To Have and to Cuckold Pt. 03

Anyways, Jerry worked with Naomi 3 times a week, though she went to the gym every day. He also helped her come up with a meal plan that worked better for her.

As the months went by, the pounds came off. It seemed like every time the number on the scale changed, a little bit of the old Naomi came back to us. She became more vibrant. She was sexy. Most of all, her confidence was returning.

Then, one day, she called me at work. I thought something was wrong because she hardly ever called me during the day. She told me that I needed to hurry home.

Panic had me breaking the sound barrier as I pulled into my garage. When I busted through the front door, I was greeted by a wife wearing the sexiest lingerie I'd seen her wear in a long while. I definitely noticed the difference in her body. While she wasn't like she was when I first met her, she was miles from where she'd been after Henry's birth.

We fucked right there on the living room floor. Then the kitchen table. Unfortunately, I ruined her lingerie as I removed it from her body a little too "impatiently".

Later on that night, I was unable to wipe the goofy grin off of my face. Neither was she. We just kept passing these secret looks to each other as Henry seemed oblivious. Once in bed, I asked her about my good fortune.

"What brought that on?"

"Did you like it?"

"Hell yeah!"

She flashed an appreciative smile that let me know that she was happy that she pleased me. She was still having a little trouble with her confidence, so me being turned on by her was a big ego boost. But I was about to find out that I wasn't the only reason that she was getting her groove back.

"Please don't get mad when I tell you this. Jerry told me not to say anything, but I've never lied to you and I won't start now."

This raised my alarm. "What happened?"

She got an uncertain look on her face as she said, "Some guy hit on me today."

Immediately, my jealousy burned. I knew she saw it in my eyes, because she started talking quickly.

"It wasn't anything really Josh. He just told me that I looked hot and that he would really like to take me out."

This did nothing to reduce my jealousy.

"And what did you say?" I asked, perhaps a little too accusingly. She shrank back and looked a little hurt.

"I didn't say anything Josh. I didn't have to. By then Jerry approached the guy and told him that I was a very good friend who was also the wife of another close friend. He said that he takes it as a personal slap to his face when people bother his friends. He hates getting slapped. It makes him angry and causes him to do rash things. Rash, violent things. The guy slinked away so fast I thought Jerry had vaporized him."

Did I mention what a great guy Jerry is?

I still sat there sulking. The memory of this great afternoon was blown to pieces. Naomi snuggled up to me and started rubbing my chest to comfort me.

"Josh, you have no reason to be jealous. I had no inclination to go out with that guy. Honest. I was just so turned on by the fact that someone actually found me attractive. It made me feel pretty again. I needed your dick inside of me."

This did calm me down some and I allowed her to snuggle me.

"If you weren't married to me would you have gone out with him?"

She thought for a moment and I felt her shaking her head on my chest. "No. He wasn't really my type. But it did feel good to at least have some guy ask."

That put the matter to rest and we both drifted off into a slumber.

**************************

BACK TO THE PRESENT - September 2015

The next morning, after I stumbled upon my sister giving it up so eagerly to her "not boyfriend" I decide that it's time that I return to work. I'd used up all of my sick days and then took some personal days, so it was time to get back to the world.

Being back among the living is very refreshing. After only seeing the walls in the basement and having no encounter with any humans besides my sister and her kids (and Jerry of course, but I'd blocked that out), I find that I practically absorb the energy of others and feel a little revitalized.

Tom, who is my closest colleague at work, catches me up on the trouble calls that were done in my absence and what was done to fix them. He also shows me what maintenance and repairs are still open tickets, and the time timeframe that we are expected to complete them in. He even made out a spreadsheet of what needs to be done on what day. Once he is finished giving me the low down he welcomes me back and we get to work.

I like working with Tom. I don't like him as a person in particular. Its not that I dislike him, per se, it's just that he has little personality. For him, it's all business all the time. I know nothing of his personal life, and he stays clear of mine's. Even now, when I'd been gone an entire week, he makes no reference to it. He just kept things going until I got back, and lets me know what I missed. While we may never go out and get a beer together, as far as work goes we are a well-oiled machine.

So I dive head first into work. How cliché is that? The poor cheated husband drowns himself in work so that he can forget his troubles with the missus. Well, it's a cliché because it works.

Before I knew it, the sun had set and Tom was biding me a good night as he heads out. I hadn't even eaten lunch. Damn, Naomi would kill me if she found that out.

I kick myself for thinking about her. Who cares what she wants?

When I make it to my car and start the engine, I just sit there. Suddenly, I am confused about where I'm going. Am I going back to my sister's house, or should I head for home and face the inevitable. When I was hiding out in Trina's basement, it was easy. Now, being out in the world, I am forced to think about my life and what needs to be done.

When you are done being the victim, maybe you can get off your ass and out of my basement and take your life back.

Trina's voice breaks through my subconscious loud and clear. She'd spoken these words to me last night as I wallowed in my shit. They hurt at the time, but now the wisdom packed into them give me pause.

Suddenly, my decision is easy. No longer a debate, I pull out of the parking lot and make my way home.

*****************

THE PAST - March through July 2010

After that unexpected sexual bout with my wife, I was looking forward to more wonderful adventures. Unfortunately, things returned to the humdrum way that they were before that. Naomi continued to work out with Jerry and was still getting results, but the fire of that day hadn't resurfaced. Sure we had sex occasionally, but it wasn't how it had been. Naomi rarely (okay, pretty much never) initiated, and the Olympian performances of our "pre Henry" days were a distant memory (that amazing day with the lingerie being the notable exception).

Since I knew that the ignition source for that explosion of sexual desire was the lust of an admirer, I tried to use that to spark something similar. I asked her if anybody else hit on her lately. She laughed and said that Jerry pretty much scared the shit out of that guy, and therefore set an example. Men went out of their way to stay clear of her, even when Jerry wasn't there. She didn't sound disappointed by this, but there was a certain lack luster way that she spoke about it that made me sad.

I wanted my wife back. I hadn't totally realized that anything was missing in our marriage until she attacked me that day. After that, I yearned for a return to that. I mean, I knew that our situation wasn't the same as it had been before Henry, but we all live life gradually and learn new realities without knowing that we did. Then, something happens and we realize that things had changed without our noticing. That had happened to me. To us.

The key to getting her back to that was to make her feel sexy again. The old Naomi was confident in herself. Remember, I told you that she was sexy and she knew it. Her knowing it was very important to her being sexy. It was a symbiotic relationship of sorts. She knew that men wanted her and that affected how she acted. She never really sought out attention from guys, but she knew that she would get it nonetheless. It became one of those things that just happened because she was so sexy. Now, she used that as a barometer to how sexy she was.

So I set out in my campaign to make my wife feel sexy. I started groping her whenever I passed her. She was shocked at first and didn't know how to handle it. A few times she even asked me if I was feeling okay.

"I just can't keep my hands off of my wife's sexy new body!"

You know what? It worked! She began to get into the flow of it. She would bend down a few seconds longer when she was looking for something in the fridge, or stick her chest out a little bit further when she was reaching over my head to get something. There were times when we did everything short of drugging Henry to get him to bed early so that we could ravish each other.

Things went on like that, and life at home was fun once again. But we all know that good things cannot last. I started to notice that she was falling into her funk again. My gropes started to irritate her and no longer turned her on. We still had sex, but the wild sex that I'd grown to enjoy started to become sparse.

One night when we were laying down in bed I looked over at her reading a book. My eyes scanned her like they did every night and I admired her. Her legs were getting some tone in them, and her waist was looking really trim. I noticed some definition in her arms. She was really hot! But when I got to her face, all I saw was sadness.

"Sweetie, can I ask you something?"

She looked at me and laid her book down on her lap. "Sure honey."

"Are you happy?"

She looked confused for a second and asked, "Why do you ask that? Of course I am."

"It doesn't seem like it."

Now she put her book off to the side and scooted down on the bed until she was face to face with me.

"Why do you say that Josh? "

"I don't know Na. You just seem so far away from me. Ever since Henry was born you just don't seem like the happy fun loving Naomi that I married."

For some reason this put her on the defensive. On a side note, in the book of things not to say to somebody who has had a baby 15 months prior, please include this.

"Of course not Josh. The Naomi that you married didn't have a kid with her all day. The Naomi that you knew had a job and people to interact with. Of course she was 'fun loving'."

Now it was my turn to get defensive. "So it's my fault? Is that what you're saying?"

Her face softened and she rubbed my arm. "No sweetie. It isn't anyone's fault. It's just life." She kissed me on the cheek to reassure me and rolled over to get some sleep, but my mind was moving. My wife was unhappy, and I couldn't stand it. Worse still, there was nothing I could do to help her.

After a few minutes of silence, I said, "Why don't you go back to work?"

"Huh?"

"You say that you were happier when you were working and didn't have to take care of a kid all day. What if you went back to work?"

Now she rolled over to face me again. "Who would watch Henry?" I noticed that she didn't reject the idea.

"I'm sure we can find a baby sitter. My mother is always complaining that she doesn't see him enough. If we put our minds to it I'm sure that we could figure something out."

She seemed to perk up a bit. "I haven't worked in a year and a half Josh. Who would hire me?"

"You aren't going to find out until you start looking."

We talked for hours about how we would go about this. The more excited she became, the happier I became. By the time we dozed off, it was a forgone conclusion that we'd begun "Operation Get Naomi a Job".

Over the next few weeks Naomi was on a mission. She'd updated her resume and talked to several headhunters. There was a little disappointment when she asked her old job if they had any openings and they told her no, but she was not to be denied. A minor bump in the road.

Before my eyes, I saw the spark returning. I knew I made the right suggestion when I watched how she glowed. She didn't even have a job at this time and she was practically floating. This vibrancy hadn't translated to the bedroom yet, but that was okay for now. I knew that the uninhibited Naomi of the past was just brimming beneath the surface. I just had to be patient and wait for her to emerge.

In our initial exuberance, we overlooked the fact that the economy was still reeling from the great recession and jobs were hardly abundant. The reality of our country's crisis became a real thing to us.

Frustration started to set in a couple of months later when she was still unemployed. She'd been on 4 interviews by then, one of them coming down between her and another woman. When they chose her instead of Naomi I came home to an irritable wife who all but bit my head off at the slightest word. She apologized later, but I was beginning to worry.

Her workouts continued, and by now she had a body that easily rivaled Mel's (don't tell her I said that). I was in a constant state of horniness whenever I saw the slightest bit of skin on her fabulous body. We were having some sex, but it was uninspired. She hardly ever had a big orgasm. It wasn't like she was a cold fish. She responded to me and I could see that she enjoyed our time together, but she never had any of the body convulsing explosions that she used to have. They were the kind where she would clinch up and moan, but hardly ever make any sounds in the decibel range that she used to.

When I asked her about it, she would let me know that she enjoyed our sex just fine. We weren't those two young uninhibited people anymore. People grow up and relationships evolve. The important thing was that we were together and loved each other. All of the other stuff was superfluous.

No matter what she said, I was not comforted. In fact, this broke my heart even more. It was like she'd given up. She didn't even act like she missed it. I think that Naomi was in a form of denial.

My sister got the idea that Jerry should talk to the people at the gym to see if they needed a female trainer. I gave him some before and after pictures of Naomi to show. Once they saw her transformation, they were practically begging her.

She would be working on the days that Jerry did not. This would end their time working out together, but he'd stop being her trainer long ago. They enjoyed their time together, as they'd gotten to be friends.

The first few weeks she worked, nothing changed. She was happier and more vibrant, but in the bedroom things remained the same. That is until the day she called me at work and told me to hurry home. Déjà vu.

She didn't even bother with the lingerie this time. That just saved us some money and made it easier for us to get started, though my clothes seemed to be fastened a bit too securely. Once again, we tried to fuck each other into unconsciousness. When we were done, we were nothing more than a pile of sweaty flesh.

"Who hit on you today?"

The question just came out. Surprisingly though, I wasn't even jealous. It was more curiosity than anything. She seemed hesitant at first, but when she saw that I wasn't angry she opened up and told me about a client. She'd been helping him for a couple of weeks and he was grateful. She said that he was very sweet when he asked her out to get some coffee "just to thank her" so she was equally sweet when she turned him down.

This was actually the day of conception for "The Game".

********************************

THE PRESENT - September 2015

The engine idles softly like a purring kitten as I sit in my driveway. The trip from the parking lot at work to the doorstep of my house takes 20 minutes without traffic. Seems like a relatively small timeframe, yet it was enough time for my mind to tell me why going to my sister's house to hide out for a couple more days was a viable option.

The problem is not that I'm afraid of Naomi. I'm actually more scared of what I will say or do. I don't want to face the situation that we were in. I don't want to hear her explain it to me. Naomi is a very honest person. If she tells me something, I don't have to wonder what she really means.

If she were a liar or generally an evil bitch, confronting her would have been easy. Hell, she'd already be packed and moved out. The problem I have is that she isn't evil. She isn't a liar. She is one of the most loving people I know. Sure, she can be selfish at times and very controlling, but she would never intentionally do anything that would hurt anybody - especially me. She doesn't say it much, but deep down I know for a fact that she loves me.

My problem is that when I talk to her, I will have to address the fact that I am not a complete innocent victim in all of this. This situation is not a case of the clueless husband versus the narcissistic wife. My time at my sister's house made me realize that we share blame in the status of our marriage.

I can hear the groans. No! It's not your fault! Why does the guy always have to blame himself in these stories? It's the bitch's fault! She cheated! Not you! You are the innocent party!

Trust me, I would love to put the blame completely on her. I so would. That's my nature, as I told you. If this were a StangStar story, I could look forward to the universe dealing out justice to the selfish clueless bitch by elevating my life and making her forever remorseful. If only.

But one thing that separates the victims from the victors is the consciousness that you always have a part to play in your destiny. You are the actor, writer, director, producer, and publisher of your story. Nothing that happens to you just happens. Somewhere down the line, at some time, there was a choice made that set your path in motion. Oh, you may have been unaware of the choice at the time. Or you could have been aware of the POTENTIAL of the danger but felt that you stood a good chance to avoid it. Either way, an act of your own doing sets you towards the consequences.

I turn the key and cut the engine. The silence that ensues lets me know that my choice to do this tonight is no longer just a plan. It's going to happen.

Okay Josh. Time to face the music.

My wife stands in the kitchen with her mouth hanging open as she watches me walk in the front door. I see her blink a few times as if she was trying to make sure that her eyes aren't lying to her. Things seem surreal at the moment.

"Daddy!" Henry's voice pierces through the tension as he sprints over to me. I often find myself amazed at times at how fast those little legs can carry him. He closes the gap between us and launches himself into my arms.

"Hey buddy!" I say as I scoop him up and kiss him. I almost have to kick myself at the thought that I've left him for an entire week with no phone call. It further bothers me that I was actually ready to go a little longer.

Some Dad I am!

Naomi slowly makes her way toward me. Her eyes are filled with both apprehension and relief.

"Hey Josh." She says, trying to sound like all is normal, but the crack in her voice betrays her. She sounds like she is ready to cry. I allow her to approach me and plant a tentative kiss on my lips. I would like to say that I did it for Henry's sake, but that's not being honest. It really feels good to put eyes on my wife again and touch her, no matter how much I want to hate her.

"I was just fixing Henry some dinner. Are you eating with us?"

Her body language is very timid and unsure. The fact that she asked me if I was eating there let me know that she is aware of the fragility of our relationship. That never even used to be a question.