========
Message-ID: <160302Z13031996@anon.penet.fi>
Path: news.primenet.com!nntp.news.primenet.com!news.sprintlink.net!rebecca!newserve!ub!newsstand.cit.cornell.edu!news.tc.cornell.edu!news.cac.psu.edu!news.math.psu.edu!chi-news.cic.net!nntp.coast.net!howland.reston.ans.net!EU.net!news.eunet.fi!anon.penet.fi
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories
From: an282402@anon.penet.fi (Morpheus' Twin)
X-Anonymously-To: alt.sex.stories
Organization: Anonymous forwarding service
Reply-To: an282402@anon.penet.fi
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 15:56:16 UTC
Subject: The Face Of Betrayal  [wife, infidelity; no violence]  <*>
Lines: 426
Xref: news.primenet.com alt.sex.stories:139588


The Face Of Betrayal
by Morpheus' Twin

A scene so familiar, a drama ubiquitous - who has not seen, from
Shakespeare to soap opera, the tragedy of someone discovering his or her
mate *in flagrante delicto*? But when there is no falling curtain nor
rolling of closing credits to remind one that it's all just fiction and
fantasy, the cold wave of shock and the wrenching in the gut seem
entirely unique and unprecedented. The evidence of betrayal, in whatever
form, reaches within to the very foundations of one's self- respect,
sundering them, and leaves a blinding, obsessive pain in its wake.  One
becomes utterly convinced that nobody, anywhere, at any time, has ever
suffered such exquisite agony.

This was to be my experience on this particular October afternoon. I'd
put in a truly heroic effort to complete the project entrusted to me
before the deadline and my boss had appreciated it, giving me a wide
smile and two days off - "mental-health days" as they're sometimes
euphemistically called. How could he know - how could either of us know
- that this day would be anything but a time to refresh my own mental
health?

I hadn't taken any particular notice when Maddie hadn't responded to my
announcement that I was home. Her car was in the driveway but she could
have been anywhere in the house or outside in the yard. Loosening my
tie, I had barely begun the casual walk to the bedroom when my movements
and my thoughts were sharply arrested by a sound, a sound that had so
often been the cause of great pleasure to me, but at that moment was
like the cold pressure of a revolver barrel against my temple. It was
that familiar, breathless sigh I knew so well when my wife's sweet,
tender and extraordinarily beautiful body was meshed with mine. That
light soprano had so often spurred me to heights of passion, but now it
formed a demonic duet with the deeper rasp of a male voice not my own.

My feet seemed nailed to the carpet where I stood. I felt my face turn
ashen as the blood seemed to be draining from it and my hands took on a
growing agitation that quickly expanded through my entire body. The
nausea was beginning and tears welled up in my eyes - the caustic kind,
the kind that burn and scar.

At a time like this one is torn between a driving need to see and know
everything and a wish to turn away and deny the reality. Yet, with rare
exceptions, the former wins.

So it was that my feet, released from their momentary paralysis, began
the silent walk to the bedroom. Led by an unholy compulsion, I peeked
cautiously through the half-opened door and witnessed just what I knew I
would: Maddie, eyes closed and face contorted with the fires of sex,
meeting the thrusts of a man deep inside her, a man I had never seen
before. As thousands have before me, I prepared to barge in, to assert
my rightful place and express my consuming rage in whatever way my
instincts led me. Yet something held me in check. A fleeting
recollection of the many tragic outcomes of just such yielding to
impulse and subsequent regret stopped me, just in time. Something I'd
seen somewhere and probably can't quote correctly read, "He who acts in
anger rides a mad horse." Something like that. Regardless of how
accurate my memory of the exact wording, the message was clear: whatever
you do, Richard, do it when you'd had a chance to cool off a bit and
think it over. Seek first calm, then satisfaction. You'll be glad of it
later on.

With some deliberate concentration I was able to hold my place, standing
back in the semi-darkness of the hall so that they would not notice me.
That wasn't too likely anyway, considering their preoccupation with the
business at hand. Minutes passed as my bemused mind absorbed the crime
being enacted before me. As I did, I was dimly aware that, mixed in
somewhere with the bitterness of betrayal there was a certain, wispy
tendril of excitement. The deeply-engraved patterns of pleasure at the
simple sight of my wife in the depths of passion somehow aligned with
the memory of our oft-repeated couplings to draw forth an unexplainable
twinge of arousal. What I was seeing was the right thing, but with the
wrong man. The two thoughts became inseparable, though the bitterness
vastly overshadowed that wraith of diversion.

As time passed, however, the peak of rage began to simmer into an
intense, yet more calm and reasoned anger. Some ability to call upon my
higher cranial powers reasserted itself, and something from my knowledge
of such situations was recalled. Very often a spouse strays as a
subconscious protest against what is perceived as neglectful or abusive
treatment. Sometimes it's more a sense of growing separation, as if two
who were once lovers had become more like roommates, sharing a domicile
and a bed but little beyond that. Psychologists are pretty much in
agreement on this; affairs, at least sustained ones, most often are
caused by just these things.

Yet I couldn't possibly believe they applied to Maddie and me. Though we
had an argument now and then like any couple, they seemed to be the kind
that clear the air instead of injure. In all seven years together I
couldn't recall a single time that our differences had descended to
attacking each other instead of the issue at hand, and I truly believed
we both felt safe expressing our concerns to each other without fear of
rebuke or retribution. And as recently as the night before we had joined
in sex and it was beyond argument that our intensity and pleasure then
had been far and away greater than what I saw before me.

I became increasingly convinced that this wasn't the product of any
deep-seated resentment; it must be a fluke, a momentary loss of control,
and perhaps something that could be dealt with more easily than I'd
thought - not without pain, but less painfully than it could have been.
And that calmed me further. The biting pang of betrayal was by no means
lifting but it was stepping back, as if to bide its time until sometime
later when this all could be resolved in an atmosphere of reason.

And that inchoate excitement was mounting. Bizarre threads of
stimulation formed and thickened, as if I were watching an especially
well-made erotic movie, only much better since the players were real;
the action was real, and one of them was the woman who, despite it all,
I still loved.

A decision was made, one that left me at once certain and incredulous. I
took a deep breath, paused, then strode purposefully into the room

Maddie's moans of pleasure turned instantly into a cry of terror. Her
eyes widened with shock and she cringed back, clutching the bedclothes
as if to find some protection from them, and the quivering so recently
driven by passion was now driven by fear instead.

The man seemed uncertain whether to cut and run, to stand and fight or
to try to placate me with submissive obedience. He seemed to settle on
the third option as I, with a stern but not enraged countenance, scanned
the scene before me.

None of us spoke; none of us had any idea what could be said. But then I
saw alarm on their faces become mixed with confusion and incredulity as
I began removing my clothes! In deliberate, measured movements I shucked
my suit jacket, my tie and shirt, and then the rest, finally reclining
nude beside my terrified wife.

She knew me well enough to know that I have no inclination whatsoever
toward violence, though she may well have believed at some point that
the extreme provocation I had just had foisted upon me might have
brought about an exception. But my actions clearly had obviated that
possibility and she visibly relaxed, though only slightly.

I looked her straight in the eyes and I then discovered within me a
certain sense of power. I shall set the agenda here and they will
follow; that I knew beyond doubt. Yet even I was not entirely the writer
of the script; instincts that baffled me as much as them were actually
in control.

My eyes shifted from her eyes to her breast and I approached it with my
hands and lips. In a way so familiar, yet under circumstances so utterly
unimaginable, I began kissing and sucking on her nipple, my fingertips
tracing the underside of her wonderfully-formed breast. Her eyes seemed
to grow even wider as fear and possibility chased each other across her
features. Her erstwhile partner seemed no less amazed and he remained in
his place, frozen in apprehension and uncertainty.

I motioned to him to do what I was doing and, with reluctance, he
approached to do so, his eyes darting from me to Maddie's other nipple,
as if he were half expecting me to take advantage of his diverted
attention to bash his head in. But gradually even that apprehension
passed and Maddie began actually responding, as if her own anxiety were
stepping aside in deference to arousal, just as my own rage had done
moments earlier.

She had never felt both her breasts being stimulated that way and in
time I began to see that she was actually becoming the wife I knew, a
woman of deep passion and sensitivity, and her fire was igniting again.

Still no more able to understand my actions than they were, I heard
myself address the young man, "I believe you and Maddie were engaged in
a particular activity when I interrupted you. Please, if you will, feel
free to resume."

Not very surprisingly, the guy was in no condition to resume anything. I
asked Maddie, still affecting that stiff formality, to assist him. Still
wary but nevertheless excited, she moved to place herself before him and
took his flaccid cock in her mouth. Eyes glancing frequently at me, she
began sucking him, hesitatingly at first, but then gradually growing in
her enthusiasm. Like Maddie and me before him, the fellow began to
unconsciously set aside his anxiety and respond to her skillful
ministrations and in time he had regained a splendid erection. As Maddie
settled down on the bed he took his place between her legs and, with a
final, questioning glance at me, placed his cockhead against my wife's
moist lips and again buried himself within her.

There was certainly a restraint in their coupling that had not been
there before my arrival, but it was vigorous anyway. And, even at the
sight of this stranger fucking the woman I loved, my sense of being in
control had, at least for the moment, set aside the insecurity that had
been part of my initial reaction, opening the path to full realization
of that theretofore tenuous arousal. The result was a rampant erection
of my own, one that did not go unnoticed by the others who now saw that,
beyond question, I was no longer a threat, at least for the moment.

Perhaps it was nervousness; perhaps it was that he was just plain ready,
but he didn't last long. With a few powerful strokes into her he spilled
his seed. I was by then totally absorbed by excitement and when he had
withdrawn I took his place, my eager member becoming thrilled with this
unique experience. For the time being this man was not an intruder, but
a guest: a guest in my home, and a guest in my wife. How I'd feel about
it all later I couldn't predict, but at that moment, that's how it was.

Thrusting with abandon, I found myself actually enjoying the slipping in
the guy's ejaculate. Maddie, once again in the familiar embrace of her
husband and absorbed by the reassurance of his desire for her, began
responding feverishly, meeting my strokes into her with power and drive.
Working to hold back, to prolong the excitement, I felt her actually
climax, something I'd never have expected under the circumstances. The
fact left me all the more convinced that her infidelity was not the
product of disaffection with me or our marriage, and that the
explanation for it, whatever it was, would be something we would be able
to work out with a minimum of damage.

That reassurance lifted my own spirit and I felt that delicious
absorption of my mind by the experience of being one with my wife's
body. Even our as-yet-unnamed guest seemed caught up in the sight; his
bemused expression had lost nearly all apprehension and he was getting
another erection. Well, he'll have to deal with that one on his own, I
thought; this is the coda of this symphony.

And, indeed, the coda was rapidly approaching. With Maddie climaxing
once more I was at the limit of my restraint. My thrusts going wild, I
felt her bucking with uninhibited passion and in moments I felt the
driving force of my orgasm as I spewed forth into her. The mad explosion
continued apace, blinding me with the pleasure,  and then it subsided.
We then slowed as this familiar experience, but enacted in such
unfamiliar circumstances, drew to a close.

At this point I normally like to stay inside Maddie, embracing her, but
there was other business that demanded attention. I withdrew and, lying
beside her, I told the young man, "My wife and I have some things to
discuss. It is time for you to take your leave." My manner was forceful,
unequivocal, and yet without threat. Clearly relieved to have gotten off
so easily - in all senses of the phrase - he gathered his clothes and,
his eyes still showing a vestigial incredulity, he departed.

Maddie, her aroused focus on sex having dissipated, once again looked
anxious. Despite the events of moments before she knew I still expected
and was entitled to an explanation.

"OK, Maddie," I said, my voice even and controlled, "the next question
is obvious. I await your explanation."

Crestfallen, she lowered her gaze from my eyes to a point somewhere on
my arm and fixed it there. She wanted to speak, I could tell, but could
not.

I continued, "I think you can tell that I'm not going tear you apart.
I'm pretty unhappy and I've got every reason to be, but right now I just
want to know, and I want to know what it will take to get this handled."

Her eyes rose again and locked with mine and I saw they were brimming
with tears. The anger within me hadn't gone away, nor did I expect it
to, but there was no point in flying off the handle. The shame and
remorse written on her features showed that she recognized and respected
the hurt she had inflicted upon me and the wish that she could erase it,
and that is all I could ask. I strove to make it as easy on her as I
could, and in doing so, on both of us.

It was a very long time before she spoke. "Rick, I...I can't..." She
struggled for her breath and for the words to express herself, "I don't
really understand it myself. Please believe me; I am..." Her eyes fell
again, her voice a deep, sincere entreaty, "I'm as confused as you are."

The pain in her voice was disarming and I felt the urge to enfold her,
embrace and comfort her as I had so many times before when something had
occurred in her life that had disturbed her. But I knew that in this
case I had to stand firm and resolute, but also to avoid seeming
threatening. It wasn't the easiest thing to do, but it was necessary.

"Please believe me when I tell you, "she continued through her
now-flowing tears, "that it's not you. I love you; I have never stopped
loving you. I never wanted to hurt you; this all just...just sort of
happened!"

"I tend to believe you, Maddie, "I replied, my manner softening with
each moment that passed, "but I still have to know how it 'just
happened.'"

"It's Gloria," said she, "I mean...I'm not saying it's her fault; it's
my responsibility; I know that. But it kind of started with her."

My forehead creased in confusion. What could our friend and neighbor
have to do with this?

"You know how Brian is," she continued.

Indeed I did. Brian, the odious clod, the consummate jerk, the only one
of those in our circle of acquaintances that we just wished would find
somewhere else to go. Preferably on another continent. It was only our
friendship with his wife Gloria that we ever deigned to see him at all.
How she ever endured him had been a mystery and I could see part of the
answer to that on its way before Maddie even had time to say it.

"I think I get the picture," I said, "She's been getting a little relief
on the side. Not all that surprising, under the circumstances."

"Exactly," Maddie replied, "She's so thoroughly fed up with Brian and
yet there are some practical reasons for not leaving him. He's not
physically violent but his psychological abuse is phenomenal. I've seen
some of it for myself; it's appalling."

I nodded in agreement. "Go on."

"Anyway, Glenn - that's the guy I was..." she caught herself just before
becoming painfully explicit, "anyway, she and Glenn have been getting
pretty routine about it. And she's gotten so blasé about it all that she
doesn't feel the slightest remorse about her affair."

"So she's getting back at Brian and she undoubtedly feels she has the
right. But what does that have to do with you?"

Maddie paused for a long while, once again looking down with that
crestfallen expression.

"She started talking about Glenn and how much fun he was. I just took it
in as ordinary chitchat, but then she started hinting that I should have
a little fun too, just once, just to see what it's like."

Confusion again set in. "But Maddie," I replied earnestly, "how can you
compare our life together with hers and Brian's? I can understand her
frustration and resentment, but - please just be honest - can you really
say it's at all like that with us?"

"No, Rick; not at all!" her reply was vehement. "It's nothing, nothing
at all the same! It's just that...well, the way she was goading me...I
guess that, as good as things are with us, we never seem to do anything
really wild, outrageous. And I knew, I mean deep down I *knew* that if
this happened it would be a one-time thing, something to experience and
then forget. It just didn't seem like an affair, nothing like Gloria's,
just a chance to do something really different and crazy, and then put
aside. I never dreamed that it would be anything but a little, harmless
fling."

"But sometimes 'harmless flings' turn into more, Maddie," I replied,
gravely.

"Yes, I know.  I do know that sort of thing can get dangerous," she
said, very softly and contritely, "but I just didn't think of that. And
honestly, Rick, now that it's actually happened, I don't think it would
have ever gone beyond just that once. I mean, before you came home I
could tell that it was fun, but nothing I'd ever really want to repeat.
I..." her voice softened further, "I really mean that, Rick. I'm not
just saying it. It's the truth."

I couldn't help but believe her. When you know someone for a long time
you can see when she's holding back and when she isn't. And she wasn't;
I knew it and I told her so.

I took a deep breath, marshaling my thoughts and emotions. "Actually,
Maddie, I think we can both call this just what it was, just what you
said it was. It was just a moment of craziness, of letting down your
guard, and I think there need be no lasting scars over it," said I.

Her response was to take a very deep breath, the kind that brings with
it an equally deep release of tension, and to embrace me strongly.

"You're so special," she said, barely above a whisper, "I'm a lucky girl
to have you."

"I know," I replied with mock vanity and a smile. It was the first
moment of lightness since this all began and I could feel her
appreciation in her further relaxation.

"You know, Maddie, "I continued, more softly, "this may surprise you,
but what really hurt about this wasn't so much what you did; it's the
way you did it behind my back. It's that clandestine aspect of it that
really cut so deep."

She winced at the words I had chosen.

"It's stumbling onto the sight of this happening that's the shocker. You
can't very well have expected me to figure out for myself what you just
told me, now could you?" I said, and watched her nod in agreement.

"And yet, you could see, couldn't you, that when I had temporarily put
aside the pain of all that, I actually found something exciting in it?"

"Yes; I could certainly see that. And I couldn't understand it. I'm
still not sure I do," she replied, incredulity returning to both her
voice and her face.

"I actually felt an exciting kind of pride, knowing that he was finding
out just what a hot, sexy wife I have, while at the same time knowing
that when it was over, he's the one that would be leaving and I'm the
one who'd be here with you, like this."

Her eyes met mine, the uncertainty remaining, but she was beginning to
sense something I had sensed, just minutes before.

"It...it sounds like you're leading to something," said she.

"Well, Maddie, it's like this," I replied, "suppose - just suppose, for
the heck of it - that the same thing were to happen, just once in a
while, but this time it's something we do together, by mutual agreement.
Suppose we could have that bit of outrageousness, that craziness that
you said you feel is missing in our relationship, but without the
sneaking around."

"You mean...like...swinging, that sort of thing?" she responded, shaking
her head incredulously but without any sign of distaste.

"Something like that. I don't think I'd care much for what some others
do, all random stuff with strangers. But I think I could actually enjoy
seeing you getting hot and heavy with someone who, let's say, is a good
trusted friend. That is, as long as I'm there to be, not just part of
it, but knowing I'm always your number one through it all." I replied,
the excitement at the prospect beginning to enter my voice.

"That's crazy!" Maddie replied, "But, I guess, no crazier than what just
happened here. And just like you said, maybe it's just that spice of
wildness that could make things better for two people who are wildly in
love with each other as it is!"

She punctuated her statement with a powerful kiss and a hug that almost
took my breath away.

"Well, let's think about it," said I when I had regained my breath,
"Give it a little time to percolate through the old gray matter. Who
knows? Maybe we'll discover a whole new dimension of what it means to be
husband and wife!"

      ****

So, the stage is set. Would you like to see Act Two? Just let Rick and
Maddie know; perhaps more adventures await them.


--****ATTENTION****--****ATTENTION****--****ATTENTION****--***ATTENTION***
Your e-mail reply to this message WILL be *automatically* ANONYMIZED.
Please, report inappropriate use to                abuse@anon.penet.fi
For information (incl. non-anon reply) write to    help@anon.penet.fi
If you have any problems, address them to          admin@anon.penet.fi