I am successful in businessman, and married to a wonderful wife. We are both very much in love, and always been very close, but somehow there was always something missing..
Like many men, I had always had a fantasy of watching my wife making love with another man. I know most people think of that type guy as a weak, but I would be considered anything but a whimp. I'd be thought of as masculine and I am a strong contender in the business arena. I've just always been extremely turned on by that thought of my wife being a bad girl.
Karin has always enjoyed being a sexy woman, but like most cases, she would never consent to it, leaving me with my fantasies and ever-growing imagination of what it would be like.
Penthouse Magazine says, the number one fantasy of men today, above all others, is that of watching another man make love to his wife. It was nice to find out I wasn't alone, but I really did want it to become a reality.
My wife's reasons were the classic. She felt that in reality I would never be able to handle it, especially if she enjoyed it, and that our marriage and lives would be ruined if she did.
This only made me expound more to her on how much it would turn me on, and how 'the more she enjoyed it', 'the more that I would love it'.
I knew that large cocks turned her on, so I shared in detail fantasies about them and how I'd like to watch her loving on them. I was hoping that it would stir something in her and make her want to play my erotic game.
I told her how I would love to watch a big cock sliding in and out of her pussy and how I would love to look into her eyes as she licked and sucked it.
When I talked to her like that, she would always get extremely wet, sucking and fucking me wildly. She admitted that the idea turned her on, but she would never consider it.
If she did, she said it would have to be with someone she picked and was turned on to, but that it was a mute point anyway. It would never happen.
My wife is a nice looking and even though she has always kept her pussy neatly trimmed back, she would never shave it for me, not even around the lips. "Too much trouble." She would say, knowing how much shaved pussies turned me on.
Over the last few years' sex had become rare and boring. I was the type that desperately needed an exciting, creative sex life. I longed for it, but eventually I began to loose interest in her sexually because of what I call our, 'mutual missionary style masturbation' and all went stale.
We both used to like to experiment in the bedroom.
Being submissive sexually is what turned her on the most, but on occasion, because we loved to be creative, teasing me and taking control would turn her on. What was about to happen in our lives was going to rekindle the flame and give her the best of both worlds.
She would become the submissive pet of another man, while teasing me, and making me love it.
The first change I noticed in her was soon after she and her new found friend from work, Tonya, went to a bachelorett party. I had seen her and her husband working out recently at the same gym where Karin and I go. They were a nice looking couple.
She and Tonya went to a bachelorete party with a group of girlfriends. She had told me that one of the girls was going to hire a couple of male strippers to come by the party.
I felt that she had let that slip-out, just to stimulate my imagination, which of course it did. All night I imagined the most decadent scenarios, (which were sure not to actually happen, but if was fun letting my fantasies play).
When she came in late that night she immediately climbed into bed, pulling back the sheet and wrapped one hand around my cock and with the other softly cupped my balls. She began licking up and down my shaft and nibbling on the underside of the head causing it to immediately get nice and puffy for her.
She licked up and down teasing it then enveloped the head into her warm mouth. My hips began to come up to meet her as she let it fuck her mouth.
She slapped her cheeks with it a few times and rubbed it all over her lips and cheeks and back into her mouth again.
"Sorry to wake you dear…but I need some cock." She whispered.
Then climbing on top of me, she took my cock and rubbed the head against her slippery clit, masturbating herself with it and working it inside her extremely ready and slick pussy. Her warmth wrapped around me as I strained to hold back from filling her with cum on the spot.
She put her hands on my chest and raising her hips up and down as she fucked and kissed me like she hadn't done in years. It was wonderful! Where had this woman been?
"You need to start giving your wife more cock." She said, as she seduced me. In no time she came, bucking on top of me and digging her nails into my shoulders. Then I followed quickly filling her with my warm cum. It was quick for both of us, but then we both needed it so badly.
The next morning I told her that I wanted her to start going to more parties like that. She told me a little about the night, but was hesitant to tell me too much about it. They had all met for drinks around 4PM, then the party moved to the house of one of the girls.
She said they were all sworn to secrecy about the strippers, but she admitted that it was very sexy having two nude men standing there, with their cocks swaying in front of her.
I asked how they looked.
"The men or their cocks?" She said with a giggle. "They looked great, the men looked like you would expect, gorgeous, and their cocks looked…better than I'd expected."
I asked her if it turned her on having them right there, nude in front of her and if any of the girls touched them.
She took a sip of her coffee and thought. "I couldn't help but get excited. I'd never seen two men naked at the same time before, especially ones that looked like that and with their cocks just inches of my face."
"You aren't upset are you? It was just an innocent girls night." She looked at me smiling.
I assured her that I wasn't and asked. "Did anything happen?"
"Wellllll… Well, I will tell you this." She said. "I was going to the bathroom, after they had been there sometime and heard something from a bedroom that I passed. I noticed the door cracked so I peaked in."
"What did you see?" I asked.
She hesitated again, choosing whether or not she should tell me. "I saw one of the girls straddle one of the guys as he lay there. She was fucking him right there on the floor. As her ass would rise up and down I could see his shinny cock sliding in and out of her."
"I couldn't help but look. I had never in my life seen two people having sex right there in front of me, but then I panicked and raced on to the bath. I was afraid I'd get caught. When I came back by the door was closed.
"Did anything else happen?" I pressed.
"Well, later after he had long returned to the main room I noticed that the other guy was missing from the crowd, so I went searching through the house, to see if I could find what he was doing. I finally came upon a door where I heard giggles. I slowly cracked it open and through the mirror inside, I could see two of the girls sharing the guys' cock, feeding it to each other. They were licking and sucking on it like a dessert. I stayed glued. They continued licking him as he came, kissing each other and licking his cock as he did. I've never seen anything that lusty in my life." She said.
"I thought I knew these girls!" She said. "I would have never suspected that they would do something like that behind closed doors."
"Who was it?" I asked.
"I can't tell you that! It's private and privileged information. I will say, that I was not one of the lucky ones. Though it was very ah…very stimulating to watch". She said with a smile. "I couldn't take my eyes off of them. I felt so naive."
Karin began being a little friskier in bed, wearing sexier cloths etc. I felt it had to do with her friend Tonya's liberal take on things and that night at the party.
The Agreement
Chapter 2
She was never the same after that night. Things were different with me too. My fantasies had been given a new energy. I loved that she had been there and seen all that, and most of all that it had turned her on. We began talking nastier to each other during sex and enjoying it more.
One night she had me dance for her in the bedroom, and while I did, she crawled up to me on all fours and began licking and sucking on my cock. She tugged on it like a puppy nursing a tit. I couldn't help but think, that she was doing to me, what she had wanted to do to the dancers that night of the party.
She and Tonya became very good friends. She and Tonya began going out for 'girls night out' every other Wed. night.
Then a few weeks later, one morning after she'd been out with Tonya the night before, she asked me if I would meet her after work. "Let's meet for a few drinks at the Martini Club." She said.
We'd not been out for drinks in ages.
I had been there once, with an out-of-town client. It is a classy, moody, downtown martini bar, mahogany walls and such. Bar on one side, restaurant on the other.
I was there ahead of her, waiting in an out-of-the-way booth, private and secluded. She walked in looking great, dressed uncharacteristically in a black sexy dress and sunglasses. I stood up. We hugged. I complemented her on looking extraordinary and she complemented me on my new shirt.
We had a few drinks and were having a nice, relaxed, romantic time. She was nervously going through her drinks like a weed eater, especially since neither of us really drank that much these days.
Then after she found her courage she 'out of the blue', looked me in the eye and said. "Tom, I have a proposal for you."
I sat my drink down. She slid her hands over mine. I had no idea what was on her mind. I quickly found out, as she mustered her courage and fumbled right to the point.
"I want to give you something!" She said.
I looked at her sexy eyes as she spoke, trying to see what was going on.
"What?" I asked.
"What is your favorite fantasy?" She asked. "You know! The one that you have tried to get me to do for years?"
I knew, but for some reason didn't want to say. I'd been let down too many times.
"Now come on!" She said, lifting one eyebrow. "We know what you have always wanted me to do. Now tell me what your biggest fantasy is."
Slowly it came out. "For you to have sex with another man?" I dug it from the deepest part of my throat.
She leaned forward, smiling. The drinks had given her a nice buzz. "Do you still want me to suck on another cock for you, and maybe let you watch?
In one giant beat, my heart felt it had leapt out of my chest. It was beating so hard; I felt she could hear it. Her words caught me completely off guard!
She never talked like this, never teased me like this and especially about this subject. And she sounded serious. I was so excited and turned on to hear it that I couldn't quite speak. At the same, completely terrified instant, I was in total fear from this drastic change in my wife. Had she found a lover? Was I about to loose her?
I went from a light happy husband having fun with my wife, instantly to a turned on, complete, bundle of nerves.
"Just tell me, 'Yes' or 'No'. Do you still want it?" She asked.
What was going on here? I didn't know how to answer. My heart was still pounding as her 'out of nowhere' question waited for the answer. She looked into my eyes for my reply.
"Yes." I said from the reflex of wanting it for so long.
"Would you be jealous if I enjoyed it?" She asked.
"Yes. Probably." I said.
"If it makes you jealous would you want me to stop?" She asked.
"No." I said. "I would want you to enjoy yourself." I heard myself say.
"You would want me to enjoy myself and make you jealous then, no matter what?" Is that what you're saying?" She asked.
I looked at her, feeling a little embarrassed to answer. I held my drink in both hands. "Yea, that is what would excite me most, you enjoying it, no matter what."
"And you think you could handle it?" She asked.
"Oh yea, I think I could."
"Goooood! But you'd better know you could." She said lifting my hand to her lips and kissing it lovingly. "That would make it easier for me to give you what you want. And I do want to give you your fantasy!" I knew she could see the flushness in my face as she said it.
"You do?" I asked sheepishly in shock. "But…"
"But nothing!" She said. "There is one thing though. We have to go by the rules."
"Rules?" I asked.
She turned and opened her purse, fumbling as she pulled out some paper.
"The only way this can work," She said. "is if you agree to the rules". She said with a taunting smile.
She already had this planned out. She pushed the page to my side of the table. I finished my drink with a strong sip and held up two fingers to our waiter. I needed a refill and quickly.
"Read them over and tell me your decision." She said.
"Once you make your choice, there is no reversing it. If you decide that you don't want me to do this, then you will have to promise me, you will never, ever ask me to fulfill this fantasy of yours again."
"If you do want me to, you will have to sign the agreement and understand that the rules are solid. If you ever break one or complain, or make me think that in any way what-so-ever, that you can not handle me enjoying myself, it will be very simple; we will stop and go back to our less adventurous life, never to return, not even once.
All or nothing, is the only way I can do this. Do you understand?" She asked nervously smiling, but looking me straight in the eyes. "The last thing I would want, would be for this to harm our relationship. I only want it to make it better for both of us." She said.
"I understand!" I said feeling myself shaking with anticipation and in fear of what my long desired fantasy was now reaping me.
The waiter returned with our drinks and left. I took the papers and tried to not let Karin see it shake in my hand as I began to read her rules.
The agreement below is absolute and unwavering.
To my husband:
You know that I had too few years as a single girl and that I have always been a good girl, while my bad girlfriends seemed to have all the fun. I now want to experience the freedom they have. I've always wanted to express my wild side but was afraid of what you and other people would think.
For the next three months I want to enjoy the freedom of being the sexy woman I've wanted to be, and fulfill your fantasy as I do, but if I do you must agree to the following:
You must understand that I will test you and make you prove that you can handle your 'fantasies come true'.
You must understand that you must pass each test or your fantasy will end abruptly.
You must give me permission to have sex with whomever I want and in front of you, without limitation.
If I make love in front of you, you will say nothing about it and will be a prefect host to my friends.
I will never hold back, even if I think it is making you jealous.
I can stay out whenever I want to.
I'll reassure you often by telling you about my adventures, and you must listen eagerly.
You can date no one and will stay home when I'm out.
You will do anything that my lovers ask, or tell you to do
You must understand that if for any reason what-so-ever I feel you can not handle this, I will void this agreement, and you must promise to never ask me to do anything like this again.
I agree to all of the above and anything that you may want to add later to the list. Your loving husband.
"I know this seems much more extreme than you would have expected," She said. "But for this to work in reality, I have to know up front what I can and can't do. It would be devastating if you suddenly stopped me while making love to someone.
It'll take a lot of discipline on your part." She said. "I want to be sure you can handle it, so you'll have to prove yourself to me."
"If you pass my tests then we will continue. If you don't pass any of my tests…well, you probably wouldn't have been able to handle what came next anyway.
I had not counted on this cuckold attitude from her. This was such a definite attitude from her, though her talking to me like this, her being in control her sex like this, was turning me on.
"Are we in agreement?" She asked. "Or do you want to just keep it all a fantasy?"
"May I think about it overnight?" I asked.
"No! I need to know right now! By tomorrow I may change my mind." She said.
The room seemed to be in a whirl. I looked at her. "It is now or never!" She said. I looked at the list, my cock was hard in my pants.
I took the pen, looked up at her and signed it, sliding it back across the table to her.
"Is this turning you on as much as me?" I asked.
Looking at me, she lowered one hand below the table and very sensuously slipped it between her legs. When it returned, her index finger was glazed with her sexy juices.
"I almost feel like it's my idea. I guess I should sign our agreement too, shouldn't I?" She said, pressing her finger to the contract, leaving a damp imprint of her finger next to my signature
"Does that answer your question?" She asked.
Then she raised her finger to my lips for me to lick clean.
As she pulled it out across my lips I said. "I think I need a shot! Want to do a shot with me?" I asked.
"Sort of a shot to toast our agreement?" She asked.
She smiled. "I think I'd like 'Sex on the Beach'!" She said with a giggle. "Tonya told me that I was going to love this."
Dinner and a Dance
Chapter 3
We stayed and had a nice romantic dinner. I asked her what had brought on this change of mind.
I found out later that she and Tonya had become very close, sharing very private matters. Tonya's husband was much like me, and while living in Colorado he had wanted her to make love to his best friend. She was like Karin and was not for it, at all.
Then, one unplanned night, she ended up in bed, between her husband and his friend, and she found out that she loved it.
Karin said. "Tonya said she loved having two cocks competing for her attention and trying to out please the other.
"Tonya thinks most of us wives have had it all wrong." Karin said. "Our husbands want us to be sexy. Our husbands want us to be kinky. You want us to enjoy sex, sometimes with another man or maybe another woman."
"She said the nastier she gets in front of her husband, the more he likes it and the sweeter he treats her. She thinks he is like a lot of men, that he is a latent cuckold. So now she plays with his mind a lot, teasing him about other cocks she wants. She thinks you may be the same way and that I should play with you a little." She said.
"Like Tonya says; 'we women love sex too. A lot of us just don't admit it. So, why not, especially if we can do in right in front of our husbands an don't have to cheat'."
Tonya didn't seem anything like that at all. She was cute, and seemed conservative on the outside. You would never guess that was going on in her mind. 'Lucky husband', I thought.
After dinner I suggested that we do something to seal the night.
She loved to dance more than anything and there was a trendy new dance club a few doors down the street and so I challenged her to show me she was serious: a first act of her new womanhood
In the preface to his novel "the Adventures of Huckleberry Fin", Mark Twain wrote the following:
"Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot."
Mythology tells the story of the Phoenix; a powerful bird that at certain intervals will build a nest and sit in it as it is consumed by flames. Out of the ashes the Phoenix is reborn to once again grow in strength and wisdom. Sometimes in life, the thing that kills and destroys us is the very thing that is life's greatest blessing.
My name is Robert O'Conner. My family calls me Bobby but the rest of the world knows me as Robert. Immediately after graduating from college I was recruited by Willis, Goldman & Reed and assigned to the Chicago office. There were eleven new hires that started on the same day and that is when I met Barbara. We were given desks next to each other and as the new kids on the block we sought safety in numbers in defense against the veterans. The rookies started having coffee together at the break and then meeting over lunch to commiserate or cheer each other on as we all tried to integrate ourselves in the corporate world. After several months the group began to dwindle until there was just Barbara and myself.
Barbara was gorgeous. The kind of physical beauty that could make a dead man stand up and dance. After we got to know each other she admitted that she had been featured in one of those photo spreads that Playboy magazine occasionally runs, "Sorority Girls of New England Colleges." I immediately went out and found a copy of that issue and kept it in the drawer of my nightstand. Every guy in the office tried to date her but she rebuffed them all.
She had long thick red hair, a mass of curls that hung below the middle of her back, and dark green eyes. Her skin was flawless and she used very little makeup, she didn't need to. Even without lipstick her lips were a deep red. She stood six feet tall in her stocking feet, an inch above my own five-eleven.
Most of the time she wore slacks to the office but on those occasions when she wore a skirt the male employees were treated to the blinding vision of her perfectly formed long legs. Her breasts were neither large nor small, just the right size and shape. Every thing about her body was in perfect proportion. Each movement she made was a symphony of sensuality, from walking across the office to get something from the filing cabinet down to the simple act of putting a paper clip on a piece of paper.
As for myself, I am not a Golden Adonis nor am I the elephant man. A girlfriend in college once described me as being "six points above average." I have been told by several women that my best features are my blue eyes and my smile. One of my few regrets in life is not being able to reach six feet like my two brothers. If genetics hold true, by the time I reach fifty I will be thirty pounds heavier than the day I graduated from high school...with absolutely no hope of ever losing them.
I am not the life of the party but can hold up my end of a conversation and do reasonably well at telling a joke. For all of her beauty Barbara is fairly quiet but not shy, she was the center of attention no matter what the setting. Without even speaking she would have men gathered around her, just waiting for the pleasure of her smiling in their direction. You don't realize how intelligent she is until you have been around her for a while. I could never figure out how we ended up connecting.
From having coffee and lunches at work we progressed to catching a movie after work and then on to dinner and drinks Friday nights. From there it was Friday and Saturday nights and then several nights during the week. Six months after our first official date we were married.
Life was good. We were madly in love with each other. By working in the same office we could go to and leave work together. We had our own little universe that had little room in it for other people. The daily sex was fantastic and together we learned new ticks and moves that made it more intense as we went along.
Several years after we were married, corporate headquarters sent in a new manager for my unit. Derrick Andrews was a tall muscular black man with his head shaved smooth and an arrogant look in his eyes. He was smooth with the women and a real bastard to the men in the office. Gradually I found more and more of the workload being put on my desk as I struggled to get it all done. Instead of coming to work with Barbara, I increasingly had to go in early and stay late, not getting home until eight or nine most nights plus having to go in to the office on Saturdays. It became obvious that Andrews was trying to force me to quit the company.
During this time the only thing that kept me going was Barbara. Every night she would sooth my battered ego and take away all the stress. During the day she would call my desk just to say, "hi" or come by my desk with a cookie or slice of somebody's birthday cake. I had just about reached my breaking point when Barbara gave me the news. She was pregnant.
All thoughts of quitting immediately flew out the window. There was nothing that Derrick could do to me that I couldn't endure. The joy of knowing that I was to be a father took care of every thing. The sex on the night she told me was one of the greatest experiences of my life up to that point.
I had heard the stories from the other guys in the office about how horny their wives got during pregnancy. At first it was true and the sex was almost non-stop at home. But as the due date got closer Barbara seemed to run hot and cold. One night she would literally jump me and tear my clothes off as I walked through the door. The next night she would be cold and distant. During the last few weeks she had completely withdrawn and would flinch whenever I tried to touch her.
At last the day came. Her water broke on Sunday morning and we rushed to the hospital. By the afternoon we were in the delivery room with the doctor telling her when to push. Finally there was one last push and the baby came out of the birth canal. The doctor immediately looked up at me and then over to Barbara. The room was oddly silent. Without saying a word the nurse placed the baby on Barbara's chest.
The baby's skin was back as coal.
I stood there, stunned, looking at the baby. Barbara's face had a horrified look. It seemed as though everything was happening in slow motion. I backed away from the delivery table, then turned and walked out of the room. As the doors closed I could hear Barbara screaming, "Robert come back here."
I made it as far as the parking lot before I stopped to throw up in the bushes. In a daze I was somehow able to find the car and take off. I drove around aimlessly for a while and then headed home. For the next several hours I paced back and forth trying to make sense out of what just happened.
I wrestled with my emotions for hours. Had I made a mistake, could I be wrong? Did I misunderstand about the baby? Had I misjudged Barbara? Where do we go from here? What possible explanation could there be? Had I done something to cause her to be disloyal? What signs of her cheating could I have missed? Was there more than one man she had cheated with? Could the marriage be saved, or was there any thing left to save? It always came back to one simple fact.
There is no way in hell that two people of Irish descent could produce a black baby.
After my third trip to the toilet to vomit I lost any sense of self-control and completely destroyed the bathroom. Barbara, my reason for living, had betrayed me. The emotional pain of her obvious infidelity became a physical pain as well. After all the years of what I thought were love and devotion for each other, Barbara had been unfaithful and bore a child fathered by another man.
We all make choices about where our lives will go. It was very clear that Barbara's choice did not include me; she had not honored the wedding vows we made to each other.
The phone had been ringing constantly since I returned to the house. The first time I let the answering machine pick up and heard Barbara's voice demanding that I return to the hospital so we could talk. She called five more times in the next hour, each message becoming less demanding until the final one when she was crying and begging me to come to her.
I couldn't take it any more and unplugged the phone so I wouldn't have to hear it. I went to the garage and came back with a hammer. I placed the telephone on the kitchen counter and left it in a thousand pieces before throwing the hammer through the closed window above the sink. By now the rage had subsided enough that I was able to put together some coherent thoughts.
In situations like this it is surprising how quickly material things become meaningless to your life. Over the next several hours I gathered up the few things that I now valued and piled them in the middle of the living room floor. Everything fit into three cardboard boxes that I found in the garage and I loaded them into my car. I threw all of my clothes into the car without bothering to pack them into suitcases. I put the empty suitcases in the car planing to pack them later. I had to get out of that house that held so many memories of Barbara's and my life together.
The last thing I did was to go to the garage and come back with another hammer and nail. I went into the bedroom one last time and looked around. I took off my wedding ring and nailed it to the wooden headboard. I heaved the hammer through the mirror over the dresser and left. By 11:30 that night I pulled out of the driveway and went in search of a hotel.
I got no sleep that night and in the morning I called my secretary, Mrs. Lopez, to tell her that I would not be in that day. Mrs. Lopez asked how Barbara was doing and I quietly hung up the phone with out answering. I spent the entire day inside the hotel room trying to get control of my thoughts and emotions.
The next morning I knew I would go crazy if I stayed there any longer, and not knowing what else to do, I went into the office. I was standing outside my office door trying to focus on what Mrs. Lopez trying to tell me when Derrick Andrews walked up.
"It's about time you showed up for work O'Conner. I'm getting tired of your work habits lately. The only reason I don't fire your ass is because I need to keep you employed so you can raise that little bastard of mine."
Mrs. Lopez and I both stared at him with our mouths open. With a smirk Andrews continued.
"Didn't know about that did you. I've been fucking your wife non-stop for the last two years. Your wife is one sweet pussy."
I am not a violent man and I don't actually remember hitting him, but I watched as Andrews flew backward knocking over several chairs before bouncing off of John Gordon and sliding to the floor. Blood was flowing out of his nose leaving a large red stain on Gordon's shoes. Mr. Gordon was a corporate vice president and head of the Chicago office. It was rumored that he was first in line to become the next CEO. When Andrews tried to get up from the floor I kicked him in the ribs three times as hard as possible. After the third time he remained on the floor curled up into a ball. I spun around and walked past the other people in the room that were cowering wide-eyed in the corner and left.
Outside I walked away from the building. My hand was really starting to hurt so I stopped at a deli and bought a large cup of ice to stick it into. I kept walking until I came to a bench that overlooked Lake Michigan and just sat, staring out at nothing. In the space of three days my life had turned to complete shit. I was twenty-seven years old and had been betrayed by my lover, my marriage of four years was in ruins, I was out of a job and was probably going to be arrested for assault. I am normally a laid back type of person, but today I had turned in to some kind of homicidal maniac. As I sat there, words like love, betrayal, cheating, dishonesty, commitment, infidelity, deceit, unfaithful kept floating around, racing in and out of my thoughts. Eventually I noticed that it was getting dark so I returned to my hotel room.
At 9:30 that night I was wrapping my hand in a fresh batch ice when someone knocked on the door. I opened the door and was surprised to see John Gordon.
"Good evening Robert, you're a hard person to find."
I only stared at him in confusion.
"Do you mind if I come in? What I have to say may take a while."
"Sure, why not." I stepped back to let him in. "Look, Mr. Gordon, I won't apologize for what happed this morning, but if you don't mind there are a few personal items in my office...excuse me, my former office that I would like to get."
"Ah yes, this morning. You certainly have an interesting way to start your Tuesdays." I opened my mouth to speak when he raised his hand to stop me. "Please don't interrupt me just yet. I need to say this and get on my way before my wife reports me as a missing person. First off I want to assure you that you are not fired. In fact, I am very grateful for what you did this morning. Derrick Andrews is a shithead and I've hated him from the moment he walked into our office. But he was sent by headquarters so my hands were tied."
"After you left, Mrs. Lopez grabbed me and pulled me into your office and started yelling in Spanish. At first I didn't understand much of what she was saying, but gist of it was 'you have to fix this.' I thought she was mad at you but she wasn't, it was Andrews. She told me about the things he had done to you in the office over the last two years...and about your wife." At that point he paused and looked around the room before continuing.
"By eleven o'clock this morning, Mrs. Lopez had seven women lined up outside my office telling me that they were going to file sexual harassment charges against Andrews and the company. I spent most of the afternoon on the phone with the legal department in New York. The upshot is that the women are not going to file a complaint against the company, but in return our legal depart will represent the ladies in court when they do file against Andrews personally."
"I have done nothing today except try to put out the fires that you and Andrews started. I interviewed every single person in your unit and they all confirmed what Mrs. Lopez told me. You may not be aware of it but you are the most respected person in that building. Within twenty minutes after you left the entire unit was writing their letters of resignation. Andrews has completely destroyed the morale of that unit and most of the people only stayed out of loyalty to you. Fortunately the staff has agreed to hold their resignations until I get a chance to sort everything out."
"You have several options to think about here. If you want to come back to the office, you will be coming back in Andrews' position as manager. If that is too much for you right now, I know several CEOs around the country who will hire you at a moment's notice on my recommendation...or here in Chicago if you want to work on your marriage." Again he paused for a moment.
"There is a third option I would like you to consider. You are too valuable an employee for the company to lose. I understand that you're originally from California. I can arrange for you to be transferred to our San Miguel office in California...at times like this it helps to be around family."
The minute he said San Miguel I knew my answer. I opened my mouth but before I could speak he stopped me again.
"I don't want an answer tonight, I want you to sleep on it, although it doesn't look as though you've been doing very much of that the last couple of days." He handed me a small card with a telephone number on it. "This is my private line, call me at 9 AM tomorrow." With that he headed for the door. He opened it and turned around with small grin on his face. "Just so you know, the score was one broken nose and three cracked ribs. I made certain that assault charges will not be filed against you. Here's the good news. When Andrews gets out of the hospital, he is going to explain to the district attorney how a man on his salary is able to pay cash for a Mercedes-Benz." His grin got bigger and then he left.
The news about San Miguel was the only good thing I had heard in the last few days. I was born and raised in Santa Teresa, about one hours' drive south of San Miguel. My mother and two brothers still lived there but that was not the good part. My best friend in the world lives in San Miguel. Colleen has always been the most important person in my life, from childhood and on to our "grown-up" lives. We share everything. I was the best man at her wedding and she was a bridesmaid at mine. There was nothing that we would not do for each other.
Colleen is also my sister.
There are four of us. Colleen is the oldest and three years older than me. In between are James and Michael, the twins. We all love each other but as children the natural paring was always Jimmy & Mikey against Colleen & Bobby in all the games we played. That same bond just continued as we grew up.
Colleen taught me how to tie my shoes and held my hand crossing the street. She sat behind me when we went down the giant slide and let me hide in her bed under the covers when the monsters in my closet were ready to come and get me.
When we were in high school, she watched out for me and kept me from doing anything stupid that would end up branding me as a hopeless dork for the next four years. Colleen gave me the best birthday present any fifteen-year boy could possibly imagine. She convinced her best friend on the cheerleading squad to take me to the Senior Class Christmas Ball as her date. I was the hero of every male in the freshmen class. Afterwards Cindy would wink and wave to me in the hallway and I became a living legend.
Colleen had married Bill after college and moved to San Miguel so he could open his business. They soon had two daughters and everything looked bright. Bill became an extension of Colleen for me and there was nothing I wouldn't do for him. But then Colleen's world fell apart.
Bill was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of cancer. After five months of agonizing pain, Bill died at home in Colleen's arms. Two months later our father suffered a massive heart attack and died instantly. The strain was almost too much for Colleen but somehow she survived, became stronger and kept herself involved in her daughters. Even though we talked on the phone at least weekly, if not daily, I had not seen Colleen since Dad's funeral two years ago. I was excited at the prospect of living in the same town with her.
Surprisingly, I did get some sleep and after a shower in the morning felt almost human again. That was the physical part. On the inside, I could feel my soul, my spirit, whatever you want to call it, starting to shrivel up and die. At 9 AM I called Gordon and told him my decision about San Miguel.
"Excellent choice Robert. There is a Starbucks around the corner from here on 53rd and Randolph. Meet me there in one hour." And he hung up.
By the time I got there he was already sitting at a table with a box in front of him.
"I don't have much time so here is the deal. Mrs. Lopez put all of your personal things in this box. Right now, Mrs. Lopez and I are the only people that know you are going to San Miguel and it will remain that way unless you tell someone personally." He handed me a thick envelope that was sealed and stamped CONFIDENTIAL. "Harold Peterson is the head of the San Miguel office and is expecting you at 8 AM Monday morning, he loves punctuality. Give this to him when you get there." He handed me a second envelope that was not sealed and I pulled out the contents. Inside was a first class airline ticket, one way to San Miguel. The other item was a piece of paper with the name and address of a law firm a few blocks away.