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I had a memory of myself, as a toddler, playing with a balloon, and then BANG – it was gone. I guess it was the shock of the bursting balloon that had startled me into my reaction, but I felt something tense just north of my stomach, and everything went quiet.

Looking around I could see everything was stopped. My parents were in the process of turning towards me and the family dog’s head was just starting to come up from its paws where it was laid by the fire. There were still some remnants of the balloon hanging motionless in the air in front of me. There was complete silence. The program on the television stood frozen and I was confused and afraid.

I held out my arms to my mother, expecting her to come and pick me up and comfort me from the shock but she never moved.

I took a deep breath in readiness for bawling and the tension north of my stomach relaxed, and everything started again.

For weeks after I played with this ability. Tensing this new muscle, as children are wont to do. As a toddler, though, I had a low attention span and a world where nothing moved and where there was nothing to do, was of little interest. I found a new interest that was far more entertaining than a silent still world and I forgot all about it.

I suppose I must have had shocks since that day of the balloon popping, but nothing triggered this now forgotten, and dormant ability. It was a shame really, as looking back there were times it would have been more than handy, but it didn’t surface again until my thirtieth birthday when I was to receive the shock of my life, but we will come back to that in a little while.

First, let me tell you a little about myself. My name is Phil, and I am, after a lot of work a CNS (Clinical Nurse Specialist) working in a busy ED just outside Philadelphia.

“What is a CNS?” I hear you ask. Good question – it’s like a normal nurse – with extended scope of practice. I can do some small surgical procedures, order a certain number of investigations and prescribe some medications, all without the intervention of a doctor, and while working in the ED. The idea is that the CNS can deal with the mundane stuff and leave the MDs to deal with the serious stuff. That being said, I am pre-hospital, advanced trauma, and ALS certified so if I am first on scene at a trauma or medical emergency, I can deal with it until other expert help arrives.

Why did I become a nurse? Well, I kind of fell into it. I originally was going to do something with electronics or computers (I am a bit of a gadget freak and geek) but after a motorbike accident that left me on traction for nearly three months, I kind of got institutionalized and liked the hospital environment. When I was up and walking again, I decided to investigate becoming a nurse, as I had neither the grades nor the inclination to become a doctor. So off to nursing school I went.

Now let’s dispense with the stereotypes, despite what you may think or read in the press, not all male nurses are gay. However, my new roommate, Steve, was.

You couldn’t tell by looking at him, he was not what you would call a screaming queen, he stood about an inch taller than my 5’10 was slender of build but not skinny. He had medium-length brown hair which looked like it had a lot of product in it. I imagined it took a lot of time in front of the mirror to maintain that casual tousled look.

I knew Steve was gay immediately. I don’t have some advanced gaydar and he wasn’t wearing a sign, but it was how he introduced himself. He held his hand out to shake mine and said,

“Hi, I’m Steve. I’m Gay.” There was a challenge in his eyes, some aggression, and I thought I saw a slight touch of fear.

I shook his hand.

“Ok, so I guess we need some rules,” I said.

He seemed to slump a little, but I continued.

“I will be your wingman if needed and promise not to hit on any of the boys you take a liking to if you, in turn, step up as my wingman sometimes, and leave any girls I am interested in, to me.”

He smiled “Deal!”

“I’m Phil, by the way.”

And just like that, I gained a roommate who would go on to become my best friend.

It was partway through our second year when Steve got back to the room in the early evening. He had disappeared immediately after class, and I was reading up on the lymphatic system when he came barrelling in.

“Hi,” he said.

From experience I knew he had something he wanted to ask or tell me. I looked at him, it amused me not to say anything when he was like this. He wanted something from me, and I was going to make him work for it.

“So,” he said. “You know that Friday we were going to go to Flanagan’s?”

We had got into a routine of alternate weekends picking our venue for entertainment and possibly romance. One week it would be Flanagan’s, a quasi-Irish bar that was a favorite for both students from the nursing school and also the local college. Rich pickings for an unattached student looking for some company. The next week it would be the Blue Spot, which was the place favored by those who followed an alternative lifestyle. Both places were lively and clean, sold reasonably cheap beer but no hard liquor, and had live music (and in the case of the blue spot sometimes drag acts) every Friday night.

I don’t know why, but it had just not occurred to us that we should go out separately. I had had some small success at Flanagan’s but other than getting laid a couple of times was not attached to anyone. Steve was also similarly unattached but had far more success at the Blue Spot, and I lost count of the times I went home from there alone while he disappeared off with some guy or other. We had neither of us said that we wouldn’t bring people back to our place, but he just never did, although he was cool with me, on the very odd occasion I brought a girl back.

“Yeeessss?” I drew the word out while looking at him over the top of my textbook.

“Would you mind very much if we switched and went to the blue spot this week instead?”

I raised an eyebrow. I had no preference as I was not really looking just now but I was enjoying making him sweat.

“Why?” I asked, “What’s different about this week?”

“There’s a new drag act and I hear she’s really good,” He enthused.

I smiled slightly, “And I suppose that Daniel saying he might be there, has nothing to do with it?”

He blushed slightly but grinned.

“So, if you have a date, why do you need a wingman? I’m happy to fly solo if you are otherwise occupied.” I asked

“It’s not a date, I just heard him say last week he might be back, and I need backup. I haven’t even spoken to him yet. Please?”

“What’s it worth”

“I’ll give you a blowjob?”

I laughed. This had become a stock response of his whenever he asked for a favor, and no, I never took him up on it.

“Fine,” I said, and he started towards me as if he were going to deliver on his promise.

I laughed again, waving him off. “Get out of here you slut!”

He grinned, flopped onto one of the other chairs, and picked up a book from the side table. We spent the rest of the evening studying.

Friday came around and Steve spent even more time in front of the mirror prior to going out. I, true to form, just showered and threw on some Jeans and a t-shirt. I had a fondness for t’s with either riddles or jokes on the front and had a collection. Tonight’s read “If people could read my mind… I’d get punched in the face a lot!!!”

We managed to score a table near the back of the bar and started in on our beers.

A short time later it was Steve’s round, and he went to the bar.

“Hi.” A guy planted himself into Steve’s chair.

It was not the first time that I had been hit on in here. But since I had been coming here for almost eighteen months now most of the regulars knew me and knew I wasn’t interested.

“Hi,” I said.

“I’m Daniel,”

Oh Shit!

Please don’t tell me that the object of Steve’s lust was coming on to me, not good.

“I know,” I said. “I’m Phil. And before things go any further, I need to tell you I’m not gay.”

“I know,” he said smiling. “I was hoping I could persuade you to let me spend some time with your friend.”

I noticed Steve coming back from the bar carrying two beers and his eyes widened when he saw Daniel sitting with me.

“Hey Steve,” I shouted to him over the noise “Daniel here has asked if he can cut in. What do you think?”

“Bye Phil. Thanks for coming,” he responded, handing me a beer.

I laughed and got up from the table. “Nice meeting you,” I said to Daniel and wandered to the bar to drink my beer.

“Why does an obviously heterosexual man, keep coming to a gay bar?”

The voice in my ear was low and sultry and I turned to regard who had spoken.

It was the eyes that captured my attention, bright green and showing a degree of appraisal. they (remember I’m in an alternative lifestyle bar so using gender-neutral pronouns until I’m sure) were about 5’ 3” with Dark Auburn hair, a slender build but with curves in all the right places. Their breasts weren’t huge, I would guesstimate b or c cup at most. They had a slim waist flaring into some very nice curves, and legs that seemed too long for their height.

Her eyes flicked to my t-shirt, and she smiled.

“So!” they said, “If I could read your mind right now, what would it say?”

I looked at them for a second before replying. “If you are a guy, or trans, I think you might have just turned me.”

They laughed.

“I’m Bonnie,” they said, “and I’m natural-born female.”

I grinned. “Phil,” I responded.

“So,” I continued “to answer your first question, I come to a gay bar because my roomie who is currently attempting to eat that guy’s face over there is a slut and cannot go for more than 14 days without getting some strange.”

“And are you not enough to keep him occupied?” she asked.

I laughed. “We are roomies, nothing more. And despite his habit of regularly offering me blowjobs, he is not my type”

“Maybe you should take him up on one, you might find you like it.”

I shook my head. “While the thought does not repel me like a younger me would have thought it would, it also doesn’t really interest me. I’m also not sure he’s serious either. So that’s my reason for being here, what’s yours?”

She smiled. “Well,” she said, “it’s one of the only places in town I can come and not be constantly hit on by jock types, they wouldn’t be seen dead in here, and besides there are also a lot of cute girls.”

“Ah,” I said with some disappointment. Stupidly the thought that she might be gay hadn’t really occurred to me.

She laughed again. “Ah?” she quirked an eyebrow

“Just my luck.” I replied “I find the most amazing-looking woman in town, and it turns out she is not interested in men”

“Who said I wasn’t interested in men?” she asked. “Just because I occasionally like to play with a cute girl, doesn’t mean I’m not interested in cute guys also. And I’m definitely interested in a particular cute guy tonight.”

A couple of beers and two hours later we were back in my room (Steve had gone to Daniel’s) trying to devour each other.

And that is how both Steve, and I began our relationship on the same night.

Bonnie was also a student, studying forensic anthropology and she would come around at least 3 times a week to “study” or go out with me but never on a Friday. That was ‘Girl’s Night’, and she would go out with her other friends.

Since Steve and Daniel were now exclusive, Steve spent a lot of time at Daniel’s place. Daniel was a cop and had his own house. On the nights when Daniel was working and Bonnie wasn’t over, Steve and I would spend the evening either studying or watching TV Together, and so passed the next year.

We were coming up to the end of our final year and had been studying hard when Steve suggested that we go out since it was something we hadn’t done for a long while and we could do with a break. Bonnie was on a girl’s night and Daniel was on shift.

I wasn’t overly keen since I had been using my Friday nights to catch up on my studying since my study time in the week had been severely curtailed by my other extra-curricular activities with Bonnie.

“C’mon,” he said, “we haven’t had a guy’s night in ages just us two? I’ll give you…” he began

“Fine!” I interrupted him. “I don’t think Daniel would be too happy you giving out blowjobs any more, I thought you and he were exclusive now?”

“You’re an exception,” he replied with a grin, and I wasn’t entirely sure he was kidding.

“He’s a good guy,” I said “and you guys seem to be going somewhere. Don’t screw it up for a little side action.”

“No chance of that,” he replied. “You should see the size of his…”

I put my fingers in my ears “LALALALALA Not Listening.”

Steve grinned. “Come on, I’m buying the first round!”

We hadn’t discussed where we were going, so of course, we ended up at the Blue Spot which was absolutely heaving this close to end of term.

We grabbed our beer and looked around for somewhere to sit.

I spotted Bonnie almost immediately sitting with a couple of her friends, but purposely didn’t go over to her. This was her girl’s night out and I didn’t want to make her feel like I was stalking her or trying to muscle in on her time with her friends. I turned back to the bar and picked up my beer as the first live act started.

When I next looked over toward bonnie things had changed. She was getting very close to the girl sitting to one side of her and as I watched they began to kiss. I had an overwhelming sense of disappointment. I guess we had never discussed exclusivity, but I had assumed that since we had been dating for so long it was kind of implied. I was obviously wrong.

As I watched things got even heavier as I saw the girl slip her hands down the front of Bonnie’s jeans and begin to play with her. Bonnie turned her head to the girl to her other side, who had her hand up Bonnie’s shirt stroking her tits and began to kiss her deeply also. Bonnie’s jeans were unbuttoned, and the hand down there was working her hard and she was bucking her hips in obvious appreciation of the attention.

I saw Steve look at me and then look to where I was watching.

“You Perv!!” he said. “What would Bonnie think of you watching a couple of girls getting off like that?” he grinned at me. He hadn’t recognized Bonnie.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “Let’s ask her.” I picked up my untouched beer and walked towards the table with Steve in tow. As we approached, I heard Steve gasp as he realized who was there.

We arrived just as Bonnie came, grunting her orgasm and trying not to scream out in the club, her eyes closed.

As I approached the table the girl with her hand down the front of Bonnie’s jeans looked up at me with some scorn on her face.

“Did you get your jollies watching, perv?” she asked, “What?” she continued when I made no response, “Were you hoping that you might get some next?”

“No,” I replied, “I just thought Bonnie might like a drink after cumming so hard, it looked like a good one.” I placed the beer on the table in front of her.

Bonnie’s eyes snapped open as I turned to walk back to the bar

“Oh, Shit!” I heard her say “Phil. Wait!!”

I walked past the bar and straight out of the club.

I wasn’t sure if she would try and follow me, and I wasn’t particularly interested in having a conversation just then, so I ducked into the alley to the side of the club and walked through to the adjacent block before jumping on a bus which was conveniently just about to pull away from the stop. I didn’t know where it was going but it was going somewhere that was not here, so that was good enough for me.

My phone rang as the bus pulled away and I looked at the caller Id, Bonnie, I rejected the call. It rang again, still Bonnie, Rejected. After the third call, I turned my phone off.

I rode the bus for about an hour, not really paying attention as to where it was going, just thinking about what to do next.

I was a fool, I decided. She had said at the outset that she was bi, why would I even dream that she would be satisfied with me alone? This was all my fault, and I had no right to demand exclusivity from her. I was being selfish.

I really thought that she was the one. I had seriously thought of asking her to marry me once I was qualified and earning a wage. I had dreamed of the house, car, and two kids and growing old together the whole nine yards. Bonnie was a free spirit I had no right to try and cage but I couldn’t be involved in that. I needed someone for me, who would love me as much as I loved her and want to be with me and me alone. I never really liked sharing my toys.

I realized we had reached the end of the line when the driver switched the engine off. I had no idea where I was, but I climbed off the bus and looked around.

I turned on my phone to use Google maps and found I was about 4 miles from our room. As soon as I turned it on, I got a notification of a dozen calls and several text messages.

The ones from Bonnie I deleted without reading. I wasn’t ready for that yet.

There were several from Steve asking where I was and if I was OK. I called him.

“Hey, Steve!”

“Hi, Phil. Where are you?”

“At the bus station downtown.”

“What are you doing all the way out there?” he asked,

“This is where the bus stopped.”

“Give me a minute and I’ll call you back,” he said and hung up.

Five minutes later my phone rang again, Steve

“Hi, Steve.”

“Stay put.” he said, “Dan is coming to get you.”

“I thought he was working tonight,” I said.

“He is but he’s on solo patrol and he’s not far from you so look for a black and white.”

As he said this, I heard a chirp from a police car and Daniel pulled up next to me

“Hop in,” he said.

I climbed into the passenger seat, and he set off.

“Want to talk?” he asked.

“Not really” I replied. And we sat in silence for the next fifteen minutes or so.

He picked up his radio and called in to say he was taking his meal break but would be available if needed, as he pulled up outside a house.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“My Place,” he said. “We thought you might like to stay off the radar for a little while until you get your head together.”

“We?” I asked.

“Steve and I, he’s waiting for us inside, C’mon.”

As we walked into the house Daniel got a call and had to go.

Steve sat me on the sofa and put a coffee in my hand.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Stupid,” I said. “I should have realized that I wouldn’t be enough for her. I knew she was bi when we met why would I ever think she would give that up for me?”

“No!” he said. “This is not on you. She let you believe that you had a relationship and implied exclusivity. The fact that she was cheating with a woman rather than a man is not the issue. It’s still cheating.”

“But did she?” I asked. “We never discussed it, I just assumed. She can’t be held responsible for my assumptions.”

He sighed, “Damn, you really fell hard for her. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I can’t really see a way forward. I doubt she is going to give up her girlfriends and I’m not someone who can have a relationship with someone who isn’t wholly in a relationship with me. I’m just not wired that way. I guess I’m just too selfish.”

“Never say that,” he said taking my hand.

“It’s not selfish to want someone to love you. We all do. I’m just not sure that Bonnie is that person for you. But maybe if you talk to her and tell her how you feel she may be up for that kind of relationship. Hell, if she feels half as much for you as you do for her, she will be happy about it. Maybe she just didn’t know how serious you were about her?”

I looked at him

“You think?”

My phone rang again, Bonnie.

I decided to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Phil Where are you?” she asked, she sounded both annoyed and a little relieved.

“I’m just with Steve. What did you need.”

“We need to talk, I can explain.”

“There’s nothing for you to explain Bonnie. I guess I wanted to forget you were interested in girls as well as guys. I assumed, and that’s on me not you. I’m sorry if I spoiled your evening.”

“Can we meet?”

“Not tonight, I’m really tired but how about we meet in the coffee shop on campus tomorrow?”

“I can come to yours now. I’m not far away,” she tried.

“I’m not at home,” I replied.

“I thought you said you were with Steve?”

“I am, but not at our place. Look I’ll see you tomorrow. How about twelve?”

“Okay,” she said, sounding a little subdued “I’ll see you there.”

I ended the call.

I spent the night in Daniel’s spare room but woke early when Daniel came into the room with a coffee after his shift at seven.

He sat on the edge of the bed.

“How you doing?” he asked.

“I’m okay,” I said a little thickly, still not fully awake.

I sat up and took a sip of the coffee. It didn’t go unnoticed that Daniel checked out my chest and abs as I sat up and it made me smile a little.

“You two were made for each other,” I said. “You’re both a pair of letches.”

He grinned.

“Glad to see you back on form,” he said, “Now I’m going for a shower and then to get some sleep I had a busy night. Unless…” he said.

“Unless?”

“Unless you want me to take care of that morning wood for you?” He grinned again.

“STEVE!!!” I yelled, “Save me from your predatory boyfriend.”

“Save you?” Steve shouted back. “I sent him in there. I’ve had no success with you I thought he might have better luck.”

I laughed, feeling much better about things.

“Go get your shower.” I said to Dan, “Shouldn’t there be donuts with this coffee?”

“In the kitchen,” he said as he got up and left the room.

I used the guest shower and then went into the kitchen to finish my coffee and snag one of the donuts Dan had brought home.

Shortly after Steve and Dan joined me.

“Thanks for last night guys,” I said.

“Anytime,” Dan said.

“Hey!” said Steve. “It’s what best friends are for.”

“I’m going to head out so I’m not in your way,” I said picking up my jacket.

“Oh no,” said Dan. “Take him with you,” he said pointing at Steve. “I need sleep and if he stays, I won’t get any.”

“You’ll definitely get some,” said Steve, “but not much sleep.” he grinned.

I rolled my eyes.

“Come on you horndog,” I said grabbing Steve’s arm, “let the poor man get his rest.”

“Can you wait while I get a quick shower?” asked Steve.

“As long as it’s quick. Dan has already had his, so you’ll have to shower alone.” I grinned.

Steve pouted and then moved to kiss Dan.

“I’ll be in the living room when you are ready,” I said and started to leave the kitchen.

“You prude,” Steve laughed as they broke apart.

“Now you know that’s not true,” I said. “You have heard the noises coming from my room when Bonnie is over, I’m just not really into watching other people. I never really have been. Even porn really does nothing for me.”

“So, it’s not because it was two guys?” he asked. Although it was said in a teasing manner, I could see a hint of vulnerability in his eyes.

Daniel just looked at us.

I walked over to Steve.

“How long have you known me?” I asked.

“Just short of 3 years, why?” he responded.

“And in that time, have I ever given you any cause to think that I have any problems with your sexuality?”

He looked down “No,” he said.

“So why would you even ask such a thing?” I asked.

“You just looked uncomfortable when Dan and I kissed. I thought…”

I looked at Daniel.

“Dan, I’m sorry but I’m going to have to prove this to him once and for all,” I said.

Steve looked from Dan to me with a confused look on his face.

Dan gave a small nod.

I grabbed the front of Steve’s jacket, pulled him to me, and kissed him.

It wasn’t a long kiss, no more than a few seconds, and it felt a little strange to me. I had never kissed a guy before, and he hadn’t shaved today. But as kisses go it wasn’t the worst I ever had.

We broke the kiss and I looked at him. His eyes were wide.

“Now do you believe me?” I asked.

He nodded mutely.

“Sorry Dan, it won’t happen again,” I said

“Hey,” he said, “I thought it was hot.”

“Shower,” Steve said and left the kitchen.

“He loves you; you know,” Daniel said after he had gone

“What?” I said, “Daniel no, I..”

He put his hand on my shoulder

“Hush,” he said, “I’m not worried. It’s more like a big brother love, although he would take you to bed in an instant If you offered. He comes from a small town, and I think when he met you, you were the first person to accept him for who he was and not look at him like some kind of abomination. Your opinion really matters to him so when he thought you were uncomfortable with us kissing, it bothered him.”

“I would do exactly the same no matter who was kissing,” I said. “It’s not a spectator sport for me. I’m happy enough to play but I’m really not interested in watching.”

“I think you proved that,” he said smiling, “and I think you also proved that you have similar feelings for him. I can’t see many hetero guys doing what you did just to prove your point.”

“I could see it bothered him and I couldn’t think of a better way to illustrate it to him.”

“And so, you prove my point,” he smiled.

“I’m not trying to get between you guys,” I said.

“I know,” he said lightly, “although neither of us would object to having you between us.” He grinned. “How often has he offered you a blowjob? Drunk and sober?”

I laughed, “I’ve lost count. It’s become an in-joke. I’m not sure he even means it anymore. It’s just something to say, but I never…”

“I know you didn’t. And I know there are plenty of so-called straight guys who would have, and still looked down on him for who he was. You respect him, and me, and us. I can see clearly that it makes absolutely no difference to you that we are gay, and you do not feel in any way threatened by it.”

Steve came back into the kitchen and looked at us both.

“You two look serious,” he said, “Dan I don’t think he…”

“It’s fine,” Dan replied. “We’re all good.”

He crossed over to Steve and gave him a quick peck on the cheek then turned him around and swatted him on the ass. “Now scoot. I need to sleep.”

It was about a thirty-minute walk back to our rooms from Dan’s house and we walked in silence, each lost in our own thoughts.

Finally, he spoke, “Have you decided what you are going to do?”

“I’ll just see what Bonnie says,” I replied, “As I said I made some assumptions, and I was wrong. We either need to go our own ways or we need to be up front about where we stand.”

“What do you think she will do?”

“I have no idea,” I said.

“Whatever happens,” he said, “remember we are here for you.”

“Thanks. It means a lot.”

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

Bonnie wasn’t alone when she arrived at the coffee shop.

I had been there for about ten minutes and had got our usual drinks. I wasn’t expecting her to bring anyone with her.

The girl that came with her was the girl from the club, who had called me a pervert.

They sat down at the table.

“Sorry,” I said to the girl, “I wasn’t expecting anyone else. Can I get you something?”

“Just a latte is fine,” she said looking embarrassed.

After I got her drink and returned to the table, I looked at Bonnie and her companion.

“I’m Angela,” the new girl broke the silence. “Listen I’m sorry about what I called you last night. I didn’t know who you were and..”

“Hey don’t apologize. I can imagine you get a lot of guys hitting on you in those circumstances. You weren’t to know. I’m glad you were having a good time.”

“Then why did you get all bent out of shape?” asked Bonnie. “Why storm out of the club and ignore my calls?”

“It was a shock seeing you like that is all,” I replied.

“But you knew I was into boys and girls when we first hooked up. It was one of the first things we spoke about.”

“I know,” I said lightly, “I guess I just assumed that since we had been dating so long that we had become exclusive. That’s my mistake and I can only apologize for that.”

“But we are exclusive. I haven’t been with another guy since we got together.”

“It’s fine. We never discussed it so I can’t really blame you for my not understanding the situation.” I continued with the light tone.

“So, we’re okay?” Asked Bonnie.

“Define okay,” I said. “Friends? Certainly”

“Friends? We are more than friends,” she replied.

“No, I don’t think we can be more than friends anymore,” I said, “You see, we seem to have different ideas on what exclusive means. To me exclusive means you and me and nobody else in the relationship. No matter their sex or gender identity. Your definition just seems to mean no other guys. I know we spoke about your liking guys and girls and if just being with a guy is not enough for you, then Friends is all we ever can be.”

She looked at me stunned.

Angela spoke.

“You can’t ask her to give up…”

“I’m not asking her to give up anything,” I interrupted. “I just know that I could not have a relationship under those circumstances so it’s better if we part friends and let each of us find someone who can give us what we need.”

“You could always join us,” suggested Angela.

“Angela are you gay or bi?” I asked.

“I’m gay but I’d…”

“I’m sure you would. But you would hate it. And so would I. and probably so would Bonne. Despite what everyone thinks not every guy wants to watch two girls getting it on and I would be disgusted with myself if I were to even entertain the idea of forcing you to do something that you didn’t like or enjoy. You obviously have feelings for Bonnie, and you would make that sacrifice if she wanted it but although I don’t know you, I would never disrespect you by doing that to you. I’m sorry if your experience of guys has been bad but we are not all perverted animals driven by our dicks. Could I please ask you a favor, Angela? Do you think that Bonnie and I could have a few minutes alone to chat, please?”

Angela looked at Bonnie who nodded slightly then stood. I stood too.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Angela, and thanks.”

She moved off to a vacant table a few feet away. I was certain that she would still be able to hear the conversation, but I wasn’t worried about it.

I sat down again and took a drink of my coffee.

Bonnie just looked at me.

I waited for a moment but when she didn’t show any signs of speaking, I began.

“Bonnie, what do you want from our relationship?”

“I was happy with it the way it was,” she said.

“You were happy sneaking off to have sex with other people?”

“I wasn’t sneaking. You knew I was going out with the girls.”

“True, but I didn’t know that you were having sex with those girls. You didn’t tell me.”

“I didn’t think it would bother you. I wasn’t cheating on you.”

“But you knew it would bother me, otherwise why did you react the way you did when you saw that I had seen you in the club? You opened your eyes and said, ‘Oh Shit!’ Now surely if you thought I was cool with it a more appropriate reaction would be maybe ‘Hi babe,’ and introduce me to your lovers. Your reaction tells me that you knew it would bother me, also the fact you were keeping it from me. Having sex with someone other than the significant other in your relationship, without their knowledge, is the simple definition of cheating. But as I said. We never discussed this so I cannot really blame you when your appreciation of our relationship was different from mine.”

“And what was your appreciation of our relationship?” she asked.

“I thought we were a couple. That we had a great time together, great and very fulfilling sex life. You were giving me everything I needed from a girlfriend, and I thought I was doing the same for you. I had thought that once I qualified and started earning a proper wage, we might even get married.”

“So, if you were getting everything you needed from me where is the problem? I don’t understand the issue of me having some fun with the girls It wasn’t taking anything from you,” She responded.

“Because it is not an equal relationship. A partnership can only work if both parties are completely committed to it and to each other one hundred percent, or at least that is how I feel. I can see all kinds of scenarios where it starts that you are going out with the girls, and then for some reason that becomes more important than the actual relationship. Or maybe sometimes one of the other girls you are into maybe bi, and she brings a boyfriend along, or any number of other things that I dread happening in our future. This is a weak point in the relationship and marriages can’t begin with these kinds of weaknesses and expect to work, they just can’t.”

“So, you are demanding that I give up…” She began.

“I’m not demanding anything,” I said quickly. “I’m only saying what I need from a relationship. If our needs are different, then we move forward as friends only, but I think I would need some time to come to terms with that. Hopefully in the not-too-distant future, we could be friends. I love you and I would never want to force you into a relationship where you were unhappy or unfulfilled. If an exclusive relationship with me is not enough for you then it’s best if we both move on.”

She continued to stare at me without speaking. Although she looked upset, I noted there were no tears.

I decided to just drink my coffee and wait.

Eventually, she spoke.

“I don’t want to move on. I have never been happier with a boyfriend or lover than I am with you. The girls were just a bit extra. I didn’t think it was a problem, but I guess I didn’t really think it through. My reaction in the club was more due to the look on your face. When I heard Angela call someone a pervert, the last person I expected to see standing there was you, and then the look in your eyes told me that you were not okay with what you were seeing. That is why I said, ‘Oh Shit.’ I wish we could have talked there and then but by the time I had gotten free of the girls and fastened my jeans you were gone. I spoke to Steve but even he didn’t know where you were and couldn’t get in touch with you. Why did you run out like that?”

“I’m sorry about that. It was just a shock and I reacted. I needed time and space to get my head straight. I shouldn’t have run off and worried you like that.”

I stood up.

“Where are you going.”

“I’m going home. I have studying to do for my finals. Have a think about what you want Bonnie. Really think it through. Discuss it with Angela, she seems like a nice girl, and I think she has feelings for you too. Take as much time as you need to decide but I am going to be spending the next six weeks getting ready for my finals. When you are ready let me know where we are but please be completely certain that if we are going to get back together that I, and I alone will be enough for you. I need someone in my life I can love, respect and trust and who will love, respect, and trust me in return. I love you.”

I leaned down and kissed the top of her head before leaving the coffee shop.

She didn’t follow me out, or even reply to me before I left. I did note that Angela moved back to her table as I walked out the door, but I had expected that. I fully expected not to hear from her again.

True to my word, I spent the next six weeks studying and preparing for my final exams, spending an inordinate amount of time with Steve and Daniel. Steve was studying for his finals as well and when he was not working Dan would come over and sit with us, often helping us to study by asking questions from textbooks. He would bring coffee and food. He also would ensure that we didn’t burn ourselves out, making us take breaks and insisting that we did the basics such as sleeping and showering. (He also took care of Steve’s other basic needs but I didn’t get involved in that.)

I had already secured a post in the local ED subject to me passing my finals, with a half-decent package and funding to continue my studies towards the CNS qualification. Steve had also got a position in the ED, but he wasn’t interested in doing more study just yet. He was more interested in pursuing his relationship with Dan.

It was the night that we got our results, and decided to go out to celebrate our success that I next ran into Bonnie.

This time we were in Flannagan’s, and I was passing out a round of drinks from the bar. I turned and picked up the last two, turned back, and came face to face with her.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” she smiled at me. “Can I get one of those?”

I handed her a beer and asked for an extra one from the bartender. He served it up straight away and I paid for the round.

“How have you been?” I asked. “I haven’t seen you since...”

“I know. I was staying out of your way so you could study. I finished my exams and went to see my parents for a couple of weeks too.”

I sipped at my beer and waited for her to continue.

“Listen, can we talk?” she asked.

“Sure,” I said indicating a table, “let’s sit.”

“Not tonight,” she said. “You’re celebrating with your friends. Can I come by your room tomorrow at lunchtime?”

“Okay,” I said.

She downed her beer, gave me a peck on the cheek, and left.

I re-joined Steve, Daniel, and a few of my other ex-student buddies at the table. Daniel didn’t say anything to me, but I could tell he didn’t approve.

I was both hungover and nervous the next day, not a good combination as I was feeling close to hurling when I woke.

Steve had gone back to Dan’s place – he was all but living there now except on nights when Dan was working, and now that we had to vacate our student accommodation he was moving in on a permanent basis. They had offered their spare room to me, but I had decided that I needed to get my own place now I was earning. I didn’t want to become the third wheel in their relationship.

I spent the morning packing. I had scored a small apartment about fifteen minutes cycle ride from the hospital I was due to start work in the following Monday. Steve and Daniel were going to come to help me move all my stuff the following day.

I was making coffee when she knocked on the door.

“Hi,” I said opening the door. “Come in.”

She sat.

I handed her coffee and sat opposite her on the sofa.

She looked nervous.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said,” she started, “and you were right.”

“About what?” I asked.

“About everything,” She replied. “I was selfish and wrong. It just didn’t occur to me that being with Angela or one of the other girls was cheating. It was just fun. Besides you were spending so much time with Steve that I thought you…”

I laughed.

“Are you seriously telling me that you thought that Steve and I were hooking up?”

“At first yes,” She said, “and I was cool with it. The way you were together just seemed that there was something going on and in the same way as I thought me seeing other girls was taking nothing from you, you getting some dick from time to time didn’t really affect me. But as I got to know you more, I realized that you were only friends. Very good friends but just friends. Although I think he would be happy to be more even now. But that is not the point. I’m not going to play the ‘It was just sex’ card, I was having fun and I never even considered that it might hurt you. I never did anything with any other guys when we were together, but I just didn’t consider that playing with other girls was cheating.”

“And now?” I asked

“After we spoke in the coffee shop, Angela and I had a long talk. She likes you, by the way, she said that for a man you were okay. High praise from her. Anyway, she asked me what it was that I wanted from my life. Did I want a relationship, or did I just want to keep following my pussy around wherever it led. If I did want a relationship, then I would have to choose which side of the fence I was going to settle on. Gay or straight at some point I was going to have to choose a partner, and whatever I chose I would have to give that partner everything I had, or the relationship would fail.”

“So are you and she...” I began.

It was Bonnies turn to laugh “Hell no!” she said, “She is still happily playing the field, but still only with girls so her choices will be simpler when she finds her ‘One’.”

“So did you decide what it was you wanted?” I asked with some trepidation.

“I want a relationship,” she replied quietly, and then after a short pause, “with you.”

I looked at her for a long while.

“Say something,” she said.

“Bonnie, there is nothing I would love more than to be with you for the rest of my life. But I don’t want there to be any confusion between us. If we get back together then it’s just you and me. No other guys, no other girls, for either of us. I can’t be worried all the time when we are apart wondering what you are up to and who you are with. I won’t live like that. If you are sure that you are happy with committing to that kind of relationship with someone then I would love to be that person for you. I will ask for two promises from you though. The first is that you will commit to a completely monogamous relationship with me. No sex with anyone else male, female or any other gender identity.”

“And the second promise?”

“That if you ever decide that what we have is not enough for you anymore, that you talk to me about it, and we figure out what to do. Even if it means that we decide that we are not going to be together anymore, I would rather that than find out that you were doing something behind my back.”

“But I would never…”

“Never is a long time, Bonnie. I’m in this for the long haul. I’m thinking kids, grandkids and retirement somewhere warm. Lots can happen in that time. Things change and people change over time. If you ever realize that you aren’t getting what you need from me then please let me know. Before you do anything about it.”

She looked down for a moment.

“Will you make me the same promises?” she asked.

“There was never a doubt in my mind that you were everything I ever needed,” I replied, “but yes I promise you that you are the only one for me and that if that ever changes, I will come to you first before doing anything else.”

She moved to sit beside me on the couch, took my face between her hands, and kissed me. And so, we were back together. The makeup sex was awesome.

It didn’t occur to me until years later that I was the only one to make the promises.

When Steve and Dan came by the next day to help move my stuff out, they had to rouse us from my bed. We slept late. Steve seemed really pleased that we had got back together but Dan was more subdued. I caught him on his own while we were walking stuff to his truck and asked him about it.

“I hope it all works out for you both,” he said noncommittally.

“You don’t approve?” I asked.

“Phil,” he said. “It’s not for me to approve or disapprove. I just don’t think that she is ready for a committed relationship if she ever will be. But I promise you two things. First, there will always be a place for you to stay with Steve and me, and second, I promise, I will never say ‘I told you so’”

Bonnie and I moved into my apartment and a year later were married. She wanted to continue her studies to do a master’s and eventually a Ph.D. I was working and studying toward my CNS qualifications.

When I qualified Bonnie decided that the apartment was too small, and I spent a year doing extra shifts and working nights and weekends to pull enough together to put a deposit down on a small three-bed house in a quiet cul-de-sac. Since Bonnie was still studying, mine was the only income but I was happy to give her what she needed. I was desperately in love with her, and our life together was idyllic both in and out of the bedroom.

The house we had bought was about a thirty-minute bike ride from the hospital and I bought bonnie a small car for her to be able to attend her lectures. She had resisted at first since she said that she could use public transport, but I insisted as I didn’t want her to have to use public transport on the days when she had to attend late lectures or study sessions.

On the Saturday we moved into the house, our neighbors from the cul-de-sac came over in a delegation to introduce themselves. There were three couples. Bill and Jenny lived to one side of us. Bill was an insurance salesman; I guessed his age to be somewhere in his early forties and he looked like one of those squash fanatics. He was balding but wiry. His wife was short and kind of dumpy with mousy brown hair but seemed to be full of nervous energy. I don’t think she sat still for a moment that she was in our house. On our other side were the Taylors. Alan and Jessica. He was a lawyer and I found him to be a greasy individual. He held onto Bonnie’s hand for a fraction too long as he introduced himself. Slightly taller than me and probably in his fifties he was stocky with a pronounced pot belly, and he wore far too much cologne. Jessica was a trophy wife as far as I could see. She looked in her mid-thirties and dressed in her mid-twenties. She was slightly shorter than me with huge and unmoving fake tits and nipples like organ stops. She had a slender waist and big hips. She was deeply tanned but it was a salon tan and there were obvious crow’s feet round her eyes. She looked me up and down like a piece of meat. I wanted no part of that. The final couple was from across the cul-de-sac. Brian and Helen Short. Brian was a big black guy – standing almost six foot eight and built like a barn. He told us he worked in personal security and was away from home for weeks at a time when he was working. His wife Helen was tiny, barely 5 feet tall She was slim but proportionate for her size. She was white, with blonde hair and startlingly blue eyes. Her breasts suited her petite frame, and she had all the requisite curves. One thing that concerned me about her was that she never once made eye contact with either of us, while Brian was direct, on the verge of aggressive. His eye contact was a challenge, and I didn’t back down from it. We locked eyes for a good thirty seconds before Bonnie put herself between us shaking his hand in introduction.

Over the next few months, we settled into a routine. I was still working double shifts, Bonnie was going to school and study sessions, and on the nights we had off at the same time we would either meet up with Steve and Dan or some of Bonnie’s friends from Uni and we would go out. There was also a bi-monthly barbeque organized by the neighbors. The idea was that we would take turns in hosting it, but since I had not yet been able to get a barbeque built , we took turns at the other three houses, although for our turn we would provide a lot of the food and drink for the evening. Sex with Bonnie was everything it had ever been, she was active and adventurous and willing to do almost anything except anal. She loved it when I would finger her ass when I was eating her pussy but said the biggest thing going up her ass was a finger and that was that. I didn’t mind as everything else was mind-blowing and even though I was working eighty-hour weeks I couldn’t have been happier.

I also became the local resource for anything medical. When Bill tripped in his yard and gashed his hand, it was simpler for me to go over and stitch it and dress it rather than for him to go to the hospital. Another time when Brian was away, Helen’s parents came over to stay, and one morning Helen called to say her father was feeling unwell and would I go over to see him. Fortunately for him, I had worked the previous night and was home. I went over and found him apparently very drunk, uncoordinated, and aggressive. He was diabetic and not managing his condition very well and was Hypo – so after taking his observations and giving him some IV dextrose, he came around and I made him an appointment at the local clinic for him to go in and get himself sorted.

And so, life went on until there were two major events. One that could have potentially ended a life, and one that definitely ended my life as I knew it.

The first happened on a Friday night as I was on my way to work.

I was cycling, as usual, and a car came barrelling past me, nearly clipping me. I wobbled but kept upright. I didn’t have time to even curse the driver before a police cruiser passed me with its lights on and pulled the offending car over about a block further up the road.

I saw the officer get out of his car and approach the offending car, heard a shot and the officer fell.

I was at the officer’s side within a couple of seconds and my stomach lurched as I recognized Dan, lying on the floor, blood fountaining from the top of his leg. The shooter looked at me for a second and then drove off at speed. Dan had one hand on his leg trying to stop the bleeding and was shouting into his radio, calling for help.

Most people who deal with emergency situations, be it police, fire, paramedics, nurses, soldiers or whoever will tell you that when faced with an emergency, they compartmentalize. Their personal fears and feelings get shunted aside and they act to their training and experience. It’s only when the situation is over that there is time for them to think about what has happened and consider the possible consequences. So, when faced with a patient with a GSW to the upper leg, with catastrophic bleeding I went to work.

I got my shears from my backpack and cut through Dan’s belt and clothing to expose the wound and saw that the wound itself was not too bad. There was no exit wound and the bullet appeared to have missed the bone. Unfortunately, what it had not missed, was the femoral artery. I would need to stop the bleeding fast or he would bleed out in a matter of minutes. I also noted with a clinical detachment that even flaccid he had the biggest cock I had ever seen. It had to be nine inches and as thick as a beer can. The part of my mind that was not involved in saving his life, wondered how Steve could actually still be walking. By this time Dan was drowsy and I don’t think he recognized me. I pushed my finger into the wound and felt for the artery, trying to see if I could stem the bleeding with direct pressure, but the tear was too big for that, so I moved up and put as much pressure as I could on the femoral artery whilst taking off my belt and wrapping it around his leg to create a tourniquet. If I had had my full kit with me, I would have had a proper tourniquet but I had to use what I had to hand. I grabbed his baton and pushed it through the belt and began to twist it around to put as much pressure on it as I could, and the fountain of blood became a trickle. I then pulled off my t-shirt and wadded it up, pressing it against the wound to try and pack it and put direct pressure on. By this time, I was absolutely drenched in Dan’s blood, and he was unconscious and very pale, but he was still breathing and I appeared to have staunched the bleeding. I could hear sirens approaching and I hoped that whoever was coming would get there quick as I didn’t know how long he could hold out.

The paramedics were first on the scene, with two police cruisers right behind them. As they approached, I heard one of the police shouting at me for some reason, but I paid no attention to him as I was more interested in telling the paramedic what I had found and what I had done. That was my mistake.

I suppose if you were to look at it from their perspective, they were responding to an officer down call and arrived to find a half-naked man, covered in blood kneeling by an unconscious police officer whose trousers appeared to have been torn off. I can only thank good fortune that it was a taser that they shot me with and not a gun.

I didn’t hear the paramedic shouting at the officer that I had just saved his colleague’s life, nor did I feel myself get lifted and bundled into the back of the police cruiser to be transported to hospital. When I got tased, I hit my head on the road and went out like a light.

I woke in the ER that I was supposed to be working a shift in that night, with the mother of all headaches and some sadistic bastard shining a light in my eyes. My face and chest were still covered in blood, and I stank of it. I also think that being tased had made me piss myself, so there was that too.

I had apparently been out for enough time for them to determine I had a concussion but no major damage from the head injury. When I enquired about Dan, I was told he was in surgery, and they would let me know as soon as they had news. I was a little cheered that he had made it to the hospital alive. I just hoped that he pulled through.

“Sit tight Phil,” one of the resident docs said to me, I’ll get someone to come in and get you cleaned up and give you some pain meds.”

“I don’t need someone to clean me up,” I said, “Just let me go shower in the changing rooms, I’ll be fine.”

“You are not calling the shots tonight,” she replied with a grin. “You are a patient not the CNS, now behave or I will get security to come and restrain you.”

“You are enjoying this far too much, Dr. Randall,” I said to her. “I’ll remember this when deciding whether you need to be bleeped at three a.m. for a consult.”

She pulled her tongue out at me as she left the room, still grinning.

Soon after, the door opened and Steve and Sarah, one of the other nurses entered. Steve was all business. I’m going to give you something for the pain, and something for sickness. He said, injecting something into the IV I suddenly realised I had in my arm. Then Sarah and I are going to get you cleaned up.

“How’s Dan?” I asked.

“Still in surgery,” he said. “They’ll let me know when there’s news.”

“You should be up there, not down here working,” I told him.

“I need to be doing, not sitting,” he said. “They’ll find me when there’s news.”

Just then the hospital counselor came through the door.

“Hi Phil,” she said.

“Hey Cheryl,” I said, “To what do I owe the honour?”

She looked a bit uncomfortable.

“As you know, it’s hospital policy if you are exposed to blood that we test for blood borne viruses. It seems you may have ingested some of the casualty’s blood, and you also sustained a number of cuts and abrasions through which you may also have come into contact with the blood. I am here to offer you pre-testing counselling.”

“I’m not worried,” I replied. “Without it being policy, I wouldn’t even bother to be tested. I know the casualty well; we are good friends and I am not concerned that he has anything that I need to be worried about. Let them take the test for the record but as for counseling, It’s not necessary.”

She looked a little put out.

“Okay,” she said. “But if you need to talk to someone about what happened tonight, or anything else, you know where I am.”

I nodded “Thanks Cheryl, it’s appreciated. But right now, other than the Doc’s operating on Dan the only person I want to talk to is the asshole who tased me.”

“You’ll have to get in line for that one,” Steve interjected. “After the Paramedic who was on-scene, Dr Randall, Dan’s surgeon and the police supervisor, and me. If after all that there is anything left of them, we’ll wheel them in for you to take a shot at. Now, if you are finished chatting, we need to get you cleaned up. You look like and extra from Texas chainsaw Massacre and you stink like a slaughterhouse toilet.”

“I’m fine to go shower in the changing room,” I said.

“Not a chance big boy,” Sarah said. “Doctors orders. You are not to get out of that bed for at least eight hours.”

“Besides,” Steve put in. “I’ve been trying to get you naked for years, I’m not giving up this opportunity.”

I looked at Sarah.

“Sarah, you’ll protect my virtue, won’t you?” I pleaded.

She just laughed “What virtue?”

Despite the banter, Sarah and Steve, between them got me cleaned up and comfortable with the minimum of fuss and without my losing my modesty (I was handed a warm washcloth to take care of my personal areas and kept covered with a sheet)

It was about two hours later that Bonnie arrived.

She bustled in breathless and looking worried.

“Phil! What happened?” she asked, “Are you all right? You were supposed to be at work.”

“I’m fine, just a little misunderstanding,” I said. I just bumped my head. I’ll be out of here in the morning and probably back at work tomorrow night.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here earlier,” she said with a guilty look. “I forgot to take my cell phone off silent after my lectures today.”

“I tried your house phone,” said Steve.

“I was in the shower.”

“Hey, there’s no issue,” I assured her. “You are here now and I’m fine so no harm no foul. Look they are keeping me overnight, why don’t you head off, you have lectures tomorrow so you can’t be up all night. I’ll probably be put into a ward overnight and kicked out in the morning.”

She regarded me for a few moments “If you are sure?” she said.

“Absolutely,” I replied. “You get yourself some sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow when you get in after class.”

She came over and kissed me, slipping her hand under the sheet and gently stroking my stomach. My body, always willing where she was concerned was quick to respond.

She giggled, “I can see that you are still fully functional. I’ll see you both,” she said giving mini-me a quick squeeze, “when I come home tomorrow!”

She kissed me again and left.

I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure, but I thought I heard Steve mutter something as he threw a blanket over my midriff to help cover my obvious arousal. It sounded very much like “Bitch!”

It was about an hour after Bonnie left that the surgeon who had operated on Dan came to see me. I had only met him on a few occasions. He was a vascular surgeon but new to the hospital. I think I had called him maybe twice before for consults and always found him to be a bit of an asshole. He never really paid any attention when I tried to hand over patients to him and generally ignored me.

“Hi,” he said.

“How’s Dan,” I asked.

“He’s fine,” he said. “I patched up that little hole and filled him back up with blood. He’ll be on ICU overnight, but I expect he’ll be discharged within the week and probably back at work in a month or so after some PT.”

I sighed with relief.

“Thank you for saving him,” I said. “He’s a good guy, it would have been a tragedy if we had lost him.”

“We saved him,” he said. “If you hadn’t slowed the bleeding down at scene, he would never have made it into my O.R. You did well out there.”

He shook my hand and left the room.

I still had a bit of a residual headache the next morning when I was told I could be discharged from the hospital. Steve had grabbed me a set of scrubs and was going to take me to get a taxi home. When he turned left out of the room rather than right, I was confused.

“I thought it was only women that didn’t know their left from their right,” I jibed at him.

“I know my left from my right,” he responded, “but someone wants to see you.”

We walked into the ICU and into the first side room where Daniel was sitting up in bed contemplating a rather unappetising-looking breakfast.

He looked a damn site better than the last time I saw him, but he did look tired, and he was still hooked up to the monitors and an IV. He brightened visibly as we entered his room.

“Hey Dan,” I said. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired, and sore but alive thanks to you,” he replied grasping my hand. “You saved my life. Thank you.”

“It’s what we do,” I said. “What do you remember about it?”

“Not a huge amount,” He replied. “I saw a car driving erratically, he nearly hit a cyclist and I decided to pull him over and see what his deal was. Just as I got to the side of his car, he opened fire and took off. I never even saw a gun. I was on the floor before I realized I’d been hit, and I was trying to call it in. I could feel the blood from my leg but couldn’t stop it. Then you appeared and after that everything just seemed to have faded out. After that, there are just a few impressions until I woke up this morning here. Where did you even come from?”

“The cyclist that you saw him almost hit, was me on my way to work,” I said, “I was about 20 yards from you when he shot you. I got to you just after, and the guy took one look and did a runner.”

His eyes widened “You fucking idiot,” he yelled. “You approached an active shooter? You could have been killed!!”

“You were down and bleeding out. There wasn’t time to waste. I assessed the risk and figured that the risk of you dying was greater than that idiot would shoot again. He just seemed to want to get away.”

“Bullshit,” Dan said. “You didn’t assess any risk. You reacted. You shouldn’t have put yourself in harm’s way for me but now it’s all over I’m glad you did. Thank you. So why are you in a wheelchair? Did he hit you as he pulled away?”

I looked at Steve “Didn’t you tell him?”

“Nope,” he replied. “Haven’t had a chance. I only saw him briefly this morning and we were talking about other things.”

“Tell me what?” asked Dan.

“Well after you called in,” I explained. “A paramedic crew and 2 other units arrived. I’d just managed to get the bleeding slowed, but I had to cut off your clothes to get to the wound, and I used my t-shirt as a pack. I guess when they rolled up the site of me, half naked and covered in blood gave one of your guys the wrong idea. I got tased. I guess I hit my head on the road or something cos I don’t remember much until I woke up here.”

“Who tased you?” he asked.

“No idea, but when I find out I’m gonna kick his ass,” I said.

“I’m sure you’ll get to know. I expect the department is shitting themselves just now waiting for the lawsuit. You save an officer’s life and get tased for your pains. You could make a bundle from this” Steve said.

“It was a genuine mistake,” I said. “I remember hearing someone shouting but I was so focused on Dan and getting the Paramedics to act I ignored it.”

“I’m sure the guy who did it is probably as sorry for tasing me as I was for getting tased.”

“Well, you are right on one count,” said Steve, “the officer involved is very sorry. Various people have had words to make clear their displeasure at what happened. I do expect that you will hear from the department though. Also 2 other things. The shooter was caught less than 5 blocks away. He crashed his car into a traffic signal. He was drunk and high when they got to him. He was not injured too badly in the crash although he dropped his gun, but apparently, he fell over a couple of times between being arrested and brought in. He’s under arrest on the orthopedic ward.”

There was a knock on the door jamb, and we all looked over. There was a police officer there I didn’t recognize. He must have been pretty senior judging by all the tin on his uniform.

“May I come in?” he said.

“Of course, Sir,” said Dan straightening up and wincing as he did so. Both Steve and I instinctively went to assist, nurses help patients, it is what we do.

We sat him straighter and made him comfortable while the other officer watched.

“I just came down to see how you are,” he said. “It’s the worst news when I hear an officer under my command has been shot. I’m just thankful that you pulled through.”

“Thanks to Phil,” said Dan putting his hand on my arm.

The officer looked at me.

“I heard it was an off-duty nurse that saved him, that was you?” he asked.

I nodded

He crossed the room to me holding out his hand. “I’m Commissioner Davidson. You have my thanks, and the thanks of all the men and women of the department.”

“They had a funny way of showing their gratitude,” said Steve. Dan’s eyes widened a little. This was his ultimate commanding officer after all.

“Ah yes,” he said regretfully, “the officer involved is currently suspended pending investigation. I believe she is in the hospital at the moment, I believe she wished to apologize to you personally.”

Just then there was another knock on the door and a tall, slender blonde girl poked her head in.

“I was told...” she began but then caught sight of Davidson. She snapped to attention. “Sorry to interrupt sir, I didn’t know you were here.”

“Would you wait outside for now Officer Pearson.” He replied, “I will be a few more minutes, then they are all yours.”

“Of course, sir,” she said backing out of the room and closing the door.

“She was the one that tased me?” I asked him.

He nodded. “She’s new,” only been out of the academy six months, and is on her one-year probation. The investigation will likely mean her termination.”

“You punish people for doing their job now?” I asked.

He looked at me strangely. “What do you mean, punish her for doing her job?”

“She attended an officer down call,” I said, “and found a fellow officer on the floor, half his clothing ripped open, and a blood-soaked, half-naked maniac crouching over him. She shouts a challenge and is ignored and so she acts. However, even at that moment, with all the adrenaline running through her system and with the possibility that I could be trying to do further harm to her colleague, she realized that she didn’t have the full picture and that a non-lethal takedown was the appropriate action. I defy any of your officers to do better. Had someone else been first on scene I could just have easily been shot. As far as I can tell she did an outstanding job and should be commended not punished.”

Davidson looked at me, surprise written all over his face.

“Tell me this,” I went on. “I remember two units approaching. How many officers were there at the time?”

“There were four officers in total,” he said, obviously wondering where I was going with this.

“And of the other three officers,” I asked, “how many drew their weapons, not their tasers?”

“I don’t have that information,” he said.

“Your officer assessed the situation and came to a conclusion,” I said, “As it happens it was the wrong conclusion, but it was a judgment call under very difficult circumstances. She didn’t freeze, she acted, in her mind, to save the life of her fellow officer. Given her level of experience, I think she did an amazing job. In fact, she could possibly even have saved my life. Because if she hadn’t acted and any of the other officers attending had drawn the same conclusion she had, but had drawn their guns rather than a taser, I would likely be dead now.”

“I must say,” he said, “I didn’t expect you to be so understanding. I have had the department’s lawyers badgering me all morning.”

“Is that why she is being disciplined?” I asked coldly, “Because the suits are terrified of a lawsuit, so they are scapegoating her?”

He grimaced a little but didn’t answer.

“If I agree not to pursue any action against the department,” I said, “will you agree that Officer Pearson’s career will suffer no ill effects from this episode? No reprimand, no termination. She did an outstanding job and that should be recognized.”

“I think that would be agreeable,” he smiled at me, “I would have to get you to talk to our lawyers though.”

I nodded.

He turned to Dan.

“I seem to have got side-tracked,” he said. “I actually came to see how you were?”

“I’m fine Sir,” Dan said, “The doctors said I should be out of here in a day or so, then back to work in a few weeks.”

“Well take your time and make sure you don’t come back too soon,” Davidson answered. “I am also forwarding my recommendation for your Purple Heart. According to your doctors, your injury certainly qualifies.”

Dan’s eyes widened.

“I’ll leave you guys to it.” He looked at me. “Might I invite you down to HQ to discuss our agreement?”

I nodded. “Let me know when, and I’ll be there.”

He left the room, leaving the door ajar. I heard him talking to the female officer outside.

“Damn Phil,” Steve said, “You realize you just turned down a boatload of cash. The settlement could have been easily six figures.”

I shrugged. “Look over there,” I said pointing at Dan, “And tell me you would be happy for someone to ruin his career for a six-figure pay-out, just because he made a little mistake. We are all in this together. There are enough people out there trying to screw with us without us attacking each other as well.”

“Thank you.” The voice was light, and melodious, but had a slight catch like the person speaking was trying hard not to cry.

We all looked toward the door, where Officer Pearson had just entered.

“I heard what you said to the commissioner.” She continued. “You might just have saved my career. But I still need to tell you that I am so sorry. You didn’t respond to my instructions, and I now know why,” she added hastily, showing that she wasn’t trying to shift blame. “I should have taken more time to assess the situation before tasing you.”

“Apology accepted,” I said. “There will be a cost though. I need doughnuts, or cookies brought into my ER when you are passing, at least for a while.”

She grinned. “There is something else,” She turned to Dan. “The commissioner is assigning me a new TO, he feels that I would benefit from a more experienced partner. I’m riding a desk until that partner returns to work. So, hurry back.”

Dan’s eyebrows rose. “He’s pushing a rookie onto me,” he groaned theatrically. “Damn Phil, why did you have to save me.”

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

So – now you are almost up to date. We are back to the event that triggered my dormant ability. Do you remember that? - if not read the first paragraph of the story again. It was the shock I was talking about, and it was the event that ended my life as I knew it.

Six months had passed since Dan’s shooting. I was still working seemingly more hours than there were in a day, and Bonnie was still studying for her Ph.D. We still had the occasional night out with friends and colleagues, and the bi-weekly BBQ with the neighbors. Officer Pearson, Patricia, brought treats into the ER at least once a week when she was on shift. So much so that it was now starting to become embarrassing. Things had settled into a routine.

As I said at the beginning it was my thirtieth birthday. It was a Thursday night, and I was working a night shift. The plan was that Bonnie and I would celebrate on Friday night with a meal out and we would go out for beers on Saturday with Steve, Dan, Patricia, and others.

By this time, I had been promoted so as well as being CNS in the ED I was one of the 3 senior nurses and as such had responsibility for doing the rotas. I had spent the better part of the day, when I should have been sleeping, finalizing the next month’s rota which I was due to publish when I got to work.

I cycled in as usual but when I arrived at work, I realized that I had left the flash drive with the new rota on, plugged into my computer at home. I decided that since it was a fairly quiet shift, after handover and getting people set up, I would take an early break and cycle home, collect the drive and cycle back. I expected to be back in the department in less than an hour and there was already one CNS on shift so the department would be fine.

It was a nice night for cycling. It was not too hot and there was a light breeze giving me a gentle push home, so I made good time. It took me less than 20 minutes to cycle home. When I got to the house rather than go in through the garage, since the door wasn’t quick to open, I decided to just lean my bike against the back fence, go through the gate, and in through the yard door.

I was surprised to hear voices when I entered the kitchen but thought that maybe Bonnie had one of her friends over, or maybe was hosting a study session. My surprise turned to dread when I started to hear a rhythmic slapping noise, grunts, and whining. I was certain I knew what those sounds signified but I was hoping against hope that I was wrong.

I walked down the hall towards our bedroom as the volume of the noise increased. The door was open and as I approached, I could see the top of our bed. Helen, our neighbor, was laid on her back, naked, her small breasts heaving as she whined. She appeared to be handcuffed with her hands over her head and she was blindfolded. Despite what was going on the expression on her face was not one of enjoyment but more of discomfort. As I moved further in, I could see that Bonnie had her head buried between Helen’s legs. She was savaging her pussy, licking and biting at it, alternately plunging her tongue into her hole before moving up to lick and bite at her clit. I could see she had two fingers in Helen’s asshole, and she was fingering it savagely. Helen’s pussy looked sore and bruised and she didn’t look like she was enjoying it at all. There were several sex toys of various sizes on the bed and it appeared that Bonnie had been using them on Helen. The final piece to the puzzle appeared as I entered the bedroom. Brian. Big Black Brian was fucking Bonnie for all that he was worth, and she was making obvious noises of enjoyment as he held onto her hips and hammered himself into her.

I was stunned, shocked beyond anything I could have imagined. I tensed up not knowing what to do and then I felt something tense just north of my stomach.

Everything stopped.

Immediately the memories from my childhood returned and I remembered what had happened back then but applied an adult’s logic. It appeared that in some way, somehow, I had stopped time. I looked at the alarm clock by the bed and the second hand had stopped moving. I could see Brian, who was just on the out stroke, frozen. Drops of sweat from his face were suspended in mid-air where they had fallen yet not quite reached Bonnie’s ass.

Once again, I compartmentalised, ignoring my thoughts and emotions about what I was seeing and began to plan as to what to do about it. My instinct told me to do something violent to Brian, he was in no position to defend himself, but logic asserted itself. I needed much more information before doing anything. I needed to know much more.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to break up this little party though.

Pulling some medical examination gloves out of my pocket (a good nurse always carries a few pairs) I approached the bed. I noted clinically that Brian’s dick was probably about an inch shorter than my own seven inches and was almost all the way out of Bonnie’s pussy. Carefully I pulled Brian back until he cleared her cunt, and then with my gloves on, repositioned the head of his cock against her asshole. I pushed him forward a little until the head was just starting to open up her little star, knowing that when I started time, he would plunge it in at full tilt, as he had been hammering bonnie relentlessly.

I considered what to do with Helen, but as I said she didn’t look to be enjoying the activity at all and from other marks I could see on her body I started to wonder what kind of relationship she and Brian had, so I decided to leave her alone.

I waited until I was back outside before allowing time to start again, and was rewarded with a shriek of pain, which could have shattered glass, and I grinned maniacally as I mounted my bike and returned to the hospital.

My grin lasted all the way back to work. As I arrived, I went into the office to upload the rota. Steve stuck his head in to ask if I wanted a drink since I was back so soon and still technically on break. I guess my rictus grin must have looked strange to him because he came into the office, closing the door behind him.

“Phil,” he said looking concerned. “What’s wrong?”

My compartmentalization collapsed and the full force of what I had seen and what it meant hit me like a sledgehammer. I faceplanted the desk, put my hands over my head, and screamed. I could never remember being in so much pain. My face hurt from where I had hit the desk but that was nothing in comparison to the tearing agony I felt inside. It’s a cliché but I literally felt like someone had reached into my chest and torn out my very heart and soul. I had nothing left. I wanted to die. I could feel my heart pounding at some ridiculous rate, and I wondered how I could even feel it beating since it was so obviously ripped out. I couldn’t breathe. On an intellectual level, I knew I was hyperventilating but that information was of no use to me, I couldn’t stop. I just wanted the whole world to end and a release from the intolerable agony. I had no appreciation of what was going on around me I was in hell. Roasting over the coals, being flayed alive by demons tormented by my own memories. I could hear the slapping of Brian as he ploughed Bonnie from behind, her groans and grunts of pleasure as he fucked her. It was an endless loop of torment, and I was going mad. I felt a sting in my arm, almost unnoticed against the backdrop of agony surging through me, and everything went dark.

When I surfaced again, I was lying on a gurney. I was in restraints, and I could feel someone, two someone’s in fact holding my hands. One on each side.

I was confused for a few seconds. Disorientated and wondering how I had ended up here. Then the memories came flooding back and I tensed expecting the pain again. It came but this time it was different. It was a deep tearing pain, but it was accompanied by anger, by rage, by fury that somehow tempered it. It was still there however, raw, savage, and intense. I began to sob.

Steve, who had been holding one of my hands stood and put his arms around me.

“We’re here,” he said gently, “We’ve got you.”

He held me for a long time while I cried, but eventually, I cried myself out. I was drained and had become numb for the moment.

Once again, the intellectual part of my mind noted that this was a temporary respite. The pain was not over I had just exhausted my capacity to feel it for now. It would be back.

“Talk to me Phil,” Steve said gently.

I took a long shuddering breath and tried to bring my hand to my face to clear my eyes. I had forgotten the restraints.

“Why am I restrained?” I asked quietly

“You were clawing at your face,” Steve said quietly “I didn’t want you to hurt yourself”

“Who ordered the sedative?”

“That was me,” said a voice from the foot of the gurney.

I looked down and saw Cheryl, the hospital counselor watching me.

“You were having some kind of psychotic break, and you needed to be brought down. It was only a low dose, and you were out for less than an hour. Nobody but the three of us in this room knows what happened, and that is the way it will stay.”

I looked to my other side to see who else had witnessed my shame and saw Daniel sitting holding my other hand.

“I’m supposed to be on shift,” I said, “As is Steve. We can’t just disappear like this”

“The department is plenty staffed.” said Steve, “It’s a slow night the staff have been told that you had an accident on your bike. As far as anyone is concerned, I am getting you cleaned up, and then Dan is going to take you home.”

“What home?” I said bitterly.

“Can you tell us what happened?” asked Cheryl.

I tried; I really did but I just couldn’t say the words.

They figured it out though from what little I could say. They didn’t know the details, but they got the idea.

“That fucking bitch,” I heard Steve mutter under his breath.

“How do you feel now?” asked Cheryl.

“Right now?” I asked, “Numb. Empty. I can feel anger too but it’s like it’s somewhere else. Dissociated. It’s someone else’s rage for now. But it feels like it should be mine.”

“Have you somewhere to go? I don’t think you need to be admitted but I don’t think you should be alone for now.”

There were three simultaneous answers to that question

I said “No.”

Steve and Dan both said “Yes.”

Cheryl nodded. “I’m going to give you something to tide you over for a couple of days. I don’t think you will need them for longer than that, but I know it’s going to take a few days for you to start coping. They’ll help. I’m also signing you off sick for 2 weeks. I would suggest you take a couple of weeks’ holidays after that also but that’s a suggestion and not a requirement. I am going to want to see you before you come back to work though. After a shock like this, I need to make sure you’re not impaired before I can let you practice again.”

I lifted my hands.

“Can I get out of the strait jacket now?”

She smiled “I think so.”

Steve and Daniel each released restraints on their side. Now I could raise my hands I wiped my face. Sitting up I swung my legs over the side of the gurney and waited a second until I regained my balance.

“Dan is going to take you back to our place,” Steve said, “I’ll be there in the morning. Try and get some rest.” He handed me the bottle of pills that Cheryl had ordered. Take one of those before you go to bed. They’ll help you sleep.

Dan took the bottle out of my hand and pocketed them. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get you home.”

“Home.” I thought. “I don’t have a home anymore.” once more my eyes began to water.

Steve seemed to have read my thoughts.

“You have a home with us whenever, and for as long as you need,” he said.

Dan led me out of the room and took me out of the department through the fire exit. We didn’t meet any of the other staff. His truck was parked outside, and he helped me into it. I noted that my bike was in the back of the truck. When had that happened?

When we got back to their place, he took me inside and led me into the bathroom.

“Have a shower,” he said, “I won’t say it will make you feel better, but it might help you sleep. There are fresh towels on the rail. I’ll throw you in something to wear when you get out.”

Mechanically I showered and dried myself. There were shorts and a t-shirt on the rail by the towel and I put them on.

I was hiding inside my own mind. Doing everything I could think of to not think about what I had seen earlier.

Dan knocked on the bathroom door and I realized that I had just been standing staring at the wall for the past 5 minutes. I had put the clothes he had left for me on but in the absence of further instructions had simply stopped. I couldn’t initiate anything.

Dan led me out of the bathroom and into the guest room. He gave me one of the tablets and I took it without complaint. I don’t think it registered with me.

I sat on the edge of the bed staring into space. The numbness was there, the anger was there and now the sadness came. I began to sob again the pain once again breaking through and overwhelming me. Dan sat beside me and wrapped his arms around me holding me to him.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. Almost too quietly for me to hear “I’m so very sorry.”

I guess I must have fallen asleep, but if so, my sleep was full of troubled dreams. Flashes of what I had seen. Interspersed with images of Brian pointing and laughing at me, his arms around Bonnie. She was laughing too. For some reason, Angela, the girl from the bar was there also and she was pointing and laughing, repeatedly asking me “did you enjoy watching you perv?”

I woke to find myself lying on the guest bed with a light blanket over me. I was surprised to find that Dan was lying behind me and had his arms around me. In my current state, it was comforting.

At that instant, Steve walked through the door and I panicked trying to extricate myself from his boyfriend’s embrace.

“Relax,” Steve said, “he’s not going to rape you.”

“I never thought he would,” I said, “but after what I saw last night, I didn’t want you thinking…”

“Thinking what?” he asked “That my boyfriend was looking after our best friend when he needed it? Why would that bother me?”

Dan spoke then “After you went to sleep you were thrashing around and crying. The only way I could get you to settle was to hold you. I’m sorry if I overstepped.”

“You didn’t overstep,” I said “I guess I needed to feel that at least someone was there for me. Thanks”

“How are you feeling now.”

“It still hurts, I’m still a little numb but now mostly angry. I need to figure out what to do next.”

“You have a message,” Steve said handing me my phone, “I think it’s from Bonnie.”

“Why would she be messaging? As far as she knows I should still be at work. I normally don’t get home until after she leaves, so she wouldn’t be expecting to see me until tonight?”

I unlocked my phone and opened the message.

“Morning Lover,” she wrote. “Don’t forget we’re going out tonight – make sure you get a good sleep today because I’m not going to let you get much later.” there were some kissy emojis.

I almost vomited into my mouth and put my phone away.

“Did she say anything interesting?” Asked Steve.

“No, just reminding me about our plans for tonight,” I replied. “My GOD how can I have been so fucking stupid!” I exclaimed.

“Not stupid,” said Dan putting his hand on my shoulder “Just trusting.”

When we got back to my house, I found it empty. The bedroom was clean, and the bed had been changed and was freshly made. There was no sign of Bonnie, Brian, or Helen.

Dan and Steve sat in the kitchen while I made coffee.

“What’s the plan?” asked Steve.

“I need more information. First up I am going to see if I can figure out what the fuck is going on, and who is involved. I know now she is fucking Brian and Helen, but I need to know if there are others. Next, I’m going to talk to a lawyer and find out where I stand with regard to divorce. Since everything we have, I paid for I’m damned if she is getting a red cent out of me if I don’t have to give it to her.”

“I’m also aiming for some payback against anyone else involved. Brian for sure, Helen maybe – she didn’t look to be particularly enjoying herself but that may have been just her kink. And anyone else that she has cheated on me with.”

“Don’t do anything rash. The last thing we need is for you to end up in jail, hurt or worse. Don’t forget that Brian is a close protection security officer. He will be armed and probably dangerous even unarmed.” Said Dan.

“Don’t worry – I have a trick or two up my sleeve.” I grinned maliciously “They will never be able to prove a thing.”

Daniel didn’t look particularly happy, but he didn’t say anything more.

That evening when Bonnie came home, I was in the kitchen making yet more coffee – I was starting to feel that was all I did

“I’ll just grab a quick shower then we can go,” she said breezing past me before looking back at me. I’m not sure I was looking my best and I guess she picked up on it.

“What’s the matter?” she asked, “You look tired. Did you not sleep after your shift today?”

“Bad shift and I didn’t get off until really late,” I said. “I had an hour but I’m not really feeling upto much tonight. Would you be really upset if we didn’t go out?”

She came back and put her arms around me “Poor Baby,” she said while I did my utmost not to cringe at her touch. “It was to celebrate your birthday so whatever you want is fine. I’ll cancel the reservations and order some takeout. We can snuggle up for the evening.”

She ordered food and showered, and when the food arrived, we sat in the kitchen to eat. After we cleared away the leavings, she moved into the living room and sat on the couch.

“Come on,” she said patting the seat beside her “let’s snuggle up and watch some Netflix.”

“Bathroom,” I said heading in that direction.

In the bathroom I took 2 of the tablets that Cheryl had prescribed, knowing that within about 20 minutes they would knock me out and I would be unrousable for probably most of the night. Flushing the toilet, I washed my hands and moved back into the living room and sat down beside Bonnie. She snuggled into me.

“What do you want to watch?” she asked.

I don’t remember much after that. I guess the tablets must have done their work as the next thing I remember was waking up, lying on the couch, covered with a blanket. I looked at my watch. It was three a.m.

Quietly I got up and went to the bedroom door. Cheryl was on her back snoring. Moving silently, I went to her bedside and picked up her phone which was on the charging pad there. Gently I brought it near to her face to use the facial recognition and it unlocked.

I looked at her messages and saw that she was on a WhatsApp group called ‘the close.’ The membership seemed to include everyone in our street, apart from Helen, and myself.

I read through the texts and felt sicker and sicker as I did. They only went back about a couple of months, but it was clear that there was some kind of swinger club. There were arrangements for hook-ups between the members, Bonnie and Brian seemed to get together at least once or twice a week, but there looked to be group gatherings at least monthly, all timed to coincide with the nights I was at work. The next gathering was due on Saturday night, since as far as Bonnie knew I was due to work a fourteen-hour night.

Jessica had asked one time if I was going to join the festivities, but Bonnie had flatly refused to ask. She had told them that I was way too uptight and there was no way I’d go for it.

There were also private messages between her and Brian, where they finalized their arrangements and discussed what they would do in their trysts. Helen seemed to have been a sub-slave in the relationship, and Bonnie apparently enjoyed brutalizing her. Brian loved to see that as he fucked my wife. It was also apparent that anal was only off the table for me since he waxed lyrical about how much he enjoyed ‘tappin dat ass’.

I took copies of all the texts. I also checked her photos but there were none to be found on the phone. Apparently, she hadn’t been that careless. An hour on the web came up with some software for me to get copies of her texts and WhatsApp messages invisibly emailed to me. I also ordered a few Wi-Fi hidden cameras. Amazon prime would have them delivered the next day.

I returned the phone to the charger and went into the office to make a list of what else I needed to do.

I needed to consult a lawyer, immediately. I wanted to find out the quickest and cheapest way I could get a divorce, and not have to pay a fortune to Bonnie. I had been literally keeping her for all our married life. I also paid for the deposit and the payments on the house. I wasn’t going to give that up. I liked this house. I was just not very fond of the neighbors.

I also needed to get tested for STDs. Who knows what nasties she had brought home if she was screwing around.

My biggest concern was how I could excuse myself from having sex with her. I never wanted to touch her again. I decided on a course of action and then I curled back up on the couch and tried to get some more sleep.

Bonnie woke me when she was getting ready to go to uni.

“Hey, you,” she said, “How are you feeling? You crashed hard last night?”

“I guess,” I said, “I had a really bad shift and was dog-tired. To add insult to injury I got a needlestick injury from a psychotic, drunk, IV drug abuser with HIV. I had to have blood done, and I’ll need to get another set done in six weeks. Until then we need to use protection just in case.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked looking concerned and taking my hand in hers.

“I didn’t want to worry you.” I said, “And to be honest, it kind of knocked me for six. Even the thought of getting HIV terrifies me. I have seen what it does to people. Even using protection I’m not sure I would be comfortable having sex until I get the all-clear. I would be devastated if something happened…” I left that sentence unfinished.

“It will be fine.” She comforted me. “HIV is not that easily transmitted, and…”

I raised an eyebrow.

“I know you’re studying to be a doctor,” I said, bitterly, “but your Ph.D. is not in medicine. I know the transmission rate and I know the survival rate. So please, save me the platitudes.”

She stepped back as if I had slapped her, her eyes wide. Then she got angry. “Look! I know you are upset and concerned but it is not my fault. Don’t take it out on me!”

I just looked at her levelly. I think she was expecting me to apologize but that wasn’t going to happen. I hadn’t intended to argue with her, but my anger was still very real.

“I have to go,” she said, “I’ll see you later.”

She didn’t quite storm out of the house, but it was a close call.

Our hospital had a staff well-being service, which included legal advice, so I called them and asked them for advice regarding divorce. They told me to seek specialist advice and gave me some recommendations for lawyers.

I made an appointment with one for that afternoon. But for now, I needed to go get myself tested.

The STD Clinic at the hospital was a depressing place.

Despite it being only ten in the morning, there were a number of patients waiting who appeared to be drunk or under the influence of some substance or other.

I recognized two older women as prostitutes. One of them had been brought into the ER by her pimp after she had been beaten up. It was not clear if it had been one of her clients or her pimp who had done it, but she wasn’t telling.

When I first qualified, I had tried desperately to get patients like her to go to the police, or get help but it soon became clear that some people just didn’t want help. I still offered but recognized that in ninety-nine cases from one hundred it would be turned down.

The younger of the two, relatively, sauntered over and sat by me, once I had taken my ticket and was waiting my turn.

“Hey baby,” she said, “when you are done here would you like to go and have some fun?”

“Sorry, I have a full schedule today. Maybe next time?” I saw no reason to be nasty to her. Heaven only knew what life she was living. I didn’t need to add to her problems.

Just then one of the nurses came out and saw me. Her eyes widened and hardened then she came over.

“Can I have a word?” She said in a flat voice.

I looked up at her. Having just arrived I knew there were several people in front of me, including the lady sat next to me.

“I think there are people here before me,” I said indicating everyone around. Some were looking at me.

“Now!” she said taking the ticket out of my hand.

“Hey!” a guy sat four seats down from me, as I stood up to follow her. “I was here way before him.”

The nurse fixed him with her stare. “People are seen in order of medical need, not just order of arrival. If you have any issues with that you are welcome to take yourself off to Mercy Hospital, I’m sure they would be pleased to see you there.”

Mercy hospital was a private hospital about a mile away. They only treated rich people and those with the best insurances. This clinic was a free community service.

He sat down grumbling a little.

“What the fuck is the matter with you?” she hissed as she closed the examination room door behind us.

I looked at her surprised. I recognized her, she had done some agency shifts in the ER with us.

“What?” I asked

“You waltz in here like nobody would know who you are, with a hooker no less. You’re a married man for fucks sake, why would you even…”

“STOP!” I interrupted her. The anger that I had been carrying since yesterday bubbled to the surface. I caught myself and took a deep breath.

“If you check the security tapes,” I began in a tight tone, “you will see that I did not arrive with that woman. She came in with the other lady in the back and came over to proposition me just after I sat down. And with regard to being married, that is why I’m here. You see I just found out that my wife is fucking half the neighborhood, and I needed to make sure she hadn’t brought anything home.” I slumped down onto the chair in the room. My rage, once again, was defeated by my tearing loss.

She put her hand to her mouth, “Oh my god, I am so sorry. I thought…”

“So much for a professional, non-judgemental, service,” I said, “but now I’m in here, can you at least do the blood draw?”

Just then, the door opened and Cheryl, the counselor I had seen the previous night, walked in.

“There’s no need,” she said. “We already took blood while you were napping last night.”

“Why would you even do that?” I asked, “You didn’t even know what had happened until I woke up and told you.”

“Really?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Steve told me you went home to get something and came back like that. It didn’t take Sherlock Holmes to work out that you, having gone home when you should have been working, had discovered something. The fact you came back to work, rather than calling in an accident or injury pretty much told us what it was.

“All the tests came back negative. Obviously, we will need to repeat the HIV in ninety days to be sure, but everything else is fine. Have you spoken to Bonnie yet? Does she know that you know, that you saw her?”

“Not yet,” I said, “I needed to figure out what I was going to do. I’m going to see a lawyer this afternoon to find out how badly I’m going to get screwed in the divorce.”

“Are you sure that’s the only option?” she asked. “I’ve known you since you started here, and I know how much you love Bonnie. Is there no way you two could work this out?

“You’re angry now,” she began but held her hand up as I started to respond, “and rightly so, but do you really want to make such a decision in anger, without even talking to Bonnie first? Maybe there is a way to salvage this.”

I took a deep breath, trying once again to push down the rage bubbling up within me.

“I need to know where I stand.” I said, “Before I talk to Bonnie, I need to know my options and the ramifications of any decisions we make. Once I have that information then I can figure out a way forward. I have to say, though, that currently, I can’t see any way that we can overcome this. It’s just too much. A one-off drunken fumble I might have been able to forgive. Bonnie has been screwing the neighbors for months, perhaps more, and lying to me about it. I don’t see a way past that.”

Cheryl nodded sadly. “You know where I am if you need me.” She looked at the nurse, who had been watching us. “And you and I need to talk. Phil was right. You had no right to speak to him like that. He could have walked in here with half the hookers in the neighborhood and you still had no right to speak to him like that. I know you volunteer here, and we are grateful, but you need to get your head out of your ass. Just because you aren’t being paid doesn’t mean you can’t get your nursing license pulled. Phil has every right to put in a complaint about your behavior and I would support him. The security tapes will support him.”

The nurse looked at me “I’m sorry,” she said.

I shook my head. “Just…” I couldn’t think of anything to say. There was no point in taking my anger out on her. “…forget it.”

Before either of them could speak again, I walked out of the room, and out of the clinic.

I ate lunch mechanically in a fast-food restaurant. Afterward, I couldn’t have even told you what I had or why I had bothered. I certainly wasn’t hungry. But I had time to kill, it was lunchtime, and there was a restaurant. Autopilot engaged.

After lunch, I cycled to the lawyers’ office. I was early but again I had nothing else to do and nowhere else to be. I sat in the waiting room until my appointed time, and I was shown in.

The news from the lawyer was as depressing as I expected it to be. Since I lived in a no-fault divorce state, it was simple. No matter who paid for what, the current matrimonial assets would be divided equally between us. She would get half the equity in the house, half our savings, and half of my 401k. There were no children so that was something, although as she was still studying and would be for the next two years, I was on the hook for supporting her for at least that amount of time, depending on whether she got a job when she qualified or not. I could be supporting her for longer.

The assessment of our income would be based on my last two years’ earnings, which meant that since I had been working flat out, I would be obliged to continue to do so, giving most of it to her.

When I got home, there was an amazon package waiting for me, and spent the next couple of hours, setting up a couple of the hidden cameras, and testing them. They were motion activated, and would record to a cloud account I set up. I would be able to access a live feed or recorded footage from anywhere. I set up one in the living room and one in the bedroom.

I was in the office working on the next month’s rota when Bonnie came home. I could see she was still pissed at me from this morning, and I really didn’t care. She came into the office and sat on the couch opposite the desk.

“Look,” she said, “I know you had a bad night, and that you’re worried about those results, but you can’t spend the next six weeks wound up like this, you’ll make yourself ill. I won’t say you need to put it out of your mind, but you do need to put it aside for now. Worrying about it is not going to make a single bit of difference to the result. I know I sounded patronizing this morning. Here’s me, telling a medical professional about his job, but I was just trying to reassure you that things would be okay and that you would be fine.”

I sat back in my chair. Unless I wanted to challenge her right now about her infidelity, and I wanted more information before doing that, I would need to act a little cooler.

“I know,” I said quietly, “It was just such a shock to be the one on the wrong end of this.”

That was as far as I was prepared to go. If she wanted to take that as an apology I would give her that, but I wouldn’t give her anymore.

She smiled at me. “Remember, whatever happens, I love you. We will get through this together.”

It was a good job she couldn’t see my hands gripping the edge of the desk.

She stood up. “Are we still meeting up with the guys for your birthday?”

“I’m not really in the mood. I’ll text Steve and tell him I’m not going. You go though. A lot of those going are your friends anyway. No sense in you being miserable. I’m going to have an early night. I guess I’m still tired.”

I could see the conflict in her eyes. Then she nodded. “Okay, if you’re sure.”

She got up and went into the bedroom. After a few minutes, I heard the shower start.

I looked at my phone. She had sent a text message to Angela, “hey babe. Grumpy is not coming out tonight, how about you and I get together? It’s been soo long since I got to taste you.”

I heard her phone chime. The reply repeated to mine.

“A week isn’t that long. I’ll be waiting for you, I have a nice surprise for you, Amy is coming over. She will be happy to see you again.”

I shook my head sadly. How could I ever have imagined that I could be enough for her? Not only was she cheating on me with Brian and the rest of the neighbors, she was also still fucking Angela, and others as well apparently.

Once again autopilot took over and I went into the kitchen and started preparing some food. Although still not hungry, I knew that starving myself was stupid, and I made some pasta with sauce.

Bonnie came into the kitchen as I was putting out two plates.

We sat in almost total silence as I forced myself to eat the food I had prepared. Afterward, I cleared away the dishes as Bonnie finished getting ready to go out. She came over to give me a kiss as she was leaving but I turned my head.

She drew back, hurt, but then just shook her head and went out the door.

Thirty minutes later there was a knock on my door, and Steve and Dan were there.

I looked at them surprised.

“I just got a text from Bonnie,” Steve said. “What did you say to her.”

“I told her I got a needlestick from an HIV-riddled drug abuser,” I answered. “I thought it would give me an excuse for being upset, and also for not wanting to have sex with her.”

“What did she say to you?” I asked.

He showed me the text. “Hey Steve, can you look in on your other boyfriend, he needs a shoulder to cry on.”

“So, she thinks I need a shoulder,” I said, “and yet she still went out to fuck Angela.”

“What?” asked Dan, “I thought you said…”

I showed them both the text.

“Fuck.” Steve said, “It never rains…”

“So now what?” asked Dan. “Have you decided?”

“I’m done with her,” I said. “I saw a lawyer today; he says basically if I divorce her, I’m screwed. It’s a no-fault state, she will get half of everything plus I’ll have to support her for at least the next two years.

“I need to figure out a way to get her to just fuck off and leave, after a couple of years ill divorce her for abandonment, she’ll get nothing.”

Dan looked worried. “Phil…” he began

I shook my head and smiled at him. “I’m not intending to do her any harm. I will just persuade her that leaving would be her best option.”

“That sounds like a difficult proposition,” he said.

“I’ll figure it out,” I said.

We spent a couple of hours together, just chatting, but I didn’t want them to be there when Bonnie came home, so they left a little before ten.

I decided to be asleep when she got home, so another two of Chery’s pills and I went to bed.

I didn’t wake up until nearly ten the next morning.

Bonnie wasn’t in bed with me, but I could tell that she had been.

I got up, showered, and dressed before going into the kitchen.

“Did Steve talk to you?” she asked.

“Yes, “I said, “He and Dan came over for a couple of hours after you went out.”

“And?”

“And you thought I needed a shoulder to cry on,” I said, “so you fucked off and left it to him? Thanks for being a supportive wife!”

“You weren’t talking to me,” she said defensively “So I thought your boyfriend might…”

“There it is again,” I said. “Why do you keep calling him my boyfriend? He and Dan are together. Steve and I are just friends.”

“Bullshit.” She snapped “he practically drools whenever he sees you. You lived together for three years. I don’t believe that in all that time, you didn’t let him at least blow you.”

“You appear to be judging me by your own moral code,” I said coldly. “I have not had any kind of sex with Steve or anyone other than you since we got together. Can you say the same?”

She looked at me speechless.

“Fuck You!” she snarled and stormed out of the house, slamming the door.

I was dressed and ready as if going to work, by the time she got back later.

“Had a nice day dear?” I asked blandly as I put the remainder of my gear in my bag and got ready to leave.

She just scowled at me and stomped into the bedroom.

I felt my phone vibrate and took it out to see that she had sent a message to the WhatsApp group.

“Asshole is about ready to leave. Let’s play here tonight.”

There were several replies, each in the affirmative.

I didn’t slam the door when I left, but I closed it firmly enough that she would have heard it. I got on my bike and set out.

Alan, from across the way was in his garden as I cycled past. He shouted and waved smiling at me. I pretended not to see him.

I cycled all the way to the hospital, then turned location services off on my phone. I doubted that she would, but if Bonnie checked my location on her phone, it would show that my last seen location was there. It was normal to be out of contact in the hospital because the signal was unreliable.

Up in the hospital cafeteria, I decided to get something to eat while I was waiting. I figured it would take them a good couple of hours to really get into things. I logged onto the hospital Wi-Fi and from then typed into the IP of the bedroom camera I had set up. Bonnie was getting dressed. What she was wearing was surprising as I had never seen the underwear she was putting on, nor the dress she had laid out on the bed.

I heard the doorbell, and she quickly donned the dress and then went to answer it.

I switched to the other camera in time to see her pulling Brian in. Helen was with him, but she walked a few paces behind him and was ignored by them both. Brian and Bonnie shared a deep kiss and then Brian said something to Helen that I didn’t catch, and she scurried into the kitchen apparently to get them both a drink.

The doorbell rang again, and this time Helen hurried to answer it, admitting Alan and his wife Jessica. Neither of them acknowledged Helen, but just brushed past her into the living room, where Alan kissed Bonnie and Jessica kissed Brian, then she moved and shared a kiss with Bonnie.

Bill and Jenny were the last to arrive a few minutes later, and soon they were all sitting around drinking and chatting. Helen seemed to be there just as a maidservant. She got them all drinks, before standing up against the wall. She looked, to me, like she was trying to be ignored. She was successful for the most part, until someone wanted something. Brian called for another drink, and she immediately went to fetch one. Apparently, he was not satisfied with the service she provided as after she passed him the drink, he backhanded her across the face, knocking her to the floor. She cowered there for a few minutes and then crawled away to resume her vigil by the wall. What was most surprising was that not a single person there reacted. Bonnie didn’t even look at her as she was cowering on the floor. It was as if she didn’t exist.

A few minutes later, Brian and Bonnie started kissing. That seemed to be the signal for the festivities to begin, and before Alan had his tongue down Jennifer’s throat and Bill was playing tonsil hockey with Alan’s wife Jessica.

I figured it was time for me to head back and so I cleared my tray and set out for home.

I checked the camera once more as I arrived home, standing my bike against the garage. Bonnie was on her knees on the couch leaning over the back, her mouth stuffed with Bill’s cock. Brian was plundering her pussy in long slow strokes from behind while Helen had her face pushed deep into his ass.

Alan was lying on the rug with Jennifer riding him cowgirl style, and Jessica sitting on his face. The girls were kissing and playing with each other’s tits.

The only person to see me enter was Brian. He was the only one facing the direction of the door when I came in. He froze mid-thrust into my wife’s face and gaped. Then he pulled back, suddenly, I heard the pop as his cock exited her mouth.

“Phil!” he exclaimed.

Jennifer and Jessica’s heads both turned in my direction. Jennifer looked shocked but Jessica smiled, continuing to grind her pussy into her husband’s face. Since his head was between her legs, he hadn’t heard anything, and he was trying to encourage Jennifer to continue her interrupted movements.

Brian had stepped back from Bonnie, and had turned to face me, almost casually kicking Helen out of the way in the process. He didn’t look worried, it was the move of someone not wanting to have an enemy behind him. His cock still stood out proudly, still slick with Bonnies juices.

Bonnie was frozen in horror. She hadn’t changed position but was looking over her shoulder at me. Her pussy was wide open after Brian’s sudden exit, and I could see a thread of liquid, languidly dripping from her snatch onto the sofa. That would need to be cleaned.

By now Alan had realised there was something wrong, since Jennifer had dismounted and stood up, her hands belatedly trying to maintain her modesty. He wriggled out from under his wife and his eyes bugged when he saw me standing in the doorway. I had my phone out and was videoing the performance.

“Phil,” bonnie said, I really wanted to hear what she was going to say next.

I ran through the possibilities in my head. Surely, she wouldn’t go with the “This is not what It looks like.” Line. I decided it would either be “What are you doing here?” or “You should be at work.”

I was wrong.

“I didn’t want you to find out like this,” she said, climbing off the couch and walking towards me hesitantly.

I cocked my head to the side.

“So how did you want me to find out?” I asked. “Telegram? picture postcard?”

“I guess I didn’t want you to find out at all,” she said, having the decency to look embarrassed.

“I thought we agreed,” I said. “That if either of us needed something extra we would talk about it first. We promised each other that didn’t we.”

She smiled a little. “Actually no. I never made any promises.”

I thought back to that night when we had got back together and realized, she was right. She hadn’t made the promises. I was the only idiot to do that.

“What about your wedding vows.” I countered. “Do they not count as promises?”

I shook my head.

“So now I know,” I said. “You avoided making the promises, you never intended to remain faithful. Why didn’t even want to get back together with me in the first place?”

“Because I love you,” she said “I always have. I just, just need more…”

“She needed a real dick,” Brian interjected. “Not that tiny wiener you have.”

I actually laughed. “Will you tell him, or shall I?” I asked Bonnie.

She smiled a little, embarrassed. “Brian. Phil has a good inch on you.”

“But you said…” he started.

“Pillow talk,” I said. “I doubt you would have been happy for her to tell you that you have a tiny dick and peanuts for balls now, would you? You need to knock off those steroids by the way, while you still have some balls left.”

Jessica took a step toward me. “Well since you know, why not join us? I, for one, would like to see how you compare with Brian and the rest of the boys. Surely that would be better than…”

I shook my head. “Sorry, Jessica. I’m a one-woman man, always have been. I thought that woman was Bonnie, but apparently, she had other ideas. I guess I’ll just have to find someone who thinks that I am enough for her.”

“A one woman and two faggot man, you mean,” Brian scoffed. “You spend as much time fucking those two queer boys as you do at home. Is it any wonder that Bonnie looked elsewhere?”

“I think it’s time that you all left,” I said. “I believe Bonnie and I have some talking to do.”

Alan had been getting dressed quietly while we had been conversing.

“Phil,” he said, “try to think about things logically. Realistically you only have two options. Either you join us and enjoy the benefits of having several beautiful women at your disposal and a happy wife. Or you carry on and pretend you never saw a thing. You have a happy wife and a happy life, and nobody needs to be any the wiser. Any other action is only going to cause you untold grief.

“You know we live in a no-fault state. Bonnie would be entitled to half of everything. As a student with no income, I could make a case for her to keep the house until she finishes her studies, and you would have to also give her support. That would leave you with next to nothing to live on. Do you really fancy living in a shitty bedsit and eating Raman noodles every night, just for the sake of a little pride?”

“Are you going to represent her then Alan?” I asked. “If I were to file for divorce?”

He nodded.

“Isn’t it against the rules for you to be fucking your clients?” I asked. “Surely the state licensing authority frowns on that sort of thing?”

He smiled. “You would need proof. Come on,” he moved as if to put his hand on my shoulder.

Now I’m no Bruce Lee, but I am trained enough to protect myself. I work in an ER and have been attacked on multiple occasions.

I intercepted his hand, and twisted his arm into a lock, forcing him to turn away from me. I pushed him away releasing his arm.

“Don’t you fucking touch me!” I growled.

“Now!” I said flatly “Everyone, get the fuck out of my house.”

I noticed there was white powder and some small packets on my coffee table.

“And whoever owns those drugs,” I added, “take them with you, before I call the cops.”

I saw Helen scurry to the coffee table and start to clear up the drugs and the paraphernalia while everyone else dressed.

“You too,” I said to Bonnie. “I can’t look at you right now. Call me tomorrow and we can arrange to talk but for now just get the fuck out of my sight.”

“You can’t mean that?” she said, she looked upset, but there were no tears.

“Bonnie,” I said, “you knew how I felt when you said you wanted to get back together. You have lied to me since before we were married. Even about Angela. How can you possibly think that I would react in any other way?”

“Angela?” she asked.

“You know, Angela and Amy – the two girls you were with last night? Do they know you are whoring out with half the neighbourhood?”

“How long have you known?” she asked.

“Ever since I saw you and Brian fucking in our bed,” I said.

“Oh, that reminds me,” I turned to Brian, “Since I am required by law to report any incidence of domestic violence I see, expect a visit from social services.”

“What?” he said walking toward me threateningly. “If you breathe one word…”

“I note you didn’t deny it.” I said, then looked at Helen. “There is help available if you need it.”

Brian grabbed the front of my shirt. I flexed. Time stopped.

This was the moment I guess I had been hoping for.

I stepped to the side and kicked him in the balls, once, twice, three times.

Then I punched him in the stomach. OW, it was like hitting marble. Either that was an effect of the stasis, or this guy had some serious musculature.

I kicked him twice more for good measure. Those didn’t feel quite so hard.

I then grabbed the hand that he had grabbed my shirt with and found that I could manipulate it. I moved it into a wrist lock and put it on hard.

I relaxed, and time restarted.

Brian shrieked in pain and collapsed to the floor, with me holding a wrist lock.

“I said don’t touch me,” I snarled releasing the lock.

Bonnie’s eyes bugged out. I guess she thought that big bad Brian was too much of a man for me to handle.

“That was an assault,” Alan said, “I’m calling the police.”

“Really?” I asked amused, “He attacked me, and I defended myself.”

“We all witnessed you attacking him.” He said “Didn’t we?” he looked around for support.

Bill and Jenny both nodded, Jessica smiled evilly and even Bonnie nodded.

“It doesn’t have to be this way, Phil,” she said. “Either join us or just let us be. Anything else will just cause you a whole heap of trouble.”

I looked from face to face. “Helen?” I asked but she wouldn’t catch my eye.

“Okay,” I said and there were sighs of relief all around. But I hadn’t finished. “If that’s the way you want to play it then I am giving you all fair warning. I will destroy each and every one of you. Once it starts, the only way to stop it is for Bonnie to walk away. dissolve our marriage and leave with her clothes and personal possessions. Otherwise, you are ALL going down.” I looked at Bonnie “Including Angela.” I turned back to Alan. “So, Mr. Hotshot Lawyer, if you want to take me on, go on, call the cops. Let the games begin.”

It took the police about twenty minutes to respond to the call.

I didn’t know the officers that attended, but they knew who I was. I had saved the life of one of their officers and given up a potential six-figure payday to protect the career of another. Of course, they knew who I was.

“Officer,” Alan demanded, “This man attacked my client unprovoked. As you can see, he is still in distress. I demand you arrest him and charge him with assault.”

“Demand?” asked the shorter of the two officers looking daggers at him.

The other officer took me to one side while the first spoke to the others.

“What happened?” he asked.

I gave him a brief overview of my evening so far, ending with Brian grabbing me and my responding with a wristlock and pushing him off. I didn’t mention the kicks to the balls.

The other officer joined us.

“They are all saying that you were angry and you attacked him” he said. “So far it’s seven against one.”

I nodded. “Oh, and of course the video footage.”

“Video footage?” they said together.

I grinned and pulled out my phone. It was clear from the video that Brian had grabbed me. I seemed to jerk a bit but the next thing he was in a wristlock I pushed him off and he collapsed to the ground.

They both nodded.

“Oh, by the way.” I said and wound to the place where Helen collected up the drugs. I noted that she had given them to Brian who had put them in his pocket.

The officers grinned.

Brian was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, and Alan was warned for attempting to file a false police report.

“Remember,” I said as they all left, Bonnie included, “You started this!”

Dan and Steve arrived as they were loading Brian into the back of the cruiser.

“Hey Phil,” Dan said as they approached “A buddy of mine at the precinct gave me the heads up that there had been a call from here. What happened?”

“I guess I’m not as defenceless as everyone assumed,” I said, before giving them both the story of the night’s events.

“So, what happens now?” Dan asked, “Surely you’re not going to…”

“I don’t make threats, Dan. They are all going down. Starting with HIM!” I pointed at Alan who was still standing by the cruiser, apparently arguing the case for his new client Brian. He heard my comment, but if it worried him, he gave no sign.”

I walked inside the house, followed by Steve and Dan. They looked around at the place, still disorganised from the night’s festivities’ There was a wet spot on the couch, and I remembered how that had got there.

“Coffee?” I asked moving into the kitchen.

Dan followed but Steve stayed in the living room. By the time we came back in with the three mugs he had tidied up and there was no evidence of what had gone on. Apart from the wet spot. He had even cleaned the remnants of the drugs from the table.

“Thanks, but you didn’t have to do that,” I said to Steve.

“It was nothing,” he replied. They both sat beside me in silence.

“Phil,” Dan began. “You know the saying, a man who seeks revenge should start by digging two graves?”

“I have heard it.” I said, “I also hear revenge is a dish best served cold, but I disagree. You see if I wait to get revenge, then they will not be certain as to the WHY. That is not then revenge. It may be retribution but not revenge. They are going to feel my wrath. What was it Samuel L Jackson said in Pulp fiction? ‘And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious Anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know My name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.’" I grinned at them, “They have it coming.”

“If you are set on this path,” said Dan, “Then I want you to promise me one thing. Nobody dies.”

I nodded to him.

I flexed and stopped time.

I walked to next door and looked in through the window.

Alan and Jessica were sitting in their living room, watching something on their television. He had a glass of whisky by his elbow. It was nearly empty.

I tried the door and luckily it was open, so I entered. Their living room was neat and tidy, obviously, Jessica was house-proud. I went to his drink cabinet and took out the whisky bottle and filled his glass almost to the brim.

I closed the door behind me and went back to my own house.

Three times more I went over to their house and topped up his drink, the last time crushing one of the tablets that Cheryl had given me, into it.

“Would you like to come and stay with us?” Dan asked as they were getting up to leave. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to be alone just now.”

I shook my head. I want to be in my own bed. “I said.”

“We could always join you,” Steve said grinning.

I laughed. “You couldn’t stand the disappointment,” I said.

Steve hugged me. “You know we are here for you if you need us.”

“I know,” I said. “And thank you.”

After they left, I once again stopped time and walked over to Alan’s house. He appeared asleep on his couch. Jessica had apparently gone to bed. I checked in on her and she was lay on her bed. Her legs wide open, a large dildo rammed up inside her. Apparently, the interruption of her evening had left her wanting.”

I put on some surgical gloves.

I went back into the living room, and restarted time. The buzz from the bedroom sounded, along with some panting and noises as she got herself off. Alan was dead to the world. I nudged him, then slapped him. He stank of whisky and was unrousable.

Once again, I stopped time and with some difficulty picked him up and pulled him over my shoulder.

I took him out to the garage and put him in the passenger seat of his Mercedes.

I then walked across the street to Brian’s house. Brian was still in custody, but Helen was home. I walked around the house, looking for a way in, and found that the doors to the deck were not locked.

Helen was asleep on a small pallet, at the foot of the bed in the master bedroom. That woman had issues. I searched around the house, finally finding what I was looking for, about twenty small packets of white powder, secreted in a box in his wardrobe. I smiled gleefully.

I took them with me and went back to Alan’s

It took me a little while to find the keys to the Mercedes, but once I had them, I went and got my bike and put it in the trunk. Then I restarted time and drove out of the garage and away from the house.

A few moments later his phone rang in his pocket. He didn’t stir and I didn’t answer it.

I had an idea where I was going and so less than ten minutes later, I was driving up to the local precinct house. As I drew closer, I spotted a row of police cruisers, parked up. I grinned, perfect.

I drove past them and then about half a mile down the road I turned around and put my foot down. The powerful motor made it all the way to about fifty miles per hour. Just before It rammed into the back of the queue of cruisers I stooped time. Everything froze.

I got out of the driver’s seat and pulled Alan out from the passenger seat, placing him behind the wheel, and putting his hands on it.

“Buckle up!” I said as I put his seatbelt on.

I took my bike out of the trunk and stood it against a fire hydrant down the block. I opened one of the small packets of drugs and with my gloved finger dusted around his nostrils with the white powder. I then put some more between his gums and his cheek, knowing I would be absorbed from there.

I threw all bar four packets of drugs onto his passenger seat. I kept the four in case I needed them later.

After a quick check around to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, I walked back to where my bike stood, and restarted time.

I had expected the noise of the Mercedes hitting the row of police cruisers would have been more spectacular, but it wasn’t. it was a plasticky crunching noise, followed by alarm noises.

Within seconds a dozen officers had emerged from the station and were pulling an unconscious Alan from his car. I grinned again, stopped time, and rode home.

When I got home, I put my bike away and went into the house, before changing into a robe, and restarting time. I went and sat in the living room. The camera there would have seen me leave and return fifteen minutes later in a robe. Just like I had been for a shower.

I couldn’t resist. I picked up my phone and texted Bonnie.

“One Down, seven to go.”

The next morning Dan rang me.

“Did you hear about your neighbor, Alan?” he said.

“What about him,” I asked.

“He got pissed and rammed his Mercedes into a line of parked patrol cars.” He said, “When they pulled him out, he was three times over the limit and had coke all over him. He also had enough in the car for a felony possession charge.”

“Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy,” I said.

There was silence from the other end of the phone.

“Bonnie believes you had something to do with it.” He said finally.

“How did Tom Cruise put it,” I asked referring to the film ‘A few good men,’ “It doesn’t matter what she believes, it only matters what she can prove.” I was home all night after you left. The cameras are still working, so there is the footage. Apart from going for a shower, I didn’t leave the living room until I went to bed at about three am. What time did all this happen?”

“About midnight, midnight thirty” he said. “Expect a visit, but if you have that footage, you should be golden. And Phil,” he added

“Yes?”

“Be careful,” he said.

My doorbell rang.

There were two officers stood there, I invited them in.

After coffee was offered and refused, they asked me about my whereabouts the previous evening. I told them that I had been at home, with Dan and Steve until about ten, then I had been alone for the rest of the time. Up until three am I had been watching TV. And then gone to bed.”

“Can anyone corroborate your story?” one of the officers asked.

I showed them the video, timestamped, and we skipped through it all on fast forward.

“Where did you go then?” asked the officer noting the time was about the time that Alan had crashed his car.

“Shower,” I said, “You see, I’m back now, less than fifteen minutes later.”

They nodded.

“Your wife said you sent a text saying, ‘one down seven to go,’ what did you mean by that?”

I filled them in on the previous night’s activities and told them that I had said I would take each of them down. The one I was referring to was Brian, who had been arrested on drug charges as I had shown the police the video of him hiding drugs.

“It was just bravado,” I said. “I was so angry with her for what she did I thought I’d rattle her cage some.”

“I think that’s all we need.” The officer said. “He’s probably going to be going away for a while, he claims he has no memory of how he got to his car. His wife says she was asleep in bed and heard him go out. She knew he’d been drinking and tried to call him to get him to come home, but he didn’t answer his phone.”

“Oh well,” I said, “At least he’s not going to be screwing someone else’s wife for a while.”

They laughed as they walked back to their patrol car and left.

I turned to walk back to my house.

“Phil?” the shout came from next door. Jessica was hurrying across the yard toward me.

I contemplated just walking away but then decided I might as well hear what she had to say.

“I just wanted to say how sorry I am that things turned out the way they did,” she said. “I begged Bonnie to speak to you and get you onboard. You know she was never going to stop. That girl is insatiable, even worse than me.

“I told her she needed to come clean and tell you that no one man or woman, or in our case three men and two women. She was still seeing her old girlfriend, and her friend also. Nobody could keep up with her.

“I really hoped when you caught us, that we could persuade you to join, rather than going to war, but then Brian got into it with you and Alan put his lawyer head on. After that, I knew it was a lost cause.

“You are a decent man, and you didn’t deserve this. I guess we do since we are the ones who sinned against you. Alan is finished. Even if he doesn’t go to jail, he will be disbarred, and we will lose the house. Is that enough? Or am I in your crosshairs too?”

I looked at her and considered her words. Was she being genuine or was she just hoping I would leave her alone?

“I don’t know what you think I did,” I said, “but Alan got drunk and crashed his car.”

“I saw you,” she whispered.

I raised my eyebrows.

“I heard the garage door open,” she said quietly. “I got up and looked out of the window. I saw you drive off in his car with him in the passenger seat. I almost called the police, but I didn’t. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know how you did it, but I know what you did. Please, don’t hurt me.”

“I think you must be mistaken,” I said, “Firstly I have a video of me in the house when Alan crashed his car. Secondly, the police were there within seconds of the accident and found him in the driver’s seat of the car. How do you think I achieved that? From here?”

“I’ll do anything,” she said opening her blouse to reveal her not-so-tiny breasts. “I’ll swallow your cum, you can fuck me, take my ass, whatever you want, but please…”

I heard a car approaching, and saw that Brian was being driven home by Helen. As they entered his house I caught a glimpse of Bonnie, peering around the door at me. I grinned.

“Goodbye Jessica,” I said, turning to walk back into my house.

“Phil Please!!!” she shouted as I walked away.

I looked across at Brian’s house, he was just about to close the door, I stopped time.

I went and got one of the cameras I had ordered and took it to Brian’s house. Walking in through the door as Brian was in the process of closing it, I set it up in his bedroom pointing at the bed.

I returned to my house and restarted time.

I just needed an alibi.

“Hey Dan, what are you up to this evening?” I asked him as he answered the call.

“Steve and I are going to meet up with a few of my buddies from work,” he said. “Why? Did you want to come?”

“I am going a little stir-crazy,” I said. “Where are you going?”

“The Irish bar on third. We’ll swing by and pick you up.” He replied.

“No,” I said, “I’ll meet you there. What time?”

“Eight,” he said, “Till late.”

I had a couple of hours to prepare. So, I sat down and did a little revision on a surgical procedure before cycling to the hospital.

I stopped time.

I felt a little bit guilty taking things from a hospital, but it wasn’t a huge amount, maybe forty or fifty dollars’ worth of kit. I’d make it up to them.

Back home I packed everything I would need in a bag and set it aside. Then I got ready to go out and meet Dan and Steve.

“Why did you come on your bike?” asked Steve as I arrived and was locking it up outside the bar.

“I fancied the exercise,” I replied. “I wasn’t intending to drink, I just needed to get out of the house and be with people.”

He put his arm around me and led me into the bar. Then, with a twinkle in his eye, he sat me down next to a tall slim blond woman. Officer Patricia Julie Pearson.

She did a double take when I sat down beside her and for some reason blushed.

“Is something the matter?” I said curiously.

“Steve told me what happened,” she said, “I’m really sorry.”

I sighed. “Thanks, I guess. I’d rather not think about it just now if you don’t mind.”

“Well,” she said, “If there’s anything I can do to help…”

“Actually, there is,” I said, “I came out tonight to take my mind off things. So how about we talk about something else.”

“Such as?” she asked.

“Tell me about you,” I said.

I spent a pleasant hour chatting and drinking soft drinks. Then excused myself to go to the bathroom.

My timing was impeccable. As I logged into the camera in Brian’s house. I saw that once again, he had Helen handcuffed to the headboard, with Bonnie’s face shoved in her pussy. He was roughly pounding her from behind. I grinned. Game on.

I walked out and sat down with Patricia. “What time is it?” I asked as I sat down. I could see she wasn’t wearing a watch. She shook her head, before asking one of her other colleagues the time. As he told her I placed both my hands on the table and stopped time.

As soon as everyone froze, I got on my bike and went home. A quick visit to my house and then across to Brian’s. I put on surgical gloves. As usual, his deck door was unlocked.

Once I was in the house I moved into the bedroom and found them in the same position I had seen on the camera. He was buried deep inside Bonnie, and bonnie had her whole fist inside Helen. Helen’s face said she wasn’t enjoying it.

I got some supplies out of my bag and spread a large surgical drape on the floor.

Then I pulled Brian backward out of Bonnie and laid him down on the drape. I didn’t know how much mess I was about to make so I wanted to take precautions.

I put on a surgical gown and then went to work.

First, I took out some instruments, then I cleaned around his scrotum with some chlorhexidine. I didn’t want him to get a post-op infection after all.

Then I proceeded with a bilateral orchidectomy. Or in layman’s terms, I castrated him.

I needn’t have worried about the gown or the drape, he didn’t bleed at all. When I’d finished, I looked at the end result. I was proud of myself. I had never done this procedure before, and it had been textbook.

As I had envisioned, his testicles were tiny, less than half the size of normal. But I guessed they would make a mouthful. And so they did. Prising Bonnie’s mouth open, I placed them on her tongue and pushed her jaw shut again.

I looked at his penis. Should I cut that off as well? I had originally planned to do so, but would that be overkill?

In the end, I decided against it. He was never going to be using it for anything other than pissing in the future, so why waste my energy. Besides I could always come back and finish the job if necessary.

It was tough picking him up off the floor, but with a lot of grunting and effort I managed to get him upright, then I got him positioned behind bonnie again, pushing his still turgid cock back inside her.

I cleared up all my tools, drapes and gown, and gloves and put the instruments in a sharps bin and the rest in a clinical waste bag. After checking that I had cleared everything up and there was no evidence I had ever been there, I left. I had originally intended to take the camera with me but thought it would be fun to watch the aftermath, I could always claim it back later.

The next stop was the hospital, where I disposed of everything appropriately, there would be no reason for anyone to suspect that that clinical waste bag had been generated anywhere but in the hospital. It would be incinerated along with the rest.

Then I went back to the bar and sat back down beside Patricia. Taking a few minutes to compose myself and make sure I didn’t look flushed; I placed my hands on the table and restarted time.

“It’s ten thirty,” Patricia said turning back to me. “Why? Did you have an appointment?” she grinned at her own joke.

“No,” I said, “But my mother always said if I wasn’t in bed by eleven, I had to go home.”

She laughed and blushed at the same time.

“Shame on you,” she said, “a married man flirting…” then her face fell. “Oh god, I am so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I assured her. “It’s kind of new to me too.”

We stayed in the bar until they kicked us out, and feeling on top of the world, I cycled home.

There was a police cruiser outside my house when I arrived. The two officers got out and approached me as I was putting my bike away.

“Hi,” I said, “Can I help you?”

“We’re investigating a serious assault.” One of the officers said. “A gentleman was assaulted in his own home and seriously injured. A witness seems to think that you might know something about it.”

“Sorry I’ve been out all evening.” I said, “Was it a home invasion?”

“Not exactly.” He said, “Might I ask where you have been?”

I smiled, “Sure, it’s no secret, I was in the Irish bar on third. Got there at about eight and left when they threw us out.”

“Can anyone corroborate your story?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said, “I was sat with about a dozen of your guys, primarily Patricia, sorry I mean officer Pearson, but then Dan and Steve,” I rattled off another half dozen names I could remember off the top of my head.

“And you never left the bar?” he said.

“I never left the table,” I said and then remembered, “Oops sorry I forgot. I went to the bathroom; I was gone perhaps five minutes. But other than that, I was with them the whole time.”

“Do you remember what time that was,” he asked grasping at something to ask.

“Actually, I can,” I said, “because I remember asking Patricia the time when I sat down. It was ten thirty.”

He noted that down, and after thanking me for my cooperation he and his partner left.

I looked across the street to Mike’s house and saw Bonnie looking at me through the window. I turned to go back into my house and came face to face with Jessica.

“Phil please.” She said, “Please don’t hurt me. I will do anything you want, anything, just please don’t hurt me. I don’t know how you did what you did to Brian, but I know you did it. I promise I won’t say anything to anyone. Please.”

She moved forward and put her hand on my crotch.

I backed away.

“Jessica stop!” I said, “I don’t know what you think you know, but I don’t even know what happened to Brian. I didn’t have anything to do with it, or with Alan’s crash. I don’t want or need anything from you so please just let me be. You have done more than enough damage already.”

“Will you promise,” she said, “not to hurt me?”

“Jessica,” I responded, “do you remember what I said to Bonnie when you all were leaving yesterday?”

She nodded. “You said you would stop if she dissolved your marriage and went away with her clothes and personal stuff.”

“So there’s your answer,” I said. “If you truly believe that I am in some way responsible for what has happened, that is how you can prevent it from going further. Persuade Bonnie to do what I said.”

I walked around her and into the house.

My phone buzzed; it was a text from Bonnie. “Can we talk?”

“When,” I sent back.

“Now,”

“Sure,”

“Can I come over?”

“Door’s open”

I went into the kitchen and made coffee. I heard the door close and looked up to see Bonnie and Helen looking nervous by the door.

I went and got another cup and put the three coffees on the coffee table. I sat in the chair indicating that the girls should take the couch.

They sat.

“Did you want cream and sugar?” this was directed at Helen, I already knew how Bonnie liked her coffee. She shook her head.

Sitting back in my chair, I waited for Bonnie to speak. She had asked to talk, so she could talk.

“That was a cruel thing you did to Brian,” she said.

“I didn’t do anything to Brian,” I said. “I don’t even know what happened. All the police would say was that someone had been attacked. They didn’t even tell me who.”

She sighed.

“We are not going to get very far if you keep lying,” she said.

“You have no room to talk about lying,” I said, “You have done nothing but lie, probably since before we were married.”

“I never lied to you,” she said softly.

“You told me you loved me,” I returned. “That was a lie.”

“I did, and I do love you,” she said.

I shook my head. “You would not, COULD not do what you did to me if you loved me.”

“I couldn’t tell you,” She said, “how can you tell the man you love, that loves you, that he is not enough? I couldn’t hurt you like that. I have always needed more than one person can provide.”

I snorted, “You needed more than eight people could provide. You were screwing the neighbors and still hooking up with Angela and Amy.”

“It’s true,” she said. “But it proves my point. If all these people weren’t enough, how could one man,

no matter how much I loved him, satisfy me.”

“You should have told me at the start,” I said. “On the day we talked, the day we got back together. You should have told me that I would not be enough for you. Instead, you lied to me. What was I? A handy meal ticket to pay for your expenses while you did your studies?”

“No!” she said. “You were never that. I love you, Phil, I have loved you since we first met. When we broke up before your finals, I was heartbroken. The day we got back together was the second happiest day of my life, only surpassed by the day we got married. But I have a problem, an addiction. I can’t help it.”

I rolled my eyes. “I wondered when you would play that card. ‘Oh, woe is me I’m a sex addict.’ That might have worked if you had said that to me back then. It is possible, probable even that I would have tried to help you, got you some help, possibly even more. But you didn’t. you lied to me, you deceived me, and I found out by coming home and finding big bad Brian balls deep in you while you abused poor Helen here.”

I looked at Helen. “Be honest. Brian is not here to punish you. Did you really enjoy the things that she was doing to you while he was fucking her?”

Helen looked scared. She looked at me, then Bonnie, and then back at me. She gave a tiny shake of her head.

“So not only are you a liar, and a cheat, you are also a sadistic rapist,” I said to Bonnie.

Bonnie gave Helen a dirty look. Helen looked even more scared.

“Helen,” I said, “I have a spare room, it’s yours if you need it. I promise that nobody will hurt you or do anything you don’t want them to. There is a way out for you if you are brave enough to take it.”

I turned back to Bonnie.

“So, what’s it to be?” I asked. “Are you going to ride off into the sunset and leave me the fuck alone?”

“This is my house too,” she said.

“Really?” I said, “Point to a single thing in this house that you paid for. One thing. I paid the deposit. I make the mortgage payments and the property tax, I did all the decorating, I bought EVERYTHING in here, I do all the cooking, laundry, shopping, and cleaning as well as working eighty-hour weeks at the hospital to pay for it all. So, tell me Bonnie HOW THE FUCK IS THIS YOUR HOUSE?”

“We are married,” she said. “Alan said that it’s community property…”

“Yeah?” I scoffed, “Well I think you are going to need a new lawyer. But you obviously haven’t learned a thing. It’s two down and four to go. Alan and Brian have been the unfortunate victims of some very bad Karma. Helen here, I have no beef with, so my prayer to the gods of Karma will not be including her. That leaves Jessica, Bill, Jenny, and You. I haven’t decided whether to include Angela in my prayers yet.

“You can stop it. Just walk away. Pack your clothes and your shit. I’ll even let you take the car. It’s paid for, although you will have to take over the insurance. Then go away. Stay away. In a year I’ll file for divorce citing abandonment and we are both free and clear. I can carry on with my life and you can whore around to your heart’s content.”

“And if I don’t?” she asked.

“Then Karma may well find you too,” I said. “And Karma can be a real bitch.”

I slept well that night. For the first time since I first saw Bonnie with Brian, I didn’t dream about them. For some reason, my dreams included a tall slender blonde woman.

I was sitting in the kitchen, eating my breakfast and considering my next move, when there was a timid knock at the door.

Sighing I opened it and found Helen standing there, with a small suitcase.

“Did you mean it?” she said, “The room, please say you meant it.”

Wordlessly I opened the door wider and stepped back allowing her to pass.

Once inside I led her to the spare room. It wasn’t palatial, but it was comfortable with a queen-sized bed and a small en suite shower room.

“Get yourself settled,” I said, “I’ll make some coffee and we can talk.”

Helen joined me in the kitchen, and I placed the coffee in front of her. I put cream and sugar on the table. As I suspected she took both but hadn’t wanted to say last night.

Helen was short. About five feet tall. She was slender, with short blonde hair. Her face was elfin with a small upturned nose and large blue-green eyes. I would bet she had a pretty smile, but I had never actually seen her smile, in all the time I had known her.

“Brian is due out of the hospital today,” she said. “I was scared for when he came home. My only way to stop him hurting me was to service him, and now I won’t even have that.”

“Why did you stay with him?” I asked.

“You know he is ex-special forces,” She said, “He has friends. I could never get away.”

I frowned at that. He didn’t strike me as a military type.

“Well, you are away from him now,” I said. “I won’t let him hurt you again.”

She finished her coffee, and with the air of someone with a task to perform she dropped to her knees in front of me and started to unfasten my belt.

I shot backward as if scalded.

“What are you doing?” I shouted, and she flinched away from me, obviously expecting me to strike her.

“I thought you wanted…” she began

“Helen,” I said, “I didn’t ask you to come here to serve me instead of him. I asked you here to keep you safe.”

She looked confused.

“Why?” she asked finally.

“Because what he, what they, were doing to you wasn’t right,” I said. “You are a beautiful woman and deserve to be with someone who appreciates you, not someone who abuses you.”

My doorbell rang, and Helen jumped, looking frightened.

I opened the door, Bonnie stood there.

“Where’s Helen?” she asked without preamble. “Brian will be back soon, and she needs to be there or he will not be happy.”

“Brian can go fuck…” I started but then stopped, grinning. “No, I guess he can’t, can he? Tell Brian to stay away from here. He won’t like what happens if he comes looking for trouble. And while we’re at it you better stay away too. You brutalized that poor woman for your own sick pleasure. I really don’t know who you are anymore. Besides, shouldn’t you be making arrangements to leave? Time is ticking and there are still more people on Karma’s list.”

“I’m not leaving,” she said. “I know we can work it out if you’ll just listen to reason.”

“Pick one,” I said.

“What?”

“I said pick one. Bill, Jenny, Jessica, or Angela.”

“What for.”

“Next to get bitten by Karma,” I said. “Your Choice. Or you could always pack your shit up and leave.”

“Please Phil, can’t we just figure this out.” She pleaded, “I’ll go to counselling, I’ll get help. We can get through this.”

“You know,” I said conversationally as though I had not heard her. “I don’t know why, but of all the assholes I found at my house the other night, Alan and Brian really were the two I hated most. Aside from you of course. Brian, I guess because he was the one I caught you fucking the first time, and Alan, because he was trying to threaten me. Bill and Jenny, I had no real animosity for, other than them being there. Jessica pissed me off, trying to throw herself at me, but again no real major animosity. I think their Karma might not be as bad as the first two. It will be bad enough though.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“Me?” I sounded surprised. “Nothing. Karma however might have other ideas. So, pick one or piss off back to Big Bad Ballless Brian. Did you enjoy your snack by the way?”

Her eyes went wide. “How did you know about that. We didn’t tell anyone. Even Helen didn’t know.”

“What?” I asked incredulously, “Did you actually swallow.” I laughed.

“No,” she hissed. “I spat them out, then puked when I saw what had been in my mouth.”

I grinned at her. “Isn’t Karma a bitch. I tell you what” I said having an idea, “Let’s play a game. I’m going to give each person a number and you pick a number, and whoever wins, gets to meet their fate.”

“I’m not playing any stupid game.” She snapped at me.

I shouted into the house. “Alexa, Pick a number between one and three”

The Echo dot in the kitchen responded. “Here’s a number between one and three, its ONE!”

I nodded “Bill then. Got to go. Busy day. Bye.”

I closed the door in her face and walked into the kitchen.

“Are you really going to hurt Bill?” she asked, “He was kind to me. He’s a good, kind, man.”

“He was fucking a married woman behind her husband’s back,” I replied. “That is not the mark of a good man. He must suffer for it. Maybe not as much as Brian or Alan, but some at least.”

I stopped time.

Another trip to the hospital in null time netted me what I needed for my revenge on Bill.

It was going to be a lot of physical activity for me, but I was up for the challenge.

I had patched up quite a few victims of ‘gay bashing’ in the ER so I knew that there was a gay cruising area in the park close to us, based around the male toilets. This all happened after dark when the park was closed. I went to check out the toilets.

They were perfect for what I had in mind. The toilets were dark and dirty with a urinal against one wall and two stalls opposite. There was a glory hole between the stalls, cut roughly through the wooden partition, which judging by the stains on the wall had seen plenty of use.

Outside the toilets were a couple of wooden picnic benches. Perfect.

I cycled to the DIY store and ‘borrowed’ a few items which I cached near the toilets in the bushes.

Now all I had to do was wait.

I got back to my house and restarted time. As far as everyone else knew, I hadn’t gone anywhere.

My phone beeped, a text, from an unknown number.

“Hi Phil, this is Jessica. Bonnie gave me your number. Please can we talk Please?”

“What kind of person was Jessica?” I asked, “Was she kind or did she hurt you?”

“Jessica was always horny.” She said, “If she was not being fucked by one of the men, she always wanted me to eat her out.” She flushed at the memory and her nipples pushed through her top.

“Was that so bad?” I asked.

Helen looked at me, truly blushing now.

“I liked to do it,” She admitted. “Sometimes I think she did it to get me away from Bonnie. She was always cruel, she liked to hurt me, biting, slapping, and pushing big things inside me. It got her off seeing my pain.”

“Did Jessica ever return the favor?” I asked.

Helen shook her head. “Brian won’t allow me to orgasm unless he says so. I have to wear this.” She said pulling up her dress to show a steel chastity belt.

I was shocked.

Carefully I examined the belt and determined that the lock was tiny and pretty weak. Five minutes and a couple of tools from my garage and I snapped the hasp of the lock. I didn’t take the belt off though. That would have exposed her to me.

“Go take that thing off, and maybe have a shower?” I tried to be delicate. There was a definite ‘aroma’ coming from beneath the belt. “I’ll bet it would feel good to get properly clean if you had to wear that for a long time.”

She nodded at me, still no smile, and then went into her bedroom. I heard the door close.

“My house, now,” I sent the text to Jessica.

Less than three minutes later there was a knock on the door. Jessica stood there, wearing a robe and nothing else.

My eyebrows raised. As I stepped back to let her in, I noticed once again that Bonnie was watching through the window of Brian’s house.

Jessica stood inside the door. Trembling a little.

I walked into the kitchen and once again made coffee. she followed, looking nervous.

“Are you serious?” I asked her, after placing a cup in front of her. She declined sugar but accepted cream. “Are you serious that you would do anything? And no, don’t drop your robe.” I added as she stood up and was preparing to do just that.

She sat again looking confused. If I didn’t want that, then what did I want?

She was more guarded now, but still scared.

“Anything I can,” she said.

“I’ll tell you now,” I said, “the only reason you are getting this chance, is because you appeared to have tried to protect Helen. You used her, shamelessly, but she thinks that at least some of the time, you did it to get her away from Bonnie and Brian.”

“They were too cruel,” she said. “A bit of light spanking or choking is fine, but what they were doing was downright sadism. Helen wasn’t into it, it didn’t titillate, it just hurt her.”

“Why didn’t you try and help her get away?” I asked.

“She was too scared of Brian,” she said. “She wouldn’t leave him.”

I nodded. I had seen that so many times in the ER. The only reason that I had been successful is that Brian had been out of action when I made the offer. Also, his castration made him look vulnerable. Since Helen thought I had done it, in her mind, I was stronger and could protect her.”

“You know Helen is here?” I asked.

She nodded.

“I think she liked being with you,” I said. “And I think you owe her, big time. She is in her room just now, getting a shower after we got her out of that chastity device. If SHE wants it, and you want to maybe help even out your karmic balance, then perhaps you could spend some time with her showing her what it feels like on the receiving end of the attention for once.

“I am not going to interfere. I’ll leave you two together. But it’s up to you to convince her that you want to do this for her and give her the love and attention she deserves, at least for today. Make her feel good and let her be happy. If she comes out of that bedroom with a smile, I will consider your karmic debt paid.”

I could see tears in Jessica’s eyes as she nodded her head, but then her eyes clouded a little. “What if she says no, and doesn’t want to?”

“Don’t try and force her, gentle persuasion only,” I said. “If she still refuses, we can talk again. But karma will be much better disposed toward you if I see you genuinely tried.”

She nodded.

I heard Helen’s door open, and she came back into the kitchen. She stopped when she saw Jessica, a little fear in her eyes. Then she looked at me.

“You have nothing to be scared of,” I said reassuringly. “Jessica came over to talk to you. I said she could. I will be here and if at any time you want her to leave then say so and she will be gone.”

Helen looked at Jessica, who smiled at her.

“Helen,” she said, “I wanted you to know, that I am sorry for the way you were treated. I know we abused you terribly, and I regret that deeply.”

“You didn’t hurt me,” Helen said.

“I know,” said Jessica, “But I still forced you to – “she paused as if embarrassed. I could see it was an act, but I doubted Helen saw it. “-pleasure me, and I never once returned the favor.”

Helen also blushed a little but said “I enjoyed doing that. You weren’t hurting me, and I liked doing that with you.”

“I would have liked to do that to you,” Jessica said gently, “but Brian wouldn’t allow it.”

Helen nodded sadly. “He kept me locked up.” Then her eyes brightened a little as she realized. “I’m not locked up anymore.” She said hesitantly.

“Really?” asked Jessica, a note of hopeful surprise in her voice. She should have been an actor. “Then would you… can I… Can we?” she tailed off waiting for Helen to finish the sentence.

Helen looked at me as if for permission.

“Do you want to?” I asked her gently, “Don’t do it for Jessica, or for me. Only if YOU want it. If you do, then you have a room with a bed.”

“Will you come too?” Helen asked.

I shook my head. “This is for you, not me, not Jessica. You know she won’t hurt you and she would love to make it up to you. Will you let her?”

“Please?” Helen said, “If only to watch?”

“I think she would feel safer with you there,” Jessica said, “Even if you don’t want to get involved. She feels safe around you.”

I sighed inwardly but looked at Helen.

“Is that true?” I asked gently, “Would that make you feel safer?”

She nodded, biting her lip.

“Then I’ll come too,” I said. “But only to watch.”

Jessica stood and held her hand out toward Helen, who took it shyly. She led her towards the bedrooms, looking to me for directions.

When we were in the bedroom, I sat in the chair, away from the bed, and tried to look like I didn’t have the biggest erection ever tenting my pants.

Jessica turned Helen around and gently drew her in for a kiss. It started soft and gentle, but the longer it went on, the more passion she injected. I could that Helen was getting aroused, and she tentatively brought her hands up and cradled the taller woman’s head.

Jessica started to undress Helen which didn’t take long, since all she was wearing was a loose shirt and a long flowing skirt. She didn’t seem to own underwear other than that made of steel.

Once she had Helen naked, she shucked her robe too and they stood there, a glorious dichotomy of contrasts. Jessica was tall, Helen short. Jessica was voluptuous, Helen was slim, although she had all the requisite curves. Jessica had a caramel complexion, apart from some very small white areas, Helen was pale, her skin flawless, apart from some scars I could see on her back and bottom. I winced at the thought of how they might have been caused.

They broke the kiss, and Helen sighed as Jessica started kissing down her neck, pulling them close together so their bodies pressed into each other. I could see Helen gently undulating her hips, looking for contact. Jessica must have felt it and decided not to tease the smaller woman much more. She guided her onto the bed, encouraging her to move up until her head was on the pillow, and Jessica lay beside her.

It seemed instinctive for Helen to put her hands up to the bedhead as if to be handcuffed, but Jessica kissed her again and gently brought Helen’s hands down, placing one on her breast and the other she tucked under her arm before placing it against her ass.

Helen now lay on her back, gently kneading Jessica’s breast with one hand, and cupping her ass with the other. All the while Jessica was slowly and thoroughly exploring Helen’s mouth with her tongue.

Jessica started to explore Helen’s body as they continued the kiss, stroking across her breasts, causing the already hard nipples to strain up even further, as if pulled up by invisible threads to almost impossible size. Then across her belly, stroking and caressing, until she reached her mound. Helen’s legs fell apart bonelessly, and Jessica began to massage her pussy with slow measured caresses, rubbing circles around her clit before dipping lower to caress and part her lips. Scooping up some of the flood of moisture there before taking that and rubbing all over her now exposed clit.

Poor Helen never stood a chance. Her body stiffened and she squeaked into Jessica’s mouth as her first orgasm in heaven knows how long crashed over her.

From my vantage, I could see her pussy opening and closing in spasms as she twitched and moaned through her climax.

All through her orgasm, Jessica continued the kiss, and the massage. Prolonging Helen’s orgasm for as long as possible. She only stopped when Helen pushed her hand away from her pussy, twitching as the oversensitivity kicked in.

Jessica sighed and relaxed down beside the smaller woman, pulling her in close in a warm embrace. Helen snuggled in. Then she looked at me. I could see tears.

“Are you okay?” I asked and she nodded.

It wasn’t long before Helen was ready to go again, and Jessica was more than willing. For the next four hours, I sat through the most intense live lesbian porn I have ever experienced in my life. When I had told Dan that porn didn’t really do anything for me, I had never imagined anything like this. Just how I managed not to cum in my pants is still a mystery. I frequently had to grip the arms of my chair to stop myself from masturbating as I watched. And by the end I was about ready to rip my own cock off.

Jessica had laid down between Helen’s legs to start and lapped at her pussy until she had writhed and begged for release. At that point she had shifted up slightly and sucked Helen’s clit into her mouth, almost treating it like a tiny cock. Helen shivered and shook and then squirted all over Jessica’s tits as she rode out her second massive orgasm. Before she had even come down from that Jessica inserted a couple of fingers into Helen’s pussy. Initially, I saw Helen tense and knew she was expecting pain as Jessica tried to insert more and more fingers, but she didn’t. She just used the two, to great effect, instantly locating and teasing Helen’s g-spot to another massive squirting orgasm.

Jessica played Helen’s body like a musical instrument. Her fingers and tongue invading her every orifice, and never once did she cause her an ounce of discomfort, if you exclude the oversensitivity twitches after each orgasm. I lost count of the orgasms she had, and it wasn’t until Helen insisted on sixty nineing the larger woman that Jessica got any release of her own. Helen had had plenty of practice and knew what Jessica liked so had little difficulty bringing her to several shattering orgasms, a Helen sat on her face, enjoying her own pleasure.

By mid-afternoon they were exhausted, and I was wound up like a guitar string.

They lay side by side, in blissful exhaustion. Jessica was gazing at Helen, with affection in her eyes. Helen looked at me and smiled. I was right, she had a beautiful smile.

I saw Jessica glance at me, and I nodded slightly. She had kept her side of the bargain. I saw Jessica relax with relief, but then she put a finger onto Helen’s chin and gently turned her head, to capture her lips once again in a gentle kiss.

After a minute Helen broke the kiss and whispered something in Jessica’s ear. Jessica nodded and whispered something back.

Helen relaxed back again; her face turned to me.

Then she reached out her arm. “Phil, will you hold me, hold us, please?”

I demurred for a minute, knowing full well that they would feel the erection that had been tenting my trousers nonstop for the last four hours. I had the worst case of blue balls I think I had ever experienced. They were aching and sore.”

“Please?” she asked again.

I caved.

Slipping off my shoes I went to lay down beside them, but they wriggled apart, making space for me between them.

I obliged and lay on my back, an arm around each. Helen cuddled in, her head on my shoulder and her hand on my chest. She had thrown a leg over mine.

Jessica lay with her head next to mine and whispered in my ear.

“She wants you,” she said, “She is damaged, and we have started the process to rebuild, but she needs you to help her. Please don’t reject her. You would undo everything you already accomplished.”

I turned my head toward Jessica and opened my mouth to speak, only to get it captured in a deep kiss from the older woman.

At the same time, I felt Helen’s hand at my belt, skilfully undoing my trousers and fishing my now Rampant cock out into the air.

I knew I was so horny that she would only have to look at it sidelong and it would be spitting out its creamy payload.

I broke the kiss and turned toward Helen.

“Careful,” I said, “Watching you got me so wound up, I will come the instant you do anything.”

Helen smiled up at me. “Maybe the first time.” then with an agility I didn’t know she had, flipped herself up until she was on her knees between my legs. Her hand holding my cock, her mouth hovering just above. The look in her eyes alone almost made me lose it.

I felt Jessica’s finger on my chin, as she turned her head to once again capture my mouth in a kiss. This time she was not gentle. Plundering my mouth with her tongue. Then Helen undid me. In a single thrust she took my cock straight to the back of her throat. The sensation was incredible. That and the kiss together was way more than my tortured body could stand and I screamed into Jessica’s mouth as I came spurt after spurt of backed up cum. Helen never moved, she kept her lips pressed to the root of my cock, swallowing, creating a sensation around my head that got more and more intense every time she did it. She gently massaged my balls with one hand, and had pushed her hand up under my shirt to start tweaking and rolling my nipple. The sensations that created were amazing.

After what felt like an age, my orgasm abated. Helen gently slid her mouth off my cock, taking a grateful breath through her nose. She bathed it with her tongue, taking great care not to make me uncomfortable before finally allowing it to slip from her mouth. She then climbed back up my body and lifted her face. I knew what she wanted and so I obliged and kissed her. She almost purred with contentment as she curled up against me, still enjoying the kiss, before breaking it with a sigh.

“Thank you,” she said, “You don’t know how much I needed to do that.”

I was confused.

“Shouldn’t that be my line?” I asked. “That was absolutely amazing, thank you.”

Jessica moved her mouth to my ear again.

“You trusted her,” she said. “You allowed her to do what SHE wanted to do, and you put yourself in her hands. The fact you were vulnerable to her and gave her control was why she loved it so much. It was beautiful.”

I looked at the older woman. “You have more than fulfilled your side of the deal.” I said, “Thank you for giving her some of herself back.”

“You will need to be careful with her.” She replied, “She is fixated on you and if you are not careful you will break her if you try to pull away.”

I felt Helen’s hand resting on my cock, gently caressing almost absently. Soon it responded to the attention, and she gripped it, squeezing rhythmically until it was once again rigid and throbbing.

I was about to move, but once again Jessica caught my mouth in a hard kiss, and before I realised what had gone on, Helen had swing her leg over me and impaled herelf, pushing her pussy all the way down my length until I could feel the hard button of her clit grinding against my pubic bone.

Jessica released me and pulled back a little smiling mischievously. “Remember what I said” she whispered in my ear as Helen captured my mouth with hers, and began to explore, all the while grinding herself into me.

I guess if I had thought about it, I would have expected Helen’s pussy to be lose, given the size of the toys that Bonnie had used on her, and the fisting she had endured. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Her channel was tight, and hot and slippery with her juices. I was so deep that I could feel her cervix kissing the tip of my cock, and as she pushed down on me harder it felt like it was opening up and allowing the head of my cock to penetrated even deeper, directly into her womb. I found that incredibly erotic and terrifying. What if she got pregnant?

She seemed to read my mind, or maybe felt me tense because she leaned sat up and pointed to two small scars on her tummy. “Don’t worry. Brian had me fixed” she said a little sadly. “I can’t have kids.”

I felt an outpouring of sympathy and empathy for this young woman, who had been so horribly abused at the hands of a brutal asshole. I regretted now my decision not to remove his cock when I had the chance and considered going back for it.

I guess my mood killed my erection because Helen noticed. She looked into my eyes, hers bright with unshed tears.

“Please don’t pity me,” she said.

I reached up and cupped her cheek with my hand. “I don’t,” I said, “But I am sorry that you had to suffer, that I didn’t see it or act sooner. Every day must have been a living hell and I let you carry on living just across the street from me. I am so sorry. I should have done something.”

“You did,” she said simply with a little smile “You saved me. I know that you and I are probably not going to be together for long, but just for now, will you please make love to me?”

I rolled her over onto her back, staying inside her the whole time, and then tenderly, we made love. It lasted a while since I had just come, and we weren’t in any particular hurry. We kissed and caressed, all the while I was moving in and out of her. Over the course of the next thirty minutes or so, she had three small, but apparently enjoyable orgasms, and I continued the slow, inexorable assault on her. Eventually, I felt my own climax approaching.

“I’m getting close,” I whispered in her ear, and she smiled.

“Make it good,” she said, “take what you need, and give me what I want.”

I started to speed up, thrusting deeper into her. She tilted her hips, once again bringing the head of my cock into contact with her cervix”

“Push deeper” she demanded, and I complied.

She moaned as I breached her cervix and entered her womb once more, it felt exactly like entering a hot mouth. I pulled back a little and then pressed forward again, I felt my balls tightening and the feeling in my belly, I knew I was on the very edge.

Helen wrapped her legs around me and pulled me in as deep as she could. Once again, I slipped through her cervix, the sensation tipped me over the edge and I exploded, shooting spurt after spurt of cum directly into her womb.

She cried out as her own orgasm overwhelmed her and clung to me, trembling while she rode the waves of ecstasy.

She pulled me in close, her head next to mine, and whispered in my ear.

“I love you!”

I turned my head and looked directly into Jessica’s eyes. I had forgotten she was there. I saw tear tracks down her face and she shook her head.

Gently I rolled off Helen, leaving me lying between the two women again. I was facing Helen with my back to Jessica, and Helen shuffled onto her side and snuggled back pressing herself into me. I felt Jessica move and a light blanket covered the three of us.

Then she whispered in my ear.

“You are now about to do, with one afternoon of love, what Brian couldn’t in five years of abuse,” Jessica whispered, careful not to let the snoozing Helen hear her.

I turned my head “What’s that?”

“Destroy her!” she said. “She locked herself away inside her own little fortress, Brian couldn’t touch her in there. You have breached her walls and are inside her defenses. You rescued her. Now you have a responsibility to her. If you abandon her now, then your own Karmic gods will take you.”

I thought about that. “What about you?” I said, “You showed her love too, how do you know she isn’t attaching to you too?”

“She probably is.” She said, “But not in the same way. She is broken,” she gave a soft ironic laugh, “I guess we were all broken. Each of us needed more than our partner could give. And yet you came along and rescued us.”

“I rescued you?” I said, “I definitely don’t remember doing that.”

She nodded, “When you found us all in your house. Humping away like randy hounds, what did you actually see?”

“I saw you and Jennifer on Alan.” I replied. “If I remember correctly she was fucking him and you were riding his face. Bonnie was on the couch being spit-roasted between Bill and Brian. Helen, I think was standing against the wall.”

“Did you notice any love in the room?” she asked.

“Love?” I said confused. “It was an orgy – those aren’t about love.”

“Exactly my point,” she said. “Alan and I have been in a loveless marriage for almost all our married life. Oh yes, we lived together, we slept together, we had sex but there was no love. We went searching for it outside the marriage, but all we found was more sex.

“Don’t get me wrong it was good sex, and I really enjoyed myself, but in the end, it was just sex. When everyone left and we turned out the lights we were all alone. Even together I felt so lonely.

“You have shown me more love in a single afternoon than I got from ten years of marriage with Alan. You have shown me the possibilities. You rescued me. Like Helen, I would love to stay and be loved by you, but unlike her, I won’t be destroyed if you send me away. It will hurt, but I’ll survive.”

She snuggled in behind me “But for as long as you let me, I’m planning to stay.”

“What about Alan?” I asked.

“We were already on the cusp of divorce,” she said, “That man has had more pussy than a cat’s home. Part of the reason for being involved in the swapping was to try and keep him where I could see him and reduce my risk. I’m certain that it didn’t, he never missed an opportunity to play away.”

“So why not just go out and find a better man?” I asked.

“I did,” she said smiling, and snuggling in even more.

“But why me?” I asked, “After what happened to Alan, and Brian, why would you even consider getting together with me, forgetting the fact I am married and now apparently have adopted Helen.”

“Because you are a good man,” she said. “And like I said, you have shown me you are capable of love, real love.”

I braced myself for the outburst before saying “But I don’t love you.”

She laughed. It was loud and clear and actually a lovely sound.

Helen jumped a little at the noise and I stroked her head, soothing her.

“Are you one of these hopeless romantics who believes that there is ‘the one’ out there for you?” she asked.

“People grow to love each other.” She went on. “That’s why so many arranged marriages work. But those people have to be capable of love. So many aren’t. Look at Helen now. Just gaze down at the beautiful young woman in your arms and tell me you don’t feel the first stirrings.”

I had to admit if only to myself she had a point.

“You are capable.” She said, “And it’s not limited to a single person. I’ve seen you with your friend Steve and his boyfriend. You love them too. It is not expressed sexually, but it is loving all the same. If you kept me around for any length of time, I know that you would grow to love me. Just as I would end up, am, growing to love you. Bonnie, Brian, and Alan lack that capacity. They are sponges. They will take all the love you give and give nothing back.

“Think back on the time you have been with Bonnie. And consider what she might have done to show her love. It’s not about the grand gestures, it’s certainly not about the sex. It’s about the small things. The incidental touches. The glances. The tiny thoughtful things that are in themselves meaningless but just show that your lover was thinking of you. It’s about sitting in a room, to give reassurance to a young woman that you are there for her. Suffering through four hours of torture with no prospect of release. That’s what love looks like.”

“But I got…” I began

“Only because she, we, ambushed you,” she said smiling. “Admit it you had absolutely no intention of having sex with either of us. At best you were going to go and beat off to relieve the pressure. It was a selfless and loving act, for a woman you barely knew.”

I considered that for a while, all the time absently stroking Helen’s hair. She shifted in her sleep, and I leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on her head.

“See?” Jessica said.

I realized what I was doing. And stopped. Helen gave a small whine, and I relented and started stroking her hair again, smiling ruefully to myself.

I looked at the clock, it was getting on for four, another hour before Bill was due to leave work.

Jessica noticed.

“Who’s next in your sights?” she asked.

“Bill,” I said.

“Bill is a good man.” She said, “He doesn’t deserve to be hurt.”

“Good men don’t sleep with married women,” I replied.

“Says the man in bed with two naked, married women, neither of whom is his wife.” she returned.

“Bonnie was a grown woman,” she continued “and made her choices. Brian was an abusive prick and directly threatened you. Alan was just a prick and he also threatened you. Bonnie is the villain in your story not Bill and not Jenny. Neither of them deserves your Karma. They are nice people, gentle and friendly. Despite what I said earlier they do love each other. Jenny and I both tried to protect Helen, and while he couldn’t protect her, Bill was always kind and gentle to her whenever he could be.”

“Poor Jenny is terrified, waiting for the hammer to drop, just as I was. Bill is more stoic, but I can see that he too is dreading his future. We don’t know how you did what you did. But we are certain that you did it. The strange thing is that the one person who really deserves your wrath, Bonnie, has so far got off scot-free.

“Either you can’t bring yourself to enact revenge because you still love her, or you can’t think of a punishment harsh enough. Which is it?”

I was about to answer when my doorbell rang.

I slid out of the bed and picked up my clothes. I walked naked out of the bedroom and closed the door. I stopped time while I got dressed and went to the door, starting it up again just before opening it.

Jenny stood on my doorstep. She looked terrible.

I invited her in and once again made coffee.

She accepted cream and sugar and sat looking jittery.

“What can I do for you?” I asked.

“I’ve come to ask you to please spare Bill,” she said. “Do whatever you want with me, but please spare him. He is a good man. Please we just got swept up in all this, and I guess I encouraged him. He didn’t really want to do it, but he went along with me, and then things escalated. Alan and Brian just kind of browbeat him into coming back.”

“Why?” I asked, then added, “I mean why did you want to join in with all this?”

She blushed. “I have a very high sex drive. I need to come at least three or four times a day, or I go mental. I’ve tried all kinds of things. medicines, hypnosis, therapy. I even considered surgery to reduce my libido, but Bill refused to let me.

“I found that if I had something to look forward to, like our ‘meetings’ I could hold on, and temper my urges. I could manage just once or twice a day. I could function. The meetings were fantastic for me, and torture for Bill. He insisted on coming though, he wanted to keep me safe. Initially, he would literally just sit and play games on his phone. Or watch TV, but eventually, he got bullied into participating. Bonnie loved to force him to do things he was uncomfortable doing. But he did them anyway because he wanted to be there for me.

“So, you see if anyone is due punishment for this, it’s me. Punish me, do whatever, but please leave Bill alone.”

“It wasn’t you with your dick in my wife’s throat when I found you the other day,” I said.

“He hated that more than anything. He is a lover, and brutalizing his sexual partner is not part of his makeup. He can’t even spank me, even If I were to beg. They force him to take Viagra otherwise he won’t even get hard to do that.”

“Why not just leave him out of it?” I asked, “I can kind of rationalize forcing a woman, but why would the boys want to force another guy?”

“Brian did it for Bonnie. She got off on dominating him. She hated to see a man in the room that wasn’t drooling to fuck her, so she needed to control him.”

“And you?” I asked, “What did you need?”

“I just needed to come,” she said, “As many times as possible. Alan, Jessica, and Helen took care of me, Brian never even looked at me unless he wanted someone to rim him while he fucked Bonnie. I did it occasionally just to give poor Helen a break. Bill wasn’t allowed to touch me at the meetings. I think he hated that most of all.

“You see?” said a voice from behind Jenny, “Love.”

Jessica stood there, naked, with Helen who was also naked standing beside her.

I had to admit the sight of them together did raise certain feelings within me.

Jennifer looked stunned. “What?” she began.

Helen and Jessica both held their hands out to Jennifer, and as if in a trance she slid off her stool and went to them.

I looked at the clock, it was Five after five.

“Jennifer?” I said, “Text Bill and ask him to come straight here from work.”

She nodded and immediately got out her phone.

Jessica and Helen each took a hand and led her away. I had a really good idea of what they intended, and I decided to stay well away.

It was nearly five thirty when Bill knocked on my door.

I let him in. Guess what? More coffee. No wonder I can’t fucking sleep.

“Jenny told me to meet her here,” he said, “where is she?”

“I’ll take you to her in one second,” I said, “But before I do, please be assured she is not here against her will. She willingly went with them.”

His eyes widened so I decided to take him through.

When I pushed open the bedroom door, I found Jennifer, naked as the day she was born on her hands and knees in the middle of the bed. She had her face buried in Helen’s pussy and was eating the wriggling girl for all she was worth. Jessica was on her back, her face pressed into Jennifer’s pussy, and two fingers inside her. Her other hand was busy with her own clit, and she was working it furiously. As we watched, Jennifer stiffened and squealed into Helen’s snatch. I could see her asshole winking as she rode out her orgasm. She never stopped lapping at Helen though and the younger girl was appreciating the attention.

I was surprised to see Bill smile gently, almost proudly as he saw his wife embedded in the sapphic threesome. He went over to her, and she looked up at him. He leaned forward and kissed her. Helen, her stimulation stopped opened her eyes, and saw Bill. She smiled up at him as he broke the kiss with his wife, and he leaned forward and planted an affectionate kiss on Helen’s forehead. At the same time, he gently but firmly pushed his wife’s head back into place so she could continue her ministrations on Helen’s pussy. I knew she didn’t object, but liked the tiny demonstration of dominance that was as much as Bill was able to bring himself to show. She loved him for trying.

He walked out of the bedroom and back into the kitchen, looking content.

“It’s not her fault,” he said as I sat down beside him. “She has tried everything. She even looked into getting surgery. Female Genital Mutilation I believe they call it. Apparently, it severely reduces the sex drive. Of course, I forbade that. I couldn’t allow her to do that to herself. We just had to find a way to satisfy her urges. I tried, I got toys and films and Viagra, but I was just not up to the task. I told her she should find someone and bring them home, even though seeing her with another man would break my heart.

“We ended up, and I don’t even know how, getting involved with Alan and Brian. It was rough at first, but mostly Jen would play with the other girls. Occasionally Brian or Alan would fuck her. But not often. Brian was most interested in Bonnie, and Alan loved oral more than anything. I think the day you found us was the first time she had been fucked by them in nearly a month.

“I used to go, just to keep her safe, and because the thought of what she might be doing or was being done to her, was far worse than the reality. But then I got bullied into joining in. but I wasn’t allowed to touch Jen, they said I had all that at home, so I needed to share.

“Brian found out that I’m not really that comfortable in a dominating role. It just feels wrong. Sex should be loving, not rough and combative. Once he found out, he and Bonnie took great delight in forcing me into it. I had to take Viagra to even get it up, but Bonnie wanted me to face fuck her, brutally. I tried, but I just couldn’t.

“That’s what was going on when you broke in on us.” He sighed. “Please leave Jennifer out of this. It was me who had his dick in Bonnie’s mouth. I’ll happily take any punishment you think appropriate if you leave Jennifer alone.”

“I had your punishment all lined up,” I said. I looked at my watch, “It would be just starting now.”

He paled.

“If it had gone ahead, you would now be literally screwed to the public toilet wall in the park, your ass up against the Gloryhole. I figured you would have been fucked a dozen times, maybe more, before you got free.”

His face went green. I really thought he was going to puke.

“What changed your mind?” he asked.

“Jennifer,” I said. “I accepted her offer to take the punishment instead. Like you she offered to do anything if I would leave you alone.”

He closed his eyes.

“And what is her punishment?” he asked with dread in his voice.

“She is suffering it as we speak,” I said.

“You mean?”

“Helen and Jessica offered to help her ‘unwind’,” I said, “She accepted their kind offer. Strangely her story is not so different from Bonnies. Bonnie told me that she needed far more than one man could provide. Only your wife loved you, so she came to you for help, and you tried to find a way to manage her problem between you. My wife, however, never saw it as her problem. She just went out and fucked anything she took a fancy to. I would still be in the dark if I hadn’t come back unexpectedly one night and found her and Brian fucking in my bed. You are very lucky. My wife didn’t love me, so she lied to me instead.”

“I am so sorry,” he said. “I know how devastating it must have been to find Bonnie in that position. I really do understand the rage you must have felt. It is strange though. There was one time, just once, when Jenny met up with a guy and we brought him home. It was before we got involved with Brian and Alan, while we were trying to figure stuff out. He took her to bed. He was kind and gentle and he made love to her. Most hook-ups are brutal, just fucking. Often guys want to do stuff to her that they would never do to their own wives, they want to hurt her. Sometimes she doesn’t even get to come and that defeats the whole purpose. This guy took his time and pleasured her. It was wonderful to see. Sadly, we never saw him again and that is why we ended up with Brian and Alan’s group.”

We sipped our coffee in companionable silence, and after a short while, Jennifer joined us. She put her arms around her husband and held him close.

They both looked at me. “Now what?” Jennifer said.

I was surprised by the question. Why were they asking me?

“Now, I think I’m going to call out for pizza. Care to join?”

Jessica and Helen came out of the bedroom, both dressed, and we decided on our order.

When the knock came on the door Helen went to answer it, she let out a small shriek as Brian barged his way into the house, backhanding her out of the way. He had a gun in his hand, and he was pointing it at me.

Bonne stood behind him with a sadistic grin on her face.

“Payback is a bitch.” he said. “And it’s time for it.”

I stopped time and took the gun out of his hand, taking out the magazine and removing the bullets one by one. I then racked the slide back a couple of times to make sure the chamber was empty.

How do I know about guns? I lost count of the number of gang bangers that come in either shot or stabbed, with guns in their possession. I learned, so I knew how to properly handle them and make them safe.

I put the bullets in a drawer for now and put the gun back in his hand. Now I knew he couldn’t shoot anyone I wanted to find out what his plan was. I also remembered I had the cameras set up, so it would all be recorded. My final recollection was I still had the equipment I had put together from the hospital for Bill’s punishment.

Before I restarted time, I searched him and Bonnie, making sure there were no other weapons. There weren’t. Bonnie did have a rather large strap-on dildo with her, I guessed where that was intended for.

I went back to where I had been standing and restarted time.

“What do you want?” I asked impassively.

Not the reaction he expected.

“First, I’m going to make Bill here buttfuck you. Then Bonnie is going to strap on her monster and ream our ass until you pass out. Then I’m going to wake you up and beat your ass until you pass out again. Then I’m going to cut your balls off.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“What a spectacular lack of imagination you have,” I said. “There is so much more you could have gone for, but I guess you can’t expect much from a stunted moron like you. Helen said you were ex-special forces. Not quite true is it, Brian? Ex-Special needs is closer to the mark. You were never in the military. You rely on your size and your muscles to intimidate people. But you have slightly less brain than you have balls and oops, where did they go?

“Did you even remember to load the gun? I doubt it. Let’s see. Come on shoot me. Pull the trigger. COME ON YOU BALLLESS, BRAINLESS, SHIT STAIN OF A MUSCLEBOUND FREAK I DARE YOU!!!” I yelled at him.

Bonnie went white and Helen whimpered. Everyone else was dead silent.

Brian stared at me, trying to comprehend what had gone on. This was not going anything like he had imagined it would.

“Well?” I said, “Having a gun loses its intimidation factor if you are too scared to use it.”

I picked up my phone, I had Steve and Dan on speed dial. I hit their number and put it on speaker.

Dan answered

“Hey Phil. What’s up”.

“Put that down,” Brian said to me, “Hang it up, or I swear I will shoot you.”

I laughed. “You dumb fuck. You just told him that you had me at gunpoint. I didn’t have to say anything at all.” I looked at my phone. “Two perps, one gun. Five hostages. My house. Bonnie is a perp.”

Brian smashed the butt of his gun down on my phone and pushed me backward into the others.

His eyes were wild, looking around for his escape.

“I would guess you have about four minutes before the first patrol gets here. I would run if I were you.”

We could hear the wail of sirens in the distance.

“Maybe less,” I said. “Tick tock.”

“Come on Brian,” said Bonnie, “Let’s go!”

“No,” he said, “He has to pay!”

“Then just shoot him and let’s go,” she said.

I felt a tearing sensation in my chest and my vision blurred. My wife, the love of my life until 2 days ago had just told someone to kill me. I was an inconvenience to her. I was in the way.

I felt two sets of arms wrap around me. Helen was on one side and Jessica on the other.

“That,” I said, grimly “Is going to cost you.”

I stopped time.

Carefully disentangling myself from the girls, I went into the bedroom and pulled out the bag of equipment I had got for Bill’s punishment. There was a small surgical kit and a couple of syringes of drugs.

I ***********ed a syringe and went back into the living room. I easily located a vein in Bonnie’s arm and injected about ten mls of the milky white substance.

I put everything back, and then went back to my previous position. I started time. Bonnie jumped and yelped, her hand going to her arm where I had injected her. Then her eyes rolled back, and she slumped to the floor.

Once again, I stopped time and went and got my kit.

It took about thirty minutes to complete the procedure on Bonnie. It was something I normally abhorred and would report to the authorities if ever I came across it, but I decided that this bitch had earned it.

I injected some local anaesthetic around the site, she wouldn’t feel it when the propofol wore off in a few minutes It would take a few hours for the local to wear off. I put all the kit away, and once again took my place with the other hostages.

I restarted time.

There was a screech of tyres outside the house.

“Too late,” I said. “Now you’re for it.”

Brian waved his gun around, desperately trying to think of a way out. He rushed to the window and looked outside. There was only one car there so far, two officers crouching on its far side taking shelter in case he should open fire on them

“Brian, listen to me,” I said. “You can still walk away from this. Drop the gun on the floor and walk out the door with your hands up. You’ll go to jail, but you will be alive. Any other action, and you will leave feet first. I won’t let you hurt anyone in here, so you have nothing to gain. You are not a killer Brian. Don’t die for the sake of a little payback.”

He looked at me and snarled.

He pointed the gun directly at my face. Gently I pushed the girls away from me. I regarded him impassively.

Then he slumped. The gun fell from his lifeless fingers, and he started to cry.

I stopped time and quickly reloaded the gun, putting the safety on. I didn’t chamber a round.

I restarted time.

“Go and open the door,” I said, “Put your hands on your head and walk out slowly. Then follow the officer’s instructions.”

He did just that, opening the door, before walking slowly out into the early evening air. His hands on the top of his head.

I heard the officer shout for him to get down on the ground, and he complied.

“In the house. Throw out any weapons and then come out with your hands up.” That was Dan’s voice.

I picked up the gun, holding it by the barrel, and threw it out the door. I stepped out with my hands held high.

“Walk toward me,” I heard him say and I did so.

“Where’s Bonnie?” he asked when I reached him.

“She fainted,” I said. “She is on the floor. There are four others in there, all were hostages. No other weapons unless you count a rather large strapon that Bonnie brought with her.”

He called for EMT and then walked back to the house with me. Brian had already been cuffed and was sitting in the back of a patrol car.

When EMTs arrived, Bonnie was just starting to come around from the anaesthetic. They did her observations and took her off to the hospital, handcuffed to an officer.

The poor pizza delivery boy nearly shat himself when he turned up to find half of the precinct on our front lawn. He did bring pizza with him though so that was something.

We each gave statements, and I gave a copy of the video footage to Dan for evidence. I had to giggle seeing him walking to his car holding a twelve-inch strap-on dildo in a clear evidence bag.

I had to stop myself from shouting something after him.

Once he got to his car, he beckoned to me. I guessed he wanted a quiet word.

When I got to him, he was incandescent with rage.

“Do you have a fucking death wish?” he hissed at me. “That’s the second time you have disregarded your own safety in the face of a shooter. How many times before your luck runs out and I have to tell Steve that you are dead?”

“Dan.” I said, “I was in no danger. I could prove it to you, but if I did, it might put you in a position you don’t want to have to be in.”

He looked at me.

“The crash, and Brian?” he asked.

I nodded.

Think of it this way. If someone had the power to castrate someone else, while they were actually mid fuck, and not leave a trace, how much danger do you think they would be in if you shoved a gun in their face.

He frowned.

“Is your weapon loaded?” I asked.

“Of course,” he said.

I stopped time, took out his service revolver and removed all the bullets.

I put it back into his holster and restarted time.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

He drew his weapon and opened the cylinder. All six chambers were empty. His eyes bugged.

I snapped my fingers theatrically, stopping time as I did so.

I placed all the bullets back in their chambers and restarted time.

He jumped.

“What the fuck?” he said “How?”

“How what?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you put that away?”

He closed the cylinder and holstered his gun.

“I am not even going to ask.” He said, “I didn’t see anything, I don’t know anything, I can’t PROVE anything.”

“I wouldn’t do anything to hurt either of you,” I said, “and that includes getting myself killed. Someone told me earlier today that I loved you guys, and you don’t do that to the people you love.”

“Someone had to tell you?” he smiled at me “You didn’t already know?”

I considered that. “I guess I did, but my he-man macho bullshit refused to let me label it like that. Love and sex are too closely intertwined in my head, so I guess it took a while to sort out.”

“So, no sex then?” he asked with a grin.

“No sex,” I affirmed. “I don’t think I would survive the experience. I’ve seen what you are carrying around.”

“Oh, yes?” he said, “Has Steve been sharing photos?”

“You take photos?” I asked, “No, I said, IT was getting in the way when I was trying to stop you from bleeding out. I guess I had to move it a little. I was just glad you didn’t notice. If that monster had woken up, you probably wouldn’t have had any blood left for your other organs.”

He grinned and pulled out his phone.

“Hey, Steve.” He said “We’re all good here. Mr hero saved the day again. No not me, Phil. Yes, he’s fine. He was just reminiscing about the time he had my dick in his hand. Oops gotta go. Bye.”

He hung up.

His phone rang immediately, but he didn’t answer it.

My phone rang. I couldn’t answer it. The screen was shattered.

“That was cruel,” I laughed. “When will you tell him?”

“I’m not sure I will,” he said.

His phone rang again. He looked at the screen. It was the hospital.

“Hello,” he said. “Speaking. Yes, do you know why she fainted? She what?” his eyes bugged out and he looked at me. “When? Sometime today you think? Okay, I’ll get someone to come to talk to her.”

“Did you unload Bonnie’s gun too?” he asked quietly.

“Bonnie didn’t have a gun,” I said, “Only a big dildo.”

“You know what I’m talking about,” he said. “The hospital said she fainted because she recently had surgery.”

“Oh?” I asked “What did she have done? Did she have her inner slut removed?”

“Almost,” he said, “Someone removed her clitoris.”

“That’s illegal in the US!” I said, “Female Circumcision is outlawed. I wonder why she did that?”

He took a long look at me. his face grave.

I took his phone and pulled up the video from that evening. I played him a segment.

“…then just shoot him and let’s go” it was Bonnie’s voice. My face was visible on the video, the pain, and betrayal clear in my expression.

“I suspect we will never find out.” He said putting his hand on my shoulder.

The police were all packing up and leaving, and Dan had to go and speak to Bonnie. I wandered back into the house where surprisingly Bill and the girls were still waiting. This time someone else had made the coffee.

Helen came over and hugged me. Jessica soon joined her. I was most surprised when Jennifer also joined the group hug.

“I felt your pain,” she said, “I saw your face when she told him to shoot you. I wouldn’t have believed that even she could be that callous. Her own husband, someone she loved.”

“She never loved me,” I said, “she only ever loved herself. I was just too stupid to see it.”

“So, now what?” asked Bill.

“I have no fucking idea,” I said.

“Who’s left on Karma’s list,” Jessica asked.

“Angela was,” I said, “but I don’t think he’s particularly interested in her anymore.”

“So, Bonnie gets away scot-free?” asked Bill.

“She did get arrested,” said Jennifer.

Bill snorted. “A good lawyer will get her probation.”

“Apparently she didn’t get away,” I said “The hospital rang Dan while I was talking to him. The reason she fainted was that she had had a procedure today”

“What procedure,” asked Jessica.

“She had her clitoris removed,” I replied.

Simultaneously all three women winced and crossed their legs. It was amusing to see.

“Why would she do that?” asked Bill but Jessica was looking at me.

“She didn’t,” Jessica said, “Karma caught up with her.”

Bill looked at me and paled.

“Hey, don’t look at me,” I said, holding up my hands. “I’ve been here all day. I have witnesses.”

Epilog

Alan got two years for his DUI and felony possession. He was also disbarred.

Brian and Bonnie both got five to ten, for kidnap, and Brian got an extra two to five for assault with a deadly weapon.

Alan and Jessica got divorced, and Jessica managed to get a reasonable amount before the house was repossessed. The debt will be waiting for Alan on his release.

Brian and Helen were also divorced. When it all came out, Brian hadn’t been working close protection, he was a stripper who would go on tours for a month at a time. Most of his money came from the rich old women he bedded. Helen got the house, and a fair chunk of change.

I also got my divorce and given the story and the fact I could prove that Bonnie had put zero into it, I got to keep my house. She got half our checking account and savings. Which didn’t add up to much.

I had a complete change in attitude.

Jessica was completely correct. I had pretty much fallen in love with Helen that afternoon. Helen ended up selling her house and moving in with me. Once she got her confidence back, she was a bright and lively individual, with an amazing talent for graphic design. She started her own business from home and made a bunch of money, meaning I could drop to working a normal forty-hour week.

Jessica started working real estate. Apparently, it was what she had been doing when she met Alan. She was good at it. When she lost her house, I offered her my spare bedroom until she got herself a new place. She did that about a month later. My bedroom with Helen and I. and so here I am, the man who insisted he was a one-woman man, in a polyamorous relationship with two women, who I have grown to love, and who I know love me.

Bill and Jenny still live opposite us, Jenny comes over usually about once a week to spend time with the girls and scratch her itch. I sometimes join in. The first time Bill broached the subject with me was about a month after Jennifer had started coming over. Prior to that it had always been just the girls, often Bill and I would sit out on the deck and drink a beer while the girls did their thing.

One night, as we sat out on the deck, Bill said, “Phil, can I ask you a huge favour?”

“Sure,” I said expecting him to want to borrow the mower or some such.

“Will you make love to Jenny?”

I spat my beer all over the deck.

“Jenny loves her time with the girls,” he said, “but she does need something more occasionally. Helen told her how you made love to her that first day, and she would really love to experience that.”

“I thought you gave her that,” I said.

He smiled, “I do, but she still needs more.”

I thought about this for a while.

Give me a second.

I went into the bedroom where the girls were just getting undressed.

Jennifer looked at me. “He asked you?”

I nodded.

“And will you?” she asked.

Helen came and took my arm. “Will you, please?”

“I will,” I said to Helen “if you will show Bill how a loving blowjob feels.”

Helen smiled at me. She had a beautiful smile.

I re-joined Bill on the deck.

“Come on,” I said, “the girls are waiting.”

He looked confused but followed me anyway.

When we got to the bedroom, Jennifer went to Bill and kissed him. “Relax and enjoy,”

Then she came to me, and we kissed.

Jessica and Helen descended on Bill, and he stood no chance.

Jennifer and I made slow, gentle love. She wasn’t quite as responsive as Helen, but I found some of her trigger points, and brought her to a number of orgasms before she finally persuaded me to fill her with my seed.

Jessica and Helen double-teamed Bill and gave him the gentlest most loving and most amazing blowjob he had ever received. For a good ten minutes after he emptied himself down Helen’s throat he just lay there staring at the ceiling, as his wife cuddled up to him stroking his chest.

“I think we broke him,” Helen whispered in my ear, as she cuddled into me on the other side of the bed.

“I actually think you cured him,” I said.

The next milestone for them was at home, but Jennifer related it to us the day after.

She had persuaded Bill to fuck her doggy and was enjoying him actually giving her a fairly robust pounding. He was on the verge of coming which she was a little sorry about as she hadn’t come yet. Then she got the shock of her life. As he came, he brought his hand down on her ass in a hard slap.

The sudden sting added to the feeling of him shooting his load into her caused her to immediately come, with surprising force.

So now as I said Jennifer comes over about once a week, and sometimes Bill and I join in, and sometimes we sit on the deck or watch a game.

Sometimes I’m at work when it happens, and surprisingly that doesn’t worry me either.

Helen has suggested that I might enjoy spending some time with Steve and Dan, but so far, I haven’t. I won’t say it’ll never happen, but I can’t imagine I will.

Steve and Dan got married, and somehow, I got the job of being both their best man’s. I tell you organising two stag parties, on the same night but in separate venues was a challenge. They needed to be near enough to each other that I could attend both.

I was seriously wrecked for nearly a week.

And what about Patricia Julie Pearson? The Taser queen.

Sadly, nothing ever happened between us. She was a pretty and interesting person, but although she was friendly, she was completely baffled by my domestic situation, and I really didn’t blame her for wanting no part of it. In the end she did a secondment to the Canadian Mounties and met a guy up there, she never came back.

Karma never did visit Angela. Nor did I ever see her again. I guess I decided that Jessica had been right. The person I was mad at, was Bonnie. I remember reading a story called The Hitman, about a guy who was a contract killer but exclusively killed cheating spouses or their partners. It said in that story that when a woman gets cheated on, she wants her guy killed, but when a guy gets cheated on, he wants the guy who she cheated with killed. And I can relate to that. My rage should have been with Bonnie not with the others.

I don’t regret Alan and Brian, they got what was coming to them. But I certainly don’t regret not following through with my punishment on Bill, or any of the others.

And finally, what about my time stop ability.

I still have that. It comes in handy sometimes in the ER when someone is bleeding out and I need to act quickly. I have also quietly helped Dan out a couple of times.

So, thanks for listening to my tale, I’m sorry if you found it long and rambling. But it was my tale, and it is now told. I’m going now to spend some time with my girls.

How are these stories supposed to end? Oh yeah.

Life is good.

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