Part 6 (2/2)

She snuggled more deeply between them, enjoying the contact. Thank you, she said. I really enjoyed that. You have no idea how much.

We enjoyed it, too.

It was almost closing time when Carl and Don left Venture. Marcia, Derrick, and Mel would be staying until closing.

The men sat in the car for a moment after getting in.

Wow, Carl said. That wasamazing.

No, s.h.i.+t, Don said. d.a.m.n, that was fun. I usually dont like playing with brand new newbies because its so stressful, but d.a.m.n.

I want it said right now, that I would not mind playing with her again.

Me, either. Don finally cranked the engine. She was something special. Ill be taking a shower before bed.

Well, if youre going to do that, then Ill go out to the hot tub so were not fighting for the hot water, because I suspect youre doing that for the same reason Im doing that.

They laughed. Yep, Don said. Probably.

Mel rolled over in bed the next morning and felt disoriented until she remembered she was in Marcia and Derricks guest room.

And she felt strange aches and pains here and there. Nice, but strange.

The good kind of strange.

When she went to use the bathroom, she turned and looked in the mirror, lifting the hem of the T-s.h.i.+rt shed slept in. Yep, she still had faint marks all over her back.

A delightful s.h.i.+ver raced through her as she thought about the scene shed had with the men. Definitely nothing as severe as some of the people shed seen play, but it had changed her life. There was no way she could continue with Mike.

She needed out, before she was too old to enjoy the life shed been given. She only had one shot at happiness, and Mike had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he had no interest in being a part of that happiness.

And, who knew, maybe he needed some dorky little wallflower who wanted to do nothing but sit at home and watch sports with him.

She was not that woman.

She wasnt even the same woman shed been the morning before when shed awakened and taken off to the beach to think.

And this woman needed to make some serious changes in her life.

Chapter Seven.

Wednesday morning, Mel was in Eds office at eight oclock and seated in front of his desk.

No children, correct?

Just the house, Mel told Ed. No pets, even. He was allergic to everything. Including me, apparently, she added. Or might as well have been the way hes avoided me.

Ed took notes. Cars?

Theyre in both our names, but theyre paid off. Hes already signed off on the t.i.tle on mine, and I signed off on the t.i.tle on his.

Bank accounts?

I took exactly half of what was in the savings account, and in the joint checking account. Although, technically, since I made more than him, I should have been ent.i.tled to more.

Maybe, but good luck arguing that in court if its even close. Judges like simplicity.

I dont think he believes Im filing for divorce, she said. I think he thinks this is some phase that Ill grow out of.

Thats not uncommon, he said. Denial by the spouse getting served. Or he likely thinks its some sort of attention-grabbing tactic on your part.

You might be right. He even sort of laughed when he signed my car t.i.tle last night, like he was humoring me.

Whatd he say about the bank accounts?

I havent told him yet. We each had our own spending accounts that the other cant access. They were left over from when we were single, before we got together. He probably hasnt even looked at the bank accounts yet. I did it last night. I filed paperwork on Monday with my job to send my direct deposit to that account instead of the joint account, and that next paycheck wont hit until next Friday. Its like hes not taking this seriously.

Hes not. Not right now. What about your stuff?

I rented a storage unit yesterday. And everyones meeting me over at the house at noon today to move. But I was going through stuff yesterday while he was at work, getting ready, you know? Youd think after fifteen years together that Id have more stuff to take. Most of the furniture I dont want. It was stuff he picked out and I let him. Id rather get my own. I packed my dishes and stuff that I wanted, my clothes, pictures, books, DVDs, all of that. But I didnt realize until the time came to do this that Ive let him pretty much direct my whole life.

Funny how that works, huh? He stopped and took his gla.s.ses off to meet her gaze. Sorry, I shouldnt make light of it like that, but this isnt anything I havent seen before with divorces, unfortunately.

When did this happen to me? I didnt realize how I pretty much rolled over to him on everything all through our marriage. If there was something our opinions differed on, pro or con, hed basically badger me, or p.i.s.s and moan, or even pout, until I gave in and did things his way. He didnt really bully me, either. It just got easier to give in. I guess I got into a habit of automatically giving in without even thinking about it. What the h.e.l.l is up with that?

Again, not uncommon. One partner wants to keep the peace and subverts themselves, their personality, even. It can happen with little things, or on an abusive level.

He never abused me, she quickly said. Consensually or not. He never laid a finger on me.

Mentally?

Not really, no. Yeah, he reacted badly when I confronted him a few weeks ago about how bad things were between us, but its not like he called me a lot of names or bullied me around.

I thought you said he called you sick for liking romance and BDSM books?

Well She stopped to think.

Yeah, that was pretty much exactly what hed said. But it was just about that. Not about everything.

You sure?

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