Thomas was in a black mood by the time he drove up the driveway of the house he had shared with Reyona for about eight years. A home where he had continued the pretence he started two years before when Susan and he had made a bet.
Susan had come to meet him at his shitass job back then as a trainer, and they had pretended not to know each other so that the gym manager wouldn't find a reason to complain. He was pretending to put her through her workout while she giggled and pretended to be totally clueless about it all.
That was when she had walked in-the auburn-haired beauty alongside a younger-looking lady-both of them so mouthwateringly gorgeous that they caught the eye immediately.
The men's heads turned to look at them, and the elderly one was oblivious to the stare she was garnering as she seemed reluctant to be there, while the younger one was cajoling her that it was the right thing to do. His gaze must have ingered a bit longer on the curvaceous beauty because the next moment Susan siddled up to his side with the mischievous smile she always had on when she was up to something,.
"I dare you to approach her," she had said.
"What?" he had said in disbelief as he put some distance between them and pretended to show her how to properly lift the dumbbells in her hands.
He could feel the man's eyes boring holes into his back, and he was thinking of telling Susan to stop coming over so frequently. He was going to enjoy their bouts of sex in the locker room or even in the restroom, but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make since the alternative meant that he might lose his job.
One of the things he loved, probably the main thing he loved about Susan, was the fact that she could get it anywhere, anytime, any day. In the pool party. At the club. The bathroom. The alley. She was always game. Always wet and ready for him. What more could a guy want?
The manager seemed to be on to their game, though, and even though he was not saying anything yet, Thomas felt as if he was on borrowed time.
He moved away from Susan to help an elderly man with his yoga mat before he moved back to Susan's side when she crooked her finger at him in a way that had his blood heating up. The hot chicks had started their treadmill session by then, with the younger making enough racket to wake the dead.
The other was saying nothing as she put on a stoic, long-suffering look, and Thomas could see that she was trying her best not to laugh out loud at whatever it was that the younger was saying.
"She did have a kissable mouth," he thought involuntarily when he saw her mouth twitching before she managed to firm it again.
"Ah, ah," Susan said meaningfully when they were at close range again.
"What?" he asked innocently, and she muttered something under her breath as she flexed her muscles while carrying the dumbbells.
For the sake of the manager, she pretended to fall over, and when Thomas, knowing that she was doing it for show, rushed to her side, she whispered, "I knew you wanted some of that bitch."
"What are you talking about?"You are capping, girl," he said, and since he knew that she wouldn't let go easily, he quickly added what could distract her. "And you can't give me such a look at work, you know. You are going to get me in trouble."
"What look?" she asked innocently, even as her eyes glinted with the promise of more 'You mean the look of "I want to screw you so bad that you will scream like a girl?"I can't help it," she said with a shrug. "I really did want to fuck your guts out; right next to that bitch, you were just eye-fucking."
"Jeez, I told you I was not..."
"Save it," she had said with a touch of snap in her tone. Then she looked over at the lady and smiled and said, "Let's play a game."
"What game?" he asked suspiciously, knowing that she could be crazy sometimes with her dares.
"Well, you know," she jerked her shoulder as she gave the auburn-haid lady, who seemed to be getting more engaged in her exercise even as her partner stopped every other second to say something to her. "Let's prove a theory then."
That was even worse. Proposing a theory was another way for Susan to introduce any of her crazy ideas.
When she said it, it was crazy enough. What was more crazier than the fact that he had agreed to it? A game that was supposed to stop in the first round ended up becoming a thing that lasted a decade.
When Susan found out who the lady was and the people she had come from, she presented it as a solution for Thomas to get rid of his hated job.
"In a way, this was her fault," he thought to himself as he came out of the car. They were all in this mess due to her stupid dare. Another man would have thought of his responsibility in the whole messed-up situation. Thomas was not another man.
He believed firmly that he had invested enough years in the whole scheme to go away now with nothing to show for it.
The images of his children flashed before his mind's eyes as he inserted the keys into the door. He had gone to visit them after leaving the institution where Susan was held for treatment, and all they had said most of the time was a request as to when their mother would be back. Even little Leah had asked if she could go see Mummy.
He was frustrated by the whole situation.
Betrayed by the fact that Susan turned to d***s instead of him and the way their children looked hurt when he had to tell them that they still couldn't see their mother yet,.
He decided to put an end to it all. He was not going to leave with anything, though. She had to pay for the years he had wasted pretending to be loyal to her. It was not as if she was going to miss the money.
No, the endpoint was that Susan needed all the help she could get right now.
Who better to provide that help than his dear wife?