Hayden

by Matt Tims

  “Cindy loves to talk about you—all facets of you,” Jessica said before deciding to expound on that particular subject. “Like how many times you can go in one night, and how you love going down on her, and my personal favorite: how rough you get in bed.”

  His focus moved back to her. She was begging for it with her eyes. “I can’t.”

  She shifted to her tippy-toes and purred into his ear. “I wanna suck your cock.”

  Mike gulped.

  “And I love sucking cock,” she giggled, giving his earlobe a playful bite in the process.

  Cindy loved taking care of him orally as well, but his gut instinct told him that Jessica possessed the ability to bring a man to his knees in ways his wife couldn’t. What if she could give him the best blowjob of his life? This might be his only chance to ever experience something like this.

  “Remember what I told you at the start of our game earlier?” she asked, now gazing up into his eyes. “Why did I let you go first?”

  It wasn’t easy in his drunken state, but he finally recalled that seemingly innocent detail. “Because I’m the man of the house?”

  “Because you’re the man of the house,” she echoed. “The man of the house should be treated like a king. He should get anything he wants. Does Cindy ever let you fuck her throat? Does she worship your cock? Does she live for making you happy?”

  He raised the glass of water to his lips to take another sip, but it took a good ten seconds for him to realize that the glass was actually empty. Jessica removed the cup from his hold and placed it on the counter; but before he could process what was happening, her hands had already gone back to exploring his body.

  “We would never leave the bedroom if I was married to you,” she told him with a grin. “I would wear you out.”

  His hand moved to the top of her head before it abruptly froze.

  Do it! Push this slut down to her knees and enjoy yourself. You’ve earned it! You’ve been nothing but loyal and supportive over the past five years of marriage. Cindy probably wouldn’t even mind. She knows how lucky she is. How many husbands are as good as you? How many guys play fun games and take their wives on adventures every week? You’re a catch! A stud! And studs like you deserve the royal treatment! So, go for it! See how far you can push this piece of ass!

  Jessica patiently gazed into his hesitant eyes, waiting for him to take control.

  Cindy wouldn’t mind? Wouldn’t mind!? Are you fuckin’ serious? Dude, you’re delusional! Of course Cindy would mind if her friend sucked your dick in the kitchen! You have it made! Your wife is sexy, pleasant, and constantly ready to take care of your needs. And you love her, remember? You’re going to throw that all away for a blowjob? The same blowjob you could get from Cindy? Hell, she just gave you one three hours ago! Go back to bed!

  He slowly slid his hand off the top of her head and moved it down to his waist. “Good night, Jessica.”

  “Good night, Mike,” she grinned before strolling back into the family room.

  Current Day. 3 AM.

  Mike checked his phone for the hundredth time. Nothing. Should he call the police? What if something happened to Cindy and she was in trouble? She never ignored his calls or texts, but his six calls and seven text messages had all gone unanswered over the past hour.

  What did you think would to happen? She’s out with Jessica, dumbass. You know, that sexy piece of ass who’s unemployed and lives off her ex-husband’s alimony payments? The girl who still goes to frat parties like she’s in college? That’s the woman your wife has been hanging out with for the past three months. How did you not see it turning out this way?

  Relax. Her phone probably died and she crashed at Jessica’s place. Why are you being so paranoid? Listen, Cindy’s a grown woman. She’s more than capable of taking care of herself and making her own decisions. And you trust her, right? So, stop worrying. Just go to bed. Everything will be fine in the morning.

  One hour later.

  Cindy’s ginger footsteps were impossible for his ears to miss. So was the way she slyly slipped into bed. Nothing good would come from confronting her at this very moment. He was annoyed, she would be defensive, and it would undoubtedly turn into a shouting match. He closed his eyes and attempted to fall asleep, saving their inevitable discussion for the morning.

  9:15 AM.

  He was awaken by the roaring sound of the alarm on his phone. The best part about being self-employed? That would be the hours, and he’d decided to sleep in to give himself a little extra time to make breakfast before starting his work.

  Shit.

  He’d forgotten all about Cindy. He rolled over to find her side of the bed empty, of course. She would’ve left for work close to two hours ago. Was part of him trying to avoid this? Is that why his mind pushed it into the background? There was no denying that something awful had occurred in the wee hours of the morning.

  He hopped into a pair of basketball shorts and headed downstairs, eventually finding himself in the kitchen; and much to his surprise, he wasn’t alone.

  “Cindy?”

  She looked up from her cup of coffee, stone-faced.

  “Are you alright?” he asked.

  “I called in sick today,” she informed him, glancing back down at her coffee.

  “What’s wrong?” he questioned.

  “I just…don’t…don’t feel good,” she said hesitantly. “I think I’m coming down with something.”

  He joined her at the kitchen table. “What time did you get home last night?”

  …

  “Hey!” he raised his voice, demanding an answer.

  “Late,” she finally admitted..

  “The club closes at 2 AM, right?” he asked.

  She nodded, her eyes avoiding him.

  “So, where were you?”

  “We went to a friend’s house after,” she answered after briefly pausing to collect her thoughts

  “Someone I know?” he asked.

  She shook her head no.

  “Someone you met last night?” he continued his barrage of questions.

  “I didn’t know him,” she said. “Jessica did. I just tagged along.”

  He didn’t like the sound of that. “Him?”

  “Nothing happened!” she snapped back in a defensive tone. “We just hung out!”

  “I didn’t accuse you of anything,” he said. “I’m just trying to find out why you weren’t in bed until four in the morning.”

  “You don’t trust me?” she asked, her eyes now locked on his groggy face. “Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Would I be fine with you going out if I didn’t trust you?”

  “And what about when you tell me you’re going to the gym, and then you’re gone for three hours?” she asked aggressively, changing the focus of their conversation. “I shouldn’t wonder about that?”

  “Well, when I’m at the gym, I almost always end up playing basketball,” he said with a bewildered chuckle. How had his gym habits become the main concern? “And yeah, that means I’m gonna be there for a while.”

  She quickly shifted her attention away from him before turning back. Her previously guilty eyes now appeared challenging. “You know, Jessica told me what happened that night.”

  “What night?”

  “When we got drunk off Jello shots and she slept over,” Cindy clarified herself. “And how you came onto her in the kitchen.”

  “What!?” he shouted, stunned.

  “Oh, please…” she rolled her eyes. “Don’t treat me like some kind of idiot.”

  “Holy fuck, Cindy!” he exclaimed with his hands running through his hair. “That’s what she told you? That I came onto her!?”

  “Yep,” she nodded, her arms crossed under her breasts.

  “I went downstairs to get a glass of water when she comes out of nowhere,” he explained what had happened. “So, I’m just trying to be nice, but she started flirting with me.”

  Cindy’s amused look was hard to miss.<
br />
  “Baby, she straight up told me that she wanted to give me a blowjob,” he said. “In the kitchen!”

  “Come on!” she laughed. “Give me a break!”

  “She did!”

  “What fuckin’ planet do you live on, Mike?” she asked while rolling her eyes once more. “Where you’re such a ladies’ man? Where women are just begging to suck your dick?”

  “That’s how it happened!” he defended himself. “Wait…what was her version?”

  “That you uncomfortably came onto her after she went into the kitchen because she heard a noise,” she said. “That was her exact story.”

  Mike shook his head in disbelief. “That’s bullshit.”

  “Are you calling my friend a liar?” she questioned.

  “Yeah, I am,” he answered. “And I can’t believe you’re buying this shit. Baby, you’ve know her for three months. We’ve been married for five years! We’ve known each other for seven! I’ve never lied to you about a single thing!”

  Cindy glanced back down into her cup of coffee.

  “When did she tell you this story?”

  “Last night,” she answered. “In the Uber ride to the after-party.”

  “You seriously don’t see what she’s doing?” he asked.

  She curiously peered at him.

  “Your thirty-year-old friend is out partying with college kids five or six nights a week,” he started. “She finally meets a woman her age who wants to go out once in a while and have some fun, and it’s the greatest thing ever for her. You don’t think that she’s trying to cling onto you? Sweetheart, she’s wants to drive a wedge between us so that she can have you to herself. She wants a permanent friend to go partying with every night. You really don’t see this?”

  “Well, why didn’t you tell me about what happened then?” inquired Cindy. “You know, if it actually happened the way you claim it did?”

  “Honestly?” he asked.

  Cindy was waiting. “Yeah, honestly.”

  “Because I was happy that you’d finally found a friend, and I knew telling you would’ve ended that. I swear to God I would have told you in a heartbeat if I knew that this was how things would come to be.”

  “I need to think,” she said before hopping out of her chair. “I’m taking a shower and then going to bed for a while. We’ll talk about this when I get up.”

  He waited for the sound of the shower water to turn on before doing something very out of character for himself. It made him feel like a piece of shit; but for the first time in his life, he was going to snoop. He’d officially dropped to this level.

  He hurried into the bedroom and grabbed Cindy’s charging phone from the nightstand before entering her four digit passcode.

  It buzzed.

  He reentered it.

  Once again, the phone buzzed.

  Oh, shit! You know what this means, don’t you, buddy boy? She’s fucking around!

  Hey! Relax. Maybe she reset her phone and changed her passcode without remembering to tell you. That’s probably what happened. There’s no need to jump to conclusions.

  Listen to that idiot! Reset her phone and changed her passcode without remembering to tell you? Are you serious? Do you want to know what really happened last night? Your wife got fucked! Well, maybe not, but she at least had someone’s dick in her mouth! And guess what? It wasn’t yours! That’s what you get for letting her hang around with Jessica, you stupid asshole!

  Think, think, think. What could she have changed her passcode too? The last four digits of her social security number?

  Buzz.

  Her birth year?

  Buzz.

  Mike closed his eyes before it suddenly came to him.

  1, 2, 3, 4.

  The phone unlocked.

  He rolled his eyes and immediately went into her text messages. Let’s see…Tina, Mike, Jessica, Mom, Angela…wait, who’s Tina?

  He opened the conversation and his stomach immediately dropped.

  3:47 AM – text received - Had fun.

  3:48 AM – text sent - Me too :)

  3:48 AM – text received - You need to start coming by regularly.

  3:49 AM – text sent - I’m not that easy ;)

  3:49 AM – text received - I beg to differ. Especially with what was coming out of your mouth.

  3:51 AM – text sent - Sometimes I like to be bad. Maybe we’ll stop by next week. Kisses.

  He should’ve known when Jessica tried to seduce him three months ago, he really should’ve known when his wife started going out to clubs regularly, and he absolutely should’ve known by the way Cindy had acted this morning. She’d attempted to make him feel like shit to hide her own guilt. She did her best to convince him that he was somehow the dishonest one!

  She’d messed around with some guy six hours ago, but sat at their kitchen table and accused him of hitting on her best friend. A five year marriage was over just like that. He did everything for that woman. Every fun date he planned, every creative game he set up which she couldn’t get enough of, and every afternoon they spent locked in the bedroom: it was all for nothing—absolutely nothing. What now? Was his entire life a lie? Was he just some gullible idiot?

  He signed into their joint bank account on his phone and transferred half the money over to his personal checking. He then grabbed his phone and wallet, threw some clothes into a suitcase, and snagged the car keys on his way out the door. He was going back to the one place he truly loved. To the one place that would never cheat. To the one place he knew would always be there for him.

  Mike was going home.

  Chapter 3 – Hayden

  One Week Later.

  Claire had three thousand dollars to her name. That was all the money Bob had left in their joint checking account when she finally accessed her banking app six hours after storming out of the house, and she probably had about forty bucks in cash along with a few credit cards in her purse. A lawyer would be able to get her at least half of what they had, but she wouldn’t be caught dead going through that process. It would only mean trouble.

  Finding a lawyer would result in going back to the town she’d just left, which would lead to her seeing Bob, which would mean confronting him, and that would eventually result to her giving their marriage another shot. It would only be a matter of time until she found herself hiding in the bathroom again courtesy of an innocent comment that he didn’t like. She wouldn’t be able to change him.

  Bob hadn’t even bothered attempting to contact her either. This wasn’t her first time trying to leave. She’d bolted out of the house after a violent fight before, only to come crawling back hours later.

  It was like her husband was just waiting for her to return; but in case she didn’t, then he would make it hurt. But things would be different this time. She hadn’t stopped once during that six hour drive back to her hometown of Hayden, New York—a small, blue collar town hidden deep in the Adirondack Mountains. It was the type of place people traveled hours to visit every fall when the leaves changed colors. The landscape was covered in pretty mountains, breathtaking vistas, and exquisite lakes; except she didn’t see any of that beauty. She only saw pain.

  She was able to secure an apartment with several months rent paid in advance. Here she was, thirty-five years old, still married but not really, unemployed, nearly broke, and living in an rundown apartment in her least favorite place on earth. Even if she ran into an old friend from school, she couldn’t imagine actually recognizing them. It’d been seventeen years, after all.

  The only family she ever had was her mother and father, and Dad died in a drunk driving accident five years ago. The most ironic part was that he was stone-cold sober at the time of the crash. It was a funeral she’d chose not to attend. And why should she have gone? Who else would even be there other than Mom? And that was assuming Mom was able to drag her sedated self out of bed and make it to the proceeding on time.

  Why did she come back to Hayden? She hadn’t properly thought her
decision over. There wasn’t some door she could walk through to receive a desired explanation for the way her life had turned out. The answer as to why she couldn’t let go of the past wouldn’t be solved that easily. Every time she attempted to escape her childhood, she found herself crawling right back to it.

  She shouldn’t have come back here. She should’ve driven west. How far west? It didn’t matter. Maybe she would end up in Chicago? There were plenty of law firms there. She would have no problem finding work, and a big city like that would have plenty of single men who had their shit together. Men who wouldn’t abuse and degrade her. Men who would appreciate her for the type of person she was, and men who would treat her with respect.

  Or maybe she should’ve kept driving until she hit the coast? What if she met a laid back surfer on a beach in California? The kind of guy who wasn’t interested in money or material possessions. The kind of man who only cared about surfing and the woman he loved. They would get by on barebones and savor every minute of it. She would be done with the rat race. Life was too short to be caught up in outrageous mortgages and constant stress. They would live on the beach and feed off one another’s love; but when she looked out from her one and only apartment window on this damp spring afternoon, she saw a small, dark, evil town full of venomous creatures.

  She had it all wrong. The answer to her problems weren’t in Hayden. The answers to her problems were anywhere else. But as long as she was here, then she had to pay a visit to the one person who had never been there for her in the past.

  It was time to see Mom.

  –

  Mike sat at an empty coffee shop table and smiled. Something about Hayden was like a warm blanket to him. Whenever life threw him a curveball, this town told him to keep his eye on the ball. Everything about this place made him feel bubbly inside.

  He’d settled into an apartment after crashing at his parents’ house for a few days. Just like they’d been seventeen years ago, Mom and Dad were as welcoming and caring as ever. They’d never lost touch with one another, but he hadn’t stayed in contact with them as much as they deserved over the years. Sometimes it felt like he took them for granted. His parents were special. Did it have something to do with him be an only child? Maybe. There was never anything other than love and adoration from them. Most kids never had the privileged of being raised in that kind of environment, and his parents’ warmth seemed to sum up this entire town perfectly.