The Play Ch. 01

At that point the lights were to go down at the same time as the curtain and in the darkness another single shot would sound to be followed by a body hitting the floor and leaving the audience to work out for themselves what had happened. After a few more attempts at the last scene, Leo declared himself satisfied and reminded them that the following Monday was the dress rehearsal and their last chance to hone their performance before the opening night. ..........................................................................................................................................................

Jess and I had invited the three young student actors to dinner that Sunday evening and Jess really put a lot of effort into her appearance. I was the chef, a normal occurrence in our home whenever we had guests, so I was a bit pushed for time. Our guests arrived early, before I had time to shower and change so I left Jess to entertain them and went up to get showered and changed. Over dinner, I couldn't help but observe the sly, smouldering glances between Jess and Gerry. All appeared perfectly innocent, but she was being careful to keep the exchanges to times when she thought I was busy talking to Jason and Sonja. At one point, I sat at the table and watched him follow her into the kitchen to 'help with the coffee' They were both gone some time and if it weren't for Jason keeping me at the table with questions that he already had the answers for, I may have caught them in the act. When I finally did manage to break off and go into the kitchen, Jess and Gerry sprang apart and Jess in particular, looked up with a guilty expression.

I asked, "What's taking the coffee so long, we're getting a bit impatient out there?"

"We were just going over the opening scene once more. Gerry feels that we are missing something in the early introductions."

"I take it you have had enough time to find the answer?" I asked.

She nodded in agreement and said, "Coffee coming right up. Why don't you two go back into the dining room and I'll bring it in?"

Finally, they prepared to leave and as they were donning their coats, I overheard Gerry whisper to Jess, "Tomorrow afternoon, three o'clock, right?" Jess looked quickly around and thinking she was not going to be overheard replied, "Yes, but keep this between us."

I coughed to alert them and came into the hallway to bid them farewell. I pretended that I hadn't heard the last exchange and bid them goodnight. I had much to think about and my prime concern was that I knew Jess finished work early on Mondays, but not that early so I made a mental note to ask her about her movements tomorrow. I was not trying to catch her out, I trusted her implicitly, but still the nagging fear that something was going on wouldn't go away.

I spent some time tidying up the kitchen before going up to bed. Jess was sound asleep! I had hoped for some talk about the dress rehearsal and maybe even some loving, but it was not to be that night.

I asked her over breakfast about her plans for the day and she failed to mention meeting Gerry! Now my suspicions were gaining ground. Why would she not mention meeting with him if their date was purely innocent? I was not in a position to take time off work to conduct my own investigation, nor did I have time to set up a Private Investigator to do the surveillance on my behalf, in any case I had convinced myself that my suspicions were more than a little paranoid! I did trust my wife I kept telling myself. So I did nothing! Maybe if I had confronted her then and there that morning over breakfast, things would have turned out differently! .......................................................................................................................................

The dress rehearsal started pretty innocuously Act one went well and after a quick change to suit the setting of a formal dinner dance, Act 2 started. Jessica was wearing a slinky black evening dress, halter necked and hugging her figure really seductively. No bra could be worn with this dress and her nipples were clearly trying to poke their way through the thin material. I watched as they took their positions on the balcony with the balustrade running diagonally way from the audience. Gerald stood behind her and put his arms around her, pressing himself into her rear and started to nibble at her earlobes and neck. She was responding to his movements and soon they were dry humping each other! His hand went to her breast, on the blind side of the audience, but it was clear what he was doing by the way she reacted to his kneading them and tugging at her proud nipples. It seemed like an age before she pulled his hands away and turned back into his arms for a last kiss.

Then it was Mary's cue to enter through the open door from the function room and then to interrupt their clinch. She said, "Oh there you are, Jessica! I came to warn you that your husband is searching all over for you."

Turning her attention to Gerald, she said, "You had better make yourself scarce! If he finds you here it will fuel his suspicion that you are trying to seduce his wife. He has a bad temper and you don't want to ruin Jessica's marriage, do you?"

This was my cue to enter the stage and just as I reached the door, Gerald said to Jessica, "Tomorrow?"

She nodded and replied, "Three O'clock at my house. I count the hours until you are with me once more!"

I moved to meet Jessica centre stage and held her close to me. I looked her in the eye and said, "I love you so much, but if you ever betray me, it will be death of us and our marriage!"

"And I love you too," she replied sarcastically, "but why the sudden warning about fidelity? You're my husband and even if you are overweight and balding, you're still all mine!"

"It's just that you seem to be getting very close to young Gerald and you seem to have less time for me lately."

"Nonsense, we're no longer as young as we used to be and things are bound to slow down a little as we get older. Gerald is fun and I enjoy all the attention I get from him, but that's all!"

"Just remember, I will not sit back and let myself be taken for a ride. If you want out, just say so!"

That ended the second act and during the interval the scene was reset to our bedroom.

Curtain up for the last act and Jessica was standing in the bedroom dressed in just a thin silk dressing gown. She called for Gerald and he rushed in to grab her into an embrace. She submitted to his advances for a few moments and then said, "Slow down, we have all afternoon to play."

They stood there and kissed each other, tongues and all. He pawed at her and she rather resignedly let him remove her robe. Beneath the robe, all she had on was a mauve coloured demi bra that barely contained her breasts and a small pair of matching silk panties. The sight of her exposed body must have inflamed his desire, either that or he was a great actor as he caressed her back and let his hands slide down to caress the twin globes of her bottom. Jessica was responding to his advances and as their passion mounted, he tried to remove her bra! This was not in the script! I was furious and made to burst onto the stage only to be stopped by Leo and Jason, who said, "Just a few seconds more, please!"

At that point Jess, broke away from him and stopped the rehearsal by turning to Leo and asking, "Is this really necessary. This was not in the script, he is practically stripping me bare out here. He's like a fucking octopus and I have no intention of baring all on stage. I told you that right at the beginning!"

Leo put his arm around her and taking her to one side said, "You're right, he has gone too far and I will have a word, but this is the most important scene! It is vital that your passion for each other is plain for all to see. Your acting of this part is superb and the way you relate to Gerald is marvellous. The audience will be able to feel the emotion that you bring to the role, the conflict between faithfulness and desire is critical and they will appreciate and empathise with your torment. Please try it just once more."

I walked over and asked them both, "Are you happy with what's happening here?"

Leo nodded and waffled on about the need to demonstrate her conflict and I had to tell him to piss off. I wanted to hear what Jess had to say. "I appreciate what Leo is saying, but if I hadn't stopped him, he would have had me stripped off in front of everybody! I'm OK to continue, but are you all right with how this is panning out?"

"No! I'm not happy at all. What man in his right mind would permit his wife to be seduced right in front of his eyes? I know you have your heart set on this role and if it wasn't for that, I would stop right now!"

She smiled at me and said, "Look, for the last time, he's not going to seduce me! I'll make it up to you tonight. The one benefit of this whole play is that we are closer now than we have been in months!"

I returned to my position offstage and they resumed the rehearsal. They must have gone over it three times before Leo was happy and they finally reached the point where she slipped into bed beneath the duvet.

"Why don't you get undressed and join me?" she said with a look of pure lust on her face.

As I stood in the wings watching this, I felt really alone. I had never seen her act so well, if it was indeed acting? I tried to use the emotions that I was experiencing to help me deliver my lines in a few scant minutes time.

Gerald stripped off to his jockey shorts, rather incongruously he was wearing a pair of Union Jack ones. These were significant in the story as will become apparent shortly.

As I watched, they fooled around under the duvet for a few minutes of foreplay and then a mauve bra appeared held by a naked arm that placed it on the brass bedstead where it hung as if to taunt me. It was followed by her panties in short order and then, looking rather ridiculous, the Union Jack underpants!

They then assumed the missionary position and started to simulate making love. As they approached their climax, it was my cue to burst in on them!

I charged into the bedroom and stopped dead in my tracks at the sight before me. I was supposed to be speechless at first and then furious at been made a cuckold in my own bed. It was not that hard for me because my jealousy had been aroused by their antics.

The broke apart and Jessica started to try and stutter explanation, "Tom! I can explain. This is not what it seems...."

"I think it's perfectly clear to me and your explanations are unnecessary! I warned you that infidelity would be the death of our marriage!" I thundered and stepping nearer to them, I pulled out a gun and pointed it at them.

Jessica laughed at the incongruous sight of me and this gun. It was damned heavy and I was having trouble holding it steady. "You know full well that that gun doesn't work! It's been in the drawer for years and in any case, you haven't any ammunition for it even if it did!"

On hearing this, Gerald who up to this point had remained lying silently with the duvet pulled up to protect their modesty, suddenly got brave and said, "Go ahead and shoot you stupid bastard! We have been at it like rabbits during the last few days and if you want seconds, you'll have to wait! I haven't finished yet!"

With that he turned back to Jessica and started to kiss her once more.

That was my cue and taking aim, I pulled the trigger twice at point blank range. The report was louder than I expected and made me jump! I have to admit his death scene was terrific and he died theatrically before I turned the gun on Jessica and fired again! She also died gracefully, my name on her lips as she expired.

The lights dimmed and the curtain fell, and I pulled the trigger once more before falling to the floor with a thump!

By the time I got back to my feet, Jess had donned her robe and Leo had bounded onto the stage full of enthusiasm for the finale to his play! Jess and Gerry stood together with their arms around each other and clearly enjoying the moment, totally oblivious to everyone else. He grabbed her and kissed her and I was shocked to notice, she returned his kiss with a passion, pulling his head and mashing her breasts into his bare torso. It was also obvious he had a raging hard on and she must have felt it as she broke off with a giggle. I was a bit nonplussed and didn't know what to think! My wife had just passionately kissed another man in front of me and the whole cast! Leo confirmed that the rehearsal as over and that tomorrow evening was our first night, as if any of us could forget it!

I stomped off to get changed without a word to my wife or any of the rest of the cast and crew around. I was changed and waiting as Jess eventually appeared, followed closely by Gerry. I had agreed to ferry them back to their respective homes and as I drove I had to listen to their excited chatter and the comments from Jason about Gerry's obvious excitement at being in bed with Jess!

We dropped them of and as we completed our journey home, Jess said, "You're very quiet. What's up?" I was still confused and angry. Her question was enough to tip the balance.

"I watched you tonight, not only during the rehearsal, but between scenes as well! Do you realise that you spent the entire time with Gerry? You never once made any attempt to spend some time with me! I watched as you pressed yourself into his erection after the final curtain and you're asking me what's fucking up?"

"But that was just me teasing him. It meant nothing to me! How many times do I need to tell you? You're my man and only you!"

"You have a strange way of demonstrating that love I must say. You were practically dry humping him after the curtain fell!"

Jess wasted no time in responding to that. "I have not cheated on you with Gerry! So you can get that thought out of you head right now! It's just your jealous mind that's conjuring up this fantasy. I'm not prepared to continue this conversation tonight and I think that it would be better all round if you sleep in the guest room tonight! Maybe a night alone will help you to come to terms with your jealous paranoia" She replied stonily.

Needless to say, I didn't get any loving that night or the following night either!

It was our opening night and two of the principal cast members were barely speaking to each other. The first act was fine and so as the second, right up to the scene on the balcony when Gerald started to caress her breasts. This time Jessica, after a look off stage to confirm I was watching allowed him to tweak her nipples far longer than she did during the dress rehearsal. This resulted in her nipples becoming engorged in plain view of the entire audience! Somehow we managed to get the final act without any major errors . By the Final act, I was praying for the whole thing to end! We all played our parts to the full and the only alteration from the dress rehearsal was when they got into bed and under the duvet, he took her from behind on her hands and knees! When the curtain came down, we were given a standing ovation.

I was furious at the change from the scripted version, not that it made much difference, but seeing my wife apparently being fucked from behind was obscene! It upset me so much that if Leo had not stopped me, I would have murdered him for real! Leo grabbed me and told me that Jess and Gerry had told him of the change before the start and they decided that it would make my intervention all the more realistic!

Jess was so bubbly afterwards and told me that all the cast was going across the road to the pub before going home. I refused and told her that she should go if she wanted, but I was going home! Needless to say, angry words were exchanged and she stormed off on her own to the pub while I took the car and went home. I was asleep, once more in the guest bedroom when she came in, so I've no idea what time it was. Over breakfast I tried to talk to her, but she refused to discuss the issues facing us.

That evening we gathered for the Friday night performance and we were expecting a larger crowd than the night before and it was. Most of our friends and work colleagues chose that night to attend and we had made tentative arrangements to meet them afterwards in the pub. Our performance was better and we completed it without any new surprises for me. I was a lot less angry by this time and Jess did nothing to wind me up. We went to the pub afterwards and we sat together and talked quietly until Gerry just had to come over from the snug where the rest of the cast and support team were and interrupt us. My hackles immediately rose and only the presence of our friends prevented me from asking him to leave. Our friends all wanted to meet the fella that got to kiss and cuddle with Jess! Eventually, we managed to extradite ourselves and slip away.

On the journey home, Jess was sitting beside me playing with herself. In all the years we were married, I had never seen her masturbate before! After about five minutes she demanded we pull over in a car park near the railway station. As soon as I parked up, she climbed over the reclined front passenger seat and into the back. She pulled up her dress to reveal she was naked beneath it and told me in no uncertain terms, "Tom, just fucking do me. I'm fit to burst and can't wait any longer! Who was I to refuse a lady in need and I moved quickly to accommodate her. She started to orgasm just as I bottomed out and was heading for another when someone shone a torch in the car!

We both jumped and I shouted to the guy to fuck off!

I started to disengage from Jess when she whispered, "It's alright, he just wanted to watch."

"Well he can go and watch someone else, he's not going to see my wife getting screwed!"

Then the absurdity of what I said hit us both and we burst out laughing, after all, wasn't that what had just happened in the theatre? Sixty or seventy people had just seen my wife getting fucked on stage and here I was getting pissed off at a man watching us perform in a car! Just then, the light went out and I thought that the guy must have figured the show was over and he did as I ordered. We both reassembled our clothing and continued home, where the action started once more. This was the best loving we had achieved since the play had begun rehearsals!

Saturday morning and the local weekly paper was delivered as usual. Jess grabbed it first and went straight to the arts page to see what he had to say about the play. Generally the review was good and he confirmed what we all knew, Jess was stunning in her role as the seductress and he went on to comment on the final sex scene and how convincing their act of intercourse was. I didn't need to know that, I had been experiencing it at close quarters and the evil genie still preyed on my jealousy even though I was sure that they were only simulating the sex. My performance as the cuckold husband was hailed as 'intense', whatever that was meant to mean? The phrase damned by faint praise came to mind! Still he did recommend to his readers that they should take the final opportunity that night to see the delightful Mrs Jess Fuller, local Secondary School Deputy Head Teacher in a totally different light.

Saturday evening and it was show time! The last night and we were all at theatre early. The play was a sell out and an audience of nearly one hundred and fifty was expected. I was feeling nervous before the start and had to visit the toilet to do what has to be done when stage fright takes hold. I was sitting on the throne when Gerry and Jason entered. They were laughing and were rather indiscrete in their subject matter. Jason asked Gerry, "Well have you fucked her yet?" "Not yet, but she's ready for plucking and with your help, I'll nail her tonight!" He replied. I waited with bated breath. What was the scheming little turd up to now?