand something of my pain. “If it weren’t for you, I would still be a clueless cuckold headed towards a who knows what future.”

“What is a cuckold?” she asked.

I called up the simple definition on Wikipedia and I saw her eyes widen in shock then soften in sympathy. I then, in low tones, gave her a summary of what I found out, trying to keep details of the sordid scenes I had seen from being too descriptive. Even without hearing everything she had tears in her eyes by the end. It was good that I had an office because if we were sitting on the main floor, we would get even more looks than we already were. I wondered not for the first time if anyone out there knew whether William Zacks, the other owner of Sayman and Zacks, knew about the affair.

Iona asked if I would meet her for dinner that night because she couldn’t keep it together if I took her out to lunch and told her anymore. I agreed that we would head out a few hours after work. She had four days left, including today, before she finished her paid internship, so she wanted to leave well.

I will admit that later in the afternoon, I got a strange look from our Office Manager, Mary as I passed her in the hallway. She was in conference with William for a few hours in the afternoon as I pretended to work for the rest of the day.

Later in the evening, I had dinner with Iona, telling her pretty much everything. She was appalled at how I was being treated and asked what I would do. I tried to stay non-committal, but she also knew me well enough to know I wouldn’t stand for Candice or the other four treating me so badly.

The next few days proceeded as normal. Well, as well as they could when your life is turning itself inside out. I worked, ate, sort of slept, and I kept changing the Bed and Breakfast I was staying at each night. Now just a little paranoid that someone might know where I was laying my head.

Norm called me Thursday afternoon and asked to meet with me that evening. When I arrived, I was surprised to find Damien already there, a dark look on his face.

As the three of us sat down and I looked at the two men, my heart sank.

“That bad huh?” I asked, trying to be jovial, but my heart really wasn’t in it.

Norm nodded.

“I asked Damien here because it’s been noticed that you’re not performing at work, it’s gotten back to your boss, and he’s been talking to your wife. Our team managed to get a few audio extracts with a special microphone.”

My heart sank. Thinking back over the past few days, I could now see that both William and Mary were, to some degree, are aware of what was happening and had been talking to George.

If I thought that was the end of it, I was mistaken. Norm cleared his throat and pulled my attention back to the moment. “I’m sorry, but it’s worse than what you have seen so far.”

“You mean my wife fucking my boss, her boss, my lawyer and my friend and at least more people at my workplace know, and it is worse than that?” I asked with a note of disdain in my voice; Norm didn’t take it personally.

More honest and trustworthy people I have yet to meet once we went through our journey with them. We spent another week seeing the sights around Brisbane and then another week in Sydney. By the time a month had gone by, neither Iona nor myself could see being without the other. We talked about marriage and kids towards the end of the trip. I told her that once I was divorced, we would get engaged. It wasn’t a traditional proposal, but she loved me all the same knowing when the time came, I would go down on one knee for her.

When the topic of kids came up, she blushed.

“Thomas, I have a confession the make,” she said, holding onto me after we had made love in our hotel room overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

“It’s possible I could be pregnant,” she said shyly, trying to gauge my reaction. She sighed.

“Until we had sex, I never really thought about birth control, but for this past month we’ve been fucking nonstop and neither of us has even thought about birth control. My period is due in a few days and we will know then.” She again looked at me searchingly. “Are you mad?”

I snorted. “No, I’ve thought about it a few times,” I admitted. “Honestly, I was kind of hoping we would accidentally fall pregnant. Over this past month, I can’t think of anyone else I would rather have a child with than you.”

She squealed and made me cum inside her another time before we went to sleep that night.

Unfortunately, in the morning, she woke up with her period. I kissed her crestfallen look and told her perhaps next month. In the meantime, we need to get lots of practice.

Every morning over the next week, I woke up with my gorgeous blonde girlfriend sucking my cock and swallowing my load. When her period finished, she made me fill her at least once a day wherever we were.

Eventually, though, we ended our holiday and headed back to Melbourne. We stayed the night at Iona’s place. She had managed to get the landlord to let her keep it for another few months in place of her initial plans to travel north. It was a little apartment about a half an hour outside town. After staying in all the Bed and Breakfasts all over the country for the past month, Iona was a little embarrassed by her place. I shushed her and spent the next half hour walking through the place and asking the most inane questions about everything. By the end she was giggling and coming up with ostentatious responses.

The next day we headed to Damien’s offices. Iona and I worked from there, looking into some new places to live. At lunchtime, Mel brought us both a coffee.

“Mel, what are you doing here?” Iona asked.

She touched the side of her nose, “A little bird told me you two were in here, so I thought I would come by and see how you’re doing and bring you a coffee, made fresh, of course.”

She set them down then took a sip of her own coffee when Iona sighed.

“What’s wrong Iona?” Mel asked, picking up the concern in her sigh.

Ionas shrugged. “Not doing so well Mel. He hasn’t knocked me up yet.”

Within moments, Mel was spluttering coffee on the meeting room table. “Sorry?”

I laughed, “Iona and I are going to try for a baby. After the past month, we just thought we would see if it happened.”

“That’s… fast,” Mel said, perhaps a little concerned.

We both nodded at our friend. “Perhaps,” Iona said dismissively though. “But it’s still fun practising. And there is no one in this world I would rather have a child with,” she said, looking back at me adoringly.

Mel looked between us, her gaze studying us and suddenly shrugged. Then she asked us what we were doing in the office. Once she knew we were looking for a home she was all in. For the next couple of hours, she worked with us, helping us to position our wants and needs, locations and what we might need if we were going to have a child. At one point, Damien stopped by on his way to court and smiled at me as he heard the two women talking kitchens.

Over the next month, we saw a few places, and in the end, we had it down to three apartments and a house. Iona deferred to me as she said it was my money and she would be happy as long as I was there with her. I retorted that this was going to be our place and we would choose it together.

In the end, we chose a sub-penthouse apartment in a slightly older building on the lower end of Collins Street. It had fairly easy access to major arterials, quick access to public transport and like everything in Melbourne, it was a short walk to anything food.

The apartment itself was magnificent. It had three modest bedrooms plus a large master. It had great views over to Melbourne Park, think the tennis and Australian Open. The building had a pool, sauna, and gym, along with a twenty-four-hour concierge. We had two spots in the garage and I was able to park my Mustang and a new Jeep that I bought Iona. All in all, it was like a scaled-up bed and breakfast that we could call home.

The place had a little bit of furnishing, but an afternoon with Mel and it was all changed. Within the month we were moved in, it was a good thing too, as Iona’s period never came that month.

[:::: – ::::]

It’s now almost nine months since everything started. Iona is now six months along with our baby boy. We’ve settled into the apartment and it feels like every surface has some soft-edge baby protection on it. We’ve turned one of the rooms into a nursery, another into a guest bedroom and the third into a study for our work.

On the work front, Iona and I started a new investment business. We’re small at the moment only a couple of million to use, as I’m still a couple of years away from getting my trust. But Iona is good with numbers, and she has a good head on her shoulders. She owns ten per cent of the new venture. She said she wanted nothing, but I got Mel to convince her. Honestly, to date, it’s the only fight we’ve had. I currently own seventy per cent; we have an investor with fifteen per cent and the last five per cent is owned by Damien and Mel. They have become very close friends and it never ceases to amaze me to see the differences between Damian the lawyer and Damien my friend.

As a lawyer on my side, he has been a powerhouse that you need to get out of his way or be destroyed. He managed to get judgements against both mine and Candice’s old workplaces, both companies had now entered administration but at the time of everything happening, they both had a lot of liquid assets, so he tells me there is a significant cheque coming for both Iona and myself. He also got Roger’s wife a win where almost all the assets went to her since he is now in prison for the next thirty years, along with pretty much anyone involved with the conspiracy to murder me. I received one communication from William and George asking for mercy which I promptly tore up in front of Damien as he showed me those pearly whites. Lastly, he had a great amount of pleasure pulling my former lawyer apart piece by piece on the procession stand during his trial.

Now I haven’t mentioned Candice too much up to this point, not because she got away with things, in fact, she ended up getting thirty-five years without parole. The only people in the court who felt sorry for her when the verdict was read were her parents. However, after hearing what she had done and what she planned to do, I think even then, it was a close thing with their support.

The trial judge immediately granted the divorce based on the crimes against me. He noted his disgust at their behaviour and for destroying so many lives.

Based on the prenuptial agreement, Candice walked away with her belongings and fifteen thousand dollars to start her life over again. I put that in an interest-bearing trust for when she got out of prison. Due to her mental breakdown, she was not present in the court case. She was still in the secure mental ward and was due to be transferred to the medical ward in a medium-security prison within a month of her sentencing.

Her only request was that I come to see her once she was settled. I agreed on the basis that it did not impede the divorce. Six weeks later, I was sitting in a secure meeting room in the medical wing of the prison Candice was being held at. The room was simple, bolted-down the table, chained chairs, one of those one-way mirrors you always see in movies.

I had been sitting for perhaps ten minutes when a doctor and a guard brought my former wife in. She looked like six kinds of hell. Her usual straight brown hair was frizzled all over the place. It looked like she had tried to brush it in some places but not others. Next were the eyes. They shifted around the place as if she was looking for something. It didn’t look like she was threatened but like she was searching for threats. When she saw me, it was like a focus, and an eerie calm descended on her. The doctor frowned but retreated to a corner. The third and most obvious thing was that my former wife was very, very pregnant.

I was looking at her belly when she sat and Candice smiled.

“I’m actually almost a week overdue, Thomas.” She told me as she ran her hands over her swollen belly. “They tell me that if I don’t go into labour with our baby within twenty-four hours, they will need to induce me. Is that all right Thomas?”

“Our baby, Candice….” I caught a wave from the doctor and stopped.

“That’s fine Candice, “I told her. “Let them induce you so you can have the baby.”

She appeared to relax.

“Thomas, I need you to know that I never wanted to see you dead. I didn’t care about your money. But they all convinced me.” Candice told me sadly. “They told me after we had your child, that would be the time. I didn’t want to do anything to you, but they told me if I didn’t, they would still do it, it would be a lot more violent, and I would end up with nothing. Thomas, my love, you have to believe me.”

She stopped and waited, I looked over at the doctor, and he shrugged.

“Candice…” I started to say.

“It’s all right, Thomas.” She said, interrupting me, she gave me a sad smile looking into my eyes for a moment before they shifted away again. “I know that we’re divorced. I get that, but when our baby is born, I am sure they will let me out, and I’ll make it up to you. All those things I did, honey, they all meant nothing to me. You have to know you’re the only one I love.

“When Roger took me the first time I felt so guilty,” Candice said, whispering like it was a secret. “But when George found out and then my work, they Randy… Thomas,” she looked up at me again, her eyes pleading. “Can you forgive me?”

I paused, “Candice…”

She started in again, interrupting me once again.

“It’s okay Thomas. Our baby will help you forgive me. We’ve got this child, and I’ll be out; then we can be a family. The sex meant nothing, and I promise I won’t let them kill you anymore.” She started rambling. “I love you, Thomas. You’re my number one guy. They’re all number two, and they don’t fuck like you. I mean, they were good, but they were as interested in each other as me. I think they only fucked me for the money. Thomas, it will be just you and me, and, of course, our baby.”

For the next fifteen minutes she rambled on, delusions about our baby, about us getting back together, about her getting out and us being a family. At one point, she stopped, and both the doctor and I looked at each other, and then we heard a sob.

“I know I fucked up Thomas…” she said quietly, an edge of sanity and reservation in her voice that wasn’t there previously. “I know this baby isn’t yours and you and I will never…” she shuddered a sob. “The drugs they give me to keep me calm; keep me thinking it could be possible, but between them working and when they wear off, I have a few moments where I recall what a slut I was.”

She looked at me with tears streaming down her face. Pain echoed in her eyes.

“I betrayed everyone; I became a slut for greed when you offered it all to me anyway. I was betraying you often, and then I was going to poison you. I am low down, dirty slut that deserves vengeance.”

She was getting agitated.

“I know that you hate me, Thomas and I am cursed to still love you as much as the day I betrayed you.”

She stood and tore off her prison top and maternity bra in one swift gesture, standing their topless. The doctor tried to move towards her carefully.

Candice grabbed her belly. “Take your vengeance Thomas,” she snarled more at her self than me. “Beat me and make me cry, hurt me and make me feel the pain you feel. This baby isn’t yours, I gave this body away when it wasn’t mine to give.” She collapsed to the ground, sobbing.

I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just sat there.

“It was supposed to be yours, Thomas, it was supposed…” She kept repeating as she sat on the ground. Slowly Candice looked over at me and then up at the doctor. The doctor sensing that things were at an end spoke softly to my ex-wife.

“I think it’s time we have some dinner and you have your next round of medicine, don’t you Candice?”

The doctor helped her put her top back on, and as she knocked on the door and the guard outside retrieved her, Candice took one last look at me, a small sad smile on her face.

“Live a good life, Thomas.” And with that, she was gone.

A week later her doctor called me and thanked me for meeting with her. She told me that went better than he expected and Candice ended up giving birth to a little girl. The baby was healthy and they were running a DNA test for the father. Candice had told them to give the child up for adoption so that the little girl could be raised by a loving family, not pass through the foster system in the hope of one day being with her, which she knew wouldn’t happen.

That night after meeting with Candice I was all out of sorts until Iona placed my head on her belly and I felt our son kick. Two months later, John Thomas Other was born. I thought about the innocent little girl and in a moment of weakness, I had Damien reach out to the adoption agency and enquire about adopting Candice’s little girl.

A further two months, little Macy Candice Other came to live with us. We learnt that she was Randy’s child, and Damien enjoyed again suing the disgraced lawyer for child support. In the end, a paltry amount of money was set aside for her university fund. Of course, she would never need it, but it was the principal. Iona, for her part, never treated Candice’s daughter any different than her own natural children. We both felt that the child did not need to be affected by the sins of her biological parents.

Iona and I got married a year later, once the kids were walking and then on our honeymoon ended up giving them a little sister. A year and a half after that a little brother and then Iona convinced me to have the snip.

When Macy turned eighteen, we told her the truth about her origins, our history with her biological parents and that no matter what we loved her.

There were a few emotions around the apartment that week, and it was a chat with Auntie Mel that settled her down and made her understand that Iona and I would always be her parents even if we were not partially fond of her ‘sperm and egg doners’, those are her brothers’ words, not mine.

Anyway, we arranged a meeting for her to meet both Randy and Candice. Randy really didn’t care at all but insulted her as a mistake that never should have been born. Then tried to insult her as a fucked-up product that put him in prison. That had two guards pulling me off my former lawyer, putting him in the infirmary for a week and losing three teeth. Macy never saw him again.

Candice, on the other hand, was a different story. She had gotten well enough over the years to be released into general population. She was still fragile to an extent, but her doctors told us that a few other prisoners looked out for her and kept her out of too much trouble.

When Candice saw Macy standing there with Iona and me, she knew and broke down, sinking to her knees in the visitor hall, her hand poised over her mouth as she sobbed. Macy being a well-adjusted young woman, walked over and helped her up, walking with her over to a table. Iona and I stood back and watched as Macy, with an outstretched hand, said to Candice. “Hi, my name is Macy Candice Other and my Mum and Dad tell me that you’re my birth mother.”

We watched again as Candice broke down sobbing. The guards were watching, but we let them know ahead of time that this would be happening, and the warden had approved some hugging as long as Candice went through a full body search later.

I must admit that even I was moved by the scene of my adopted daughter and my ex-wife before me. Iona looked up at me and wiped the tear in my eye, exclaiming that it must be pollen. A moment later my wife dragged me over to my ex-wife and we spent the next hour talking.

Candice thanked me for adopting Macy. She had no idea what happened to her after she gave her up and even had no idea what her name was. That I had adopted her daughter made a world of difference to Candice and her doctors told us that she had a marked improvement in her behaviour after that. She still had a little under half her sentence to go, but the prison let us know she became much more of a model prisoner after that meeting.

For her part, Macy went to see Candice on her birthday and at Christmas time. They were never very close, but at her mother and auntie Mel’s insistence, she went to see her. For my part, I grudgingly gave my acceptance. I was coming to some place of forgiveness but Candice knew as well as I did, that we would never be friends.

As for Iona and I, she’s still the woman that makes my soul sing. Taking a chance one day to let me know I was being taken for a fool. She still lined up situations for us to make love in any and all locations. She guards me jealously and will be friendly to anyone, but if she sees anyone make moves at me, she swears at them in German and then proceeds to make me fuck her and reclaim her just like the dedicated wife that she is.

[:::: Fin ::::]

[:::: Authors Ending Note ::::]

Hey everyone,

Thank you for reading ‘Bed and Breakfast’. This was actually a story I wrote not long before I started on ‘Double or Nothing.’ It was also the first time that I really wrote something that focused on Melbourne, Australia. I know I didn’t do the city justice, but I do need to give a shout-out to the coffee and food culture that is Melbourne. There is not a street or alley you go to where you can’t find a great place for a coffee or perhaps a pastry.

In this tale, I left the issue of Thomas’s forgiveness of Candice on the table. Sure, he raised her daughter, but in my mind, that did not equate to forgiveness. That he introduced them when Macy turned eighteen and let the young woman make her own choice was logical to me.

See you in the next story.

John Other

He nodded, “Unfortunately…” he started, then stopped. “I invited Damien tonight because he’s acting as your new lawyer. So far, I have only been sharing extracts with him as he prepares everything, but with what today’s report shows, I think he needs to be in on our next steps.”

I looked between both men. I spoke with Damien several times this week as my new lawyer and a new friend. I had even spoken with Mel a couple of times. I was rapidly growing to trust the man.

“Sure, Damien is in the inner circle,” I told my PI. “What’s happening? What have you heard that makes it worse than what we have seen so far?”

Norm stared me straight in the face as he said the next line that, in a week that had knocked me about, just about took me out for the count.

“They’re talking about how they can kill you in about three years…”

“What!” both Damien and I said at the same time.

Norm nodded. “Not right away. However, twice now, we have overheard the group talking about removing you in a couple of years and splitting your trust up between the five of them.”

I sat back, stunned. Then looked at my investigator, “How?”

“They haven’t got a method yet,” Norm told us like he was reporting the news. “But they have talked about an accident, which they are not keen on. They are favouring slow poisoning by your wife through putting something in your food.”

Stunned was the wrong word; shellshocked was closer to the truth.

“The only good news here is that they are talking in the future tense, they don’t have a real plan yet, but apparently, they talk about it each time. Your friend Roger is apparently a chemist.” I nodded my head. “And he has said he can make a compound that would slowly kill you.”

“I… I… um, sorry guys, but I…” I couldn’t finish. Both men nodded in agreement.

“Your wife, for her part, appears somewhat reluctant. I do believe in some weird and warped way that she cares for you, but she does sound willing to go through with it to get her hands on some of your money directly.”

“But why?” I whined more than I wanted to. “We’re married, and once it belonged to me, it would have belonged to us. Why would she try to do this? She knows I would never have restricted her.”

Norm shrugged, “People do stupid things when money is concerned. Look, the key point here is that they haven’t done anything yet. I believe that they want your wife to have your child and wait till you get full access to the trust so that it smooths the way.

“My team are still in place,” Norm told us. “They are still listening and honestly, they are just as disturbed as what you are likely feeling now. All three have requested counselling after this assignment and are all seasoned professionals.”

We discussed some more details, and Norm produced a USB drive with more videos, pictures and audio for Damien and me.

Damien told me he would have the initial paperwork ready next week, which included the divorce paperwork using a copy of the prenuptial agreement. The submissions would have me sue both Saymen and Zacks, Candice’s workplace, and each cheater the following week. He had even spoken with a real estate agent who was keen to sell the apartment. Once I gave the go-ahead, he felt it could be sold very quickly.

With the revelation of their plans to murder me at some point in the future, Damien also noted that he would talk with the police about a conspiracy to commit murder. He had prepared restraining orders for each of them that they had to stay as far away from me as possible.

In the end, I decided on a plan that kept them in the dark as long as possible, giving me enough time to extricate myself from the initial fallout.

It did mean that I would have to suck it up at work until the end of the week. However, after that, all hell would break loose, and I would never set foot in that place again.

We spent a little more time planning, and I even got a call from Candice while we were talking. I let it go to voice mail, telling them I would call her back later to keep up appearances.

We had a going away party at work for Iona the next day. She had successfully completed her internship and was looking forward to heading north for her next journey step. Over cake and coffee, she quietly asked how I was, and I shook my head. She asked if we could meet for a drink after work and I smiled. I pushed hard for the rest of the day and caught up on some work. By quitting time, I got a few smiles from William and Mary as I submitted my work, appearing back on track.

Over drinks that night, without giving details, I told Iona that it was getting worse and that it was a good thing she would not be at Saymen and Zacks much longer. She took the hidden meaning and while we spoke, Mel called me.

“Hey Thomas, how are you?” she asked, concern in her voice.

“All things considered, all right,” I told her while Iona looked at me wondering whom I was talking to. “I have a plan, and your husband is foaming at the mouth waiting to get things started.”

I heard Mel laugh on the other end of the line, and Iona looked at me quizzically.

“Look, what I was calling for is that Damien and I were planning a trip down to see the penguins down near Phillip Island tomorrow, and I was wondering if you would like to come. Now before you say no, I want to tell you that you should come because you need to get out and be around friends that can help you through this.”

I smiled on my end, then looked at Iona, patiently waiting for me.

“Sure Mel, would you mind if I brought a friend along?” I asked

Iona looked at me. I heard Mel laugh.

“Sure. What’s her name?” Merriness in her voice.

“Iona, she’s the one that got me clued in.”

We spoke for another minute and agreed on times and locations to meet up. As I hung up Iona continued to look at me questioningly.

“Did you just ask me on a date by proxy on a call to another woman?” she asked.

When she said it, I think she saw the panic on my face. Her countenance broke and she laughed.

“Relax Thomas,” Iona told me, placing a hand on my arm. “I understand you just need friends right now. Where are we going? And did I hear the word Penguins?”

The next morning, at seven-thirty, Iona and I met Damien, Mel and Colleen at a service station outside of town. I was surprised when they turned up in a canary yellow 2019 Mustang. I heard the big V8 before I saw it, and I was impressed and then surprised as it pulled up alongside my own 2020 V8 Mach1 in gunmetal grey.

“I knew there was a reason I liked you,” I smiled as I greeted Damien. Mel and Iona smiled as both Damien and I spent the next few minutes talking mustangs before we realised we had not introduced the ladies to each other.

“Sorry, Damien, Mel, Colleen, this is Iona. Iona, this is Damien, Mel and Colleen. Damien is my new Lawyer.”

They shook hands, well, Mel hugged Iona and we got on the road. Have you ever wondered what sounds better than a big block V8 screaming down the on-ramp to the highway? Well, it’s two big blocks heading the same way and having a great time doing it.

By the time we made it over to Phillip Island, I had a smile a mile wide on my face. Damien was a cheeky driver, and the top dog lawyer in him wanted to play. So we did. Iona, for her part was having a ball. We chatted on the drive in between screaming out the lyrics to ‘Black Betty’, the remake by Spiderbait.

Throughout the day, we had a great time with the Penguins. All of us had been to see them before, but let’s face it, Penguins are cute any time you see them. We had a great lunch of fish and chips while sitting on the rocks and I felt good knowing that I could have friends that would have my back.

I was also surprised that Iona had her hand in mine by the end of the day. It felt natural like it was meant to be there. I must have blushed a few times when she looked at me. I was still married, and even though my wife was betraying me, I told myself I was still married, and fidelity meant a lot to me.

About a half hour, before we headed back, Colleen had convinced Iona and Damien to take her for a walk back to the Penguins, and I smelt a setup as Mel and I trailed behind.

“She likes you, you know?” she said as we walked behind the other three.

I nodded. “I know, I kind of like her too, but…”

Mel put her hand on my arm as we walked.

“I know Thomas. She does too. Iona and I talked about it earlier. Originally she was going to head up to Queensland for a month before looking for her next job, but she told me she would like to wait around to be there for you for the next month. She doesn’t have a lot of savings, but she wants to be there for you.”

I think the surprise showed on my face. And at that moment, Iona turned back and smiled at me. It froze as she realised what we were talking about, then she got an even bigger smile as I smiled back and she turned her attention back to Colleen as we approached the Penguins.

Mel laughed, “See!”

The trip home was almost as fun as the trip down, just a little more subdued. At one point, I noticed a tavern on the Waze map up ahead and I called Damien and let him know that Iona and I would stop for a bit. Mel piped in, telling us to have a good time and Damien, Colleen and Mel all thanked us for coming and spending the day with them.

I was surprised that the conversation with Iona was light and flowing during our return trip and as we parked and made our way into the tavern. It was early evening in summer, twilight was lasting a while at the moment as we got a window seat and looked over the menus.

We ordered drinks and food. I was going to treat myself to a full rack of bourbon ribs and Iona ordered a chicken pamageddon. That’s a parmigiana for those of you wondering, just scaled up with more cheese, chips and sauce.

I felt the mood get serious for a moment.

“Thomas?” the question was implied. I looked at her.

I’ve mentioned some of the general physical traits of this woman who is in the process of saving my life, but in detail, Iona is German-born and was raised in Germany until she was four and her parents immigrated to Australia. She was a natural to numbers and is doing a postgraduate degree while interning around the country in short bursts to see Australia before finding a place to settle down.

Physically, Iona is quite small, only five foot two. She has long blonde hair and as I mentioned earlier a cute face that has these deep blue eyes that I felt I could fall into without too much hassle now my marriage was breaking up. I mentioned that she dresses conservatively in the office, but today I must admit I caught myself staring at how her ass filled out her jeans more than once. At the same time, she wore a loose cotton shirt that several times hinted at the bra constraining a pair of breasts that must have been a decent b-cup but framed her body perfectly.

As she reached over and took my hands in hers, I felt soft and supple skin and a tactile touch that told of real affection, not just friendship or lust.

“I have a good idea what you and Mel were talking about. I know you have a messed-up situation right now and you need a friend more than anything else,” She took in a hesitant breath. “So, that’s what I want to be for you right now, a friend first of all.” She stopped a moment and looked away still holding my hands.

“But we’ve known each other for a little while now and over this past couple of weeks as we have gotten closer, I’ve come to understand there could be more. I think…. No, I know. I like you more than a friend. Do you know what I’m saying.”

I smiled. I was touched. This woman was putting herself out there, letting me know she was interested in more than friendship, even knowing that I was all kinds of screwed up.

“Iona I…” I started to say, then stopped.

Her face fell, crushed was more like it when I stopped. I think she thought it was a rejection. I squeezed her hands.

“Iona, you are an amazing woman, and you’re right. I need friends first right now. But if I’m honest with you, under the turmoil I am feeling right now. I kind of like you too…” I let the rest go unspoken.

Most of the time, we go from happiness to despair in an instant, it’s much easier to have your world fall out from under you than it is to climb the mountain into the sunlight, but Iona did it. One moment I could see the thought of rejection. The next her face broke into a look of serene joy. Her smile reached ear to ear and those big blue eyes glared at me with adoration.

We spent the rest of the evening talking about likes and dislikes. We talked about movies and music and of course, mustangs. I told her the story of losing my parents and grandparents, and her eyes went wide when I admitted to her about my trust fund.

“So why are you working at Saymen and Zacks?” she asked not long after I told her. I shrugged my shoulders.

“Originally, I only planned to be there a couple of years for the experience,” I explained. “I was thinking about working around the place a little like you do to see different things and I was talking with my dad about us starting an investment company in a few years, but when they died, I just stayed there.”

Mentioning my parent’s death in relation to my trust sobered us a bit.

“I’m sorry, Thomas when I look at you, I don’t see some rich spoilt guy. I see a man who is focused but doesn’t suffer fools even as he has his own humility.”

I snorted, “Thanks.”

“I mean it, you’re a good man,” she lectured me. “You’ve yet to fly off the handle, and you haven’t gone and killed them yet,” referring to my wife and her lovers.

“No, not like they are planning on doing to me,” I said dejectedly, not thinking.

“What?” she said eyes wide.

Busted, I just realised what I said and then proceeded to tell Iona the high-level conversation that my P.I. had picked up. That in a few years’ time, they were all planning on knocking me off to get a cut of the money after I had fathered a child to Candice. Iona was appalled and crying by the end of it.

“You’re doing something about it aren’t you? I’m not a lawyer, but that needs to be a crime…” she almost whispered to me; her fingers were pinching my arm; she was worried, and I almost thought she was going to start looking around for assassins.

I nodded. “Damien is on the case. It will all happen at the end of next week.”

She released me.

“Sorry, but Thomas, your wife is conspiring to murder you!” she said, an almost hysterical note in her voice.

We spent a few more minutes talking and as we returned to my car, she held my arm, almost constantly looking around.

“It’s alright Iona,” I said holding her hand in my arm. “I doubt there is anyone watching, but if there is, I’ve got a fast car here, we can outrun them.”

That made her laugh, and on the rest of the drive home our conversation was a lot more subdued. When I dropped her off, Iona hugged me tightly and in a moment of weakness, I gave her a chaste peck on the lips. Both of us blushed and smiled when we understood what we had just done, and we both knew there would be more to our relationship if we allowed it.

Driving off, I was smiling. I sang with the radio on the way back to the new Bed and Breakfast I had checked into, and I felt at least some of the pain in my heart start to lift thanks to Damien, Mel and Colleen, but more so thanks to Iona.

I was a couple of streets away when my phone rang. It was Candice. I could hear she was in a bar.

“Baby,” she said, a note of concern in her voice, “Where are you? I’ve been trying to reach you all afternoon.”

Shit, I thought, I didn’t return her call. “Sorry Candice, I ended up heading down to Phillip Island with some friends and their daughter to see the Penguins today. It was a last-minute thing and I kind of got distracted.”

I felt the tension in her voice relax.

“Oh okay, I was a little worried there. Did you have a good day?” she asked. Now the issue of me not communicating was resolved.

“It was a great day. Seeing the Penguins with kids is amazing.” I told her, letting the genuine feelings of joy I had watching Colleen with the penguins flow through our conversation. “They bring a different perspective around the happiness you feel.”

I wasn’t lying. Watching Colleen with the penguins was a laugh. She loved to feed them the bait fish we bought and at one point was making us all laugh as a group of penguins followed her around for more food.

“Aww baby, just hearing that makes me horny,” she said in a sultry voice; I tried not to puke. “You know, perhaps we can start trying for a baby of our own when I get back. You’ve gone and got me all clucky.”

Right, I thought, have a baby so you can poison me.

“We’ll see Candice, so how’s the conference going? Are you out?” I asked, changing the topic.

“Oh yes, well, the conference has been great. We’ve really been going at it hard,” she said, not aware that I understood the innuendo she was using. “And yeah, a group of us, including my boss, are out for a few drinks. Don’t worry my boss is keeping an eye on me so that no strangers assault my virtue.”

I bet, I thought, like the slut had any virtue.

After that I lost interest in the conversation and let her talk to me for a few minutes about, well, I have no idea what she was talking about. I was no longer listening. She hung up with an ‘I love you’ but I don’t know if she noticed that once again, I never returned the sentiment.

In the following week, I got to work early every day to get on top of my workload. With what was coming, I didn’t want to leave any of my clients high and dry. I was pretty sure that both Mary and William were in on something to do with George and Candice, but I didn’t know what, and as the week progressed, I noticed that they looked at me less and less as I had my nose to the grindstone.

I moved into another bed and breakfast. Why, well, despite all appearances, I was paranoid before I learnt about the conspiracy to end my life. Afterwards, I was just as freaked out as Iona about the whole situation so that I would change locations every two days.

Most nights that week I spent with Iona. We did dinner, and she helped me pack up all mine and Candice’s belongings in my apartment. My stuff was going into a storage shed for a company I had invested in several years ago, free of charge. Candice’s stuff was being removed and placed in another location with payment for sixty days, giving her a couple of months to sort out what was coming.

I spoke with Candice each day, and I got Norm’s reports. I mistakenly showed Iona a couple of the pictures from the report one evening as we were packing up the kitchen, and she promptly ran to the bathroom and threw up. I think it was from seeing five people all doing things that a porn director would be hard-pressed to get professional actors to try. When she came back, she was hopping mad and hugged me constantly while berating my soon-to-be ex-wife for her behaviour.

We got to Monday morning. It was game day, the cheaters would be back early afternoon, and I would be making a one-month getaway to Cairns in North Queensland. That morning I walked into work like it was a regular day. I attended the staff meeting where William let us know that George would be back tomorrow. For the first time since I was clued into things, I noticed Mary staring at me as William told us. I made a note to pass that across to Damien for the conspiracy charges if they were a part of anything.

A little before lunchtime, a group asked me if I would like to have lunch with them, and I politely declined. However, as they left, I started a wipe on my laptop and walked out, leaving my keys and swipe cards on my desk. I wanted to leave my letter of resignation; however, Damien’s team would be delivering that later this afternoon.

As I walked out of the office, the driver of a corporate car opened his car door, welcoming me. We started for the airport and he let me know our plane was on time as Iona reached over and hugged me, giving me another one of those chaste kisses I was coming to adore.

When we got to the airport, Damien and Mel were there to send us off. I handed my phone to my lawyer and he, in turn, handed me a new phone with a new number. Only a select few people knew the number, and it would stay that way for a while.

Iona and I flew business class to Cairns, enjoying champagne once reaching cruising level. I knew that Candice was arriving home about that time, as were the other cheaters.

As we deplaned, another driver met us driving Iona and me to the cute bed and breakfast that we had booked for the first week of our stay. I had become partial to the BnB’s and I have to say this one was beautiful. Run by an older gay couple who had been together forty years. They had built the split-level home when prices were cheap and they had a house full of foster kids. Now they ran the bed and breakfast for fun and company. In the morning they gave us a full breakfast with bacon, eggs, tomato, toast, beans and spinach. The coffee wasn’t as good as back home coming from a pod, but it was passable. But the view, the house had magnificent views out over the water. At sunset we loved watching the colours play across the little bay as the waves gently lapped the pathway across the road with the esplanade.

The room that Iona and I shared had a big king-size bed in it and its own attached bathroom with a double shower and whirlpool tub. The owners told us that they remodelled a few years ago and had two king rooms and four superior rooms, the king rooms were luxurious and cost a bit more, but I knew it was worth it. For the first two days, we were the only guests so we were able to be a little more passionate.

And passion, my goodness, Iona, but let me digress…

On the drive between the airport and the bed and breakfast, I turned on my phone and had a single message from Damien.

[ It’s done, chaos ensues, but you’re a free man, now turn off your phone, and I’ll talk to you in a few days! ]

I did as told and that night after checking in I was nervous for the first time. Both Iona and I knew we would be in the same bed and I think we were both worried about our expectations of each other. Neither of us need have worried.

We showered separately, and I climbed into bed reading one of the novels from the library our hosts had downstairs when Iona opened the bathroom door and I forgot all about the book I was reading.

So let’s revisit. Iona is a smaller, sexy woman with long blonde hair, a cute face, big expressive blue eyes, curvy butt and pert breasts, yes?

Well no.

As Iona stood there in the light of the bathroom, I was floored. She had on a sheer black teddy that only had enough lace in places to cover her greatest secrets and some designer lace that accentuated her torso and made it both exotic and beautiful. She had heels on accentuating her calves and she looked nervous, but judging from the lumps where her breasts were, she was also excited.

I dropped the book I was reading and grunted as it hit my own instant erection and was transfixed by the beauty before me. The woman who had risked a lot to let me know of Candice’s betrayal was letting me know she had been attracted to me for months.

She walked over to me. I stood, taking her into my arms and our lips met in serene bliss. I felt her tongue against mine, and then I felt her body relax into me. The moments passed like time had stopped. The feelings of friendship, lust, and dare I say, even love were conveyed in just that simple connection of lips. When we drew back, we looked at each other.

“I love you Thomas,” Iona told me.

“I love you too Iona,” I replied instantly and I meant it. I had been fighting it over the past week; I couldn’t understand how I could fall in love so quickly while betrayed and still being married. But Iona was not just lust for me. She was my friend first. She had no idea of my money until I told her and she was angry on my behalf when she found out what was planned for me.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t know if it would last, but Iona was there for me when I needed it. We wanted each other so who was I to turn down the body of a beautiful woman?

I laid her down on the bed and spent the time exploring each other while kissing and exchanging messages of love and acceptance. I slowly peeled off her beautiful lingerie. When I exposed her breasts, I found a pair of massive brown nipples. Her areolae were crinkled with her excitement as I took one of the coin-sized nipples in my mouth and sucked. When her hand came to the back of my head, and she held me there, I knew I was doing the right thing. I released her left nipple with an audible plop and proceeded to attack her right nipple. That didn’t last long though because Iona began writhing under me as I held her breasts with one hand and kept rubbing her thighs with the other. She drew me up for a kiss, and while our lips were locked, she began rubbing my cock through my boxers. Before I could explode, I kissed back down her body, pulling the teddy with it and she lifted her hips as I pulled it off and down her legs. As her womanhood was exposed to the air her scent increased tenfold and before I could dive in, she turned over and pushed her ass into the air.

“Take me Thomas, please fuck me,” she begged, now panting a little. I was stunned for a moment. In front of me was a sexy naked blonde; her plump juicy ass was pushed up in the air and her thighs spread wide, her clean-shaven pussy lips were moist, and enlarged with arousal and between her legs, I could see her chest with her breasts pressed down on the sheet. She looked at me, her head down on the bed, her eyes pleading.

“Please, my love, take me,” she pleaded with me again. I needed further prompting.

I gently bent down towards her mons, licking her pussy for a few moments, leaving a long line of lubricant from her clit all the way back and over her rose. When my tongue touched her sphincter, I felt her shudder, interesting I thought. I stripped off my boxers and quickly positioned myself at her entrance.

As I speared her that first time, I felt her vaginal walls contract and pulse, her moan told me that I had not gone too fast. I began pulling back and she moaned again, over the next few minutes I built up a pace as we fucked. It had been weeks since I last had release. In the middle of being betrayed even masturbation was not desirable, so it didn’t take long until I was emptying myself inside of Iona as she moaned through an orgasm feeling my fertile seed flow into her.

Afterwards, I fell to the bed and Iona and I snuggled, I kissed her.

“Thank you,” I told her. She looked up at me and smiled,

“What for specifically?” she asked me.

“In general terms everything. For having the fortitude to say something even though it could have put you in a very awkward position. For being my friend and caring about me enough to not pressure me. And lastly, for giving me your body. That was one of the best fucks I have ever given and if that’s fucking then I can’t wait to make love to you.”

Iona beamed at me.

“Thomas, you are only the third man I have ever been with, and neither of the other two even held a candle to what you did to me. I came as you entered me, did you feel that?”

I nodded.

“Right now I can feel your little guys moving around inside me; usually after sex I like to clean up, but I am so content right now I could be covered in your sperm and I would fall asleep happy.”

“Eww”, I laughed, then “Seriously?” I raised an eyebrow. In response Iona lifted her head up and kissed me then moving her body over mine she spread her thighs and let some of our combined juices drop out of her and onto my cock while both of us watched between our bodies. Then without using her hands, she proceeded to use her engorged pussy lips to rub up and down the length of my cock till I was again rock hard. She pulled forward a bit and then lodged my head between her lips and looking up at me, she bit her lips then pushed backwards and impaled herself on me. She didn’t jump up and down, instead she ground her pelvic bone into me and was somehow massaging my cock with her pussy walls. Her eyes were closed in ecstasy as her hands came to her breasts and she started pulling on her nipples. It was an incredible sight, and I could feel myself nestled against her womb, each time she ground against me I felt the opening and if I hadn’t cum earlier, I would have immediately with that feeling.

When Iona came this time, it was long and intense. I could feel her pulsating around me and her lips clenching and releasing. Her guttural moan told me how intense it was. She fell forward onto my chest and lay a moment. When she opened her eyes and looked at me and she smiled.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi there yourself,” I told my new lover. “Iona, that was amazing. You looked so beautiful.”

“Thank you, but as much as I loved that, it is your turn now.” She rolled off me and my slick hard shaft slapped against my abdomen as she cleared my body and laid on the bed. Before I could say anything else she looked at me.

“I want you to cum all over my face Thomas, claim me and mark your woman.”

I positioned my knees either side of her head and leaned back slightly, my ass lightly touching her breasts. She brought her arms up to support me a little and I began stroking my cock for her.

“That’s it my love, stroke yourself, let yourself go and make me yours,” she repeated.

Her eyes looked from my cock, still covered in her juice, to me, my eyes in adoration and I felt myself getting closer. As I edged closer, I felt Iona’s hand move and her little finger brushed my anus, the light contact was all I needed and I came. I thought I had cum hard earlier, but I again released torrent after torrent of cum over her face. As it happened, I looked down and Iona giggled, her eyes closed and her mouth open.

I rocked back a little after and Iona opened her eyes and smiled at me.

“I’m yours now,” she told me, and I know she meant it. She touched her face and then brought her fingers to her mouth. She giggled when she saw my cock twitch.

“I’ve heard that’s a turn-on for guys. Did you like that?” she asked.

I nodded, exhausted. Iona then craned her head forward and sucked my cock head into her mouth, her tongue teasing under the head as I moaned, she again laughed.

“My love, I have never done that before,” she told me. “I’ve never tasted anyone before, well except myself, and I have never let someone cum on my face.”

Without thinking, I fell down on her and kissed her, I tasted myself on her lips. I must admit I wasn’t worried, but I wanted to reinforce to her how much she meant to me.

“Thomas can you go one more time?” she asked as we pulled back from our kiss.

We both looked down, my cock still hard and at the mention of a third time he responded, slowly, but he thickened up.

“One more time perhaps, you need some more?”

She kissed me, “Kind of, but Thomas, I need you to claim all of me if I’m going to be your woman. I need to make sure you understand I will never do to you what that bitch did, I need you to take my virgin ass.”

I swallowed.

Anal was not new to me. Candice and I had had a lot of anal play together, but anal took time and lube. You needed to prepare if it was to be done right. I think Iona saw the concern in my eyes.

“It’s okay Thomas, I prepared earlier, and…” she got up and went to the bathroom walking back in with a towel, a damp washcloth and a bottle of lube. “I got this ready.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

Iona hesitated a moment and then nodded, “Please be gentle, but yes, I want this, I want you to claim all of me tonight.”

She got back on the bed and on her knees again. This time she grabbed her thighs and gently pulled her ass cheeks apart exposing herself..

“Please Thomas, please,” she said almost whispering.

I lent in and kissed her ass cheeks, one then the other. Then I blew on her back door, the moisture from our earlier trysts still covering her. I saw her pucker as she moaned. Then I gently used my palm to tease her clit helping her to relax. As she did, I kept breathing on her ass, letting her know I was there. Her ass, like the rest of her was cute, her back door crinkled and looked clean, and the skin went slightly darker as you got closer to your target just like her nipples.

I lent in and touched my tongue to her ass and Iona moaned.

“It’s all right beautiful, just relax,” I told her softly. I felt her sink further into the bed as I began to tongue her ass and then I slowly brought a finger over and inserted it into her ass. At that first touch of penetration she tensed, but as the saying goes, always use lube and love. Ever so slowly I inserted a second lubed-up finger making some slight movement, slowly kissing her ass cheeks as I stimulated her. I again smelled her arousal and smiled, slowly removing my fingers and cleaning them on the washcloth.

I looked around for a condom, Iona noticed.

“No, my love, I want you bare in there, I want you to claim me, is that all right?”

I smiled, “Of course.”

I slathered my cock with lube and held her firmly as I pushed my cock head against her ass and with a little pressure slipped through her ring and into her ass. She stiffened, but I didn’t sense her in any real pain, trusting she would tell me if I hurt her. Slowly, ever so slowly, I eased my way in. Iona now had her fingers rubbing her pussy, moaning and occasionally asking me to stop as she adjusted. I poured more lube as I sank further into her bowels until I was fully encased in her ass. She moaned when I told her and shuddered through a mini-orgasm.

“I’m yours, all yours,” she whispered over and over again. I slowly pulled back a little then started a rhythm, using more lube and just going slow. Iona kept her fingers working and then stopped and asked me to flip her over. I managed to get her on her back with my cock still in her ass while standing off the side of the bed.

I then watched as she pulled on her nipples and fingered her clit while asking me to fuck her ass. This beautiful woman looked at me adoringly, and even though I had already cum twice, it didn’t take too long for me to feel an impending release.

As I came in her bowels, she pulled me to her and kissed me. After that I slowly backed out of her, gently pulling out. I checked her, noting no blood, and cleaned up her butt and my cock.

I then helped my new lover to the shower, and we proceeded to wash each other slowly and completely before falling back into bed and enjoying the loving touch of each other’s arms.

The following morning I awoke to kissing on my nipples. I smiled as Iona was playing.

“Good morning baby how are you feeling?” she asked noticing me awake.

“Amazing, last night was… wow, seriously, Iona that was incredible,” I responded reaching out to cup her cheek as she smiled at me.

She beamed at the praise, “then it worked,” she nodded approvingly.

“What worked?” I asked, puzzled.

“You forgot about the bitch.” she paused and bit her lip like she did last night. “And you claimed me as yours. And I am yours now, Thomas, as long as you will have me, my heart and soul are yours.”

She looked at me searchingly, and I pulled her to me and kissed her. She sighed contently. “And I am yours as well Iona. Last night you gave me all of you and trusted me to do things that it takes a lot of time for couples to do. I’m struggling with how fast I am falling in love with you. But I am.”

We got dressed and headed out for breakfast, initially walking slowly as Iona got used to a little soreness. Our hosts said good morning and gave us knowing looks.

The next few days were amazing. Iona and I enjoyed the food scene. We visited the amazing Daintree rainforest, and we even did a steam train ride and cable car ride. We snorkelled on the great barrier reef and of course, we made love. Morning and evening, Iona opened her body to me. She encouraged me but ensured that I knew I was the one that would never enjoy her body.

By the end of the first week, I had forgotten my phone. It was only when Damien and Mel turned up with Colleen that I thought of it. We had previously arranged that they would stay in the same place as us for the second week. Damien grinned at me and told me it was all right.

Over dinner that night he had a story to tell.

“Well, the waste product has surely hit the rotating device,” he said as Colleen headed back to her room to watch a movie so the adults could talk.

He leaned in.

“In total, nine people have been arrested on conspiracy to commit murder over the past week.”

“What?” Iona and I said simultaneously. Damien grinned.

“Yeah,” he said, that lawyer’s grin spreading on his face.

Apparently, from the depositions we have been able to run on your behalf and interviews from the police, over the past week, the five you know of, including your former boss and your soon-to-be ex-wife, the office manager at your former workplace, the other owner and two others at Candice’s work were all in on it.”

I sat back and blew out a breath. “Nine people wanted me dead?” I asked.

“Sort of,” Damien told us. “They all admitted that they had nothing specific against you. Indeed they all said you were a really nice guy, but they had an agreement where each of them would get a minimum of a couple of million dollars from your trust a few years after you died.

“Of course, they all blamed each other, well, except Candice. She broke down when she came home and found you gone, the photos and the divorce papers telling the story. She’s currently being held in a secure wing at the local Ramsay hospital for observation.”

“I delivered your resignation and the notice that you are suing your former workplace personally,” he told me, smiling at the memory. “Right now, they are closed for business, and all employees are stood down immediately. Of course, no one thinks they will survive. It’s a similar situation over at Candice’s work.

“Oh, and I also was there to deliver the notices and watch Mr Randwick Johnstone being arrested. That, I have to say, was very satisfying professionally. No charge for that one.” He winked at me, and I laughed.

“What about Roger?” I asked.

“He was also arrested. His wife thought he was interstate for work, not fucking one of his friends wives. I gave her a call and volunteered to have us represent her pro-bono. I felt like it was the least I could do.”

Mel slapped Damien, “Baby, stop teasing.”

We all laughed and spent the next hour asking for details. At one point, Mel looked at Iona and I holding hands and commented.

“Well, it didn’t take you two long, did it?” she stated.

Iona just looked at me and blushed, then Damien then Mel laughed.

“I made him claim me our first night,” she told the couple before us. “Then I made sure he never walks out of the room without seeing some part of me naked. I don’t think he’s had a minute to himself to think about those idiots. Besides, I think he enjoys making me walk funny the next day…”

Damien snorted his coffee out his nose, and Mel laughed. Me, I just smiled like the Cheshire Cat. Mel looked at me.

“I think you’re going to be okay Thomas,” she said, looking between Iona and I. “This one, I know she’s a keeper.”

They stayed with us for the following week and we enjoyed day trips all over the place, a night at the casino and even a light plane trip up the Daintree coast. At the end of the week, they headed home to Melbourne, and we caught a flight to Brisbane.

Iona introduced me to her parents in Brisbane as her boyfriend, and I enjoyed playing the part. Back in a major metropolitan centre, we caught the news one night talking about the conspiracy plot to murder myself in the future. My name wasn’t mentioned, but when Iona told her parents that was me, they almost panicked till we told them the story.