Chapter 1 Caught
Colt's POV
It’s been a long Wednesday. Negotiations and contracts. The flight home was a mess of layovers and waiting around. I kept texting Belle, but I never got a response. I guess she was busy at work or something… I didn’t have anything to say, I was just checking in on her. I don’t like leaving her for so long… She can’t do anything on her own. I’m hoping she didn’t burn the house down trying to make toast.
I made it home a day early. I’m planning on surprising my wife with a night out. She’s been begging to get out for a while now, and it just wasn’t happening. I’ve been busy with my security company, trying to expand it. She said she understands and she is excited for me. But I’ve been overworked and now I just want to breathe and relax… Spending a little time with my wife.
I sigh as I readjust my bag over my shoulder and insert my key into my keyhole. I shove the door open and freeze.
And so do the two naked people on the couch.
In a moment, everything around me is spinning. The two people I was supposed to trust the most in my life give me guilty looks. Their bodies flushed and sweaty with their vigorous activities… Who knows how long they’ve been at this. But there they are, frozen in between ecstasy and terror.
Belle’s head thrown back with her disheveled blond curls reaching down to her waist… A waist that Jack is digging his fingers into her flesh to pull her closer to him, holding her in place, and his greedy mouth around her full breast.
I don’t know what to think. My stomach twists in disgust… And to think I was inside her two days ago while she begged me not to stop… I wonder how long this has been going on. I swallow to keep the bile down that is trying to make its way up my throat.
Well, now I know why my partner was so insistent I didn’t need him for this project. To be honest, I didn’t need him. This whole damn company is mine, but he was my best friend. In high school I thought it would be cool if we went into business together and made a home security company… I came up with B&B Home Security back then. When we grew up I drew up a contract, saying he could have equal shares of my company as long as we worked together and we didn’t cheat each other… Well that plan was all blown to hell.
My wife on the other hand… She had been pushing me hard for this contract. She couldn’t kick me outta the house fast enough Monday morning. Subtlety is not her thing. Apparently neither is fidelity.
Never once in my entire time I was with her did I look at another woman. I never lusted after someone I couldn’t have. I was happy with the fact I had a wife… Well, at least I thought I was happy… But now that I think about it, maybe happy was the wrong word… Maybe I was just comfortable with what we had and didn’t want to rock the boat.
I watch as the color drains from both of their faces and realization lights their eyes. They are literally screwed. There is nothing that can make this better. There is no way to spin this so this turns out happy for them… Well, maybe them. But definitely not with me in the picture, and they know it.
“Baby, this isn’t what it looks like-” Belle rushes to assure me, trying to unsuccessfully remove her body from Jack’s appendage while still looking like she had some dignity… It didn’t work.
“Man… I don’t…” Jack swallows hard. I don’t know what he was about to say but he swallowed it fast. Smart move. There is nothing I want to hear from him ever again, except for his retreating feet from my house.
I’m not sure what I look like right now, but there is fear in their faces… Normally, I’m very calm and controlled when it comes to my emotions. I’m normally good under pressure, which is why I wanted to work in home security. I like to fix problems… But this… There is nothing to fix.
Presently, I’m vibrating in fury as I stomp my way into MY home, where MY wife and MY best friend were screwing each other’s brains out on MY couch… But this won’t last long. They have no reason to stay here any longer. Neither one of them is welcome in my home ever again.
I grit my teeth and take a deep breath. It didn’t help. My brain is still burning in rage. I’m not sure why I’m so angry… I’m not hurting, I’m more betrayed than anything else. If she didn’t want me, then why stay with me? Why put on a show just so she could stay with me? If she had told me a while ago that this wasn’t working, I would’ve been upset, but nothing like this. I would’ve understood that we were just growing apart and she would’ve gotten half of what I have… But that is not what happened.
And now, the both of them are gonna get what’s coming to them.
“You have ten seconds to get your naked asses out of MY house before I call the cops and toss you both on the streets,” I state. I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t curse them out. I didn’t even strangle them! I should pat myself on the back for how calm and collected I’m acting right now, even though I want to blow something up… Preferably their cars so they can walk hand in hand in the cold, naked or not… That would be up to them.
“But baby-” My wife’s whiny voice pouts. Has she always sounded like a dog whistle and I was just too damn blind with… whatever the hell it is I was with her, that I never knew?
“This is MY house! Five seconds,” I cut her off. “By the way, I’ll be calling Nash in the morning. You won’t be getting anything that you didn’t earn. And Jack…” I chuckle darkly. “You remember our contract right? You won’t be getting anything that isn’t already in your bank account either,” I state pulling my phone out of my pocket.
“Times up,” I state.
“You’re gonna regret this, Colt!” Jack says grabbing his crap and pulling Belle with him through my still open door.
“Regret being your friend?” I ask. “I already do. Kicking you outta my house? Never gonna happen,” I say, slamming the door on the two of them and locking it.
I can hear the both of them yelling and begging from behind the door and I just don’t give a damn… However, Belle still has things in my room and I want them out. I want no trace of her left in my home. And this is my home. I bought it before I was even dating Belle… And to think she invited Jack here… How dare she? Well, we will see if this is all worth it in the end…
Actually, I suppose she did me a favor. I don’t know how long its been going on and how long she would’ve strung me along like the gold digger Anna warned me about.
I go into my room and grab a bag and start stuffing all of Belle’s clothes and other random things in. I’m keeping my jewelry that I bought for her. She doesn’t deserve any of it. If nothing else, I can sell it back and get my money… I could also save it and give it to mom or Anna… Who knows? I may just donate it to some poor woman who looks like she could use it… Any of those sound better than to let Belle get her grubby claws on it.
As I’m packing, I wonder, not for the first time tonight, how long she has only been my wife for the money and comfort I bring her? Is that really all I was to her? An object she could flash around and deep pockets to fill her void with random crap to make her feel pretty?
She’s been working at the salon since we married, making enough money for her to play with, but mostly she just uses mine. I didn’t mind… until now. Now I feel like the world’s biggest sap!
When I asked her to marry me two years ago, she was from a poor family… Well, not poor exactly. Just in comparison to my family. Both her parents were teachers at the local high school. They made things work. Both Nancy and Frank are decent people and I don’t blame them for their daughter.
I thought she was different. I thought she loved me. Some of my buddies warned me she was a gold digger, but I didn’t listen. I guess I should’ve. I know Anna was purely against it. They were in the same grade at school and the things she told me… Well, I didn’t want to believe my little sister was right.
And now I gotta call Nash, her husband, and tell him everything that just happened. He’s my buddy and my lawyer, to help me outta the mess my life is… I know the moment I finish telling him, he will tell Anna. And then I’ll be having the talking to of the decade, telling me I should’ve listened to her in the first place… And she would be right… Then she would offer me her shoulder to cry on.
I could call my parent’s, but they are out in New York and I don’t wanna bother them. Maybe when divorce is through… Mom never did approve of Belle. Dad was… Indifferent. He just said he hoped I was happy with my choice and left it at that.
My family couldn’t be any more different from Belle’s. My father was a surgeon, now retired, and my mother worked for the district attorney’s office, also retired. They like to travel now and just got back from Rome about a week ago.
I huff as I zip up the bag and drag it away from my room. I don’t care if she keeps her fancy dresses. I don’t need them.
I march out to the banging on my door. I have no idea what the hell they are complaining about. If they really didn’t want to get caught, they should’ve stuck to Jack’s apartment. Now I’m gonna have to disinfect my whole damn house… If I don’t burn it down in disgust first.
I nearly rip the door from its hinges and toss Belle’s bag out to the street.
“Baby… I’m sorry… I love you… We can work this out… It was only this once… It didn’t mean anything…” She sobs, crawling over to me, trying to pull me to her cold body.
I step out of her grasp in revulsion. I don’t ever want to touch her ever again.
“Dude, Colt. Don’t do this to us. We’ve been friends forever… You can’t just end it because of this?” He grovels… At least he put his pants on… too bad Belle didn’t follow his example.
“What can’t I do to our friendship?” I sneer. “I didn’t do a damn thing, other than walk into my own house to find my best friend, balls deep in my wife… NOW, tell me what exactly I did wrong!” I demand, knowing he can’t answer.
“Colt, baby… you still love me! I know you do!” Bellows my still naked wife. Honestly this is not her strongest argument and it isn't gonna help her the way she thinks it will. She really isn’t gaining any favors by flashing her flesh around the neighborhood. I can see her shivering in the cold, and yet I have no pity for her.
And if I know our neighbors like I think I do, someone is taking a video of this whole fiasco and probably gonna upload it to our neighborhood group chat the moment I slam the door… Good for them. I guess it will give them something to talk about.
I look into Belle’s eyes and something in me shifts… A realization and what flows from my lips is the absolute truth.
“Belle, I haven’t loved you in a very long time. I’ve tolerated you. I’ve babied you. I’ve even spoiled you… But I haven’t loved you like a wife because you keep treating me like a slave and not your husband. Have fun with Jack,” I say then I turn around and…
Slam the door on their traitorous faces.
