46 comments/ 51353 views/ 21 favorites Savior By: Just Plain Bob I watched her walk into the room and she was as hot and as gorgeous as ever and I wondered just what she wanted to do to me now. To understand the situation you have to know the back story. +++++++++++++++++++++ It started when Joleen Thomas transferred into our high school in the tenth grade. Joleen was hot! Every guy in the school from the eighth grade to the twelfth had the screaming hots for the girl. So much so that they all asked her out. Even eighth and ninth graders ignored the age difference and tried, but it soon became apparent that Joleen couldn't be bothered by anyone who wasn't a junior or a senior and who had money and a car. That didn't stop anyone from trying though. I gave it a shot figuring that being a BMOC (Big Man on the Campus) by virtue of being an All State tight end, second baseman and wrestler might carry some weight. Nope, nada and zilch. Her refusals didn't stop me from trying and I asked her out at least once every two weeks all through the school term. When I started the eleventh grade I thought that I might have a chance. I had some spending money from my part time job at Safeway. Again it was nope, nada and sorry. True, I was a junior, but so was Phil Reed and my four year old Honda Prelude did not match his late model Mustang convertible and what I made at Safeway didn't come close to the money that his father lavished on him. His dad owned three car dealerships and his attitude was "Nothing is too good for my boy." Besides the car and hefty allowance Phil had a boat and his family had a house at the lake and an indoor swimming pool if the weather outside sucked. I still took a shot every couple of weeks just on the off chance I might get lucky, but I didn't limit myself to Joleen. I dated a lot, but never had a steady girl friend because it wouldn't be fair to her if Joleen finally said yes to me and I had to drop my steady for Joleen. Hey! I was young and invincible and I knew that if Joleen would go out with me just once she would realize that she had found the man she had been looking for all along. ++++++++++++++++++ The year flew by and then it was Junior Prom night. Joleen was with Phil and my date was Nancy Neubert. We had a good time right up until the last dance when Nancy had to run to the girl's bathroom and when she came back she told me that I needed to take her home. She had some sort of female problem. Menstrual cramps or something like that. I took her home and then hit some of the after prom parties by my lonesome. I was at the party at Gene Ellsworth's when it happened. Phil was drunk on his ass and Joleen was pretty damned near the same. I saw Jack Marvin and Ricky Barnes hustle Joleen off into a corner and watched while Jack tried to kiss her while copping a feel. I saw Rickey drop something in a drink, stir it and give it to Joleen. Jack and Ricky were the class assholes and there was no doubt in my mind that they had just given Joleen a date rape drug. I walked over to them and told them that I was going to take Joleen off their hands. Jack sneered at me and said: "Fuck off Sterling. Butt out unless you want to get hurt." "I'm not butting out Marvin. I figure I can take the two of you without working up a sweat, but I'm not going to waste my time. You two take a hike and I won't call the police and tell them that I saw you drug her. I do that and they take her to County General and do a blood workup on her and I'll give you two guesses as to where the two of you will end up." Jack looked at Ricky and then back at me and said, "Take the stuck up cunt" and the two of them walked away leaving me with a very fucked up Joleen. I got her out to my car, but not without some difficulty. The date rape drug hadn't taken effect yet and even though she was drunk on her ass she wanted to stay and keep partying. Once I got her in the car I belted in and then headed for her house. The drug hit her while I was still twenty minutes from getting her home and she was comatose when I pulled up and parked in front of her house. I got her out of the car and up to the front door and then came the hard part. I had to wake her parents up in order to get her into the house. I rang the bell half a dozen times before the door opened and a man I presumed to be her father took a look at what was standing in front of him and said: "What the hell did you do to my daughter?" "I got her out of a bad situation and brought her home. Help me get her into the house." We got her into the living room and put her down on the couch. Mr. Thomas looked at me and said: "She's more than just drunk. What the hell did you do to her?" "I didn't do anything to her except bring her home. As far as what is wrong with her I believe that some one slipped her a date rape drug." He looked at me and said, "You aren't the one who picked her up for her date. Who are you and how did you come to be with Joleen?" "I'm a classmate of hers. Her date got drunk and passed out and I appointed myself her watchdog." "How do I know that you aren't the one who drugged her?" "That question is so stupid that it doesn't deserve an answer." "No? Well you are going to give me one if you don't want me to kick your ass into next week." By then his attitude had me thoroughly pissed. I looked him in the eye and said: "I guess it is true that no good deed goes unpunished. I should have just left her there so she could have been the center piece of a gangbang. To answer your question on how do you know I wasn't the one to drug her? I would have to be as stupid as you are in asking the question to begin with. I'm going to drug her and then bring her home and ring the doorbell to get you up to take care of her? If I had drugged her I'd have her in a bedroom and I'd be fucking the hell out of her instead of being here and being insulted by you." I turned and headed for the door. "Where are you going?" "Home." "What's your name?" "Why? So you can give it to the police?" "No. I want to be able to tell her who it was that saved her butt." "Sterling. Brad Sterling." "Thank you for looking after her. Sorry about the things I said. I'm a father and we are allowed to get uptight about our daughters." I gave him a nod to acknowledge his apology and then I left. ++++++++++++++ That had been on a Friday so I didn't expect to see Joleen until class on Monday so it was surprise when she showed up at our house on Sunday. I was in the garage working on my car and my mother came out and told me that there was someone there to see me. I cleaned my hands with a rag and went into the house where I found Joleen sitting on the couch. She stood up when I walked into the room and said: "Hi Brad." "Joleen. This is a bit of a surprise." "I didn't want to wait until school tomorrow to thank you. You saved my life." "I doubt that. I kept you from being sexually assaulted and that's hardly life saving." "You saved me from more than being sexually assaulted. You got me away from the party before Phil could take me home." "Phil was too drunk to do anything to you." "You haven't heard?" "Heard what?" "Phil is dead. He left the party drunk and lost control of his car on his way home. They estimate he was going seventy when he hit the bridge abutment. If you hadn't taken me home I would probably have been in the car with him." I didn't know what to say to that. I knew Phil and I didn't like him. He was an arrogant prick, but he had meant something to Joleen so I said: "Sorry to hear that. I know you liked him a lot." She shrugged and said, "Yeah. Well. I just wanted to thank you." "Glad I was there and able to do it." Inside my head a battle was being fought. A part of my brain was saying "Take advantage of her gratitude. Ask her out." Another part was saying "Don't be crass. Don't act like a lowlife taking advantage." The side telling me not to be an asshole won out. After a little more conversation Joleen said she had to go and I walked her to the door and told her I'd see her at school the next day. After she left I sat and wondered how long I should wait before asking her out. I thought a week would be just about right. Silly me! By Wednesday Joleen had hooked up with Harry Cross. Harry's father owned a large construction company and his father was a lot like Phil's in that he believed that nothing was too good for his boy. Harry not only had a pretty hefty allowance, but he drove a BMW convertible. I finally woke up to the fact that I probably would never have what it took to get on Joleen's dance card, but I was still going to keep on trying. ++++++++++++++ Joleen was always friendly toward me, but then she was that way with everybody. I don't want to give the impression that I pined away for Joleen because that was not the case. I really did want to date Joleen and I kept trying, but I did date other girls and shortly after my eighteenth birthday Pauline French relieved me of my cherry and for the next month or so Pauline and I got together whenever we could find the time and a flat surface. I had changed my stance on having a steady girlfriend and I considered asking Pauline to be my full time girlfriend, but before I could do it she let me know that she wasn't in the market for a steady boyfriend. "I'm young and I intend to do a lot of playing around before I settle down. I will say you are the kind of guy I'd want when I do decide to tie myself down with a guy." We kept company for another couple of months and then Pauline dropped me and took up with another guy. I had been dating Beverly Abbeg for a little over a month and senior prom was approaching. I asked Bev to go to the prom with me and she told me that she couldn't. "I promised Marshall Thompson I'd go with him." That caught me by surprise. As far as I knew Bev and Marsh hadn't dated since the middle of the eleventh grade and he was currently dating Nancy Wilde. She saw the surprise on my face and said: "It is too complicated to try and explain, but it won't keep me from sucking your cock" and she reached for my zipper. I looked around and didn't see any viable candidates so the decision needed to be made – go stag or don't go. I had just about decided not to go when I received a visit from Joleen. It was two days before the prom and I was sitting at a table in the school cafeteria when Joleen came up and asked if she could join me. I of course told her yes and she sat down. I was naturally curious because she had never before asked to join me, but I was completely taken by surprise when she said: "You saved me once before Brad and I was wondering if you would do it again?" "What is this all about Joleen?" "I need a date for the prom and I was wondering if I can get you to take me." "What about Harry?" "He is in the hospital. His appendix burst." I sat there remembering all the times she had turned me down and knowing that if I took her to the prom it would mean nothing to her. I would just be the means to an end. After the prom she would be back with Harry or some other guy with money. But it would get me to the prom with a date instead of my going alone. While I was sitting there looking at her and running things through my mind she must have thought that I was getting ready to say no so she said: "I'll make it worth your while Brad." I had no idea what she meant by that, but the tone of her voice and the look on her face told me that she was pleading with me so I said: "I'd love to take you to the prom." She visibly relaxed and we sat there and made our plans for prom night. +++++++++++++++++++++ I drove to her house in my freshly washed and waxed Prelude and her father recognized me when he answered the doorbell. He gave me a half grin and said: "I don't believe it. She is finally going out with someone I approve of." He led me into the living room and introduced me to his wife and we sat there and chatted until Joleen came down the stairs. She was absolutely stunning. She literally took my breath away. Her dad slapped me on the back and laughingly said: "Breathe boy, breathe." Then we had to pose for pictures until her mom thought she had enough. The dance itself was memorable because Joleen never left my side. Every guy who asked her for a dance was turned down. "I promised myself that I'd only dance with Brad tonight" is what she told Harv Switzer. And dance we did. We were on the floor for almost every number and dancing with her was like a dream. She fit into my arms perfectly and with her head resting on my shoulder and my nose pretty much in her hair the smell made me weak in the knees. I was thinking that it was a crying shame that it couldn't be forever, but I knew I was only going to have the one night. I had planned to hit a couple of the after prom parties before taking Joleen home, but she had other ideas. She told me that she had already made plans for an after prom party and she gave me the directions to get there. "Pull in here" she said when we got to the Motel 6, "And park in front of 116. I did and then looked at her with obvious confusion on my face. "I told you I would make it worth your while" and she took the room key out of her purse and handed it to me. She opened her door and said: "Lets get to it baby; times a wasting." I was no stranger to sex. Pauline and all the girls after her had seen to my sexual education, but they hadn't prepared me for the sexual dynamo that was Joleen. She flat tore me up and barely left me with enough strength to push the pedals and turn the steering wheel when it was time to take her home. She managed to get four times out of me and one of those times was a first for me. Joleen had me do her ass. God but was it ever tight. When it was over ('over' was when she couldn't get me up for a fifth time) we dressed and I took her home. I walked her to her door and she gave me a scorcher of a kiss and thanked me for a perfect night. When the door closed behind her I almost cried because I new it would never happen again. I was wrong when I 'just knew' that she would be back with Harry when he got out of the hospital. Two days after the prom she was dating Justin Foreman. His dad was the president of the First National Bank and Trust and Justin was another one with a huge allowance and a new car. I just shook my head and thanked the gods that be for my one night with Joleen. ++++++++++++++++ I had received several athletic scholarships and I signed a letter of intent to play for State. Joleen went off to some college back east and it was two years before I saw her again. She had to transfer back to State because of some family problem. During those two years I had dated several girls and had gotten into relationships with two of them. One of them was Pauline French and we lasted almost eight months before she broke it off with me. She told me that she was getting too attached to me and was nowhere near being ready to settle down. Pretty much the same reason she gave me when she broke up with me in high school. I was sitting in the school cafeteria having lunch and going over my notes from Business Law II when someone sat down across from me. It was Joleen. "Hi stranger" she said. "Hi yourself. What are you doing here?" "Not happy to see me?" "Of course I am happy to see you, but I thought you were going to Smith or one of those other back east schools." "I was, but I had to transfer back here. You are the first familiar face I've seen since coming back." We talked for a bit and made plans to get together that evening. When I showed up at her house to pick her up I found out why she'd had to transfer back. Her father had died of a heart attack and her mother hadn't taken it well. Joleen had come back so she could help take care of her mom. As soon as Joleen was in the car I asked her what she would like to do. "I want to re-enact prom night." "I don't know of any place that has dancing on a Tuesday night." "Don't be an ass Bradley; you know what I want." I couldn't get room 116 at the Motel 6, but they did have plenty of other rooms that were empty. We did re-enact prom night right down to the anal part, but the night ended for the same reason that prom night ended. Joleen could not get me up for a fifth time. When I got her home I got the same scorcher of a kiss that I got on prom night only this time she said: "Tomorrow? Same time?" I was going to say no? I saw Joleen every night for the next eight days (she never did get that fifth out of me) and for seven days I heard, "Tomorrow? Same time?" but on the eighth night all I got was a "Thanks Brad. It was fun" and she turned and went into the house. The next day when I got to the student cafeteria for lunch I saw Joleen sitting with some guy I didn't know, but who I'd seen around. From the clothes that he wore, the Rolex on his wrist and the Porsche 911 he drove I assumed that he had money. Once again it was obvious to me that Bradley Sterling and his nine year old Honda were never going to be enough for Joleen Thomas. +++++++++++++++++++++ I saw Joleen off and on over the next two years, always on the arm of someone who had money, and she would smile at me and wave, but we had no social interaction. I'd done well on the football field. Well enough to be a first round draft pick. I got a half million for a signing bonus which I promptly turned over to a financial planner and advisor I trusted. I wasn't stupid. I'd seen too many athletes go into the pros and who had taken their big bucks and had gone on a spending spree only to get a career ending injury which left them broke. It wasn't going to happen to me. I might get injured, but it wasn't going to leave me broke. I didn't waste the money on a brand new car, but I did put new tires, shocks and brakes on the Prelude and then gave it a paint job. It was déjà vu. I was in the garage working on the car when my mother came out and told me that there was someone there to see me. I cleaned my hands with a rag and went into the house where I found Joleen sitting on our living room couch. She stood up when I walked into the room and said: "Hi Brad." "Joleen. This is a bit of a surprise." "It shouldn't be. You know who I always turn to when I need to be saved." I almost said "Go find someone else" but I remembered how insatiable she was in the bedroom and I figured "What the hell. Why not get one more time if I can." I sat down in the easy chair across from her and asked, "How can I help you this time?" "My cousin Ruth is getting married and I'm one of the bridesmaids. I need an escort." "I thought they usually paired up the bridesmaids with the groomsmen." "That's just for the ceremony and pictures. I know most of the guys who are going to be there and frankly I don't want to dance with any of them at the reception. I will make it worth your while." I remembered what that meant the last time I helped her out and she was the best pussy I'd ever had so why not. "When and where" I asked. I actually had fun. Joleen was good company and her cousin was a riot and great looking besides. I was almost sorry that I hadn't gotten to her first. She made big points with me late in the reception when I danced with her. "What kind of spell have you cast over my cousin?" "I beg your pardon?" "You must have done something. How else can you explain her being with a nice guy? You are the first one she has ever brought around that I wouldn't mind becoming a member of the family." "Thanks. I think." She laughed and moved in closer. "Ooooooooh, bad Bradley" she said when her leg felt my hard on. I danced most of the other dances with Joleen and it might have been my imagination, but she seemed to feel the need to press herself against me during the slow numbers. I didn't protest. Savior The happy couple left and things started breaking up. It was an eighty mile drive to get home and I knew I wouldn't want to make the drive after the drinking I expected to do at the reception so I'd taken two rooms at a local motel. When we got to the motel I gave Joleen the key to her room and she looked at it and said: "What's this?" "The key to your room." My room? You expect to sleep in another room? Why two rooms? You knew what I meant when I told you I would make it worth your while." "A gentleman never presumes." "Bullshit Sterling. Best you see if you can get your money back on the second room." I couldn't, but I didn't care. The night I had in room 131 was worth the cost of ten rooms. Ten rooms for a week even. Joleen finally got that fifth time out of me. When I took her home I figured that would be the end of it. I carried her bags to her door and set them down. She took me in her arms, gave me one hell of a kiss and then said: "I'm free all of next week. Give me a call." I got one more kiss and she went into the house. ++++++++++++++++++++++ I did call her and we went out three of the nights and ended up back at my apartment on all three of them. The following week we went out four times and the week after that it was five. Suddenly it seemed that we were a couple in everyone's eyes. After three months she told me that her mother wanted to sell the house and move to Akron where she could live with her sister. "I can get an apartment or I can just move in with you. What do you think I should do?" You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out my answer to that question. Joleen moved in with me and six months later we were married. The next five years flew by. My initial contract was for three years and in my second and third year I made it to the Pro Bowl. I was offered a lucrative five year contract and I took it, but arranged for deferred compensation spread out over eight years. It saved me a ton in taxes, but the real beauty of it was that I got paid even if I got injured and couldn't play. The pay checks would keep on coming for eight years. It was also a good deal for the franchise in that it freed them up and helped them with the Leagues salary cap. By the end of the second year of the contract I'd come to realize that if I made a million dollars a month it would never be enough for Joleen. The woman could spend it faster than I could make it and that wasn't the way I wanted to live. My plan was get the money now, invest it and spread it out so I could live well after football and I don't mean live well for a couple of years, but live well for the rest of my life. Accordingly, knowing Joleen's penchant for spending, I started hiding things from her. I didn't explain the deferred compensation package and I decided to shock her into curbing her spending. I told her that my financial advisor had made some bad guesses (he hadn't and in fact he was doing extremely well by me) and that I had lost a bunch on the stock market. I told her that we needed to tighten the purse strings a bit. It didn't faze her at all. Two weeks after I told her that she went out and bought a new Cadillac Escalade. As far as she was concerned we still had money in the bank, right? Well I've done some dumb things in my life, but I'm not stupid. Or at least I didn't think that I was. I remembered Joleen's track record back before we hitched up. The way she bounced from one well off guy to another and I concluded, rightly or wrongly, that Joleen jumped on my wagon because she saw the big bucks that I could pull down as a Pro. In short – was it me or my money? My heart was yelling at me that it was me, but my mind was telling me that it was the money. She was a great wife and other than her out of control spending I really had no complaints. God knows that she continued trying to fuck me to death. Joleen had never put her degree to use. Why bother. We didn't need the money that her job would bring in. Instead of going to work Joleen became a social butterfly. Perhaps I'm not being fair in using that term, but Joleen seemed to feel the need to be out and about and seen in all the trendy places and with the 'in crowd.' She joined all sorts of organizations from "Save the Barking Tree Frog" to "Prevent Earthworm Abuse." She got on committees and volunteered for all sorts of things. Scarcely a week went by when her picture wasn't on the society page of the paper. A lot of the money that Joleen was going through was going to the committees and groups that Joleen belonged to and I wasn't happy about it. My financial guru kept telling me to calm down a little because it all went to Charitable Deductions at tax time, but the way Joleen was going through money I was wondering if I might not end up a charity case myself in my later years. When the "Lost a lot on the stock market" ploy didn't work I tried to think of some other way to slow her down. It was almost as if The Fates heard me and decided that I was worthy of help. I was injured in a game against Kansas City. It wasn't career ending, but I let Joleen think that it might well be. I told Joleen that with no money coming in we needed to be frugal. As with the stock market ploy it didn't do any good. I took a deep breath and then took drastic steps. I called all the companies we had credit cards with and I cancelled some and put lower credit limits on others. I emptied the savings account and closed it and then I took all but five thousand out of our join checking and moved all the money to a new account in my name only. I changed my payroll direct deposit to my new account. When I had all that done I sat down with Joleen and told her that since she seemed incapable of being financially responsible I'd taken steps to see that we remained solvent. I told her what the new limits were on her credit cards and that our only income would be about five thousand a month from my investment accounts and that would probably end in about sixteen months when the accounts were drained. "Hopefully by then I'll be back on my feet and able to find a job." Joleen sat there and listened and didn't say a word until I finished. Then she said: "I can't believe that you did all that without talking to me first" and then she got up and left the room. I got up and hobbled after her and when I got to the bedroom I found her moving some of her things into one of the guest bedrooms. "Why are you doing this? And don't tell me that it is because you are upset with me for not talking to you. I told you we needed to tighten up when we lost all that money in the stock market and you didn't listen. I told you that things had to tighten up when the injury happened and you didn't listen then either. I did what I had to do to keep us from someday having to go to that homeless shelter you are on the committee of." She ignored me and kept moving her things so I said "Fuck it" and went to the family room and turned on the TV. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Things were frosty around the house for the next month. Joleen went out almost every night for some committee meeting or other and ignored me when she was home. I wondered how long it was going to last and then – suddenly – I didn't care. It was a Saturday and Joleen had gone to one of her committee meeting. I had my injured leg propped up on a footstool and I was watching the news on the TV. They showed some footage taken at a charity event and there was Joleen with a few other committee members. One of the members was Jason Arnold who was the President and Chairman of the Board of the Apex Group. Jason was standing just behind Joleen with a big smile on his face. Joleen also had a smile on her face. I noticed Jason's posture. His right shoulder was dipped just a tad and I probably wouldn't have thought anything about it except for Joleen's smile. I knew the woman. Intimately. That smile was the smile of someone who was smiling while thinking: "You clods don't know it, but I'm getting away with something right before your eyes." And then it registered on me. Jason's shoulder was dipped to allow his hand to be on Joleen's ass. It all came together in my mind in a rush. Phil and his money were history so move on to Harry. Harry's down and out so move to Justin. More than likely the same pattern played out when she was back east. Come home, hook up with Brad until she spots her next target and then head off with Rolex guy. Hook back up with Brad since it looked like he was headed for the big bucks. Now that the indications that we were not going to be as well off as we were it was time to look for the next sugar daddy. The decision on what to do next was made before Joleen's image had faded from the screen ++++++++++++++++++++++++ The next morning I met with my financial guy and he began moving money. By the end of the day I would have an account in an offshore bank and money from my investment accounts would be moving toward it. That afternoon I met with Stan North of Orbit Investigations and turned him loose on Joleen. I honestly hoped that he would not find anything and it was all just my imagination running wild. Joleen was there when I got home. She was sitting on the living room couch and it looked like she was waiting for me., but I didn't give her a chance to say a word. I went right by her and up the stairs to my bedroom. I took off the three piece suit I was wearing and got into the shower. When I came out I found Joleen sitting on the bed waiting for me. "What are you doing in here? Your bedroom is across the hall." "We need to talk honey." "No we don't. You have gone out of your way to ignore me for over a month now and I've found that I like it. Just get out of my room. I'll let you know if and when I want to talk, but don't hold your breath while you wait." Joleen sat there and looked at me open mouthed. I had never before talked to her like that and she didn't know how to take it. While I was talking I was putting on some casual clothes and I finished dressing and left the room. I noticed her standing at the top of the stairs looking down at me as I walked out the front door. The look on her face was priceless. I drove over to the Landing Strip Lounge and nursed a couple of beers while I shot pool with a couple of guys I knew. When I got home the lights were out so I guessed Joleen had gone to bed. In the morning I was up and out of the house without seeing Joleen. I went to the gym and worked on my upper body for a couple of hours and then hit IHOP for a light breakfast. Next was my physical therapy session after which I went home. I got there around three and noticed that Joleen's car wasn't there. I spent the rest of the afternoon making lists. One of what I wanted when the split came. One of what I was going to take regardless of whether Joleen wanted it or not and the third a list of charities to which I could donate what neither of us wanted. Was I that certain that the private eye was going to find that Joleen was cheating? Damned straight skippy! I managed to avoid Joleen all week. It wasn't all that hard. I got up and left the house before she got up in the morning. I was watching for her when she came home at night and when I saw her turn into the drive I got into my car and left. She as in bed when I got home and if she wasn't I walked right by her without saying a word. Friday I received a call from North and he told me that he had something for me. That something was three meetings that Joleen had had with Arnold that were not committee meetings. One at the Hilton on Tuesday afternoon. One at the Marriott Thursday afternoon and one at the Hilton Thursday evening after a committee meeting. He had photos of Joleen and Jason kissing as they went into room 306 at the Hilton and two of them at the Marriott. One going into room 507 and one of them coming out two hours later. The photos were proof enough for me, but they were not good enough for what I wanted to do. I asked North if he could get me explicit photos and he said he probably could, but it would be extremely expensive and the photos would not be able to be used in court because he would be invading the privacy of Joleen and Jason in order to get them. "I would need to watch them until I could see a pattern and that could take weeks and even then it might never happen. I need them to use the same place repeatedly and then I can spread some bribe money around to get them checked into a room that has been previously prepared with recording devices. Once again I need to warn you that you whatever I get can't be used in court." "I don't want to use it in court. I want to use it as incentive." It didn't take North as long as he thought it might. He quickly discovered that the Hilton and the Marriott were the favorite haunts of the pair. Several hefty bribes got the adulterous duo checked into rooms where their play was saved for posterity. One week later I had what I needed to allow me to do what I wanted to do. Reviewing the DVDs showed that I was lucky to catch on to what was happening when I did. Joleen was planning on doing a Pearl Harbor on me. What North got for me would allow me to act first. The recording was from a Wednesday evening assignation at the Marriott. Jason had just finished fucking Joleen doggie style and they were relaxing when Joleen said: "Maybe we should cool it a bit. Brad isn't stupid and he might already suspect that I'm cheating on him." "As long as you keep screwing the socks off of him why would he suspect anything?" "That's part of the problem. I'm not making love with him." "That's not wise. A slow down or a change is sexual habits is one of the signs of infidelity." "It isn't my fault. I haven't cut him off. He just won't have anything to do with me. I can't even get him to sit down and talk with me." "Then end it now. Leave him so we can get on with our lives." "I don't want to do it yet. I need to wait and see if he is going to be able to play again. It will make a difference in how much I can get when I divorce him." "I don't understand your reasoning. I have more money than the two of us can spend in five lifetimes. You don't need a dime from him." "I just feel that it is important to have money of my own." "You might want to re-evaluate. If he gets suspicious and starts looking and finds out about us it could cause us serious problems. If he does find out and then comes after you for infidelity what we have been doing might get out and I can't have that. That sort of information would do me some serious damage in my social circles. If you just divorce him for Irreconcilable Differences there won't be any stigma attached when we announce our engagement." "Okay. I'll see an attorney on Monday and get it done. But right now you need to ring my chimes again." Joleen was in for a hell of a surprise. ++++++++++++++++++ The next morning I saw an attorney and put things in motion. Joleen and I managed to avoid each other over the weekend and on Monday after my physical therapy I stopped by the attorney's office and finalized things. Tuesday night I was sitting in the family room when Joleen got home. I told her to have a seat. "It is time for us to have that talk." "Why now?" "It will become apparent in just a second." I hit the appropriate buttons on the universal remote and Joleen's face turned pale when she saw herself on the TV with Jason's cock buried in her ass. I handed her an envelope and told her to read what was in it and sign it. She read the papers and then looked at me and said, "This is a joke, right? There is no way I'm going to walk away from this marriage with a lump sum payment of fifty thousand, my car and my personal effects." "No joke Joleen. You take what I've offered and walk away and nobody else will ever see what you are watching on the screen." "You forget that I'm not some bubble headed bimbo. What you just showed me can never be used in court." "Don't intend to use it in court. You will notice that I have filed using Irreconcilable Differences and not adultery. You sign and walk and the Board of Directors of the Apex Group will never see you playing with Jason. You sign and walk and none of the committee members of all the committees that you are on ever see you cheating on your loving husband. You sign and walk and your parents will never see it. None of Jason's family and social circle will ever see it. "You sign and walk and you will never have your own porn web site and the thousands of sites that show amateur porn that is sent into them will never post it for all to see. You sign it and walk and the day the divorce is final I burn the original and any copies that I may have made. You don't need to sign it just this minute. Talk it over with Jason if you like, but if I don't have the signed papers in my hand by this time tomorrow I'll start mailing out copies. And you should be aware that what you just watched is only one of the four meetings that you had with Jason that I have recordings of. I'm tired. Physical therapy is wearing me out. I'm off to bed. Twenty-four hours Joleen. Not one minute more." I turned off the TV, stood and left the room. ++++++++++++++++++ I was up and out of the house before Joleen got up in the morning. Of course she could have been up, but was avoiding me. I hit the gym and worked out until it was time for my therapy and then I killed the rest of the day running errands. I had the oil changed in the Honda (yes, I still had the Prelude) and I got a haircut. I was home watching TV when Joleen got home. She came into the room and sat down across from me. She just sat there and watched me and I ignored her. Finally she said: "I don't want a divorce." "Get real Joleen. I heard you tell Arnold that you were going to hit me with papers this week." "I changed my mind. I finally realized that I'm where I'm supposed to be. I love you and I don't want a divorce." "Too late Joleen. We were history the minute you spread your legs for Arnold the first time. And don't give me the "We love each other and we can get past it" speech. Anyway, I don't believe that you love me or even loved me when we got married. I believe that I'm just one more of the guys you hooked up with because of the money you expected that I'd be making. The proof of that, at least in my mind was how quick you were to hook up with Arnold when money started getting tight around here." "That's not true!" "Oh yes it is Joleen. Look at your past history. Always going from one guy to another who had more money. But none of that matters. What matters is that you cheated on me and I caught you. There can be no working to get by it. No way I can live with a cheating wife. Have you signed the papers yet or do I have to go into my Attila the Hun mode and start pursuing a scorched earth policy?" "God damn it Brad; I'm not lying. I love you. Don't push me away." "Have you signed the papers?" "No chance?" "Not a one." She took the papers out of her purse, signed them and handed them to me and within two days she was moved out. Watching her back down the driveway and out of my life was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. I loved her. I still loved her. Two months after the divorce was final Joleen married Jason Arnold. I was not invited to the wedding. +++++++++++++++++++++++++ Eight months after Jolene signed the papers and moved out I was back on the playing field. I finished the season with good stats and in the next two years I made it back to the Pro Bowl twice. Contract renewal time came and I was offered a hell of a sweet deal, but after serious consideration I turned it down and left football behind me. I had more than enough to give me a good life and I saw no sense in waiting for another injury that was bound to come along. I set myself up in business and got on with life. Savior One evening while sitting in a booth at the Texas Roadhouse having dinner Pauline French came up to me and said hello and asked if she could join me. I hadn't seen Pauline since high school and I said; "Please do." She sat and said, "Joleen not eating with you tonight?" "Her husband wouldn't let her come out." "Her husband? I take it that it isn't you?" "Not for a couple of years now. She traded up several years back." "Then this might be my lucky night." "How so?" "I need a date for an awards dinner I have to go to." "When?" "Friday night." "I just happen to be free that evening." "Good." Pauline didn't tell me that she was one of the ones being given an award. She received an award for being the salesperson of the year. After the dinner and the ceremony there was dancing and I was dancing with Pauline and remembering our times together and those memories plus holding her soft warm body close gave me a woodie and she felt it and giggled. "Are you thinking of the past too?" "Indeed I am." "Would you be up for a re-enactment?" "I thought you could tell that I was up." "You naughty boy you. My place or yours?" "I thought you wanted to re-enact things." "I do." "Then to do it right we need a backseat." "Oh how wicked. We could do it right here in the parking lot and see how many of my co-workers would walk up and watch. I think we should pass up an exact re-enactment and head for my place." She was every bit the hot body she was back when she took my cherry and taught me how to make love. We went three times before falling asleep and once again before I took her to breakfast. Over pancakes and bacon I asked her the obvious question. "How is it that a hot sexy woman like you has to ask a guy like me for a date? I would think the line outside your door of guys wanting to date you would be a block long." "The quantity is there, but the quality is somewhat lacking. And I have made some poor choices. I've been married twice and both marriages ended because of cheating. I can honestly say that I've only met one keeper and I let him get away. So what happened with you and Joleen?" "She traded up to someone who had more money than I did." "She always was a bit of a gold digger. Even back in high school." "The problem is that I knew that and I married her anyway. Everything was fine until I was injured and it looked like my playing days were over and the big paychecks would stop coming. Without those multi-million dollar contracts on the horizon she went looking for another sugar daddy and found one." "Enough about her. Now that you've fed me and I have some energy I think we should go back to my place and do some more re-enacting." I was one whipped dude when I finally got back to my place on Sunday night. +++++++++++++++++ Pauline and I dated for several months and I finally asked her to marry me. She smiled and said: "Remember when we broke up back in high school I said that you were the kind of guy I'd want when I did decide to tie myself down?" I smiled and told her that I did remember. "Back when we had breakfast after the awards dinner I told you that I'd only met one keeper and I let him get away? I was referring to you. Now here you are asking me to marry you and I have to tell the only keeper I've ever known no." "You know you have to tell me why. How can I be a keeper and still get turned down?" "When I told you that I'd been married twice and had divorced both times because of cheating? I left you with the impression that I was the one cheated on. That isn't what happened. Both times I was the one who cheated. I am not capable of being faithful to one man and I won't do that to you. I know me baby and I know that before our first anniversary rolled around I'd be doing someone behind your back. I will not do that to you." "So how long have I got until you drop me?" "I have no idea baby. The smart thing for you to do is drop me right now. Drop me before you can get hurt." "I don't think so. I'm happy with you and I'm going to hang in there as long as you let me. Thank you for being honest with me. I can spend the time to preparing myself for the ending." The ending came five months later and we parted friends. Over the next year I dated a dozen or so women, but I was never able to get serious with any of them. And that brings us to the present. +++++++++++++++++++++++ I was in my office going over payroll when my secretary buzzed me on the intercom and told me that there was a Mrs. Arnold asking if she could see me. My first instinct was to tell Gwen that I was too busy to see anyone just then, but then of course my curiosity won out and I told Gwen to send the lady in. The door opened and Joleen walked in. "Hi Brad." "Joleen. I have to admit that this is a bit of a surprise." "It shouldn't be. You know that I always come to you when I need to be saved." "What is it this time?" "I need a husband and I thought of you. After all, you are a known quantity." "Is this some sort of a joke?" "Of course not. I told you before I signed the papers that I realized that I belonged with you and that I loved you and didn't want a divorce." "And what does Jason have to say about this?" "Jason died six months ago of a heart attack. I figure that six months is enough of a mourning period so here I am asking the man I love to take me back." "Right. And then when you find some rich dude you will bail on me again." "Don't be silly. I was Jason's sole heir and as I remember it you heard him say that he had more money than the two of us could spend in five lifetimes. I did put a dent in it, but there is still more than enough than you and I could spend in four lifetimes. I won't even ask for a prenuptial. So, how about it? Are you still in the savior business?" I was. Savior on the Storm It smells. It smells everywhere. But not as much so in this stairway. God, it’s a stench of dead insects and sour cheese mixed with sauerkraut under an Arabic towel. This isn’t my league, I should go. Then I remember what’s up four floors – Zelda. I met her at the arch welding class on Greystone Ave. in the Bronx. She couldn’t have looked more than eighteen or nineteen but she tried to put it off like she was twenty five. She’s been nice to me, actually, since the class started last month. We even went to the Blue Bay for lunch a few times. She was for a good lot of that time pretty quiet. I also remember that day after class when she had a fresh, blue bruise right on her check and right-eye, looking like a fourteen or fifteen year old still, but with marks like key scratches and rough dents on a car. She explained quickly, in her most trying to hold back voice that her uncle just gets a little ‘ill tempered’ sometimes. I looked up her address in the phone book- of all places- under the name Kassovitz, Sheldon…W 158 Street, Bronx, apartment 6F in building complex 66. Too many sixes for my taste, but at least if I got done in time I could check out the last inning of the wild card game. I’m going up now with that memory intact. Not to mention a cut-rate .45 in my pants pocket. I only got three bullets left, but I’m not intending on loosing a load here, just for intimidation purposes today, boys and girls. The smell is still intoxicating me, definitely in a not-so-good way; at least it loosens up once I reach the sixth floor. Six F is staring me right in the face, twenty feet away. I can hear some soft music in the air. That seems to be replacing the fragrance of filth. I’m about to get the heaviest dose of filth in my lifetime. The doorknob was open, but a chain-lock hooked the door to the wall. My pocketknife solves that equation in lifting the chain through the cracked space and softly gaining access to the apartment. This could very well smell worse than the stairway. How interesting to careen on through two levels of skunk. Here, it was the perfume of ass, old nachos and mildew. The apartment, if you could call it that, itself was a war zone- flung clothes and underwear (both male and female) a rug soaked in beer, whiskey and tarred cigarettes from back when Brown & Williamson were still in business, and furniture that the cast of Suburbia would deem gratuitous. And the music. I recognize it now being a vinyl version of Midnight Rambler by the Rolling Stones, blasting from the bedroom where I can also make out a squeaking, obviously the bed itself. I creep as best I can to not make a floorboard belch in pressure to the bedroom door. I also hear panting and yelping. These signs are not pointing to a good outcome. I open the bedroom door, open at the most one inch apart and look in a la Norman Bates style to the procession: From looking at a couple of pictures in the hallway as my backup, I see before me Uncle Sheldon plowing Zelda on the Serta Perfect Sleeper Mattress. (All we are concentrated on is the harmonica). If there had to be a glimpse, a gander of the underworld and all the results of Hades and the antichrist, it’s on that Serta. On that record, on the walls with crude pornographic images smeared all over in crusted ketchup and mayonnaise. I got the power. I leave the door still a bit ajar and swiftly escape the apartment. I stand outside the door. Was it all an illusion? Not likely. I make out the changing of the track and the uncle finishing his set. My mind has all this sunken in now. It’s on some sort of motor reactor level. I knock, pound, kick the door a couple of times and hear more from behind the door coming my way: “Shut up. I said shut up, goddamn you, I’m going to the door...fucking witch you.” The door swung open and then he said “What the fuck’s your problem?” “Hi, I’m from the Institute of Better Technologies and I’d like to offer you a complementary opportunity to try out one of our latest systems for a crucial survey.” “Oh is that right, asshole. You come barging around offering com-puters and shit. And at this hour, fuck you. I ain’t trying shit, you goomba.” He tried to shut the door in my face but I kicked it back open, flinging him inside and that’s when I walked in- “Well sir, I really think you should sign up cause it’d be worth your while, you dig?”- And that’s also when I whipped out the .45, facing his front. “What the fuck is this Mafia bullshit, I’ll kick your fucking teeth in you prick!” he yelled as he reached for a bat, somewhere, on the cluttered table. I beat him to the thwack. Two .45 deposits unloaded in his shoulder and lung. Sheldon Kassovitz, in his beer and grease stained shirt barely covering his fat blubber-isc as towel around his privates but nothing to cover his head and curved nose, fell to the rug he had worked to contort. Zelda ran out of the bedroom to look down on her uncle. She had on a bathing suit-looking one piece, colored white in black stripes. “Oh my god,” she didn’t exactly exclaim this, but the look on her face said she wanted to. “Louie, what-” “Look, just get dressed...we’re getting out of here. Go, now!” She ran back into the bedroom. I feel confidence that no one in the other apartments would budge at the possibility of two .45 bullets being expulsed since most of these animals have shotguns and pipe bombs and such. I feel a frightened excitement all throughout my brain, an ironic pleasantness in staring down on this sloth’s carcass. “Pig-fucker,” I murmur. Zelda comes out of the bedroom, Monkey Man now blasting from the record in Rambler’s end. “OK, we’re getting out of here,” I say. Before she can say anything, Sheldon’s arm suddenly in a terror of fervor grabs my leg! He’s pulling me down. I see his face is while and reddish and blood is being coughed and breathed out as he still grabs me in his clutches and reaching up towards me, shoulder flapped off and all. Sheldon isn’t living and hasn’t crossed over yet. The piercings in the inner flesh have done nothing to stop his craze to bring me down with him to the afterlife. Fuck that. The fisherman’s pocketknife falls out of my pocket on the floor, but I retrieve it with ease and effort, plucking up the sharpest mini-razor, leaning the skull of the living dead to the side and nailing the knife through to the other side. The gagging stops. The dead body, the sloth himself, is exterminated. I stand up, no blood on my shirt but a good lot on my pants legs. Zelda’s eyes, those sea blue eyes, are gazed on the not is but was on the cols footing. I grab her arm and pull her away from her standpoint, out of the speaker distance where the main portion of Monkey Man goes on...”all my friends are junkies”...into the hall. I shove the gun in my pants pocket and shut the door on 6F. “Are you alright?” Zelda warily shook her head up and down. “Look, don’t be scared, OK, we’ll get out of this. You just have to follow me and we can get out of this shit-hole area.” Zelda shook her head again in understanding and we ran down the six flights, outside walking to my rusted 86’ Chevy and starting the car with 11:16 on the clock and Penny Lane by the Beatles on the dial. We’re both too tired to change the station. I’m not sleeping yet, I still have a good 45 minutes left in me before I konk out. Speeding a bit on the Degan north, looking periodically at Zelda again. Zelda, looking up at the starless and barely moonlit ceiling, mind frazzled by the meaning of what happened tonight. She, with her dress on not revealing her sort of stomach, falls asleep on the passenger side and finally Penny Lane is said for the last time in three + minutes. I yawn. Tired, reddish eyes awaken to 7:35 on the clock and nothing now on the dial. I parked on a ne1ar empty side street in Yonkers some point last night and did indeed conk out. I wonder hoe long Zelda conked out for.... A face turns right and sees the .45 in front of the eyes, behind that .45 a girl with sea blue eyes and tears on either side. Zelda’s been up for a few minutes. “Zelda, why did you reach for-“ “Be quiet. You killed my uncle last night. You know that, right?” “Yeah, he was raping you-” “He was making love to me. And you shot him and stabbed him. Did you ever take the time to consider that I loved him? And he never did anything wrong to me or you and you do something so selfish.” She pulls her finger on the loader. A bullet with frog wings is in the chamber. “You’re out of your fucking mind, aren’t you? You’re going to shoot me for killing your incest having scum-fuck?” “That scum-fuck is THE FATHER OF MY BABY!” She screamed at me. I could sense the pride, and the smell, in her voice for her unborn creature. “Uncle Shelly gave me happiness and you just take it away like a punishment.” “BUT I WAS SAVING ----------you, bitch.” (The dots are the sound that came around and about the car from the final piece of death flung into my soul). Slipping eyes see her run out of the car into the New York Wilderness. She’s escaped the zoo of her mind and soon will be put in another one with white walls and shocking treatments. That’s the last spark of hope talking in my lead ridden brain. Now I fall away to the land of nothingness, drought, where blood does not escape with wounds of passion and father’s brothers are locked in dungeons of despair. At least the smell is gone, out of the league for good.