“No need, just doing my job.” She blurted. “I should get going.”
“Goodnight, Ms. Reed.” I replied.
“Goodnight, Melanie.”
“Mrs. Landon…” I corrected. I didn’t know her, and it was rude of her to assume she could call me by my first name.
“Of course.”
The water shut off just as I ended the call, and I dropped his phone back on top of his discarded pants. It was only a few moments later that Ben stumbled back into the bedroom, naked and still glistening with water.
“Ben, why is Peter’s secretary calling you at 2 a.m.?”
“What?” He spun around and looked at me.
“Peter’s secretary… just called you from the office.”
“That’s… she probably just wanted to make sure I got home.” He opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of boxers.
“She said that the clients kept you… Since when do you get drunk with clients?” I climbed back under the blankets and watched him. The muscles in his back tensed, and he didn’t answer right away.
“Melanie, can we talk in the morning?” He finally asked and turned to look at me. Ben looked exhausted as he bent down and grabbed his phone on his way to bed.
“I… I’m upset.” I admitted. This was entirely unfamiliar territory for me. Ben had never come home drunk like this before.
“I’m sorry.” He groaned and plugged his phone in before flopping down on the bed.
“I don’t need an apology; I just want to understand…”
“Tomorrow.” He snapped, and his phone vibrated on the table. He glanced at the screen and scoffed before swiping the notification away. “I can’t handle this conversation right now.” He rolled away from me.
“Okay…” I whispered, stunned by his attitude.
We both lay in silence for a few moments before he groaned again and rolled to face me.
“I’m sorry, baby.” He whispered and pulled me closer. “I love you.”
I didn’t reply. He must’ve decided I'd fallen asleep because after a few seconds, his breathing evened out, and he was out cold.
3-Ben
I fucked up.
That was all I could think to myself when I woke up in the morning and saw puffy, red-rimmed eyes on my beautiful wife. I knew I had made her cry the night before, even though the details were fuzzy.
The night before had started out as a dinner with clients, but at some point, the clients took their leave, and then Angela and I went to a club. She was a lot of fun outside of the office; the icy exterior slipped away as soon as her hair came down and was replaced by laughter, sexy smiles, and lots of dancing.
I had always been careful to keep my extramarital affairs separate from work because that’s how men got caught. I had a set of strict rules I followed to protect my marriage: nothing serious, three times max, no gifts, no declarations of love, fake names when possible, and always gloved up. While I had never fucked one of my coworkers, I had flirted with a few over the years. After meeting my wife, Angela started staying late at work with me, and we had carefully toed the line between flirty and inappropriate.
Until last night, when I stumbled home at two o’clock in the morning.
I knew Melanie hadn’t fallen for my story and that she was going to expect me to kiss her ass for the next few days before she pretended to believe me. The only thing that had worked out in my favor was that I had thought to switch Angela's contact name to ‘Peter-Work’ so it wouldn’t show as her personal phone, and that she had, without prompting, given me a great cover story.
I hadn’t fucked her last night, but there was definitely some intense making out and fondling in the alley behind the club. She was wild and uninhibited, and I knew I was eventually going to fuck her.
Melanie had an air of melancholy as she sat at the kitchen table drinking her coffee. She had left my mug next to the pot but hadn’t filled it because I took longer than usual to come downstairs. I needed the extra few minutes to double-check my chest and neck for any marks and to get the details of my story straight. With how fuzzy the night was, I was worried that I would contradict something I had said to her before I fell asleep.
“Melanie… baby.” I said softly as I sat down across from her and reached for her hand. She looked up at me slowly and tried to offer me a sad smile. I grimaced.
