“I do. I don’t go flouting women in front of you. I turn down all advances. You deliberately flaunted Mike. From the looks of everyone, this wasn’t a one off. This was you saying, “FUCK YOU!””
Dorothy reacted, “It’s my fucking body. I’ll say who has access and your access privileges have been cancelled until further notice!”
She stormed into the bedroom. I followed.
“Dorothy, you’re right. It’s your body. You grant access to who you wish. It doesn’t mean, it doesn’t have a cost. You fuck someone else, I will go nuclear. If you don’t want that, let’s file for divorce and when you are free, you can fuck who you like.
“I’m not waiting in wondering who you’re off fucking and what diseases you’ll have.
“Hell, if I had posed the same question to you and that group, you’d have cut my balls off for suggesting I fuck someone else.”
As she looked away from me, a thought came into my mind and out my mouth immediately, “I forgot to ask, “Is the bare cunt for Mike?”
Dorothy spun round, “You fucking bastard. I did it for me. I’ll do what I want with my body.”
Those were almost the last words we spoke until Wednesday. I did try to speak to her the next morning but was shot down so never bothered again. I wasn’t going to break the impasse. I made sure I was home early each day. I did start to arrange a few other things as well.
She had come in and threw her car keys at me and told me to fill her car up and top up the water bottle. I normally did that.
“Do it your fucking self. You’re in charge aren’t you?”
If looks could kill, I wouldn’t be here.
On Friday I was home by 3.30pm. I had spent some time with my solicitors, looking at all options. If she committed adultery, she would be the one to suffer.
At 6.30pm she came downstairs. She looked good enough to eat. The dress clung to her showing she wasn’t wearing a bra. It came to mid-thigh. Her legs were bare.
She laughed as she watched me take in the view. She pranced happily out of the door without a word.
Two hours or so later, I received a WhatsApp from Mike. I had opened it before it registered. It was a photo of the bare back of Dorothy with more than just a slight hint of her left breast. There was a tramp stamp tattoo at the base of her spine just above her micro thong.
“What do you think?” the caption asked.
I was mad, furious. Mike had her almost naked at a tattoo parlour. MIKE!!!
I took a few minutes before I replied, “Dorothy knew I loved her flawless skin and how I hate tattoos, piercings. This is the final finger to me! You want to flaunt you’re fucking and expect me to be okay with it. I told you, there would be a cost. I hope you will both find this is what you want.”
I added my own photographs, divorce papers naming her and him with my signature already signed.
I’d had enough. The photo destroyed a part of me. She was defiled. I had already thought to move to a business apartment we used to house new employees when they moved here until they found their own accommodation. I packed a few suitcases and headed there.
Once there I began closing all access she had to any account not necessary for her day-to-day life. I put limits on the amount she could spend. I knew she spent money on those “friends.” I had already changed all my passwords so she wouldn’t be able to gain access through our home computer.
My PA, Belinda has been great. She had seen how upset, angry I was on the Monday. She suggested I find a counsellor to help me deal with the stress. I am seeing one on Monday. I hadn’t a clue how they worked. I spent the weekend trying to work out how our lives had gotten so distorted, why Dorothy would do that to me.
I had shut down my phone as I didn’t want to speak with anyone. I only went out to grab some takeaway. I’m not a big drinker so I didn’t take solace in a bottle.
On Monday, Belinda was already in the office when I went in. I raised my eyebrow.
She smiled, just more like a grimace, “Some of us have been spending the weekend dealing with a very irate wife who couldn’t contact her husband. Said husband was proposing a divorce which wasn’t sitting well with her. He’d left the marital home.
“I’ve agreed to have lunch with her so I’m making up the time.”
I smiled, “Belinda, you needn’t make up the time. This is above and beyond your duties.” I explained what happened on Friday night.
Belinda looked aghast when I told her about the tattoo. “She did this, knowing how you feel about them?”
I nodded, ” She knows I hate tattoos. Her skin was flawless now it’s been defiled. We discussed stuff like that as we became a couple. She knows full well my views. She says she is in control of her body. Who she has sex with and what is done to her body?
“Hell, that’s two weeks running she’s been out without a bra on. The first times ever. She has her pussy waxed as she knows I liked running my fingers through her pubic hair. She’s saying “Fuck You” to me.
“I’ve suggested counselling, couples’ retreats but nothing until she decided she and Mike should fuck. She was feeling his cock up on the Friday night the week before to show me my place.
“I receive no consideration to my views whatsoever. I’ve had enough. The last week has been purgatory. She wants to fuck others. I’m an impediment. The tattoo was the final straw. The best thing is to divorce.
“I won’t be a cuckold, a nonentity in my marriage.”
Belinda looked at me, “Did she offer you an open marriage?”
“I wouldn’t have gone for that either. She looked bloody annoyed when I suggested I could accept some of the females who come on to me.”
Belinda asked, “Any instructions for me?”
I nodded, “I don’t want to speak with her or any of her friends. Be aware of what you say. She’ll try and get you into her corner. There’s going to be no winners here.
“What’s my day like?”
Belinda went through my day. It would effectively end at 2.30 when I went to the counsellor. I didn’t know what I was going to say. Belinda just smiled, “the lady is very good, she’ll soon have you speaking.”
I did need to switch my phone on as Belinda reminded me I had some calls coming in later that morning.
There were numerous WhatsApp’s and texts from Dorothy. None were apologetic, most downright nasty about me. I transferred all those, like the tattoo photo to a file, to be used if necessary.
Belinda came in to remind me about my appointment as she was heading to lunch. I gave her some money. She looked at me, “I cancelled all Dorothy’s non-essential cards. I’ve cut the limits on those she has left. She’ll have been buying her friends so will be out of money, I expect. So, you’ll have to pay.”
In answer to the unasked question on her face, “I’m not paying for her to fuck around on me.”
Belinda asked quietly, “Jeremy, have you asked her outright if she’s fucking around on you. Is she trying to jolt you? Pissed off at how much time you’ve spent at work recently.”
I looked at her, “Belinda, I haven’t. I’m not sure I want to know the answer until I get my head straightened out. I’m shocked we’ve come to this. I knew things weren’t good as I worked on those last few contracts. I told her how important they were and that after, I’d have more time to devote to our marriage. They are beginning to really pay a dividend workwise. I’ve been grooming Donovan, Jill and Ashley to take control of those accounts so I can take a few big steps back so I could be there for Dorothy more often.
“I know I have an element of blame but I’m not shamelessly feeling a woman’s breasts in front of her like she did with Mike’s cock.”
“What did she say when she came back home that night?” Belinda asked quietly.
“It’s her body, she decides access. We rowed as she wouldn’t accept that her decision impacted upon me. I was adamant she should at least consider the effect if would have on me. We haven’t spoken two non-angry words since.
“Friday night she flaunted how little she was wearing before she headed off. After the photo, I couldn’t stay there any longer. I can’t believe she did that.” I was almost in tears. My eyes were definitely moist.
I grabbed lunch in the canteen before heading to see the counsellor. Belinda had picked her. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. Belinda wanted me fixed so she’d go for the one to do it, no matter what it cost me emotionally.
I wasn’t wrong.
The counsellor Sarah was slightly older and had a warmth about her. She began by asking me what I thought was the problem between Dorothy and me.
“In recent months we haven’t been communicating at all well. Some of it was my fault due to my business but I explained everything to Dorothy and how after this, I would have more time for us. I was already cutting my hours but it seemed she was always out with her new friends even if I was at home. Our sex life stopped, five, six months ago.
“Ten days ago, I was home in plenty of time, for a change, before a night out with her friends. Her face said she wasn’t pleased I was there. As she dressed, I was very pleased. She had gone way out to impress me. When she asked why I was smiling, I told her she’d never dressed like that for me before. She replied, “Who says it’s for you!” Her face told me she wasn’t lying. We rowed and the evening didn’t get any better.
“During the night, she sat very close to Mike. I would swear she was caressing his cock. The table covered her hand but the arm movement was clear. Mike looked happy. He was caressing her arm. One started a discussion on monogamy. It was scripted about allowing wives to fuck around. I disagreed.