An adult stories – Friendly Fire by JimmyThePlunger,JimmyThePlunger Quite a long story, told in short chapters to move things along.
UK English from a bumbling dyslexic, expect mistakes, if that upsets you, don’t read it. Your call.
Chapter 1 — Matt & I
Matt & I had gone to school together, we were neither of us book smart but neither of us were dumb either. In our late teens we had a chat decided that we were fucked if we were going to saddle ourselves with large debts from a college education and that there was a very good living to be made in the trades.
Plumbers were often in short supply and Matt’s uncle was a plumber, he was older than Matt’s dad and reaching an age when he was happy to have an apprentice or two that he could underpay whilst they learned the trade of him.
He was also of an age and had been frugal with his money so, retirement was something he was not far from ready for and somewhere like Florida with a better climate beckoned where his rheumatic joints would do better in the milder winters. Matt envisaged either him or both of us taking over the business and developing it into something bigger.
So, we joined his Uncle Steve, worked as apprentices for low pay but got the grounding and the skills we needed.
We had a plan but before that we had all the trials and tribulations of growing up, making our way through the teen angst, the learning about life, learning about sex and as important about relationships with both male and female friends, what made people become and stay friends, what people valued and made them want to be around you, being good company, loyalty and the whole nine yards.
In school we had each other’s backs, others soon learn ed that if they took on one of us, they took on both of us. We were not huge guys, but we were physically hard from sports, and we had each had our share of fights.
I suppose our friendship solidified for all time one day when I was having hassle from two big football players and Matt cruised in swinging fists, before they knew what was happening we had teamed up to put both of them down and after that we were inseparable, and nobody seemed to want to tangle with us anymore.
When it came to the opposite sex, Matt was a bit of a player, liked to spread himself thinly and seemed to rarely be without some lady on his arm.
Me? I’m Jim by the way, and I became infatuated with Kate in my first year out of school as Matt and I were learning the plumbing trade from his Uncle Steve.
I had met Kate in a bar one night and we just seemed to hit it off, we liked each other and spent a lot of time together, eventually it moved to the bedroom, and we discovered we were just as compatible there.
Matt started to feel like a third wheel, he was not happy to have lost his wingman, but he said that I had done really well for myself and that if I hadn’t connected with her first he’d have loved to see where he could have taken things with Kate.
In company we all got on together so well, it seemed like we were all family, it was not uncommon for Kate and Matt to hug fondly, and I thought nothing of it. We were buddies, you never have to worry about your buddy around you girl, right?
Chapter 2 — Changes
Life moved on, nobody more so than Uncle Steve who retired, sold the business to Matt and I and headed to Florida. My parents had gone guarantor for a loan that funded my part in buying out Steve, Matt’s money came as a gift from his parents, so I was the only one carrying a debt.
I had married Kate 2 years ago and life seemed pretty sweet, marriage good, business starting to thrive even more as we put effort into growing it, a little advertising, some social media with past client recommendations and soon we were as busy as we could manage.
The option was to hire more guys, but trained plumbers aren’t always easy to find at rates we could afford to pay, so increasingly, we were working longer hours.
Kate was working as a clerk in a law office, the pay was ok, but she didn’t really enjoy the work and that there was a creep of a lawyer who tried to hit on her, but she fended off. Then she said that she was looking forward to starting a family. I wasn’t sure when that would be, with my loan, we were doing ok but it wasn’t exactly a perfect time to lose her income.
As my hours became longer and longer and we had no real chance to start the family, Kate began to retreat into herself a bit and I started to worry about possible depression. I kept telling her that it won’t always be this way and that happy days were ahead of us, but that didn’t stop her unhappiness.
Then one day, it was like someone had flipped a switch. Kate had a smile on her face and the tension seemed to be gone. I wondered what had happened but was really just happy to see my wife smiling again so did not overthink it.
Soon, our stalled sex life sprang into life, with Kate seemingly recharged and pretty much in need of sex most days. Who amongst you would be bothered by that?
Then one day I was bothered.
Nothing dramatic, but suddenly she seemed to want to suck my balls every time we got together, I liked it, but where did this come from? She had only ever paid passing attention to my hairy sack, now she loved to lick it and suck on my balls like they were a delicacy.
I was unsettled, I needed to think this out, was I making a problem where none existed or was her sudden happiness and love of my scrotum align with something else happening?
A few weeks later and I needed to talk to someone, the obvious candidate my best friend Matt.
Chapter 3 — Matt Chat
Matt and I met in the Staging Post bought a couple of beers and took a booth at the back wall.
“What’s eating you buddy?” Matt asked, “You’ve been kind of off for the last few weeks, I’ve been waiting for you to talk to me, didn’t want to interfere.”
“I hope it’s nothing Matt but it’s about Kate, she was down, hated her job and had a snake of a lawyer hitting on her at work. Then about 6 weeks back she changes, happy as the day is long and two weeks later, she’s trying to fuck me to death almost every day.”
“And your problem with a happy wife trying to fuck your cock off?” Matt said with a smirk.
“Well, after a couple of weeks, I notice that she has suddenly become very fond of licking and sucking my ball sack. Thing is she’s never really shown any interest before, it got me thinking, Where the fuck is this coming from? Is she learning new tricks with some other bastard?”
“Fuck I love having my nuts sucked.” Matt said, then I caught a slight ‘what the fuck did I say that for’ look crossing his face before he quickly recovered, “it’s all good Jim.”
We stayed a couple of hours and drank some beers but now I had two people who concerned me. I’m not an educated man but I’ve heard of Occam’s Razor — when various solutions present themselves, the most obvious one is usually the correct answer.
Chapter 4 — Who?
Over breakfast that Saturday morning I said top Kate, “I’ve a lot of work on today, I’m just telling you I’ll be away most of the day so you can invite your lover around when I’m gone.”
Kate looked totally shocked, to the extent she couldn’t form words.
“You know, the guy who loves having his balls sucked? Want to tell me about him?”
She ran to the bedroom, sobbing. I walked out to my truck; the jobs weren’t going to do themselves.
I had lied, I was only going to be working until lunchtime and yes, the dumb bitch had fallen for it, when I got home there was Matt’s truck in the driveway.
When I walked in, at least they weren’t in bed, they were on opposite ends of the couch a box of tissues between then and maybe 40 balled wet tissues on the floor in front of the couch.
As I walked in Matt rose to meet me, he had Just managed “Jim, I’m..” when my fist exploded in his face, and he went down hard, blood streaming from his nose and mouth.
“No need to apologise my best friend, she’s your problem now. Kate pack your shit up and get out you fucking filthy slut, I never want to see your cheating face again as long as I live.”
As she started to speak, I yelled at her, “I don’t fucking want to hear your lies, don’t speak or I will really fuck your lover up badly, I’m just in the mood for some real destruction, just pack some shit and get out, you can get the rest when I’m ready.
Better still, I’ll box it up and leave it at the office for you, I’m sure your lover will bring it home to you. GO.”
It took just a few minutes for her to emerge with a bag and Matt had got himself as far as the couch mopping up the blood with a few tissues.
“Right, fuck off out of my house, you’ll both hear from my lawyer next week.”
I held the door open; Kate couldn’t look at me, but Matt again tried to speak so I gut punched him and he got the message, out they went into Matt’s truck and drove off.
I spent the rest of the day researching divorce, simple in our circumstances, and dissolving a company, not so simple in our case as I was the only one holding a debt relating to it.
Lawyer time.
Online I made an appointment with a divorce lawyer and hoped that I could get someone to deal with the other problem on the same visit.
Chapter 5 — Man on a Mission
I went to see my divorce lawyer, Karen King, and before getting into it asked her what I needed to do to dissolve my partnership with the man fucking my wife. She told me that she would bring her husband Carl into the meeting, company law was his specialty and both cases could be inter-linked because the same man participated in each case.
The divorce was fairly simple, rented accommodation, each financing our own cars and no kids makes it that way 9 times out of 10. The complication was the business, it started before I married Kate and she had signed a prenup acknowledging the business as a non-marital asset, it had actually been Matt who had asked us to do that simply as a protection that the business would not be damaged if Kate and I didn’t make it.
However, my business partner was now linked in the break-up of the marriage and no fucking way would he and I continue as partners. My problem was I owed significant money on the loan used to buy my share of the business.
I’d taken a copy of the business agreement between Matt and I when we formed the company after taking over from Steve. Carl had read it and declared it very simple and not complicated to dissolve.
Carl spoke about what I wanted, that was simply, one word, OUT.
He laid out some options:
Jim, you can sell your half of the business, you don’t have to sell it to anyone in particular. Do you want to keep the business running successfully or would you like to damage it?
If you want it to survive, sell it to Matt, make him pay dear for it.
If you want to damage it, there is bound to be a larger company that would buy your half and then forcefully liquidate the business so their existing business would take up the slack, eat your company from the inside.
The downside of that scenario is that your employees would probably come out of that badly. (We now had 5 guys working with us, good guys, I liked them all and ideally, wouldn’t want to see them hurt.)
The other option would be to walk away from it, just disappear, don’t service your debt, and let the business fail.
“Carl, that I cannot do, much as I’d like to disappear and leave this shit behind me, my parents guaranteed that loan, I can’t stick that to them. The problem is that Matt knows that he may try to use that against me.”
We closed the meeting; Kate was to be served divorce papers in 2 days at her workplace for maximum embarrassment.
Matt was to be served notice of intention to dissolve the business partnership within 30 days and to invite him to make a satisfactory buy-out offer. He too would have that in two days.
Now I just had to sit back and wait.
Chapter 6 — Shit Hits Fans
I didn’t go to work, I started to get calls from Matt which I ignored he emailed me, saying we had a business to run, where the fuck was I? Work was stacking up and customers were bitching about missed appointments.
I ignored that too, frankly I didn’t have a single fuck to give about the business anymore, I just wanted out.
The next day, my phone exploded with messages, from “How could you?” from Kate, to “What the fuck is going on man? This is our business” from Matt.
I sent each of them a photo of my raised middle finger, captioned “fuck you.”
Kate had not even tried to talk to me since Saturday, she knew the levels of my disgust with her, she knew our marriage was fucked, betrayal but not just any betrayal, this was with my closest friend since childhood and my business partner, It can’t get much worse.
That evening the two of them arrived at my house and made yet another mistake, she used her key to let them in. I flew at them and started punching Matt again, he pleaded with me to stop and didn’t return any punches, saying “Please Jim we need to talk” just as I again drew blood with a solid right to the mouth. I thought I heard the satisfying sound of a tooth breaking.
Kate screamed, “Please stop Jim, please, we all need to talk.”
I looked at her with an icy stare and said, “That cunt is not welcome in my house under any circumstances, neither are you, but you at least have some right to call here. Never ever use that key again, in fact give me the fucking key now, you lost the right to come and go here when you became a slut for my ex-best friend. Now fuck off both of you before I do something I regret. Kate, if you want to talk to me, call my lawyer and make an appointment, I will meet you at her office, not here and I will not meet you anywhere with that backstabbing piece of scum you are in love with present, now fuck off both of you.”
Matt, “I’ll be in the office tomorrow morning at 8am sharp, I’ll talk to you then in front of our staff, I’m selling my half of the business to the highest bidder, Coopers Plumbing have already said they will make me an attractive offer.”
He looked furious and started to speak but I cut him off and repeated that he needed to get out. I took the door key from Kate and locked the door behind them.
If they didn’t understand the depth of my anger before, well they sure did now.
I intended to break them both if I could. Did I mention that I used adultery in the divorce petition? It wouldn’t matter other than to embarrass Kate, I intended that all our friends, family her workplace, anyone I could think of would know she is a cheating slut.
Whilst my anger was up, I logged onto Facebook and changed my status to separated and wrote the following post:
“I want to announce the break-up of my marriage from my soon to be ex-wife Kate, due to her affair with my soon to be ex-business partner Matt. These two pieces of pond scum conducted the most treacherous betrayal possible, a wife with her husband’s best friend.
Why? I have no idea; I have simply kicked her out of my house and have not spoken to her other than to confirm that neither her nor the treacherous shit she now loves are welcome in my house. A divorce and the sale of my half of J&M Plumbing will happen asap.
If anyone wishes to remain my friend rather than theirs, please do me the courtesy of never mentioning either name in my presence, they are both dead to me.”
Before the day was out, my Facebook page and my phone were pinging message notifications all afternoon and evening.
I took only one call, it was from my father-in-law also Jim so I called him James, “Jim, I’ve heard the news, it sounds serious son, is there anything I can say or do to help?”
“James, thank you for your call, I’m afraid there is no fixing this, you could help by asking her to just complete the divorce papers and get this finished.”
“Jim, she is here tonight, she is heartbroken, she insists she was depressed and stupidly took comfort with your friend Matt. She insists that she only wants you. Will you talk to her?”
“Not tonight James, she knows I’ll only talk to her at my lawyer’s office, there is no coming back from this, I will never forgive either of them, if possible I’d prefer never to see either of them ever again.
Sorry, that is just how it is. James, I want to thank you and Martha for how you’ve always treated me, I’m sorry it’s ending this way.”
“I’m sorry too Jim, goodbye for now.”
Chapter 7 — Confrontation
8am in our office, I gathered everyone together, I thought they all had a right to know what was happening and the possible effects on the company. Matt sat tight-lipped as I started.
“Guys, I have bad news, my cheating slut of a wife and the piece of shit you see sitting behind that desk have been having an affair for at least 2 months.
If I find out anyone here knew, there will be a reckoning, a hard reckoning.
Assuming you didn’t know, then know this, I’m selling my half of the business, I suspect this piece of shit can’t meet the price, so I have been in touch with Coopers Plumbing and they are keen to buy me out. If they do there is every chance that they will close this business, maybe take on some of you, but maybe not.
If that happens, then I’m very sorry guys, but unlike this scumbag, I have a large loan to service and I cannot stay a partner with treacherous vermin like Matt, my former best friend. I need to get out from under the debt and start again somewhere, it just won’t be here.
Now if you will excuse me, I have to talk to this piece of trash to see what we are going to do, I’m sorry, you are all good men, I hope it works out for you but if you can get another job, I’d suggest you grab it with both hands.”
When the office cleared Matt erupted, “For fuck’s sake Jim, did you need to go nuclear? Surely we can sort this out. Kate doesn’t want me, she loves you, for that matter I don’t want Kate either. I’m not the settling down sort, you need to get past this and get on with your marriage and get the business up and running properly, I know you hate Coopers, not a chance in hell you’d sell to them.”
I smiled, “Yeah, I hate Coopers but not as much as I hate you. The clock is running on your 30 days, what 24 or 25 left then, believe me, I will sell to them, and I hope they close you down. You will not get one day longer than that deadline, if you have not started trying to raise finance you are a bigger fool that I took you for.”
“One more thing before I go, I will not do one more piece of work for this company, it’s all on you. If you’d worked harder instead of fucking my wife maybe we wouldn’t be having this talk you fucking snake.”
“Oh, and last thought, do right by Kate or I will do some serious physical damage to you, got it? I may hate the bitch, but you took her off my hands, you fucking deal with it, or I will deal with you, some dark quiet night when you least expect it.”
As I walked to the door he tried again, “Please Jim, you know I need you, I can’t run this without you, let’s try and get past this.”
My raised middle finger as I walked out gave him the answer.
I arrived home, to find a message from my lawyer, Kate had asked for a meeting tomorrow afternoon and wanted to bring her father and her lawyer who happened to be the very snake in her office who had several times tried to hit on her.
She seemed to have fallen from the top of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down. I agreed to the meeting, I didn’t see the need to have James there, but I liked him and didn’t wish to make a point and offend him.
Chapter 8 — At the Lawyer’s
I arrived early for the meeting to speak to my lawyer, but she had nothing to suggest other than let the other side talk to see what was on their mind, then we would counter from a position of strength.
Kate could barely make eye contact however James was his usual solid self, sincere and honest, “Sorry to meet under these circumstances Jim, please just keep an open mind.” I shook his hand warmly and said it was good to see him no matter the circumstances.
Her lawyer was another matter, I took an instant dislike to him, he had no sooner been introduced to me and was shaking my hand when he said, “Right Jim, lets get this nonsense sorted out and get you two back together again.”
I gave him a stern eye to eye look and gripped his hand firmly, “That is not going to happen Gibson — using his surname — I’ve never met you before, though I’ve heard about you hitting on my wife several times. Let’s keep this formal, call me Mr. Wilson.” I released my grip and he nodded.
My lawyer said, “Mrs Wilson, please tell us why you called this meeting, the terms of the divorce are fair, and your husband has no wish to reconcile with you after your treacherous adultery, this is as shocking a case of betrayal as I can remember?”
Gibson jumped in, “I’m sorry but that is a gross overstatement of the facts.”
I jumped right in after him, “No Gibson, it was an accurate statement of the facts. Are you here to bullshit or help this meeting along?”
Finding her voice Kate said, “Please everyone, I can answer for myself. I asked for this meeting because I don’t want a divorce, I love my husband despite what I’ve done, please Jim sit down and talk to me and let me try to explain myself.”
I was about to bite her head off when James interjected, “Please Jim, just talk to her, the two of you alone, that is all I ask and I promise you Jim, I will never interfere again.”
James had always treated me well, as had his wife Martha, I respected him so nodded yes to him and said, “OK James, but just one meeting and that is it, I won’t change my mind, but I’ll do this out of respect for you and Martha, I have absolutely no respect left for Kate.”
My lawyer spoke up, “There is no problem if you two meet at any time, after all you are still married, however I advise we discuss any objections to the terms of the petition for divorce so that we all know where we stand if your discussion proves fruitless. Are there any objections to the terms of the divorce?”
“My client feels the terms are fair, however, she reserves the right to seek court appointed counselling.”
“OK, duly noted, then our meeting is over if there are no objections to terms to discuss.”
Leaving the office, Kate & her father approached me. James again thanked me, God I really liked him, you couldn’t have a better father-in-law, every look he gave me was laced with apologies for his daughter’s behaviour. I shook his hand again and invited Kate to call at 5pm the next day. I told her all the rest of her things were boxed and ready to go if she wanted to ask her father to bring her over.
Chapter 9 — Closing Down Kate
At 5pm the doorbell rang. Kate stood there; her father sat in his car. Manners prompted me to invite him in and pour him a beer, but this was between Kate & me, it had to be sorted out with no interference from anyone else.
I suggested we use the dining table, the most formal setting the house provided, I wanted no misunderstanding, this was a business meeting.
Kate appeared nervous, she should have known nothing good would come of this, I’d been crystal clear that what she had done was unforgiveable I wouldn’t change my stance on that.
A random stranger in a bar after too many drinks? Unlikely but that might just get her a second chance after a lot of humble pie, but fucking my best friend and business partner? Multiple times? She was insane if she thought that was even in then ballpark of forgiveness, but I had promised James I’d give her a hearing.
“What do you want to tell me Kate?”
“That I love you, that I was in a bad place, I hated work, I hated that bastard who is now my divorce lawyer, I hated that you worked so hard. I knew it was so we could get in a place to start a family, but I felt lost, I hardly ever saw you…”
I did what I had promised not to do. “So, it’s all my fault and you just fell and landed on Matt’s cock. Is that it Kate because that is bullshit that I’m not buying.”
“No Jim, that is not what I’m saying. I am trying to tell you that I was depressed, I’d been to see Dr. Sharp and he’d given me antidepressants, but I couldn’t bring myself to take them, I felt humiliated needing something like that when I had a good marriage with a great man and great life stretching out in front of me.
You know I wanted to start a family, you said we couldn’t, and I saw nothing but that job I hate and no sign of us starting the family I was so desperate for. You know this Jim, we talked about it, you know how hard I was finding it, but you said we had to wait. I resented that so much.”
Well, everything she said there was true, she had been desperate for a family, I wanted one too, but the time wasn’t right.
She continued: “One evening Matt called, when I told him you were working late again, he was amazed, he said he rarely worked late and couldn’t understand why you would be, that’s why you employ guys he said.
I started to think were you just making up late jobs, were you seeing someone when you could have been home with me?
I already felt depressed, and this hit me hard, if your partner isn’t working late, why were you? Jim I broke down in tears and Matt comforted me, just like the big brother he’s always seemed to me. Then I suddenly reached for him and kissed him, it was me Jim, not Matt, I reacted to his kindness and got carried away. That’s how it started, my fault.
I felt him get hard against me, I needed the affection, and it went on from there, not supposed to happen, we called it off twice both saying we couldn’t do this to you, but I kept begging him, my depression was in charge, and I needed the comfort.
That Saturday you came home at lunchtime, we hadn’t done anything, just talked and I cried, that was it, no more, we had to stop, we’d decided it had to be over…then you walked in, and everything turned to shit.
Jim, I know how badly Matt, and I have hurt you, but you need to know, we don’t love each other, but both of us do love you. We can’t undo what we did but we both beg you to think this over and please give both of us another chance.”
I looked at her, I had no idea how well she thought her speech had played out with me, there was very little sign of hope in her eyes. Just as well, for what she had said held very little water for me. All it had taken to snap her out of her depression had been my best friend’s cock. That in summary was what she was selling, I had no idea why she thought there was any way back for her.
“You have a very strange way of showing your love for me, Kate, none of that bullshit excuse makes me feel one bit better about either of you. Both of you are cheating scum, I want nothing to do with either of you. Now I’ve listened to you hoping you might have something to say that would make me feel you are worthwhile, but you are not, you are just cheating trash, I want nothing to do with you ever again.”
Then the tears stared again, but I was past listening, past caring.
“Just sign the divorce papers Kate, then we can get on with our lives. I will never and I mean NEVER, forgive you, you don’t seem to understand what cheating with my best friend means to me. It is the end, full stop, nowhere to go. Kate, I didn’t think it was possible to fall out of love with you, but you have achieved that, I feel nothing but revulsion for you, pure unadulterated disgust, you make my skin crawl. I will never be able to think fondly of you again if I live to be 100.”
I led her to the door, and she sobbed all the way, I caught her father’s eye and just shook my head sadly towards him, he nodded his understanding and got out of the car. Wrapping his arms around her, he softly said, “Oh Kate what a mess” and put her in the car.
He came with me to retrieve the rest of Kate’s things and we loaded the car whilst she sat sobbing, then he drove her out of my life. Again, James and I shook hands, now for the final time, in all honesty I had a greater lump in my throat saying a final goodbye to this decent man than I’d had dismissing his daughter. I respected his calm support for her but his acceptance of the inevitable, a good man who certainly had not raised his daughter to be a tramp.
Now to deal with Matt.
Chapter 10 – Revenge on Matt
Half-way through the 30-day notice period Matt called me, I really didn’t want to talk to him but both he and I plus 6 decent men had skin in the game and the business had to be sorted out.
“Matt, what do you want? If it’s not about selling the business I’m hanging up.”
“Relax Jim, it’s the business, I’ve spoken to the bank, how much are you looking for your share?”
“Two hundred grand.”
“What? You only paid One hundred grand, be reasonable Jim, I can’t pay that, I just don’t have it, you know things are going well but cashflow is tight.”
“Are you fucking stupid Matt, you can’t buy it out of cashflow, you need to raise capital yourself, you are buying the business, it’s not fucking buying itself. Shit you are a dumbass, I’ll be doing you a favour selling to Coopers, you’ll run it into the ground.”
“Jim I’ve tried to tell you, I need you and so do the 5 guys who work for us, I’m sorry for what happened, I’m truly sorry but you have to help us, or we’ll go under.”
I laughed at him, “That is just what I’m hoping for my former best friend. 200 is what Coopers have offered me, if you beat it I won’t go back to them for a counteroffer. Not for you, understand that, I hope to see you bankrupt, but for the futures of the rest of the guys.”
I hung up.
A week later, he called me again, “I’m begging you Jim, the maximum I can raise is One hundred and eighty thousand, would you consider keeping a small share?”
I hung up.
As deadline day approached, Matt called again, “OK, I’ve got it, I’ll give you the 200 grand.”
I hung up.
“What the fuck man? I met your price, 200 grand, why did you hang up?”
“I told you that was Coopers bid, that you had to beat it, do it or I sell to Coopers.”
“Jim, for fuck’s sake tell me what I need to do, I can’t raise any more.”
“200,005, will buy it. You want it? That is the price.”
“OK, OK, you got it.”
I hung up.
On deadline day my lawyer Carl confirmed that the funds had been received. I was out, nothing to keep me here. I planned to tidy up my loose ends after the divorce and move on somewhere else. After all a good plumber is always in demand.
Chapter 11 — Divorce
A few months had passed before I got a court date for the divorce hearing, I hoped it would be cleared up, then I’d leave town for a new life, leave this mess behind me.
Yeah, that was going to happen.
Everything started well, it was agreed that the terms were acceptable to both parties, then the spanner was thrown into the works.
Kate’s slimeball lawyer said, “Mrs Wilson requests the court to order counselling.”
I shouted, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, I told…”
The judge called for silence, “Mr Wilson, you will not use that language in my court, I will consider reasons for counselling.”
I apologised and Karen King rose to speak on my behalf, “Your honour, counselling will achieve nothing, due to the egregious nature of the betrayal in this case, my client’s wife having an affair over at least 2 months, my client has no intention of reconciliation with her.
He has made that abundantly clear to her, there is no prospect of forgiveness, never mind reconciliation, counselling would be a futile waste of time.”
“Mr Gibson, to what end does your client want me to order counselling?”
Gibson stood, “Your honour, Mrs Wilson would like to address you herself if possible.”
“So be it. Mrs Wilson, you may speak, what will counselling achieve?”
Kate rose, she looked frail, not at all well. I hadn’t seen her in months, but she looked a shadow of the woman I once loved.
“Your honour, I did a terrible thing to my husband, I know that, and I’ll regret it for the rest of my life no matter what happens here today, I know too that he thinks he hates me now, that is hard to live with, I feel I’m falling apart mentally and physically. I’m taking antidepressants and to me they are not helping. I just need one thing; I need my husband to love me again.
Without that I am lost, when I did what I did I was in a depression, wasn’t thinking straight and was emotionally lower than I’ve ever been … well, until now that is.
Now life is not worth living.
Your Honour, I need the chance to convince him that I love him and all I’ve ever wanted since I met him is to love him, to be the mother of his children and to live the rest of my life with him. Please your honour, give me that chance.”
The judge considered her words, “Mrs Wilson, I hear a lot of words spoken in this court, it is my job to decide their value, I feel that I have just listened to very heartfelt, contrite words, you have my sympathy for your plight madam, but I have to decide of counselling would achieve anything positive for the marriage, Mrs Wilson, it takes two to tango, I see no evidence that your husband can be swayed.”
“Mr Wilson, would you accept counselling?”
“Your honour I mean no disrespect but no, I have no interest in counselling or reconciliation with Kate, in fact if ordered I would reluctantly leave myself open to jail time rather than attend such meetings. Things have gone too far your honour, I am somewhat moved by what Jane has said today, but the betrayal was too complete, I cannot forgive it or forget it and I can’t even consider living with her again.”
“As I thought Mr Wilson, this is a sad case, I feel Mrs Wilson has a genuine love for her husband but that is not enough to force him into counselling. I am granting the divorce and no counselling is ordered.”
And that was it… or should have been.
Chapter 12 — Disaster Three Weeks Later
“Jim, it’s James, can you get to the hospital?”
“What is happening James, why are you calling?”
“Jim, I’m sorry to ask, but it’s Kate, she may not make it and she is asking to see you.”
“I’ll be there James.”
I arrived at the hospital and asked where Kate was, I was asked if I was a relative and explained we were recently divorced but that she had asked for me and here I am.
James saw me and met me, “Jim, I don’t know how to tell you, so I’ll just spit it out. Jim she is pregnant, but she is in danger of losing the baby and her own life, she hasn’t been eating right, she’s the first pregnant woman I know that has lost weight during her pregnancy, I think she is dying Jim. She wants to talk to you, please Jim, talk to her.”
I was taken to the emergency room, and she looked awful, barely conscious of what was happening around her, but when I took her hand she sadly said, “Sorry Jim, I can’t keep our child alive, I’m trying but my body is useless, I haven’t wanted to live, I didn’t know I was pregnant when I decided to starve myself. I’m sorry, I’m killing our child I didn’t mean to, just myself.”
She could see the conflict in my eyes, she obviously knew I was thinking Matt’s child, then she said, “The baby is yours Jim, I made him use a condom every time.”
Then she lost consciousness.
I felt my cheeks wet with tears, I surprised myself that I obviously had not expunged all feelings for her, did this make things different? I supposed it did, but would either of them survive, if not it would make no difference at all.
The machines she was hooked up to had started to go into alarm mode when she lost consciousness, I was shooed out of the room as the medics went to work.
Outside sat James, he looked like a man who had aged 10 years since I’d seen him at the courthouse. One word to sum him up? Haggard.
“Well Jim, I’m sorry when I discovered she was pregnant, I just assumed that it was probably Matt’s baby, but she was definite, that was not possible, she had cheated but she never wanted anyone’s children but yours. I didn’t feel I had the right to come to you about it, if I was wrong I’m sorry.
It’s been tough trying to get her to take care of herself, Martha has surprised me and not in a good way. She felt so let down by what Kate did to you it seems like she isn’t interested in her daughter, she seems to have given up on her. Jim I don’t want your sympathy, I’m just trying to explain things, I’m feeling between a rock and a very hard place, I’m at my wit’s end to tell you the truth. Now this.”
I patted James arm, he was a good man in a bad place due to the actions of others, trying to do the right thing for others, even if he wasn’t getting everything right, it came from a good place. I hurt for him.
We sat for three or four hours, then a doctor approached and asked who was the next of kin.
James said, “You can talk to both of us together, what is the situation?”
“Well, the immediate crisis is past and both mother and baby are hanging on and gentlemen I mean hanging on, neither are in good health. I fear for the mother but the baby I’m afraid may have health issues if it survives to full term. We will obviously be keeping her for the next number of days, we are going to work on getting her body back in some sort of better shape to support the pregnancy.
Gentlemen, I’m sorry but I have to ask, how has she become malnourished to this extent?”
James explained the situation of the break-up and divorce, Kate’s lack of motivation to keep going and then, belatedly discovering that she was pregnant.
“OK, so you sir are the baby’s father I assume?” looking at me.
“SoSo, it appears doctor but until a few hours ago, I knew nothing of it. If the child survives I’ll want a DNA test and if it is my child, I’ll step up to support it.” I looked at James and added, “I’m sorry James, I’ll support the child, but I cannot get back with Kate, there is just too much hurt.”
The doctor looked at me seriously and said, “Sir, it may be none of my business, but I’ll tell you this, so we are clear, it’s really not my place as a doctor to say this but man to man, I’ll tell you. Judging by the condition of your ex-wife and what her father has told me, it would not be a surprise to me if you became a single parent within a year.”
I shrank into my seat, great, a fucking doctor trying to guilt trip me into taking her back. I said nothing for now.
It turned out she was six months pregnant and there was barely a suggestion of a baby bump, that poor kid must be having a hard time.
Was it my kid? Quite possibly, it seemed likely that Kate, in her depressed state had screwed up her birth control and certainly we were having a lot of sex.
Whether it was true or not that she had made Matt wear condoms, the number of times we had sex made me the likely father.
If it was my kid, could I walk away?
Would I want to walk away?
What sort of relationship could I stand to have with the mother of the child.
Life was becoming very complicated just when I thought I had extricated myself from my problems and was preparing to get out of town.
Chapter 13 — Unlucky for Some
Amazingly mother and child survived under the specialist care they received, once her pregnancy and difficulties were understood. The baby was born a little over 4 pounds, very light but much lighter babies had survived and thrived, and the child, a boy, was surprisingly otherwise healthy.
Kate gained weight under supervision and came through relatively undamaged, though there was a question on what damage she may have wrought on herself and her future ability to conceive.
Unluckily from my viewpoint a DNA test confirmed that I was the father of the child, a complication I had dreaded for the last 3 months since becoming aware of the possibility.
I’d always thought fatherhood would have been one of the joys of my life, but the experience was seriously tainted. It appeared likely that this would mean a lifetime involvement with a woman I could no longer tolerate. Nothing had changed, I had no wish to ever see her again, much as I hadn’t wished her dead when that was a real possibility.
Three or four days after the birth, James once again was the one to contact me.
“Jim, I’m calling about the baby, Kate wants to know do you want to have a say in deciding the boy’s name?”
“James, I hadn’t even thought about it, we’re divorced I didn’t expect to be consulted. One thing I would like is that she doesn’t use my surname. Perhaps she can use your name, Kelly? Does that sound reasonable?”
“Jim I’m sorry, but I think you need to talk to her, she is still calling herself Kate Wilson, it could cause problems for the child if it’s name was different from both mother & father. Besides, don’t you want to see your son, Jim?”
I hesitated, thought about it then decided this was something I had to do.
“She still staying with you James?”
“Yeah.”
“OK, I’ll come over tonight after dinner, 7pm ok?”
“See you then Jim.”
I arrived on the dot of seven and James let me in, I hadn’t seen Martha in many months, she looked drawn and suddenly a lot older, just as James had. Two good people put in a difficult position. Martha hugged me and whispered in my ear, “It’s not how we raised her, Jim.”
Then they left me alone with Kate and the baby.
“Hello Jim, thank you for coming, would you like to hold the baby?”
It wasn’t the little guys fault, I took him in my arms and looked at him. Big mistake, I suddenly felt what parents are supposed to when they hold their child, the emotion took over and I found it hard to breath for a while, he looked up and gazed into my eyes, I had no idea what he was thinking but it probably revolved around a familial recognition of sorts and a need for protection.
I was hooked, I started to smile at him, shit, I had no idea if this was what she expected to happen, but she too was smiling.
“Cute, isn’t he?”
I nodded in agreement then my heart broke, again, “Fuck it Kate, why did you do this to us? We could have been perfect, this could have been our dream, the best days of our lives.”
She teared up and said, “We still can be Jim, can’t you learn to forgive me? I was seriously unwell, I made a really bad series of choices, please Jim, please try.”
I tried to hand him back to her, intended to flee and not come back, but she wouldn’t take him.
“Damn it Kate take your son; I need to get out of here.” I was close to panic.
“No Jim, we need to talk, if nothing else the boy needs a name, but you are not a coward, you have never run from anything, please talk to me, we have to work things out for his sake and ours too.”
I sat down again still holding my son, this was going to be difficult, I was lost and had no idea what to do. Having looked into his eyes I knew I couldn’t abandon him.
“James Kelly Wilson how does that sound” I said quietly.
She smiled and said she liked that, the two best men in her life. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask if she didn’t prefer Matt as a name, but I held it back.
“Kate I have a problem, I want him in my life, but I don’t want you, I’ll never forgive what you did, whether you were ill or not, you did that and did it repeatedly with my former best friend. I can’t live with that Kate, and I can’t live with you. I can’t live with someone I don’t love. You need to think of some way we can work with this, I’ll support my son but that’s it.”
Chapter 14 — Re-establishing Roots
Having sold my share of the business and planning to leave town, the arrival of a son made me re-evaluate, I was going to hand around in the short term at least, so although I still had a lump of money after repaying my loan and having my parent’s guarantee cancelled, I needed to work.
Plumbing was all I knew so I set up as a sole proprietor, I had my truck from J&M Plumbing and had a signwriter redo the decal, the new business was Jim Wilson Plumbing, I put a cheeky add-on “former managing partner of J&M Plumbing”. If Matt didn’t like it he could spend money suing me if he could afford it. Nothing ever happened, but people knowing who I was, I soon had all the work I wanted.
I set up a payment for child support for James Jnr, nothing was court-ordered I’d set up an amount I thought was reasonable, Kate didn’t argue. Without telling her I also established a college fund for Jnr. If he was like his father and didn’t want to go to college, he would get the money on his 25th birthday.
Things were OK but I was marking time, for what I had no idea, I’d planned to start afresh, that included my hopes of meeting someone new to share my life with. That was going to be more difficult back in our town where many people knew who I was and what had happened to my marriage. So, it was a pretty frustrating time for me. I worked, visited my son and did very little else.
I had worked out visitation with Jnr, but nothing was satisfying. James my ex-father-in-law was still the go-between and often it was him who I met when I picked up Jnr. I’d made it clear I wanted as little contact with Kate as possible, I had no thoughts of ever forgiving her nor of having any relationship with her.
Six months later, James told me that Kate again seemed to be struggling mentally.
Like me her life was filed with work and Jnr. James said she had not dated at all since becoming a mother. Said she had no interest and rebuffed all approaches to her, Including interestingly an approach from Matt.
That caught my attention, I’d assumed that would be her natural future even though Matt had said he didn’t want her. Maybe he just wanted her as a fuck buddy and an uncomplicated one at that, no need to wine and dine her. I thought it was time that snake felt a little more pain.
I was concerned that if Kate was again spiralling down it would have implications for Jnr. I even wondered if I should seek to have her deemed an unfit mother and seek full custody.
Really, was I ready for that in my life?
Fulltime single parenthood?
Probably not, so what was the alternative?
I needed to see that she stayed healthy and fit to be his mother. How? Whatever way I looked at it that seemed impossible without me having a lot more dealings with her than I wanted, than my wounded pride would allow.
She had cheated on me, I couldn’t possibly get past that, forgiveness, forget it, surely?
Of course, you know where this is going, don’t you. Guy gets cucked, divorces wife, wife is pregnant, its his kid, he takes her back, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Could I be a man to backslide on my harsh judgement? I never thought so, but life sometimes throws odd things at you, circumstances you’d never expect to face.
Surely the core of our humanity is adapting to our changing reality to survive.
Shit.
Chapter 15 — Trouble Brewing
Bad news comes in bunches, James had told me that Kate seemed to be struggling again, now the news on James was bad, he had suffered a small stroke, nothing serious, no lasting permanent damage but a warning shot that the poor guy needed to take life easier.
With Martha struggling to cope with her daughter’s infidelity, James had borne the brunt of making sure she and the baby were cared for, now what?
Well, she was no longer my wife, but he was my son, I had to step up in some way.
We had a non-family “family” conference, and it was agreed that everyone, but James, needed to take more responsibility, Kate needed to stick to her meds and meet her responsibilities as a mother, I had to do more to support her, which James had mainly done and Martha had to step up and help her husband unless she wanted to risk losing him to an early death.
The thought of being more involved with Kate was not pleasant, it made me angry, but I was a father after all, time to be one, not just a ‘when it suits’ dad.
To make it work I decided I had to cut Kate some slack to make life easier for her and thereby make caring for my son easier. I started to take pre-prepared meals to their house twice a week and staying with them for the evening, leaving when Jnr. went down for the night.
I cooked rudimentary fresh meals one day every weekend. I wasn’t anyone’s idea of a cook, but I wasn’t poisoning anyone either, my meatloaf was actually not bad.
Needless to say, this meant that I was talking to Kate much more than had been the case for about a year when the shit hit the fan. It started very slowly, brief stilted conversations, but as time went by we spoke more as friends would with the added interest being our shared child.
As we grew more comfortable in each other’s company, I found that I struggled to maintain my dislike for her, I wouldn’t say I was growing fond of her by any means, but I had rediscovered that empathy for another person was not too challenging. I made it my business to ensure that she stuck to her meds regime and slowly she began to emerge from her latest funk.
It really didn’t take a rocket scientist to see what ‘medicine’ she needed, all it took was some smiles and a few kind words from me.
She had been almost literally dying from lack of affection, from being treated as a pariah and of course when people treat you that way, from lack of self-esteem. Some decent time spent as a family with our son, well it perked her up and really quickly.
I began to ponder, is it right that I treated a woman I loved with all my heart like I had? She had broken my heart, she’d given me cause, many men will tell you if a wife cheats once, never mind a 2-month affair, it should lead to banishment.
But am I not a better man than that, should I really treat a woman I’ve loved and now have a child with as utterly worthless? I began to think that much as I had been wronged, perhaps I’d overdone the retribution on her.
After all I’d beaten my ex-friend badly on two occasions, I’d put him in financial difficulties by threatening to sell the company to an aggressive buyer, I’d opened a new business and taken several customers, he’d paid. I might yet make him pay more and pay regularly but I’d certainly punished my former friend.
Should her punishment be so much more complete than his?
Well of course we had been married, she’s lost that, she’d had to move back in with her parents, she was stuck in a job she hated, now with no end in sight and of course, she had lost the love she claimed was the only one she wanted and as she never dated, she was living a lonely life.
She’d suffered, we all had, Kate, Matt and I had all had our lives turned upside down. There were no winners in what had been a very tight friendship trio, now irreparably ripped asunder. Matt was dead to me, I thought Kate was too until the complication called Jnr. arrived.
I’d had a measure of revenge on both sinners, when was enough, enough? At one stage I thought the answer to that would be, right about the time that hell froze over.
Now, I had some doubt, I had a son to think of, a complete innocent, I had to man up for him. His mother was borderline depressed since her affair and my discovery, certainly since our divorce and her pregnancy when both she and Jnr. could have died.
I was reminded of the words that doctor had said, man-to-man rather than as a medic, words to the effect that I could be a single parent within a year giving a clear warning that Kate was a potential suicide, either deliberately or by default in simply not taking care of herself.
To top it off, one of the best men I’d ever met, my ex-father-in-law, James, had almost run himself into the ground and ruined his own health by trying to take care of everyone else’s problems.
Yes, time to man up indeed. I needed to talk to Kate to make sure she understood exactly what I was proposing.
Chapter 16 — An Arrangement of Sorts
I went to James and Martha’s house earlier than usual the following Saturday, I needed time to talk alone with Kate before making my usual meatloaf for everyone. James and Martha discreetly gave us space taking Jnr. with them.
“Kate, I have been thinking, what we are doing is not giving Janes the best chance to recover his health, quite frankly he doesn’t need the hassle of you and Jnr. under his roof and me being here 3 nights a week, so I have a plan.
I’m thinking you, me and Jnr. should find somewhere to live. I see you smiling but don’t get this wrong. You need to understand that this will be a purely platonic relationship, I’ve not suddenly got past what you and that lowlife Matt did to me, I am rationalising what it means now in our new circumstances, but it is neither forgiven nor forgotten, it almost certainly never will be.
I’m suggesting this purely out of care and respect for your father who has never been short of wonderful to me. This is not for you although I think it will result in it being easier for both of us to give Jnr. the care he needs.
I’ve also accepted that your issues need someone to keep you straight with your meds and I’m prepared to be that person, for the benefit of our son who needs both of his parents.
If you form a relationship at any stage with another man, this set up would be finished, we are divorced but I will not be your babysitter while you go out and fuck other men, is that clear and can you live like I’m describing?”
Kate couldn’t keep the smile off her face, “Yes Jim, I would agree to anything to be with you and Jnr. every day but I do accept that you are setting boundaries. I will abide by anything you wish but I tell you, we may be platonic, but it will not stop me trying to get your interest again. I’m not talking of flaunting myself, I’m talking about behaving like a good wife should do, minus the sex, unless you ever change your mind. If you do you will find me willing, if not, I’ll take whatever relationship is available with you.”
And so we got a place and the three of us moved in, it was a tense way to live, two people who had been so much in love, one claiming she still was, but leading a celibate lifestyle together. Then for Jim, being 24/7 with his son was both a delight and a challenge, apart from work Jnr. seemed to take every waking hour until he went down for the night.
Fortunately, Jnr. was a great kid, despite the problems in pregnancy, he seemed incredibly healthy, before long had reached the supposed perfect weight for his age and he slept almost every night for a long 8-9 hours. The sort of kid dreams are made of. Awake he was a great little bundle of energy, as time went on he walked at 10 months and was speaking a handful of words at 14 months.
With their domestic life seemingly appearing perfect, despite Jim’s continued distrust of Kate and sometimes, blatant antipathy towards her on bad days, a stranger would have considered them a normal happy couple.
Of course, in their 3-bedroom house everyone had their own bedroom, the adults using theirs to make the best of relieving the frustration of a celibate lifestyle. Jim knew that he was not bound to celibacy as he insisted in for Kate, but something kept him from looking elsewhere. He had decided if he did get involved with someone either short or long term he would keep it away from the house.
James was now more like the man they were all used to, with the respite of not having to be primary carer for Kate & Jnr. he was to all intents and purposes back to himself and being the strong figure who had helped his family through a big crisis. Martha too appeared to be emerging from her funk with Kate.
Of course, it was not a situation that could last, it was contrived, two people in their early thirties leading a celibate life, well of course it wouldn’t last.
It was Kate who cracked, she had her sex toys and got herself off regularly, but she missed having proper sex with a real cock. She’d noticed Jim becoming edgy and a bit withdrawn over a couple of months, the controlled, emotionless living arrangements they had grown used to were clearly wearing him down. Kate decided to address the elephant in the room.
“Jim I love you and I know you as well as you know yourself, I’ve never seen you so frustrated, Jim, you need to get fucked, empty your balls, get off hard and often for a while. I’m volunteering to be whatever you want me to be for you but if you won’t have me, for fuck’s sake go and screw some slut. Jim I can see you building up to a big blow up. I’m scared of what it might do to us.
These last 9 months have been a big relief to me, getting to live with you again, even if the lack of anything physical between us is killing me with need. If you go off the rails, I’m so scared that I can’t cope without you.”
Jim understood that she had called it right, but he wasn’t about to confirm it. He grabbed his keys and said he’d be back later. In all the months since they had moved in to the house this was the first time he had gone out before Jnr. was down for the night, another sign that the pressure cooker was getting dangerously high.
Without any thought he gravitated to a bar, the Staging Post, where he often hung out with Matt. It was the best part of a year since they had talked, Jim hoped it would be many more years without seeing his former best friendfriend, but he’d got it wrong, this was not the place he should have come.
He was no sooner at the bar when he caught sight of Matt in a mirror behind the bar, Matt was making his way towards him, and Jim was about to turn and leave but too late.
“Can I buy you a drink, stranger?” Matt asked, holding out his hand offering to shake. It was clear this was Matt holding out an Olive branch, Jim had no intention of accepting.
“Get the fuck out of my face traitor.”
“Come on man, get over it, I’ve told you a thousand times I was a fool, and I was wrong, I am genuinely sorry, Jim. Please have a drink with me. I hear you and Kate are back together and have a kid, that’s great news, I’m delighted for you.”
“Fuck you Matt, we live together, we are not “back together” we never will be because of you, but yes we share a son, we are not married and never will be again, you saw to that my best friend. I thought you would have made your moves on her, then I remembered your are the sort of creep who wants to dip his wick but hasn’t the balls for a long-term commitment.”
“Jim, when you divorced her, I did try to get with her again, I was willing to commit long-term, I decided she was worth the effort, but you know what? She told me that you are the only man she wants to settled down with. You get that, you dumped her, you told her you hated her. But Jim, she loves only you, If you weren’t such a hard ass you have a woman who knows she fucked up but will never do it again.
Jim, I know I am probably the worst best friend in history, but after all our years together, I only want what’s best for you. That’s what Kate is, the best thing you could have in your life. Now I know I’m probably making you angry and if you want to take me outside and beat on me again, then like every other time I won’t throw anything back at you, I’ll take what you want to give, because I’ve hurt you enough for one lifetime, I’ll never do it again.”
You know how you suddenly hear something from someone and don’t doubt a word of it? That was one of those moments. It was nowhere close to being something that would rekindle a broken friendship, but it rang true, every word and it was enough that Jim decided he’d extracted all the revenge he needed on Matt.
Jim looked at Matt, nodded once and turned and left the bar.
Arriving home, he called quietly to Kate but got no response, he called quietly so as not to wake Jnr. He went to her closed bedroom door and knocked, again no response so he slipped inside to find her quietly sobbing, almost certainly she was in fear of what had caused him to walk out earlier.
Jim slipped off his clothes, slipped under the covers and found Kate naked, he pulled her to him and kissed her hard. She moaned through the kiss and spread herself on her back as Jim entered her, once balls deep Jim stopped, lifted her chin towards her and said the immortal words, “If you ever do that again I’ll fucking kill you.”
As he moved inside her, Kate just kept repeating, “Never, never again, I love you.”
Writers Note:
This is a work of fiction. It comes exclusively from my imagination, I had started this as a BTB story, but as a rounded individual, I see more in life that one definite course in every set of circumstances.
I personally know three couples who have recovered from the infidelity of one half. Who knows, possibly, maybe probably, damaged but they give every sign of loving each other, that is why I believe stories such as this are perfectly valid.
Besides, these are my characters, they’ll do whatever I damned well tell them to.
See? I’m really a control freak.