J and J

I blubbered and let out some more tears. It wasn't too hard. The death of trust and faith will do that for you. Finally I stumbled into the den and collapsed in my favorite chair and acted as though I had passed out. JoAnna came in and tried to rouse me for a few minutes but I continued to fake unconsciousness even when she rubbed my chest hard. (A tried and true paramedic told me once that this kind of stimulation was used most often trying to wake someone but the patient who knew the trick would not react to the pain. He always used other nasty ways to elicit painful response and had told me a few of them.)

The doorbell rang and JoAnna had to give up her attempts to get me awake for a few minutes while she went and let Amos in. She spent a few more minutes informing him of my inebriated condition and lack of response. After a few more minutes where I assumed he was trying to get a kiss, hug or other sexual favor from her he gave up and came into the den. I kept my eyes closed as I felt him loom over me. This could get serious. Amos could and probably would inflict some pain on me. Since I now knew he had no love for me I could get seriously hurt here. With my eyes closed I wouldn't even know where the strike was coming from.

He tapped my shoulder and called my name. I didn't respond. He tapped harder and called my name again. He lightly slapped my face and called my name again. I moaned a little but didn't open my eyes. He slapped me again a little harder. A couple more like that and I would start to have a very red mark on one side of my face. I moaned again and brushed his hands back.

I could feel his smile of satisfaction. "John, you dumb asshole. I wish you could see how hard my cock is right now. You are so drunk that I might get JoAnna to fuck me by bending over your desk over there. My hard black cock in her tiny white pussy is something I love to see. Every time I fuck her I think about how clueless you are, you dumb smuck." He slapped me harder. The sound rang out across the room. I don't know where JoAnna was but she didn't say a word to stop him. I figured he asked her to stay outside the room while he woke me.

It was time. I slightly opened my eyes enough to make sure of his exact location. I started to flail my arms about as though from the pain he was inflicting on me. As he tried to dodge them I struck out with my foot and caught his bad knee again. Even though he always wore a brace I caught his knee cap dead on. Suddenly he screamed and fell to the floor. I leaned forward and whispered in his ear. "If I ever see you again, asshole, I will shoot you for fucking my wife and pretending to be my friend. At the very least I will make sure you never walk again and none of the local bitches will be wanting to fuck you ever again unless it is a pity fuck." I don't know if anything even penetrated his pain filled brain but I felt better. I lurched to my feet and remembered to continue to act drunk as I left the room.

JoAnna was coming in as I left, no doubt to find out why Amos was suddenly crying out in pain. We met in the doorway. I stumbled, kind of on purpose, and pushed her against the door. I mumbled something about needing to puke and left her trying to recover her balance as I headed for the nearest bathroom. I stopped at the door and looked around. JoAnna was not in sight. I suppose she was sympathizing with her lover and trying to ease his pain.

I stood up and walked out the door to the garage and was driving away before she could respond.

A few blocks outside the gate a black and white pulled me over. I wasn't driving too fast so I suspected my loving wife had called 911 and told them a drunk driver was causing mayhem. I pulled over.

When the officer came up along side the car I noticed his partner coming up the other side. I guess I was a bad man now. I rolled down the window to let the officer talk to me. He asked me to step out.

I admitted to drinking a few beers earlier. I passed the sobriety test and even the breathalyzer. We talked a little when the tensions dropped. I tried very hard to be pleasant and forthcoming with them. I even told them some of my woes about JoAnna. I didn't say anything about assaulting Amos though. That might have turned them against me. Obviously she had not called them to report an assault. While we were talking an ambulance screamed by and headed into the gated community. Did Amos need an ambulance? Maybe but I might not ever know.

The cops let me go and told me to get a change of clothing as mine stunk of beer. I agreed with them. I got back into the car and waited around the corner until the ambulance came by presumably headed for the hospital but not with lights and siren blaring. Just after that JoAnna came by in her car. I assumed she was going to hold her lover's hand while he was treated for his new knee injury.

I went back home and got some clothes and packed a bag. She would assume that I was arrested. No reason to make her think otherwise. I would have my lawyer contact her tomorrow for my bail money. I headed out to a good hotel for a night's sleep. I had to meet with a client in the morning.

Chapter Three—Bafflement

The next day my attorney contacted JoAnna before she could leave for school. She informed her that I had been arrested for DUI and that the bond was 10% of $10,000. JoAnna debated with her about whether to bail me out of jail before finally agreeing to it. All I could wonder was if she really did love me if she would debate whether to leave me in jail for a first offense DUI. I shook my head after getting off the phone with my attorney. I had business to deal with.

After work I called Amos's phone. When he answered I asked him about what he wanted to talk to me last night. I pretended that I didn't remember anything about the night before and he might have bought it. He hemmed and hawed but didn't ever really answer me. I suppose he felt he needed to be in my face when he told me he was fucking JoAnna. I didn't care anyhow and I certainly wasn't going to waste my time visiting him in the hospital. He told me his knee cap was shattered. I made appropriate noises and then ended the call.

It was time again to visit the pub. I had a couple of tasty ales again before going home. This time JoAnna wasn't there. She had left a note that she was going to a meeting at one of the schools. Yeah, I bet was what I almost wrote on the note but I held back.

I fixed myself a light meal and left everything out again. I then went down to the basement to my work room and tinkered on an old project. I won't bore you with the details but I would put it up, leave it alone for a while then have a new idea and get it out and try to make it work. I puttered with it for a while but found I was still not having the breakthrough that I needed. I shelved it again just as JoAnna was getting home.

With my newly opened eyes I noticed that she was freshly showered. Yep, I suppose the mandatory meeting was just around the corner at one of the neighbor's. I had to get this done before someone drugged me and set me up.

"Honey, how are you?" Well, she didn't attack me this time.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know, why do you ask?"

"This is the second time this week that you have left food and dishes out after getting something to eat. Are you angry at me for being gone so much right now?"

I really wanted to tell her how angry I was that she was fucking around on me but I held it back. I tried to minimize her concern. "I am sorry. I have been distracted. Let me go up and get stuff cleaned up." I slipped by her and headed upstairs without saying anything more. It only took about ten minutes and the mess was dealt with. I got a beer out of the fridge.

She had followed me up the stairs. Since she hardly ever went down there she would have no reason to tarry there. "Are you sure that you should be drinking?"

I countered. "Why not? I am in my own house. My keys are on the hook and I am not planning on going out again. I can get drunk in my own house can't I?"

"John, I am afraid for you. You have suddenly started to drink more than you have ever drank before. You were so drunk last night that you passed out in your chair in the den. When your best friend, Amos, tried to wake you somehow you kicked him and put him into the hospital. You then left the house and drove away. The next thing I hear is that you were arrested and put in jail and I had to bail you out.

You told me last night that the business is in trouble and then questioned where I heard it when I asked you for more information. I think you had a blackout spell and didn't know what you were doing. This, coupled with the leaving of food out and not cleaning up after yourself, which is something you never do, is scaring me a little."

She paused and searched his face. "Talk to me, John. Tell me what the hell is going on, please." She reached for my hands but I didn't bring mine up to take hers. She dropped her hands and started to cry. Somehow I wasn't too concerned about her anxieties and worries. I took a good swig from the beer as she collapsed onto a chair and continued to cry.

I went into the living room and took a seat. After a bit she managed to regain some control and came in and sat across from me. "I'm sorry about the outburst but I still need you to talk to me, Honey. Is there anything I can do?"

I so wanted to yell at her and tell her to go back in time and prevent herself from cheating on me but I didn't as she couldn't and I didn't believe she even wanted to. She just wanted me to agree to her lifestyle and that wasn't going to happen either. I decided to be honest, up to a point. "I don't know how you can do anything that will change the outcome. It is too late for that. I just need some time and a little space to get everything figured out."

I stood and walked around the spacious room. "With James soon leaving the house and moving away I am wondering why we need a house with six bedrooms and eight bathrooms. Maybe we should downsize a little. We could save a lot of money on upkeep and electricity if we moved to a smaller home. We are always too busy to even use the hot tub or the pool." Since she was gone before me in the morning and almost in a 'meeting' every evening she didn't know how much I used the pool to keep in shape.

JoAnna wouldn't have any of that. "No, I wanted this house and it is perfect for us. I sincerely hope the boys will be getting married and want a place for them and any other family or friends to come and feel at home when they visit. I love this community and our neighbors and I can't contemplate leaving them."

Yeah, it would disrupt your sex life if we moved, was what I thought. "What about us, my dear? When will we have time for us? I know I am busy but I can start to delegate some of my responsibilities so we can have more time together. We don't have any 'us' time at all. I can't remember when we actually had time together to even hold hands and maybe make love. Any sex has been hurried and, while satisfying, is not the same, just makes me think we are just hooking up for the night. We don't go out and have a meal together unless it has to do with the business or the school system.

Can you get someone else to attend some of these mandatory evening meetings and whatnot? Can we get some time for us?"

Of course she deflected this all. "I am home a lot of evenings when you are gone. Maybe we should schedule our evenings better. I would, for one, like to attend more of the neighborhood gatherings. The wives always tell me how much they miss us and how much fun they have."

Again she left any mention of sex out of the conversation unless you count the oblique mentioning of neighborhood 'gatherings' that might mean the sex club. I waved a dismissive hand at her. "I am calling bullshit on that one, JoAnna. I am home at least five out of seven nights a week. You always come in, or call, and inform me that some kind of emergency or scheduled meeting or a game or whatever has come up and then you are out the door. You come home hours later and are too tired to even talk to me before going to bed. With the huge bed in our bedroom we don't even touch anymore when we occupy it at the same time." Thank god for the brown bottle. From a few feet away she couldn't tell that I hadn't drank all of the beer. I held it like it was almost empty. "Damn, out of beer again, I will be right back."

I turned and went to the kitchen and since she couldn't see what I was doing I poured the rest down the drain and got out a new one. I realized that I needed to get more beer. I had better pick up a couple of cases tomorrow.

When I got back into the living room JoAnna gave my beer a dirty look. I took a healthy swig from it and wiped my mouth. "Since we can't agree on anything I guess I will retire to my workroom and try to figure out how we are going to continue to afford this monstrosity." I didn't wait for her response and just turned and went back down to the basement workroom.

I figured that she had no intention of changing anything except my approval of her extra-marital affairs. With her income she could manage to keep the house, pay the utilities and even the HOA fees. At least those also covered the lawn and landscaping.

At about midnight I went upstairs and took a shower, brushed my teeth and gargled with a fresh minty mouthwash to kill the taste of beer and then crawled into bed, making sure I didn't touch her sleeping form.

In the morning I fired up the home computer and went looking at some porn sites that showed men putting women in bondage and then causing severe pain. I opened multiple windows so multiple videos could be running at the same time. If she checked she would see that I was looking at porn, something she had always been afraid of doing as it might get out and hurt her career. I laughed to myself about what the school board and the public would think of her if her nightly activities became known.

I made a point of calling her secretary and asking whether there was a meeting in the evening. When I was told that JoAnna's calendar was clear I made reservations at one of the city's top restaurants for supper. I figured that she would come home or call about some kind of meeting and I would have to cancel but I would play on her emotions while I could.

My lawyer called me at about 9:00 and we had a long meeting. He had researched my options concerning the business and we were going to give all of the stock and control to a trust and JoAnna wouldn't be able to touch it at any time since none of the stock was actually in her name. Her lawyer would shit when he or she found out. I could then be a free-lance consultant and be paid directly from the company. Of course my consultant's fee might be equal to my salary and profit from the corporation but she wouldn't know that.

I then went back to the RV dealership and negotiated a good price on a great class A unit. I also bought an enclosed trailer and had it wrapped to match the RV. The RV had three slide outs and would be a great moving home for me. I would be able to use satellite to keep up with the world, most camping facilities had internet access so I could keep contact with the office, my cell phone was a national carrier and would work most places I would go and I could work when I felt like it. I could fly back or to a client if necessary and then return to the RV.

We got all of the paperwork completed and I negotiated a price to keep the RV there on the lot for a few days. I had to get all of my personal belongings that I wanted from the house and would try and do it without JoAnna being tipped off before I was ready.

I really thought I should get some revenge on the neighbors especially on the ones advocating extremes measures to bring me into the fold and humiliate me at the same time but talking to law enforcement about a conspiracy to harm me wouldn't get much action and a couple of the neighbors were judges and attorneys. I could embarrass them but not really hurt them at this time. I just needed to get away.

I contemplated divorce but decided that I wasn't in any hurry to replace my wayward wife so why not just leave? A good private investigator would be able to find me but I wasn't on the lam or even trying to hide just get away from here before something bad happened.

I took home the extra beer and some vodka and whiskey and made sure the seals were broken and some was missing so that JoAnna could see that I was drinking more. The whiskey did taste good when I had a couple of shots so that my breath would smell. I waited until 6:00 before calling JoAnna's cell phone.

She answered on the fourth ring, just before it went to voicemail. She was short with me. "What do you want? I am busy right now."

"Really, dear, how busy can you be? I called your secretary today and made sure you had the evening free and made reservations at the Tuscan Inn for supper but you never came home or called. What the hell is going on?"

She couldn't come up with a coherent response. I figured she was getting a good fucking from one of the neighbors so I hung up. I would have to accelerate my plans. I couldn't keep this up for long. If I dwelled on it too long I might get out a gun and shoot someone and that someone might be the one who used to be the love of my life.

I went downstairs and started to pack up my tools. She wouldn't notice that they were gone. I took the boxes to the car and put them in the trunk. It was going to take quite a few trips. I had ordered cabinets and work benches for the trailer to keep my tools nearby when travelling. I packed the few tools in the garage that I was taking. Even though the HOA took care of the lawn we had some tools for gardening and such so I left those. Maybe JoAnna would get one of her lovers to do the little gardening that we did.

The rest of the equipment was boxed and ready when I wanted them. I then started to pick through my clothes. There was a god's plenty of storage in the RV but I would not need as many suits once I left. I sorted clothes for a couple of hours until I was too hungry to ignore the rumbling of my gut anymore so I stopped and made another sandwich. Lord, I was getting tired of cold sandwiches. Now I was pissed so I left all of the fixings out on the counter. The hell with her.

What the hell, it wasn't too late in the evening yet. I grabbed some more boxes and filled the car and headed off to the office. We had a large storage area and my tools and other equipment could be kept there for a few days. It took a few trips but all of my stuff and some of my clothes were safely stored. I could leave the house in a heartbeat if I felt it was necessary. I had even opened the gun safe and removed a couple of handguns along with a shotgun and a rifle or two. JoAnna didn't know the combination so she would have to call a locksmith to open the safe and remove any of the other guns I was leaving. She hated guns so having the guns in the house without me there would bug her. Then again, maybe not, as she didn't seem to want to spend any time there anyhow.

When I got home from my final trip to the office JoAnna was home. I just walked in and poured myself a couple of fingers of whiskey while she tried to talk to me. For some reason all I could hear right at the moment was the adult in the Charlie Brown cartoons. "Wah, wah, wah, wah." And so on. I kept my back to her for a few minutes as I savored the taste of the smooth bourbon.

When I turned around her face was red and she seemed upset about something. "Did you say something, Dear?" I made sure that I slurred my speech a little when I said it.

"Yes, John, I did. I was trying to find out where you have been all evening. I came home right after you called and you weren't here. I figured we could go out still but you weren't here."