Lustly(14)

Love bites, just like the Def Leppard song from the eighties said it did.

My husband cozied his way on the couch and flipped on a sports network before drawing his attention to me. First his hand was on my leg, running it up my shorts until he hit panties. I pulled away. “What are you doing?”

“I missed you. The kids are upstairs, Lil. Come on. They won’t hear us.”

I felt like slapping the shit out of him. Did he really just spend days f*cking my neighbor only to come home and want to stick that dirty thing in me? I wondered how many times he’d done it before. I may as well have been f*cking Kate myself.

Maybe if I went over there and came on to her I’d feel better about it all.

Yeah right.

“I’m not in the mood, Charlie.”

“You’re never in the mood anymore.” He got up mumbling something under his breath.

I pulled a throw cover over my legs and watched him head upstairs. The nerve that he had thinking I would happily spread my legs as soon as he walked in the door. Perhaps if things were different I would have, but not anymore.

That night I waited for him to fall asleep before I made my way to bed. Going through the motions was difficult. When I looked at him I saw failure. My hate for him continued to grow as the affair became more apparent. Clearly he was juggling his sexual activities with Kate, while trying to be the family man when he was at home.

By the end of that next week I’d pushed away my thoughts about Ms. Cybil, and was focused on seeing what the lawyer had to say. I walked into his office feeling confident that I could pretend to live happy with my husband, until I figured out another way to be able to afford both the lawyer and a new place to call home, that would have enough room for all three of my children.



Mr. Polleras was sitting at his desk on the phone when I entered. Unlike the last time we’d met, he was dressed in a polo shirt and a pair of gray slacks. He spun his chair around to face me when he heard me come in, and held up his finger letting me know he’d be another second. I waited patiently, trying not to notice that he was staring at me.

When he finally hung up the phone he opened my folder and got right down to business. “Okay, how have things been going since the last time we spoke?”

I shrugged even though he wasn’t looking at me anymore. “Same. He’s still cheating.”

“Have you thought about proceeding with papers? Separating?”

I shook my head. “I can’t put my kids through that right now. I guess I’m here today to find out what it’s going to cost me, first. I need to know how much money I’m going to need to save to be able to walk away with you paid and a place to call home for me and my children.”

“Have you considered that you could take the house from him?”

“Yes, but he’s having an affair with the next door neighbor, so unless you can come up with a way to make her disappear or move to another country, I can’t go that route.” I paused for a moment. “Mr. Polleras, I -.”

“Eli. Just call me Eli.” His smile was beautiful. It was as if it let off pheromones that caused instant happiness.

“Fine, Eli. I have to think about my children first. I’ve never been one to consider myself a charity case, so please just give me some numbers.”

He stuck his pen behind his ear and leaned back in his chair. I was surprised when he folded his legs and leaned them on the desk. “The first thing you need to do to protect yourself in all of this is to get proof of his affair. While you’re working things out you need to be covered in case he comes to you for a divorce first.”

The thought had never dawned on me, and hearing him say that caused me to breakdown. I felt so awkward crying in front of this stranger, and as I tried to regain my composure, I heard his chair moving and him approaching me. He touched my arm and crouched down in front of me. I looked up and saw that he had a box of tissues. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s nothing. It happens a lot. Don’t even worry about it.” He waited until I patted my eyes. “I know it’s hard to talk about, but I’m giving it to you straight. If you’re going to be my client then we need to be in the know. I’m not saying that this will ever come out in court. Most of the time the husbands will walk away before they let their dirty little secrets out of the bag.”

I tried to smile, out of appreciation for this man giving me his free time. “I will find a way to repay you.”

“Let’s just talk about what needs to happen. I recommend letting my guys follow your husband and getting photographs, as well as audio to help us prove without a doubt that he is in fact having the affair. It’s not that I don’t believe you, but, need be, we will require undeniable proof. Once we have that, we’ll have leverage.”

I folded up the tissue and finally looked at him. He was so close to me, and his features really were magnificent. His dark eyes looked like he was wearing makeup, when I knew he wasn’t. He hadn’t shaved and his whiskers were dark with hints of gray throughout. When the room got quiet he stood up and kept talking to me. “For the most part, if you want to go about it how you say you do, we need to keep quiet. You can’t tell your closest friends or even your family members about what’s going on. Have you done that?”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t want anyone to know. I can’t hurt my kids.”