I'm a Bastard

"What the fuck did you do?" I heard screamed as she was charging back.

"Where are your clothes? Where are all your toiletries? What the fuck do you think you are doing?" She ranted as she stormed back into my office.

"What do you mean?" I asked calmly. "All my things are exactly where they are supposed to be."

"What are you talking about? You closet is empty. Your drawers are empty. Your area on the vanity is empty. What do you mean that everything is where it is supposed to be?"

"As I said. My clothes are neatly hanging in my closet or folded and in my dresser. My toiletries are sitting neatly where they belong in my bathroom."

"They are not! I just told you that your stuff is not in our bedroom." She exclaimed in exasperation.

"Ahhh. Now I see your problem. You see, you are still mistakenly thinking of YOUR bedroom as OUR bedroom. I just told you that all of my stuff is where it belongs in MY bedroom."

"You mean......."

"Yes. I told you that I would not put up with it, so I moved out of YOUR bedroom. I'll be staying in my new bedroom until I find an apartment and move out." I thought about telling her about our finances, but fuck it, let her find out on her own. Besides, no sense in spoiling the surprise before I can take care of the investments.

Her eyes narrowed in irritation. "We will discuss this later. I will give you a week to get over your little fit, then I expect you to move everything back and we will go back to normal."

"Not until I have that notarized report stating that you are free from all diseases." I shot back as I turned my attention back to the computer.

I stayed in my office for most of the day. The kids came home early in the afternoon. I briefly wondered how long it would take them to figure out that there was a problem. I found a few apartments that looked good, so I filled out the forms and scheduled appointments to look at them on Tuesday. I then printed out our financial statements. I would need that for the lawyer on Monday. While I was under no illusions about having the house sold, I figured that getting a value on it might help in the settlement. Theoretically, she would owe me half the value of the equity. Wishful thinking, but still. I spent the remainder of the day researching the divorce laws in our state. I knew that I was going to get screwed over, but at least I would have some sort of idea of how bad. That would help me plan if nothing else.

"Daddy, dinner is ready." Karlie said as she stuck her head in the door.

"OK, sweetie. Thank you."

Kayla was smiling brightly when I stepped into the kitchen. It was obvious what the plan here was. Killing me with kindness and showing me what I would be losing by not accepting what she had done. She had gone all out. She had dressed up and put on her make-up. Her hair was done in the style I liked. She had spent some considerable time in the kitchen that afternoon to make my favorite meal. As I entered the kitchen, she came over to me and handed me a glass of wine.

"I poured you a glass of wine." She said as she handed it to me and leaned in for a kiss. I saw the hurt in her eyes as I leaned away from her.

I took the glass from her, walked over to the sink, poured it out, and set the glass on the counter. I then pulled a tumbler out of the cabinet, put a couple cubes of ice in it, then poured a couple fingers of Jim Beam in it. There was no way that the kids sitting at the table didn't notice that. Moving over to the table, I sat down and began chatting with the kids. I never even acknowledged my wife.

Dinner was obviously strained. I kept up the conversations as much as possible with the kids, but it was blatantly obvious that there were serious problems. It didn't help that I never even put anything on my plate, much less ate anything. These dishes were my favorites, but I just passed the bowls and platters along without even looking at them. I just continued to try and make conversation with my kids as I sipped my drink.

"Dad, aren't you going to eat anything?" Josh finally asked.

"Nope. Not hungry." Was all I replied.

After the most awkward dinner in the history of mankind, I simply got up, refilled my drink, and headed back to my office. I didn't even bother to help clear the table. About half an hour later, I shut down the computer, got the keys to my truck, then left the house to go to a nice quiet restaurant for dinner. After that, I went over to the bar for a couple of drinks. It was pretty late by the time I got back home. I saw that the light was still on in Kayla's bedroom, so I made sure that when I closed the door to my room it made enough noise that she would hear it. I locked the door, then slid a chair under the knob. As I was getting ready for bed, I heard her try the knob, then knock. She tried to get me to open the door for about five minutes before finally giving up.

I was up early the next morning. I decided that today would be a football day. There were three games on - morning, afternoon, and night -- and I would watch them all. Yeah, there were weekend chores to do, but I decided to ignore them. Fuck it. I wouldn't be living here much longer, so Kayla could just get someone else to do it. I had already drunk most of the pot of coffee and began getting ready to make omelets for breakfast. I had already finished mine when Karlie came wandering into the kitchen.

"Hey, Sweetie. Omelet?" I asked.

"Sure, dad. Thanks."

She got her juice and sat at the table as I began cooking her food. A few minutes later, Josh made his appearance. I told him I would make his as soon as I was finished with his sister's. Karlie was eating her omelet as I was cooking Josh's. I heard Kayla in the hallway, so I poured the last cup of coffee in my cup and turned the pot off.

She came shuffling in, got a cup from the cabinet, then looked at the empty pot.

"You couldn't even leave a cup for me?" She glared at me.

"Pot's right there. You know how to make it."

"Whatever. So, you are making omelets then?"

"Made them. Just finished, but feel free to make yourself one." I answered as I slipped Josh's onto his plate.

I used the last of what I had made for his. I had even already put all the ingredients away. Fuck her. Having taken care of the kids, I left the kitchen.

It was just before noon. I was in the livingroom with the morning game on. Kayla came in carrying a plate and a bottle of beer. She set it down on the coffee table in front of me.

"I brought you some lunch and a beer so you wouldn't miss any of the game." She said cheerfully.

Without so much as a glance at her, I took my foot and swept both plate and bottle off the table and onto the floor. She just stood there with her mouth open in shock. Just then, a commercial came on, so I stood up, walked into the kitchen, and got myself a beer. Yes, I hear all you out there crying about alcohol abuse for spilling an entire beer out onto the floor. I wasn't going to drink anything that she brought me, so it would have been wasted anyway. No, I didn't clean up the mess. She brought it in unwanted, so she could clean it up herself. I didn't care if it stained the carpet. I wasn't going to be living there very much longer anyway.

"We need to discuss this." Kayla began.

"Shut up. The game's on." I replied.

"For God's sake. You need to do something about your attitude. The kids have already noticed."

"Bound to happen. I'm sure they would notice after I move out anyway."

"Oh, get over yourself. You are not moving out, and there will not be a divorce." She insisted as she stormed away.

It started later in the afternoon. At least they were nice enough to wait until halftime. Karlie and Josh came into the room together. They sat on the couch to face me.

"Dad, what's going on between you and mom?" Karlie began.

"Well, you may as well know now. Your mother and I are getting a divorce. This has nothing to do with either of you. We both love you. This is just between your mother and me."

"But why?" Josh asked.

"Because your mother did something that I just cannot accept. She did it even after I told her my feelings on it, but she still did it. She wasn't even the least bit remorseful for it."

"You mean when she went out on her date Friday night?" Karlie asked.

"You know about that?" I was actually surprised.

"Well, yeah. Mom told us that you weren't happy about it."

"So, you know that she cheated on me then."

"No, she didn't. She said that she told you about it beforehand, so it wasn't cheating. She didn't sneak around behind your back to do it, and that was the only time she has ever done anything like that." Josh explained

"Yeah, dad. Besides, it was only one night out of the 20-years of you two dating and being married. She said that if you really loved her, you would just let her have that one night and move on." Karlie added.

I was honestly flabbergasted. It also hurt that my 'Daddy's Girl' was not even bothering to understand my position. She had jumped over onto her mother's side and wouldn't even listen to my point of view.

"Really? How about if she really loved me, she wouldn't even consider having sex with anyone else?"

"Come on, dad. It was just one time, and she promised that she would never do it again."

"OK, let's discuss her promises then. A little over 17-years ago, she made a solemn vow to me. She made that vow before God, our families, and our friends. She vowed to forsake ALL others. There were no exception clauses in that vow. The time limit on that vow was 'until DEATH do us part'. In case you haven't noticed, neither one of us is dead. If she can so easily break that solemn vow she made so publicly, how can I possibly believe any promise that she makes to me in private"

"Yeah, but you also vowed to stick with her in good times and in bad times." Josh had been thinking of becoming a lawyer. I hope he gets a lot better at it than that.

"True. The problem is that your mother breaking her vow broke the contract and released me from my vows."

"Well, we just don't understand why you would break up the family over one single night." Karlie asked.

"Why are you saying that I'm breaking up the family? Why am I getting blamed for what SHE did?"

"Mom isn't leaving. She wants to put this behind us and move on. You are the one leaving and making such a big deal out of everything. If you leave, you are breaking up the family." Karlie insisted.

It didn't get any better after that. I tried to explain my position, but they weren't listening. They weren't even slightly interested in my opinion. Kayla had spent the last day filling their heads with her bullshit. All they knew was that mommy did something that she really needed to do, and daddy didn't love her or the kids enough to accept her needs. She convinced them that daddy's little male ego was causing him to walk out on all of them and break up the family. It was daddy's fault because he couldn't give mommy one little, tiny thing that she really needed for her happiness. Instead, daddy was intent on making everyone suffer for his small-minded stubbornness. Really, it was just one night out of the 20-years that they had been together. Seriously, what is one night out of 7,305 nights (20-years at 365 days per year plus the 1 extra day on the 5 leap-years). They finally stormed out when it was obvious that I was not going to accept their position.

I managed to watch the rest of the game in peace. As the game was ending, I began smelling the aromas of dinner being prepared. It was obviously another of my favorites. I just sat there and watched the after-game show as I waited for the night game. It was the top of the hour; kickoff would be in 20-minutes. Josh came in to tell me that dinner was ready. I simply got up, grabbed the keys to my truck, and began heading for the door.

"Where are you going? Dinner is being set on the table." Josh asked.

"I'm going down to the Sports Bar to watch the game. I'll eat something there." I replied.

"But mom fixed...."

"I'll be back after the game. I might hang out for a while after it's over though."

I did hang out after the game. They had a really good burger with seasoned fries. The beer was pretty good too. I only had about one beer per quarter, so I was still pretty good to drive. Besides, it was only about five minutes from home. Everyone was in bed by the time I got home, so I simply went to my bedroom, locked and blocked the door, and went to sleep. The plate and bottle by the coffee table had been cleaned up by the time I got home. That made me smile.

Monday morning, I was up early and out of the house before anyone got up. The first thing I did when I got to the office was to call my broker. I explained that I was going to get a divorce and needed him to split all of our investments right down the middle. He created a new account in just my name and moved half our investments into that account. Next up, HR. I took Kayla's name off my retirement account and had them just put Karlie and Josh on as my heirs. I also gave then my new bank account information to reroute my paycheck to there. Finally, I went and informed my boss that I was about to get divorced, so I would be needing some time off for meeting with my lawyer, court dates, meetings, etc. He was cool with it.

My lawyer pretty much told me what I already knew. I had the dick, so I would be getting fucked. There was a slight chance that I could get custody, but that was completely dependent on where the kids wanted to live. They were old enough that the court would take their wishes into serious consideration. Based upon the conversation I had with them yesterday, I was not going to count on that. Basically, the only reason for a guy to even have a lawyer for a divorce was for the lawyer to be able to apply lube to their ass before the butt fucking. Otherwise, they would be fucked without lube. I had him start on the paperwork and asked that he have her served at work on Monday.

I didn't even bother going home right after work. It was Monday Night Football, so I just drove over to the Sports Bar. 3 tacos for a dollar. I had three during the first half, and three more during the second half. I ignored the text messages and phone calls from Kayla. I did respond to Karlie and let her know where I was. Her response to that was not exactly pleasant. I was given the evil eye by all three when I sauntered in after the game. I simply went into my office and closed the door. By the time I was done and went up to my room, everyone had gone to bed.

Tuesday morning, I was up early and out of the house before anyone else was up again. Work was OK, and I took the afternoon off to look at the apartments. I decided on a nice two-bedroom unit and put down the deposit. I would be able to move in on Saturday. A trip to a second-hand store netted me a couch, table, and chairs. They were to be delivered on Saturday afternoon. I decided that I liked the bed that I was using, so I was going to take that as well as everything in my home office.

They were eating dinner by the time I got home. I snickered when I notice that they didn't even set a plate for me. That was fine with me. I wasn't going to eat it anyway. I simply went to the refrigerator and pulled out the makings for a huge sandwich. After making my sandwich, I grabbed a bag of chips and a beer, then went into my office.

"Geez, dad. Why are you being such an asshole?" Karlie exclaimed as she came into my office.

"Well, Karlie. Simply put, your mother cheated on me. She completely disrespected me. Then, she threw it in my face. I will not put up with that. I very clearly explained what would happen if she went through with it. She went through with it even knowing what would happen."

"You can't seriously be breaking up the family over that. Come on. It was nothing. It was just sex."

"Karlie. Some day you are going to be married. Just think about how you would feel if your husband told you one evening that he had a date with a younger, prettier woman and he was going to spend the night with her."

"Well, I'm sure I wouldn't like it very much, but if he promised to come back to me and it was just a one-time thing, I would hope that I would love him enough to get past it. Besides, if he told me about it first, it wouldn't be like he was cheating."

"Uh-huh. Sure. Do me one favor. When you get married, look directly into your groom's eyes as you are saying your vows. As you are looking into his loving eyes, when you get to the part about forsaking all others, imagine the love in those eyes turning to utter devastation as you tell him that you are going out to fuck another man."

With that, I turned my back on her and went back to work.

Wednesday evening was the ambush. Both sets of parents were there when I got home from work. People often joke about their in-laws, but I actually got along very well with her parents. They had welcomed me into their family like the son they never had. Charles, her father, was a gearhead like me. His only problem was that he was into Fords. OK, so he had extremely poor taste in cars, but I could overlook that. He had a 69 Mustang fastback that was in pristine condition.

Yes, I got along very well with my parents as well. We were not one of those dysfunctional families that the kids grew up hating their parents. They were always very loving and supportive of me. Sure, there were disagreements, and they never hesitated to tell me when they thought I was wrong about something. Sometimes we just had to agree to disagree.

So, I walked into the house and saw the ambush had been set up. I was a bit confused. I understood why her parents would be there; obviously they would be on her side. She is their daughter, after all. What confused me was that my own parents were there. That would seem to be counter-productive to her. My parents would agree with me and be on my side. I mean, if she were trying to get me to accept her infidelity, why would she have anyone over that wouldn't be on her and who would argue that I was right in divorcing her cheating ass? You probably already figured out what took me several more minutes to understand.

"Tom," Charles started the intervention. "I want you to know that May (Kayla's mother) and I are very disappointed in what Kayla did. That being said, we think that you are overreacting to this. Yes, she went out and had sex with another man, and that was highly disrespectful to you -- especially in the way she did it. Still, it was just one mistake. You two have been together for a total of 20-years. You have two wonderful kids together. Think about all of that. Surely, you can get over this one small incident. You don't need to tear your family apart just for one mistake."

"A small mistake? Seriously? This wasn't a small mistake. She didn't accidentally stumble and end up with his dick accidentally sticking in her cunt. This was a planned event. They probably planned it at least a week in advance. Then she ambushes me only an hour before she was leaving, giving me no chance to fight it. This was a deliberate plan to cheat on me."

"Son," Mom decided to enter the fray. "She didn't cheat on you. She told you about it first." Huh? What?

"First off, you are correct that she told me. TOLD ME! She never asked, she just said that she was doing it and I had no say about it. Even when I voiced my strong objections, she didn't care. Speaking of telling, I did tell her that this would happen if she went through with it."

"Tom," My dad tried. "I understand your pain and anger but think about the family. We love you, son. We will be here to help you heal but think of what you will be doing to your family. Kayla still loves you, and she has insisted that she won't do it again. We all think that with counseling and some effort, you can get past this. Tearing your family apart is not the way to go. We raised you to be a good man. You need to man-up and keep your family together. Don't do something stupid that will end up hurting your relationship with your family. Think about your mother and me too. Those are our grandchildren, and we will do whatever is necessary to keep our relationship with them."