Ruined

by Jw Grodt

  “But it’s still early!” Brad protested. “In fact, why don’t you two just sleep here?”

  “Now, Dad. You bought us that nice townhouse so we could give you some space—and maybe work on giving you some grandkids, right?” Jared winked at him while at the same time looking at Nicole as if he were reminding her of something she forgot.

  Jealousy flared and Brad lunged forward as if to catch himself on something. Jared “Dad! Are you okay?”

  Jared steered him to a chair and he sat down. “All of a sudden I don’t feel so good.”

  “Jared, take the dishes, go home and get some sleep. I’ll stay with Dad and make sure he’s okay.”

  “No, that’s okay. I’ll stay too.”

  “No, son. She’s right. You have to get up early and you need some rest.”

  Jared hesitated. “Well, alright, if you say so. Honey, maybe you better sleep upstairs so you can be closer. I worry about him having a heart attack from all those chicken wings at Kelsey’s!”

  “Very funny, son!” Brad shot back. That remark was supposed to be funny, but it annoyed him more than he anticipated. As soon as they saw Jared pull off down the street, they rushed to the bedroom. He wasted no time in getting her clothes off. He was sloppy and selfish with the foreplay but he didn’t care. It had been too long and he wanted her.

  “Jared thinks there’s something up with you,” she said when he rolled away from her.

  “What do you mean?” he asked urgently.

  “He said you’ve been aloof lately, like something is on your mind.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “I told him he was probably just imagining things. Then he said that maybe you had found some hot babe on the side. I didn’t know what to say, so I just screwed him right there on the living room floor.”

  “Damnit! You fucked him?”

  “Yes, and it worked. He forgot all about it.”

  “But you fucked him?”

  “Brad, I make love with you, I just fuck Jared. You understand that, don’t you? It’s for the best. It keeps him off our scent!”

  She had a point, but he didn’t like it. It was much easier thinking that Jared didn’t want her anymore. He didn’t like the idea of Nicole stirring things up between the two of them again.

  The next morning Brad lay in bed awake while Nicole slept beside him. He watched her breasts heave with her slow breathing and was considering some options on how to make use of them when he heard a car door slam outside. He got up and looked out. Jared was walking up to the house.

  “Oh Christ, Nicole! It’s Jared! Quick, grab you clothes and get downstairs, I’ll stall him!”

  She had awakened with a start when he called out and in seconds had scooped up her clothes and made for the door. Brad threw on his robe and went to the front door. Jared would use his keys. He arrived in the foyer just as the door opened.

  “Oh, Dad! I just stopped on my way to the office to be sure you were okay.”

  “I’m fine, son. Thanks for letting Nicole stay. I really wasn’t feeling so hot. It was nice to have her here. You’re a lucky man, you know.”

  Brad felt nauseated. He looked at Jared and instead of a grown man he saw a five-year-old playing T-ball. You’re a class-A jerk, Wallace. Some father!

  “Nicole yawned as she entered from the hallway; she wore her white terrycloth robe and had a bad case of bedhead.

  “What’s going on?” she said.

  “Just came by to see if Dad was okay,” he said and walked over to kiss her.

  “You guys want some coffee or something?”

  “I can’t, baby. I have to get to work. Dad, maybe you should call a doctor?”

  “I’m fine now, son. You’re right. I probably need to cut back on a few indulgences.”

  “Stubborn as usual. Well, I’m off.” He kissed his wife once more and left.

  They both sat on the steps and began to giggle like two adolescents, clapping their hands over their mouths in a “Wow, we almost got caught” fashion. After a few minute she kissed Brad’s cheek and said, “Let’s get some coffee. I need it to calm me down after that close call!”

  “Do you want a shower before you go home?” he asked.

  She looked at him with a sly grin. “Yes, if you wash my back?”

  “Is that all you want?”

  She just giggled and ran for his bathroom. He followed and by the time he reached the bathroom she was already stripped. It had been many years since he had not been alone in the shower. He relished every soapy moment.

  The following Sunday the kids were over again. Jared and Brad watched a game while Nicole prepared dinner. When she would come into the room Brad had to resist the compulsion to reach out and touch her as a husband would a wife. He tried to focus on the game, but the parallel universe he found himself navigating was too much.

  At one point Jared excused himself to the bathroom. Nicole came over and kissed him passionately on the lips. He lingered for a second and then pulled away. She walked back into the kitchen without a word. Jared returned.

  “Dad, are you feeling okay? Your face is red.”

  Brad squirmed in his seat. “No, I’m fine. It’s just hot in here. Think I’ll step out on the deck for a minute.”

  He walked through the dining room to the sliding glass doors that led onto the deck. After he stepped outside he turned around and Nicole was looking out at him from the dining room. This time, though, she actually saw him. She was looking at him. His heart raced with excitement. His guilt was assuaged, somewhat. Her gaze was like an emotional Band-Aid: all better.

  He went back inside just as Jared was sitting down at the table.

  “Wash up, Dad. Nikki’s got some beautiful filet mignon ready for us.”

  Brad washed his hands at the kitchen sink, something Julie never approved of. Nicole passed the steak to him as he pulled out his chair.

  “Here ya go, Dad. Hot and juicy.”

  Tease.

  Brad said little the entire meal. He would sneak glances at Nicole. Sometimes she looked at him, but mostly she directed her attention toward Jared. That pissed him off and he hated himself for it. When they were gone, he went to his room and watched some porn, just to put another woman’s face in his head. He stroked himself raw. No matter how hard he tried, the voluptuous blonde with the double-Ds wasn’t Nicole. He couldn’t even get off.

  The next morning as he lay in bed, not wanting to get up, Nicole walked straight into his room, peeling off her clothes as she entered. Brad threw back the covers to expose his waiting erection. She danced in front of him in a highly suggestive manner, shaking her boobs and wiggling her ass in his face. Finally he grabbed her arm and she shrieked as he jerked her onto the bed. She playfully resisted until he was between her legs and she suddenly put her hand on his chest. “I love you, Brad,” she whispered.

  His erection disappeared in the wake of her words. For the first time in months, he wasn’t in a wanton state of lust. It was more like paralysis. She soothed him with mollifying words and went down on him. Nothing. She told him to sleep and they would try again in a bit. When he awoke some time later, she was lying there beside him, her arms over her head, eyes closed. He said her name in a low voice but she didn’t respond. Slowly, he reached between her legs. She was wet. He became aroused and mounted her. She never once opened her eyes or made any sound as he thrust in and out of her, pretending he was back at that first night. It was so much easier now to go back. It had become the stuff of sentiment.

  Later during breakfast, she told him that Jared had to fly to LA next for the entire workweek and they could live like man and wife for five whole days. Somehow, five days seemed like not so much, anymore.

  * * *

  Brad’s transition from guilt to jealousy was wearing on him. He was losing patience with Jared more and more.
His son’s very presence was irritating. He cursed himself when he thought about what Julie would say if she knew about the whole situation. Jared was her baby.

  One Sunday evening Jared grabbed Nicole and kissed her passionately and, as he had a habit of doing, squeezed the cheeks of her ass at the same time.

  “Stop it! Dammit stop it!” Brad jumped from the couch and pulled them apart.

  They both looked at him with shocked expressions. Brad stomped off to his room, muttering under his breath. He overheard Jared say they were leaving. After the door slammed he came out of his bedroom. Booze. That was the only answer.

  He started making excuses and not being available on Sunday nights. One day when Nicole was over, she sat him down on the couch.

  “Jared can’t understand why you are distancing yourself from him. I told him that maybe you were lonely and becoming resentful of what we had.”

  “Christ, you told him I was jealous of him? What were you thinking?”

  “No! Not that you were jealous of him, but of us. Don’t worry. I think he bought it.”

  Later, after they had gone to his room and had sex, she asked him “Brad do you love me? I mean, really love me—enough to do anything I ask?”

  “Yes, as long as I don’t have to kill anyone.” He chuckled at his own comment.

  “You do know that I love you more than anything, don’t you?”

  “Yes I do. What are you getting at my dear?”

  “Let’s run away—just flat disappear, not a word to anyone.”

  He looked at her. “You’re serious aren’t you?”

  “Serious as a heart attack.”

  He searched her eyes looking for a twinkle that would indicate she was kidding.

  “And just how do you propose that we do that?”

  “The way Nike does it.”

  “Huh?”

  “Just do it.”

  Brad laughed, paused to look at her, and laughed again. She never cracked a smile. He ceased his laughter and sat up in bed.

  “Well, it does have possibilities. I’m not comfortable with sharing you with my own son. Something has to end here, somehow.”

  She looked away from him for a moment, then turned back and with her index finger began to toy with his chest hair. “Jared doesn’t satisfy me. You do. Besides, since I can’t get pregnant, he’s given up on screwing me. He only wants head.” This made Brad flinch. With doe eyes and a pouty lower lip, she half-whispered “He loves it when I let him come in my mouth.”

  “Damn it, Nicole! Why did you tell me that? Just to piss me off?” He grabbed her by the arm.

  “Does it piss you off enough to take me away from him?” she countered, backing off. “Look, it’s simple. You wanted me even though I was your son’s wife. You have done this willingly. I have been here in this house every day, making love to you. I am nothing to Jared because I can’t have a child—and if he knew the truth, he’d throw me out. I’m used goods, ruined! You need to do something so we can be together! I deserve to be with a man who wants me for something other than children!”

  He released his grip and lowered his voice. “Well, yes you do. And I want you, but ….”

  “No ‘buts,’ Brad. We need to end this situation. If you really want me and love me you’ll do what’s right. I have a plan that we can disappear without him knowing we were in on it together. I’ve been working on it for weeks.”

  “Really?” Brad’s tone was sarcastic, but a thrill surged through him. He was the object of her desire. He had won her.

  She pressed her lips to his, open-mouthed, probing him with her tongue. “Want to hear all about it?” she said as she nuzzled his ear. By the time she left for home he was seeing it as a real possibility. He knew in order to pull it off he would need money—lots of money—enough to sustain them indefinitely. If he liquidated all of his assets, it was doable. In the wee hours, he sat in the dining room with a yellow legal pad and a pencil. Sleep wasn’t an option as he tallied up his life and fantasized about a new life with renewed energy and promise. He was Jared’s age again. Or at least he felt like it. His mind went back and forth between stocks and bonds and images of Nicole riding alongside him in a convertible, her tresses aloft in a tropical breeze, big sunglasses shading her bottomless pupils and her full-lips lacquered in pink pearl gloss.

  In order to disappear completely, Brad had to arrange for two new identities. He had done a rather large HVAC job recently for a guy whom he suspected had mob connections. He once told Brad, over a firm handshake and a serious expression, if he ever needed anything, let him know. He went to the office early, putting off sleep. On a presumption that the guy was an early riser he phoned him before Maggie arrived for the day. The man, Mr. Nocenti, responded to his sense of urgency and agreed to meet at three-thirty that afternoon. Brad locked the legal pad in his desk and busied himself until then.

  Nocenti was a jovial sort. Brad got the feeling that he could turn that off in a New York minute. On the chubby side, his height counteracted the added weight. His black and gray receding curls revealed a well-tanned scalp. A cloud of aftershave wafted around the man’s study.

  After a handshake and some small talk, Brad got right to the point. “A lady friend and I want to drop out of sight, completely.”

  Nocenti’s brows formed arcs. The creases in his forehead reminded Brad of a Shar-Pei. “What gives, Wallace? You forget to pay your taxes or did you kill somebody?” He chuckled a bit, and then put up his hand before Brad could explain. “Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.” He pulled a cigar from a humidor on his desk, stuck it in the corner of his mouth but didn’t light it. “We were never acquainted, capisce?”

  “Capisce!”

  “Someone will contact you.”

  Just like that? Brad hesitated a moment, until it was apparent that Nocenti wanted no further conversation. He stammered words of gratitude and left.

  A day later he got a phone call from a nameless person who simply said he was calling on behalf of Mr. Nocenti. After gleaning what he needed from Brad, he ended the phone call with a simple “You’ll receive the information soon,” and hung up. A month later Brad pulled a large brown envelope from his mailbox. The documents were so flawless he was both impressed and intimidated.

  With the new identity package, he formed a dummy corporation, opened a corporate checking account and rented an address in New Jersey with a check from his present company in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars. Once he got his permanent checks for his new company, he took two checks signed by his new identity, flew to Mesa, Arizona and opened accounts in their new names, Robert A. and Vanessa N. Phillips. He traveled to a competing bank across the state line in San Diego and opened a savings account in his real name. He also brought back a signature card for Nicole to sign with her new identity for all the new accounts.

  With the new accounts in place, it was time to liquidate his assets. He sold all of his stocks, worth one hundred twenty-two thousand, and wired that to his new account. He also managed, due to recent changes in the law, to withdraw a large amount of money from his Social Security account. Within a few months he had close to a million in reserve.

  From April through June, Jared went out of town only twice. The thought of his son having so much access to Nicole drove him crazy. He was growing anxious, having just dismantled his entire life. He wanted no surprises. One night in June, when Jared was away, Brad interrogated her.

  “So, has he been doing you much lately?”

  “Funny, for a while he didn’t want much to do with me, but lately he has been wanting me more. It’s as if the more I resist the more he wants me,” Nicole replied as she leaned back on the bed pillows and played with her hair.

  “I don’t think it’s so damn funny! I can’t wait until we disappear. I feel like I want to punch out my own kid! I swear, I can’t stand the thought of him p
awing you!”

  “I shouldn’t tell you about what we do; it just angers you. But Brad, I can’t deny him totally. Do you want him to get suspicious?”

  Brad emitted an impatient grunt.

  “It won’t be much longer, right? I mean you’ll have all the money soon, won’t you?”

  “It’s not like selling a loaf of bread, Nicole. Some of this stuff takes time. I’ve still got some stocks and property to liquidate. I’ve been thinking maybe you should disappear first. The sooner you get away from him, the better, in my mind.”

  “But I thought you would go first?”

  “No, I think you should leave him a note telling him that you lied about being a virgin and that you’re unable to bear children, the whole story. That should make it easier for him to give you up. Later, I’ll drop the news that my doctor says I need to relocate to a dry desert climate for health reasons. I’ll get a small place in San Diego for the short term and write to him from there. After six months or so I’ll figure a way to be killed in some kind of accident where my body is never found. By then, we will already have a place together on the island of your choice.”

  “You have it all figured out, baby! I’m so impressed!”

  She rewarded him for all his hard work. Brad lay back and greedily accepted.

  He arranged for Sally Peterson, the broker who had bought April’s old real estate firm, to sell his rental properties. In a few months he received the net proceeds and had it wired to his account in Scottsdale. Finally it was time to sell the business.

  Stan was the obvious choice to take on what Brad had built. Only problem, Stan didn’t have that kind of money. The two men paid a visit to Gardner McDonough, president of the bank Brad had dealt with for years.

  “Stan, let me do all the talking, okay?”

  “Sure, Brad. You’re still the boss.” The look of faith in his loyal employee’s eyes made Brad feel lower than pond scum.

  Janet, the receptionist, led them into Gardner’s plush office with its walnut bookshelves and all his photos and credentials hanging everywhere.