My Happy Ending

"What are you doing?" she asked. "You'd better not do that or I'm going to get in trouble again. Rence is still mad at me from last time."

"What kind of name is fuckin' Rinse?" the guy asked. "It just sounds like he doesn't want you to have any fun."

"He only wants me to have fun with him," she said. "He loves me. I'm his. I wish he'd fuck me. He hasn't touched me since..."

"Well he isn't here this time and you said he doesn't know where you are," said the guy. "You said he pissed you off by calling you a name. You could get back at him and have some fun at the same time and he'll never know." As he said this he was pulling her panties down. I couldn't believe the balls on this guy. And Amanda was slightly drunk but she was still on her feet and she wasn't slurring her words. She knew what was going on. I took out my phone and took a few pictures. I also left the phone on top of a car aimed at them and got a short video.

"You weren't very good the other time," she said.

"I'll be much better this time," he told her. You didn't give me a chance before.

"You're not even hard," she said.

"Baby, I'm as old as you are," he smirked. "You have to help me along sometimes."

"I don't have to help my husband along," she smiled. "All he has to do is look at me and his dick is like a steel pole."

"If you suck my dick, I'll get harder too," he said. "Don't you ever suck Rinse's dick?"

"Yeah but I suck his dick because I like doing it," she said. "Yours is ugly and it kind of stinks."

"Just do it," he snapped. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her down onto her knees. I knew I should have gone over and stopped her, but I really needed to know if she would go through with this. For the week since the last incident had happened, I'd been torn. On one hand, I loved Amanda more than I could ever say and maybe what happened last time had been miscommunication. I actually had told her to do it. Maybe she hadn't understood that I didn't want her to. But this time was cut and dried. If she did this we were over.

I heard her sounding like she was gagging and saw him leaning back against the car she'd parked next to. A couple of drunken guys who stumbled past them gave him the thumbs up sign. He pulled Amanda up and spread her legs again. I'd seen enough. I started making my way towards them.

By the time I got to them, I was too late. He was fucking her and she was calmly telling him that it wasn't any different from the last time.

"You're just not very good at this," she said dreamily.

"You have to give it some time," he said. "It'll start to feel better in a minute."

"Maybe you guys just need more practice," I said loudly as I stepped out from behind the car. The guy looked up at me, his eyes widened in shock. "What the fuck?" he said. "Do you have a Lo-Jack on her or something?"

He hadn't even stopped fucking her. I guess he thought it was going to be like the last time. He thought that I'd just walk away. Amanda's eyes and her whole face reacted. She started trying to push him away from her. "No!" she screamed. "This isn't happening."

I walked over to him and he could see that this time would be different. He was trying to pull out and get away but the two of them kept getting in each other's way. I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and slammed his face into Amanda's car as hard as I could.

"Mmmrrrllglrffff!" he screamed. Then he started spitting out broken teeth. I slammed his head into the car again and his nose erupted blood. Then I started punching him. He jerked away from me and tried to run. As he got to his feet he tripped because his pants were still around his ankles. I kicked him viciously in the side and felt ribs snap but he go up and kept running or trying to.

I turned and without saying a word to Amanda, just headed for my car. Amanda just stood there with her skirt still up and her panties around her ankles crying. I drove home and grabbed a few things. I got enough work clothes to last me a few days and threw them into the back of my car. I grabbed my iPad, my toiletries and a few other personal items and got back into my car. As I drove down the block, I could see Amanda's car flying down our street and pulling into our driveway. I'd gotten out just in time to avoid another pointless confrontation with her.

I checked into a nice hotel near my job. I woke up the next morning and showered, dressed and had breakfast in the hotel's cafeteria. I got to work early and noticed silver Mercedes SLR parked near my spot.

Things were serious, that car belonged to one of the owners.

There was a buzz throughout the building for most of the day. I didn't get a chance to really look into it. I just noticed that everyone was trying their best to look busy. I'd spent most of the morning explaining to Gary that Darrell was now in charge of his project and he had to do what Darrell said. I also had to tell Darrell that he needed to give Gary clear instructions. Darrell tended to just sit on his hands and not say anything until there was an absolute meltdown. He was too worried about offending anyone.

Finally, I just dragged both of them into my office and started yelling. There was a knock on my door before I got too far into the yelling. The door opened before I even got a chance to say anything. Quentin Devereaux, who looks a lot like Wilfred Brimley stepped into the room. I stopped talking immediately. His family had begun our business and for a hundred year the business had remained in their control.

"I finally found you, Batman," he said jokingly. He looked over at Darrell. "Good Robin is here too. Be nice to Gary," he said. "Whatever he's done can be forgiven. He's a loyal and long term employee. He's going to be in charge of the engineering department soon."

Gary's smile lit up the room. Darrell and I were both in shock. "Gary, can you give us a bit of privacy?" he said. Gary got up and slowly started to gather his papers.

"Gentlemen, I'd like for the two of you to put in your notice by the close of business today," he began. "There is no longer a place for you here." He'd said all of this just as Gary left, so I was sure that Gary had heard it.

"What did we do?" asked Darrell.

"Well, I'm the person who was supposed to be in charge," I began. "So whatever happened is my fault."

"Um, relax guys. You didn't do anything wrong at all," he said. "That's why I need you to quit."

Darrell and I looked at each other in confusion. "In a little over a month what we're about to talk about will become public knowledge. We are selling the company to a German firm. Although the official take over won't be for a few weeks after that, we have to get busy. For the last couple of years, your division has brought in the lion's share of the profits and the two of you are responsible for most of that. You work well together and separately and are probably two of the best engineers I've ever worked with."

"I don't get it," said Darrell. "If we're doing okay, why are we being forced out?"

"Because, I want to spin off your department into a separate company," he said. "And I'll make each of you a part owner in the new firm. We'll split ownership of the firm equally among the three of us. I'll provide the capital and any equipment we need. The two of you will do the work. My first job will be to find a location. The two of you well scour the company for a small staff and whatever equipment we need to take with us. Hopefully, we'll be able to only take things that this company has multiples of. Otherwise we'll need to purchase them new."

My head was spinning as he talked. "I've already spoken to several of our customers who might be interested in setting up accounts with the new firm. We could probably count on doing about three to four million dollars in accounts the first year," he said. "After that who knows. We'll start talking salaries and profit sharing the next time we get together. And I don't have to tell you two that you can't tell anyone about this until we sign off on all of the agreements, do I?"

Darrell and I were shocked. "Gentlemen, you're going to be rich," he said. "And of course, I'm going to be richer."

"We're going to be the owners?" asked Darrell. We spent the rest of the afternoon going over the plans for the new business. We walked around pretending we were in trouble in front of the rest of the staff while we scouted who we'd probably need. I got more than a few calls from Amanda on my cell phone and the office phone. I didn't take any of them.

When it was time to leave, I went back to the hotel and made an appointment to speak to yet another lawyer. Finally, I found one who was willing to help me get free from Amanda. I gave her as much of my financial information as I could and promised to have more by the time we met.

I left the hotel and drove home as slowly as I could manage. When I pulled up in front of the house I expected Amanda to rush out to see me. It didn't happen. I opened the door quietly and went into the office where we kept our computer and our financial records. I got the papers I needed and walked quietly back out. I'd almost made it to the door when I heard the voice behind me.

"Are you really just going to come and go without even bothering to check on her?" It was Marge, of course.

"She's almost asleep. She's being crying hysterically all day. I gave her a couple of pills to get her to sleep. She's calm now. Can't you at least just say something to her or let her say something to you?" she asked.

"Marge, what is there to say? She can't even blame this one on you," I said.

"No, this one is your fault," said Marge.

"How is it my fault?" I asked. "I didn't give her permission this time. We never even talked about it."

"No, but you called her a whore," she said. "I don't know if you know this, but she was crushed by that. She loves you so much. Getting your marriage back on track was so important to her. She thought of what was going on as a case where she made a mistake and she just needed to do whatever she had to do for you to forgive her and move on. But when you called her that, it just changed the way she saw it. At first, last night, she was just really angry. That's why she went out drinking. For the past week she's just wanted to bury her head in the sand and wake up with the two of you back the way you were. She thought you were on the right track."

"She knew that it would take work and time but she wanted to put it in. That was why she suggested the counseling. And she wanted to do it even under the terms that you suggested, because it gave her a chance to get you back. That's what she really wanted, a chance to fight for your love. But last night you called her a whore. And you did it so casually and without thinking about it. It made her believe that it's the way you really see her now and it hurt her more than you'll ever know."

"She didn't go out last night to have sex with anyone. You have to know that. She went out to get drunk so she wouldn't have to think about how badly you hurt her. Unfortunately, that asshole was there feeding her liquor and trying to take advantage of her."

"You do know that she was bombed out of her mind right?" she asked me.

"No, Marge," I said. "I know that she wasn't. I was there the whole time. I took pictures and I recorded it on video. She was lucid enough to answer specific questions. That means she was lucid enough to say no. She even told him that she didn't want to get in trouble again. She had to have told him that she was pissed at me because he mentioned her getting back at me."

"Rence, I was just saying that," said Amanda from behind us. "I was angry and I was acting out. I really was drunk, though."

"Goodbye Amanda," I said. "My lawyer will be in touch."

"What about the counseling?" she asked, beginning to cry. "You promised."

"Amanda that was when I thought that there was a chance for us to make it. I was on the fence the whole week. I was pissed at you but I still loved you enough to at least consider it. Last night destroyed any chance we had," I said. "I also have enough evidence to prove infidelity now," I said.

"Before, I had no grounds, so I'd have gotten killed in the divorce. Now, I'm offering you a fifty/fifty split and irreconcilable differences. The other option is that I go for infidelity and enter my evidence. If this video gets out, you won't be a substitute teacher any more. If you agree and sign the papers quickly, I'll give you the video without making any copies. I'll also go along with anything you want to tell the kids. But if you try to prolong this, you won't be happy Amanda."

"I won't be happy either way Rence," she said. "So do what you have to do. But I won't give up on us. I'll fight for us."

And she did.

I have to give her credit, Amanda pulled out all of the stops to prevent our divorce. She got a lawyer to fight the divorce and tried all of the silly things she could to block, obfuscate or simply slow down our divorce. She used every tool and person at her disposal, including our children and our families.

Three months into the process, she just broke down and gave in. We had our day in court and although I had to wait 90 days for everything to be final, I walked out with my head held high, a free man at last. I wish I could say that I had an attractive co-worker or long lost friend waiting in the wings to soothe my broken heart and make me feel better but I'd be lying.

In the first few weeks after the divorce, I nearly went crazy. I threw myself into putting the new business together and my workouts and my car. If I wasn't working or trying a new type of exercise or activity, I was washing or working on my car. I went to a lot of Mustang themed events and met a lot of great people that I had a lot in common with, but my car's body work, as beautiful as it was, couldn't keep me warm on cold nights.

On the other hand, I saw Amanda everywhere. I was sometimes sure I saw her when I went to the supermarket or out for a run. It got to the point where almost everywhere I looked I thought I saw her. I was going crazy, I thought. I realized that I wasn't going crazy, I was just lonely and missing the woman that I had loved for most of my life.

Things at work were going great too. Even though we weren't fully ready to open, we were doing a lot of consulting type jobs and Darrell and I were more of a team than we'd ever been. It took us a few weeks and there were still some things we needed to work out, but after we first started talking about it, I had to admit that A) he really hadn't known who Amanda was. He was just a single guy out looking for some pussy. Marge had misled him through no fault of her own. She had never actually told him that she was married and she had no idea that Darrell and I worked together.

The B) part of my realization was that Darrell felt even worse about what had happened than I did if it was possible. That had been part of the reason he'd been ready to quit. Even months later he kept saying things that made me realize that he thought that HE was responsible for my divorce. I finally had to sit him down and tell him that the reason I got divorced wasn't because he screwed some older woman. It was because one of the older women he screwed should have kept her legs together.

Speaking of Darrell, we're better friends now than we were before. I can tell that because our friendship isn't relegated simply to the office. We go out for drinks occasionally and I've even tried to teach him to play golf. I gave up attempting to convince him to start running because he's just too damned big.

One of the oddest things that has happened out of this was that Darrell now has a steady lady-friend. It happened during the early days of my divorce proceedings. Darrell and I had been taking some of my things out of the house when he got a phone call. I'd gotten him to help me move some of the heavy things I wanted to keep and take them to my new condo. Neither Amanda nor I wanted to keep the old house and since we were selling it, I wanted to clear my things out as quickly as possible. I'd set up a date to do it and hoped that Amanda wouldn't be there since she was still living there. Naturally she was. She also kept trying to talk to me even then.

Anyway after a few seconds, Darrell put his phone on speaker and held it up. In the background I could hear Marge desperately talking to Darrell. Behind Marge's voice we could hear a slamming sound.

"Darrell, I know that we haven't spoken to each other in weeks and I miss you a lot. I always hoped that we'd get over this and pick up where we left off, but it probably won't happen now. Bryan just showed up after weeks of ignoring me. He's drunk and talking about beating my ass. I called the police when he first showed up but they haven't come yet. He left for a while so I locked the doors but he's back and angrier now. Anyway just in case I never get to tell you this, it was always more than just sex with you, I..."

It was like she got cut off. Darrel and I looked at each other and no words were necessary. I grabbed Amanda's arm and told her to call the police from her cell phone. I pushed her into my truck and Darrell got in beside her in the back. They gave me directions to Amanda's house but we were too late. Darrell kicked the front door in and we were horrified at what we saw. Marge always kept a really clean, really neat house. It looked as if a tornado had gone through it. Almost everything, including all of the furniture was knocked over, spilled or broken. We heard a sound from the back and ran into the room. Bryan was sitting on top of Marge hitting her over and over again. I quickly grabbed my IPhone and starting recording while Darrell scrambled across the room and dragged Bryan off of Marge.

"Get out of here," screamed Bryan. "She's my wife and she needs to have her ass beaten. Ever since I found out that the bitch has been cheating on me, I can't get it up. What kind of woman cheats on her husband like that?"

"Darrell, don't hit him," I said. "I know you want to but this piece of shit isn't worth it."

I went over closer to where they were and videotaped Marge's bruised and beaten face close up. Darrell was holding a no longer struggling Bryan by his throat. Amanda had Marge's head cradled in her lap. "She's still breathing," she said. "I don't know how badly she's hurt but it looks bad."

"It's her own fault," slurred Bryan. "She had it coming. What kind of woman does that?"

Amanda looked at him. "Two types of women do things like that," she began. "The first type is women who are married to men that are just assholes. They're men who abuse or beat their wives. Or they're men who cheat on their wives or just men who aren't good husbands. The women get lonely, they need someone in their life who loves them and cares about them and yes, asshole sometimes they just need sex. That's what Marge is, Bryan. After all of the times you cheated on her or ignored her, she just needed to find a little bit of happiness for herself. The funny thing is that she put up with your shit for years. She kept hoping you'd change back into the man she always thought you could be. I can see now that you couldn't have. You're just a piece of shit like my husband said and that's all you'll ever be."

"The second type of woman who does that is the worst though. She has a good husband who loves her and cares for her. Either she doesn't realize how special that is, or she forgets or she just goes crazy. Maybe she's so sure that her man loves her that she doesn't realize that love can be extinguished or taken away from her at the drop of a hat. That second type of woman is the stupid type, like me."

Before Amanda could say anything else the ambulance arrived. The techs started working on Marge immediately. They gave her smelling salts and she woke up quickly. Marge was in a lot of pain, but she was conscious and her brain seemed to be functioning. She actually tried to smile when she saw Darrell still holding onto a terrified Bryan and looking like he wanted to beat him to a pulp.