Customize Your Marriage Revised 01

Author's Notes:

This is a revision of my original story, Customize Your Marriage Pt. 1. I write stories because they are enjoyable to write and/or I want to tell a specific story. The hope is that you enjoy reading them. With the original story, the feedback was that there were significant issues preventing readers from enjoying it. I believe I can still tell the same story that I want, but do it in a way that is enjoyable to readers, i. e., write a better story.

I have removed Edward's POV. He is still a character, but hopefully, without having to read events from his perspective, the story will be more enjoyable. Anything that was his previous POV will either happen from another character's POV, will be summarized, or may just not be presented in this version.

I have also revised the beginning. The original start was intended as a red herring when this was a much shorter story. In its current evolution, I do not think that introduction serves its purpose anymore. This is not a cheating husband/wife story. There will be discussion of prior cheating later in the story, but the point is to discuss the consequences or characters' views of it. Ultimately, this story is about promises, who we make them with, what we do to keep them, and the consequences of keeping or breaking them. Nothing about that has changed with this revision.

Finally, there is still a trigger warning for sexual assault. Please heed it if needed. The relevant information is summarized in Pt. 2

Oh, and yes, I changed Lawrence to Philip in this version. I didn't like Lauren and Lawrence.

Scott's POV

Something was... cold? No, not cold, but cool. Breezy. Yeaah, that was the word, breezy. Why was it breezy? What was going on? My eyes were closed. The bed felt scratchier than normal. I pushed my arm towards the breeziness, ughh thinking is hard, and that word sounds dumb.

Thunk! Pfffffffbbbbbbbbbttttttttttttttttt!

I opened my eyes just in time to see that my blind groping had found the source of the breeze and created a god-awful clatter. Yay for multi-tasking.

Someone had placed a mini fan near my head, blowing straight down the blankets. It was the kind you hold in your hand, portable enough to take anywhere. My reach had knocked it over, and the fan blades, thankfully flexible plastic, were now beating a staccato tattoo out on a wooden table. I heard a soft, high-pitched giggle that sounded extremely familiar. "Hi Scott", another giggle followed this greeting.

Tina! That's whose voice it was. What the hell was Tina doing in my bedroom? That thought made me finally fully open my eyes, bolt upright in bed, and throw back the blanket, determined to find out what was going on. Oh, not my bed. That was my first thought, Tina beat me to my second.

"Oh, good morning, Scott", Tina's voice was sultry this time. "I thought I'd get a little rise out of you with the fan, but I didn't think it would be that big. Or thick."

Yep, I was naked. Naked, in the front room of my house. Which made some sense as I didn't have a table at the head of my bed where a fan could be placed. The nightstand was too low and not at the right angle, the dresser too far away and too tall. But having fallen asleep on the couch, yep, there was a table where a probably evil-minded person could place a fan that would blow straight down an innocent man's blankets.

But getting back to naked. I had thrown off the blanket, which meant that Tina, easily my wife and I's best friend, was now treated to the sight of my very naked body, and something I'm normally proud of, my morning wood.

"Shit", I screeched, manfully hopefully. I grabbed the blankets in a wad and thrust it into my crotch. Well, such was my rush that blanket or not, I had basically just punched my family jewels. Great way to start the day.

Trying to keep my breath even and forcing an embarrassed smile on my face. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your lovely company this morning?" I asked Tina. "And why on God's green earth would you put a fan blowing down a man's blanket when he is sleeping?" I grabbed the still-running fan with my non-blanket-holding hand and switched it off.

"Remember last night when I told you my coffee maker was broken and you said I could use yours? Well, I thought I would take you up on your offer. But when I came over, you were on the couch, I assume Lauren is upstairs in bed, and the fan was just lying around. I was hoping it would be funny." She ended with a bit of a blush and a bashful glance at me.

"I, oh yeah, I do remember", I lied lamely. I didn't actually, but if she had told either Lauren or me anything was broken, we definitely would have offered our own. That's what you do for your best friend. If she had just been a neighbor, probably not, but best friend, yes, obviously we offered.

I took a deep breath. Here I was, in my own home, with only a blanket covering part of me, and a woman who was not my wife sitting across from me. Another deep breath. The adrenaline rush would wear off in a few minutes at most, and until then, I just needed to control it. I had plenty of practice with that. Lots of practice that I hated every second of and wouldn't wish on anyone else.

Focus on something. That was easy, Tina. I could tell it was early because the sun was just beginning to peek through the large front window. Tina sat just to the side of the window, curled up on the chaise. She was cute, that was the universally agreed-upon way to describe Tina. Short, barely 5'2" on a good day, petite everything. Red hair just brushed her shoulders, a small, round face, button nose, brown eyes, small mouth, and what I called a ballerina's body. This morning's pre-coffee outfit was a deep violet t-shirt and navy running shorts. Like I said, cute, even when blushing after seeing me naked.

"Since when do you make dirty jokes?" I said in a teasing voice.

Tina blushed again. "Since you and Lauren told me not to take other people's crap and fire it back at them", she said.

Oh right. Tina was cute, with a heart of gold, very smart, and painfully reserved. It wasn't shyness necessarily. Shy people usually just take more time to get comfortable with people or prefer smaller, more intimate groups. Tina just had trouble with everything when it came to herself. Asking for help, standing up for herself, and offering ideas as her own. She was one of the most amazing, beautiful souls I had ever met, and Lauren was determined that others would see what we saw in Tina.

"Ha, good for you. I'll take the compliment to my size as payment for sticking a goddamn fan down my blankets." I was chuckling now and shaking my head. Only Tina would come up with such an innocent prank and have it turn so dirty.

"Cool. I thought it was good. But why are you naked on the couch?" She gasped and covered her mouth after she said that. "Oh no! Did Lauren kick you out? Was it something I said last night? I should go, right? You two probably need to talk."

I started to raise my hand in astonishment at the sudden flood of words. But she talked right over me.

"Wait, no! Oh, I saw you naked. I need to talk to Lauren." She jumped off the chaise and moved towards the kitchen and presumably the stairs. "I'm so sorry, Scott. I'll tell her it was my fault and you were asleep." Her voice had gotten progressively higher-pitched and panicked sounding.

I had been trying to get a word in somewhere during her increasingly panicked word vomit, to no avail. So I whistled. Not low and soft, or even the universally despised "looking good babe" whistle men do at women. Nope. Two fingers in the mouth, fill the lungs as much as possible, and let out a piercing, shrill, attack on every eardrum within 100 yards. Lauren was going to kill me if she were still asleep.

"Tina", I said gently after my very rude whistle stopped her in her tracks. "Lauren is going to laugh her ass off when we tell her what happened this morning," I emphasized we, trying to make sure she understood this had been a team effort. After all, I was still trying to figure out why I had slept naked on the couch when my front room has a gigantic window that faces a busy street.

"Laugh my ass off at what you perv", came Lauren's voice from the stairs.

Lauren's POV

I let them explain what had happened in the kitchen, planning to avail myself of the coffee Tina had so fortuitously started. Well, I was standing behind the island facing Tina, who was sitting on a barstool. Scott had bashfully wrapped the blanket more fully around himself into something like a toga, if togas had 90% of their material stuffed around your crotch and ass. Lucky for Scott, that left many parts of his upper body and legs sticking out, and those were always nice eye candy. He was sitting at the kitchen table, seeming to feel that keeping distance between himself and Tina was best.

I tried so hard to keep a straight face. I almost got to the end. They were so adorable, stumbling over each other's words. Jumping in anytime they thought that there might be any potential for misinterpretation of what the other said. I think I had heard seven different attempts to explain Scott's nakedness and what exactly Tina had seen for exactly how many seconds before I couldn't do it.

I grinned. That led to me trying to hide the grin behind a hastily grabbed coffee mug that just happened to say "Freak in the Sheets" with an Excel symbol on it. I couldn't take it anymore. I almost threw the mug back on the counter as I doubled over, holding my belly while laughing.

"Oh my fucking God", I wheezed between full-throated out of control laughter. "Your faces. Your fucking faces."

Tina looked even more like she wanted to die, and I almost got myself under control, feeling a rush of sympathy for her. Almost, because Scott was scowling, and that set me off on another round of howling laughter.

"Lauren..." Scott said in his "I'm a scary adult and you need to act your age" type of voice. Too bad he wasn't a father yet; his kids were going to get never-ending enjoyment out of absolutely ignoring the big softy's attempt to be scary.

"I'm sorry. Ok, no, I'm not, but that was amazing." I mimed wiping a tear from my eye. "Oh, you guys, that was even better than I hoped. I mean Tina, I'm so sorry but I knew Scott was down here and you were coming over, I just-". My voice was drowned out by Tina.

"What do you mean you hoped?" she screamed. "You planned this? You wanted me to... I saw Scott's... How could you do this?" Her eyes were tearing up by the end, actual tears this time.

There are two people in this world that I will defend against everyone else. Two people to whom everyday I promise that their happiness comes first. One of them was Scott, who the world knew that I had publicly promised everything I could give him. The other, I made the same promise to, though they didn't know it. But I had silently vowed the same for Tina many times. When I saw her in tears because of me, I broke.

I rushed around the island, enfolded her in my arms, and started stroking her hair. "Oh Tina", I almost wept with her. "I'm so sorry. No, I didn't actually plan for this to turn out this way." I kept stroking her hair, but pulled back just a little so I could look in her eyes. I could see how vulnerable and confused she was, but she was at least meeting my gaze.

"Honey, please forgive me", I said. "Scott was drinking last night with us, remember? Well, when you left, he stopped moderating himself and went all in. He tried to do a sexy striptease for me, but once he was naked, he fell over on the couch and then started telling me about how nice the pillows were." I didn't bother to glance over at Scott to see his reaction. I wasn't judging him for getting that drunk; it had been a hell of a week at work, and I knew that sometimes you needed to mute life's volume, so to speak. Plus, all that mattered right now was Tina; Scott would be fine.

"I tried to get him up to bed, but he was really into the pillows", I continued. "So I grabbed some blankets and tucked him in. You know he's too heavy to try and wrangle up those stairs when he's a limp noodle. I thought that you would probably come over while he was passed out. You would either turn around and leave or be quiet as a mouse so as to not wake him. At most, he might wake up, and he would be embarrassed hiding that he was naked until you left or I brought him some clothes."

I dropped to my knees and grabbed both of Tina's hands. "I promise that's the truth, and I am so sorry for putting you in this position." I held my breath, waiting for her response.

She nodded gently and sniffled. "It's ok. I was just so worried because he was naked, and you weren't here. I didn't want to lose you or cause a problem between you two. Then you said it was planned, I guess it threw me off."

I started to take a deep breath...

"But now that I've seen it, I'm renaming my dildo Scott", she squeaked out.

... and suddenly I was choking because trying to take a deep breath and comprehend what just came out of Tina's mouth was too much to do all at once.

The kitchen was deathly silent for a moment after I got my choking under control. Then, Scott cleared his throat and stood up from the table. Clutching the toga blanket contraption, he tried to imitate a gallant bow.

"I would be honored, my lady", he said with an attempt at a posh British accent.

Scott's POV

"So why is Philip having a party this time?" I asked Lauren. I glanced over at her in the passenger seat of our 4Runner. She had been deeply engrossed in her phone ever since Tina had left that morning. It wasn't all texting, as there were long bouts of slowly scrolling like she was reading something. I assumed at least some of the texting was with Tina.

I shook my head. This morning had been a lot. The cold air, Tina, me naked, Lauren scaring the shit out of us, yeah it had been a lot. At least it distracted me from my hangover for a while. Maybe that would be my billion-dollar idea for hangover cures, but nah, too much planning required the night before.

"Believe it or not, I think this party is actually more for Marianne", Lauren said after finishing typing on her phone and tucking it against her stomach. "Philip hired their son to be the new international legal director. So it's a welcome home party and welcome to the company all in one."

"Wait, son", I asked as my memory struggled to catch up. "I thought they couldn't have kids or refused or something?"

Lauren took a deep breath, and I could see her face settle into business mode.

"You're right. They had some issues and chose not to have kids. But Marianne's kid sister was killed, Marianne's nephew was nine at the time. I guess they were the closest family, so they took the kid in and raised him. Not sure if they adopted him or not, but Marianne calls him her son. Philip doesn't talk about him, but Marianne does."

That got a raised eyebrow out of me. Philip loved boasting about anything he could claim credit for. Hell, Lauren had only worked for him for two years now, and by the end of the first year, Philip would lecture me on how he had turned Lauren into the world's next great business tycoon. I smiled during these talks, knowing that Lauren had been capable of anything she wanted long before Philip was involved.

Lauren responded to my non-verbal question, "Yeah, it's a tough situation. I mean, how could it not be? His biological mom died when he was a kid, there must be something with bio-dad for him not to raise him. Marianne considers him her own son, then you've got the weirdness of Philip and Marianne's relationship."

Lauren paused at the end for almost a full minute. For all of his faults, we both liked Philip, and I knew she tried not to speak ill of him as her boss. But where she liked Philip, she adored Marianne. The woman was beauty, grace, class, and warmth. Moving out here had been hard on Lauren, and Marianne had been a great help getting us settled. I didn't know Marianne nearly as well as Lauren did, but what I did she was good people.

"Philip said he plans to make him his successor. How that works with the board, I don't know, but it was weird. He didn't seem excited. I mean, I know he wants to retire, but can't bring himself to admit he's old enough and is no longer the great titan building the company from nothing, but it seemed like this was... I dunno; it was off. No boasts of how great this guy was or how he finally found someone worthy to take over the company he built. Philip just said he was keeping the company in the family."

"I mean, nepotism isn't always bad", I rejoined lightly. "It got me out of the Army after all."

"Haha", she said in a flat voice. She patted my knee. "You got yourself out of the Army and were going places regardless of your dad."

She paused again. "Let's just hope for minimum drama today. There's enough of that at work with the split and Philip hiring his nephew, who might be his son."

"So, does nephew have a name, or do I get to call him wonderboy?"

"Edward", Lauren responded.

Philip's POV

I had considered whether I should make a big deal about Edward's entrance to the club. In the end, I went with the path of least resistance. I knew no matter what I did, it wouldn't be well received by him, so I didn't bother to do anything. Besides, of course, pre-tipping the valets, coat check, and reception to text me when he showed up. It was both a payment for services and also my apology to them. Marianne paid all of her staff well, took care of them beyond just money, really, and it showed, but you could never do too much to compensate for my nephew.

I was therefore well forewarned when he showed up and made his way to our little party. I watched him make his way immediately towards Marianne. That was no surprise. She was the only person he actually cared about. Marianne had been speaking with several of the newer staff of Durant, trying to make them feel welcome, no doubt.

When Edward approached, she welcomed him warmly. I felt my stomach clench. Decades later, it was still the same reaction. I thought I could have gotten over it if I actually liked the kid, but from the very start, he did everything he could to ensure that would never happen. His loss, I was amazing if I said so myself.

I left Edward and Marianne alone so that they could catch up. I knew how much it meant to her that he was back. Meanwhile, I mingled with all of my employees. I tried to emulate Marianne and find the newer staff, but I had my favorites, and it showed. It was much more enjoyable to throw back a beer with a guy I had known for years than get to know yet another my shit doesn't stink fresh law school graduate.

Eventually, I had to grab Ed and do at least a bit of an introduction. Not that either of us wanted it, but this whole thing was about him after all. I figured short and sweet would be best, so I didn't punch him, and he would have less to nitpick about.

"Thank you very much for coming here today. I know it's Friday night, but I hope the free booze and amazing food courtesy of Marianne and her excellent staff have made this at least a little worthwhile. Anyone who disagrees will be fired on Monday." My joke got a few courtesy chuckles, as it should, since I was the boss.

"Well, I know none of you actually came to hear me gab, so let me just introduce our guest of honor today. Edward Rogle will be joining Durant starting Monday as a Director of Legal. I'll let him tell you of his many accomplishments so that I don't embarrass him. I hope you all give him a warm welcome and help him get up to speed with not only our business but all the exciting changes we are undergoing."

There was a brief applause as I stepped away from the microphone. Several people saw that as their opportunity to leave and promptly ducked out the door. Lucky bastards.

I spent the next hour introducing Edward to everyone who remained. I tried to be gracious and mostly act as conversational grease, but damnit, the kid was the worst. You could see the stick up his ass from space because he flaunted it. His time away had only made it grow from ginormous to truly legendary proportions. Oh well, not my ass.

I kept a subtle eye on Marianne. She had moved to the patio with Lauren and Scott, I envied her. Scott was a good man, and Lauren essentially ran the company for me. I glanced at Edward as he made yet another condescending comment barely disguised as a joke. If there were any justice in the world, Lauren would take my place, or at least an executive position. Instead, I had to ensure the least deserving person in the room got to take over my legacy.

I sighed internally. After everything I had done, everything I had thrown away to build this company, it was poetic in a way. I cared only for building something and left everything else by the wayside. I glanced again at Marianne. Now I was forced to turn over the keys of my kingdom to someone who was both the fruit of my disregard and also the future destruction of everything I had built.

Age brings melancholy and ridiculous body aches, I thought. I caught Marianne's eye, and she gave me a subtle nod. That was my cue that I could make the last introduction Eddy needed and end this farce. Well, end it for now. Monday would start it all over again until my eventual retirement. I steered Eddy towards Marianne, Lauren, and Scott.

Lauren was beautiful in an athletic and severe way. Deep red hair was pulled into a bun, with some left artfully curled to hang loose. A sleeveless green blouse showed that her arms were toned. She was on the taller side for a woman, 5'10" if I remember correctly. She worked hard at everything and many accused her of having a resting bitch face. Heh, that might be true, but the woman was pure gold. A sharp wit that she was happy to turn against herself as others in jest, and iron determination. It made working with her a joy.

Scott was wearing a maroon long-sleeve button-up shirt that contrasted with several leather bracelets on his wrists. Most men in attendance wore a tie; he was a rare exception, but then the bracelets and tattoos peeking out at his wrist and neck set him apart from many of the pretty-faced lawyers I thought. That was reinforced by his long beard and the shaved sides of his head. Together, I thought Lauren and Scott looked like a modern-day Viking couple. Reveling in life and impeccably dangerous when needed.

Scott's POV

Philip was a big man. Probably 6'7" and broad-shouldered enough, you wondered how he fit through doors. Years ago, in his youth, I would have bet that much of the bulk was hard muscle. Now, it was obvious that he was not as active, and while he carried the weight well, it was definitely not all muscle.

It did, however, make a great contrast against his nephew. I had watched them make the rounds; sue me, but situational awareness is something you don't lose. Edward, as we had been explicitly told to call him, was handsome. Probably 6'2" on most days, medium build, and wearing the hell out of a navy three-piece suit. His black hair was long but combed backwards; my first thought was Bradley Cooper: goatee, strong, prominent jawline, and the body you get from watching what you eat while hitting the gym hard regularly without being a gym rat.

He was also fucking pissed.

Situational awareness, right? This kid, guy, I amended as he was obviously about a decade older than me, was ready to stab someone. If I were taking bets, it would be Philip. Everything in his posture was rigid. He stood far enough away from Philip that it was obvious he didn't want to be friendly, but not far enough to be noticeably awkward. Whatever Philip did, Ed had to try and make it his own. Philip introduced him with a joke? Ed jumped in before the audience could laugh with his own joke. Couldn't let Philip lead anywhere, but was trying not to show it. This was going to be a great conversation.

"Lauren, Scott", Philip began his intro. "This is Edward, my nephew on my wife's side. He will be joining us as a new director of legal." Philip's voice was always booming and mirthful, but those sentiments were a little muted in his eyes.

"Edward, I would like you to meet Lauren Útlaga. She is my executive assistant and runs more of this company than anyone else."

Edward put his hand forward to shake Lauren's with a curt "It's a pleasure."

"And her husband, Scott, who does security."

"Nice to meet you, Edward", I started to say.

"Security. Then aren't you supposed to be working, not drinking?" Edward cut me off.

I glanced at the half-empty bottle of beer, my second over the course of three hours. "Umm, not actually working today." A light went off in my head on how to salvage this for Lauren's sake. "Oh right, nah, I'm not fancy enough to do security for the club. Marianne has better taste than that," I joked, trying to defuse what had abruptly become a very tense conversation.

Edward's grin reminded me of nothing more than a shark tasting blood. "Mother", he heavily emphasized the word, "has impeccable taste. I apologize for assuming you were on the clock. Partying it up before heading to the pit?"

The pit, or hell pit, or much worse adjectives in front of "pit", was what locals called the waste treatment facility outside of town. Because saying it smelled like your armpit was being nice. I put my arm around Lauren as I felt her open her mouth, ready to eviscerate the handsome man-baby in front of us. Nephew of the boss be damned.

"Well, someone has to", I forced a chuckle. "I'm just lucky they give us uniforms to keep on-site so I don't smell coming home. I think that smell would test the strongest love. What was it that you always say it smells like Philip? Something about twice-dead decaying rats in cow pies?"

Happy to have the conversation back on him, Philip belted out his laughter and then proceeded to explain just how bad it smelled. From there, he naturally began complaining that, as bad as the smell was, at least it was better than how his favorite football team played in their last game. I could feel Lauren was still ready to cut Ed from groin to neck and wouldn't feel even a hint of guilt about it, so I gently squeezed her. She looked at me for a second before joining Philip and I's discussion of what went wrong last Sunday with Philip's team.

Lauren's POV

The party had gone much later than I expected, and Scott was driving us home in the near dark. I studied my husband in silence for the first 10 minutes before I couldn't take it.

"Why would you let him do that?" I asked, sharper than I had intended. The words stood out in what had been companionable silence before. I was hoping I didn't have to explain what I meant, there was only one thing the entire afternoon that I could even possibly be upset about.

"Because the dude thinks he's an alpha. You saw it too. He couldn't be second to anyone or anything." Scott's response was much quicker and blander than I had expected.

"So, because he has an ego, you are just going to let him walk all over you. Since when did you let anyone disrespect you?"

"Because he's an idiot, and everyone else knew it." Again, Scott's words were quick, and there was no heat or even hint of defensiveness at my pointed inquiry.

"Explain. Because now I have to work with a guy who thinks my husband smells like shit."

Scott sighed. "You know the crap about manliness, alphas vs betas, this whole messed up shit that men created for themselves that is destroying us? He's in it. The whole thing. Believes every word of how some are alphas and others can't help but follow. That leading makes you inherently better, and because you are better, everyone needs to know it." Scott was finally getting a little worked up, but I could tell it was at the topic, not at me.

"So he spends every minute of every day having to prove to himself that he is this better man, the alpha. Nothing else matters or exists to him if he's not. He hates Philip and has written him off." I nodded along, Ed hadn't really bothered to hide the animosity he felt.

"... you are a woman, so obviously, in his mind, you have to be attracted to alphas. And an alpha, that fucked up construct that he has created, would show he's an alpha immediately. Put down the competition, show the girl who is the best, all that. So he takes a stab at my job, trying to make me seem less. Which everyone except him in that conversation knew was crap."

"So he feels better in his mind. Me, you, and Philip, know the truth that I definitely don't smell like shit and Ed is just making a fool of himself. But even if they didn't..." Scott paused and looked over at me.

"I'm man enough to know who and what I am. As long as who I am is enough to make you happy and I am happy with who I am, that's all that matters."

I grabbed Scott's hand off the shifter, gave it a quick kiss, and then held it to my cheek. "I love you." Scott smiled and started to respond, I didn't let him.

"But you can go fuck yourself if you think I'm going to listen to him tell me or anyone else that you smell like shit and even if you did there is nothing wrong with that." I had shifted my grip on his hand to his pinky finger, in a way both he and I knew wouldn't require too much force to break it. "Fuck your self-securedness, you are awesome and could fold Edward", I drug out every syllable of his name and made it sound as pretentious as possible, "into a pretzel so he could finally smell his own shit."

Scott was chuckling, probably both because he knew that I was just as capable of folding Ed into a pretzel verbally and physically, but also because I would definitely break his finger if he disagreed with me.

"What's Tina doing tonight?" Scott asked in a blatant attempt to change the subject. "You two made plans for us yet?"

"She's got a date that her mom strong-armed her into", I said blithely. "So I expect she will be over around 9:00 to tell us just how bad it was." I released his hand as a sign that I accepted his surrender regarding Edward, I drew out every syllable again in my head.

"Poor Tina", Scott chuckled. "Her mom's taste is terrible. Want to continue the Brooklyn 99 binge until she gets here?"

"Nope", I leaned over and whispered in his ear. "You're going to take me home, fold me in half, and fuck me until I'm not angry anymore." Yep, I'm a cliche, but sometimes I liked it when Scott made me feel helpless after making decisions all day. Besides, he loved feeling like he was taking advantage of my poor, helpless, super sexy body sometimes, too.

-------*STOP HERE FOR TRIGGER WARNING*--------

"Ummmmm, that was good", I said as I stretched my arms above my head. I lay my head on my husband's chest and threw a bare leg over his. "No, that was perfect."

"You are perfect", he said as he kissed my hair.

"Obviously", I said, because how else can you respond to such a corny line?

We had made it home after the work social, promptly threw all our clothes on the floor of our bedroom, and yes he had fucked me with my ankles practically at my ears. Completely displayed for him and was open for anything he wanted. Then thinking we still probably had time before Tina's date was over, I sucked him hard for round two that was gentle loving. Both times were great. Sometimes, you need hard and fast to get rid of everything else and make it so you can even enjoy making love.

"Tina's late", Scott's voice rumbled above my head and competed with his beating heart in my ear pressed against his chest.

"I told her to text before coming over", I said, laughing. "Wouldn't want her seeing your disfigured dick twice in one day."

"You mean my disfigured dick that had you screaming how good it was", he retorted.

"I lied, sorry babe."

My phone started buzzing, cutting off Scott's reply. "Oh, that's probably her", I said as I twisted over to grab my phone off the nightstand. I didn't want to roll all the way off Scott, so I settled for halfway rolling and then stretching my arm as far as it could go. This caused my back to arch and presented my breasts prominently to Scott.

"Hey Tina", I said as I answered the phone. Then slapped Scott as he took advantage of my inability to fight back and sucked my right nipple into his mouth.

"L.. L.. La", I heard Tina sobbing so hard she couldn't even form a full word.

"Tina, are you ok?" I shouted and, at the same time, whipped around to the side of the bed and sat up. In my rush, I totally forgot about Scott's mouth and ended up ripping the nipple right through his teeth. Yeah, that was going to leave a mark.

"Tina, talk to me, honey", I pleaded. "What happened? Where are you? Are you hurt?"

"I'm... I was... Lauren... help." Tina's sobbing was only getting worse, but I heard that last word.

"We're coming to get you, ok? Everything is going to be ok, Tina. Scott and I are coming for you." I flipped my phone to speaker so I could start hastily grabbing clothes. I didn't bother taking the time to look at Scott; either he would figure it out, or he could drive naked.

"She's at 12th and Pine", came Scott's muffled voice. I assumed he was getting some semblance of clothing on as well. "Just checked her GPS."

"Ok, Tina, we are about 20 minutes away from you. Is there a store or a restaurant you can wait inside of?" I kept my voice calm but firm, knowing that whatever was going on, Tina didn't need my anxiety. Inside I was completely freaking out.

"Yeah, umm there's..... DQ", came the still-sobbing, timid reply.

By the time I had talked Tina through getting inside the building, Scott and I were already driving. I kept Tina on the phone, trying to think of anything to keep her talking. It was obvious I wasn't going to get any answers from her about what happened, but I knew I couldn't hang up.

Normally, Scott is a very mature and reasonable driver. He had taken all the defensive driving courses for his job and knew the number one priority was arriving alive. Slow is fast. Tonight, he was driving like he was playing GTA, and I had serious doubts if we were going to arrive alive. Or I would have those doubts when I replayed the night in my head; at the time, I couldn't spare any thoughts for anything not immediately connected to Tina.

Roughly 15 minutes after leaving, thank you GTA and lack of cops, Scott pulled up in front of the DQ doors. He didn't bother parking, just drove right in front of the door and slammed the brakes.

"You go", he started to say, but I was already leaping out of the vehicle.

I slammed through the door and scanned frantically for Tina. It wasn't hard to pick her out. Gorgeous redhead, wearing an olive green, butterfly-sleeved, ruched waist dress, sitting alone at a table. Oh, and she was staring down at nothing with a face that had snot and tears all over it, sobbing, but with a completely blank look.

"Tina", I may have shouted. "Honey, I'm here. I'm here." I ran toward her table and pulled her into a full-body hug. Screw what anyone else thought.

Scott barreled through the doors less than 30 seconds later. Maybe slightly less panicked, but he looked like he would walk right over anything that got in his way. He took the other side of Tina, but as his hand touched her shoulder, she flinched away.

"Don't... no... no", she sobbed into my chest. I looked up at Scott and felt my heart breaking. On the drive over, I had gone over every possible and impossible scenario I could think of. But her flinching away from his touch made me sick, as I felt it all but confirmed the worst.

"It's ok, Tina. I'm here. You're safe", I kept repeating that as a mantra. Stroking her hair and back, I just held her and tried to keep softly repeating those same seven words.

Maybe 10 minutes passed before she pushed away from me a little. I tried to meet her eyes, but she shook her head and looked at Scott.

"M'sorry", came out in a mumbled rush. "I..."

Scott cut her off, "You have nothing to apologize for, Tina."

She nodded, then closed her eyes. I moved closer again so I could stay in physical contact. I had no idea if that was a good thing or a bad thing, if what I feared had actually happened, but it was the best I could think of.

"I need..." she trailed off. "I... there's.... people... we um talk". She was still looking at the floor and nothing else.

"Could we talk in the car, Tina?" I asked gently. "Scott can wait here."

He was already pulling his keys out of his pocket before Tina could respond.

"No, I'm... Scott", she looked up at him again with eyes that were completely devoid of hope. "You... I'm safe... you?"

"Always", came Scott's gentle reply. "Anything for you, Tina."

She nodded and went back to staring at the floor.

"Scott, please pull the car up to the door", I said over the top of her head. "We will meet you."

My beautiful husband didn't hesitate or ask questions. Just grabbed his keys and was immediately out the door.

Getting Tina up required a bit more. She didn't fight me, but she didn't seem to register most of what I was saying. Even tugging on her arm to try and get her to stand didn't do much. I had just gotten her mostly standing when I saw another woman gently grab her other arm. I'm not sure Tina even realized it wasn't me touching her.

Between the two of us, we managed to half walk, half drag Tina to the door. Scott jumped out of the car and opened the back seat door for her. He backed away after the door was opened, clearly having come to the same conclusion from her flinch. The nameless woman helped me get Tina seated, buckled, and then gently shut the door.

I turned to thank her, only to find her right in my face.

"That young lady is going to the hospital right now, and I am following you there. If I see you so much as put a blinker on that isn't taking you on the quickest route to the hospital, I am calling 911, and so help me God, I will see you both arrested, innocent or not." Her face, which had been kind while helping me with Tina, was completely changed. I imagined that face was what a lot of people saw before they were murdered. Impeccable determination to follow in the chosen course of action and damn any and all consequences.

Scott stepped forward slowly behind her and cleared his throat. "You really think. I mean..."

She whipped around, and even Scott, who had probably about 10 inches on her, stepped back. "Give me your phone", she said, holding out her hand.

Scott complied without a word. Pulled his phone out, unlocked it, and gave it to someone he had never met before.

A few finger taps later, I heard a buzzing from her back pocket. She grabbed her own phone and answered it.

"Ok. That stays on speaker the whole way. It drops, I call the police."

Scott nodded like it was the most reasonable thing in the world. He gestured to the parking lot. "Grab your car and pull up behind us. I'll stay out here until you are ready."

I jumped in the back seat next to Tina to try and comfort her. I just got another blank stare.

The drive to the hospital was a blur. I do remember at one point hearing from Scott's phone, "Pull up to the ER. I let them know you are coming."

It turns out our new friend was some kind of administrator at the hospital. As soon as we pulled up, several nurses immediately helped Tina out and whisked her away from us. Scott and I were told in no uncertain terms that we were not family and no way in hell were we going to be allowed to stay with her. As our new "friend" put it, most sexual assault victims know their aggressor.

We did hear, much later, that Tina had agreed to a rape kit but afterwards they had sedated her for the night. Meanwhile, Scott and I got to visit with the police. Turns out our state mandates that rape kits be reported to the police, though I got lost in how victims still have the right not to report for privacy?

I nearly broke both of the officer's noses several times, well, I thought about it. My brain told me that they were trying to protect Tina. My heart wanted to burn everything to the ground that was keeping me from being there for her. The only part I vividly remember is telling the officer that Tina's mom set her up on the date, showing him the texts from Tina confirming that, and asking that her mother not be admitted. I have no idea if that did anything, but it felt like the only thing I could do at the time.

Scott's POV

Long fucking hellish nights are a fact of life in combat zones. Waiting on the edge of a precipice, unable to do anything. Knowing that at any moment things can change, and you have absolutely no control. I thought those kinds of nights were long behind me, though, guess not.

The hospital was a mess. Tina was gone, the police questioned us, and the hospital staff were definitely reserving judgment on whether we were heroes or villains. We told the police everything we knew. Not that an alibi of each other meant much, but we at least could show the video from our doorbell showing our car pulling up to our house.

I learned that the lady from DQ was named Cindy, and she was a former charge nurse turned administrator. I couldn't tell you anything about patient privacy law, but I wasn't surprised when the information she gave us was minimal. Mostly, she repeatedly told us to go home and wait for either Tina or the hospital to call us. I'm pretty sure she almost added the police to that list but decided against it at the last minute.

It was now 2:30am, and while I wanted nothing more than to crawl into my bed, being 30 minutes away from Tina wasn't acceptable. Instead, we drove 2 minutes down the block to the closest hotel, asked for a room and some hygiene kits, and then Lauren and I both flopped into bed. I wasn't sure what would win, my absolute exhaustion or worrying; for good or ill, it was exhaustion.

---------------

My first thought was who the fuck under the age of 50 ever took their phone off silent. My second thought was oh shit as the memory of last night smacked me in the face.

"Tina", I heard my wife say softly.

"Yes, I'm here... Of course, it's ok for you to call."

"Anything you need."

I was only hearing my wife's side of the conversation, and it was killing me. She had grabbed her phone from the shelf next to the bed and swung her legs over the side. This left me staring at her back, trying vainly to decipher what was going on from her tone and the tensing of her muscles.

"Why don't I come now, and I'll have Scott bring you some clothes?" Whelp, sounds like it was time to get ready because something was happening.

"Ok. Goodbye love", Lauren choked a little at the end of love. Whoever said that a good night's sleep solves everything definitely lied and a mediocre sleep didn't do shit.

Lauren put her phone down and finally turned to face me. "That was Tina. She's awake, and they are getting her breakfast. She's, umm, well, she still sounded pretty raw."

I nodded, but didn't want to slow down getting to the important information by saying anything.

"I'm going to go back to the hospital, she said they would let me see her. I don't know what happened, but I thought maybe you shouldn't be there at first. After you know", Lauren's voice again choked at the end.

"I'm getting her clothes", I prompted.

"Yes, but I don't think you should be rummaging through her things. Just grab some of my clean sweats from home and bring them."

"Ok", I blew out the breath I was holding. I still didn't know what had happened, but it sure seemed like Tina's date had done something awful. I wondered if it would be easier on all of us if I just preemptively killed the fucker. Jump-start the healing process and all that.

Lauren's POV

I was holding Tina again and stroking her hair slowly. Normally, this would be something I loved to do, now I hated the why of it.

I had gotten to the hospital and been directed to her room. When I arrived, my eyes went immediately to Tina. She was in a hospital gown, sitting up in one of those giant beds that make anyone look small. Tina looked broken and tiny.

"Uh hm", a woman's voice came from the side of me. Startled, I turned my head and realized there was a woman sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed. She stood up and moved so she was blocking me from moving up closer to Tina.

She introduced herself as Pat, something, something, counselor, nurse, etc. I was nodding, trying to get her to be quiet so I could talk with Tina. Then she ended with a warning. "Tina has asked me to be here. I've heard her story already, so I will mostly just observe." Her voice, which had been dispassionate, took on a tone of steel. Were all nurses trained in how to make their voices badass scary?

"I am here for Tina, not you. This is about Tina and what she needs. If you can't handle that or are not here to help, I will eject you from this room, willingly or not."

I don't take threats well, especially when they imply I might do something to hurt someone I care about. I almost gave a sarcastic reply that probably would have started an argument, then I looked at Tina. Who was I if I couldn't swallow my pride for her?

I nodded.

I have no room to complain next to what Tina went through the night before, that day, and the days after, but I swear to God, what I heard in that room was one of the hardest things I have ever had to go through.

Tina told me about her date. They talked over drinks at a local bar, and he was meh. Average this, average that, nothing that would have stood out either as good or bad. Not someone she would see again, because why date someone that you just don't care about either way? He was certainly not someone that Tina would have chosen to go back to his apartment and spend the night with. When the date was done, she thought, they both left the bar together. Then she woke up in his apartment, sprawled on his couch. Her clothes were on, but she couldn't remember anything from walking out of the bar until waking up.

She didn't see or hear anyone in the apartment and didn't wait around to find out. Just grabbed her purse and ran. The running didn't stop until she was several blocks from his apartment, and reality started to sink in that she had no idea where she was. She called me.

The hospital did a rape kit. They concluded there were no signs of sexual assault; she had, however, been drugged. Cold feet, bad planning, or something else, but she got out of the apartment before worse could happen.

The police were already involved due to the date rape drug. I couldn't think of a single thing in our judicial system that I would consider justice for what had been done to Tina. Like the counselor said, though, this was about Tina and helping her. Justice, revenge, or punishment for the absolute piece of garbage I couldn't bring myself to consider human could wait. Or be left to someone else.

I had broken my silent promises to protect Tina. Never again.

Never fucking again.

---------------

End Notes:

This version is about 3k words shorter than the original, as there is a whole opening scene with Edward that I cut. It's not important to the plot and was only used to set up the type of person Ed is, which I think I have done from Philip's perspective. Honestly, the original scene was vile, and I felt dirty writing it.

I am just starting to try out this whole creative writing thing. Any and all feedback is appreciated, well ok if you say I suck that's never fun to hear, but I am truly looking to improve.