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Do Not Pass Go

By: LightontheSound



There is no sex in this story.

It's cold in Minnesota during the winter especially when you're used to the mild weather of Virginia. But it's even colder when you're sleepless and alone. 

I'm just feeling sorry for myself. God knows I've got it better than most and it's ridiculous for me to feel like this. Still, I do, and even though I'm keeping it together, without the kids and my sister, I would have been ready to be locked up in a nice, white, padded cell. 

My life is full of hows. How is it a basically intelligent person can act so stupid? How did I miss so many clues? How could I go around acting like life was a fairy tale? 

It started with the girl or at least it seemed to start that way. 

Karen was pretty, but there are lots of pretty women around. It was because she was young, fun, and -- most importantly at that time -- she was into me. That might not seem like a lot to qualify her as someone to screw your life up over, but it had been a long time since I'd gotten that kind of attention.

I was a chubby hubby, not a bad looking thirty-nine-year-old but a tired one. Formerly handsome, now pudgy, though still sporting a full head of dark curly hair. Deep, dark, brown eyes and easy laugh or not, women didn't flirt with a man wearing a gold band and surrounded -- at least most of the time -- by a pack of loud and anxious children; I've gotten a few nods from housewives and pats on the head by nearsighted grandmothers, but in each case the attention was sympathy not desire. 

It wasn't a midlife crisis, just a hoping for a scrap of something different in my life -- a change from the usual schedule of carpools and teacher conferences and bagged lunches. Was it too much to ask for just one hour of flirting with a hot blonde in a slinky, red, half dress/half negligee wraparound who smelled like some exotic jasmine essence? The smell was distilled from sex and fantasy, not the reliable Chanel #5 from that liter jug-like vase on my wife's vanity. 

Of course I was tipsy and Karen acted buzzed. The bar was a trendy restaurant/bar, but because of construction that had closed down the parking garage and the street outside it was almost abandoned. Aside from the staff, three couples, a scaly looking guy in a booth and another guy who was talking to himself at the bar it was just Karen and I. 

The temptation was there, but I loved my wife. So normally it wouldn't have mattered except for the alcohol. To be honest tipsy had come and gone a couple shots ago. The whole point was not to think. But my life was still looking awfully pathetic and contemptible when the blonde bought me a drink. 

Cheating wasn't anything I wanted to do, but flirting wasn't a crime. Honestly, my goal was to come as close to cheating as possible without doing anything to screw up my life. This was the tequila at work though. That and two weeks of sexual deprivation. But kids or not, Chanel #5 or not, lackluster, irregular sex or not, it was losing my job that made Karen attractive.

When you're fucked up this bad you had three choices, sit there and whine to the bartender, kill your boss or get laid. 

My boss was a nice guy though and he had been fired just as thoroughly as I had. Also there didn't seem to be much point in talking and sex was not going to happen at home. So the rule had led me to Karen, this twenty-three-year-old, hazel-eyed temptress with fine long blonde hair that hung down past her shoulders, the kind you could twist your hands into during a slow teasing blowjob. 

My wife had short brunette hair and it was fine. Still in my fantasies this was the kind of girl I wanted. Maybe it was a fetish, but ever since I was thirteen, blondes had dominated my fantasies. Just being close to Karen brought all those fantasies bubbling to the surface. 

My downfall had been letting Karen convince me to feel how her new conditioner made her hair so soft. Once my hands were on her I didn't want to let go. Twenty years disappeared in the kiss that followed. Lost in memories of hot, meaningless high school sex, I raped Karen's mouth even as she stroked my bulge and pulled me in closer.

"Damn, that was a kiss," I said panting heavily.

Karen smiled, took a shot and leaned in to share. I waved her off still sucking wind from the kiss still tasting the tequila and the cinnamon from the breath strip she took before the last shot.

"Let's not screw this up with a lot of talk." She rubbed her fingers over my belt clasp. "So are you going to come back to my apartment and fuck me or am I going to have to rape you here?"

Her hand wormed under my waistband, fondling and fingering her way through a progression of chords that left me weak. Feeling my prick surging, she leaned in until her lips were over mine, sucking my hot breath deep inside her. 

"So, need more convincing?" Her smile lit her face with that horny, young, promiscuous look you see on the women in beer commercials. "Jeff, I don't want you to rush this, but I'm really, really horny." 

"Me too." My body was so ready. Just a minute of hard jerking would get me off. "But..." 

Karen kissed me again, her tongue flitting over my lips as she slowly jerked my cock. 

Fuck was she hot, but this was as close to cheating as it got and it was time to stop. "It's not that I don't want to. It would be great. Really great, but I'm married... not just married, very married."

Her grip got tighter as she continued to jerk my cock with slow steady strokes. "That's probably why you're wearing a wedding ring... Jeff." She laughed. "Don't freak out. At the start I was just going to tease you, but I was hooked the minute I felt this cock." She gave me a long stroke up and then rotated her hand. "Actually I prefer married men." 

It took an effort to pull back when she leaned in. Her hands drew me back in.

"Jeff, you want to do this and I want to do this. If you didn't you would have stopped me long before now. And," she whispered into my ear, "it feels like you're only kinda married now." Her fingers tickled my glans and then her hand slipped out of my pants. 

"Jeff..." she purred, drawing the name out. Her tongue snaked into my ear, swirling wetly from the tip to the center and then chewing lightly on the lobe. 

"Baby?" she whispered, startling me out of my rapture. I woke to the feeling of warmth and moisture against my hand. Looking down I saw that she had unzipped her jeans and pulled her thin pink panty to the side and stuck my fingers against her sex. My middle finger rubbed softly around her outer lips and pushed inside her. God, her pussy was so warm, so warm and wet and even at arm's length I could smell her musky arousal. She kissed my lips softly. "That's good, but I can think of two things that would feel better there."

Shaking my head wasn't easy, but pulling my hand away was torture. "It's not that I don't want to do this, but I really can't." I raised my right hand and stared at the gold band. "Sixteen years..." But as obvious as the ring was, so was the sheen of her juice on my fingertips. Without conscious thought, I raised my fingers to suck her cum off. In that second I would have been lost -- my hand two inches from my mouth, two inches from heaven and infidelity and maybe screwing up my kids life with a divorce.  

"Come on... Jeffff," Karen said drawing out the name, managing to sound both seductive and nasty at the same time. "We both know we're going to fuck. It's just a question of how hard you're going to make me work for it and if you're going to feel guilty later. It's time to let go and get your reward. Don't feel guilty, you've made it tougher than I'm used to. But now it's time to reel you in." 

It must have looked like I was about to run because that was how I felt. The flirting had been fun, but now, now it was... dangerous. 

Something in my face faded her smile fade. Stripped of that predatory smile her features looked young and vulnerable. It happened so fast I almost missed it. Afterward, her face settled into a kind of smoldering sexy. "I've seen you in here for three weeks now... The other times I was working, so it wasn't like I could do anything about it." Karen smiled. "I waitress here. God, Jeff, you would think that the way some of your friends stared at me, you might remember me a little.

"It's funny when I heard you talking to your friends I swear they were calling you Peter.

"I came in early to talk about trading shifts tomorrow before going out tonight and who do I see? It's Jeff and this time I'm going to gobble Jeff all up. How does that sound? Do you like the idea of me gobbling you all up or would you prefer me to miss a bit and see it leaking down my chin or letting you shoot it all over my body?

"This is just a moment. It doesn't have to have anything to do with your life. It's just now and in this moment I know you want to take me back to my apartment, throw me onto my bed and fuck me so hard, taking me on my bed and the floor and pushed over the sink and in the shower, taking me and making your little sex toy your little cum toy and slut and sighing, screaming, ball of orgasms. And then after a couple hours it's over. Jeff fades out of existence and Pete goes back to his wife with his battery recharged."

Looking into her eyes -- and God, how could I help not looking into those hazel eyes -- I wanted that moment she talked about. I had never been this hot and horny. And it would be amazing. I was so hard up the first load would be a geyser that would shoot down her throat in the parking lot and after that the rest of my cum would surge inside her belly or on her face and chest and finally all over that long blonde hair. It could, but it wouldn't. As quickly as I almost lost myself in that dream, it was over. It should have been thoughts of Jessie that had brought me out of it, but actually it was thinking about my kids. 

Once out of my trance, there was something about this situation that felt shallow and cold. Maybe I wasn't perfectly happy with my wife, but at least I cared for her and she cared for me. For Karen this was just a fuck buddy relationship, just a convenient guy with a cock when she wanted it. The more that I looked at her now, the more fucked up it felt. There was arrogance in her eyes... no more than that, almost contempt for me. It could be as we were having sex she would be seeing an old boyfriend, but maybe it would be her father and that creepy thought made my dick wilt. 

Horny or not, unless the kids were shot up with tranquilizer darts and wife's coffee got spiked it wasn't like I was going to get sex on a weeknight. Why couldn't I have just let myself get drunk? Drunk, the complications wouldn't have been there. I wouldn't be thinking about my children and wondering how sleeping with this girl was going to help me get a job tomorrow. After the sex all this would do is just give me something else to feel guilty about.

"Oh fuck it," I said, getting up from the bar and heading toward the door as Karen scrambled to get herself pulled together. 

It had come together. I remembered Karen now. Maybe it was how she talked about how in this moment it wouldn't be me cheating, but this alias, she was as much Karen as I was Jeff. Her name was Terry... no Theresa. I remembered her waiting on me and some officemates a few weeks back. She had been sweet and cute in maybe a nineteen-year-old way. She had been lying to me just as much as I had been lying to her. Most likely she was just horny and trying to keep her slutty self a secret to herself, but for whatever reason she did it, it didn't smell right.

Though it made sense to leave, it isn't a good time to sit around and think when you're depressed. Being 2/3 drunk and driving was probably an even worse idea, but taking a taxi home was too humiliating. Drunk was bad enough, but my family finding out about it just didn't bear imagining. 

By the time I took the exit off the highway, the booze was hitting me harder. I wanted to be home now, but I wanted to hide too. At just past 9:30 PM the neighborhood was dead. Jessie's mom, Barbara was watching the kids tonight and, knowing that white haired sanctimonious and disapproving ball of bobby pins that was my mother, I knew if I turned my phone back on there probably would be half a dozen voice mails, politely wondering why I had abandoned my kids tonight. 

If Jessy hadn't had some sort of endowment function, Barb would have been relieved at 7:30 and even then I would have gotten a couple of accusing voice mails and a long talk about how a different man -- the good, decent, imaginary man her daughter should have married -- would have acted. Despite this it felt bad leaving my mother holding the bag, but it was better to come in a little later than coming in now and having my kids see me and start throwing pennies at their drunken lush of a father. 

Jessie's meeting might even be done by now and then she would be home. And then Daddy could come home. Mr. Breadwinner, except that he had just been laid-off and except that Jessie earned more money than I had, and had much better benefits. Even though I worked a forty-five hour work week, it was nothing compared to Jessie's seventy-five to ninety hour weeks. So I was the one, along with the infrequent assist from Jessica's mother --when I couldn't find a half-dependable sixteen-year-old girl -- who took care of the kids.

I pulled the car to the curb a block and a half from home and stared down the street. If anything I started to feel worse seeing my wife's car in the driveway. Barb would be gone and Jess was waiting inside, waiting for me to come home. Except I didn't know how I could go in there until the kids went to bed. 

Twice a pair of joggers ran by and I hunched down so they could see me. Luckily the car had slightly tinted windows. After a while I fell asleep. I woke to the sounds of tires squeaking from a car which was stopped just about fifteen in front of me. If the car hadn't been a Porsche I would probably have fallen back to sleep. But I had always loved Porsches and the one parked in front of me was a sleek red dream. It was the perfect pussy bait and, judging from the action in the front seat, it looked like it had done its job. 

The couple in the car were clearly in lust; even though I could barely see them, I could tell they were fogging the windows. They kissed for a minute and then she started to make to get out of the car and then he would touch her shoulder or she would glance back and they would be kissing again. A few minutes later it was the honk of a passing car annoyed at their double parking that ended the goodbye.

Watching the woman get out of the Porsche and walk down the street was getting me turned on. Even a faithful could cheat in their fantasies and in my mind I was the guy sitting in the Porsche with the satisfied smirk. 

The woman wiggled out of the car, putting her ass on display for the driver's benefit. Looking back in token annoyance, the woman motioned for him to get going, a little shooing gesture and playful scowl. And it fucking killed me. 

The joke was that seconds before I had been depressed and guilty about almost breaking my marriage vows and the next my slut wife was putting on a performance, wiggling her ass out of her lover's car and making the gestures I knew from having been married to her for sixteen years. 

It was all like the post-coital teasing she had done when we had been dating. Seventeen years ago her flirting shimmy of adjusting her dress and the hippy strut would have been for me. Tonight, though her ass doing a private performance for her lover, probably saying you'll just have to wait until my husband goes to sleep before you fuck me again. 

My hands trembled. I wanted to explode, wanted to run her over or pull her out on the front lawn, scream WHORE so loud the neighborhood could hear, rip her clothes off so the children could see and tattoo SLUT on her forehead, on her breasts and just over her pussy so that anyone who ran into her would be able to see through the smokescreen. 

How could she? She didn't even like sex. After Tommy had been born her diminishing sex drive had almost dried up completely. So much so that most of the nights she indulged me it took lots of lubricating jelly. Most times my hand would show more gratitude as a sexual partner than my wife would.

It wasn't the chubby hubby thing either. After Tommy, Jessica had kept the weight on and it was only about five years ago when she started losing weight and I started gaining it. Shit, how many times had I gone down to the kitchen to have one of the kids pudding packs because of the frustration of night after night of frustration sleeping next to a beautiful woman. 

HOW COULD SHE? Right in front of me, I had watched sixteen years of marriage swirl down the drain without even realizing it until she had shooed off her lover. No not just the marriage, it was my life that was flushed. Fifteen hours ago if someone had shot the happily employed, family man pulling out of my driveway, I would have died a happy man. God give me a gun and a time machine and I would have killed that man. 

Right now, Jessie was kissing our kids and acting like some perfect TV sitcom mom. Actually that was about right, a sitcom lasted a half hour and that was as long as Jessie could play house. 

What was there for me now? What happened to the plan for my life that I had wrapped around me like a security blanket? It was stupid and childish, but for long minutes all I did was stare off in the distance wishing today could unhappen.

I flinched as someone began tapping on the passenger side window.

"What are you doing out here in the cold?" My mother asked as she opened the unlocked passenger door and poked her head inside.

Of course, it had to be my mother, my day couldn't be a total disaster unless she was here. "Nothing... I was just thinking about something."

"You've been out drinking, haven't you?" She took a deep breath preparing to give me a tongue lashing, only waiting for me to acknowledge her before starting in.

"Yeah Barb, I've been out drinking. Third day of a week long bender. I've got a crack pipe in the glove compartment, a couple guns under the seat and a dead hooker in the trunk. Plus a couple of empty spray paint cans from putting a fresh coat of paint over the satanic symbols I put on the church yesterday." My mother just glared, but it amazed me that she recognized that my words had been sarcastic. "Let's say that I have been drinking and then let's agree that I don't give a damn what your opinion about that is, okay?" 

My mother rubbed the AA pin prominently displayed on her collar for a second before she got in the car and closed the door. "This is about your job, isn't it? You've been fired, haven't you?" 

"No Barb this is not about my job." Fifteen minutes ago it would have been a lie, but it was true now. I laughed to myself remembering being stupid enough to confide in Barbara after coming back late from work six months ago when the rumor had started about our office being closed down. "If I need to get another job I will. Honestly, it's not the most important thing in my life." 

"What you need to do is to finally have a plan for your life. You should look into a career change..." Her face scrunched up. Knowing my mother she thought I should look into being a rodeo clown. 

"Barb, you need to be getting home now."

"You have to have fallbacks," she said ignoring me. "It's not that your job isn't fine. But is it the kind of job security for a family man?" 

Right, after all what society needs engineers? 

She seemed to hear my thoughts, because her already curdled face curdled even more. "It's not that your kids need your salary with Jessica's job, but..."


Do Not Pass Go 04 - Traci's story



~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Someone's got to fight for the kids! - my ending to LightontheSound's Do Not Pass Go

http://www.literotica.com/s/do-not-pass-go

LightontheSound started an interesting, well written, but irritating story. We have the classic heartless cheating bitch, and a bumbling, well-meaning loser husband, who lets her walk all over him in a divorce, with hardly a fight at all. He wants us to believe he's going to fight for the kids, but five months later, he's done nothing but screw a 20 year old confused barmaid, and given in to his ex-wife's demands time and time again.

The children were in the dark about the real situation, but when the mother finally explains she was cheating, (while she blames the confession on her wimp husband), the kids start fighting back. It's the only good part of the story after the first chapter.

After the eldest daughter's first act of rebellion, she's prohibited from seeing her father, but the other two make it clear they're still going to be 'the resistance'. They know their mother is nothing but a self-serving selfish cheater, and they want their revenge.

The way it's written, I don't see the father EVER getting off his ass and fighting back. He's too much of a wimp. Those kids however...

BTW - the author, at the end of chapter 2, stated there would be a third and fourth chapter. The third was submitted in May of '06. It took him two weeks to publish the second chapter, and four months to publish the third. It's been nearly nine years since then. I don't know how he expected to pull all the loose ends together in one more chapter, unless it was a dozen Lit pages long. It took me four chapters to come to a conclusion. 

There are too damn many intriguing stories that are never completed, or left hanging with disgusting endings. If I find a story that's been abandoned for too long, I'll give you my idea of an ending. Fair warning though, I don't write about total wimps. May not be BTB, all nuclear and shit, but no voluntary cucks, or whiny simpering wimps. 

For Information on how I choose which stories to continue, please read my profile.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Traci's Story

After our meeting with Dad, I had a brief talk with my brother and sister. When Tommy and Jenna had finally filled me in on their plans to form a resistance, I knew I had to get involved. I love my siblings, but this was too much for them. If Dad wasn't going to fight for us, and Mom was going to use us against him, and then ignore us after pretending to be a real mother for a few weeks, I was going to make sure all this BS stopped.

I told them in no uncertain terms, to cool it for 48 hours, so our evil slut-Mom wouldn't get too suspicious. I promised we'd talk about a strategy to fix things, but we couldn't just do whatever came to mind. We had to have a plan. I pleaded with them to let me work on it, and we'd meet again once I had everything figured out. They agreed.

They weren't angels, but at least Jenna's hostility was slightly contained, although she was still sneaking out of the house, and cutting classes. Tommy was sullen, unhappy I guess that I'd take over the planning, but he stayed out of trouble. Me, I started sucking up to the Momster, and did some research. 

Tommy had forgotten about Dad's message to us all, to call him on Monday. We'd been home from school for less than half-an-hour, when Jenna got a text on her burner phone. "Tommy? Were we supposed to call Dad?"

He looked unhappy. "I forgot. He said for all of us to go out on the lawn when we got home, and give him a call."

It wasn't hard to ditch the Grandma. She was having a smoke on the front porch, so we headed to the backyard. As soon as we saw we were alone, Jenna called Dad, and put him on speaker-phone.

"Kids? You all there?" he asked.

"All of us," I confirmed, leaning toward the phone. 

"It's great to hear your voices, but we can't do this very often. I'm not supposed to talk to you on the phone or via webcam."

Another thing to thank Mom for. 

Jenna and Tommy said their greetings, and Jenna whined about not being able to see him and what a selfish bitch our Mom was.

"I know it's hard, Honey," Dad said. "We don't want to get her too upset. She can make things very difficult for me. No more running away, understood? I don't want you causing trouble. I'll deal with your mother. You just have to be patient."

I sighed. "How patient, Dad? It's been over a year since this crap started. You weren't even honest with us about what was going on, and because of that, we didn't get to see you for almost five months. At this rate Tommy will be eighteen before things get any better."

"You have to understand, Traci, things are complicated. The courts move slowly—"

"Yeah, the courts worked so well for all of us last time, didn't they?" I reminded him.

"Dad, Mom's fucking around with our lives. She can't get away with this crap!" Jenna snapped.

"Watch your language, Jenna. Please be patient. I'm working on it."

Yeah. Working on it. Letting Mom walk all over him. Great job, Dad. "We can help, Dad. We don't have to go crazy, but we don't have to let her get away with everything, either."

"Guerrilla Warfare," Tommy said. "We're the resistance."

"No more resistance. All it takes is one screw-up and you'll set everything back months. You need to let me take care of this," Dad said. If he would only talk that firmly with Mom, I might have believed him. 

"Besides, we don't need any more Gorillas. Your mother says Jenna is already dating one. I hope you're keeping him well stocked in bananas."

Dad's humor. We groaned in harmony, and Jenna defended her hirsute boyfriend, if you could even call him that. It's not like she'd been going out with any one guy steady.

"At least I've got a boyfriend, Dad," Jenna said. "Isn't it about time you found somebody."

When Dad didn't respond immediately, Jenna and I looked at each other. "No way! You got a girl?" I shrieked. "What's she like?"

"Spill Dad. We want details," Jenna laughed.

"It's not like that. I don't have a girlfriend. There's a woman I've seen a couple of times, and maybe a couple more that might be interested. I'm taking things slow. You don't mind, do you? I don't think there's any chance of your mother and me ever getting back together."

No shit. Like that would ever happen. And he had to tell us he was taking things slow? A glacier moves faster. "No Dad. We think it's great, right Jenna?"

"Of course. Heck, Mom's going out getting laid every night of the week probably. She's never home any more. She comes home dressed different than when she goes out. It's about time you got yourself a little," Jenna said.

We talked for a bit, then he and Jenna talked a while longer, to make up for her missing his visit. Before he was done he told us to only call in an emergency. And not a fake one. We agreed, but I knew we'd be working on our own. If we waited for Dad, we'd be in an old folk's home before we could see him without supervision.

After we said our goodbyes, Tommy and Jenna looked unhappy. "I guess there's nothing we can do," Jenna said.

"Trust me, Jenna. We'll do plenty," I said. "We can't wait for Dad, and you know it. I told you, give me a few days and I'll think of something. For now we lay low."

~ * ~ * ~

Wednesday I called my brother and sister together for a meeting to plan our strategy. It's not like we didn't have plenty of time to do it. The Momster was never around, strolling in at all hours of the night, looking like death warmed over, or a well-used street walker, depending on whether she'd actually been working late or not.

It had been hard to swallow (I guess not for our 'loving' Momster Jessibel, and her WhoreMomger boy-toy) that she had cheated on Dad, and lied to us about why they broke up, blaming it all on him. Dad for some reason just rolled over and gave us up without a fight. That hurt. Not-so-GrandMa Barb had sided with her evil offspring, and lied to us as well. So much for all that good Christian crap she keeps slinging around. 

Our ostrich Nanny, her head always buried in the sand, went ahead preparing dinner. I noticed the table was set, with no place for Mom. What a surprise, another late night 'working'. Her month of regular hours had evaporated as soon as she got possession of us, and Dad all but disappeared. What a great 'Mom' huh? 

The three of us gathered together in the playroom, turned on the TV, and huddled together in front of it.

"What was your original plan?" I asked Jenna and Tommy.

Tommy grinned. "Make Momster's life hell. Treat her like crap same as she treated Dad. Disobey, fight, argue, until she wants to get rid of us, or at least stops screwing around with us."

Jenna nodded in agreement. "I hadn't even started. I'm gonna cut practice, cut school, stay out all night. I'll start dating the worst guys in school, maybe even a grownup. It'll drive her crazy."

I sighed, admiring her enthusiasm, but that was about it. "I see. You're going to get kicked out of soccer, fail your sophomore year, and probably get knocked up. That'll show her. Dad was right to tell you to cool it."

Jenna gave me her pissed off look, the one she stole from She-Who-Must-Not-be-Named. 

"I'm just saying, Jenna. We gotta do this smart." I turned to Tommy. "And you, you're gonna be sooo bad, call her names, argue? How very Guy Fawkes! Such a vindictive little terrorist, you are. I thought you were studying up on guerrilla tactics."

He crossed his arms, leaning back. Tommy was too much like our father. He fought like Dad, played by the rules. I had hoped for more. I had to give them this much, they were the first to fight back. They had the heart. But I had the brains. I'm not bragging, just telling it like it is. There's a reason I've been in gifted-and-talented since first grade, and I'm a freshman two years early. I'm almost ashamed to admit I got the brains from Mom. Thank God that's all I got from her.

"I don't see you doing anything, Traci," he snapped. "Besides, Dad said we couldn't make the evil-one mad. We have to behave."

I laughed. "You wouldn't catch me doing anything, would you? That's the idea. We fight smarter. Don't get me wrong, I love that you two fought back. It almost worked, and it certainly sent the right message." I took a breath. "That stuff about making Mom mad? You know that CPS lady was there. Dad had to say that, or he could get in trouble. We all love Dad, but he's a wimp. He follows the rules, and gets run over by them. No, he's going to go by the book, so we've got to be the resistance. Teach her that cheating and lying, and using us as pawns is wrong. Funny, you'd think it would be her job to teach us stuff like that."

Jenna sneered. "I think you're all talk. Where's your big plan? What are you gonna do, an oboe solo?"

I ignored her barb. "It's a little more complicated. And it's different for each of us. You, Jenna, have already made your statement. I don't think we want to change that. So you'll be the in-your-face part of our rebellion. No more cutting soccer or school, though. Not in your sophomore year! You need to go back to your coach and explain your situation, I imagine he'll cut you some slack."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Jenna asked.

"Disrespect, open, outward, insulting. You're going to act like a little slut, and tell her you learned it from her. Like mother like daughter. Let her see her slutty influence. There's lots of things we can do going down that road, and it's your job to make her life pure hell."

Jenna grinned. "Act like a slut?"

"Act," I told her firmly. "Or do you really want to be just like Mom, since you're already well on your way there?"

She glared at me, but that shut her up nicely. I turned to my little brother. He really did have some good ideas, but I needed to take control of this before the two of them screwed everything up.

"You, Tommy, will be the visible evidence of the unplanned effects of her actions. You won't talk back, you won't argue. You'll shut down, hardly talking at all. We'll get you acting depressed, sullen, broken, and show lots of scary warning signs."

"Signs like what?"

"I haven't figured them all out yet. I've got some ideas. Why don't you think about it, and see what you can come up with? What do little psychopaths and sociopaths do at your age?"

Tommy grinned evilly, and I hoped I'd be able to keep the reins on him.

"What are you gonna do?" Jenna asked.

"Fifth column work. I'm the good kid, on Momster's side, listening to her, comforting her, all while getting the goods on her. I'll sabotage her life and work, and dating, all while making it look like I'm trying to help. I'll be the one to warn her about Tommy's new behavior, and make her see what's happening with you. It's also my job to try to get Dad off his wimpy ass, and actually fighting for us."

"Fifth column?" was all Jenna asked. I love my older sister, but you'd think she could read a book now and then.

I pulled out my note pad. "Jenna, you need to make an appointment at Planned Parenthood, as soon as possible. Don't tell them your parent's names. Tell them you are sexually active, and your parents can't know. Get birth control pills, and condoms. As many as you can. Heck, pick up some pamphlets on abortion while you're there."

I glanced at my notes. "Tommy, dark clothing. Stop talking. Sulk. Walk out of the room when Mom comes in. If she's at the table with us, don't eat. I'll make sure we save something for you. That's your start. In the mean time, do your research. Think young Hannibal Lecter."

I closed my notepad. "As for me, it's time to become Mom's little confidante. I'll play up to her, act like I'm supporting her. I'm also going to see if I can 'redistribute' some of her money, to pay for our activities. That, and get access to her computer and phone. I'll do a little intelligence work."

"What about Dad?" Jenna asked. "If he hears about this he's gonna get mad at us."

"What about him? You know how he is. He won't go along. He wants to play by the same rules that have screwed him over so far. No, he stays out of it, unless we absolutely have to tell him." I couldn't be too firm about this. We'd already seen how he handled Jenna's first rebellion. Rolled over, risked jail, and then let our evil slut-Mom punish him and Jenna. When it came to resisting, Dad just sucked. "If he catches wind of what we're up to, we deny everything. Remember that. Nothing was planned. None of it is an act. Momster is driving us to do this. Deny everything!"

It was too bad that everyone in the family had bigger balls than Dad. It was a good thing that other than that, he was pretty awesome. Who knows, perhaps with a little guidance we could get him on the right side, and off the fence. Maybe he could even grow a pair.

Naw, who am I kidding?

~ * ~ * ~

Jenna's an animal. There's no two ways about it. She might not be great at coming up with new ideas, but when it came to actual tactics and performance, wow! I'm really amazed. God's truth, I never knew she had it in her.

Two days later, she was dressed like a slut for school. Momster made her change, and once sis got to school, she put on her slut outfit again, which she'd hidden in her backpack. She got called into the office, and Mom had to take off work and pick her up.

When they got home to change, things got even better. While she was getting dressed, and Mom was dressing her down, Jenna casually tossed some condoms on the bed. The way she tells it, Mom shut up, then went ballistic.

"You don't use condom's with your boyfriends, Mom?" my sister had asked. "You gonna give us a little bastard black baby brother?"

Jenna couldn't stop laughing when she told me. She'd gotten the condoms from one of her friends. Extra large. Such an evil girl, my big sis is turning out to be. God, I love her. The fact that she's already got tits and looks 18, like a younger, hotter, prettier Mom, makes it work that much better.

She also assured me that she had a long talk with her soccer coach, and had sucked up nicely. Sucked up figuratively that is. No more cutting practice. She was back in his good graces, but that was one strike against her. She says she took off her bra before seeing him, and his gaze never made it above her neck. I'm getting worried that Mom's already rubbing off on her.

Tommy did his part. I gotta admit, if I didn't know it was an act, I'd be worried. His video games were scary, all blood, guts and gore. I don't know who he borrowed them from, but he was playing Grand Theft Auto, Postal 2, God of War, anything that had lots of death and destruction. The things he said out loud, geez! I didn't think he knew half those words. Heaven forbid a woman showed up on screen - as soon as breasts appeared he went nuts, cursing the entire gender.

The worst thing was his new penchant for fire. Whenever Mom went looking for him, if he wasn't killing something on screen, he was burning something out back. Mom took away the matches and lighters, but he always found new ones. Thank God for Grandma and her smoking. She probably was wondering why her lighters disappeared anytime she was around.

Me, I was Mom's buddy. Talking to her. Echoing her concerns about my siblings. Badmouthing Dad to her. Telling her she deserved to find time for herself. She worked so hard for us. Asking her opinion about anything, clothing, makeup, boys. How to flirt, and get a boy's attention. She was eating it up. Bitch shouldn't even have known how to flirt, she's been married 17 years, damn it! She pissed me off, but I didn't let it show.

Yeah, the plan was starting to come together. We were developing our personae. We'd give it a few days, and then start the havoc.

I managed to liberate a few twenties from her wallet. We needed a lot more, but I was starting our war chest. I was thinking that one afternoon with her ATM card should do the trick. I'd been shopping with her enough to know that her birthday is her passcode. Dad's is the date of each of our birthdays in order, Jenna's 23rd, my 7th, Tommy's 2nd. I guess that tells you everything you need to know right there, huh?

~ * ~ * ~

Sunday was epic! We killed it. Totally.

I had convinced Mom to take me and Jenna shopping. Jenna was mouthy, acting her part. When we got to the clothing store. Mom found out that Jenna wasn't wearing panties. She nearly lost her mind.

Jenna told her she wasn't going to wear 'little girl' underwear. She wanted stuff like Mom had. When Mom started to argue, Jenna said if Mom could wear that stuff to work, why couldn't she wear them to school?

The whole "I'm an adult" thing flew about as far as you would expect with Jenna. "You're not an adult! You're a cheap slut-whore who cheated on our father! A lying adulteress!" Jenna screamed loud enough to alert the entire mall.

As you can imagine that killed the shopping, or would have if Jenna hadn't taken off running through the crowd. Mom lost her, and made me wait in the center rotunda, in case she came back. Well, it just so happened that the ATM machine was there, and since I was watching her purse while she talked to security, it wasn't hard for me to liberate $500 from her account. She had more than enough in there. Thousands. I didn't think she'd even notice. Since it looked like I had time, and ready access to Mom's wallet, I also wrote down the information from her credit cards. Number, name, expiration date, security code, everything. I was disturbed to see that one of her well used cards had her maiden name on it. 

Jenna showed up, and we had a talk, strategizing. Big sis is good, scary good. When Mom finally arrived, there was a teary scene, fake tears on both sides I imagine. Some apologies. Jenna argued tha she wasn't a little girl anymore. All her friends wore grown-up panties and bras. She was being made fun of. Mom surrendered, and bought her some sluttier stuff. Some weren't much more than scraps of cloth. That's our Mom.




Do Not Pass Go 04 - Traci's story



We got home, and things were going crazy. There was a fire-engine out front. Grandma had been watching Tommy. She told the firemen she'd fallen asleep smoking, and that's how the back deck porch steps caught fire. It wasn't until they were gone, that we found out Tommy had set it on fire. He wasn't even apologetic.

Mom had a cow and called Dad of course. I couldn't believe he had the balls to tell her to deal with it, he was on a date. Well, I guess not that much balls, since he never should have picked up the phone, but I guess it was progress. Mom was shrieking at the phone, and then hung up and threw it. Way to go Tommy!

When Mom found out that Tommy was using her work papers to start the fire I thought for a second she was actually going to kill him. I never saw her turn that shade of red or get so angry.

Things had almost cooled down when we were eating. Then Jenna asked what she was supposed to do if she missed a day of taking her pills.

"Pills?" Mom asked.

"You know. I missed yesterday. Should I take it today, or do I just skip it? If I do, is it any riskier?"

Mom just stared at her. "Where'd you get these pills," she asked quietly. She sounded scary.

"Planned Parenthood."

"But you're barely fifteen! Who did you go with?"

"Rhonda's older brother Eric. He's a senior. He offered to pay for them, if I gave him a BJ. Isn't he a hunk?" Jenna asked, eating her mac and cheese like there was nothing going on. "He drove me on his motorcycle."

Mom was stunned. She could hardly speak. "And they just give them to you? Don't you need a parent's signature?"

"No. I just told them why I needed them, and I didn't want you guys to know. I figured you'd be like this, all hypocritical and shit. I don't need to be getting prego, you know? I don't want to have to marry some guy I don't love if he knocks me up. Not like you did. I never want to have a farce of a marriage like yours."

Damn, I was proud of her. I had no idea she even knew the meaning of farce.

Tommy was at the end of the table, and just under the end, where Mom couldn't see it, he was lighting the edge of the tablecloth on fire, then putting it out. It wasn't until a stream of smoke was rising from the table that she finally did notice, shrieking.

It was time to be the responsible older sister. I took the lighter from him. "No, Tommy. Not in the house, and not at the dinner table."

He gave me a decent glare and then nodded. I handed him back his lighter.

"Don't give that to him!" Mom screeched.

"If I don't, he'll just get another one, use matches, or worse, he'll light some sticks at the stove and use those," I explained. "Last time he did that he burned the carpet."

Mom tried to regain her composure. "Tommy, we don't play with fire, honey. It's dangerous."

"I'm not playing. I'm learning," he answered sulkily. I wanted to grin and give him a hug. My bro's a freaking genius. I guess it runs in the family, although it seemed to skip Jenna.

"I don't want you setting any more fires!" she snapped. "I mean it. The next time I see you playing with fire, you'll be grounded, no allowance, no PS3, no nothing!"

Tommy glared at her quietly. "You don't want to do that, Jessie."

She looked at him nervously. He'd never called her by her name, and the way he was looking at her had me scared, and I knew it was an act.

"I'm your mother, young man. You won't call me Jessie. I'm Mom. And I mean it about the fire."

He gave her a few more seconds. "You do know, Jessie, most bedding goes up in flames in seconds. Your bedspread would burn real nicely."

Tommy got up from the table, flicking his lighter on and off, and walked out of the room. Mom wasn't long after him, getting up and grabbing her phone. I guess she was trying to call Dad. She was whispering into it, then threw it to the side, and started crying.

Bingo. Time for the good daughter to make her appearance. I poured her a big glass of wine, and dragged her into her bedroom. I made her sit down and talk.

"I'm losing it, Traci," she admitted. "My oldest daughter's a slut, and my son is going to burn the house down around our ears. Why is this happening?"

"Jenna's not a slut yet. She's only been with a handful of guys. I'm pretty sure it's mostly blowjobs anyway." All lies, but it got the message through.

"A handful of guys? Blowjobs? She's barely sixteen!"

"She's fifteen, not sixteen. Face it Mom. Most of her friends come from broken families. A lot of the Moms are divorced, and the only men in their lives are temporary. It's not like any of them have decent role models."

Mom sat back, drinking her wine. "Just because you have a relationship with a man, doesn't make you a slut, Traci."

"If you're married and it's not your husband, it pretty much does, Mom. If you wanted to sleep around, you should have just left him."

"You can't understand. You're too young. It's complicated. I didn't want to divorce your father, he was the one who forced it."

"Mom, you were a cheater. What did you expect? I understand if you wanted to change things. You deserve a good life, you work hard, but the thing with Dad wasn't right." I'd been siding with Mom, but I thought it was time to give her a reminder that Dad wasn't all bad.

"I didn't want to do it, he made me," Mom argued.

"Why'd you have to play all these games, keeping us away from him? Tommy needs a man in his life. You see what's happening. Jenna would never act the way she is, if Dad were around. He might not be the best provider, but he's not a bad father. He would have noticed right away and stopped it. It didn't start until three months ago, once he was gone."

"He tried to take you all from me," Mom complained.

"So you cut him off? We can't talk to him. You stop us from seeing him every chance you get. We love him Mom. He may be a wimp, but he's our father. They're never going to forgive you if you don't fix it."

"They who?" 

"You know. Tommy and Jenna. They hate you right now. They hate everything you did. Cheating on him. Lying to us. Lying in court. Breaking up the family. Slutting around. Keeping us away from Dad, hurting him like you are. I've tried to talk to them, but they're really pissed at you, at the whole world." I took Mom's hand in mine, letting her know I was on her side.

"You know what the two of them say, Mom? You don't even want us. We never see you. You don't have time for us, and it's obvious we don't matter to you. You only did it to spite Dad. You never even loved us."

"Don't say that! Of course I love you and you matter to me! You're my children, I bore you. Carried you in my body for nine months."

"And the day after we were out, you forgot about us, and ran off with your lover du jour. You let Dad raise us, while you lived your own life away from us. You avoided us, staying away from the house as much as possible. The only thing you were good for was paying bills." Oops. I almost forgot whose side I was supposed to be on. "That's what they've been saying."

"It wasn't like that Traci. I loved your father. The other things, they just happened. That's the way life is sometimes."

"You threw away your marriage, Mom. You were the one sleeping around with who knows how many jerks. Not Dad. Why is he the one being punished?"

"He didn't have to be, he could have come back home. Nothing had to change."

"What, you were going to let him keep being both Mom and Dad, while you spent all your evenings fucking around?"

"I didn't! It wasn't more than a couple of times a week. There weren't that many men. I would have stopped. He didn't even ask me too. He just said he was leaving to Minnesota and taking you guys. I couldn't let him do that."

"Why not? It's not like you ever cared for us. You didn't have time for anybody but you. I love you, but we never see you. For a few weeks, you put on your little show, acting like a caring mother, and as soon as the paperwork was done, it was back to the same-old same-old. It's all work and your boyfriends. Did you tell Dad you were sorry, that you'd stop seeing them? Did you try to work it out? Or did you gut him the first day you were caught?"

"It's not all my fault," Mom cried. "I didn't do anything wrong. He broke up this family."

"Fucking around's not your fault? If it's no big deal, then why does it bother you that Jenna and I do it." I wondered if she'd catch that one.

"It's different. You guys are so young... Jenna and you!" she gasped.

"Why not? I'm thinking about it. You know my new boyfriend, Tiger. He's tired of just getting blowjobs. He wants to go all the way. Him and his buddy Derek both." More lies, but the better to shock her.

"Oh God, Traci, you can't! You're barely 13. This isn't right. You're just a baby. Please tell me you're not going to do this."

"Again, why not? This sex thing must be pretty awesome, to make you destroy our family, ignore us for years, and throw away Dad. I've gotta see for myself."

"Please, honey. At least talk to your Dad first. Don't do anything rash."

"Talk to him when? In front of that scary CPS lady? I'm not allowed to talk to him. You and that faggot lawyer made sure of that."

"'Faggot'? What kind of language is that?"

"Fitting?" I think I'd done enough of the shock treatment for one night, it was time to get back to being her only friend in the house.

I cuddled up to her, almost spilling her wine. "Fix it, Mom. You've got to, somehow. Tommy needs a man in his life. I'm afraid it's going to just get worse if it goes on like this. Jenna too. I know you didn't mean to mess things up, but that's how they are now. We have to fix it."

"How?" she whispered.

"You need to be around more. Talk to them. Make sure Dad can somehow talk to them. And I don't mean just once every two weeks, for a couple of supervised hours, on the rare chance you actually let us see him. I can't believe you stopped Jenna from visiting him. He probably could have stopped half this crap. He knows us."

"I know you," Mom said.

"No you don't. You never wanted to, or made the time to. It's not too late, but you have a long ways to go. You need to come clean, stop playing stupid games with our lives. We need to move on, and you have to figure out some way to let Dad play a bigger part. If you keep punishing him, I swear, you're going to lose all of us. You know Jenna's fifteen. Pretty soon, she can choose who to be with. We lied for you last time, because we didn't know the truth. Who do you think she's gonna choose next time?"

"I should be so lucky," Mom mumbled.

"Lucky? You want to throw away Jenna? Then why are you fighting Dad? He'd love to have her."

Mom didn't answer, and I knew why. She couldn't let him win. Not even a little. She didn't care about us as anything more than a score card. The Momster didn't love anybody but herself. 

I sighed. "I'm gonna check on Tommy and make sure he hasn't set the house on fire, and I'll make sure Jenna doesn't have one of her boyfriends hiding in her room again."

Mom didn't even rise to the bait of 'again'. I wondered if I was getting through to her at all. When I left the room, she was already getting on the phone. I didn't know if she was calling Dad, or one of her boyfriends. 

~ * ~ * ~

For a couple of days, the Momster tried to play 'good' Mom. She came home before seven at night, barely gone for eleven hours. She even cooked on Tuesday. Sat at the table with us and everything. She tried to talk to us, acting interested and all. Tommy had her tuned out, but me and Jenna were playing along. Of course Jenna's questions to Mom about when she first had sex, gave her first blowjob, first did anal - eew! - ended up with yelling. I followed Mom to the study, playing the good little suck-up.

"She's just saying that stuff to bug you," I said, standing close enough to watch while she typed her password into the computer. Not very smart, Mom. Your Initials and birthday?

"Why does she want to torture me?"

"Face it, Mom. For better or worse, you've got her thinking about sex all the time."

"Me? How is it I've got her thinking about sex?"

"Seriously? She figures she's doing something wrong. Nothing so far would be worth destroying a family for. She figures she needs more experience. Maybe better teachers. Older guys who've been around."

"Oh, God," Mom groaned. "Doesn't she understand she's too young? It will only get her in trouble."

"To be honest, it's kind of got me wondering. Wasn't Dad any good at it? If he wasn't, couldn't you teach him? I mean, really Mom, how good are these other guys, to make you abandon us."

"I never abandoned you!"

"I don't mean abandon, I guess. More like ignore us for a couple of years, and abandon Dad."

"I didn't ... It's difficult to explain, baby. I never meant for any of it to happen. I was working very hard, trying to get ahead in business. It's very stressful, sometimes things happen. If your father had been more understanding, all of this could have been avoided."

I felt she needed some tweaking. "By all of this, do you mean the divorce? Tommy's depression and pyromancy? Jenna's taking after you and having sex with half the football team? Destroying Dad, and laughing every time you rub it in? Grandma's drinking all the time? My failing three classes? What's 'all of this'?"

Mom was looking more and more unhappy as I went. Her lips echoed mine as I mentioned Jenna and the football team. When I said the bit about failing classes, I thought she'd burst a vein. "Failing!" she shrieked.

"Like, when do I have time to study anymore? Someone's got to try to keep Jenna and Tommy at least a little in line. It's not like you're ever around, and Grandma's either drunk, sleeping, or smoking on the porch. All the Nanny does when she's here is cook, do laundry, or clean up. Not that Jenna or Tommy would listen to her anyway. I know your work is important, but I could sure use a little help, Mom. It's bad enough that we don't have a Dad anymore, but no parent at all is kind of rough."

"I'm trying, Traci! Do you think this is what I want? If your damn father could have just minded his own business, none of this would have happened!"

"You mean if he minded his own business, you wouldn't have been fucking strange men, and we might have had a mother?"

"This is not my fault!"

"Mom, it doesn't matter whose fault it is. Things are getting worse, not better. Tommy's going to be in Juvie, and Jenna's going to either be knocked up or dying of AIDS at the rate they're going. At the least, you have to get them time with Dad, maybe he can straighten them up before it's to late. They need a father."

~*~*~*~

We still had the better part of a week before Dad's next visit, when our plans backfired a little. Mom had taken my comment about Tommy and Jenna needing a male influence at face value, and the next thing you know, some jerk-off academic from the university was over for the evening. He had a small bag with him, and I just knew he was going to be spending the night. Wasn't that great? Crap!

I called a meeting, as soon as we could get away from Mom and her asshole friend.

"What are we gonna do, Traci?" Jenna asked.

"Let me think about it. This could be good, maybe."

"Good! Mom's already replaced Dad! That's not good," Jenna argued.

I turned to my little brother. "What can we do with your fire, and his shiny Porsche?" I asked.

He thought a moment. "I think the easiest thing would be to build a fire on the hood. It's not dangerous, but it would make it real ugly."

I was thinking more along the lines of doing something inside the car, but we could wait for that. We might have to escalate things. "Jenna, I want you dressing real slutty, and coming on to him hard. Can you do that?"

Jenna looked nervous. "How hard?"

"Enough to bother Mom. Don't let him do nothing, but make sure you're around him a lot."

"Ewww, Traci. He's old and ugly. Do I have to?"

"Trust me, Ok? It's all part of the plan. And put those big titties of yours to work. No bras at home." I saw Tommy was blushing at that. I'd almost forgotten that he was a guy. 

"What are you gonna do?"

"Spy, and get some information. I'll do some things that I probably shouldn't but will give us some ammo for court if we need it. I need more online research, but I think that I can make this pay for us."

Jenna took my words to heart. After dinner she was prancing around in one of Tommy's T-shirts, so tight I was surprised she could even breath. It didn't even reach her belly-button. She was wearing that and panties, nothing else. Her new slutty ones. Mom was cleaning up after dinner, and I saw Jenna park herself on the couch next to William. William, not Will or Bill, it had to be William. What a narcissistic douchebag.

I watched from a distance, to see how she'd pull it off.

"Sooo, William," she cooed. "What do you do at the University?"

He appeared uncomfortable, and glanced back at the kitchen. I noticed he looked at Jenna's shirt, and not her face when he answered. "I'm a full professor in the English department," he said. 

"I bet you're smart like Mom, aren't you?" Jenna said, and I saw her hand touching his shoulder. Damn, sis was smooth. Too smooth, I'd need to keep an eye on her.

"I hold a Ph.D. in Comparative Titerature. I mean, Literature! Comparative Literature!"

Sis didn't even smile, acting like she didn't notice his huge gaffe. "I love your car," she said. "Can you take me for a drive sometime? I bet it's fast." I saw her turn toward him, her leg coming up on the couch, pressing against his thigh. "I'm supposed to get my driver's license soon. Maybe you could even teach me some things."

I watched her back away a little. Too bad, because it seemed to be working. The dirty old man's eyes were moving up and down her body, from the barely contained tits, down to her legs, and her new 'grown-up' panties. She was sitting about six inches away, when Mom walked into the room.

"Sure. We should go for a ride," he was saying when Mom walked over.

I guess Jenna had seen her coming. It was a sweet move. It looked like she was just sitting there talking, all innocent, and the asshole was staring a hole through her panties.

"Jenna. What you're wearing isn't appropriate. Go put something on." Mom's voice was scary.

"I was just going to take a shower," Jenna explained.

William looked up at Mom guiltily. "We were just talking. She was asking me about work and cars," he stammered. 

Jenna got up to walk away and the idiot didn't have enough sense to keep his eyes off her butt as she left. Mom wasn't happy. "Stop that!" she hissed. "She's only sixteen for God's sake!"

Fifteen, I was tempted to correct her.

"I, uh, wasn't, not really," he stammered, and Mom stomped away. I darted down the hall to the game room, grabbing a book and plopping onto Dad's rocker, like I'd been there all along.

Mom glanced in on me, then walked past and hunted down Jenna. I wanted to listen in on that conversation, but we all have our parts we have to play. I heard their voices raised and some yelling going on. I hope they didn't take too long, we still had the Tommy scene to deal with.

It was about five minutes later, when Mom stuck her head in the door. "Where's your brother?" she asked.

Perfect. "I don't know. I think he went out to the garage a while ago."

Mom got a worried look on her face, and almost ran down the hall. I heard her scream my brother's name, and I grinned, put down my book, and followed after her. I wouldn't have missed this for the world.

She almost ran me over, on her way back into the kitchen. She opened up under the sink and pulled out the fire extinguisher there, before dashing past me back out to the garage. 

I got a good view of the bonfire that Tommy had built on the hood of William's shiny red Porsche. Mom shot it with the fire-extinguisher making a white cloud in the room, and then took a broom to the burning embers and swept them onto the floor, screaming at Tommy the whole time. Tommy just glared at her and walked back into the house.




Do Not Pass Go 04 - Traci's story



"Holy Shit!" I heard from behind me, and then I was pushed out of the way as William came screaming into the garage.

I stumbled, and then had a brainstorm. I fell into the workbench, and onto the floor. I reached my arm out and swept a bunch of the stuff on the shelf onto me and started crying loudly. That part wasn't difficult. One of the cans hit me in the head and hurt like the blazes.

Mom and William were screaming at each other, and Mom opened the garage door to let the smoke and fire-extinguisher stuff out, and the cold air in.

I cried louder, since nobody seemed to be paying attention to me. Mom eventually noticed and hurried over. "What happened Traci?"

"He knocked me down," I sobbed, pointing at her boyfriend.

William looked nervous. Nervous and angry. "I just tried to get by her, she was standing in the doorway," he said.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Mom screamed. "First you're scoping out Jenna, and now you're hurting Traci?"

"Me? What's wrong with your brats? What the hell is that boy doing setting a fire on my car? The paint job is ruined!"

Mom helped me up, and took me in the house. She put some ice in a dishtowel and told me to go sit in the living room, and hold it against my eye, where the can had hit me. I made sure to keep crying.

It was a madhouse for a while. Mom yelling at Tommy, William yelling at Tommy, Mom yelling at William for yelling at Tommy. Me crying from all the yelling. Jenna walking out in nothing but a t-shirt and panties again, although this t-shirt was one of Dad's old ones, hanging off a shoulder, and the v-neck almost exposing her left tit. It was old, well worn, and threadbare. It was darn near translucent. At least it reached halfway down her thighs. 

William got fed up and stomped out of the house, and then Mom was crying again. Tommy disappeared, and Jenna went to her room.

"That guy's a jerk, Mom," I said, while she sat beside me, the tears running down her face, checking on my eye.

"He's upset. Tommy ruined his car."

"I thought he was going to fuck Jenna on the couch where you were sitting," I told her.

"Don't say that! He's a good man. Jenna shouldn't be dressed that way. I don't know what's gotten into her!"

"She probably wants to see if old men fuck better than her boyfriends. He must be pretty good, to make you cheat on Dad," I reminded her. "He seems willing enough."

"Stop it!" Mom screamed. "I can't take all this!" She grabbed her bottle of wine, and retreated to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

I thought that went pretty well.

My normal emails to Dad were mostly very simple. What I did during the day, how school was going, telling him that I missed him, and was looking forward to seeing him. That night I mentioned that Mom had her boyfriend over, and I didn't like the way he was looking at Jenna. I didn't mention the fire thing, or the black eye I was going to have, I thought I'd save that for the next personal visit.

While I was on the computer, I thought I'd test her credit cards. Piece of cake. Amazon, Victoria's Secret, Ebay, B&H Photo, AdultFriendFinder, AshleyMadison, none of them were any trouble at all. I have to admit, the power is a little daunting. I broke in four of her cards, and even signed up for Amazon Prime. I'd be doing a lot more of that.

~ * ~ * ~

We gave Mom a day of peace, or I should say about an hour of peace, since she didn't come home until almost 9:00 pm the next night. Grandma watched us from 7:00 until Mom arrived. I saw Tommy going through her purse. I figured he had to restock his matches/lighter supply.

My fellow resistance fighters and I had a private meeting, when Grandma was outside smoking. She had a glass of vodka with her. I figured she'd be out there for a while.

I congratulated both Jenna and Tommy on the job they did. "Tommy, we gotta cool down the fire stuff. It's working but I don't want Mom sending you to some shrink or something," I explained.

He just shrugged. "I got some other stuff I've been thinking about."

"Good. Just no fires for a while, and nothing too crazy." I turned to Jenna smiling. "You were perfect."

She grinned. "I wanted to puke. The guys smells like some nasty aftershave. I could barely stand to touch him, but it worked out alright, didn't it?"

"We couldn't hope for better. He couldn't take his eyes off you."

She made a face. "I felt gross. It was bad enough when he was looking at my tits, but when he was staring at my panties, I wanted to slap him."

"If he, or any other guy comes over again, can you keep it up?"

"I guess. As long as that's all I have to do."

"Good. I want to try something new." I pulled out a pair of scissors. "What do you know about 'cutting'?"

She rolled her eyes. "Anna Winston was doing that. The idiot posted pictures on Instagram."

I pulled out some scissors. "I don't know how to do this, but I think it would help."

You can't say Jenna's not a trooper. It took her a couple of times to get it to leave a mark on her wrist. Once she had about eight to ten good ones, I stopped her. "Long sleeve shirt tomorrow. Unless her boyfriend comes around, alright?"

She nodded. "Do you think all this stuff is going to work?"

I grinned. "We'll see on Saturday."

~ * ~ * ~

Mom must have made up with her boy-toy. The next night he was over again, and before he came in the house, she gave us a long lecture on our behavior. She threatened that none of us would get to see Dad, if we didn't behave. He parked in the driveway, and covered his car with some cloth thing. Coward.

As soon as she went out to get him, I updated the chart I'd been keeping ever since we found out about Mom. Left home at 6:23 a.m. Arrived back home at 8:37 p.m. Showed up with Smelly Willy. She only spent 14 hours away today. That was a good day for her. I closed the planner and hid it back under the old sweats in my bottom drawer.

Tommy stuck to the game room, killing things and swearing up a storm. Jenna dressed naughty, but not too sleazy. She found some old long-sleeve nightgown that was too small for her. Heck, it would have been small on me. It showed off her body, covered up her wrists, but it exposed no cleavage, and reached past her knees. I think Mom wanted to complain about it, but she bit her tongue. 

William apologized to me, telling me it was an accident, knocking me over. I acted sullen, but accepted his apology. I had a nice little black eye and bruise, that I was playing up.

We did behave, except for Jenna flirting and touching the old guy every chance that Mom turned her back. She walked out on the porch for a while, and when she came back, her nipples were poking a hole in her nightgown. She went and stood in front of William, asking him about getting into college, while his eyes never strayed from her chest.

Mom caught him again, Jenna made sure of that, but nobody made a big deal of it, other than Mom drinking another big glass of wine. It was Friday, and I figured that the guy might be spending the night this time. We didn't want to scare him away. Not yet. I still had plans for him.

When she tried to get us to go to bed early, none of us fought it. We retired to our bedrooms, and I read for about an hour, until I heard them go past my room, into Mom's. I closed up shop, and crept out into the hall. I sat outside their door, until I heard the sounds that Mom and Dad used to make. That seemed like such a long time ago. Mom wasn't very quiet. I tried to open the door but it was locked. Damn it.

A quick trip to the kitchen junk drawer, and I had that metal doohickey that Dad used to poke in the door handle hole to unlock it. The sounds were still going on, and I unlocked the door, built up my courage and opened the door.

"Mom..." I groaned, holding my belly.

The sight was pretty scary. Mom was on her hands and knees, and the guy was behind her naked, his skinny butt moving back and forth. Mom screamed, and the guy looked at me, mumbling "Oh shit!" and then he was diving off the side of the bed away from me. I got way too much of a view of something I never wanted to see. Well, at least not his, and probably nobody's for at least a couple of more years. Can you spell 'traumatized'?

Mom was scrambling to pull the sheets up to her chin. "Traci!" she cried out.

"My stomach hurts," I said.

Jenna showed up in the doorway behind me. "What's all the yelling?"

Mom was tearing the sheet off the bed, wrapping it around her body. "Go to your room, Traci, I'll be with you in a minute," she said.

"It really hurts," I groaned, bending over in simulated agony.

Mom stood, while her boyfriend was pulling the covers off the bed, trying to cover himself. "What did you eat? You got into something, didn't you?" she asked me.

"The ice cream," I mumbled.

"How much?" She was slipping on a robe as she asked. Thank God.

"A lot," I admitted, hesitantly.

"How much is a lot?"

"All of it."

She rolled her eyes at me, and took me by the hand. "Let's get you something for your stomach." 

I looked back as she walked me down the hall, and Jenna was walking into Mom's bedroom. I hoped she wouldn't overdo it. Last thing I needed was a pregnant sister.

Momster made me drink the pink stuff, and put me to bed. It wasn't long after, when I heard her snapping at Jenna to go to her room. As soon as I heard the door closed, I ran out to the hall to listen.

"I thought you locked the door!" Mom said. Her voice was low and angry.

"I did! I swear I did!"

"And what the hell was going on with Jenna?"

"Nothing! She came in when you left, and wouldn't leave. She said she wanted to keep me company."

"You don't keep company with a sixteen year old girl, when you're naked!"

Fifteen, Mom! I wanted to scream.

He sounded upset. "What could I do? I wasn't going to get dressed in front of her. I couldn't physically throw her out. I just sat there wearing that stupid bed cover, praying you'd hurry back. She's a tease! You shouldn't leave her alone with me. As soon as you turn your back she's terrible!" 

"God, that was embarrassing," Mom said.

I heard rustling. "How about for me? I was only about a minute away from Heaven when your kid walked in."

Mom giggled. When I heard her moan, I'd had enough. It wasn't all that I'd hoped for, but I figured it might be all we needed. While she was occupied, it gave me a few minutes private time with her computer. All part of the plan.

Before I went to bed, I dumped most of the chocolate ice-cream in the sink. I ate a few bites, since I felt bad about throwing it away. But I didn't need Mom questioning my acting job.

Now we just had to wait for the meeting with Dad.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 



Do Not Pass Go 05 - Peter's Antics



What has she done?! Enough's enough - my ending to LightontheSound's Do Not Pass Go

http://www.literotica.com/s/do-not-pass-go

In chapter 4, part 1 of my continuation, the kids started their resistance campaign, since it didn't look like their father was going to do anything about the situation. Jenna was acting like a teen slut, Tommy was a disturbed, angry pyromaniac, and Traci, the brains behind the revolt, was operating behind enemy lines, trying to get the goods on her mother, while sucking up to her.

Wonder what Dad's been up to?

This chapter may seem a little slow to start, but is written in an attempt to stay true to the original chapters and continue Peter's story. The kids are not done.

There are too damn many intriguing stories that are never completed, or left hanging with disgusting endings. If I find a story that's been abandoned for too long, I'll give you my idea of an ending. Fair warning though, I don't write about total wimps. May not be BTB, all nuclear and shit, but no voluntary cucks, or whiny simpering wimps. 

For Information on how I choose which stories to continue, please read my profile.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Peter

My trip back to St. Paul was uneventful, but I was actually feeling better about myself than I had in a long time. A weekend of steamy sex with a beautiful young woman can do that for you, and my visit with my two younger kids had been wonderful. They did make me a little nervous. I could swear they were up to something. The last thing I needed was them to mess things up in the system.

Even my sprained wrist wasn't hurting to terribly. The only thing that would have made things better was if Lily had been working my flight. She wasn't, but I resolved that I would give her a call when I got back home. Maybe I'd check in with Pia as well if I saw her around the building. She certainly seemed amenable to socializing.

On the drive home from the airport, my good mood started to get a little strained when I thought about Jessie, and the way she had interfered with my visit, again, by keeping Jenna away from me. After my efforts to deal with her screw-up, visiting the house at risk to my own legal status, and convincing Jenna to come home, I still was the one who got the short end of the stick, not being allowed to talk to my eldest.

I decided that enough was enough. I wasn't going to take a chance on any illegal communications or visits possibly submarining my next appearance in family court. What was to stop her from telling the judge that I'd come over uninvited? It's not like she had any qualms about lying before. Even the phone calls could get me in trouble, since she'd specifically fought allowing telephone or video visitation.

No more visits to the house or to talk to the kids, to solve the issues she was having with them. I wasn't allowed to, by her choice, and as much as I wanted to help the kids, I was undermining any future chances for making things better. I also wasn't going to put up with her using the visits as punishment, either for the kids or me. The next time she tried it, I would have my lawyer file a motion for re-evaluation. The courts had to eventually recognize the truth.

Monday afternoon, I had my talk with the little terrorists. I know their heart was in the right place, and I loved that they were trying to stand up to their mother for me, but it was too dangerous. I had to stop them, particularly before Traci got involved. Tommy had surprised me, but Traci? The thought gave me shivers. Once I'd finished that call, I felt better about things. A little more in control. They understood that I was in charge. No longer would I just wait. I was going to make things happen. I still had my three step plan. 

Step one was to see my kids again and do everything I could for them to get over the divorce; that one was starting to bear fruit. Step two was to get the court to give me unsupervised visitation. Step three was to get a new custody hearing. I still was having difficulty seeing the kids, with Jessie using them as a bargaining chip, but I could be patient. Jess was already starting to show her true colors, and might even be weakening. She had called and apologized, albeit at 5:45 a.m. and it took her two tries to get it out. She had even talked about considering letting Jenna come stay with me. It was progress. It wouldn't be long before I could start on step two, and work on seeing them unsupervised.

~ * ~ * ~

My pleasant interlude with Theresa had me in a good mood, and I was able to concentrate at work, without hearing from the ex for a couple of days. Mid week, I was actually relaxed, sitting back enjoying a drink, when I gave Theresa a call telling her how much I enjoyed the time we spent together, and confirming another visit in three weeks. 

Once off the phone with her, I paged through my contacts and found Lily's number. She'd been on my mind a lot since my flight home. She had promised she'd take my call. I got her voice mail, and left a message that I would love to see her when she had an opportunity and asked her to call me. A few minutes online and I found a couple of local clubs that provided free dance lessons before the crowds started at night. I wrote down the times and locations, and told myself that I'd start attending. I might even meet somebody interesting if I stayed afterward. It couldn't hurt, and I could tell Lily that I was doing just as I'd said, getting lessons.

Two different evenings, and four hours of dancing with strangers, only proved that I had two left feet. It didn't mean I was going to stop learning. Surprisingly, many of my unfortunate dance partners during the lessons seemed interested in having private practice after the official lessons were over. I stayed late both nights, somehow spending over $40 when booze was on sale at two bucks for rail drinks and a buck-fifty for the draft beer of the night. I even got a phone number out of it. Things were definitely looking up. I might be 40 and divorced, but I still had a full head of hair, had lost most of my paunch, and was wielding a lot more confidence, after Theresa and Lily. In spite of my evil ex-wife slut.

Speaking of Lily, we played voicemail tag for a couple of days. She was hard to get hold of when she was working, and her free time seemed to coincide with my work time. We managed to speak on Thursday, and contrary to her claim that it would take half-an-hour of flirting with me before going dancing, it took almost an hour of flirting on the phone before she agreed to dinner and dancing on Sunday. 

Saturday morning, after a late night hoofing it, and dancing with strangers, I was worn out. My sixteen year old niece wasn't listening to my excuses. I'd promised her a hike around Afton. 

It was a great time, and a beautiful reminder of all the good that existed. After my dance outings, and with my upcoming date with Lily, I was feeling a little better about my situation. Allie was a great companion, still bugging me about using the new body she personally felt responsible for. 

"C'mon Uncle Peter. We've all heard about the complete bitch Aunt Jessie has become. It's time for you to move on."

"Maybe you should be telling that to your mother," I reminded her. "She's been single longer than me, and I don't see her dating much."

"Much is the keyword. She dates sometimes. The last few nights were the first time you'd been out in five months. And you were home a little after midnight every night. That's lame."

I had to laugh, and I told her I had work to go to in the mornings, and couldn't stay out all night. I also mentioned that I had a date for Sunday, and not to wait up. She was grinning and telling me about the single mothers of a couple of her friends by the time we got back to the house. That's all I needed. My niece setting my up on dates. 

~ * ~ * ~

The time out of the house was good for me, and I spent Sunday doing some more work around Billie's house, while anticipating my date that evening. She insisted I didn't need to pay rent, so I took some of what I would have paid her, and each week did a little more to restore the dilapidated mansion she lived in to some of its original glory. It was slow going, but I enjoyed the manual labor, and when my nephew John started pitching in, it gave me a chance to connect with him. 

I called it a day early, cleaning up for my date. I also took a few minutes out to call Theresa and confirmed my flight plans. We had a tentative date for late Friday night before I got to see the kids on Saturday. Assuming Jessica didn't pull any more of her stunts.

It was a forty minute drive to get to Lily's place, a significant improvement over the effort it took to see Theresa. When she came to the door, my insecurities resurfaced. She was stunning. What the hell did she see in a guy like me?

"Cat got your tongue?" Lily asked.

I realized I'd been staring. "Your gorgeous. I'm almost afraid to take you out in public. We'll be mobbed by admirers."

She laughed, and closed the door behind her.

"You're not going to lock the door?"

She shrugged. "I have roommates. We all crash here when we're not on the road. They'll take care of it." She leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "That's to reassure you that we're going to have a great evening together, and I'm happy to be with you."

Dinner was terrific, and we learned a little about each other's history. I didn't give her enough to scare her away, but she knew about my job, my sister and her kids, as well as my kids, and my marital status. She'd been married once, but it didn't stick. They parted amicably as friends, the biggest issue in their relationship their two jobs which left them almost no time together.

"I travel a lot, Peter. I'm out of town many nights, and I'm often exhausted when I am home. I'm not trying to scare you off, I just want to be up front with the situation."

"I understand. You can't be absent any more than my ex-wife was, and she never traveled. She just preferred to spend her time away from her family as much as possible." I hoped I wasn't coming off as bitter.

She grinned. "I'm not gone that much. I'm usually home at least three nights a week. One of those is typically in recuperation. I'm taking applications for the other two."

"I don't have a resume with me, but I'd happily fill out a form."

We had a nice dinner, and had only been in the bar a few minutes before my phone went off. Pachelbel's Canon. Of course. The evil bitch had a sixth sense. "I have to take this, it's probably nothing, but it could be about my kids."

Lily nodded in understanding, but didn't look pleased. I answered the phone, heading for the entrance where things might be quiet enough to actually hear something. "Jess?"

"Your children are monsters!" she shrieked in greeting.

I covered one ear with my hand, turning away from the large speakers blasting out Hank Jr. "I wouldn't know. I don't get to see them much. They weren't when they lived with me," I said.

"You're daughter's on the pill!"

I couldn't believe her. I knew she was a slut, but this was ridiculous. "What the hell are you thinking, Jess!? Trying to get her to follow in your shoes? What, did you take her to your doctor?"

"Of course not! She did it behind my back. She carries condoms with her. She's out of control. On top of that Tommy's trying to set the house on fire!"

I was tired of her lies and exaggeration. House on fire. Tommy? "You're going to have to deal with it. I'm not allowed to talk to them, remember? Besides I'm on a date. If it's not an emergency, you can call me at work. Goodbye." I hung up on her, before her screaming could shatter an eardrum, and returned to Lilly.

"Problems?" she asked.

"Nothing serious. Certainly not enough to warrant interrupting my evening with such a beautiful woman." I made a show of turning off my cellphone. "Come on. Let me show you how useless dance lessons are," I said, grinning.

They weren't a total failure, and she was gorgeous enough, and a good enough dancer that nobody even noticed me. We spent a few hours dancing and drinking, while trying to hear each other talk over the din of the music. At least it kept our heads close together, while we shouted at each other.

I was looking over her features, thinking how sexy her mouth was. She grinned. ". . .iss me . . ." she said loudly into my ear, most of the statement drowned out by Pistol Annie's Hell on Heels. It sounded like a hell of an offer, and I leaned in and pressed my lips against her glistening pair.

She pulled back in surprise after a few seconds. "What was that?" she asked.

"You said 'kiss me,' didn't you?" I said into her ear.

She stunned me by laughing. "Oh, Peter. I asked if you were going to miss me when I leave tomorrow. My next day off is Thursday."

I could feel myself blushing. Lily smiled and leaned forward, pressing her lips against mine, her tongue teasingly swiping my lip. "It might have been for the wrong reason, but that kiss you gave me was sweet." She leaned back, grinning at my drop-jawed response.

After a few more dances, and my date receiving far too much attention from the local Romeos, I thought it would be nice to move on. Someplace quieter. Which was anyplace but where we were.

"Ready to go?" I asked, my mouth to her ear, wanting to avoid any more misunderstandings, although the last worked out pretty well.

She nodded, and we headed for the door. I invited her out for dessert or a coffee, but she shot me down. At least she was kind about it. 

"I turn into a pumpkin at midnight," she said, her hand holding my arm, as we walked through the large parking lot. "I fly out tomorrow. But I had a great time. If I ask you if you're gonna miss me, you're not gonna do anything crazy are you?" she teased. 

I stopped, and turned her to face me. I leaned in and kissed her. She didn't resist. Not in the least. She leaned into my kiss and returned it in kind. When I pulled back, she was wearing a mischievous grin. "Miss me, Peter?"

"I'd love to, lovely Lily," I answered and gave her another only slightly shorter kiss. When I pulled away she was laughing. 

"I see what we have here is a failure to communicate," she said. "So are you going to kiss me while I'm gone?"

"I'd need lips bigger than Mick Jagger's to kiss you when you're gone. Can we do this again as soon as you get back?"

"Let's plan on Thursday night. I'm not scheduled for Friday, so I should have a later curfew."

We continued walking to the car, and I opened the door for her. I was brought up to be a gentleman, but it didn't stop me from getting a long look at her luscious legs. 

The trip back to her apartment wasn't far, but I knew I had little to no chance of doing anything that night. From the sound of things, she lived in a stewardess flop-house, with more women than there were beds. I would have to guess those were at a premium. I did get to walk her to the door. "Can I have a miss goodnight?" I asked.

"I guess you'll have to find that out on your own," she answered, looking into my eyes. In her dancing heels, her eyes were directly in front of my own. She was a tall woman, and ninety percent of that was her incredible legs.

The kiss started out slow, but I pulled her closer, one hand behind her head, the other around her waist, drawing her tightly against my body. She had to feel the effect of what her presence did to me, but she didn't pull back. If anything she ground against me a little.

When we were done, she gave me a quick peck on the cheek. "There's something about you, Peter . . ."

"Thursday?" I reminded her.

"I'll be there with bells on. Somehow I think I'll be kissing you a lot while I'm gone. Sorry to leave you like this," she said, with a knowing nod and glance below my waist.

"I'm not. I had a great time. You're a fascinating woman Lily."

"Fascinating?" she asked, as if the comment surprised her.

"In the least. I'm dying to learn more about you."

She gave me another knowing smile. "I bet you are."

"I am. And I'll be keeping up the dance lessons. I figure in another ten years or so I'll be worthy of wheeling you around the dance floor."

"Silly man. You're worthy now, or we wouldn't even be going out. Doesn't mean you should be giving up on the dance lessons." She gave me a wink, and put her hand on the door handle. I was a little surprised when it turned and the door opened a crack. Didn't these women know anything about security? A house full of attractive women, if they were anything at all like Lily, had to be a tempting target to those of questionable morals.

I wasn't looking forward to the long drive home I had ahead of me, before I could deal with the gift she'd left me in my boxers.

~ * ~ * ~

Monday I ran into Pia again at the office. She entered the elevator as I was headed down to go to lunch. She was alone. As we stepped off the elevator I struck up a conversation.

"Headed to lunch?" I asked.

She smiled as she buttoned up her overcoat before heading out into the cold. "Not today. I usually eat lunch at my desk. I need to run an errand for my kids. You?"

"I was thinking about a sandwich, but if you wouldn't mind the company, I'd prefer to spend lunch with a beautiful woman." I know. Not very slick, but I was really out of practice.

"Would you settle for spending it with me?" she asked, surprising the hell out of me.

I wanted to say something slick, humorous, debonair. I had to settle for mumbling through my slack jaw.

She laughed and grabbed my arm. "Let's go Peter."

It was the oddest lunch I'd ever been on. She was a chatterbox, and when she wasn't telling me about her life as a divorcée with two kids, she was peppering me with questions. I had no idea what was going on as I followed her to two different stores, carrying her bags, as the discussion continued.

She'd been divorced two years. It hadn't been as bitter or contentious as mine.

"He still loved me, at least that's what he said. I had no idea he had a mistress, and that's all you could call it. He paid for her apartment and everything. When she turned up pregnant, he chose her. I wasn't happy about it, but he was generous in the divorce, and he's a pretty good absentee father."

"Why do they do it, Pia?" I had to ask, wanting to kick myself as soon as the words were out of my mouth.

"Hell if I know. If you figure it out, I'd love to know. There was nothing missing at home. He was still loving and attentive. I thought we had a great marriage. How about you?"

I laughed. "I wish. I should have figured something was going on. She was working ninety hours a week. Pulling in a ton of money, but never home. Our love life was anything but loving, on the rare occasion she decided to bless me with her presence. I turned all my attention toward the kids, working forty to fifty hours a week, and spending all my remaining moments with them."

"And now they're halfway across the country, and you're stuck here. Sucks, doesn't it?"

"To say the least. At least I've been able to concentrate on work most of the time. At least one part of my life is going well." I gave her a grin. "I'll make that two parts, if you say you'll go to lunch with me tomorrow."

Her laugh was light and cheerful. "How about I bring in lunch, and we can eat in the cafeteria? Get to know each other a little."

"That works for me. Meet you downstairs at noon?"

"Can you make it eleven forty-five? I hate having to fight for a table."

"Eleven forty-five it is."

~ * ~ * ~

So my new life started to settle in. I had lunch with Pia, and went to the open dance lessons in the evening, and talked to Lily on the phone whenever she called. I would have called her, but her schedule made it difficult. After lunch Tuesday, I even convinced Pia to join me for an early dinner after work. Yeah, things were looking up.




Do Not Pass Go 05 - Peter's Antics



Wednesday after lunch I was listening to some of Lily's adventures, while she filled in a few more details on her past life. I was at work, but took a break to take her call. I'd be damned if I was going to miss a chance to talk to her. Only one more day before our next date. 

"We were hot and heavy for a couple of years, but it was the work that killed it," she said. "His job in sales had him travelling damn near as much as me. Neither of us wanted to give up our jobs, and I wasn't ready for kids. Or so I told myself. We drifted apart. Even after we got divorced, we still lived together for almost a year, friends with benefits when we were around at the same time."

That made two of them. Amicable divorces. How come I was stuck with the devil's handmaiden for a wife?

"Ever regret it? Not having kids, neither of you giving in on the travel?" I asked.

I heard her sigh. "Sometimes. Not all that often. I don't think either of us were cut out for a family at that time. I suspected that I wasn't his only port, although he never rubbed it in my face. By the end, he wasn't mine either." She paused briefly. "I don't have any serious attachments at the moment, but I'm not celibate."

I had to laugh. "I've not had much of a choice," I said. "It's taken me a while to get over the situation, but I think I'm ready to move on."

"Thinking of taking me for a test-drive?" she teased.

"Test-drive? I'm counting my blessings every time I get to see you. Every moment I spend talking to you convinces me I want to see more of you. Both literally and figuratively."

She laughed. "That's a different way of saying you want to get into my panties."

"Don't get me wrong. I'm dying to get into those, but there's a hell of a lot more going on here, at least for me, then that."

"More? Hmmm, tell me about it."

"You are so easy to talk to. So confident, so beautiful. You move so gracefully. The experiences you've had make me green with envy. I keep picturing myself sharing those experiences with you. I'm looking for more than a few hours of incredible pleasure and endless orgasms for you. More than hearing you shriek my name as I eat you alive."

"You think I'm a screamer?" I could hear her smiling on the other end of the phone.

"I know I'm dying to find out. If you're not, we'll know once and for all by the time I'm done with you."

"Tomorrow night work for you?" she asked.

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I'll make sure to get the big bed. I've got a feeling we're going to use every inch of it, if that works for you."

I was about to confirm when another damn call came in. It only took a second to see the number was Jess. She'd given up with the five a.m. wake up calls, and now was determined to interrupt my phone dates. I wanted to ignore it, but there was that one chance in a thousand it was something important about the kids. I hated to do it, but I had to switch over. "My damn ex is calling. Can you hold on a second? It could be about my kids," I explained.

She sighed, and assured me it was alright. I hit the flash button.

"What is it this time, Jess?" I asked grouchily.

"Don't take that tone with me, Peter. It's bad enough that your son has no respect! I don't need that crap from you. I can't believe you hung up on me Sunday!"

"Never mind. I'm busy," I explained, ready to hang up on her.

"Tommy's out of control!" she hissed into the phone. "He's playing with fire now, burning things up. He tried to set the porch on fire!"

I didn't know what kind of game she was playing, but I was pretty sure she was exaggerating things like usual. "So take the matches away from him. He's your responsibility, remember? I get no say in his upbringing, you made sure of that."

"Did you hear me? Tommy is threatening to set my bed on fire!"

"I thought your endless stream of lovers was supposed to do that."

"This isn't funny, Peter. You need to talk to him. Straighten him out. Him and Jenna both. The girl is becoming a complete slut, sleeping around, giving blowjobs to half the football team."

"Hmm. I wonder where she learned those morals from?" I asked.

"You are such an asshole! You need to fix this, Peter. They won't listen to me."

"I can't Jess. You know that. I can't call them, I can't speak to them. I can't meet with them unless I'm under CPS supervision. Your decision not mine."

"Please, Peter. You may hate me, but these are your kids. You have to do something!"

"I can't. Listen, Jess. I'm busy right now. I don't want to talk about this. I'll visit them in less than a week, if they're all there, all of them, I'll see what I can do. Don't call me until then." I hung up on her, before I had to listen to any more of her shrieking. "I'm back," I said into the phone, hoping that Lily hadn't gotten tired of waiting.

Luckily she answered. "Problems with the kids?"

"Probably not. My ex knows nothing about being a mother. Never made the effort to learn in the last half-dozen years. Anytime things get rough, she wants me to intercede, even though she knows that I'm not allowed."

"What if it really is serious?" she asked.

"Then I'd hear from the kids. They email me. My middle girl has got a head on her shoulders. She'd warn me if something serious was going on. All I hear about is how their mother is never, ever home. They live with their grandmother and a nanny most of the time. Exactly like I knew they would, but I had no say in the matter, thanks to the fucked up court system."

I hated that what had been a great morning was turning to shit. My mood was soured, and I sure as hell didn't want Lily to notice. "Enough of that. We're still on for dancing tomorrow? I may have picked up a few new moves this week."

She laughed. "I hope so. We still need to work on that. It's cool that you're trying."

"Of course! It's obvious you love to dance. Which means I need to learn to love it as well." I couldn't let her previous implied offer go. "I'll let work know I'll be in late Friday. I have a feeling it's going to be a very exhausting evening."

"I'm counting on it. Gotta go, see you tomorrow night."

I was hoping to see a lot of her.

~ * ~ * ~

I couldn't believe how much my life had changed in just a few weeks. I'd had lunch with Pia, my phone date with Lily, and by 5:30 I was going out again for dinner and a few drinks. It was a pretty casual date, but I wasn't complaining. Pia wasn't the stunning woman that Lily was, but she was attractive, cheerful and easy to talk to. I was comfortable with her. 

When we got to her house, she invited me in for coffee and to meet her kids. She had a son, fourteen, and a daughter age eleven. They were courteous and well-behaved. She lived in a gorgeous home, and I couldn't help but take it all in.

"Seven more years. When Kendall turns eighteen, I have to sell it, or buy out my husband's half. That isn't likely to happen. But that's Ok, once I'm alone, I won't have any need for this monstrosity."

"Monstrosity? It's gorgeous!" I told her.

"It is, but it wasn't my choice. He had to have it. A status symbol. Almost six thousand square feet. It's ridiculous for us, but I'm not going to upset the apple cart. He pays the mortgage and utilities, and when we're done, it'll mean my half is worth that much more. I'll need that money once the child-support and alimony end." She sighed. "I must sound like a gold-digger. I'm just hoping that when we sell it, I can make enough money to buy a small place outright, without having to pay a mortgage."

"It sounds like you expect to be single the rest of your life," I said.

"There's not a lot of options for a thirty-six year old mother of two who works. It's a lot of baggage. I'm preparing for the worst, although I'm still keeping my fingers crossed."

At the end of our date, she walked me back to our car. With a nervous look behind her, she leaned in through my car window and kissed me. Big time. She blushed sweetly. 

"I had a wonderful time, Pete. I hope we can do this again sometime."

Her face was still only inches from mine, leaning in through the window. I put my hand behind her head, and held her in place while I kissed her even more thoroughly. When I was done, I released her with one last quick peck. "We'll definitely be doing this again, if I have my choice, Pia."

I drove home, once again wondering what the hell was going on in my life. And how the hell it had ever gotten to where it was. I was only a mile from her house, when the phone rang. Jess. I was in too good a mood to let her ruin it. I let it go to voice mail, figuring I could check it when I was home. Nothing could be that serious.

~ * ~ * ~

I had lunch with Pia the following day, and was astounded at how much we had in common. We were not openly affectionate at work, but there were still those glances and 'accidental' touches that made it clear there was something going on. 

It wasn't until after lunch, that I remembered the call from my ex. I felt guilty about that. What if something really bad had happened. I listened to her shrieking into the phone. "Call me! Your kids are out of control!"

I didn't want to do it, but I really had no choice. She could make my life hell if I didn't. There's no describing how relieved I felt when it went to voicemail.

"Hey Jess. I'm returning your call. I'm not sure what you expect me to do about the kids, from up here. I'll be back Saturday for my supervised visit. If you want to talk afterwards, we can. See you then."

It was with enormous relief that I hung up without having to speak with her. Things were finally going my way.

Before leaving that evening, I caught my boss, Tate. I was feeling a little bad about taking off Fridays every other week. He laughed it off.

"You lived in the office for five months, Peter," he said. "You've earned a few days comp time. Honestly, I'm glad to see you getting out earlier. I was starting to worry you'd burn out, the rate you were going."

"No chance of that. I needed the escape. But things are finally starting to come together back in Virginia, and this is the third time in a row I'm going to get to see my kids."

He nodded. He knew my story. I'd filled him in as soon as I'd arrive, alone. He'd expected me to have my family with me. "It's good to see you socializing. Pia, huh?" He gave me a big grin. The office wasn't big enough to have many secrets.

"Just friends so far. I'm not ready to start dating any one person seriously yet," I explained. I didn't mention my date with Lily that night, or my Friday plans for Theresa. 

He didn't lose his grin. "She's a looker, and a great girl. You might want to give her a chance."

"I might at that. But I'm not going to rush it."

He laughed, holding his hands up. "Hey, I'm not pushing. I just think it's great that I'm beginning to see some of the old Peter again. You were kind of an anti-social grouch there for a while. I like the old you a whole lot better."

"Me too, Tate. Me too. Thanks for giving me the leeway with my time off. I think, with any luck, the old me is back to stay."

That night it was finally time for my date with Lily again, going out dancing after a light dinner. There's no denying it, the woman loves to dance.

Coming off the dance floor, she was glowing, and I was proud to be seen with her. It was still hard to believe that anyone who looked like that would be interested in me. I guess my wife had done a superlative job of crushing my ego.

"You're getting better," she said as we took a seat. "Keep up the lessons."

I couldn't help but grin. Better but not good. "I get it. I still have two left feet, but at least they're the same size now. It's progress."

She leaned forward, and kissed my cheek. "I've got the big bedroom tonight. Care for dessert?"

Lily laughed joyously as I threw a pair of twenties on the table, took her wrist, and practically dragged her out of the building. She was still chuckling as I tugged her along to the car. "A little eager, are we?"

"Eager beaver," I replied. "As you'll soon find out." I'd had my hopes up, after our last call. I'd let them know I might be in late for work. I reached into my pocket, and pulled out my Viagra. I wasn't taking any chances. No way.

Walking through her living room, we passed two of her housemates. "No time for chat," she said airily, taking me to the back of the house. We left to the sound of giggles.

In the room, she closed the door, and fell into my arms. The kisses were as wonderful as ever, hot, inviting, promising. I undressed her, catching my breath, mesmerized. 

There are many women who look much better clothed than they do naked. Hell, I'd go so far as to say most. My ex-wife, an attractive woman, was one of them. Not Lily.

Naked, she was a dream come true. Centerfold worthy. Heartrendingly gorgeous. I was stunned.

She smiled, obviously aware of what she did to me. "See anything you like, handsome?"

"Everything," I groaned.

She backed up to the bed smiling, sitting down, and scooting toward the middle. "Prove it."

I wanted nothing more than to worship her temple. I climbed between her legs, looking at her, touching her softly, teasing her open.

"Don't tease me, Peter. I've been thinking about this all week. I need you."

My finger brushed against her clit, flicking it gently, making her legs jerk in response. "Please, baby," she moaned.

I nibbled my way down her thighs, smelling her need as I got nearer to her crotch. One tiny lick had her moaning. Adding a single finger, and feasting on her moist pussy had her trembling and groaning. Sucking on her clit while finger fucking her, had her clamping my head between her thighs, pulling on my hair, and crying out my name. Damn, I like the sound of that.

My cock was as hard as it gets, and before she could come down off of her high, I was inside her, thrusting away needily, hammering at her, doing my best to drive her through the mattress and the underlying floor. I had been too long without a woman, and I'd never been with anyone as beautiful as her. I didn't last more than a couple of minutes, before I was pumping her full of my seed, groaning her name.

With the first one out of the way, we laid beside each other catching our breath. I heard her chuckle.

"What?"

"You were right about the eager part."

"Yeah. Sorry about that. Too much foreplay."

"Foreplay? One kiss, and you were on me!"

"I mean the weeks of foreplay getting here. The teasing and desire. Hell, all that dancing? That foreplay."

She scooted closer, and I reached for her, pulling her close. "I'm not done with you."

"I hope not," she said.

"I'm willing to prove it," I said, reaching over and toying with her nipple.

"We have all night, lover. Let's clean up, and take our time with the next one."

Sounded like a plan to me. We showered together, and I caught a few furtive glances from her roommates, checking us out. 

We returned to the bed, and took our time. Mutual oral led to more outrageous fucking. Outrageous on my part, I couldn't get enough of that sexy body. She was willing, and allowed me to have my way with her, putting her in the most delightfully decadent positions. I made a much better showing the second time, and after a short interlude, a bowl of ice cream, and a brief conversation with another of her housemates, I even managed a third showing.

"Do you have anywhere you need to be?" she asked, as I relaxed beside her, deliciously sated.

I turned toward her, once again stunned by her beauty. I kissed her shoulder softly. "No need to be subtle with me, Lily. We're both adults. If it's time for me to go—"

She laughed sweetly. "I wasn't hinting at anything, lover. I'd like you to stay. I didn't know if anyone at home might be waiting up for you, that's all. Hell, I even labeled our breakfast so nobody would take it. Unlabeled food in the frig has a tendency to disappear. Especially bacon."

"Bacon? Damn woman, gorgeous, an animal in bed, easy to talk to, a divine dancer, and now bacon? Shit, you may never get rid of me at this rate. Nope, I'm not going anywhere."

She pulled away from me, and rolled off the bed. "Sounds like a plan. Let's shower and change the sheets. If you serve me breakfast in bed, I'll provide another helping of dessert."

I barely made it to my flight the next day. I blame it on Lily. I had two helpings of dessert.

~ * ~ * ~

When I turned my phone back on, upon arriving at Dulles airport, I had four voicemails waiting for me. The first was from her highness, threatening to stop the kids from seeing me if I kept avoiding her calls. What a surprise. 

The second call was from Lily. It was much more pleasant, thanking me for a wonderful evening, and leaving me her schedule. That was a call I regretted missing, and was looking forward to returning.

The next one left me feeling guilty.

"Hey Peter, it's me. I missed you at lunch today. I guess this is your weekend with the kids. I'll see you Monday."

Damn. I should have told her I'd be out. It wasn't like there was anything official about our lunch dates, but I hated to think of her waiting at the table for me. Another call I'd have to return. 

The fourth call was the most disappointing.

"Peter, Theresa. Bad news, I was supposed to get off at five, but it looks like I'll be stuck here until at least seven, until Brenda can get in. If you want, you can meet me at the restaurant. I'm taking her shift until she arrives. Hope to see you soon."

I sat down in the passenger waiting area. No hurry to get anywhere. It was barely five o'clock, and only a half hour or so to get to Theresa's restaurant. 

When you have several things to do, always take on the worst one first. From there, things can only get better. Keeping that in mind, I called Jess. I got her voicemail. Again. She was going to be spitting bullets. "Jess, it's me. I'm not avoiding your calls. This is the second voicemail I've left. I was on the airplane when you called last, and my phone was off. Federal regulations and all that. I'm in town, and if it's urgent you can give me a call. Otherwise, I'll see the kids tomorrow at two o'clock, and we can talk afterwards if you'd like. Bye."

That was a relief. Huge. I dialed Pia's number while still grinning. It only took me a few minutes to apologize for not letting her know I'd be out all day. We chatted for a few minutes, and I confirmed our ongoing lunch date for Monday, and even finagled a real date for the following Friday. I imagine the smile I was wearing couldn't have been much smaller than the Joker's artificial one by the time I finished dialing Lily's number.

"Peter! I didn't expect to hear from you. Aren't you supposed to be visiting the kids?"

"I am. I just arrived in Virginia. I'll be seeing them tomorrow, and having a talk with the ex tomorrow. I got your schedule. Can you pencil me in for Wednesday?"

"Of course. Nothing I'd like better. Dancing?"

"Dinner, dancing, and dessert, I'm hoping."

"Hmmm," she purred. "I think we might be able to manage that. Any big plans for the evening?"

"Not much. I'm still at the airport. I was going to see a friend for dinner, but it looks like she's working late."

"A female friend? Should I be concerned?" she teased. 

I wondered for a second if she expected us to be exclusive. We had never discussed it. Crap. Now I felt guilty as hell. "Concerned? Over me being stood up by a woman that lives over 700 miles away?"

She laughed. "Well, make sure you behave. Thanks for calling. I won't hold you up from getting to your hotel. If you get bored, you can call me later, but I'm going to go to bed early. I've got the nine-fifteen flight tomorrow morning. I've got to be up by five-thirty."

"I just may do that. I'm afraid the ex is going to call. We've been playing phone tag for two days. She sounds irate, but that's nothing new. Believe me, I'd much rather talk to you."




Do Not Pass Go 05 - Peter's Antics



"Me too. If we don't connect, I'll talk to you Sunday. I think we'll both be out of pocket tomorrow."

With the requisite calls out of the way, I took a cab over to Theresa's restaurant. I'll admit it, I felt a little weird walking into the place with a carry-on bag. Then again, I've done stranger things. I bellied up to the bar, and ordered a martini while waiting. The music blaring overhead hadn't changed since the last time. I wondered if the owner didn't have a single old eight track that he played constantly.

The familiar neon-green polo entered my vision. She still looked damn good. Hair pulled back with a rainbow into her usual working pony tail, her hazel eyes had dark bags under them. She looked exhausted, and frazzled. "Long day?" I asked.

Theresa nodded. "I had the shit shift. Been here since nine forty-five."

"Listen, if it's not a good time—"

"Oh no you don't! The only thing getting me through the day was looking forward to you showing up. I'll be damned if I'm going to let anything mess that up."

She was gone moments later, and reappeared with a large tray, maneuvering her way between the tables. It was after six, I figured maybe an hour before Theresa and I could have our second 'date'. I watched her, discreetly of course, as she tended her customers. Inevitably, I compared her to the other women in my life. She was young, curvaceous, with her long blonde hair tied back, bouncing as she walked. So different from Lily's sleek and sculpted look, or Pia's mature comfortable figure. 

It was nearly eight o'clock, and three martinis later when she ambled my way. "I'm so sorry, Peter. Brenda was supposed to be here over an hour ago. The boss said if she didn't show, I'd be the first one he let off tonight. The rush is almost over."

"I'm patient, beautiful. Whatever happens, we'll work around it, alright?"

She brushed her hair back from her face, where a few tendrils had escaped from the hair band. "I don't know why shit like this keeps happening to us. I promise I'll make it up to you."

Then she was gone, leaving a cloud of her perfume in her wake. 

It was nine-twenty when she dragged her worn out butt over to where I was sitting. A three hour flight, three more hours parked on a bar stool, two bowls of peanuts, five martinis, and I was just about as worn out as her. She plopped down next to me. "Sorry," she said.

"No apology necessary. Shall me go?"

She nodded silently, and I placed my hand on the small of her back, guiding her out the door. "Your place for a shower and a change of clothing?"

"You read my mind."

I received a tired kiss from her as we entered her apartment. She disappeared in back, and an hour later I went looking for her. She was lying on her bed, hair still wet, wrapped in a towel, sound asleep. I couldn't blame her, she'd worked a twelve hour day. Still, I felt cheated.

I sighed, and took a shower of my own. When I came out, she'd rolled over, and her towel had come undone, exposing her body to my eyes. Damn, she was a good looking girl. I lifted her in my arms, and she woke, startled for a moment. Her eyes slowly focused as I set her down again. "I . . . I'll be ready in a bit. I guess I fell asleep."

Leaning down I gave her a short kiss on the lips. "Relax. You're obviously worn out, and to be honest, it's been a long day for me. How about a quiet night, a lengthy massage, and you can make it up to me in the morning?"

A little smile turned up the corner of her lips. "That massage, am I giving or receiving?"

"Receiving, of course. I can't resist touching that body of yours."

She stretched languidly, her smile growing. "You have a deal. Just remember, the better the massage, the better the makeup sex tomorrow morning."

I spent an eternity rubbing her all over, spending a long time on her poor worn out feet. I found some lotion in her bathroom that I put to good use. I have to admit, I felt more than a little guilty, wondering what I was doing with this child. She was so young, and not much more than a booty call. I had a good thing going at home with Lily, never mind how things were progressing with Pia. And there I was, lying on a 23 year olds bed, rubbing her down, planning on doing all types of nasty things to her in the morning.

I thought she was asleep, when she rolled over, opening her arms and legs to me, her eyes barely open. "Love me, Peter," she purred.

I leaned over her, kissing her softly. "Relax, beautiful," I whispered, moving down her body. I only gave her tits passing attention, before I lodged myself between her legs, going down on her gently, teasingly, just enough to make sure she was ready for me. Over an hour of caressing her naked body had me ready for more.

When her soft moans started, I climbed back up her, easing into her tightness. 

"God, this is just what I needed. Thank you," she whispered, as I stroked into her steadily.

It wasn't the wild, crazy sex I'd hoped for, but it was several minutes of pleasure that hit the spot. I wasn't able to get her off, but there'd be plenty of time for that in the morning. When I erupted inside of her, she reached up and tenderly stroked my cheek. 

I barely had enough energy to get up and get a washcloth to clean us both up. I turned off the lights, and climbed into bed with her, spooning, caressing her, until I faded.

The next morning I woke to an ongoing blowjob. The second time in two days. I sighed, and she sat up, smiling. "You awake?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe you should do that a little more to be sure. I might be dreaming."

She giggled, and mounted me. "Sorry I fell asleep on you. It's been a tough week."

"Mmmhmm," I hummed, while she eased back and forth on my cock. 

It was incredible, so exciting and relaxing at the same time. The ultimate in decadence. I felt like I could go on forever, and when she came down from her first big orgasm I pulled her down into my arms, kissing her. "That was a nice start," I teased.

"We even?"

"Not even close."

She giggled, wiggling her hips. "Then I guess we better get going. I've got nowhere I need to be until after two. How about you?"

"I should leave around one."

She looked over at the clock. "That mean we have a little more than three hours. Does that give you any ideas?"

It did, and I was eager to act on them. I admit, maybe we were both a little optimistic. It wasn't even noon before I knew I was down for the count, no matter how diligent and delightful her efforts were. I was also starving. After we each took a shower, we headed out for lunch at a neighborhood Thai restaurant, and I kissed her goodbye on the sidewalk out front. 

"Sure you can't stay one more night? I get off at ten," she pouted cutely.

"Not this time. I really do need to get back. Maybe in a couple of weeks? I'll call."

She gave me another quick kiss, and a quick butt squeeze. "This morning was nice."

"Nice? Not mind-blowing, incredible, diary-filling?"

She laughed. "Even if it was, do you think I'd blow up your ego like that?"

She was still laughing as she walked away. 

~ * ~ * ~

I had been checking my phone diligently, nervously, waiting for the ball to drop. I was certain that at some point my evil ex-wife was going to call with one more reason to interfere with me seeing the kids. Even sitting in the anteroom, awaiting my appointment, I was convinced something would happen to ruin my day.

The bored woman from CPS escorted me into the room at 2:00 on the nose, reciting the usual rules and regulations. After just a couple of minutes, my kids entered the room, and I was almost bowled over by the three of them. I don't think anything had ever felt as wonderful as that group hug. They were instantly chattering away, as I gaze at them.

That's when I noticed. "Traci? What happened to your face?" She had a black eye, and a bruise on her cheek.

"Mom's boyfriend hit me," she announced loudly.

The words struck me like a fist to the stomach. "He . . . he hit you?"

"Wednesday."

Jenna nodded. "He's a real jerk, Dad. Can't you come home? I can't stand the guy. He keeps touching me, and then Mom blames it on me, and sends me to my room."

"Touches you?"

"He's gross. He's always staring at me. As soon as Mom leaves the room . . ." she shuddered. 

I felt like my head was going to explode. I looked up at Tommy, and he wouldn't hold my eye. I noticed that the CPS woman for once didn't look bored. She was frantically scribbling away.

"Who is this creep?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.

"Some teacher that works with Mom. Thinks he's God's gift to the world," Traci said. "They're disgusting. They don't even wait for us to go to bed before they start having sex. Last time they didn't even close the door."

"You . . . you saw them?" I asked.

"You couldn't miss it, Dad," Jenna said. "I think he likes showing off. Last night, when Mom was taking care of Traci, he wanted to talk about me going to college, while he was naked. I mean, I saw his thing and everything. It was gross."

Traci nodded. "He's got a tattoo on his butt. Last thing I ever wanted to see. I think I'm scarred for life."

"Where's your mother now," I said. This had to stop. I was willing to put up with a lot, but exposing my kids to, to that? No fucking way!

I had stood and was walking toward the exit before I even realized what I was doing. The woman in the room with us hurried over and stood between me and the door. "Please, Mr. Wilkes. You need to calm down. Your kids need you." She actually looked concerned.

"Damn it, you heard what they said! You and the damn system took my kids away, and . . . and gave them to that slut!"

The woman looked nervous. "We'll look into it, I promise. All we want it what's best for the kids."

Traci was tugging at my shirt. "Don't Dad. It's not that bad. It's not like we ever see her. She's never home. It's only the second time she's brought any of her lovers home."

The CPS woman knelt down facing Traci. "You don't see her?"

Traci shook her head. "Whole days go by without us ever seeing her. She's always at work, or out with her boyfriends."

"I'm sure it's not that bad," the woman said.

"Really? Alright, how about . . ." Traci opened a notebook she had with her that I hadn't noticed. "Monday, she was gone fifteen hours. We were stuck with Grandma getting drunk out on the porch, and ate alone. I was in bed reading, when she finally showed up." She glanced down. "Tuesday, was better, she came home in time to send us to bed." Traci flipped through the pages. "In the last two months, other than a few hours on the weekend, we see her an average of less than one hour a day."

"Can I see that?" the CPS woman asked, holding out her hand.

Traci was reluctant to give up her goods. "You're going to give it back, right?"

"Of course. I won't even hold it that long." She turned to me. "Mr. Wilkes, you only have an hour and a half with your kids. Spend the time with them. They need you. Please."

I nodded slowly, then walked back to the table. Sitting down, my mind was spinning. The notebook was the giveaway. The kids sat down around me, and I looked at Traci. She blushed. Damn it.

My voice was barely a whisper, "This is all your idea, isn't it?"

"I had to do something, Dad. I had to. And the asshole really did knock me down. It's a real black eye."

Jenna interrupted. "The guy stares at me all the time. All the time."

I glanced over at Tommy. The boy was slow to respond. "He hates me. He said so."

"Who is this guy?" I asked.

"William, something," Traci said.

"He teaches 'titerature'. At least that's what he said to me," Jenna added.

"Your notebook?" I asked Traci.

"I started tracking her comings and goings about two weeks after she fell into her old ways. She really is never home," Traci said.

The CPS woman had left us alone for a couple of minutes, but she opened the door and quietly took her seat. I noticed that she didn't have Traci's notebook. She saw me looking at her, and she nodded toward the kids. She had a point. My time was limited.

"Alright," I announced, sitting back. "Fill me in. How's school going?"

The kids looked at each other, some kind of message going to between them. I was nervous, and more than a little concerned for the ex-wife, believe it or not. I was afraid this would happen if Traci got involved. She was scary smart, charting even higher than Jess.

I learned about Traci's newest musical piece, her straight A's, and her writing paper that had been entered in a regional contest. Jenna talked about her soccer game, which her mother hadn't attended, dropping her off, since she had something 'important' to do. Tommy worried me a little. I asked him what he was reading lately. The Prince and Sun Tzu's Art of War. I glanced over at Traci.

"Not my doing," she said, grinning.

Then they started interrogating me. I found myself avoiding any talk about Theresa, but opening up about my dance lessons, and dating Lily. I also told them all about Pia, her kids and the big house they lived in. We talked about their cousins, and the park hikes. I caught them up on everything, when the door opened. Another bureaucrat entered, handing our CPS overseer a packet, before slipping out again.

I checked the clock and we'd run over by a good fifteen minutes. The woman approached, with Traci's notebook, handing it to her. "I figured a few minutes over wouldn't hurt, since things were interrupted," she said. "Do you have a few minutes to talk?" 

"I really need to talk with my wife," I said, feeling the anger build again.

"Please, sir. It's important. Your wife will still be here when we're done. They'll be interviewing her for a while."

"Alright, can I say goodbye to my kids?"

"Of course, take your time, I'll be outside when you're ready."

She left us alone, and I gathered the monsters in for a group hug. "I know what you're doing," I whispered.

"Someone has to, Dad," Traci insisted.

"Please, you guys have to back off. We can't take any chances on messing things up before I get my day in court."

"When's that gonna be, Dad?" Jenna snapped. "After Mom's fuck-toy has broken Traci's arm, and raped me? Will that be soon enough for you?"

"Jenna, watch your language."

She rolled her eyes at me. "Whatever."

"I'm serious. I'm going to talk to my lawyer, and your mother. Things are going to change. I promise."

"Yeah, the same lawyer that's done so well for you so far, right? I'm not holding my breath," Traci said.

I was losing them. I knew it then. They didn't have faith in me. Not that I could blame them. My record so far wasn't anything to brag about. "Just be careful, alright?" I pleaded.

That won a big grin from Traci. "Of course, Dad. We're very careful. You go back to your new girlfriends, and let us handle this."

Tommy nodded eagerly. "We got this Dad. 'Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.'"

"The Prince," Traci explained.

Shit. They were out of control.

~ * ~ * ~

The conversation with the CPS workers wasn't as long as I'd thought it might be. They asked me some questions about my wife's companions, which I had to confess no knowledge of, except that I'd seen her with one, and she'd confessed that they'd existed. Strangely they asked me a lot about Barb.

They also asked me about my current employment, where I was living, and my intentions as far as remaining in Minnesota, and if I was considering at any point returning to Virginia or the D.C. suburbs. I had to admit that it wasn't something I was considering, but if it meant getting my kids, I'd start looking for a job in the region immediately.

They kept me about half an hour, longer than they'd suggested at the beginning. At the end they told me they'd be recommending to family court that I no longer needed supervision seeing the kids. That was an unexpected windfall, and the thought of free access to my children brought tears to my eyes I struggled to hide.

When I left the conference room, I felt better about my situation than I had in months. The kids were with one of the CPS workers, and I sat down with them while we waited for their mother. Apparently her interview was taking a little longer.

"What's going on Dad?" Traci asked.

"I'm not sure. They mostly wanted to talk about my situation. They did tell me they're going to recommend we won't need supervision for future visits."

Tommy looked up from the magazine he was reading. "That's good news, isn't it?"

"That's great news. One step in the right direction."

I saw Traci's smirk of satisfaction. I needed to nip that in the bud. "I bet your real proud of yourself right now, aren't you?"

She was caught and she knew it. "Pretty much. Don't be mad, Dad. We had to do something. It was getting out of hand."

"You do understand, if they catch you in any lies, it will probably ruin everything. Any progress we'd been making would be ruined." I gave all of them a long serious look. "No more guerrilla tactics. We'll work the system. Things are starting to turn my way, and we don't want to jeopardize that. Understood?"

They all nodded hesitantly, barely able to meet my eyes.

At that point, Jess came barreling out of the meeting she'd been in. She was obviously unhappy. She barely even slowed as she passed us. "We're going. Now. You too, Peter."

Obviously, her meeting hadn't gone as well. She was pissed. 

We poured into the car, and her attitude put a damper on everything. Hardly a word was said on the entire way home. I tried to start a conversation a couple of times, but she nearly bit my head off. That was fine. What we needed to talk about was better done away from young prying ears.

Jess pulled into the driveway, and didn't even pause before almost running into the house. The kids all looked to me, as we walked up the path to the front door. "Your mother and I are going to have a serious talk. I need you all to lay low, and don't antagonize her, alright?"

Traci looked like she had something to say, but I cut her off. "This is not a discussion. You will behave, and give your mother and I some privacy."

I took a deep breath and prepared to brace the dragon. 

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~



Do Not Pass Go 06 - Boss Traci



The turning of the tide - my ending to LightontheSound's Do Not Pass Go.

There is no underage sexual activity in this story.

http://www.literotica.com/s/do-not-pass-go

In chapter 5 of my continuation, Dad's still fucking around, not doing much about the situation with the wife and kids. He's irritated with wife's calls, reminding her that the setup was what she wanted. He's not getting involved, until the CPS and restraining order are taken care of.

He's got three women he's involved with to different degrees, and that seems to be his biggest concern, until the two hour visit with the kids, when all their machinations finally start bearing fruit, including getting CPS involved, and getting Dad off his ass and doing something.

Maybe, maybe, he'll finally do something. 

There are too damn many intriguing stories that are never completed, or left hanging with disgusting endings. If I find a story that's been abandoned for too long, I'll give you my idea of an ending. Fair warning though, I don't write about total wimps. May not be BTB, all nuclear and shit, but no voluntary cucks, or whiny simpering wimps. 

For Information on how I choose which stories to continue, please read my profile.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Traci

We had barely walked in the door, before the Momster was screaming at us in all her full glory. 

"Go to your rooms! All of you! I don't want to see or hear from you before dinner, am I understood?" 

Dad gave us a nod toward the back of the house, then turned to face Mom. "Ever the loving parent. I'm surprised they haven't given you an award as mother of the year," Dad said. His voice dripped with sarcasm. I guess he really was pissed at Mom. 

We were walking up the hallway, when Mom started in on Dad. "You fucking bastard! I don't know what you're trying to pull, but you're not going to get away with it. You keep this up and I'll make sure you never see those brats again!"

It was going to be a bad one, I knew it. I sent Tommy to his room, and joined Jenna in hers. "We need some kind of recorder," I said.

Jenna just smiled, and pulled out her phone. I watched her tap the front, and a picture of a microphone showed up, filling the screen. She hit the little red button at the bottom, and the meter arm jumped to the middle, jiggling.

"How long will it last?" I asked.

"I don't know. More than an hour."

Armed with the recorder, I convinced Jenna to stay in her room, while I snuck down the hall, and recorded the one way conversation going on between Mom and Dad. So far it had all been Mom screaming and shouting, calling Dad, the CPS people, and us names. I don't think I'd ever seen her so angry.

"I don't know how you did it, Peter, but you're going to be sorry. Take my word on that," she shouted, doing her best to keep all the neighbors updated on our business.

"Did you ever stop to think that having your fuck-toys in the house, and letting them assault our children might not be the smartest thing you've ever done?" Dad said.

"You have no idea what's going on, do you? William didn't do anything wrong. Those monsters are the problem."

"So he didn't give Traci a black eye?" Dad asked.

For once the Momster was slow to answer. "It wasn't like that, Peter. It was an accident. You can blame that on Tommy, if you want to blame anyone. The little pyro tried to set William's car on fire. He was just coming out to see the damage. He knocked her over by accident. He apologized."

"Yeah. I'm sure it was an accident. And I don't suppose he was hitting on Jenna, touching her inappropriately. The girl is terrified of him, Jess! What the hell were you thinking?"

"Terrified, right. Your innocent little girl was the one hitting on William. Prancing around the house barely dressed. I don't believe he ever touched her."

"Really. She says every time you left them alone together he was all over her. What the fuck are you doing leaving that pedophile alone with our daughter?" Dad was almost as loud as Mom. I was surprised he had the cojones to stand up for us. It was about friggin' time.

"Jesus, Peter, I can't be watching all three of them every minute of every day!"

"No, but you could leave your fuck-buddies at the motels, the backseat of your car, or wherever you play your slut games. Not bring them home," Dad said.

"Fuck you. It was your precious nerd that insisted Tommy and Jenna needed a man's influence. We both know that excludes you."

"Yeah, it's so much better to bring a child-beating pedophile into their lives. Where the hell do you get off having sex with him in front of the girls! Jesus, Jess, I didn't think even you would stoop that low."

"Now it's my fault they walked in on us? The door was closed. I'm entitled to some privacy in my own home."

"You could have locked the door you know. If you're going to fuck around, at least have the decency not to shove it in their faces. They're just kids!"

"He did lock the door!"

"Then how did they see you up to your antics?"

"I . . . I don't know. But William swears he locked the door."

"Of course. Good old William, the child-beater that's feeling up our fifteen year-old daughter. He's the one you trust to lock the door. He wouldn't think of leaving it open to show off for our girl he has the hots for." Dad's voice was rising again. "I don't want that asshole in this house again, do you understand? If he lays a hand on my kids, even one finger, I'll make sure he never touches anyone again. Not my kids, Jess. Don't you DARE endanger my children again!"

Mom laughed. I'm not kidding. She laughed in Dad's face. "Such big words, from such an ineffectual little man. This wasn't William's fault. It was those damn kids. They are terrors. I'll have anyone I want in MY house, and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it."

"We'll see about that," Dad said, his voice icy cold. 

"Did you at least talk to the kids? You need to do something. Jenna's a complete slut, sleeping around, blowing half the football team. Did you know she's on the pill now?"

"So you said over the phone. How the hell do you get off putting Jenna on the pill without even discussing it with me?"

"Damn it, you asshole, would you listen for once in your life? She did it on her own. I didn't put her on the pill. She got some boy to take her down to the clinic, in exchange for a BJ. She's even carrying around condoms."

"Crap! Now your morals are rubbing off on her. Do you see what you're doing?"

"Don't blame this on me. You're the one that decided to leave. I'm doing the best I can. Did you know that your son is becoming a pyromaniac? He even threatened to burn my bed with me in it! And your precious Traci, she's becoming as big a slut as her sister, and is failing half her classes."

"What the hell are you talking about? She's not failing any classes. Have you even spoken to her teachers? She's getting straight A's. She's even got a paper that won a local competition and is going to the regional finals. Do you pay any attention at all to what's going on in your children's lives?"

Whoops. Not good. Outed by Dad. I'm gonna have to figure out a way to explain that one away. I guess I can always say that it was just a couple of bad tests that the teachers let me make up. Not like she'd ever check up on us.

Dad was still tearing into her, when Mom tried a new tact. It surprised the heck out of me. She must be getting desperate.

"Listen, Peter. All this arguing isn't getting us anywhere, and it's not helping the kids. You need to call off the dogs, and we can figure out a way to get Jenna and Tommy under control," Mom said.

"I don't know what you mean about calling off the dogs. All I want is to spend time with my kids without having some officious bureaucrat watching over my shoulder. That, and keep them safe from your pedophile, child-beating boyfriends."

"So you want them watching over me instead? Is that your plan? Somehow you've convinced CPS that they need to come into our home, check up on me, and that's gonna get them off your back? You're just making it worse for everybody. If they see what Tommy's been up to, they're going to force counseling on all of us. Is that what you want? Is that what you really want for our kids, Peter?"

"If it's that terrible, let me have them. Let me take them, and I'll make sure you get to see them all you want. I won't ask for child support or anything. It will simplify your life, and I'll make sure that any problems they are having are taken care of."

"You think it's so easy, don't you? You'll just step in and fix everything, super-dad. Shit, I should do it. Let you see what they're really like."

I could tell Dad was getting his hopes up. Hadn't he learned anything? Mom would never let him have us. That would mean he'd won. There wasn't a chance in hell.

"Then do it, Jess. I have plenty of room. Billie has offered numerous times to take them in. My job is going well, and I can afford all the basics. It's better for everyone."

"I'll tell you what, Peter. You call off CPS, get them off my back, and maybe we can have Jenna stay with you for the rest of the semester. See how that goes over, before saddling you with Tommy."

Don't do it, Dad. She's lying. 

"I didn't have anything to do with CPS, but I can talk to them. Only if you're serious, Jess. You had better not be trying to pull a fast one."

"I swear. Let's just make sure the CPS doesn't intercede and force some kind of counseling on the kids. That wouldn't be good for anyone. You need to talk to Tommy and Jenna too, we have to get them under control. If they keep down the path they're on, we're both wasting our time."

"Alright, but you need to make sure I'm allowed unsupervised access to the kids. I can't do it two hours every two weeks, with a stranger looking over my shoulder. They've already said they're going to suggest we don't need supervision, but you can't interfere, Jess. No more of your slimy lawyer's tricks."

"Of course not, Peter. It's not my fault that the judge considered your past in making his decision. I'd be happy to have you be able to talk to them. It was never my idea."

Just from the way that Mom was talking, her tone, he had to know she was lying. How could he forget? We were all in that courtroom. Mom planned the whole thing. He had to know that. Didn't he?

"And I don't want that asshole in this house with my kids. Go fuck somewhere else, but not in this house. If I hear he's been over, all deals are off. I'm serious about this."

"I can't believe you'd even suggest that. You have to know that no matter what, I'd never do anything to endanger our children. Never."

Christ Dad! Listen to her! Did she ever say he wouldn't be coming back as soon as you're gone? Of course not. That would be like letting you score a point. Dollars to donuts that slimy idiot will be back here before you even get home. Don't let her get away with it, Dad!

"I need to call a cab. I've only got two hours before my flight leaves. I'll see what I can do, alright?"

"That would be great. It's good that we're both on the same page for once. What matters here is the children," Mom said, obviously lying through her teeth.

I heard Dad on the phone, and knew it was time to sneak back to my room. I ended the recording and was barely back in my bed, when Dad stuck his head in. "I'm going now," he said, slowly walking in.

"Don't trust her, Dad."

He sat down next to me and wrapped me in his arms. "I think I know your mother pretty well," he said.

Right. He knew her so well, she was able to cheat on him for months, emasculate him, steal us away, and destroy any semblance of a family. "I love you Dad, it'll all work out."

He gave me a squeeze. "Tone it down, alright? Try to be good. I've got it from here. I appreciate what you're trying to do, but we don't need it backfiring on us. Promise me, Traci. Promise me you won't escalate things."

Great. He wanted to throw away the only weapon that was working. "I understand. You've got it now. Work with the lawyers. I'll deal with Jenna and Tommy."

I don't know if he bought it, or even realized I'd never promised to stop anything. Just like Mom. It sickened me to do it, following in her footsteps. But it must have been enough. He kissed the top of my head. "I think we'll be able to talk and see each other all we want shortly. So soon we'll be back to ignoring each other, right?"

"Dad!"

He chuckled. "Love you, T-Bone. Keep up the oboe. I want a private concert. See you in a couple of weeks if not sooner."

He left me and spent another ten minutes saying goodbye to the other two. Once he was gone I'd talk to them and see what they said. As for toning things down?

Nope. Not gonna happen. We'd barely begun, as far as I was concerned.

~ * ~ * ~

Shortly after Dad had left, Mom was screaming at us to meet in the living room. Whatever calm act she'd put on for Dad to get him to agree to intervene with CPS was gone. She was sitting on the couch, drinking something tall and full of ice. Mom had never been a boozer, that was one vice she'd managed to avoid, perhaps the only one. Until now.

Once we'd all made our appearance she started in.

"I don't know what you three are up to, but it stops now. I won't have it. Whatever lies you told about William are going to stop."

She faced my brother, glaring at him. "No more fire, Tommy. Next time I see you with a lighter, a match or anything, I'm taking you down to see a psychiatrist. I'll have them lock you up before I let you burn down this house and endanger the rest of the family. I hope you take me serious, because I am."

Jenna was the next to face Mom's wrath. "You. You disgust me. The games you've been playing with William, dressing like a slut, walking around wearing next to nothing. And your slutty behavior! That's going to stop as well. If I have to, I'll dress you in burlap head to toe and keep you locked in your room for the rest of the year until you learn how to behave. There's no excuse for how you're acting. None!"

I could see Jenna was ready to respond, but I gave her a kick in the leg. Now wasn't the time. Let the Momster vent, and allow her to think she was making ground. Later we'd deal with her.

Mom faced me finally. "You. God, I'm so disappointed in you," she said shaking her head.

Dang, it was difficult not to respond in kind. I bit my lip to stop myself.

"You know damn well it was an accident that William knocked you down. Get over it. And those lies about doing poorly in school? I guess I'm going to have to talk to your teachers and find out what's really going on. I had hoped for better from you, Traci, I really had."

I couldn't do it. Couldn't keep my mouth shut. "I think you'd be proud of me. I had two weeks of bad grades, but I convinced the teachers to let me make up most of my bad tests, and was able to bring them back up. As for William," I sneered, "the jerk knocked me down and gave me a black eye. I didn't do anything, so don't blame that on me. I can't help it if I bruised and the CPS lady asked me about it. What did you want me to do, lie? Isn't there enough of that in this house, Mom?"

"It was an accident!" she shrieked.

I shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. He could have walked around me, he could have scooted me out of the way, heck Mom, I only weigh 90 pounds. He didn't though. He shoved me, hard, knocked me down, and knocked half the bench on top of me. He didn't have to do that."

"He apologized to you, Traci. He felt really bad about it."

"Whatever. If he touches me again, I'll be the one calling CPS. I don't like him."

"Me either, Mom," Jenna said, and I couldn't blame her, I'd started the talking back. "He makes me feel dirty, the way he's always leering at me, the little touches. He makes my skin crawl."

"If you'd dress properly, and not like a little slut, he wouldn't have anything to stare at, would he!" Mom snapped.

"It's my house, too. I should be able to be comfortable in my own house. I don't remember inviting him over here to rape me with his eyes," Jenna argued.

"It's not your house, it's my house! I pay the bills, I put a roof over your head, feed you, buy you what you need. Because of your father, I have to be both Mom and Dad, and I don't get any appreciation from any of you! This is it. We're doing things my way now. If you give me any shit, if I have to go down to that school one more time, I'll pull you out of everything, and you'll be grounded until you're eighteen!"

She glared at both me and Tommy. "That goes for all of you. I don't need this crap! Now go to your rooms, and think about what I said. No more acting up. None!"

~ * ~ * ~

We didn't get a chance to talk things over until Monday after school. Mom kept us locked up in our rooms all day Sunday. Of course I documented that. At least she didn't have that weenie over.

As soon as we'd had our snack, and Grandma was smoking out on the porch, we huddled up.

Jenna started the ball rolling. "What do we do now? I don't think I ever saw Mom that mad. Should we call everything off?"

I shook my head vehemently. "Call it off? No way! Things are starting to fall our way. No, I think we step it up."

"Step it up? But you heard her. We'll all be grounded! She'll take away everything," Jenna said.

"So? So what if she grounds us, how is she going to enforce it? She's never here. If she takes our stuff, we'll just buy more, using her money. We can't stop now, then she'd win, and all this would be for nothing. No, she has to learn what happens when she screws with our lives, ours and Dad's."

Tommy finally spoke up. "I don't wanna see a psychiatrist."

Sometimes I forgot my baby brother was still barely eleven years old. He looked scared. 

"Alright, no more fires for now, alright? We'll start something new, and let that work on her a while. All she said was no fires, right?"

He nodded.

"You said you had some other ideas? What did you have in mind?"

"Animal torture," he said.

I was shocked. I just stared at him. Maybe we had gone too far. How could he even consider—

"Not for real," he said. "I thought we could make it look like it. I'd play with knives, instead of fire. Leave some scary symbolic circles outside, with small animal bones in it. I got a dead bird out back, that crashed into the window at a friend's house. Maybe I could get some chicken bones or some roadkill. Get fake blood on my clothes and stuff. I'll think of something."

Jenna leaned in, lowering her voice. "My friend Ben is into knives. He has lots. Even some illegal ones. Maybe he could loan you a couple, or we could buy one or two off of him, if we can afford it."

"I'll just order them online from Mom's account. We can even have them overnighted if we want," I explained. I did enjoy having Mom's credit card information. "We just have to make sure we get it from the mail before the Momster or Grandma."

"What do I do?" Jenna asked.

"You know any guys that would sneak over late at night? Maybe sneak into your room?"

Jenna grinned. "There are a few."

"Then let's do it. The Momster is going to have to find out, for it to be effective. She'll probably have a shit fit."

"What are you gonna do?" Jenna asked.

"Me? Oh, I have a lot in mind. Lots and lots."

It took me a better part of an hour to fill them in on everything I hoped to do. By the time I was done, I almost felt sorry for Mom. Almost. 

~ * ~ * ~

We started immediately. Tommy put the word out to his friends, and everybody was keeping an eye out for anything dead. It wasn't two days before he hit the jackpot. A dead cat in the road, only a couple of blocks away.

Tommy might have meant well, but he didn't have the stomach for what needed to be done. I did what I had to do, telling myself it was no worse than dissecting a frog in biology. By the time I was finished I was close to throwing up, but I had to admit it looked pretty realistic. 




Do Not Pass Go 06 - Boss Traci



Me, I was getting into Mom's computer. Mostly investigating. I had Tiger help me, he's really good at that stuff. I even gave him a few kisses. Crap. I was turning into my mother and sister. 

Then there was Jenna. God, I love my sister. She went the extra mile, taking one for the team. She amazes me. I don't know if I could do half the stuff she does.

Grandma had found our little sacrificial circle out back, but never said a word. But I knew. I could tell just from the way she was acting around Tommy. When Mom came home, I watched from the window as Grandma took Mom out back to show her what we'd done. Mom made a mess of our effort, covering everything up, and came back to the house. She was white as a ghost, and I was feeling pretty damn good about everything.

I could hear her outside my room, in the hall, and wondered if she'd confront Tommy, or wait until the weekend. Maybe she'd call Dad. 

None of that happened. Her footsteps stopped shortly past my door, and then I heard the screams and shouting. I opened my door, and one of Jenna's guys was running down the hall, wearing nothing but his underwear, clutching his clothing. I stepped out into the hallway, toward Jenna's room, where the screamfest was ongoing. Before I even got to the door, I could smell it. Pot. Weed. Marijuana. I don't know how she'd done it, but Jenna had upped the stakes again. 

Damn, she was good.

I peeked around the door frame, and Jenna was standing there in just her panties, nose-to-nose with Mom, screaming about privacy. The whole room reeked of pot. Mom was yelling about Jenna being a druggy and a slut.

Jenna laughed in her face. "You would know all about being a slut, you dried up old whore. I bet you're just pissed because your boyfriend would rather fuck me than you!"

That's when Mom hit her. Slapped her across the face, something brutal. Jenna looked shocked, then smiled. "God, it's true! Next time you invite a man over, I'm gonna steal him from you. Let's see how you like it."

Mom lost it, and slapped her again, telling her to shut up. Me, I slipped down the hall, and called 911.

I listened to the bored voice ask me what my problem was. "My Mom is beating up my sister. I think she's gonna kill her. You have to do something."

When I'd finished giving the dispatcher the details, I snuck back down the hall. Jenna was in her room crying, and Mom was nowhere to be seen. Probably in her own room, calling Dad to fix things. 

I sat down next to Jenna, and held her hand. "You need to get dressed," I told her.

She looked up at me. "Did I do good?" she asked.

Mom's hand print was still bright red on her face. "Perfect. Did I ever tell you that you're amazing, Jenna?"

She gave me a tearful smile. "No. I don't think so. It was usually more along the lines that I was screwing up my life and a tramp."

I gave her a hug. "You are amazing. We're gonna get through this. Now hurry and get dressed before the cops get here."

"Cops?"

"Yeah. I called nine-one-one. I reported Mom for beating you. It's probably gonna get ugly."

"They're going to think I'm a slut, too."

"No they won't. You didn't do anything wrong. You had a boy over, but that's all." I opened her window while I was talking. "I saw everything, Mom blew it all out of proportion. That's what we'll tell them."

I got the febreze from the bathroom, and gave her bedroom the once over. Jenna put on some clothes, and then we headed downstairs to wait for the inevitable. While we were waiting, we got our stories straight. As soon as the knock appeared at the door, I nodded at Jenna. She closed her eyes and braced herself, then I slapped her face as hard as I could. Her head snapped back, and I think she was surprised at how hard I'd hit her. She had tears in her eyes, as I opened the door before the second knock.

There were two police people. A man and a woman. Before they could even start asking questions, I told them to come in, and that my sister was on the couch. The police woman, Officer Mallory, looked at the guy cop and then entered the house. When she saw Jenna crying on the couch, she went over and sat beside her. I watched her lift Jenna's head up by the chin, looking at her face. 

The man looked at me. "What happened to you?" he asked.

I'd forgotten all about my own shiner. "My Mom's boyfriend did that."

He got a hard look in his eye. "Where is your mother now?" he asked.

"I don't know. I saw her beating up Jenna, and I made the call to you guys. When I got back to Jenna's room, Mom was gone. She's probably in her own room looking at porn again."

"Could you go get her and ask her to come down?"

I nodded, and saw that the police woman had Jenna talking.

I went and knocked on Mom's door. When she opened it, I could see she was still pissed off. "There's a police man downstairs. He wants to talk to you."

Mom's face went white. "A policeman? In the house?"

"Yeah. There's two of them downstairs. They're talking to Jenna. They want to talk to you."

Mom turned and checked herself in the mirror, mumbling, "Shit," to herself, before brushing past me and hurrying down the hall. Me, I went to Jenna's room, gave it another quick shot of febreze, and closed her window. Then, just to be safe, I sprayed the hallway, and the bathroom, before putting the sprayer back under the sink.

I wondered what Tommy was up to, and checked in on him. He was playing one of his games on the computer, and had the headset on. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he looked up at me. He took off his headset.

"The police are here," I explained. "Just remember that you were in here all alone, and didn't hear anything."

"I didn't hear anything," he said.

"That's perfect. Just remember that. And you might want to play something a little more PG, in case they come to talk to you."

He took it all in stride, and nodded. He put his headphones back on, and turned back to the computer. I'll admit that it bothered me a bit. I think all of our stuff was starting to get to him.

They were there for over an hour. I thought it was strange the way they handled things. The police woman took me outside to speak to her on the porch, in private. I told her the story that we'd agreed on. Jenna had a guy over visiting. They were working on homework, and yes, I knew the guy. He'd been over before. The way I told it, she was clothed, but not very appropriately. "Mom and her fight a lot about that. I wouldn't wear that kind of stuff."

They asked me about drugs. "No. No way. None of us do that. Dad would never let us hear the end of it."

That got her asking me about Dad, and I told her about Mom and her boyfriends, and Dad's leaving. She asked me about my face, and I gave her the short story about Mom's boyfriend doing it. All-in-all, it was about fifteen minutes that we talked.

They even talked to Tommy. I was surprised that lasted more than a couple of minutes, but he must have been outside for at least ten, talking to the police woman. At the end, Mom went out on the porch for a good twenty minutes or so, and when she came back in, the police had left.

She just stared at the three of us sitting in the living room for the longest time. 

"You're grounded. All three of you. Go to your rooms. You'll stay in your rooms from when you get home, until you go to school. You'll eat in your rooms. You'll only leave to go to the bathroom, and to go to school."

Jenna stood up, and smirked. "We'll see about that," she said, marching her way down to her room, where she slammed the door. 

Tommy just walked away, off to his room. 

"You shouldn't have hit her," I said.

"I have a right to punish my own children," Mom snapped, walking past me to the dining room cabinet where she kept the liquor.

"You shouldn't have slapped her like that. Dad never raised a hand against us."

"Oh that's right. Your sainted father, who can do nothing wrong. Except abandon his family and run off like a coward with his tail between his legs." I saw her fill a glass half full of vodka, before heading to the kitchen.

I followed her, watching her add grapefruit juice to her glass. "Are you happy, Mom? Do you like what's happening to us? Why did you have to ruin our lives? Why couldn't you keep your damn legs closed?"

She took a long drink of her concoction. "Don't you start with me, Traci. None of this is my fault. If your father had just stayed out of my business, none of this would be happening. Don't you forget that. He's the one that wanted the divorce, and he's the one that left."

"You're the one that filed for divorce," I reminded her. "You're the one that was cheating on him. You're the one that made sure we never could see him. Don't blame it all on Dad."

"Go to your room," she said.

That was fine by me. Once there, I sent Dad a short email. "Mom was hitting Jenna. The police were here for about an hour." 

I didn't know if it would do any good, but I figured to keep the pressure on.

~ * ~ * ~

Mom was gone, and the Nanny was feeding us breakfast, when the next major event happened. There was a knocking on the door, and the doorbell rang. The next thing I knew, there was a lady from CPS talking to us. 

Tommy leaves first. His bus is half an hour before Jenna's and mine. The lady talked to him first, then sent him on his way, before talking to Jenna and me, separately. She was still talking to Jenna when the Nanny said we were going to miss the bus. The CPS lady stayed behind, in the house when we walked out to the bus stop. 

Things were getting interesting, I have to admit that.

I had no idea how interesting it would get.

~ * ~ * ~

When Jenna and I got home, we had a full house. Mom was there, as was Grandma. Tommy was already home, and he was talking to some new lady. We weren't in the door 10 seconds, before we found out it was CPS again. 

Their first question was about Tommy. I guess that firebug thing was a mistake. He was making fires in the schoolyard, and they'd made Mom pick him up and take him home. The school had called CPS, and that's where we were now.

This wasn't like the first time. It was more of an interrogation. They talked to Jenna first, and then I was dragged into the kitchen, where we sat down. The woman talking to me had a notebook out, and some notes she kept referring to.

"Tell me about your home life during the week," she asked.

"Like what?"

"When you get up, who gets you ready for school. What you do when you get home, just a typical day."

I told her. Mom was gone when we got up. I usually woke everyone up, and when the nanny was late I fixed us breakfast, cereal usually, sometimes pop tarts if we were running behind. The nanny was there when we got home, and Grandma usually showed up a little later, while we were doing our homework, and after our snack. I told her about Grandma's smoking and drinking, out on the porch. That about half the time we were in bed when Mom got home. That we ate together maybe one time a week.

She took a lot of notes, and asked a few question now and then.

"What can you tell me about this man your mother has over on occasion?" she asked.

I told her, maybe exaggerating a little. William, the college professor, who gave me a black eye, touched Jenna inappropriately, which I'd only witnessed a couple of times, and who I'd seen having sex with Mom, when he'd left the door open.

"The door was open?" she asked.

"Cracked, just a little. I had an upset stomach, and went to see Mom. I would have knocked if the door had been closed. I wish I had. I never wanted to see his hairy butt."

A lot more notes. "He was naked?"

"They both were. Screwing."

"You're certain?"

I looked at her like she was crazy. "Yes. Quite certain. Heck, he was smirking when he pulled out of her and waved his nasty looking thing at me!"

There was some quick scribbling. "And your mother left him alone with your sister, still naked?"

"I guess. I mean, Jenna was in there, and Mom took me to the kitchen to give me some pink stuff for my stomach. I guess he was still naked. Jenna had her night shirt on. Mom put on her robe, before taking care of me."

There was a lot more of that. Asking about Tommy, and his fires. I explained how that started once Dad had left, and got worse when Mom kept canceling his visits, and kept us away from him. Several months worth.

"What do you know about your brother's activities with the neighborhood pets?" she asked.

"Pets? Nothing. We don't have any. Mom won't let us."

"You've never seen him abuse an animal?"

"Tommy? Of course not. He couldn't."

Then there was more about Jenna and her evening visitors. I was asked about her cutting. "I don't know much about that. I saw the marks, I guess. I think it started after Mom wouldn't let Jenna go with us to visit Dad."

"She kept her away from his visit?"

"Yeah. It's her usual way of punishing us. She knows how much we want to see him, so that's how she punishes us. And him, I guess."

Honestly, I was exhausted by the time they were done with me. I finally was allowed to have my snack. I told them I had to go to my room, I was grounded, and only allowed to leave my room to go to the bathroom and school. The woman jotted down some more notes. "What did you do?"

I shrugged. "It was after I called the police to make Mom stop beating Jenna. We were all grounded indefinitely."

Once I escaped to my room, it was time for another email to Dad. "Tommy suspended. CPS was back this afternoon. We had a long talk. They're still here. I'm grounded, in my room. I miss you, Daddy. Wish you were here."

Hopefully that would get him off his ass. I wasn't going to hold my breath, though.

Mom actually cooked dinner. I couldn't remember the last time she'd done that during the week. It was a quiet dinner table. Jenna had a bruise on the side of her face. I didn't know if that was from Mom, or from me, but I'm sure it showed well for the CPS people.

We were halfway through dinner, before Mom started in.

"Children, we have a big problem, and you're making it worse," she said. "I don't know what you think you're trying to pull, but it's not going to work. You're never going to see your father again if you keep this up. You'll be separated and put in foster homes before that happens, I'll make sure of that."

Jenna glared at Mom. "I can't believe you hate us that much. You're the worst mother in the world!"

Mom shrugged. "Believe what you will. It's not like you three are anything to brag about. I'm done with you screwing up my life. You probably think this is some kind of game, but you should think twice about what you're doing. Your father tangled with me, and see where it got him."

I hadn't expected this. Not by a long shot. The Momster was tricky and deceitful. She never laid her cards out on the table. Not Mom. It got me to thinking.

I turned to Jenna and Tommy. "You two, go up to your rooms for now. Mom and I need to have a talk."

That seemed to surprise everybody. Tommy got up pretty quickly. It looked like Jenna was going to argue with me, but I just shook my head. "Go, Jenna, please. I've got this."

She looked unhappy, but went to her room, leaving only Mom and me.

Mom just looked at me over her wine glass. I got up and grabbed the bottle, pouring myself a glass, enjoying the surprise on her face. Yes, it tasted like crap but I was making a point. 

"It's over, Mom. I'm not Dad. You lied and cheated, and screwed with the system, while Dad, like an idiot, played by the rules. I won't."

I could tell she was surprised by the turn of events. "Do you honestly think you can beat me, Traci?"

It was my turn to grin. "I already have. You need to fold gracefully. If you don't, I'll destroy your life."

Her gaze turned hard, and she leaned toward me. "Who do you think you're talking to? I'm not one of your little school playmates. I'm your mother."

"Genetically, but that's about it. You're the worst parent possible, and I'm tired of you fucking around with our lives, while you get your jollies out of torturing our father. I'm serious, Mom. It's time to end this, before things get really ugly for you."

Mom sneered. "You have no idea, little girl. I can make your life miserable. All of you."

"Yes, I know. You've done a pretty good job of that already. And I'm tired of it. This is your last warning. You need to bow out, and give Dad whatever he wants. Do it gracefully and who knows? Maybe a decade from now we'll be able to talk to you without wanting to hit you in the head with a hammer. Jenna, Tommy and I aren't some weapon you get to use to make Dad miserable. We have lives too, and we're tired of you wrecking them."

Mom leaned back, and I saw her get that sneaky look in her eye. I was surprised she'd think that would work on me.

"Listen, honey, you don't understand. I want you to be happy, to have great lives. It was your father who decided to break us up, and an impartial judge who decided that he wasn't a safe parent."

"Because you lied and tricked them. Then lied and tricked us. Don't bullshit me, Mom. I was there."

"No, baby, I wouldn't. I didn't make the decision. I know you're upset that I went back to working the long hours I need to, but I have to pay all the bills here, without your father's contribution, and I have to send him money too! You need to understand that was his doing. He's taking money away from us, from this family. I wish I didn't have to work such long hours, but I do what I have to for all of us."

"And that includes fucking around on the side? Spending time with your boyfriends, when you could be home with your family? Keeping us away from Dad, just so you can piss him off and torture him for not letting you cheat on him willy-nilly?"

She gave me a big dramatic sigh. "Please, honey. Try to understand. It's not what I wanted. But it's not too late for us. You need to stop whatever this game is, and get your brother and sister under control. If we can get things back on an even keel, I promise we'll make things better. I'll make sure your father can see you whenever you want. You can even spend some time with him over the summer. I'll reduce my hours at work. We'll have to tighten the budget a little, but I'll do whatever I can to make us all a happy family again. You need to do your part, you and your brother and sister."

She was good. She almost sounded like she meant it, but I knew the truth. CPS was going to make sure Dad could see us whenever he wanted, that had nothing to do with Mom, but of course she would position it like she was doing us a favor. As for working less hours, I'd already seen how she played that game. Maybe a few weeks, before she was back to her insane hours. And that bullshit about tightening the budget? Mom was salaried. It didn't matter how much extra she worked. That all came out in the divorce.  

So her deal really was, if we went along with her plan, she'd get the cops and CPS off her back, and as soon as she was in the clear it would be business as usual. What a deal.

I returned her false smile with one of my own. "Alright Mom. I'll talk to them, and see what I can do. But you need to ease up on the punishment, and make sure we get our time with Dad. If you can do that, maybe I can work with Jenna and Tommy, and make things a little calmer around here."

"That's all I want, baby. I want us all to be happy. The way it was before your father decided to abandon us. I'm not holding a grudge. I'll do my best to make sure he has time with you all. Who knows, maybe he'll get over his snit, and move back down here. Even if he doesn't live with us, if he wasn't so stubborn he could be nearby where it wouldn't be so difficult for him to find time for you all."

"You do your part, and I'll do mine Mom," I said, taking another sip of that vile wine. We watched each other, like two poker players, trying to read the other's mind. We were quiet, and you could cut the tension with a knife. When she took a sip of her wine, I did as well, doing my best to avoid grimacing.




Do Not Pass Go 06 - Boss Traci



She was lying, and I knew it. I suspect she knew that I knew it, and that I was lying as well. It was the way she played the game, and I wasn't Dad. I'd give it back to her in spades.

~ * ~ * ~

The next day, we had a pow-wow, before Mom got home. Normally that would be close to eight or nine o'clock at best. Who knows what it would be now? So we met at soon as we'd had our snack. 

After the snack, Grandma had told us that Mom said we were to stay in our rooms. As if. As soon as we'd finished eating, we gathered in Jenna's bedroom.

"What was with sending us away last night," Jenna asked, as soon as the door was closed. I was surprised she hadn't brought it up on the way to school. Maybe she was learning patience.

"I gave it to Mom big time," I explained. "She has to realize she's lost. The CPS folk are watching her like a hawk, her boyfriend is in deep doo-doo, and now the police are on her back. I told her it was time to back off, and mend fences with Dad."

"How did it go?" Jenna asked. I noticed Tommy was being quiet. Too quiet. I was starting to worry about him. 

"Same shit, different day," I said. "First she went on the attack, but when I didn't back down, she tried to play the martyr. It was all Dad's fault, she said. His fault for leaving, for making a big deal about her slutting around. She didn't want the courts to stop him from seeing us, that was the lawyers and the judge. No, she says she just wants everyone to be happy."

"You believe her?" Tommy asked, the first thing he'd spoken. I wondered if he wasn't hoping that the Momster was on the up-and-up. 

"Not a bit," I said. "You know how Mom is. She can't let Dad win, no matter what. And in her eyes, his being able to see us at all is a win for him. No, Mom hasn't changed. She just wants the cops and CPS off her back."

"What's next?" Jenna asked. 

I smiled at my older sister. I don't know why I ever thought she was shallow, or stupid. So she wasn't as smart as me and Mom. Neither was Dad. But she was committed, and gave it her all. She was taking big chances for us. I owed her, we all owed her. 

"I'm going to take over the direct confrontation. Make Mom's life hell. I'll use her phone and computer to give her some problems, and we can come up with some ways of giving her grief. I don't want you and Tommy doing anything that will give CPS any heartburn." I turned to Tommy. "No fires, and no sacrificial altars. You can act sullen and quiet, and keep playing the bad video games, but don't confront Mom directly. At best, just ignore her."

He nodded, and I think he was a little relieved. I hoped he didn't need real therapy when this was all over. Sometimes I forgot that he was just eleven years old.

As for Jenna . . . "Same for you. Tone it down a bit. Let her think she's getting through to us. No boys in the room, no contraband. You can keep up the bad outfits, and when it comes to talking to Mom, accusations are okay, and you don't have to go along with what she says, just don't confront her directly. Everything is on the hush now."

"How much longer?" Jenna asked.

"It's up to Dad. I'm hoping we can force him back into court, and use all the evidence against Mom and her boyfriend, to work things out."

"You don't think we're going to have to live with him, do you?"

"I don't know, Jenna. Honestly, I wish Dad would come back, and we could live with him here. If it comes down to staying here with Mom, or going to stay with Dad and Aunt Billie, I'm going to Saint Paul. You heard Mom, she's ready to ship you off to him already."

Jenna sighed. "I know. I guess Saint Paul isn't that bad. Allie's pretty cool. You don't think we'd have to go before the end of the semester, do you?"

"Not likely. There's only a month left. I guess we'll have to see. You don't want to let up now, do you?"

She seemed to think about it, while Tommy's head was on a swivel, turning back and forth between Jenn and me. "It's such a mess," Jenna said. "I wish Mom hadn't screwed around, and I hate that she messed up everything for us and Dad. I don't understand why she had to do that. Why she crapped all over us."

I saw the tears in her eyes, and realized how this was getting to her. She rarely showed it. "Mom's selfish. She doesn't care about anybody but herself. She was pissed at Dad and decided to punish him. You know how she is. When she's tired of treating Dad like crap, who do you think she's gonna punish next? It's already started."

Jenna wiped her eyes and nodded. "Right. Let's finish this then. We'll show the Momster she can't ignore us for years, then use us against Dad. I'm tired of all this. All of it. What's next?"

"You and Tommy know what to do. Just tone it down. I've got it from here. If Mom brings over any more boyfriends, we'll deal with them just like we did with Smelly Willy."

~ * ~ * ~

Mom was home by seven, miracle of miracles, and neither CPS or the cops showed up all day. We even had dinner together, and there was no fighting, although Tommy didn't say a word, and Jenna verbally poked the Momster a few times. 

After dinner we retreated to our rooms. I got on the computer, and ordered some supplies online. I chose next-day delivery, since money was no object. Then I used Mom's credit card to sign her up for a bunch of sleazy websites. 

Eager to please, nothing's off limits. I need a real man to show me the 'ropes'. Tell me what you'd like to do with me, and what you'd like to do to me. The more detailed the better. I've been a bad girl lately, and need a strong man to show me the error of my ways. Don't make me wait!

I put her work email address and cell-phone numbers in her contact information. That should be interesting.

My work for the night complete, I emailed Dad and let him know that Mom was losing it. I told him it was time, past time, for him to go back to court, and straighten things out. I even sent him a spreadsheet of Mom's comings and goings. 

I gave him the full breakdown of our visits from CPS and the police. I told him the same story we'd told the police, about Mom overreacting to Jenna having a friend over to study, and my calling 911. Perhaps I bent the truth a little. I was Momster's daughter after all.

There was no way to tell if it was enough to get him off his duff, but all I could do was hope for the best. I couldn't do everything for him. Heck, I'm just thirteen, I'm not even sure I could hire a lawyer, without parental consent.

No, it was time for Dad to pull his own weight.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Sorry for the brief delay getting this one posted. The story concludes with next chapter.



Do Not Pass Go 07



Hey guys this one is out of my normal genre and there really isn't any sex involved. Part 2 of 'How to fill an Empty Nest' is almost finished and should be up in a week

I dedicate this story to a missing in action author here on Literotica whom I know I miss greatly. I have tried emailing both of the authors that have started this story for a couple of months now and heard nothing back. I hope that they won't mind that I pick it up even if it's not what they envisioned. My continuation actually puts one of them in the story.

'Finishthedamnstory ' picked up this tale from 'Lightonthesound' and told all of us readers that it was already finished and ready to post. Well chapter 7 never got posted which has led fans of his (me included) to hope that all is well with him. He is a rare writer and he serves such a purpose here on this site because as he would put it......

There are too damn many intriguing stories that are never completed, or left hanging with disgusting endings. If I find a story that's been abandoned for too long, I'll give you my idea of an ending. Fair warning though, I don't write about total wimps. May not be BTB, all nuclear and shit, but no voluntary cucks, or whiny simpering wimps.

So here's hoping all is well with you and that we may be reading many more finishes from you in the future. Oh and by the way, no one knows your real name so I hope you are okay with Allen. 

*

Hello everyone, my name is Jessica or Jessie for short. I'm writing this because I just don't know what else to do. I know what I'm about to write may sound insane and unbelievable but I seem to be living a life that's a cross between the Twilight Zone and the old Bill Murray movie 'Groundhog Day"

If I had to guess I would say I have been in this place for about six months and I have no idea how to get out. I wake up each day and it starts exactly as the first day here did, except that I'm always aware of the previous days. Like I said "Groundhog Day revisited. 

Let me tell you a little about myself and my family. I am or was a full time Professor with a University in Virginia; I won't name which one because it doesn't matter. I had been married to a man named Peter and we have three children together. We are since divorced and it was a very messy one mostly because of me I would have to admit.

I had been living the wonderful double life that I felt a woman of my stature deserved. I had my husband, my house and three kids and I was the prime moneymaker in the household. My husband was a good man but was very weak willed and I guess you could call him a wimp. He did what he was told by me pretty much and took good care of the kids while I worked hard and played on the side.

Yes I had lovers but I felt like I deserved them, after all I was the main moneymaker in the house shouldn't I be able to have a little fun on the side. If I were a man it would almost be expected of me to have a mistress. I felt like my life outside my home was my own and nobody's business but mine. That was until one fateful day that everything changed.

I had been getting home from a date and hubby was on the road, it felt so nice getting out of my lover's car. I felt alive and freshly fucked and I felt like I owned the world. This guy was ten years younger than me and boy could he curl my toes something awful. I headed into my house and let my mother who had been watching the kids leave for the night. 

I wasn't surprised that Pete wasn't home yet because his day trip was pretty far away. I almost wished he had overnighters because I might have been able to work out ways to spend the night with Douglas the man whose cock and car I had just been enjoying. I also tried to remember if I had ever felt guilty about cheating on Pete and a vague notion of it came to mind. That was something I had dismissed long ago though.

I quickly jumped in the shower to wash Douglas' scent off my body and to rinse his juices out of my pussy. It wasn't for fear of Pete and I having sex because I had pretty much shut that down to once every couple of months with him. He just couldn't compare to the drive and intensity that my two lovers gave me. I remember once again thinking of him as a wimp and wondering just when I started to lose my respect for him. 

There was no doubt at that moment that I thought he was lucky to have me and anything I offered him he should be happy with. In my mind he was lucky I just didn't bring Douglas into the house with him here and send him to the guest room. I was so sure of his obedience and desire to let me have what I want that what happened that night shocked me to my core and led to a series of decisions that seem to have led me here today.

When I exited the shower Pete was in the bedroom waiting for me and it was obvious he had been drinking even though he knew I disapproved when he did. I could sense something was wrong though and when I asked him he told me he had been laid off today. Now after everything that has happened I am ashamed to admit that the first thought that went through my head was how much a loser her was.

Why couldn't he be more like Douglas or William, they were both men with drive and ambition and I was sure it translated into how they fucked. They took what they wanted in life and that even included me. Pete on the other hand was sitting there like a drunken sad sack and had no control over his life or so I perceived. Of course back then I never gave a thought to how much time he spent with our children or how he was almost single handedly raising them over the last few years. In my mind that wasn't something a man does, maybe that's why I didn't feel the need to do it anymore because I had slowly started to think of myself as the man in our relationship.

After he told me of his layoff he started telling me about a job offer he had taken in Minnesota. I immediately got angry, how dare he do something like that. Did he really think I would move my research to Minnesota? There was no chance in hell of that happening and I made it clear as a bell to him. He didn't bat an eyelash and proceeded to tell me he had it all figured out. He would take the kids to live with him and I could fly up every few weekends to see them and spend time with them. I thought that idea was absurd; I wasn't going to let him split up the family. 

Of course it never occurred to me at the time how little I valued my family right then. I think my reaction was purely a power play because Pete was being assertive for the first time in forever with me. He insisted that it was the smartest thing to do because of how little time I had with the kids now anyway. He was playing his super dad card with me and I wasn't buying it. I don't know why I didn't agree to what he was saying, after all it would free me up to live the wild life with Douglas and William without fear of being caught. I guess I just wasn't used to Pete taking charge and I wasn't going to let it happen.

We left it undecided and he icily got out of bed and informed he was going to read but before he did he let me know that my cell phone had been ringing and he was sure it was my mom trying to get in touch with me. The way he was so sure it was my mom made me wonder and after he left the room I checked my messages. Then it all clicked and my world collapsed, he knew about Douglas and had seen me getting out of his car. He had seen us making out and probably even witnessed the parting blowjob I gave him. 

All his talk of taking the kids and it being for my own good was bullshit. It was his attempt to get them away from me and probably file for divorce. Once they were with him in Minnesota it would be that much harder to get them back so I had to move fast. Again it never occurred to me to just let him do what he wanted and to give him his divorce. He did nothing but hold me back or so I believed back then. But no I couldn't under any circumstances let him win, so I fired first. I got up at the crack of dawn and hit the bank. 

I cleared my parts of the accounts and got the divorce papers going first. After I had him served I started my plan to take what he valued the most in the world away from him, our kids. Of course this was all a ploy on my part to just get him to stay home and keep things status quo. He would learn over time to allow me my little dalliances and we would all still be together as a happy family. If he dug in the sand and allowed the divorce to continue he would lose not only custody of the kids but I would find a way to vilify him and make sure the courts looked at him as an unstable father.

Even I had a hard time trying to make that one pass because he was super dad to the kids. One thing in my favor was a mistake he made; he never told the kids the reason for the divorce. So I manipulated them into thinking it was daddy's fault and that he was just abandoning us. Between my oldest kids testimony and my mother's testimony it made me look like an angel of a mother on the stand. 

My lawyer was also able to get a hold of some old doctor's records from when Pete was a boy. In them he was dealing with the death of his mother and mentioned to someone that he just wanted to lie down and die. My lawyer was able to spin that into him being inclined towards depression and suicide. He was toast in the eyes of the courts and I got full custody with him only allowed supervised two hour visits every two weeks.

Did I feel bad at that time for destroying Pete and taking his kids from him, not in the least. He had started this in my eyes and I would finish it. If he would just be the same old compliant Pete he could still have been at home with his kids and maybe even a piece of pussy from me now and then. Of course I would still keep Doug and Will but he would never know as long as he stayed out of my business. That was what had started this whole thing, him butting into my business even if it had happened by accident.

I made the first months hell for him when he moved because I managed to make it four months before he even got to see the kids. I kept pulling incident after incident out of my hat to cancel his visits. I knew it couldn't last forever but I still held out hope he would come home like the sheep he is. Instead he brilliantly forced me to finally confess to the kids the real reason for the divorce and why their father wasn't with them. He had threatened to tell them if I kept messing with his visits, so after his first visit I told them myself.

To say they didn't accept it nicely would be an understatement because now I became to them the momster. I found out about that in the last six months that I have been here. I found out about that and a lot of other things that had been going on before I woke up here. I had lived through months of persecution at the hands of my children because of the divorce. They were doing everything in their power to make me give their father custody and it was getting uglier by the day.

I have had nothing but time here to think about everything that happened from the time I first met Pete to the day I awoke in my virtual prison. I call it a virtual prison only because I can leave here and I can even call people and tell them what has happened to me but by tomorrow no one remembers a thing. Of course it doesn't help that when I call anyone, like my mother she hears a man's voice talking with her. 

It was the first thing I realized when I woke up here, I may be Jessica in my mind and memories but I'm stuck in a man's body. I first realized it when I opened my eyes and looked down at my hands, my fingers were poised above the enter key on a computer keyboard. I felt strange and held my new hands up and then I screamed because as I brought my eyes up I saw my reflection staring back at me. It wasn't me staring back it was a fairly good looking man in his mid thirties and like I said I screamed. For the briefest time I thought I must still be dreaming and pinched myself hard. No good I was still here and now I was visibly shaking because I was starting to panic. I looked around my surroundings and noticed that not only wasn't I me but I didn't recognize anything around me.

I was me in someone else's body in someone else's house or what appeared to be a cabin. There was a fire flickering in a fireplace and it made me think of son Tommy. I immediately then thought of all my kids, Jenna the oldest, Traci the brain and Tommy. I wondered where they were and if they were safe, which surprised me because last night when I fell asleep I couldn't have cared less what happened to them. 

Just the night before Traci had pretty much told me that the hell they had been making of my life was all her doing and that she was going to keep doing it till I gave into her father's demands. It was her that plotted and planned to make sure that CPS and the police thought of me as a bad mother. She had brilliantly enlisted her brother and sister in her plan and finally told me about it last night. As she told me I couldn't help but think that this young girl had no clue as to who she was dealing with. I had brought her father to his knees and he was a grown man so what could she possibly do. I had fallen asleep more angry than I had ever been in my whole life. Of course I was still blaming everything that happened on Pete not once looking at myself.

As I stood in this man's body and started exploring the cabin I was in I felt the panic subside some. I had always been a rational person and there just had to be a rational explanation for this. I was after all a celebrated Quantum Physics professor and science theory was my game. It was what I had gotten my acclaim for and there had to be a logical explanation for what was happening here.

I would just have to examine the facts surrounding me and come up with an explanation. I looked at the only facts that were in front of me on first observation. I was a woman whose consciousness had somehow been displaced and put inside this man. I first wondered if his own consciousness was still present but I couldn't sense anyone else. So it would seem it was only me inside here.

I then thought on whatever I was doing last night and I had no further clues. I had gone to sleep angry but that was more the normal for me nowadays. I spent that first day inside my own head trying to get my bearings and trying to accept my situation. More than once I wondered if had just indeed gone crazy from all the stress but I ruled that out. My thought processes were perfectly logical and reasonable; it was just the situation that wasn't. 

Of course the mental part was an issue but there was also the physical part too. When I felt the urge to go to the bathroom for the first time it became obvious once again. I had only ever held a man's cock to get it aroused so it could fuck me, now I was holding while urinating. I had to admit the ability to stand and pee was actually pleasant. It was nice not to have to strip my underwear all the way down to pee.

I found food in a well stacked pantry and made something to eat because my stomach was rumbling. That was another adjustment because I didn't make near enough to satisfy this much larger body than my own. So at the end of the first day of being in this host body I went to sleep hoping that whatever phenomenon had occurred would wear off by next morning.

I was wrong, so wrong because I awoke in the same exact space and position as the day before. My hand was once again poised above the enter key on the computer as I came awake. I still didn't bother to look at the screen to see what I/he had been writing. I then heard the chirp of what could only be a cell phone and it sounded familiar, I vaguely remembered it from yesterday. I had looked for a phone in the middle of the day but couldn't locate one.

Now I was overjoyed because if I found a phone I could call Doug or Will or my mom. I could also make sure the kids were okay and if anyone missed me yesterday. I tracked the ringtone down, obviously a man's choice the theme song to mission impossible, and found the phone. I picked it up and the caller had hung up before I could answer it. It was the latest I-Phone and thank god the screen wasn't password protected.

I got another slight shock when I looked at the home screen and saw the date. The night I fell asleep after my confrontation with Traci had been February 18th, add the day I spent here yesterday and today should be the twentieth. The calendar on the screen though was showing the 19th, oh well I thought to myself the owner of this body must have dates screwed up. It never crossed my mind that the calendars in all smart phones are automatic.

I then tried my first of many futile phone calls, to my credit being the loving mom I was I called home first. My mother answered and when I told her who it was she just hung up. I tried again and she did the same, by the fourth attempt she just wouldn't answer the phone. I assumed the kids must be okay though if she was there so I tried my boy toy Doug. He also hung up on me twice but by the third call he gave me the answer that opened my eyes, he called me dude and told me to stop annoying him.

Of course I was stuck in a man's body so I must have a man's voice. I wished they would stay on the phone because I could prove who I was. With Doug all I would have to tell him is the last time we fucked and how many times he had my ass that day. The memory made me tingle but there of course was no moisture in my crotch only a limp cock. Actually in this body I was starting to feel the memory of being butt fucked to be kind of unpleasant almost bordering on disgust. Then I thought of my old naked body and that limp piece of meat started getting hard. Oh fuck I thought to myself, I'm a guy so I must be attracted to women.

All I can tell you about those early days was it was a constant journey of discovery. It took only the fourth day till realized I was caught in some kind of time loop, just like Groundhog Day. That got me thinking about that movie which before this happened was one of my all time favorites. It almost made me laugh when I would see Bill letting the groundhog drive them to their doom. 

As I examined the movie in my head it hit me like a lightning bolt, there had to be a reason for me repeating the same day over and over. Just like in the movie there had to be some reason for me waking up here in this guy's body each day. Oh by now I had discovered a little about my host, his name was Allen and he seemed to make his living as a private contractor based on the bills he had laying around. He wasn't married, at least currently because there was no ring on his finger and there was no recent sign of removal. When I looked at him in the mirror I wondered if he was gay because he was pretty good looking in a rugged way but then I remembered my thoughts of Doug plowing my behind and realized no he wasn't gay.

I like to think I'm pretty brilliant but it took me a full month and a half before I got the clue that made me start to understand. I kicked myself over and over again when I found it because it had been so obvious. I also wept when I found it because it was such a profound shock to my system that I couldn't read it again for weeks.

The hand that was always poised over the enter key on the keyboard, what was it getting ready to send. It appeared to be a story by someone named Finishthedamnstory, yes all one word. It was the title of the story that made me first sit up and take notice, 'Do Not Pass Go 07-Jessie's Comeuppance'

After the first paragraphs I knew the story was about me. It oddly seemed to pick up right on the same night I fell asleep before waking here. It goes on to tell how through my determination to keep my ex husband from what I perceived as winning in our battle of the kids I destroyed all our lives. It tells of how my son's interest in setting fires leads him to burn down the house of a bully from school and winds him up in a psychiatric ward for the rest of his life. Jenna my oldest finds herself enmeshed in a life of drugs and prostitution only three years later after I went to sleep. Traci, the smartest of the bunch is charged with attempted murder for trying to kill my lover William who it turns out was the first to introduce Jenna to her latest pimp.




Do Not Pass Go 07



Me, I lose my job with the university when William is exposed as a child pornographer. When he is exposed hundreds of naked photos of my daughter Jenna are discovered in his computer even including some of me in the poses. In the poses it seems obvious that I am not conscious but it is made to be seen as me letting her have sex with me. I also barely escaped being arrested and being put in jail along with William because Jenna comes forward to testify that I had been drugged and was unconscious when they were taken.

The worst of all however was saved for Pete, the poor man I had always thought of as a wimp. In the end it turned out how wrong I was. When William was arrested and Jenna's pictures were revealed he went after William's family first. He discovered that Will had a wife and kids but he left them alone because they were innocent. He did however go after his father and his brother because in his head he felt they had to know something. He beat the two of them within inches of their lives and wound up in the same prison as William. He then paid a guard to arrange some time alone with him in the laundry room. Needless to say there was nothing recognizable left of William other than his cock which had been stuffed down his throat.

Pete was convicted of first degree murder and since our state has the death penalty he was executed one year later. At the end of the story it finds me crying over Pete's grave wishing I could have it all back again.

I fainted after reading 'Jessie's Comeuppance' for the first time. Then I wept for hours and hours on end because some powers that be wanted me to read this. They wanted me to see the end result of my selfishness and my need to lord over a man who had loved me. 

It took me weeks before I could even read it again during which time all I did was think. I went back to the days when Pete and I first met. To how it felt to feel that first love in my life because that's what Pete had been. I relived our first dates, our first kiss, and the first time we made love. I had nothing to do but think and I relived every moment of my love for Pete. 

As I did I was able to trace the seeds of my discontent, sad that I didn't notice them as such back then. It was of course none other than my own mother who first laid the first brick in the wall I built against Pete's love. She had started giving little jabs about his lack of ambition, how he would never amount to anything. She would chide me for being the one to carry our relationship and our budget. It was even she who had planted the idea in my head about how I was the man in the family.

They say of course that hindsight is 20/20 and it is so true, maybe if I had even once stood up to her and told her she was wrong. Told her how much I loved this man who built his world around me then maybe things could have been different. No instead I let her poisonous words fester in me till I thought they were true. I saw how through the years little by little my respect for the father of my children eroded like a rock worn away by the tide.

It eroded till the point where the final words of hatred from my mother took root and destroyed my marriage. It was the day that she told me that as a strong woman I deserved a strong man in my bed, not a little wimpy househusband like Pete. At this point I had no resistance to anything she said; she even introduced me to the term cuckold. She told me how Pete was the type of guy who would probably be happy being my cuckold. How he might even help me prepare myself for my dates.

It was only weeks after that that Douglas found my legs wide open for him in his apartment. With that act I had officially destroyed all of the respect that my loving husband had thought he earned with me through the years. In my mind Pete was now my cuckold and he should be happy I kept him around. I might even let him clean Doug's leavings from my pussy someday.

I wept again, for days I wept at how blind I was and how my love for a good man had been perverted. Pete's lack of ambition as my mother saw it was because his number one ambition was to be the best husband and father he could be. It was all he had dreamed of when we had gotten married and I had shit on it and thrown it all away because I saw it as weakness.

Of course it wasn't overnight that I was able to be so brutally honest with myself and it took two more months. Two months of nonstop self inspection to realize that I was the one who had ruined our marriage. It had taken all the gall I could muster to expect Pete to just come home and accept the new order of things in the universe. If he had done that it would have been the only thing that would justifiably been reason to lose respect for him.

So now that I had this 'prediction' of my future in this strange story I found myself feeling not like Bill Murray but more like Ebenezer Scrooge. I could clearly see how wrong I had been so now I prayed to the powers that be to let me go back. Let me please go back to being Jessie so I could fix this before it was too late. I wondered frantically if time was standing still here what was happening in the 'regular' world. I cried even more out of fear that the words written on the page were being played out while I was helplessly stranded here. 

I spent hours on Allen's computer trying to find some clues to anything I needed to do. There was a locked folder named, 'Finishthedamnstory' and I knew that it had to have some answers in it. I just couldn't figure out the password. How on earth could I get in there because I had no idea who this person was. Maybe if I knew him I would be able to tell or figure something out. To me he was just some guy who had some kind of mystical connection with my life.

Then three weeks ago, a little more than five months after I woke up here I heard a voice, small and distant. I dismissed it at first but I heard it off and on throughout the day, it kept repeating the same thing, "Fix it and go"

After all the strange and unusual things that had gotten me in here I couldn't doubt what I heard. The question was though; fix what and how to fix it?

Two days ago an idea occurred to me since Allen/Finishthedamnstory was so in tune with me maybe.....

I went to the computer and pulled up his folder, I punched my own birthday in as a password and it opened. It miraculously opened. Inside were a number of stories and almost all of them were continuations of other people's unfinished works. It seems that they were all posted some website also some place called Literotica. I noticed in his folder were chapters 4-6 of "Do Not Pass Go' and I immediately started to read them. I almost fainted again and the tears never stopped flowing down my cheeks.

In the first story it mentions that it is a continuance of a story by another author named 'LightontheSound' so I go and search out parts 1-3. This time I do faint again because I am a scientist and this is far beyond any explanation on earth. To put it is a miracle beyond explaining because between these two men they have documented everything that has happened in my life from that first fateful day that Pete saw me till the night I went to sleep before waking up here.

I also realize that some power that be stepped in and stopped Allen from finishing the damn story this time. The reason I wake up every day with his finger poised above the enter key is because some power doesn't want his tragic ending to happen. It's brought me here to fix my own mess as much as possible. At first I think about just going back and re-writing the original stories but I know that won't work. 

I know that once they've been posted it's too late to change them. The only think I have to work with is the current one, "Jessie's Comeuppance"

I think that Allen has the right title because this whole experience has left me humble and in shock. There could have been no greater comeuppance than what I have experienced here without it being a tragic ending like is on the screen in front of me. I have seen the ugliness that is in me and I hope to be able to change it and what it has affected. I can't write a storybook ending either because too much water had gone under the bridge in the first 6 chapters of my life's disaster. No instead I know just how to start it off.......

Jessie woke with a start; she had been stuck in a nightmare. A nightmare of her doing it felt like. Now when she woke up she felt like a veil had been lifted from her eyes. She recalled her conversation with her daughter Tracie from the night before and realized that all her little girl wanted was for everyone to be happy. Everything her kids had done over the last weeks was in response to her pig headedness. Instead of being angry with them she should be thanking them for trying to get her to see some reason in her insanity.

She knew the first step she had to take.....

"Hello, Jessie goddamnit what is it this time, I told you ......"

"Pete, you win, I know you won't believe it but I love you! I lost sight of it for the longest time but I do love you. I have messed up so many times since, well I can't remember but I need to fix things. Get your lawyer to call my lawyer and let's get the kids where they belong, with you" she said as tears poured down her face.

Pete was at a loss and had no reply at first but then he asked her softly, "Jessie are you playing with me because if you are it doesn't get crueler than this."

"No Pete, I went to sleep last night and when I woke up I knew I had to do this. Please let's try and make things right. I know I've hurt you so much in recent years but maybe we can start learning to be friends again."

"I think I can do that, I never stopped loving you either Jess" he answered with his own tears.

One month later........

Jessie got off the plane in Minneapolis and as she entered the terminal was bowled over first by Traci, then Jenna and finally Tommy. She was amazed at the change in all three and relieved to see Jenna dressing like a typical 15 year old again. 

She looked over at her ex-husbands smiling face and she saw it again as if all her mother's bitter words had never been said. She made a promise to herself then, no matter what it took she would have this man back because he was no goddamned wimp.

They embraced warmly and in greeting each other couldn't overhear Traci the ringleader whisper to her brother and sister, "Operation Mom and Dad back together starts now!"



Do Not Pass Go Ch. 02



There is no sex in this story.

DO NOT PASS GO II: Bitter and Sweet

"Keep interrupting me and I'm just going to hang up, Peter. This is just a courtesy call."

One,two,three-four,five-six,seveneightnineten.

There wasn't time for a full ten seconds. Avoiding the sigh was impossible and I knew my ex-wife, Jessica, was enjoying this. 

It drove me nuts. She lied; she cheated on me; she ignored the kids. Didn't matter. Since she had two x chromosomes, she got the kids. Even four months after the fact it didn't make sense. 

"Don't go making everything into a conspiracy theory. A judge just happened to think that I would be a better parent to them..." my ex-wife started, but whatever else she was saying was lost as somebody leaned on his horn and left it there. One of the airport traffic cops was yelling at him, but the horn just kept going. Like the first neighborhood hood dog barking, this triggered a chorus and suddenly every car seemed to be honking.

"I CAN'T HEAR WHAT YOU'RE SAYING."

Losing my feet for a second on the slick snowy walk, I jogged away from the horn toward the taxi stand. 

"... you might not believe me, but it's true. If I could have made it, I would have," my ex-wife said. "This is just one of those things that happen."

"Gee Jess, why wouldn't I believe you?" I said my voice dripping sarcasm. "You've been honest about everything in the past. I mean you would tell me if you were lying about something wouldn't you? Plus it's not like you've been using the visitation as a weapon. It's just bad luck that I haven't seen the kids in four months. Like now. You didn't know until two hours before the visitation about Jenna's soccer game. That's just bad luck." 

"If I could Peter..."

"IF you could? It's strange that you have to drive her. Just a weird confluence of half-assed explanations and unbelievable events why Jenna couldn't take a taxi, or get a lift from let's see... Barb or the nanny or one of the other kids' moms. Or how about getting any of those people just to give Traci and Tommy a lift to the social services building? Or maybe ask the grad student who's buffing your car in the driveway."

"We went to court and a judge decided to give me custody, but it's my fault?" Jessica's voice was a rasp. "An impartial observer decided this..." I couldn't hold back my snort of disbelief. "Peter if you're having trouble seeing the kids it's your fault, not mine. If you didn't have to have supervised visitations, this wouldn't even be a problem."

One,two,three-four,five-six,seveneightnineten.

"So are we done talking yet? I have better things to do with my time than listen to dead air."

That got me angry for another reason that she the queen of dead air would say this. I wouldn't yell though. So I sighed and sucked in a shallow breath.

"Jess, this is the only reason I'm in town."

"I'm not canceling..." The rest of her words were drowned out by a chorus of taxis honking and two of the drivers yelling at each other in Farsi. 

"HOLD ON A SEC." I yelled putting a finger in my ear. The car horns and traffic cop whistles still overwhelmed me. 

"Jess, I've got to get off the street. It's too loud out here." I walked away from the cab stand into the entry tunnel into the airport's main terminal.

Inside there was an ambient mumble, but still I could at least hear.

"Okay, what were you saying?"

"I told you before that I'm not canceling. You can see them tomorrow."

Instead of counting to ten, I concentrated on my breathing for a couple seconds. 

"Peter, are you still there?"

I should have just let the lawyers do this. The only point in talking to each other was trying to piss each other off.

"Why are we doing this Jess? Why don't you save time and just tell me what unexpected little disaster is going to happen tomorrow and save time."

"But I always so enjoy talking to you on the phone..." My ex sniffed in amusement. "Oh don't get a bug up your ass. That's just a joke." I could sense her evil smile. "You believe me, don't you, Peter?"

"You think this is funny? I'm supposed to laugh because you're dangling the chance for me to see our kids... because it amuses to make me jump? For some fucked up reason YOU feel a reason to get back at me. 

"Do you care about the kids at all? I know Jenna might not want to talk to me, but Traci and Tommy have to." I listened to her not responding for a second. "The walls are going to come down Jessie, sooner or later they're going to come down and the longer you put it off the harder the fall's going to be." 

Jessica laughed. "Wow, a biblical reference. Very impressive."

It took awhile to push down the anger again. Looking up I felt the stare of a middle-aged black couple waiting in the long line by the United counter. The woman looked away, but the man nodded his head in sympathy. 

I kept walking down the concourse. "Say whatever you want, but if I have to go back to St. Paul without seeing them, my lawyer will be setting up time to see the judge the moment the court offices open Monday morning." 

"Are you stupid or hard of hearing? I told you. You can see the kids tomorrow."

"It's only two hours." I kept my voice down; I wasn't going to shout my throat raw again. "In two weeks you can be with them for 334 hours and now maybe I'm going to see them for two. How much more one sided can it get? It's not even time alone with them but with some CPS woman standing over my shoulder." I dodged a skycap wheeling a squeaky overburdened raft of suitcases.

"What is this about, Jess? It's not about making me come home anymore. You've settled into a routine without me. It's not about the kids either. Say whatever the hell you want to in front of a judge, but you know this isn't about them."

"How is not being with their mother in their best interest? You think it's unfair I got the kids? I think it's unfair that I had to do most of the work to make most of the money to support us. Because I did that for some reason I'm a second class parent?" 

Jessica's voice had been steadily rising, but now fell off. "You don't think I knew that I was putting in too many hours. I knew. I thought though that we were a team and we would get past the rough patch. But just because my job didn't allow me to spend time with them, but that never meant I didn't care about them. Now my priorities have changed."

It just wasn't possible for me to hold back anymore. "How many hours did you work last week? Now that the bloom is off the rose, how much time did you find for the kids? Tell me that Barb and the nanny spent less time with them and I'll shut up. Or just tell me what Tommy did in gym class this week or what musical piece Traci is working on or who Jenna is thinking of dating now."

Looking up I realized that at some point I must have turned around because I was right back at the United counter. Maybe I should just take an earlier flight back because some part of me was sure my ex-wife would just pull a new stunt tomorrow. 

My ex-wife snorted. "Just because I'm not mother of the year, like you, doesn't mean I'm a bad parent. They're not toddlers anymore; they can walk and talk and go to the bathroom all by themselves."

"Jess, you're lying to yourself. Calling me mother of the year just proves that I would do a better job with the kids."

"No, that just proves that you don't have balls." My ex-wife laughed. "There's no point in arguing about this. The judge already settled custody. I have the kids and now it's my responsibility. Mine, not yours."

I shook my head in wonder. "This is what it's about? Winning? Okay Jess, I give in. You got all the kids. All the marbles are yours. You're the big winner and I'm the big loser."

"That second half's obvious," my ex-wife said coldly.

"Is this really the way you want it? If I disappear tomorrow, you'll be happy being a full time mommy? Don't lie to me Jess; we both know it's not true. It's bad and it's getting worse. And the longer you stretch this out the more it's going to hurt our kids."

"You think they like you more?" My ex-wife shrilled. "They like you so much that they won't even talk to you on the phone. They don't want to be with you. If Jenna or Traci or Tommy wanted to see you, I couldn't keep them away from the visitation. But they don't. Get it? THEY don't." 

"It's gonna come out, Jess. Traci and Tommy are going to ask me why we got divorced and I'm going to tell them. Say what you want, but you know they already hate you. How much worse is it going to get when I tell them you were screwing around me?"

At that I head a startled gasp and saw a pair of starched old women glaring at me. Quickly, I started walking away and lowered my voice. 

"The lies are over, Jess. Finally they're going to see you for who you really are. You know they hate you even now. And that's when they just think you're just the ice queen who drove daddy away. When they find out that you were screwing around they're going to despise you. Once I get a custody hearing, they're going to run to the stand and tell the judge they want to be with me."

"Does saying that make you feel better? Is that your little pick me up speech. You've been out of their lives for four months. That's an eternity for children. You think they want to live with you? Peter, they don't even remember you." She paused enjoying my silence. "They don't know you any more and you don't know them. You don't have any idea what they're feeling." 

I shook my head. "You're wrong. Okay, I don't know it for a certainty. It's still true." God, did I hope it was true. "I'm so sure I'm willing to bet on it."

"Bet?"

"Nothing else has worked, so why not? Jess, if you can prove to me they're happy then I promise to never pursue custody in the future."

My ex-wife laughed. "You might as well bet a million dollars in Monopoly money. You're never going to get custody."

"Even if that's true, you'll still have to keep going to court and paying lawyers. Take the bet and you'll never have to worry about it again. All you have to do is prove the kids are happy. Just... just have Barb take a video of you and the kids some weekend. If you can even squeeze three hours of happiness out of them, you win. You can take them to the zoo, you can take them to the mall, you can bribe them any way you want. If you can be around them and keep Jenna, Traci and Tommy happy -- as in smiling and talking and playing -- for three hours you win."

The silence just kind of sat there for a couple seconds. 

"Jess, the game's over and you've won. Now let's go on with our lives. What about the plan that we started with? The kids come with me to St. Paul and every two weeks you get the whole weekend with them."

"You're delusional if you think I'm going to let the kids move out there. St. Paul? I'm not going anywhere near Minnesota and they're not either and that's not going to change no matter what judge we get."

"You're wrong, but I'm not going to argue with you," I said taking a moment to think. We almost were talking reasonably and I couldn't let this moment go. "Tell me what you want. Really, Jess. Give me a solution. Is it that you don't want the hassle of going to the airport every other week? Then I'll put the kids on the plane and fly in. All you or Barb have to do is pick them up and drop them off. You don't ever have to see, hear or smell St. Paul. I'll even split the cost with you."

"That would be me splitting the cost with me," Jessica said. "You're going to be using my alimony to pay for it. I've never heard of a man getting alimony, but don't let it make you feel like less of a man."

"If I didn't need to fight you for the kids, I wouldn't have taken the alimony. The kids are worth a hell of a lot more than the money. I would love for you to stop paying Jess." Hope caught hold of me and I rushed on. "My salary might not be huge, but it's more than enough for food and clothes and all the essentials. So forget about child support too. The kids can fly in every two weeks and you'd still get them for a month during the summer. You'd never pay me another cent and you'll be able to dazzle them with expensive gifts and trips that I could never afford. You would constantly be winning, constantly looking like the better parent." 

My breath was shallow as the silence stretched on. Even when it had stretched out to thirty seconds, I hoped. I cleared my throat into the phone, hoping to get a response but knowing Jess wasn't listening anymore. 

This was her new favorite technique waiting for me to get carried away and then putting the phone down without hanging up and walking away. She was the dead air queen.

It took me a minute to pull myself together. A part of me knew something like this was going to happen. The thought of staying an extra day frustrated me, but it was just what I had to do. 

Getting a rental car was simple and going to the motel and laying down for a half hour didn't do anything to settle my thoughts. Idly I thought about driving by the house, but not only would that be pathetic, I was worried Jess could somehow use it against me. Instead I found myself driving into the city and wandering around my old stomping grounds.

It wasn't just chance that landed me outside the door of the trendy restaurant and bar that was my old hangout. I probably wouldn't have gone in, but it was raining hard now and this place was as good as any to get dry. Between the bad weather and this odd between meals hour the place was almost deserted.

Coming in the door the sound of eighties pop music nearly overwhelmed me. Nothing had changed in the 11 months ago since I had come in here and almost cheated on my wife. Then it had made me feel guilty. Looking back, it was amazing how dumb I was blaming my near attempt at infidelity for my marriage problems. As if months before that night my wife sensed that I would drunkenly flirt with a girl in a bar. Still it was the first thing that made me worried about my marriage so somehow in my mind it seemed to have been the cause of my divorce. It was stupid, but there it was.

Taking a seat at one of the booths, it was almost five minutes before the waitress came out and got my drink order. It took another five minutes for the drink to come out, but I was busy during that time thinking about the waitress.

A couple of zebra colored scrunchies pulled her long blonde hair back into a pony tail. Her face still had a delicate paleness, but now it seemed heavier and her hazel-eyes, while still beautiful, looked puffy. In the neon green polo and gray khakis that were the waitresses' uniform here her body was a slim delight. She had greeted me with the same enthusiasm I remembered, but now her smile was pasted on her. 

"Martini, straight up," she said putting the drink down. "So what would you like?"

"The Southwest Turkey Club, but forget about the coleslaw."

She smiled and jotted it down on her pad. "Fries are only 75 cents extra."

"The chips will be fine. No scratch that, forget about the chips or the fries. Just give me the sandwich." I didn't let go of the menu when she tried to take it from me. "You don't remember me, do you Theresa?"

"Sorry." Her smile showed a hint of annoyance. "There's a lot of people who come here and after a while faces kind of blur together," she said glancing down at the menu and giving a firmer tug.

"How about this face and the name Peter? It was about a year ago and you were coming in to try to change a shift. Oh and you were calling yourself Karen and I was calling myself Jeff that night." I let go of the menu and so did she. She stared at me doubtfully and shook her head.

"I've got my old license in my wallet if you'd like to look at it. Honestly, I know it's not much of a mug to look at, but it's still me."

Theresa shook her head in disbelief. "You look so much older. God, I didn't mean it to sound like that."

My smile didn't quite make it. "No problem. There is some gray up here now." I stroked the gray patch above my right ear that had developed in the last 11 months. "My niece wanted to dye it and it looks like she'll get her wish."

"Don't do it just because I put my foot in my mouth. It's just that you look different. You were like this big brown bear and now you're like this... um fox."

"Silver fox, you mean? Like a nice guy you would fix up with your Grandma?" 

"I wasn't going to say silver. Well, I was, but it didn't mean what I wanted it to mean. That's why I didn't say it." She looked like she was caught between annoyed and embarrassed and now, judging from her flush, embarrassed was winning going away. "Besides both of my grandmothers are dead."

It was hard to hide the smile that wanted to leap out. "Now I really think the fix-up's an insult. There's bad blind dates, but this will be the first time I'll be dating a dead grandmother," I said deadpan. "Theresa, stop blushing. I know you didn't mean it. You just thought I should start practicing shuffleboard now, rather than wait 'til it's too late."

"Are you going to stop making fun on me?"

"But you look so pretty when you blush."

She blushed darker, but looked happy too. "About what I said... You do look a lot better and it wasn't like you were bad looking to begin with. God, you really lost a lot of weight."

"When you're done with your lying, can I tell you how pretty you still are?"

"You're accusing me of lying? I'm a mess. I smell like grease and cigarettes. My hair's a complete waste and my eyes are bloodshot."

"Are you fishing for complements or are you really that silly? Your eyes look a little puffy, but that's about it. If you're a mess, you're the most amazing mess I've ever seen."

She shook her head and then looked behind her. "I'm really not supposed to chat, but it is pretty slow now. If you take your martini up to the bar, I could probably get away with it."

I grabbed my drink and followed her. When she got up to the bar, the smile was gone and her face had become cool. "I guess you decided it's okay to cheat on your wife now?"

"Yes, but there's three good reasons for it." Seeing her about to blow up at me, I stopped. "Please just listen to me for a second, okay? As I said, there's three good reasons for me cheating on my wife.

"First you are very beautiful. Second my wife was cheating on me the night we were flirting. Last of all," I held up my right hand, "I'm not married anymore. And if you doubt me, I've got a picture in my wallet of me posing beside the divorce papers." I was busy with other things, but I realized that was the first time I mentioned the break up without feeling bad. "It's funny I thought women's eyes automatically scanned for wedding rings."

Theresa was looking back and forth from my eyes to my hand now. "In a bar not having a ring doesn't mean much." She took a deep breath, her eyes becoming more serious and a little sad. Then she let out the breath and the look faded. "I'm going to just give them your lunch order. It'll just be a second."

It was more like four minutes and when she got back her face still looked a little wet though her eyes looked less puffy.

I touched her hand. "It looks like you've been having a hard time of it too."

"You're not the only one who got divorced. Actually, there's more similarities than that. But I'm guessing you didn't get back with your ex for a couple of months." 

"No, thank God for small favors. You've got that experience all to yourself."

She grimaced. "You have kids, right?"

Automatically, I pulled out my wallet and showed her. "This was two years ago, but they probably look pretty much the same..." 

Theresa lay her hand on my chest making me stop."You have a sad story to tell too, don't you? I don't want to hear about that. Could we just go back to the flirting for now?"

I smiled and leered at her as my eyes roamed her body. "It's going to be tough, but maybe I could manage it." 




Do Not Pass Go Ch. 02



She smiled. "Could we maybe do this tonight? After I've washed the grease off and don't have to worry about my manager yelling at me? This is the crap shift, 10 to 6. But between a shower and a few errands to take care of I won't be ready until 8."

"Is there a coffee shop near where you live?"

Theresa smiled. "Isn't there a Starbucks everywhere?"

Going back to my apartment and getting a shower only used up an hour. It was 3:45 P.M. and there still was a little more than four hours to kill. I really should take a nap. Despite the 30 minutes after checking in, I was still really behind on my sleep. The problem was that I couldn't fall sleep until I got exhausted. Even then I slept in fits.

Instead I settled back onto the bed and turned on the tv. Ten minutes after lying down I was asleep.

As it was, I had to rush to get to the coffee shop. No, not Starbucks. Thank God that had just been a joke. By 8:30 it was obvious I had been stood up. By 8:45 it was clear that I was desperate and by 9 I was so kicked up on caffeine I could just vibrate my way home. 

It was a disappointment, but I guess I should have been glad she didn't give me a fake phone number. Even though my hand was shaking slightly, I finished my cup, walked out and almost bumped into Theresa just outside the door. She looked nervous, but cute. Her hair was undone and the circles under her eyes were gone. 

"I've been out here for the last ten minutes." She looked so small now. Her body pulled in tight from uncertainty or fear. 

"Am I really that..."

She shook her head. "It's not you. It's anybody. You're really a great guy and I'm not used to being around that." 

"It's a little late to see a movie now. I would say let's go in and have some coffee, but as it is I'm going to be getting to bed tonight." She looked sad and I took her hand in mine squeezing it firmly. "So you can have coffee, but for me it's going to be water."

The night went on and I can't say that it was all that I ever hoped for. Talking for hours really meant each of us whining about our problems. Still, it was nice to talk to someone we knew wasn't just putting up with us. 

It turned out that her ex-husband had full custody of a six-year-old girl from a previous relationship and that during the three years that Theresa had been married to her ex she had fallen in love with the little girl. Now with the marriage over, she had no right to see the six-year-old she considered her daughter. She was the only mother the little girl had ever known, but on paper she was a stranger.

The good thing was we slept together. Unfortunately that just meant she was curled up against me on the sofa. In the morning we exchanged a kiss and our phone numbers and said we would keep in touch. She was working on getting a college degree part time. Trying to study some notes even as she tried to get wash and dry a load of laundry had her in a rush to get me out the door. 

We both leaned in for a peck on the lips and it was nice. It was good knowing there was someone going through the same shit I was going through. But the kiss hadn't really said that, it had been an eighty-year-old aunt kind of kiss and so we leaned back again smiling embarrassed that after talking until 4 A.M. baring our souls the best we could manage was a perfunctory meeting of lips. 

The second kiss was worse because when our lips were almost touching, it got weird. She was grateful to me, but she didn't want to lead me on. She didn't want to have sex with me any more than she wanted to kiss the furry mole on the eighty-year-old aunt's chin. Realizing that at the last second, the kiss was just a clumsy collision between two sets of lips.

For all that, it meant something to me.

The next day I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

Even when I was minutes away from seeing my kids for the first time in four months, it was at the back of my mind that it wasn't going to happen. If not for the death of the family court judge who had presided over our custody hearing, I'm sure there would have been some last minute catastrophe. Still, I expected a phone call all day. Standing just outside the county building, it hit me that it was really going to happen. 

How had Tommy, Traci and Jenna changed in four months? Really, it was more like seven months because the kids had barely said a word to me in the three months leading up to the final custody hearing. I just hoped they didn't still blame me.

Even now I had to push down the impulse to tell them their mother had cheated on me. Maybe sometime, but not now. They had to be screwed up enough right now. Threatening it had just been something to make me feel better when talking to my ex-wife.

A bored officious woman opened the door to a small conference room and motioned me inside. She started going over the dos and don'ts of the supervised visitation, but her voice faded away the moment I saw my kids.

Jenna had turned 15 since the custody hearing. My present had been routed to her through my lawyer's office, but somehow I got the feeling the charm had never made it to my daughter. I had its twin in my pocket, but looking at my oldest daughter, I doubted there was any point in giving it to her. 

Jenna's anger seemed to have matured to bitterness. Physically she looked the same. Her features were her mother's, the same rich brown hair, doe eyes and sharp chin. In profile she looked cute, but when she opened her generous mouth and smiled she looked spectacular. There was no chance of that now though. Pinch faced and bitter, she was almost a clone of my ex-wife.

My thirteen-year-old Traci was playing with the buttons on her blouse, but I had noticed her quick glance when I entered the room. The cast of her face was the same as Jenna's but dulled. Though not quite as good looking as her sister, I had always thought of Traci as the fortunate child, blessed with tremendous intelligence and maturity. Most times it was hard remembering that I was dealing with a teenager. Her birthday had come a month before the custody hearing. She had gotten my gift all right, and, as her mother informed me, immediately taken the iPod up to her room and smashed it to pieces. 

I was just happy I hadn't given her a puppy. 

Thinking that made me a little sad. If I had told her that a year ago she would have just grinned and shook her head acting like she didn't know why her dad seemed to think he was a comedian.

Tommy was a few weeks short of eleven. He was looking directly at me and all I could see was anxiety. Tommy was the shy one in our family; though we pushed him into everything from Tae Kwon Do to T-Ball, he seemed happiest on the computer or drawing in his notebooks. 

My eyes just ate them up, but while they had all glanced in my direction, none of them had actually looked at me.

Finally the officious woman stopped talking and motioned me forward.

"It's so good to see you! It's been so long I almost didn't recognize you... you all look so grown up." I smiled at them and watched as they still avoided looking at me. "Okay now's the time where you guys talk."

Maybe this was pathetic, but I had practiced for this moment. I had thought out two hours worth of things to babble on about just in case something like this happened. Now though all of the drivel was just running away from me. 

"Your aunt and cousins say hi. Hello from the depths of a cold Minnesota winter." Shrugging, I looked at the officious looking CPS woman and saw her furiously scribbling something on her legal pad. 

"Guys, I know you're mad at me. That's all right. It's okay if you want to yell at me for two hours. I haven't heard your voices in four months. Don't you think that's enough?"

Tommy burrowed his head into his collar; Traci stared at her buttons; Jenna glared at the corners of the room. 

"You'll never have to come to St. Paul if you don't want to..." And then I stopped having run out of words. When I faltered Tommy and Traci had looked up, their eyes just kind of popping out as they saw me. They just looked me over like they would some weird blue mold that they found in the refrigerator.

Traci looked at me carefully. "Dad, what happened? You look different."

"I guess I lost a little weight."

"Like maybe a ton?" Traci asked.

"Well, maybe a lot, but I don't think a ton."

Traci looked up and down my body and then stared at my face harder. "Your hair's different."

"It's still me. If you want me to prove it, I could tell you a joke. And if you groan you know it's me."

Traci smiled a little at that and Tommy's eyes looked amused. I avoided Jenna's unchanged frown. 

"You want to know how I lost the weight? Eating right, getting lots of exercise and being snowbound for two months. It was getting so bad at the end that your cousins had to hit me with a tennis racket because when they woke up I was nibbling on their elbows."

"Dad..." Traci groaned.

"Gross," Tommy said.

"At least that proves I'm your dad, doesn't it?"

Traci and Tommy had gotten closer and I touched their arms. "It's so good to see you." 

Jenna looked at the three of us blank faced.

"Hi Jenna."

"Hi Dad." She looked at me and her face just seemed to collapse into itself. "I'm so sorry."

I turned toward Jenna and nodded seriously. She was looking at me now and I saw the pain in her eyes. "You have two choices. I can either ground you for a month, or you can give me a hug and we can forget about it." She took a first step toward me and then stopped. "Come on. I've been waiting for this hug for months."

She jumped forward and her body exploded into my chest knocking Tommy and Traci to the side.

Her head thunked against my breastbone so hard it hurt. "Dad, I'm so so sorry... every time you called... I felt so guilty and so mad! Mad, mad, mad, but it was all my fault. I..." She broke off and just sobbed into my chest for a couple seconds.

"Shhh... it's okay."

She was sobbing softly. "It wasn't true. When I told the judge that I wanted to stay with mom... Dad, I've felt so bad for so long. It hurts all the time now and it's all my fault."

"Jenna that judge would have given your mom custody no matter what you or anyone else said. You have to let go of this. I forgive you. You're my daughter and I love you and I don't want to see you being unhappy."

Tommy and Traci were just standing there looking shocked. I wrapped my right arm around Jenna and just held her to me as she continued to cry into my chest.

"Everything that happened between your Mom and I is in the past. I'm sorry you had to get caught in the middle of it, but it's over. All either of us want is for you to be happy now. I know you feel a little down. But maybe you're a little happy to see me? Because being with you right now is the happiest I've been in months."

Jenna just cried harder and a second later Tommy had wrapped himself around my left side and was grabbing on for dear life. 

Traci was frowning looking down at her shoes until I grabbed her chin and tilted it up toward me.

"Dad..." Traci started and then stopped and looked down again.

"It's over now. I love you." I reached out and caressed her hair and then touched Tommy's. "No matter what happened or what will happen that's not going to change."

"But I should have done something..." Traci started.

"Forgiven, forgotten and in the past. I'm just happy to be with you and I don't want to spend a second wasting it on feeling bad."

Traci just stared at me. "Why dad? Why did I do it? I knew the only thing mom cares about it herself."

"That's not..." I said getting ready to lie, but looking into my daughter's eyes I just couldn't do it. "... important." I peeled Jenna and Tommy off my body. "Okay, enough with the crying." I kissed Jenna and then Tommy quickly on their foreheads. "I want to enjoy my time with you." 

I motioned to Traci. "Come on, if your brother and sister have to put up with it, so do you."

My thirteen-year-old acted nonchalant, but when I kissed her forehead she couldn't hide her smile.

"So come on, just tell me everything that's going on in your lives. And don't leave anything out." 

Suddenly I was lost in talk about Jenna's swim team and Traci's oboe pieces and the book Tommy was reading. It felt like it was just an eye blink and the two hours were over. 

After the visitation, getting to the airport and taking my plane felt odd. Those two hours had been my life and this was just the stuff around it, just a long boring dream and now I had to wait two weeks before I could wake up again. 

It wasn't really that bad. Getting back to my sister's place woke me up. Collecting my niece and nephew's hugs and my sister Billie's kiss on the cheek and then telling them all about the time with my kids was pretty much like real life. The morning was rough, but once I got involved in my job it wasn't too bad. But that evening after my sister's kids had gone up to bed and my sister had sealed herself in her room to study for her law school classes, time dragged.

I had gotten used to not getting phone calls at night and so I was startled when my cell phone rang. The run my niece had taken me on when I got home had just about killed me and for awhile it seemed easier to sit there until the ringing stopped. Even the digitized version of Pachelbel's Canon got annoying after a while. But Pachelbel didn't really stop, there just was a three-second pause.

"Hello?"

"You're a complete fucking bastard!" My ex-wife's voice screeched at me. "I bet you enjoyed it didn't you? You must think you're so smart setting me up like that. Making me tell them that. You're such a fucking asshole! God, you just had to do it. You had to make me look like I was the bad guy. You're such a shit... a total, absolute, fucking shit!"

"And I love you too, Jess," I said tired but still enjoying my ex-wife's confused snort. Maybe it was just the exhaustion from the run, but for the first time in a long while I felt calm and in control. "Can we start this conversation over and try for it to make sense?" 

"Fuck you!"

"I got that part, Jess."

"You said you were going to tell them. Don't act like this wasn't a set-up. After talking to you, they wouldn't say a word to me. And you said you were going to tell them."

The fatigue faded and I bolted upright. "Oh my God..."

"The looks on their faces, Peter. They looked at me like I was something they would scrape off their shoe. And they just stood there while I told them."

God, why didn't I have any alcohol in my room? "How could you tell them, Jess?"

"You said you were going to and I had to defend myself. Jenna looked at me like I was something she wanted to flush down the toilet."

"It was said to hurt you, but I would have never done it. No matter how mad I get at you, I wouldn't do anything that would hurt the kids."

"Like I did? Fuck you, Peter. What do you know what it's like? Do you realize how bad you've messed my life up? My mom's drinking again because of you. The sanctimonious alcoholic bitch. Anytime she sees me, she starts screaming at me over something. She's threatening to take me to court to get visitation with the kids?"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because it's your fucking fault! You've turned everything to shit. I had a perfect life and now it's shit!" 

She let out a deep breath and I heard the sound of gulping and the clink of ice against glass. Though the shock of Jessica's bomb had woken me up, I found myself zoning-out thinking about what my kids would be thinking about this. As horrible as it was, there was a part of me that was shouting for joy that the kids finally knew about Jess. That part quieted down though when I thought about how bad Tommy would be taking this. It was that thought that led me to break the silence.

"So... what are you going to do now?"

"Me?" my ex-wife asked.

"It's kind of hard for me to do anything when I'm a 1000 miles away. Even if I came down there, there's a court order keeping me from seeing them without someone from CPS there. But if you can think of something for me to do, then I'll do it.

"Jess?"

"Damn it!" The ice clinked again and there was the sound of swallowing again. "Could you talk to them on the phone? Just tell them... maybe... maybe tell them that you don't blame me."

I blinked down so hard it hurt and my teeth grinded together.

"GOD DAMN YOU!" I screamed and hurled my cell phone at the armchair across the room. My hands shook and I just kept shaking my head for a couple seconds before my anger receded somewhat. Slowly I walked over to my phone and picked it up.

"Peter?" 

Even the sound of her voice infuriated me, but slowly I pushed down my anger. "No, you're right. If I told them you weren't to blame, the kids would probably take it better. The only problem is that if I tried to say that my head would explode."

Jessica didn't say anything, but still something about her breathing -- or maybe the imperfect intuition of a long time husband -- told me that I had at least shocked her. 

"Why are you calling? You're not going to take my advice and you knew there was no way that I would... follow your suggestion. So why? It's too early for you to try to cancel the visitation and our accountants and lawyers take care of all the bookkeeping. You knew yelling to me about this being my fault wasn't going to fly." My voice became softer. "We both know you're a self-absorbed bitch, dear, but you're not a stupid, self-absorbed bitch. So what's going on?"

"You're such a bastard..."

"Yes. But why are you calling me?" My ex-wife broke the connection just before I finished question.

The next afternoon Jenna called me at the work number I gave her. Even after an hour she was still apologizing and still telling me how horribly she felt. She said Traci and Tommy just seemed to be shocked and for the last two days none of them had talked to their mother. Traci and Tommy sent me emails and even IM-ed me while I was doing work. It was a distraction during work, but it was the kind of distraction that made work important in the first place.

I kept expecting Jess to call back during that week and even into the weekend, but the call never came. When the phone rang the Wednesday before the visitation weekend, I took a second to prepare myself to talk to my ex-wife.

"Hi Pete...?"

"Theresa?" It took me a second to deal with this. "Are you okay? Do you need someone to talk to?"

"Sorry about last weekend. You were expecting a date and you got me whining in your ear for seven hours. And that kiss... I wanted to kiss you, but I chickened out at the last minute."

"Well, I don't think you need to apologize, but hey I'll take it," I said laughing. "Besides you weren't the only one whining. If you really want to make it up to me let me take you out when I get into town this weekend."

"They've scheduled me for Friday and Saturday night, but I could do Sunday."

"My flight's taking off Sunday morning."

"Maybe in a couple of weeks..."

Except that I didn't want to wait a couple of weeks. Maybe this was just fascination or just 11 months of horniness, bursting to the surface, but I really didn't want to wait.

"What about Thursday... I mean tomorrow night? Work's slow right now, so I'm sure they'd let me take a vacation day. I'll fly in, rent a car, and whisk you away to some ridiculously over priced Italian restaurant and get you drunk on some cheap Cabernet."


"I'm really not a big fan of wine..."

"So we'll do tequila shots for nostalgia's sake," I said my voice light and teasing. "Or beer or rum or cough syrup, anything that will get us liquored up."

"You're serious about this?"

"Serious enough. Look there's no pressure, if we end up spending the night complaining about our ex-es, so be it. We did it before and it was something we needed to get out of the way. Now maybe there's something more. It's true for me. And there's got to be more to this for you too because otherwise you wouldn't have been too scared to walk into the coffeehouse or to kiss me that night.




Do Not Pass Go Ch. 02



"Don't say anything for a second. 

"Theresa, I want this. It doesn't matter whether it works out or it doesn't, but let's try."

"I don't have time for a boyfriend."

"It's just one night. And there's half a continent separating us so it's not like I can get too clingy." 

She laughed a little at that. "I can't. If Bruce saw us, he wouldn't let me see Penny again."

"Are you going back to him? Because if you're not this isn't going to go away. He's going to jerk you around and the only way you can get through this is to figure out what you're going to do about it. Go back to him or start living your life and hope that your ex is going to smarten up. Anything in between those and you'll just be a yo-yo that your ex is going to play with until he gets tired of you or you break."

"I'm sorry." She let out a long breath and with that the phone clicked off.

It's pathetic, but for five minutes I just sat there staring at the phone willing it to ring. It took me a long time to wind down enough to try to go to bed, spending the time multi tasking watching infomercials and surfing the internet and occasionally zoning out thinking that I wasn't thinking about Theresa.

Pachelbel's Canon began ringing at 5:00 A.M. and continued with five minute breaks until 5:25 before I picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"I'm sorry." A woman's voice said quietly

"Excuse me?"

"Don't make this any harder that it is. I said I was sorry." My ex-wife's voice said.

"It's 5:25 A.M. and you're calling... God, is that why you were calling me two nights ago? Because you're sorry?" I shook my head and tried to wake up a little, expecting Jess to say something, but she stayed quiet. "It would have been nice to hear this a year ago." Again the silence just kind of sat there again. What did she want for me to forgive her? "Was there anything else?" Jess hung up the phone a couple seconds later.

Maybe it was stupid not to have said something. My best chance of getting the kids back was for Jess to get fed-up with them. But if she was still mad at me, she would keep the kids until they were forty if it meant that she could stick it to me. There's only so much you can do though. 

God, what an idiot I was.

What was I doing with my life? Why was I just sitting here like a beggar waiting for life to hand me something? Enough feeling sorry for myself. Enough waiting for Theresa to go out with me or for Jenna to give me back the kids out of the kindness of her heart. I needed to start dating again. The thing with Theresa was nice, but who was I kidding? Getting serious with a girl almost twenty years younger than me that lived a thousand miles away was impossible. 

My boss' secretary had been hinting about setting me up with someone. Also there was a woman I had seen in the elevator every couple weeks or so. A blonde, maybe late thirties, no wedding ring. We smiled at each other and said hello each time. The last couple times we had chattered together talking about the weather and how our weekends were spent. She had said nothing about being involved with someone else, one way or the other. And I was just wrapping myself around her name. Pia. She had told me it and I had nodded wanting to ask her about it, but too submerged to do anything.

My niece had been bugging me to use the body she had whipped into shape. She had talked about rock climbing while I was thinking more like hiking. For the first time in fifteen years I had the time, the energy and the endurance to do fun things and all I was doing was sitting around feeling sorry for myself. 

Enough of that. Tomorrow I was going to some wilderness store and buy a backpack full of useless crap. I was going to go buy a health club membership to some place that had one of those rock wall things and by the next weekend, my niece, Allie, and I were going to get some snow shoes and start hiking around Afton. Going to that park had been something I had been thinking about for maybe the last three months. Ten days from now, snow or no snow, I was going there. 

It was still too early to get up, but tired or not, I couldn't just lie in bed when I was feeling like this. Of course it had to be when I was in the shower when the phone rang again.

"Hello?"

"Is it too late to say yes?" Theresa asked.

My brain just kind of slipped a gasket. Theresa hadn't been part of my new plans. But just because I couldn't wait for life to start handing me out gifts didn't mean I had to refuse them either.

"Peter...?"

"It's not too late, but I might be falling asleep on you during the meal. It should work. Let me talk to my boss this morning. If everything's good, I'll book a flight and call you."

"Sorry for screwing this up. It was so dumb. And you were so considerate that you were going to fly in just to see me. And I screw it up. It's..."

"No, you didn't. Figure out what you're going to wear that looks good with pasta sauce stains and get it ready." I firmed my voice. "I will get tomorrow off and we're going out for dinner tonight. It's a done deal" 

******

There will be a part III and part IV.



Do Not Pass Go Ch. 03



Life always balances accounts. Okay, so I hadn't had sex in the last 11 months; to make up for it life had been fucking me over hard. Yes, I'm whining, but it wasn't JUST the lack of sex that made me mad. I went to Catholic boys schools up until I went to college so even as a kid I knew about coerced celibacy. But then there's a difference between celibacy when you're a terminally virginal fifteen-year-old and celibacy as a divorced forty-year-old man, the difference is the same as dreaming of climbing Mt. Everest when you're in a sinkhole in Kansas and when you're sitting in a base camp in the Himalayas surrounded by Sherpas who are just never in the mood. Actually that last part is a good description of the last couple years of my marriage as well.

Now on top of everything else there's breaking my hand. Well, spraining my wrist actually and having that done by my coworker, Maggie, slamming her trunk shut before I got my hand clear. It just proves you should never get greedy. Even in perfect condition I had worries about my upcoming date with Theresa. Pulling off some virtuoso fingering was going to be difficult with one gimpy paw. Maybe more importantly -- being that I was a righty -- it pretty much killed my backup plan.

It looked like there wouldn't be anything to distract me from pre-date jitters. The business/first class section of the plane was practically empty and the three men and two women that were there with me had their heads buried in laptops or their eyes closed as they listened to headphones. Not being in the mood to read any of the magazines instead I spent the time studying the flight attendants. The only one interesting to me had a name tag that read Lily. Initially I'd guess her to be about thirty, but closer up, there were enough laugh lines to make me think her older. Stunning in an LA kind of way but without all of the plastic, she had short, ash blonde hair, blue eyes, and her body was trim and had good muscle tone. Tall at about 5'9" she looked like a ballerina with maybe an extra fifteen pounds to keep her from starvation. Even pushing the drink cart down the aisle, she seemed to move on point. 

The closest I had ever come to the mile high club was probably as a teenager staring at the cover of a fantasy novel while in a bumpy prop plane over Kansas. On the other hand for a long time I thought of myself as a mile-higher using as justification the fact that my ex-wife and I had sex in Denver during a mini-vacation just after our oldest daughter had been born. Having sex a mile up always seemed a silly distinction, up until I saw Lily.

There was something about her hands: short nails, smooth skin that was scented lightly with lotion. We touched when she handed me a soda and again when she clutched my wrist to make sure I didn't drop it. The touch lingered and her eyes held mine.

Why was I thinking about Lily? Flying a thousand miles just for a date and I get distracted when I touch some woman's hands. Lily was beautiful, but this just had to be nerves. How serious was the thing with Theresa and me? Maybe this wasn't a date at all, but really a thousand-mile booty call. 

Lily walked up from behind me stopping beside my aisle seat. Her blue eyes caught mine. "Broke it riding a Brahma bull, I suppose?"

"What?"

"Your hand."

"Oh. No, it's sprained actually. I got it slammed in a car trunk. Not very glamorous..." Shit, this was flirting. I knew how to flirt didn't I? "Not too big a deal except the car was on fire and I had to pull a baby to safety."

Lily smiled mischievously. "Interesting parenting skills there." I must have looked baffled. "The mother kept her baby in the trunk?"

"Well, you didn't see how small this car was..." I shrugged. "Maybe it was a stack of printouts and the car might not have exactly been on fire. But it was warm in the parking garage." I smiled and she just stared at me in that way beautiful women do that let you sit there feeling how stupid you are. Except she smirked a little bit after a second.

"I saw you in the airport two weeks ago when you were barking into your phone. Put that together with no ring on your finger and your nervousness and I'd say you've just gotten divorced."

I started to nod and then stopped. "The only reason a man without a ring would yell into their phone is because of an ex-wife? I'm not saying you're wrong, but..."

"You fit a type." Her hand caressed my arm and she glanced quickly up and down the aisle. "A handsome, intelligent, charming man my age that isn't trying to jump in my pants. Of course I could be wrong. You could be separated or gay ...?"

"No, definitely not gay. Especially right now." I stared at her and my eyes drifted down her body hesitating at her waist and especially her long legs.

She laughed. "I said you were the type that WASN'T trying to jump into my pants."

God did this woman have beautiful blue eyes. "No, jumping would be wrong..."

"You prefer a slower approach?" Her sultry look was spoiled as she glanced up and caught the eye of a male flight attendant who mouthed some words at her. She looked back at me. "So you never told me, are you separated or divorced?"

"Divorced going on about half a year. And by the way, I'm Peter Wilkes."

"Lily Neff..." She patted my hand again. "I'm not usually this forward. You do like me being forward, don't you? No don't answer that." She glanced down the aisle and then leaned in toward me. Taking a drink coaster from her pocket she produced a pen and quickly scribbled her name down. "This is my number. Nothing else. If you call, you're going to have to spend at least half an hour flirting with me until I give you a chance at a date. You dance, don't you? I mean you know how to dance. No phobias about twirling a woman around the room."

"It's been a little while, but with thinking about you as an incentive it strikes me I could manage it. Just in case, first thing when I get home I'll sign up for lessons." Lily's eyes flitted through a range of emotions and at the end she ended up kind of staring through me. 

"So..." I said.

Lily's eyes refocused, but still her expression seemed a little distant.

"So do I pass the test?"

God, it was like I was highschool again. In the second she hesitated, a dozen different memories of rejection came back. 

"The test isn't over yet. You're doing good so far. But..." She stared at me a second, considering my face. "You're not really planning on taking dance lessons, are you? Never mind. You live in Minneapolis right?"

"No. St. Paul."

"Close enough." She smiled and straightened up. Only when she let go of my arm, did I notice I had developed a hell of an erection. "You realize how easy I'm making this on you? The only reason I'm giving you my number is because you seem too easy going to ask yourself. You weren't, were you? No, don't..."

"It had nothing to do with not wanting to. Mostly it's lack of practice. And it isn't easy to ask out such a beautiful woman."

She caught the movement of me shifting in my seat to ease the pressure in my pants. God, what was I fifteen? Thankfully she didn't laugh. In fact she glanced at my crotch and smiled. 

My wrist throbbed, ruining the moment. "I hate to change the subject, but you wouldn't happen to have a cold pack I could use? I'm supposed to ice my wrist down every three or four hours."

"The chemical packs are for emergency use, but could you make do with a plastic bag filled with ice cubes?"

I nodded and then cursed my wrist again for blowing it for the rest of my body. "That would be great."

She touched my shoulder. "Anyway I should be getting back to work."

Seeing Lily at a distance as she glanced up every now and again to look at me, kept me very erect and off balance for the rest of the flight. Just watching her walk was a treat, beautiful eyes, lithe body and those long legs. Imagining those legs twisting around my back holding me inside her made me light headed. As the plane landed, she stood by the exit smiling and saying goodbye to everyone. Passing by, I smiled at her.

"Thank you for flying with us," she said. "And don't forget."

Waiting for the shuttle to take us to the main terminal served as decompression. Maybe it was just shock. A beautiful flight attendant tried to pick me up the same day that I had a date with Theresa. Sprained wrist or not, I might make a dent in the twelve pack of condoms and the six little blue pills I had borrowed from a friend of mine.

The problem was there was this stupid part of me that felt like this was committing adultery. It's not that my ex-wife -- even when she wasn't an ex-wife -- deserved loyalty; even though I didn't want to ever be with Jessie again, it was hard to think about being with someone else. Shit, every movie I saw where a forty-year-old man went on a date always seemed to end in disaster. 

It took forever to get out of the airport and my optimistic guess of being able to pick up Theresa by 7:30 proved amazingly wrong. Despite the nerves and guilt that I had been battling, by the time Theresa buzzed me in, I was calm.

Theresa was so good looking it was painful. Not as sleek and sculpted as Lily was but fresh and young, Theresa was a woman I could imagine sitting at a table in a college bar with four equally pretty friends or a damp-shirted beauty at a sorority car wash. Most exciting to me was her long blonde hair that I could spend hours running my hands through. 

Theresa flushed and ran her hands around the edges of the little black dress she wore. "Stop staring at me. You're making me nervous."

"Sorry. It's... you look better than anything I could have dreamed up." 

Her normally pale face was flushed and even her delicate little ears had pinked up. The little black dress was a sexy number, one that she obviously wore braless, because as I focused I saw the slight bulge of her nipples. Seeing the direction of my gaze and looking down made her flush redder. 

I smiled. "Obviously, it's a little cold in the room." I put my suitcase down just to the edge of the door. "Time was short, so I had to come straight from the airport. And because I screwed-up my hand, we're going to have to go by taxi tonight."

"Don't worry about that." She looked me over. "You look very handsome. Oh, come on, the longer we sit around here the more nervous I'm getting. Let's get to the restaurant before I chicken out."

In the taxi I couldn't help but check her out from time to time. In her own way Theresa was doing the same to me.

She settled her hand against my chest and slowly rubbed. She whispered into my ear, talking low to keep our conversation from the taxi driver. "It's strange, isn't it?"

Silly remarks jumped into my head, but I didn't want to ruin the moment. "Strange?"

"A year ago I was trying to jump your bones in a bar and one year later..."

"You're going to wait until after dinner?"

Her hand tensed and then she laughed and quickly stifled it as the cab driver looked back at us. She leaned very close pressing her hard nipples into my arm. "Peter, are you trying to get me not to have sex with you?"

"Um, no please." 

She started to laugh again, but stopped herself after glancing in the direction of the cabdriver. "Well, at least you're polite."

"Absolutely, after I'm done eating you out until you start screaming and fucking you within an inch of your life, I'm going to Hoover your crotch and bat my pathetic eyes and ask 'More please?'"

"More please?"

I clutched her thigh. "Okay, how about, 'Much more please?'"

Luckily the dinner reservation was for 9:00, but as it turned out we were there only in the nick of time, especially having to stop off at a pharmacy to pick up some cold packs for my wrist -- Theresa insisted. Reservation or not, we waited fifteen minutes at the bar. While Theresa nursed her martini, I iced down my wrist. 

We talked and ate awkwardly, both of us, I think, looking forward to when we were going to get home. Somehow we talked about the fact that I wouldn't be getting a hotel room tonight without really talking about it. The mood was so strong, I didn't even think of trying to be coy at the end of the meal when I fished out my Viagra pill and swallowed it down.

"Never had problems before, but I wanted to make sure for tonight," I said. 

Everything was about getting back to her apartment and getting to the night of sex that was almost a year overdo. We kissed in the cab, we were feeling each other casually our mild kissing camouflage for the exploring our hands were doing. I stopped her from going into my pants because with her dress there was no subtle way I could reciprocate. Actually, the kissing and petting only lasted for half of the ride because at some point we looked up and caught the driver leering at us through the rear view mirror. 

Once back in her apartment, Theresa was all over me. God did I hate having to deal with my bad wrist. As it was, she was all over me. It overwhelmed me. Even as our lips touched and we opened our mouths, her hands had opened my pants and dove for my cock. With my left hand I was just holding on, leaning into the kiss, and playing with her tongue. 

She pushed me down on the sofa as she leaned over to pull me out of my pants. "Just accept it. I'm in the driver's seat tonight." She kissed my mouth and my earlobe as she pulled me out of my shirt. When she dove on a nipple, I really thought I would be freaked out, but she wasn't sucking me, she was playing with it, licking the sides and slurping her tongue, with each nipple giving me a prelude for the blowjob she was going to give me. She pulled down my black boxers to just above the knees.

"How do you want it, hard and fast, or slow and sensual?"

"I don't care. Theresa please?"

She leaned down and licked the corona tonguing away a trickle of precum. "You taste good, Peter, but I really want an answer."

"Hard and fast..."

She licked down one side of my cock and then up the other her fingertips tickling along my balls. When she got to the top, she swallowed me in and it was like remembering paradise. God, why had it been so long. Her lips drew tight about three inches down and she slowly pulled back up, humming as she did. As wonderful as her mouth felt, it was only half of my pleasure the rest was my hands gliding through her soft blonde hair holding it out of and seeing her beautiful face connected to me.

Theresa lingered at the crown, her lips pulling back and forth just on that inch as her tongue played over the top. Then she pulled back and blew a thin jet of cool air over the top.

"God, I love flutists."

She giggled and grabbed my balls. "No jokes. I'm trying to drive you crazy."

"Okay no jokes, but please keep doing what you're doing. I promise to return the favor, two for one."

Her hands stroked me as she playfully licked at my balls. "What does that mean? You're going to suck two guys..."

Despite the Viagra and her active fingers and tongue my cock started to go soft. "Orgasms. I'm going to tongue your lovely little pussy until you cum at least two times. Then I'm going to put your legs over my shoulders and wheelbarrow you until neither of us can move."

Midway through my little speech she took my cock back into her mouth, so I'm not sure if she got everything I said. At that point I didn't care. My cock fought to stay in her mouth, as I thrust my hips forward whenever she pulled back. I was getting close and my cock bobbed around in her mouth, twitching little shudders making my cock twitch side to side. She sucked harder.

"I'm getting really close..."

Theresa grunted and her head rocked forward and back faster. My left hand was on her shoulder, not guiding her movements, but feeling them becoming part of the piston that was ramming her mouth onto me.

"Please. Oh. Really close." And that was it. My cock blasted off in her mouth and her mouth froze just over the head. I spurted and she sucked and it was the most unbelievable joy in the world. My body shook and she was drawing every bit of me in, grabbing on my ass and holding me firm. Her tongue laved the sensitive underside of my cock making each spurt stronger. And she took it all in, sucking in all of my cum until I sagged deep into the couch cushions. Still she stayed connected to me, her mouth leeched around my cock, just holding it softly inside her mouth, somehow avoiding the sensitive cockhead, but keeping me inside her mouth a couple seconds before pulling off. She kissed my cockhead a second. 

"I'll be right back," she said as she got up. I just lay there while she was gone. God, this wasn't new, but somehow it was as if in the last 11 months I had regained my virginity and now lost it again. And unlike the first time it had lasted more than twenty seconds. It was so good it was unreal. Maybe Theresa hadn't played all sorts of elaborate games with my cum like the women in porn did, but she had swallowed me. Had done it and seemed to enjoy it and that just blew me away.

When she got back, she moved my still firm cock between my legs and sat down on my lap. She kissed me on the lips and I tasted mint. 

I just stared at her for a second. "That wasn't a hard and fast blowjob."

"Never said that it would be. I just asked you to see how turned on you were." She cupped my face and we shared a long passionate kiss. "Now how about those two orgasms you promised me?" She smiled and gave me a quick kiss. "Seriously, just try to get me to climax once and then we'll take a breather before we try out you and your wheelbarrow."

"Why just one?"

She laid her head against my shoulder and pulled my left arm around her. "My clit gets really sensitive after I cum, so it's just the one orgasm for me."

My left hand brushed the underside of one of her breasts as I leaned down and kissed the top of her shoulder. As I began nibbling on her earlobe, she yawned. 

"Sorry, it's not you. I'm just really behind in my sleep. Keep doing what you're doing."

As I tried to shift her off my lap, she wrapped her arm around me. "No, I want to stay just like this."

It was a little frustrating at first with only one hand to work with and the only thing that my tongue could get to was her ears and neck. But Theresa was so excited, she was doing the work for me. I licked my finger before beginning to play with her pussy, but there was no need, she was overflowing. And soon as my finger got there, she reached her hand down and began moving them for me, slowing my movements to a gentle in and out rhythm. When I started to reach up for her clit, she pulled my fingers back, bringing me back to a slow finger fucking, plunging one of her fingers alongside of my own. After several minutes of this, she pulled back and I continue with two fingers as she slowly rubbed at her clit. Her breathing got faster and I felt her body tense. And right at that moment I reached in and started feeling for her g-spot. She became stiff as a board, gulped some air in, and then shook through a long orgasm. Just as I had when her orgasm finished she nestled back against me. Pinned between her and the sofa, I still felt proud of bringing her to orgasm, although I really had wanted to eat her out to a couple of orgasms. After maybe a minute of this quiet satisfaction, Theresa's soft regular breathing was interrupted by a mild snore. I wondered if this ever happened to Don Juan. 

It turned out getting out from under Theresa without waking her was simple. Well she did wake-up a little but just kind of fluttered her eyes and patted my arm before getting back to sleep. It would have been nice to carry her to her bedroom, but with one working arm that wasn't going to happen.

It didn't feel right sleeping in her bed when she was on the sofa, but more than that things didn't feel right somehow. I tried to figure out what felt wrong. And that was the thing. Nothing felt wrong.




Do Not Pass Go



"You're right, my family doesn't need me, do they?" I said trying to keep the anger out of my voice.

"Of course they need you. Not financially, but..." Her eyes looked lost for a second as the moment stretched out as my wonderful mother tried to think of some reason for my existence. Let's see, hmm, no use as a breadwinner, no use as a partner or sexual companion for the wife, not particularly attractive or funny and as a father? As a father she probably felt anything I contributed could be taken care of by a small group of El Salvadoran women who came in three times a week. 

I shook my head. "Okay I've got the message. The universe has been speaking to me loud and clear tonight, but it's always nice to get the personal touch." 

My mother sniffed in annoyance.

"Yes?"

"I'm just telling this for your own good..." 

"Well thanks," I said trying to stare her out of the car. 

"If there's something wrong you should tell Jessica about it..." As she said it though she had a grimace so sudden it looked like a seizure.

Seeing the discomfort on my mother's face gave me a tiny spark of joy. "Something the matter, Barb? Maybe there's something Jessie hasn't told me that we should talk about?" It felt good to see her at a loss for words for once. It felt even better to see her squirm. 

"I saw that Jessie just got home." I just let my words sit there and watched my mother pale. "It's funny that the guy dropping her off did it a block and a half away from the house."

Barb shook her head. "A marriage isn't simple..."

"Thank you Barb, it's so great that YOU tell me what a marriage is. There's nothing like going to an expert when you're having a problem."

My mother's face quickly returned to the pinched disapproving cast that was its normally shape. "Neither of you talk to each other anymore. I know that it's difficult with the hours my daughter has to be in her lab..."

"But it's not just her job is it?" I asked, beginning to grow hot. "And you knew about it," I said it out of spite, but the fleeting sullen look of guilt on her face astounded me. Maybe I should have known it before, but in that moment it became crystal clear. 

"You did. You knew it. You sanctimonious... you knew Jessica is screwing around and you're trying to lecture me about having a drink? Lecturing even when every second you don't tell me about Jessie you're lying to my face.

"Barb, you're so good at this advice have you thought about being a marriage counselor, because I'm so glad you're sitting here telling me what it takes too have a good marriage. I'm curious which part involves a wife screwing another man?"

She was floundering. "Maybe if you..."

"Maybe if I what, Barb? You've shoved yourself into the middle of our family. Please stick your nose into the marriage bed now. Why don't you just sit down and make some diagrams for me to follow."

"I'm not excusing my daughter's action, but..."

I was tired of listening to my mother. Tired of every annoying word I had put up with through sixteen years of marriage. "BUT? I don't give a damn about anything you have to tell me anymore. No, that's wrong. I want to hear one thing from your mouth. How long? How long have you been lying to me and how long has my wife been fucking around on me." The rest of my breath blew out of me like a train whistle. "Don't just gawp at me answer the fucking question, MOM. How long has she been breaking her marriage vows? Because while you might not like me, there's no vow for us to be nagged to death by our in-laws until death do us part, but I kind of think that screwing another man blow the 'love, honor, cherish and forsaking all others' part right out of the water."

Her face had gone pale. "This isn't what I wanted, to happen. Maybe you won't believe me, but this doesn't make me happy. " 

"Bullshit. What a fucking load. Do you even believe what you say anymore?"

"You don't have to swear, Peter."

"Actually, BARB, yes I fucking do. Because at least when I say fucking, it's just a word. I don't feel the need to act it out with other people. But your daughter likes to be clear about things, so when she's demonstrating things I guess you see it really as an act of Christian charity?"

Barb grabbed onto the crucifix around her neck halfway through my rant. "Whether you've been the best husband or not..."

The laugh grated out of me. "Don't give me more crap. You've never liked me. The only thing you're sad about in this situation is that Jessie fucked this guy before the divorce."

She stared up at me, but bit her lip forcing down her bile. 

"Don't even try to say it isn't. Because yes, it fucking is, Barb." 

She shook her head. "I talked to her until I was blue in the face, but Jessica made me give my word not to tell you." She looked down, her eyes studying her crucifix. "Maybe it would have been better to have broken the promise, but I tried to do everything I could..."

"Well I'm glad you can sleep at night."

"... I tried to do the right thing for my family, if..."

"If what MOM," I spat out. "If I had been a better husband or father? Because clearly your darling little girl has been the perfect wife. But if you did the right thing for your family, I'm glad your conscience is clean. Because no matter how much of an ass my wife is, she is family. All I did was provide a little DNA. If I even did that." 

My mother looked up and shook her head in a tight gesture. "That's wrong and it's spiteful."

"Thanks for the morality lesson. Thank you so much." I was gathering steam again, but, as it built up, the pressure was getting dangerous. Even now, with both her and her daughter up to their necks in sin, Barb tried to make me the villain. I was getting angrier and angrier and as much as I hated my mother, words felt less and less adequate to express my rage. "Well I'm glad we had this chance to talk, but it's time for you to go now, Barb."

She shook her head. "It would have been better for the two of you to settle this on your own..."

"Well, we're going to do that MOM. Now MOM would you mind getting out of the car? There's a lot of things to take care of tonight and I don't have time to chat."

Reaching past her I opened her door and pushed it wide open.

"Don't do something in the heat of the moment that you'll regret later...

"Yeah, thanks for the advice. I wonder if you said the same thing to Jessie or was it just make sure to use a condom. But no you wouldn't say that because you're against birth control so you probably told her to be sure not to use a condom." I didn't even get any pleasure by the shocked look on her face. "Okay, I'm done talking, get the fuck out of my car."

My mother probably wouldn't have gotten out if I didn't crank the ignition and gun the motor. I began pulling out into the street even before she closed the door. Heading into my driveway I saw her walking back toward me probably headed to her car. 

The rage left began to drift away almost as quickly as it happened. My anger was for my mother and somehow Jessica's betrayal seemed minor. Barb's betrayal was personal and spiteful, while Jessica's, well pretty much any emotion was wasted on her. My wife just didn't care anymore. At some point, love had turned into comfort and then comfort had turned into convenience. Now her lover had just become more convenient. Except that I didn't really believe that there was real passion in her trysts. It wasn't the sex, but the infidelity that brought excitement to her cold blooded heart. 

Since Tommy had been born Jessica's work had slowly been taking over her life. Once we talked about our work and the kids' school there usually wasn't much we had time to say. Day to day, I spent more time with my mother. The only emotion I saw in her now was nervousness or an occasional pissy attitude when the order of her day was disrupted.

In the last few years Jessie had become another person. Between the increasingly rare attacks of motherhood or wifely affection, her life was divided between sleeping and spending time in the lab. Even during the times she played house, she had changed. The truth was in the last year there were maybe three times I had felt close to my wife. The rest of the time she was just a counterbalance that allowed for even wear on our mattress.

Inside the house it was like nothing had changed. My ten-year-old, Tommy, was doing his best to get an early start on Carpal Tunnel though he paused his game to show me that he had finished his homework. "I'm in the middle of the game." 

"It's already past your bedtime. Is there a save function on the game?" 

I could see my son hesitating, wanting to lie. "Yeah, but I'm almost done with this level." He saw my look and started to save the game.

Tommy looked up in one last puppy dog appeal.

"Okay, you've got ten minutes. Then I want you upstairs and in bed." It would have been nice to get a hug, but at least when I leaned down and kissed him on the forehead, he didn't try to wriggle away. 

My twelve-year-old, Traci, was watching television in the kitchen and during commercial breaks she went about putting the dishes in the dishwasher and cleaning the countertops. She was watching Sex In The City. It wasn't HBO though so the most explicit stuff had been cut out of it, thank God. 

"Dad which one of the girls do you think I'm like the most?" 

I'm pretty sure Traci didn't want an answer, she just wanted to watch by herself. The way she laughed as I slunk out of the room was a tip off. Before I left I opened my mouth, but Traci beat me to it. "Yeah dad. After this up to bed." For sheer brainpower Traci was maybe even smarter than her mother, though at this moment that didn't make me feel very good. 

My fourteen-year-old, Jenna, wasn't around, but there was loud music coming from behind her door and when he knocked on it, she poked her head out for a second, saying hi and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. 

"In bed in thirty minutes?" 

She nodded her head in acceptance. Then taking her phone off hold, she immediately said, "Oh, it was just my dad."

Just because I knew our happy home was a mirage, didn't mean my children should. If I could have taken the last half hour away, maybe it could stay the same, but there was no way I could pretend that nothing was different. Confronting my wife was going to be a piece of cake compared to talking to my kids about what was going to happen. It would have been nice to force my wife to do it by herself, but this wasn't revenge, this was my children's happiness. 

When I went into the bedroom, I could hear the shower going in the master bath. The only thing that disturbed the peace was the incessant buzzing of Jessie's cell phone. Picking it up out of my wife's purse, I saw that it was Barbara calling. I turned off the cell phone and figured that my daughter Jenna would take care of blocking out anyone calling on the house line. I settled down on the bed and flipped on the tv turning it to the cable news and tried to let my mind numb out. 

It was all so ordinary. Cheating was such a minor thing to my wife that it didn't even disrupt her routine. This morning as she was drinking her orange juice she must have ticked through her to do list: go to work, pick up dry cleaning, fuck stranger, watch tv in bed with husband, go to sleep. How long had it been going on that it had become effortless for her to cheat on me? 

The more I thought about it the worse it got. I could see her fucking him... or was it them? Fuck, she could have been doing this for years. The kids were mine though... the genetic testing we had done to check for diseases proved that. Didn't it? She couldn't have gotten someone to fake the tests. Could she?

A half hour ago my wife had loved me. Shit, no she hadn't. I had just thought that. No, a half hour ago I had loved my wife. There had been no reason why. It wasn't that she deserved it, it had become automatic. 

How many times had we made love with passion in the last few years? During our last anniversary she had taken a call just as we had gotten in bed. Two hours later she had woken me up and we had fucked, quickly though because she had to get in to work early the next day. It had probably been the guy in the car and they had phone sex in the other room as her chubby hubby read his Robert Ludlum novel for a half hour before falling asleep. 

If I broke into her computer files, I bet I'd find a date circled sometime in 2013. Her day of freedom. The day Tommy would head off to college and the day she could shake me off and get on with her real life. But probably she didn't even care about the kids. I'm sure it had more to do with the scandal. How many times did the university play up the fact that their molecular genetics wonder girl was a happily married mother of three? Her liberation day was probably more geared around funding issues than family. 

It was a petty thought, but I knew that I had to beat her to the punch. The thought of her walking in the kitchen on some morning and handing me the front page and the sports along with divorce papers just about killed me. But I couldn't think that way. The most important thing now was my kids and losing my temper wasn't going to help any when it came time for a custody hearing. This was just a fucking business deal that I had to close.

Jessie walked out of the bathroom still rubbing at her hair with a towel. She smiled at me in passing and sat up against the bed near me and watched the tv tick through the headline news. 

"You're awfully quiet tonight," Jessica mentioned as the commercials started.

And I was quiet. I was being a wimp, putting this off.

I cleared my throat. "I got a job offer and I'm going to take it..."

She went back in the bathroom and started getting her coldcream out and rubbing it into her hands. 

"Does it pay more?"

"A lot more actually." I avoided laughing at the thought. "You remember Tate?" Jess shook her head. "J. Tate Peeler? He was one of the guys I shared the house with Junior year." My wife just shrugged. "Well, I'll be working under him. The only complication is that it's in St. Paul."

She stopped rubbing. "You're kidding."

"It's going to be rough for the kids to move in the middle of the year, but they're tough. I figured we would stay with my sister in that broken down palace of hers until we find something permanent." 

"You're not funny."

I ignored her. "Actually, my sister was one reason St. Paul sounded so good. Jenna and Traci actually like their cousins, so I figure they would already have a couple of friends to start off."

Jessie was just staring at me. "And I'm supposed to convince the university that I want to move my lab a thousand miles away?"

"I didn't say that."

My wife just look poleaxed, still though more surprised than upset. How could she be otherwise. Our lives were such quiet, regular things. Hell, I bet she used a damn metronome when her lover was fucking her so that her schedule wouldn't suffer. 

Jessie tried to smile as if it was a joke, but seeing my expression her lips thinned. "You want me to commute from Northern Virginia to Minnesota?"

"If you like you could fly in on the weekend, but I wouldn't really expect you to do that," I said heading into the bathroom. "You'd better get to sleep pretty soon. Friday's always a long day for you. If you want to talk about this more, we can either do it or breakfast or you can call me during the day when you have some free time."

Jessie walked into the doorway of the bathroom, staring at me, as I brushed my teeth.

I made eye contact with her in the mirror. "They laid off our division today."

I could see her mind trying to connect the dots. Trying to figure out how something that happened in my life effected hers.

"There were some vague rumors months ago, but just in case I have been shopping my resume around. It's just lucky this happened now. Tate and I talked last Monday and he really wanted me to come work for him. He said he had a spot he could keep open for me for a couple more weeks. That's why this is happening so quick.

"The way I see it I'll fly down there in two weeks and commute back here on the weekends until we get everything settled here that way the kids can spend some time saying goodbye to their friends and adjust to the idea of moving a bit."

"I can't just move my lab. There's grants and tenure and..."

I tore off some floss. "Relax, I'm not asking you tuh... muhve."

It's not like my wife is dumb, but, just as I was, she was stuck in the routine. "You're divorcing me?"

I reached for the mouthwash. "No, just moving. If you want to fly in on the weekend, or maybe just alternate weekends you're welcome to. I figure after we sell the house, you could stay with your Mom or get a small place closer to your office." I expected her to say something as I rinsed, but she kept quiet. My wife was always one for plans and fallbacks and for once it looked like I had caught her flat footed. 

I rinsed my mouth and spit. As I came back in the room, I hesitated in the doorway. "Light on or off?"

"ON!" Her body was tense and it looked like she wanted to punch me out. "So you just assume you'll get custody?"

I stared at her as I picked up a well worn copy of The Eiger Sanction. "Jessie, would you even want to have custody? I'm sure you have problems with me, but you know that I'm a good father. You really think the kids would be better off with a nanny than with me?"

"There's my mother..." she said, her voice trailing off as even she wasn't convinced by her suggestion.

"Even if the kids liked her, Barb's sixty-one and has bad knees, bad eyes and smokes a pack a day. Either her or the kids would go nuts inside of a month. She can't handle it physically. If you went through with it that would be bad for both her and the kids.

"Give it some time." I opened my book and started trying to figure out where I had left off. The book was familiar so it was easy, relaxing even, to read it and talk. "See how it is flying in alternate weekends for a couple months. As it is you're pretty much a ghost to the kids during the week..." I closed my eyes and bit down on the rest of what I wanted to say about that. I put the book down and looked at Jess. "Doing it this way you'll get twelve days to work as late as you want and then spend two days with the kids, free and clear. Actually, I bet you'd end up spending more time with them than you do now."

The look she turned on me made me sick. An attempt at affection, so poorly acted even a soap opera character wouldn't believe it. "Peter, it's not like I like being away this much..."

I opened my mouth to say something but the image of her making out in the guy's car choked me. 

Since crocodile-affection had failed, Jessica put on her diplomat's face, the one she used when talking to journalists or to our kids -- that polite, happy condescending smile. "We've talked about my spending less hours at the lab. Didn't we agree this was just a temporary thing and we could get put up with it for a little while?"

I nodded. "You're absolutely right. And now the agreement's off. If you're unhappy about that why don't you see if you can get a judge to enforce it."

Jessica looked so logical, so rational. Hell, even I was acting like this was a contract negotiation and not a marriage. God, I wanted to scream at her. Whore. You fucking whore. This whole time we've been talking about her seeing the children and not once has she said a thing about missing me or loving me.

Jessica shook her head. "You can't just uproot my life like this..." What ever emotion she was working herself up to drained out of her and she stared at me in confusion.

I was glaring at her. Even now this was all about her. As much as she fucking cared, she could have been talking to a door that told her it and the hinges were moving to another house.




Do Not Pass Go



"Let's just bottom line this," I said speaking slowly and firmly. "Unless you want to hire nannies or farm them out to boarding schools, there's no way for you take the kids. Either way though I'm moving to St. Paul. So decide what you want to do." 

It would have been nice to have gotten a reaction out of her, but I really hadn't expected one.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to get any reading done in here, so I'll just read in the den for a little while." Sadly, I was still looking at her face, hoping for one look of genuine concern. "By the way, I think your mother's been trying to call you on your cell phone." 

***

I fell asleep on the couch. Though I woke up at 6 AM, Jessie had already left for work. Actually looking at our unruffled bed, it was more likely that she had never slept there to begin with. With three kids to get to school there wasn't time to spend a lot of time thinking about that.

Tate didn't make it into his office until late, well 10 AM his time, but it was 11 AM for me. I wanted to get started on everything, but until Tate officially told me that I had a job, there was no way I was going to disrupt my kids lives. After that I started to check out movers. My cell phone rang off and on all morning, but it wasn't like I had any desire to talk to Barbara. 

When my mother showed up at my door, there was no avoiding her.

"It's not right for you or the kids..." Barb choked out white faced.

"Could we talk about this another time? This is pretty far down the list of things to worry about."

"I don't mean last night." She reached out her hand, but didn't lay it on my arm when she saw me glaring at her. "I meant this morning."

"What the hell?"

"I told her that I wouldn't help take care of the kids and if I had to go in front of a court I would tell the truth."

"Why would I..."

"Jessica went to the bank as soon as it opened." 

After that I stopped hearing. Before this it had seemed like a nightmare, but it had been lucid, like I had some control. From that point on it was an avalanche. The kids went berserk at the news almost as unhappy about the divorce as the idea that they were headed to St. Paul. Jenna even left to stay with her mom at Barb's house. Traci just seemed to scream at me. Tommy, well, Tommy was just withdrawn and depressed. This was before I had to leave for St. Paul to start my new job. 

Forget taking the kids, my wife had her lawyer bar me from doing that until custody had been determined and of course she dragged that out for months. But while the divorce proceedings were merely interminable, the custody hearing was a long, drawn-out blood letting. 

Maybe I should have stayed in Virginia until the custody was worked out. Looking back on it, of course I should have, but back then it seemed that my getting custody would be a no-brainer. Also every interaction I had with Jessica, Barbara or the kids became an armed encounter. Maybe I should have told them about Jessica's cheating. I don't know. It was like Jenna, Traci and Tommy had become different people. They hated the divorce and they hated St. Paul and they hated the idea of losing all their friends. 

Oh yeah and they hated me. 

Hating me, it became easier to love their mom. I understood Tommy being fooled, but I was sad that Jenna and Traci had bought into the role their mother was playing. Still in a way I understood. After all my love was common, but even a morsel of affection from Jessica was precious.

Pleading with Tate for more time, I put off the move to St. Paul for another month and a half being able to take care of some work by telecommuting. But six weeks in the job was going to disappear and by then I had just been beaten down. My children and mother hated me -- though for now, all Barb kept talking about was my over-reacting -- and my wife told me I was mistaken about her cheating on me or that in any case I couldn't prove it. 

I had been worn down. Staying in the house was an endurance contest. But it wasn't a fair fight. Every day my kids begged me to stay, pleaded with me not to do this. Breaking down I started to tell Jenna about what her mother had done, but she refused to listen. It only made her angrier at me. That was when she swore she would never talk to me again.

Saying I was broken down is just an excuse. Leaving was an act of cowardice. I know that, but it was hard to realize that at the time. 

In St. Paul my sister Billie took me in. Suddenly I went from being the evil father to the loving uncle to John and Allie. It's hard to go back to a place where you're hated when you're suddenly surrounded by people who love you. 

Having left, the kids had dug in. They swore they wouldn't talk to me until I agreed to come home for good. By the time we saw a judge in the formal custody hearing, it was a case of abandonment. I was an absent, hated parent and my wife, at least on paper, was a full-time, devoted mommy. I wanted to scream when the president of my wife's university made a declaration to the court that Jessica had changed her schedule and now was only working 20 hours in the lab.

Jenna broke her vow not to talk to me. Well, kind of. She was sworn in and testified that she desperately wanted to stay with her mom. When, after swearing on a bible to tell the truth, Barbara stood before the judge extolling her daughter's virtues, it was like the world had turned inside out. 

But even my being an unloving, absentee father was not enough., so Jessica's lawyer submitted records to the court proving my mental instability.

It was a load of shit, but there it stood before the judge. And caught flat footed there was nothing to do, but try to explain it in my testimony.

While I was in college my father had a massive heart attack during a screaming match over the Christmas holidays. Jessica and my friends made me go to the school's counseling services... and somewhere there had been an admitting form that some physician-crat had made some note that said "...history of depression and suicidal thoughts?" As if being sad when my mother died or saying that as a six year old I had felt so sad then I just wanted to lay down and die was an attempt at suicide.

But the judge didn't even look like he was listening to my explanation. The fact that someone somewhere had written down "history of depression and suicidal" was enough for him. 

Jessica's lawyer asked for a ten minute recess just before the judge was going to make his custody ruling. God, it was like being in a small town and everyone in the court knowing which way things were going to go before the first word had been said. The fix had been in from the start and now being ushered into an armpit of a meeting room everything was coming to a close. 

Before going in I had to walk by my children. Jessica glared at me while Traci and Tommy looked desperately unhappy. 

It took a moment for us to get settled once we got in the room. After turning for a second nod at my counsel, Jessica's lawyer, a petite florid little man in an Italian suit, smiled. "I think we all know which way the judge is going to rule, don't we?"

What was I feeling? Legal and social claustrophobia. Only my sister and her family supported me now, but they were far away from me now. Even my lawyer seemed unsympathetic, perhaps hoping for a joint agreement between the parties to avoid the record of a humiliating defeat. 

I looked at Jessica's lawyer. "No, question you've done a masterful job. If I were the judge, even I would rule against my getting custody."

The florid man's smile became icy. "You wish it was just full custody. We're going to ask the judge to bar any visitation or if there has to be to make it limited and supervised."

I looked at my lawyer and found her avoiding my gaze.

"If you agree to return to the home and the marriage resumes we'll settle for primary custody. Assuming you act in good faith this whole matter is moot in any case."

There it was. All or nothing. My wife had turned our children into tools to bring me back into the fold and protect the precious order in her life.

I leaned over and whispered into my lawyer's ear. "It's a tough decision, wouldn't you say..."

The woman just nodded, but her expression transformed as I continued. 

"Tough to figure out whether you are incompetent or if you were bought off."

Maybe it was melodramatic, but my anger had to go somewhere and my lawyer, whether intentionally or not, had offered me up as a sacrificial lamb.

Seeing that I was coming to a decision, Jessica looked over at me and gave me what passed for her as a genuine smile. "This would be the best for everybody, Peter. Just come home and everything is forgiven."

I nodded. "Jessie, you are nothing if not consistent." I smiled at Jessica and her legal shark and got up and motioned for my lawyer to follow me. "Okay, bring on the executioner." 

Despite my words, I still clung on to hope. 

It's nice to believe in fairytales, but in real life there are no magic pumpkins or itinerant fairies. The truth is Cinderella would have died a spinster after being worked to death in one of her stepsisters' homes. 

The judge gave Jessica a polite smile as she entered the court and gazed fiercely at me. He had it easy. Add mentally unstable and a possible danger to self and others to the laundry list of my supposed shortcomings as a father and it was all over. As I found out later, even in a fair fight I wouldn't have had much of a chance in the hands of this 73-year-old southern gentleman who believed a father should get custody only if the mother was in a persistent vegetative state. 

As the judge put it, my wife got "Full and Total Custody." Though after considering for a second and expressing serious reservations, he allowed me limited supervised visitation at my wife's convenience.

***

It's been four months since the custody hearing and I'm at the airport headed for a taxi to take me to my first supervised visitation. To start I have two hours to spend with my kids. Two hours and I don't know if Jenna will be there or if Traci and Tommy will speak to me.

I've got myself up for this. Maybe it seems like nothing to people who can see or speak to their children anytime they want, but two hours with my kids are gold. Afterward I'll go back to my motel and do some work before getting up early tomorrow and taking a morning flight back to St. Paul. 

This is my life and, no matter how you see it, it really isn't so terrible. The avalanche is over. As bad as it was, I'm digging out. Step one is to see my kids again and do everything I can for them to get over the divorce. Step two is to get the court to give me unsupervised visitation. Step three is to get a new custody hearing.

Today is the start of step one. 

More than hope, I have patience on my side. There's only so long that Jessie can pretend to be the devoted, loving mother. And I'll be ready for that mentally unstable bullshit in the next hearing. Most importantly of all -- unless God truly hates me -- the next family court judge won't be a relic of the Confederacy. Well, at least I won't get that one; he died about two weeks ago, my guess choking to death on the ice in his mint julep.