Run for the Shadows

I don't know how it happened, I wasn't aware of anything being wrong or out of kilter. I mean we had been living together for twenty odd years, been seeing each other exclusively for four years before that. We had worked hard, had two children, we were both pretty hands on with them as they grew up. Our son was now seventeen, our daughter fifteen. The world seemed pretty perfect to me. Perhaps I was too settled, too in the pattern to see that we had problems. I mean we argued, who doesn't, petty things, the usual, why is the biscuit tin empty, the answer was usually Danny our son, he had a healthy appetite and just hoovered up anything edible. Sometimes it was bills, did we really need new towels or sheets? why did I need to replace that router? Just stuff that rankled but was explainable, stuff that got brought up because, I had a bad day, she had a nightmare day, the kids were just being their usual teenage unhelpful self. Costs were rising and we never seemed to be on top of it.

Iris worked as an Office Manager in a large legal firm, I had a small software development business which I ran, had an office out of a little business park on the other side of town. It had been a slow day and I'd finished early so I locked up and went home, diverting my business line to my mobile, so I could field any calls. Can't let the clients down now can you. That decision on that one day changed everything. I got home just after school let out, saw that Iris's car was on the drive, which was strange but explainable, she probably got a lift from her boss, who had to pass our street on his way. My head came up my daughter walked in and headed for the kitchen, not noticing her old man was in there until she almost walked into me, phone in her face. I asked her had she heard from her mum which led my daughter to casually let slip that probably she was out with Pete again. I leaned back against the kitchen units and casually asked,

"who's Pete?"

"You know the guy from the College,"

"Which college?"

"The college Mum goes to."

"Mum goes to college, I thought she worked full time?"

"Full time! Mum's been part time for a few years now dad, keep up."

"You're kidding me?"

"No! Ask Danny, he'll tell you."

With that she loped off, a snack in hand, head in her phone, up the stairs to her bedroom. Danny arrived about fifteen minutes later, I managed to corner him at the fridge. As he opened the door I held it open for him,

"Okay big boy, who the hell is Pete?"

"Shit! You know about Pete?"

"Oh! So you know this Pete too?"

"Look Dad it's nothing, he's just a friend of mum's they hang around together, now that... you know she has more free time."

"More free time huh?"

"Yes since the company went and cut her hours."

"They cut her hours?"

"Did you not know this?"

"Does it sound like I do?"

"Okay well, Mum had her hours cut, budget stuff or something. So she decided to go back to college and take a part time degree. She met this guy Pete on the course and they hang out and help each other with their assignments."

"Oh they do, do they, and where do they hang out for their assignment sessions?"

"Whoa, look you better take that up with mum, that's way beyond my pay grade."

"Talk to me?"

"Dad..."

"What's going on?"

"Dad you need to sort this out this with mum, I don't... Look I've said too much already, talk to mum. Tell you what, I'll take Ding-Dong to the pictures this evening, give you some space."

Ding-Dong was how Danny affectionately referred to his sister, who he considered an airhead. But somehow they got along and were very tolerant of each other, mainly because Lisa, aka Ding-Dong, was actually very very smart. Much smarter than her big brother knew; so clever in fact that she'd convinced him she was a total bimbo. All looks and giggles and nothing between the ears. For no particular reason Iris and I let this little saga play out, as Danny, no slouch himself, set himself up for a fall. Lisa had worked hard to keep her grades up and now could coast a little, which gave her the opportunity to let Danny think she was a party animal and a dumb blond. As she said to us when he wasn't around, in the words of Dolly Parton, I know I ain't dumb and I ain't blond either.              

I asked Danny to find his sister and as he went upstairs to find her I made a couple of phone calls. When they reappeared I handed Danny the car keys, he had recently passed his test. Additionally I handed over five twenties and two tens, split between to him and Lisa.

"Take yourselves out for a meal, see a film, go dancing whatever, after that I've arranged for you two to share a room at the Grand Lodge Hotel on Severn Street, it's all booked and paid for, they're expecting you after eleven. Sorry you'll have to share, but I can't afford a room each. Enjoy but don't come back before eleven tomorrow morning, okay?"

"This is serious isn't it Dad?"

Lisa tone was mournful, Danny, characteristically, put his arm round her shoulder and side hugged her.

"Yes my darling it is, but you and Danny go off and have a good time, leave me to deal with the drama."

They went off to pack overnight bags, then they left about ten minutes later, shouting their goodbyes as they shut the door. Anyway, it was usual in our house that first in starts the meal. I should have prepared a chicken casserole according to the note on the fridge door, with vegetables and rice. Fuck it, that wasn't happening tonight.

Since Danny had taken my car when Iris came in she thought the place was empty. Leaving the front door open she walked into the kitchen. She looked a little startled to see me and quickly said she'd forgotten something in her car. She backed out and seconds later another car sped off. She came back into the kitchen and red-faced held up her handbag.

"Sorry don't know what came over me. I never usually forget things."

I smiled and passed her a glass of red wine,

"Probably Pete's fault."

"What?.. err who's Pete?"

"You're study partner at college, that Pete, the guy who's car just sped off the drive when you went back outside. That Pete?"

She went red and gulped air, a hand moving to the kitchen cabinets to steady herself. Taking a deep breath, she looked at me red faced and close to tears.

"Dave... it's not what you think?"

She gave a little shuffle and tweaked her trousers at the crotch.

"Perhaps you need to shower and change, put those messy knickers in the wash..."

"I... I..."

She slumped against the island counter.

"Fuck! Fuck, I... Okay you caught me, I've been seeing Pete for about two years, it's nothing, just a bit of fun, we met at college."

"Yeah about that, so when did Cavendish's go to part time?"

"They didn't, we had a new partner who wanted to ensure everyone reached their potential. They offered to pay for me to go back to college and get the degree I never finished. I told the kids I'd been made to go part time and had enrolled in college."

"You never finished because of me?"

"No!.. No!.. that's not... Okay, yes it's always rankled, okay umm, I wanted to prove to myself that I could still do it. They would pay half salary and cover all my tuition fees. It was such a great opportunity, two and a half days a week at work, two and a half days a week at college. I was going to tell you, but, to be honest, I wanted to pass, get my degree..."

"And because I don't have one, you could rub it in my face?"

"Ahh!... Yes... umm that's true enough, I wanted to prove it and get one up on you."

Nervous giggle, more blushing, another wiggle, a hand to her neck, then checking her blouse buttons were done up.

"Why not tell me first?"

"Because I wanted it to be mine. It was something I wanted to do, for me. I liked not having to share it with you, unlike having to share everything else we do, it was my thing. Mine, can you get that?"

"I guess I do, when you put it like that, you needed to do it without support from me, yeah I can see that. Unlike the last twenty years where we shared everything and supported each other. This was different for you. And Pete?"

"Fuck!... look Pete was my study partner, we were asked to pair up after a couple of weeks. There were eighteen of us and there was a group within the group, about eight of us, we had coffee together. I was late one day and they had already paired, leaving me and Pete. We decided to do it anyway and see if we were compatible."

"And it looks and sounds like you very much are compatible."

"I didn't want this Dave, I honestly didn't, but it happened and he made me feel young and wanted and desired. That's the truth, I felt young again, carefree, my own person. I could be me, not an us, not a pair, me!"

"So I don't make you feel desired and wanted?"

"No you don't always make me feel those things, but what you do make me feel is safe and secure and loved, it's not the same thing at all. I love you and want you physically as much as ever, perhaps a bit more now that I've discovered who that me really is."

"Well we do seem to have picked up a bit in the bedroom department over the last few months, I'll give you that. Although I would have preferred it if you just talked to me and we made these discoveries ourselves. You know like when we first married. So I owe my sudden lucky increase in sex and stuff to Pete, remind me to thank him for giving you the new knowledge and skills you've been displaying in the bedroom."

"Pete and I have only been..."

She paused again, desperately looking for a neutral way to describe the relationship.

"Fucking?"

"Physical actually, for less than a year, probably six months at the most. To be honest he is so different to you, he's taught me things about myself, about making love, okay sex, that you and I hadn't explored until now."

"Enlighten me? What makes him so different?"

"Cock sucking was one thing he asked for and taught me, I mean I never really tried with you, but he asked me and helped me to be so much better at it."

"Well I'll agree I have benefited from it, you blow me very well."

"Thank you, I practised a bit..."

"With him?"

"Obviously, but I perfected it with you, more time, more opportunity."

"That you did and do, I should have suspected when you first asked if you could try it again."

"I was worried about asking you if I could try again, but if you remember I told you that cock and bull story about my nonexistent friend Lesley who didn't and wouldn't try it, so her husband looked elsewhere."

"That's pretty fucking outrageous, admitting now you've been caught that it was a lie and the friend you had was nonexistent."

"Fuck you Dave, I'm trying to be honest here."

"Well that's a refreshing change then?"

"Fuck you again, you're enjoying making me squirm aren't you?"

"Possibly, but that might just be his cum leaking out, now to continue, you tried that and what else?"

"Well recently he's been hinting that he'd like to try bum stuff?"

"Anal! What the hell! You've never ever let me near your pucker before."

"Quite, him too, never been there, that is."

She paused and considered her explanation,

"But, well... he's rimmed me a few times but I won't let it go any further. I've been thinking though, perhaps we should... you know try it, so you'd get to be the first to enter through the back door."

"So you've definitely not tried this with him?"

"Definitely not, if I'm honest I'm a little scared about it, I know it's probably going to hurt first time and I'll need to prepare it so it's a clean as can be, which is also why I've always said no. It's a messy process for so little pleasure for me."

"So now we're in our kitchen actually discussing whether I can do you up the arse before he does and not the fact that you've been fucking another man anyway? And by the sound of it you want to continue to fuck him, even though I've found you out? Because you just said you'd want to do anal with me before doing it with him. So after I get that cherry he can have a turn?"

"Okay I can't deny that can I, yes I did say it like that. I want to have you do it too me first, because you're my husband and you deserve this prize, so yes he can wait, but it's not going to happen immediately anyway, he might get bored and move on before it does, so who cares, not me. As for continuing with him, I don't know how to make this sound right... or how to describe it to you, but sex with him is more like mutual masturbation, it's a bit of drug I agree, a habit, so I don't know how easily I can stop it. I mean, I know I should, but it's so fucking amazing at priming me for you. What I believed back then, before I started to have sex with Pete, was that it was wrong to cheat on you..."

She paused and collected her thoughts,

"but when we started to actually do it, it gave me such a real buzz and, well I don't regret that high, not a bit. It's just that getting caught like this, yes I regret that, but can it be over just like that? I don't know, I just assumed you'd accept that I needed you more now the kids are grown up and that I had got a bit more adventurous in my old age. You'd feel happy we were still able to make love and the additional things we could bring to each other, like blow jobs and anal would make you feel good about it. I mean, you've always gone down on me willingly, but I never returned the favour did I? Isn't it every mans dream to fuck their partner up the bum? Tell the truth Dave?"

She paused again, remained silent and waited, I still wasn't aware why it started, that wasn't something she had shared so far.

"Look sex with Pete... it isn't perfect with him, but it's got a bit better but oh it makes me want you so much more. I mean he's good but not that good, he's had no experience of spending time making me feel like you do. You're gentle and kind and loving, he's often so keyed up and demanding it's a bit fast and furious. It's rutting not loving, so, yes you're right, it's really just fucking with no time for love or feelings. We both get our rocks off, but I could never leave you to go with him permanently. I'd miss the gentle slow gradual build up to an orgasm you always give me. With you it's like a dam bursting from inside. With him it's always a bit quicker, I come but there's no... I can only call it that glorious moment when the dam's been breached, that's what I get with you, an explosion inside, from head to toes, everything tingles, not a quick release 'pop!' like I do when I'm with him. I suppose it's because it's such a smaller orgasm, almost like if I just played with myself."

"Well thank you for that, so you got to scratch an itch behind my back and now you've been caught you hope I'll just go along with it, is that it?"

"I... I can't say I ever thought this would happen, you know, you catching me. I thought once I had my degree it would just be over and I would go back to work full time and he'd go his way and I'd go mine. I never sought to hurt you deliberately Dave."

"So that makes it okay then doesn't it, let's just call it a fling then, a bit of of a side-fuck. No harm, no foul! Isn't that what they say in the US, no harm, no foul, just part of the game? I'd never know so it wouldn't matter? But you were caught and it does matter, it fucking hurts, it is gnawing away inside me as we speak, I feel cheated, deceived and angry. It breaks up all the trust we built up over the last twenty four years. Our happiness, our love, the mutual respect we had, you've just tossed that away for a mutual wank with some stranger."

"No! I still really love you and want you, it's just..."

"Just what Iris, what is it just?"

"It's like... I think of it as a type of masturbation, I get an urge and he satisfies it. Then I get to make love to you and it blisses me out every time. It is what attracted me to you when we met, the slow build, even before we started to sleep together. I love the feeling of being utterly out of control with you but oh so, so safe at the same time."

I decided to change tack again, I needed to know about some other aspects of her deranged attitude.

"I take it you shower and change after you've fucked him?"

"I take care to wash him clean out of my system. By the time you're home physically and mentally I'm free of him and so I'm ready for you."

I couldn't bring myself to talk to Iris anymore, so I went to set up the spare room and make a few calls. Iris was downstairs talking on the phone when I came downstairs. I guessed who it was by the look on her face, although she smiled at me tears were falling. I made us both coffee, sat next to her and held her hand. She leaned over to kiss me, then carried on talking for a few more minutes. Finally she put her phone down.

"That was Pete, he wants to meet you?"

"He What!"

"He wants to meet you."

"Like fuck he does, well you can tell him that a definite hard no from me. Now I have more questions for you ready?"

"Go for it."

"Where do you two fuck?"

"Here in the house. We come back after lectures and do some assignment work. After we fuck. Sometimes if he's too keyed up we fuck first then do the work."

"Upstairs, in here, the hall?"

"Not exactly in one place... but all over the house really."

"Our bed? you've fucked him in our bed?"

"Once or twice we have used our bedroom, but usually he's so horny it's in the hallway, the lounge, oh! twice we've done it on the stairs. Also the bathroom, spare room, on the floor, on the bed, on the table..."

"Jesus Christ!"

"You asked, I answered."

"And you don't love him?"

"No! I like him a lot, but I only love you."

"Funny way of showing it though."

"Agreed, but that's what I found l wanted. It scratched that itch."

"Basically, you needed rough sex."

"More or less, yes, I wanted that raw passion we used to have, but I realised quickly that I want the way we make love more."

"Does he eat you out,"

"Oh yes, and now before you start, don't you get into that 'is he better at it than me' crap, because he isn't. I actually sometimes have to pretend to orgasm when he goes down on me, he gets so rough it hurts not pleases."

"Oh really? So when do you pretend to orgasm with me?"

She blanched then went red-faced again then looked me straight in the eyes,

"Never had to pretend at all with you big guy. Never needed to, never will."

"I need to think Iris, I need time to process this. I don't want to think about you and him shagging all over our home, but I am. I can't put the vision of you and him fucking, behind my back and assuming I would never know. Here was I thinking that the strange delights we're experiencing must have came out of your head. Now I find it was his and it was actually stuff you did with him before you tried it with me."

I paused to draw breath and watched her slight smile of amusement appear, was she taking me fucking seriously? I launched into her again.

"Now you suddenly want to do something with me to stop him being the first to try it. What does that mean Iris, what does that make me? I think I want to take a break from you. I'm going to get Jim Roberts to cover for me for a day or so and I'll try and sort things out in my head. Then I'll work from home while I sort out what's going to happen, whether we split or not... I'll use the spare room for the time being for sleeping, I don't think I want to be near you."

"I don't understand... are you talking about us separating? Is it over between us?"

"I think it's for the best we don't sleep together from now on, well at least until I can work out what I feel about this. I'm pretty numb at this point, I need to think, I can't do that with you next to me, or trying to get me to make love to you. I know I'll just find him there in my head, whispering things about how he fucks you, how you enjoy how he fucks you. I need this space Iris and I won't beg you for it, it's what's going to happen."

"So your not sleeping with me now?"

"No Iris, I'm not sleeping with you!"

The smile disappeared and a dark frown replaced it.

"I have my graduation in three months, I have to pull together my dissertation, so I'll be home for those two and half days a week for the next few months, that's what I planned anyway. Will I be in your way?"

"This is your home Iris, I'm sure we can work things out, but for a few days, at least, I need to be alone. Can you do this for me?"

"Of course Dave, what do you take me for?"

"I won't answer that at the moment. Look I'll order takeaway, you go shower and change then we'll have dinner, maybe talk afterwards."

"Should we tell the kids?"

"Obviously, they know about Pete, they now know I know, so yeah I guess we just bring them up to date. I got them out of the house, they won't be back tonight, I paid for them to share a hotel room, they won't be back before eleven tomorrow."

She nodded and went to take a shower. I ordered Chinese and paid in advance, rather than at the door on delivery. I wanted as little interaction as was possible. The meal that night was subdued and there was little talk after although I got Iris to promise to be the one to let let them know how we stood. I cleared and as I did, I realised I had more questions.

"How did it start?"

"What do you mean, how did it start, I told you we were paired as study buddies.?"

"I mean, how did it change from pairing for assignments, to fucking for pleasure."

"Oh, I see what you mean. Well as I said this year in the first term I was late to the seminar and spent a few minutes discussing the topic with the tutor afterwards. I remember he'd said that we were now going to start collaborative discussions for our assignments. Anyway I spoke to him to get clarification of a point then went for coffee with the others. As I went into the cafeteria Pete got up with a sad expression and told me the others had paired up and we were now left as the last two to agree to a pairing."

"And you believed him."

"Well the others said they'd thought that they had already agreed and Pete and I weren't left with much of an option, me and him as a group members, or we both had to find a partner from the other ten. People we didn't really know, because we had our own group."

"How fucking convenient for Pete."

"What, no, it wasn't like that."

"Okay whatever you say, so go on, now your study buddies."

"Yes, so we agreed to go to the library after coffee and start research. We went and found books, made notes, compared, then left to go to Pete's flat to knock it into shape and prepare the text we'd deliver. We had to do a three minute talk each, that was the only stipulation."

"Seems reasonable to ensure you both know your stuff, sorry, please carry on."

"So we go to Pete's flat, which he's sharing with two other guys. One of them was home and entertaining his girlfriend, who really seemed to be appreciating his company."

I laughed, bloody students fucking like bunnies, instead of working.

"Quite," She said with a grin, intuitively grabbing my meaning.

"So I said why don't we come here, my place will be quiet and there's room to spread ourselves out. So that's what we did, we came and used the dining table to talk and write up our presentation, we built a phenomenal presentation and after we put it to bed, sat and talked. I told him about us, how we met, what you did, the kids everything. He told me about his divorced parents, having to shuttle between homes until he finished school. Then how he escaped to Europe and bummed around it, working odd jobs for food and lodgings, until he moved on to the next destination, when he'd start all over again. He had a few one night stands, but never really had a relationship."

I raised an eyebrow, but Iris ploughed on.

"So first couple of assignments went pretty much the same way. Get the details, half day in the Library, back here, spread ourselves out, brainstorm it. Pick the salient points, much up a presentation, practise and perfect it. Then Friday we'd be in college, listening to others, then delivering ours. Six minutes might not sound much but with nine pairs and breaks it took up most of the day."

"Sounds gruelling, so how does it progress?"

"Well we had pretty great feedback on assignments one to four. We had got into a routine which meant we could get the thing researched and in presentation mode in about a couple of hours, so feeling pretty good we came back here to wind down. By now Pete was picking me up and dropping me back each day.

"So of course you agreed it would be best to go with Pete?"

"Why wouldn't I? It made sense, I was providing the space and lunch, so he was providing the transport, it was just logistics. We shared tasks, so he got transportation, I got space and lunches."

"Okay, got it, logistics."

"So, anyway, fifth assignment, a doddle, we had it researched and finished Thursday morning. We were on fire. We finished up and he came and cuddled me, it felt good. He said I was a milf, which I'd heard the kids use as a term. I told him, I was just a tired old mum, with a wonderful husband, he said of course I was. Then he kissed me, on the lips. I was startled, but secretly thrilled. A younger man fancied me. I suppose I should have said enough then. It was surprising, however, to realise I'd enjoyed it, far more than I thought. I felt flattered, desired, sexy, alive. He kissed me again... and I responded. It was lust, desire, whatever you want to call it. Then we were kissing and somehow our tongues got involved. I realised the kids would be home in a couple of hours. But curiously, I also knew that we had those hours to ourselves."

"So?.."

"Yeah, so I let him kiss me, on the lips, jaw, neck. Suddenly my blouse was undone and he's sucking on my boobs, licking where the nipples are showing through my bra. Then that's off and he's suckling like crazy and I'm loving it. Knickers are soaked, by now I'm rubbing myself against him, groin to groin. His trousers and pants are down I'm pulling my skirt up and he's sliding my knickers down. I'm so wet he slides in like it was built for him. For the first time in twenty four years I'm feeling a different cock in my pussy."

"Jesus!"

"So now we're humping like bunnies, me leaning back on the table, elbows supporting me, my legs are wrapped round his back, he's pistoning in and out of me, like tomorrows our last day on earth. It was fucking amazing. Nothing gentle just fucking amazing sex. I loved it, so different to you and I. Then I came, and that set him off and he delivered a gallon of cum into my pussy. When he was slowly easing down after we'd cum, it was leaking out onto the papers we'd spread out whilst researching the assignment. If they called for the papers after we presented, we would be fucked again. Anyway, we cuddled a bit. Then tidied up and settled down to preserving as much of our outlines as we could, rewriting some pages as they were completely ruined. We had to open some windows to let the smell out of our... okay, our fucking. Then we had lunch. Pete then left, saying he'd pick me up in the morning, as usual. When he left I had a shower, put on my sweat pants and a T-shirt, waited for the kids to come home. Spoke to them and then made supper waiting for you, hoping that night I could get some proper loving from you."

"Oh I bet you did!" I said sarcastically,

"Fuck you Dave, I was horny as hell and I wanted you... whatever you think, the truth is that fucking him was like doing it myself, it just made me want you more. Realising that it wasn't enough, I wanted love, not just the temporary high wanking gives you. Because that's what it felt like after he left, we'd just had a mutual wank."

Now Iris is not a great dirty talker, so words like fucking and wanking hardly ever pass her lips, so maybe, just maybe she was being truthful. Time would tell.

"Okay if I asked you to would you stop seeing him or at least to stop fucking him, would you?"

"Yes I would, if you asked me to. Our assignments are all in, they finished last term, so it's just my dissertation, which is just me and the research I need to do."

"So your assignments are all in, but you continued to fuck him, so how do I know that you'll stop, when you just admitted you're still fucking him, and by the way, where did you fuck him today?"

She looked shamefaced and her head went down. Then she looked at me defiantly.

"We fucked at his place, all his flatmates were out, so we decided to go there for a change, it wouldn't matter if his room smelt of sex and his sheets needed washing, no one would know, or care. We were about to try sloppy seconds when we got back here, if no one was in."

I looked at her and held her gaze,

"Stop seeing him, break it off now and come back to being my wife in every way. No outsiders, no fucking behind my back. Can you do that, do you think. Can you go back to just fiddling with yourself instead of fucking him?"

She didn't answer, just picked up her phone and went to her contacts, then pressed the number.

"Hi Pete, it's Iris, yeah, back with you so soon. Pete it's over! Yes I've agreed that with Dave, it's for the sake of my marriage, so you and I are through. NO! no meetings no talk, it's done. I told you it finishes at graduation, but now I think it's best if we stop at once. We don't need to meet, to talk or fuck, it's done. I choose my husband, I would every time and you knew that when we started. We were friends with benefits, that's it. It's run it's course, thank you for all you've done, but I realise it's Dave I want... okay bye, no just bye."

"So it's done?"

She nodded, then a tear slipped out of her eye, just one and her lip trembled.

"I'm sorry Dave, I never should have done it, it was selfish and wrong of me."

"I should feel terrible because you're upset but I didn't go outside our marriage you did. You were wrong to start this affair, you should have told me you needed to change things up, not go and fuck some random guy you met."

"You're right, it was wrong and I'm sorry I did it, I let it happen and I never should have."

"Let me ask you a few more questions."

"Okay, before you start, a few statistics; no he's not longer than you, or thicker than you, but he is uncut, so he has a foreskin and you don't. He can be a little prickly about it, wants to think his cocks massive, has a terrible complex about the size, do all men have that?"

"Not me, I'm happy it makes you happy, so?"

"So, he shaves his cock and balls, you don't, I like it both ways, smooth and hairy. He's a bit fitter than you, but then he's twenty years younger."

"Fuck he's in his twenties, just bit older than Danny?"

"Yup, so the fact I prefer to stick with you champ should count for something."

"You fucking cradlesnatcher?"

"You are kidding right?"

"He's a child Iris, a fucking child!"

"No he's an adult, he's twenty six, had a gap period before going back to college. He's travelled, worked abroad and taught English as a second language in Thailand, arranged through the British High Commission there. He's pretty savvy and he's most definitely not a child, although he can be a bit childish. Like wanting to please me then be told how good he is at it. Come to think of it, he is pretty childish."

"Iris, he's half our age, he is a child in relation to us. He sounds a bit like a little kid who's been given the keys to the toy shop."

Her face clouded, her head dropped into her hands, she sighed and looked at me,

"Wait! I've just realised, I finally have some clarity now. Oh My God, the shit played me, the lonely older woman, a bit dissatisfied, looking for an adventure. The little shit, Oh Dave, I am so sorry, I feel such an utter fool. He said to me that first time that he'd be making a lot of money with me. He'd taken a bet with the others hadn't he?"

The tears erupted, she fell into a mewling heap and I immediately wrapped her up to protect her. After a while she pushed away a little and lifted her head, I leaned in and we kissed. I broke it and stroked her hair,

"Why don't you pop upstairs and have a tidy up, I know the kids won't be back anytime soon, but I don't want them to see you looking distressed if they did, they don't deserve it and neither do you."

Nodding Iris rose and went upstairs, shouting from the top of them,

"Please come to bed with me, I really need to be in your arms tonight, please Dave, if you want I'll beg, I'm not proud of myself at the moment, that evil shit made me feel so special but I bet I know why now, it was just a game to him, wasn't it? I was a kind of trophy, a tinpot prize, a notch, a scalp, it was all about his vanity and ego. I feel so small and useless, I should have realised sooner."

"I'll lock up, you go wash up and get ready for bed, I'll only be ten minutes."

I locked up and wandered through the house, checking windows and lights. I traipsed upstairs and went to our bedroom, Iris was just coming out of the on-suite, naked, vulnerable, I knew what I wanted. I strode over to her, pulled her into an embrace and my face met hers, our kiss was short sharp and hard. I turned her and forced her back onto the bed, kissing her as she fell, me on top but braced to avoid crushing her. I covered her mouth with mine and my tongue danced with hers. She reached round and grasped me pulling me in. I broke from her clasp long enough to undo my jeans and pull them and my pants down to my knees, her feet came up and she slipped them into my rumpled clothes pushing them down to my ankles. Her hand reached down and she held my rod in it, sliding her clenched fist long the length. Pulling me she found her slit, rubbed me twice and angled herself. I thrust into her, all the way no accommodation for her feelings this time. This one was for me, to regain her pussy, to join together what that shit had pulled asunder. She half screamed, half groaned as I pushed harder, grinding my groin against her slit.

I had pushed until I bottomed out and immediately began ramming in and out of her rapidly. She screamed in orgasm as I shot my load inside her in less than two minutes. I rolled off her, finished kicking off my pants and jeans, going to the bathroom, naked from the waist down. I left her panting and spent on the bed. I washed and peed, cleaned my teeth and when I walked back in to finish undressing she was still lying there, my cum trickling down her crack towards the duvet. Pulling my T-shirt off, I leaned down and sucked up the dripping cum, her legs splayed wider and I ate her out thoroughly. I leaned over her and we kissed, trading my spend back and forward, making it nice and cummy between our lips and chins. Eventually I rolled her over onto her stomach and opening her legs wider, placed myself at her pussy and slid in, she moaned in pleasure, murmured my name and lifted herself up on her knees, making a nice angle, so I stood behind her and slowly stroked myself in and out, Iris pushed back and spread her legs opening herself wider, I began a slightly deeper push and moved my hips lazily side to side.

"Oh god! I'm gonna cum, oh, oh, oh, oh god, oh god I..."

The rest was lost as she shivered and her thighs shook and her delightful arse jiggled. I carried on stroking her through her orgasm, building up the pace until I was slamming into her arse cheeks and felt myself stiffen even more. I shuddered as I pumped another load into her womb. This time Iris screamed into the duvet and thrashed about as another orgasm wracked her body. I pulled out and watched her pussy and starfish pulse as her orgasm played out. Leaning down I ate her pussy from behind, pushing my face between those glorious globes, tongue lapping up our combined juices, my nose against her starfish. She whimpered then began to fuck my face with her pussy and arse. She came and I slobbered into her crack rubbing my face in her juices. As I went to sit up I remembered what she had said earlier, so I gave that little pucker a good rimming, she groaned in pleasure. I was exhausted after that.

I fell to my knees and panted, listening to our rapid breathing, as we both came down and back to reality. Finally she heaved herself off the bed, slipped to the floor and sucked my cock into her mouth, cleaning me up. Lifting her head we kissed as she pulled herself onto my mouth, sliding her thighs either side of mine, that delightful arse gliding across them. As our bellies met she began to slide her arse over my groin. I reacted as any man would when a woman rides him. I hardened and she broke the kiss with a grin.

"Again!"

Was it consent, a challenge, a desire? I grinned leaned back in and we kissed, her arms wrapping around my shoulders. I brought my arms up under hers and my hands cupped her taut breasts. I felt her nipples firm in my palms, her breath hitched as I moved my thumbs and index fingers over her nubs teasing her nipples into harder tips as my cock touched her pussy lips. As I firmed up she wiggled and pressed down and in that glorious moment I was back inside her again. She broke the kiss,

"I want you so much, you're filling me up again, make love to me, now we've fucked."

So I just let myself grow fully inside her, moving up and down slowly. She got the rhythm and joined me. I had come twice already so I knew it would be a long time until it was ready again. I lifted her up a little higher and stretched each leg out. She held the rhythm and we kissed again. It must have been thirty to forty minutes and a few orgasms for her later when she began to lift a little higher and fall back a little harder. I felt my balls starting to ready themselves and I broke the kiss to whisper in her ear,

"I'm going to cum."

"Cum for me Dave, fill me up with your cum."

She shuddered as another orgasm slipped through her, the walls of her pussy tightening in ripples around me. I pushed up and held her off the ground as I spurted into her weakly and shuddered at the effort. Iris sank against me shivering through her final orgasm of the night. We lay together spent, exhausted on the floor. Iris spread herself on top of me, holding me tightly. I felt a tear drip on me, then she began to cry in earnest.

"I love you so much, can you ever forgive me for this..."

"It's over now, forget him. We have so much more to give each other, let's just enjoy the moment."

She clung to me tightly and rubbed her nose on my chest.

"Are you wiping your snotty nose on my chest?"

She giggled, then shook with laughter, it was a cathartic release for her and I couldn't help but join in. We scrambled into bed and wrapped arms and legs around each other pulling each other closer. That's all I remember, as everything began to fade into nothingness around me.

It was daylight too soon. I needed to pee badly, so slowly disentangled myself and crept into the en-suite. I sat down to pee and had a half closed eye. She was sat in my lap, on top of me in seconds, legs around my back,

"Open," she said,

I spread my legs and felt her warm pee trickle then flood over my cock and balls. I started to spray into the bowl below us. She tried to control her stream, not gushing, making it a steady flow over me. I finished as hers began to slow to a trickle. She clung on, so I stood flushed and walked in the shower, punching the on button. I turned and shivered as the cold water fanned out over my back. As it warmed to it's correct temperature, the blue indicator stopped flashing until it showed a steady light. I spun slowly allowing her to feel the warmth envelope her. My mouth crushed hers and we lip locked and played some tonsil hockey. Languidly she unhooked her legs and slide down my body, sinking to her knees and palming my cock. Her lips closed round my limp dick and she sucked slowly and steadily, her cheeks and throat pulsing as she took the whole length into her maw.

Sucking it to firmness she slid it in and out of her lips, pulling back until it was just the crown, then sliding it all the way in to the root. When she had first asked to try again, she had to work to control her gag reflex, now she had perfected that I could slide easily in to the root again and again. I was building towards the climax when she held me in her throat and made a swallowing action. I lost it and sent a stream of cum down into her stomach. She eased out for the second and third spurts, taking those into her mouth. She held me by the crown as the last dribbles trickled out. She cleaned me off then stood so we could kiss and trade my cum between us. The water running over us warm and sensual. She broke the kiss,

"Pissing on you is something I've wanted to try but never did, until now, it's been my secret fetish for years. I thought I could never tell you, but now all doors are open. In the future I'm going to soak your face in piss too. I'm going to splash gallons over you, then you can piss in my pussy and I'll hold it over your cock and give it back to you with some of my own."

She wiggled her groin against mine, I took the hint and slid to my knees hooking her left leg over my shoulder. She leaned back and slid her right foot away giving me better access. Leant against the wall she undulated her hips as I French kissed her labia, then pushing gently but firmly, parted them and ran my tongue into and up and down her delicious slit, watching through the curtain of water bouncing off her belly. I straightened my tongue and stabbed into her. My tongue passing the vestibule slid into her tight vagina. Her cry of joy and the way her hips flicked told of my success. My mouth flooded with her juices, which I lapped up with pleasure. Slowly she came to the boil, then I inserted two fingers deeper into her pleasure tunnel, slipping my lips round her little pink pearl. I pulled gently and sucked my cheeks in flicking my tongue across it up, down, stabbing it, zig zagging it. Her hips thrashed up and down engulfing and releasing my fingers. Suddenly she stiffened and then her hips were a blur, pushing my face up and down as she released into her climax, her juices dripping out and onto my throat.

"I'm cumming, oh lord, oh lord, I love you Dave you fucking sex god. I'm...

cumming again. Fucking suck my clit you fucking animal. Suck it, suck it, yessssssssssss."

Her hands came over my face as she slowly pushed me away. Sitting back I lowered her leg and stood shakily, but not as shakily as Iris. She looked like a new born deer, as she tilted this way and that, trying to find her balance. Finally giving up she slid down the tiles until she sat on the floor of the shower stall. I lay down beside her, head down as the water still danced over us.

"We need to get up, the kids might be home early and..."

Neither of us heard the bedroom door open, the steps inside the room.

"Mum, dad, are you okay we heard noises and... Oh my god, we are so sorry, Lisa don't look, they're..."

"Mum, dad, bloody hell..."

I tilted my head back to see our two kids staring down at us.

"Yup, we're okay, just enjoying a bit of wrinkly sex."

I felt a slap on my arm, but Iris was already laughing as she did it.

"Fuck, I'll never be able to unsee this!"

"Language young man, there're are ladies present."

"No shit Sherlock!"

"Would you mind actually getting the f... hell out so I can get mum up and into bed, as you can see we're both more than okay."

"Sure come on Ding-Dong breakfast time, I'll stay nearby you today and you can call out for me if the scary things the adults are doing give you bad dreams tonight."

Danny put his arm round Lisa's shoulder and steered her out, he loosed his arm and turned back to us as he pulled the door shut.

"Now off to get dressed parentals, it's quite late on and you've wasted this morning, remember you have an early start tomorrow."

The door shut as we giggled and I pulled Iris closer again,

"Gotta love those two, they're so close and Danny definitely protects her, though we both know she's more than capable of protecting herself."

"Long may that continue, now I think I need to get some breakfast, Danny's right it's going to be a long day tomorrow, one two three."

We both stood shakily and stopped the now much cooler water flowing grabbed towels and dried each other, slowly and carefully. Dressed we walked down together to join the kids and to get breakfast.

We rushed through the day, I locked up and joined Iris in the bedroom, we were all over each other, trying to keep the noise level down. I was on top in the classical missionary position, Iris wanted to see my face and was clamped around me. I rolled off after cumming and Iris pulled herself up, then straddled me, squatting over my face, a long slither of cum from our connection hung off her labia curling back to her inner pussy. I sat and licked it away, put my lips on her labia curling back her inner lips with my tongue and sucked away at her opening. My tongue feathered in and out until I was satisfied it was all out. As she looked down I opened my mouth to show her my pie prize. Grinning, she lowered herself down, we kissed, trading spit and cum. Sighing she stood, shook her arse seductively then grinning she left me looking at her as she jiggled her way across the bedroom into the bathroom. A few minutes later, after the loo flushed and the taps turned on and off, she emerged and walked to the bed. It only took me five minutes to wash up but she was sleeping when I came back, so I slipped quietly into bed beside her. One hell of a day I thought as sleep stole over me.

The next morning was its usual chaotic start, breakfast on the run (Danny), shouts for clothes not bring washed and ready (Lisa), demands for coffee (me), calming words, coffee, cereal, lunch boxes (Iris). Finally just her and me.

"Are you going in today?

"Do you want me to?"

"No! Would you stay here with me?"

"You really want that?"

"Yes, a lot, I think I just need to feel you near."

"Fine, I can do it all from home, if you don't mind the phone interrupting us working."

"It'll be just like I'm in the office, I can cope with that."

"Is that all it is?"

"No I'm worried Pete's going to do something stupid like turn up here and expect..."

"To talk you into still fucking him?"

Iris paused and looked at me, her bottom teeth over her top lip, she sighed and nodded.

"Yes, exactly that."

"You don't feel strong enough to do this on your own?"

"No, I don't think I am free of him yet, I need you to hold onto me for a while."

"Iris, you are a more than capable person, why do you think like that?"

"I don't know, he can be very assertive, very aggressive actually."

"Iris, think carefully before you answer me, has he ever been physically abusive to you, ever?"

"No he's been physically dominating when it comes to sex, but usually he's a calm easy going person."

"You obviously want me here and I not going to pressurise you into standing up to him, you know him and you best. Of course I'll stay with you today."

Iris fell into my arms and we hugged and kissed. The the practicalities of the day stepped in, we split the dining table in half and each chose a side. She brought out her laptop and some text books. I set up my laptop and mobile, found my work notebook and began to sort out my 'To Do' list, roughing out a working sort order for the day. Iris slipped her glasses on and began to use her laptop to search the net for source material, her hand holding a pencil as she made notes on the pad on her lefthand side. I needed caffeine so made us both a coffee, placing hers just to the left of her notepad. I settled down to my work and apart from the key presses it was quiet between us. We a been working for about two hours or so when the doorbell rang. I stood up and saw Iris's face tighten and the colour drain away. I nodded and went out to the hall. The doorbell rang and rang in an irritating insistent manner, I flung the door open and there he stood. His face drained into a sickly grin as he realised I wasn't Iris.

"Pete?"

He nodded and before he could react I had him by his lapels and lugged him inside, kicking the door shut with my heel. I half dragged half pushed him into the lounge were I heard Iris's chair scrape the carpet.

"Pete?"

"Iris, I want to talk to you."

I released his collar and pushed him onto the sofa,

"So talk!"

"No not with you here, intimidating her and me."

"You have twenty seconds and one option before I throw you out sunshine. Make your decision quickly."

"Okay Okay, fine you stay, but only Iris can talk to me?"

"Fat chance of that, get on with it."

"Iris you know how good we are, you can't really want to stop us being together now, we need each other. We're a good team, we fit, we mesh, we get each other. We can talk utterly clearly to each other, you know that. We belong together."

"Pete, it's over, I made a mistake, it should never have happened, the person I should have talked to was Dave, my husband, the man sitting patiently over there, keeping out of our talk, allowing me to tell you some home truths."

"What home truths would they be Iris, how good we are together, how you love sex with me, how much you crave my cock, how good it feels in you. I can make you feel things he can't, isn't that right. I have a bigger cock, I can satisfy you more than he does, when we're together we're unstoppable, you come so loud with me."

He turned to me a shit eating grin all over his face. He raised an eyebrow,

"Bet she didn't tell you that did she, how she loves to slobber all over my fucking cock, how she craves my meat. You deserve to loose her you loser, she needs a real male to satisfy her. You, you wimp I bet you can't keep it up for long. Then it's just a dribble when you cum, not a fucking hose pipe like mine, I feel like I'm pissing, she makes me cum so much."

His face was purple and his chest was raised up like he was cock of the north. Giving it large to his adoring audience. I looked past him to Iris she was trying hard not to laugh, biting her lip and shaking her head. I looked back at him as he turned to Iris, his face then flipped back to me, then Iris. Suddenly he became less sure, less certain. His head dropped, his grin faded, his hands fell to his side and he slumped back onto the sofa.

"Pete, what we had was just a transitory thing, it was nice in a way, but let's be honest, you thought I was an opportunity, you thought you could have me, and you did. Sometimes, when I saw the others I wondered if I was a prize, in a competition to see who could fuck the old lady. You won, we fucked, it was okay, I never raved about it did I? If you're honest with yourself where did you see this going. Me leaving Dave, the kids, my life, to live with you on your grant and my earnings? Was I your prize, your new fuck buddy until you graduated?" Was that your plan?

He sat looking down, tears fell onto his jeans as he sat and sobbed.

"Yes at first, I knew you were the least confident in the group, you're the oldest by a few years, that put you well outside your comfort zone. The others were joshing me whilst you were talking to old man Kingsley, Bob and Dave said I couldn't pull you, I said I could. Then Shaz and Nikki offered me a hundred quid to prove I was able to at least get you to let me just touch your tits. Then the boys offered me another hundred quid to prove I'd fucked you, as well as the girls money. I stood to make two hundred quid and get to fuck you. The money was good, but the thought of fucking you was an even better incentive. I told them to pretend they'd already paired up, just leaving us, it was that simple. I've always fancied older women and you looked spectacular, it was an easy ask for me. The seduction was easy, I knew the levers to pull, the buttons to press, so I did and you lapped it up. It was a pleasure believe me."

"So I was a sure fire bet then?"

"I was confident that I could talk you into bed and I did. The money was nice, fucking you was so much better."

"So I take it everyone knows you succeeded. How did you convince them?"

He didn't answer just put his hand in his pocket and took out his phone,

"Didn't you notice, I always found a reason to stand it up somewhere in the room we were in. Hi Def Four K, ten eighty P, each and every time. I copied it over to the others and made a compilation video of them, mainly showing you so I could wank to it when we weren't seeing each other. I have it stored on the cloud, so even if you destroy my phone I've still got a backup."

He grinned wolfishly, he thought he had won, had all the high cards, all the aces. That smug grin was all over his face.

"So are you here to blackmail me, to keep me fucking you, by having that video to hold over me?"

"You loved how we fucked, it was raw, it was animal, primal, it was rutting, you kept coming back for more. But underneath there was something more, we were moving into loving each other, we matched, we clicked on so many levels, how can you not see we were meant to be together?"

"Pete, I need you to go... and I need you to stop thinking about me being yours, that's never going to happen. I love Dave and Dave only, this connection you think we have, it's nothing, you tricked me, I could never love a man that did that to me. Leave now, concentrate on your dissertation, pass your course and as you move on delete that video from the cloud and your phone."

"No!"

He stood and left the room. I held Iris in my arms, as hers wrapped around me. We were oblivious to the sound from the kitchen until suddenly he was back grabbing for Iris. I went to step between them when he bought the broad bladed kitchen knife to her throat. I saw Iris's face drop in fear and a small bead of blood appear at the tip of the knife.

"Oh no no no David, you don't want me to slice her throat open do you? So why don't you sit yourself down. That sofa looks good, so off you go nice and slow, nothing sudden. I get quite spooked by anything too quick. That's it you settle down. Now Iris you go off and get a bag packed, then we're out of here."

He pushed her towards the door, then said in an irritated and sharp tone,

"So what are you waiting for? go on, get upstairs and go pack your going away bag. Meanwhile David and I need to chat, don't we?"

Iris disappeared out the door, hopefully she'd have the sense to leave and call for help. He was obviously agitated and there was a blood vessel on his neck which was pulsing rapidly. He glanced round once or twice, as if to try to hear Iris opening drawers to fill a bag with clothes. He flicked the blade at me and stepped closer. Instinctively I placed my hands palms up at chest level. Pete, grinning waved the large bladed knife at me again as I tried to sit as still as possible.

"So Iris and I are going to disappear from your life and if you have any sense you'll let her go. We are connected, we belong together and you aren't part of it, can you see that David? So you can forget her, she'll never come back to you once we're together, you're her history, I am her tomorrow. We'll be long gone before you can even think about following us."

I tried to keep looking in his eyes because in the periphery of my vision I saw Iris holding something. Suddenly he must have sensed it too as his eyes left mine and he half turned, just as Iris slammed the pick axe handle down on his skull. There was a squishy sort of sound and his hair seemed to be squashed down as he fell without a shout, crumpling face down on the carpet. Iris, mouth open in a soundless scream, dropped the handle and flew into my arms as I stood.

"What the actual.."

I started to say something but stopped as he began to burble and scrabble around. I pushed Iris onto the sofa and launched a kick into his ribs. He groaned and curled into himself. I picked up the handle just in case noticing the wound mark on the business end. The handle had been in the kitchen behind the back door, just in case of a home invasion, there was another one upstairs in the bedroom too. I hefted it and brought it down on him, causing Iris to scream. I had hit him on the head again and he stilled completely. Iris knelt by him and felt for his pulse, placing two fingers at his neck, suddenly his hand grabbed her and he screamed,

"Murderer, murderer."

Then he lapsed back into unconsciousness but was still clutching Iris by the wrist. She used her other hand to prise it open, lifting herself away from him with a groan. Standing she ran to me and we hugged. Pete meanwhile was awake again and trying to pull himself up, he was a tough cookie it seems. I skirted round him and picked up the handle ready. He managed to sit upright a thin stream of blood oozing down his face. He seemed spaced, out of it, tried to speak but it was not coherent at all. He was probably concussed. Then he seemed to shake his head to clear it, let out a moan and attempted to focus on us.

"I..."

Then he fell back with a thump, his head hitting the carpet and bouncing slightly. He was still again, no noise, his chest seemingly not rising or falling. This time I edged towards him and touched two fingers to his neck. I could feel a weak pulse, slow, but there.

"We need to move him the kids will be back soon, we need to get him out..."

As I was saying this the front door opened and in a burst of chat and laughter they appeared in the lounge. The noise died as they looked at Pete lying on the carpet.

"Mum, dad, what the hells going on?"

I looked at Iris and we walked to each other....

Things spiralled rapidly out of control then, Lisa called an ambulance, they arrived and whilst getting a stretcher, one of them called the police. Without thinking I took the knife and put it back in place in the block in the kitchen. The police arrived in minutes. Taking all four of us aside they asked what had happened. Apparently our stories didn't fit and I was arrested and placed in handcuffs, led away to a police car and put in a cell. Within a week I had a court appointed solicitor, who was run ragged already with the weight of cases he was covering. The knife was recovered and fingerprinted, guess what my prints were all over them, same for the pick axe handle. Iris's affair was uncovered, she had blood on her neck etc etc. I went down for aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The minimum term was seven years in prison.

So here I am five years and six months later, wondering where I was going and who with? Why? You might ask, well because my crazy wife in a fit of compassion decided that she would look after him and drop me, apparently because of my vicious attack on Pete and the knife I held to her throat (?), when I threatened her about her affair. That made her sure that he was the person deserving her love. I learned this on her first and only prison visit. Lisa was too young to come on her own and Danny wasn't coming anyway as he was repulsed by my actions that day. I was totally blindsided, my legal eagle was overwhelmed by the caseload he had, saw the police evidence and folded. His advice plead guilty and throw myself on the mercy of the court. Luckily for me (?) Pete, whilst severely beaten, including a broken rib as well as the fractured skull, made a pan almost full recovery over the first year I spent inside. That meant I was now eligible for parole, if I kept my nose clean, after five years.

The divorce papers in year three were a fucking surprise that's for sure. The fact that I was told all this by my court appointed divorce solicitor didn't help. My entire pre prison family had given me up and dropped me like a stone, as they embraced Pete into their lives. There was a long and whiny letter from Iris, telling me, that now divorced she and Pete were marrying and that she wanted the house as settlement. With her degree she was now a Legal Secretary at work earning twice her previous income, but even that was due for a revue and Pete's income as a junior manager at his dad's accounting practise made covering the mortgage easier. Danny was now an Intern, obviously at Pete's dad's place and was contributing to the coffers. Lisa was now at a further education college taking travel studies and French and Spanish. So everything in the garden was rosy, I thought, smiling at the feeling of complete betrayal. Anyway the content of her bleating, whiny, pissy letter was to ask me not to try to contact her, Danny or Lisa and not to come near the house. She had sought and got the house, with a half a kilometre exclusion zone round it and two hundred and fifty metres around her Pete and the kids!

I stood outside the prison, it was a cold blustery day. I was wearing the clothes I came in to prison in, had two hundred and fifty eight pound's and ninety pence, earned whilst inside. I had no job, no home and nothing other than what I stood up in. Ìt appears that the clothes Pete didn't want of mine, all went to the charity shop in the village. My books, tapes, records and cd's went to the same place. I now had a place in a government hostel, an appointment with a probation officer and fuck all else. I trudged to the bus stop and waited, an hour later I was still waiting, finally giving up I took the map I had been given and trudged towards the hostel. Naturally the fucking bus went past me twenty minutes later as I was between bus stops.

The hostel was reasonably clean and tidy, I had my own room and a single bed. There was a dining room, a Tv room and a recreational room. This was now home for the next while, as I tried to sort my life out. On Monday at nine am I was at the probation office and met John Edgar my assigned parole officer. We went through the case briefly then on to my options. There was a company in IT support and software engineering locally who had been contacted, they were willing to interview me for a position in their office on a business park on the other side of town.

I duly turned up at the offices on the "Business Campus" at nine forty five for a ten am meeting and waited in reception on a woman named Josephine Povey. The interview itself was conducted in a glass walled room, open to all to view, no shades, no blinds. Anyway it was a long interview, taking well over two hours. At various points coffee and tea arrived, we had a comfort break at and hour and a quarter, then plunged back in. The result was at at twelve thirty I was a new employee of Spine Software, the CEO Eddie Spine came down to meet me and welcome me on board. At one pm I went for lunch with him, Josephine and Paul Lambert their head of HR. At three I was passed to Diana Chasen for all the HR stuff. I was issued with an electronic keypass on a lanyard. Photo's were taken for my photo ID pass, which slipped into a holder on the opposite side to the security tag. My car park space was allocated next, but I doubt the bus would use it, however, it was a nice gesture. I was then free for five days, starting work again in Jo's section ("for god's sake call me Jo like everyone else, calling me Josephine makes me think I've done something wrong, that name is reserved for my mothers use only"). Eight thirty start at desk seven in the blue zone on level one. I would be met by my supervisor James "Dusty" Miller. As instructed I then left and went about getting some clothes organised. The bank, however, was the first point of call.

It felt strange being back in town again and I got a few double takes from people as I walked past them towards the bank. This was explained when I saw the local rag had a banner headline stating that I "a well known local man" had been released early. well the world and my ex-wife would know i was free soon enough. In the bank I was passed from one to another staff member, before I was asked into an interview room. I enquired about the possibility of a replacement bank debit card. Taking it, the assistant manager looked, then said he'd order it straight away, tapping his keypad and looking up at me. He then said that the account had a healthy balance and spun the screen round one hundred and eighty degrees. According to the display I had a little over twelve thousand pounds credited and I also had a deposit account with somewhere around twenty five thousand pounds gathering interest. I asked when this money had been paid in, which was apparently seven months after the divorce. I asked for the card to be sent to the bank to hold for me to collect. That was accepted with no problem.

With funds and savings I was now a different animal. I knew I was going to be welcome everywhere I went, allegedly. I had a cheque book, which had been returned to me with the bank card, as part of my property when I left prison, never expecting to be able to use either again. Grinning I remembered the slightly used handkerchief that had been removed from me, but which had been returned cleaned and pressed, like my shirt and suit. My pants and socks had been washed but were just placed on top of the other neatly folded items. When I entered the bank I felt sure I would be asked to close the account and never ever enter their portals again. Now though, although I was not quite minted, I had a chance at surviving.

I went to an estate agents and set out my requirements. I would rent a flat for the time being, with three bedrooms. I would like to assume my children would care enough to visit and stay over. Then it hit me with a jolt, Danny was now twenty two and Lisa twenty. Maybe a sleepover with dad was not going to happen? The lady, who I think knew me, or of me, went out of her way to help. In short order, I had three places to visit on the next day and a potential fourth if the other three weren't suitable. I had taken a job in the prison library so I had some idea of prices I would have to pay, from the limited access we had to the internet. The places were within easy reach of work, and my former home, which was an added bonus.

I decided it was time to eat and chose a small family restaurant we used to go to seven or eight years ago. The waiting staff had changed but the food was still excellent value for money. Later I wandered back to the hostel, if I was going to move out, I would need to let them know and also my parole officer. I found some scrap paper and begged a pencil. I began to make notes on what needed to be done in the free time before I started work. An hour later and I was feeling tired and drained, so I used the shared facilities, went to my room and locked the world out. It felt weird since I left prison that I could lock the world out, rather than the world locking me in. I slept fitfully, and awoke, not fully refreshed but feeling a little less apprehensive than before. The hosel was merely a safe space and apart from tea and coffee making facilities there was no cooking allowed on the premises. So I sought out a local cafe and breakfasted with a Full English, which my body thanked me for.

I made it to the Estate Agents with five minutes to spare, Janice, the agent, picked up some house keys, her car keys and led me through the back of the shop to her car. It was a powder blue Mercedes convertible, with everything, I climbed in and sank into the custom leather seat. Janice fired it up and we swept out of the car park at the rear. Ten minutes later and we were parked in front of a smart modern block of flats, Three storeys high, six units on each floor. We went up in a lift to three and entered number thirty three, midway along a carpeted corridor, which had windows on the outside wall. Inside it was clean and tidy, there were no obvious flaws and the place felt like home. I told Janice I would take it. She smiled and we went back to the agency. Forms were signed, agreements were set out and more papers signed. Then forty five minutes later I was the lessee of number thirty three Dumbarton House, number Fifteen Crest Road. I was a decent and upright citizen again.

I contacted work and gave them my "home" address. How good did that feel. With vacant possession I could move in straight away, so I went back to the hostel, bagged my stuff, remembered to return the pencil and gave notice. I walked the twenty minutes to the probation service building and asked to talk to my case officer, John Edgar. Reception buzzed him and five minutes later he came down. I filled him in on my job and new status as a lessee. We went up to his office and he inserted the new information into the system, shook my hand and said he'd see me in a month, we agreed a time and date, which he scribbled on the back of a business card and then threw me out with a laugh and a pat on the back.

With no more viewing necessary I now went to look for a phone, the shop in town was empty and I was pounced on by three teenagers trying to make their quota. Anyway John won and shortly thereafter I am the possessor of a shiny new iPhone, with a virtual sim and an unlimited call, text and data plan. I had been thinking about my old phone, once again returned to me by HM Prison Service on my release. I had the phone but no means to recharge the battery. I held it up to John, who told me to hold on. He disappeared for five or six minutes, returning with a charger. My original one was left plugged into the socket in the kitchen, but I felt that it would probably have been thrown out by now. John told me I would have anything held on the phone but anything else was either in the Cloud or missing presumed wiped out, since numbers were traditionally reallocated three years after non-use. That left me concerned but not overly worried. If it panned out as I hoped then quite a few of my old contacts would be retrievable.

The flat was furnished, but had no bedlinen, towels etc and I would need clothes, since those I was wearing, unless washed every night would be a bit smelly by the end of the week. So, now for the thing I hated most, clothes shopping and added to that buying stuff for the rest of the flat's requirements. I made it into the centre and a well known large department store. I started at the top and worked my way down. By four thirty I was finished, in more ways than one. Everything had been paid for and a truck would be around much later to deliver my haul. Somehow I had managed to flukely pick the day on which the store delivered to my area. So all I had to do was go home and wait. Prior to going to prison I had never made a bed or had to wash my clothes or sheets, now I would definitely have to relearn those tasks. Keeping things neat and orderly was paramount in prison, it ran on spit and polish. Like all government institutions the rules were, if it stood still, paint it or polish it, if it moved salute it.

At home I plugged in the charger and dug out my old phone, uniting the two I left it to charge. A while later I heard a ring at the outside doorbell and I sprinted down stairs to help the guys unload. Twenty minutes later and fifty quid lighter, I had everything I needed. I unwrapped the sheets pillows and pillowcases and made up the bed, then bounced up and down a few times. It felt so much softer than the ones I had become used to over the last five years. I lay back on the pillow and could feel myself slipping away. Reluctantly I sat up and left the bedroom behind me. In the lounge I broke open a bottle of wine and poured myself a small glass. I hadn't had a drink in over five years so I knew I needed to be careful. I checked my old phone and a key press later, it glowed its comforting glow in my face. A few quick presses and there was the contacts list. Grabbing my new phone I began to choose which numbers to transfer. Three in particular went in first, Iris, Danny and Lisa, I had plans for contacting them, plans I would soon put in place. Meanwhile that bed was proving to be a seductive mistress And i closed everything down and walked to the bed.

I woke up still dressed, lying on my bed, I looked at my watch, nine thirty, hell I had been out for fourteen hours. My stomach made the first of many complaints this morning. I needed fuel, sustenance, I needed another Full English and I needed to food shop, so I had food here and didn't need to keep eating out for breakfast. One Full English later and I was walking towards the supermarket when it occurred to me I should buy a car. I had my license, I drove before prison, so by extension, I could still drive now. I did my food shopping, bread, milk, cereals, butter, coffee, tea and some beers. After going back to my flat, everything was found a place and I walked back out and trotted round to the Menin Street. Here I bought a local paper and scanned it for car showroom ads. I found four, picked two close together and hailed a cab. The journey was short but expensive. I'd need to go to the bank soon to get some more money out.

In the showroom a man about my age came over and we began the dance. You know the one, he wants to sell me a top of the range new car with all the bell and whistles, but I'd be willing to take a lower spec one and save a few pounds. We skirted around, landed a few blows, licked our wounds and tried again. Finally he sold me a top of the range model pre-owned, win-win both sides. We signed the forms, I signed a cheque, they phoned the bank, who passed me first class, saying the cheque would be paid if presented. I got the car and keys, he'll get his commission. We both had smiles, I also had a full tank of fuel. I drove for the first time in five years, and it all came back in an instant. Soon I was bellowing out hit after hit, with the radio on full blast, a Gold channel, everything from nineteen fifty four to nothing after the late seventies. Then I joined the commuter traffic and I remembered all the insults and gestures. Now I was surrounded by Numpties, Grandads, little old ladies, fucking Nigel Mansell's and a plethora of dorks and idiots.

"My granny drives better than you and she's been dead forty years... Did you pass your test or did your mum take it for you?.. How can you be so dense, there's signs all over the place... that's it moron, you just pull over in front of me."

I really enjoyed getting back behind a wheel and into the swing of driving again. Soon I was back at the flat, parked in my designated spot, It had flat thirty three on the tarmac in white paint, next to it the space said Guest - thirty three, which I assumed meant I could have people stay over. It was all coming together, slowly but surely. Going upstairs I enjoyed the burn, trying to move faster each time. Then I thought, why didn't I just use the lift? But it's too late now. Later after a meal I did some washing and tried to iron my shirt, the one I was released from prison in. It was acceptable I suppose. I placed it with the new ones I had hung in the wardrobe. That was something else, yes I had the wardrobes, one in each bedroom, but no bloody hangers. So that was another trip into town, a frustrating afternoon trying to find a store that sold them. I also took the opportunity to buy a laptop, I knew this was going to be a necessity later. In the end I bought two, one ostensibly for me at home. This was vanilla, internet searches for clothes, food, gift ideas. All very, very ordinary, totally kosher, if I was ever suspected of anything, this was the one I would give up. I would use it daily so it was seen as in regular use. The second was my attack dog. This was loaded with predatory software, some I designed, some downloaded from the darker fringes of the web. I had a VPN installed and a keystroke blocker. I secreted a DMZ box in an obscure panel behind a ceiling tile. This meant I had barriers to stop anyone trying to look in and a sentry checking regularly and anytime I looked out, it was encrypted, at a level Government agencies use. Finally I bought three burner phones, this would be necessary later.

Then I settled in for the remainder of the week, made searches and started assembling the information I needed. I learned that after the trial Pete was in hospital for almost a year. My ex-wife became his carer and went part time, although she did have her degree. There were local stories of how this heroic young man survived a brutal beating and was slowly learning to walk and talk again. I saw that Danny was on the books of Pete's dads company, firstly as an intern and now as a clerk. Lisa was listed as attending a local further education college, studying modern foreign languages and Media Studies. It hurt that Danny had dropped the idea of university, but he was making headway in the world. Lisa too had dreams of university, but now attended a local campus.

On Monday I diligently showed up a half hour early, parking in my designated space and walking in to my assigned desk. A post-it note gave me my logon name and a single use password which would immediately expire causing me to be directed to change it. Once logged on, new password chosen and memorised, I went to email, there as the first entry was a welcome note from the boss, followed by a mail from IT Support, with attachments on what was permissible, what was monitored, Health and Safety factors for screen time and regular breaks. Finally a mail from the HR department asking for my National Insurance number, mobile number and home phone number. In addition I had to provide a next of kin, their phone number and address. Tucked away was the information on the pension plan and a contribution agreement form requiring my signature. Finally a contract of employment, which noted my pay grade, my title and the appraisal requirements which ran yearly. The last document on file was a note on mandatory regular blood tests and company policy on the use and abuse of alcohol and recreational drug use, together with a statement on their desire to support staff who were vulnerable because of misuse.

By the time I'd read, printed, signed and walked the completed documents to IT Support and HR, it was nearly lunch time. Jo appeared and dragged me off to lunch with Dusty. They advised me that in the afternoon I had a statutory medical booked at the companies tame doctors. I had already signed a waiver allowing them to contact my doctors surgery and be given my medical notes. So lunch over, I left the other two to collect my car and attend the medical. The usual requests were made, blood sample, urine sample and a battery of tests designed to ensure I was a healthy individual. I walked back to my desk at three forty five, sat down to find Dusty had materialised by my workstation. Apparently "newbies" were traditionally sent home early on their first day, so I should bugger off now and come back again tomorrow when the real work started. Never one to argue (too much) with a boss, I promptly closed down, got my bag and left. With light afternoon traffic I was parked up and indoors filling the kettle in twenty minutes.

I made a few passes on the clean machine and almost booked a holiday in Greece, making sure to leave a trail of electronic breadcrumbs. Next came a switch to the black ops machine, where I made a few tailored searches and added to my stockpile of knowledge of my ex-wife and family. Now was the time to start the battle. I contacted Iris's boss via a blind email. I explained who it was and why I had contacted him. I wanted him to pass a burner phone to her via the office. It was a phone that would carry her offices logo, an asset number and an undetectable tracking device. During my time off I had loaded up software on each burner, so that I had made them trackable but untraceable to anyone else. His response gave me heart, as he was relieved that someone was going to try to help her. He was more than willing to assist me, I had always liked the guy anyway. I took the burner which she would have and sent her a message from it, explaining that I was her boss and this was from her new office phone, which she would be required to take with her everywhere in case they needed to contact her. Rather than rely on her ordinary mobile, this would ensure that she knew it was urgent, from work and required an immediate response. I had a yes response from her mobile. This told me her number was still live and still hers.

I then sent messages in Mail and WhatsApp asking her to meet me, with the children on neutral territory on Sunday, so I could see they were all okay. As expected I received a response written by Pete reminding me that there were exclusion zones in force and I was to come nowhere near him or his family or I'd end up back inside. So far so predictable, he was monitoring her mail, WhatsApp and probably had a tracker on her phone. I sent a message to Miles her boss, asking him for her to go to her office on Saturday morning to pick up some papers which she was required to read, initial, sign and leave at the office. It was a new client and he wanted an NDA signed and sealed by Monday, it was a lucrative deal for the Company and he wanted it done immediately. She could pick up her new office phone at that point. Part one of operation double cross was complete. Miles said he'd send the message immediately. Later that day Miles phoned my new number to say it was all done, Iris would be going in to work as agreed. He wished me luck, he'd never liked Pete and thought the slimy bastard should get his comeuppance.

Saturday morning found me sneaking into her office, finding Miles's room and settling down with a good book and a flask of black coffee. Hours later I heard the office door open and her and Danny and Lisa's voices. They went to her office and then trekked down the corridor towards me. I stood up as the door opened. Three startled faces looked at me in awe.

"Daddy!"

Lisa sprinted across the room to me and I was engulfed in her arms, legs and body. She had thrown herself like she used to when she was little. Without thought I had just wrapped my arms around her in return and leaned back a little. Danny walked over and wrapped his huge arms around the pair of us hugging us both at the same time. Looking past Lisa and Danny I saw Iris sink to the floor in tears. Slowly I levered the kids off and went to Iris, I sat down behind her slid my legs either side and carefully wrapped my arms around her shoulders, drawing her back into me.

After a while she stopped crying and twisted round to hold me and with that her lips met mine. Five years of pent up desire ripped through me and the kiss developed rapidly.

"Mum, Dad, we need to hurry, he'll be phoning soon to check on us."

That was Danny, ever practical that boy. We disentangled and rapidly rearranged our creased clothing. Iris and I held hands, as we sat in Miles's office.

"Okay, how has it been?"

"Dave, it's been horrible, ever since that day it's been a nightmare. I know we agreed that you would take the blame, but it has been horrible."

The kids were nodding in agreement. I sat with Iris on the sofa opposite another sofa holding Lisa and Danny, a long low coffee table between us. I went back to that morning. While we waited on the police I had hugged Iris close and in whispers outlined what she should do. She had fought back tears as I told her to blame me for the attack on Pete and for the small knife wound at her neck. She nodded her agreement and pushing away from me went to Danny and Lisa, taking their hands she backed them away from me. So that's how the paramedics and police found me, alone with my family cowered against the opposite corner of the room. After my arrest this was, apart from court appearances, the first time we had been together for over five years.

"Our phones have trackers, he can't work but he follows us around, me especially. There's no let up, it's relentless. He appears to be normal, then he gets these rages..."

"Dad as I grew up I wanted some privacy, I shut my bedroom door, he would accuse me of hiding things from him, he'd just barge in and tear the place apart trying to find some non-existent second phone. I could be undressing or, well anything and he'd just come in. So Danny and I had to leave our doors open all the time. He said he'd actually take our doors off if we continued to disobey him."

"It's why I didn't go to uni dad, I couldn't leave Lisa at home with him. I had to protect her and mum."

I nodded, Iris's grip tightened on my hand.

"The only good thing that came out of this is no sex. The attack damaged the part of his brain that handles pleasure and so he can't get it up anymore. That being said, it also makes him angrier and even more suspicious of me. When he found out you had been released he went crazy. As you know he has a tracker on our phones, which he insists we always carry. I suspect he's also got key loggers and can activate the microphones in them. That's why we wore those thick coats and left them in my office. He can't hear anything were saying. But, he'll start to get anxious and maybe feel the need to come here and check. We don't have long baby."

"Okay, here's your phone, it's made to be rugged and because of the rubber outer cover he won't be able to get into it. It's also rigged so that he can't add any more apps or install key logging or tracking software. I have one for you Danny and for you Lisa, but I'm saving those for a little later. Right, do you want to leave him?"

"Obviously, he's completely deranged, I mean, completely. He's always checking up on me, reads all my mail, tracks me, turns up at work to make sure I'm there, the excuses are like, I've forgotten something or he's taking me to lunch. Or he'll phone me checking I have my phone with me. I have no privacy Dave, none. He's insistent I let him sit in the bathroom while I shower or bath, it's humiliating."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't think it through properly, I just wanted to protect you and them. I thought if I went down for it, then the family wouldn't have been broken up and the kids go into care. So what happened that you ended up with him?"

"I went to the hospital, his dad was there, I pretended as you said and he took it that I would be caring for Pete. So I ended up taking extended leave and caring for him, through his rehabilitation and eventually he wore me down into divorcing you and marrying him. That was the worst part, knowing that you would be devastated by that."

"Okay, I'm so sorry I never thought it would end up this way. So the plan is that you take this phone, during work transfer the contacts you want to keep onto it. At some point when we're ready, you'll leave the phone in the office and disappear. We'll meet the kids, leave their phones in some lockers and they'll disappear with us. I'll drop the phones off for you and again transfer the contacts you need into the new phones."

Everyone nodded, we hugged and kissed and they gathered up their stuff and left. I gave it an hour then slipped out the back, giving the security guard a fifty for his trouble. He'd accidentally turned off the alarms and cameras on that floor from just before I arrived until just after I left. I later found that Miles had also dropped him a hundred for the same purpose. He'd had a very lucrative day then. Back at my flat, I began to put in place the final pieces of the plan. Part of which I had explained quickly to them as they left. It involved a meeting in the open. I sent the text from "Miles" using the word we had agreed, it read, please look at the Respect file, let me know when you've read it.

A day later, he agreed to us meeting, with him as observer, in the open at the recreation ground. I had purchased a low level signal jammer at a hobby warehouse on the net, it had a fifty meter range. That Sunday morning I arrived early and picked a particularly bench in the open and enjoyed the feel of the stiff breeze on my face. I was wrapped up pretty warmly, not knowing if they would actually come. Finally they arrived, also wrapped up warmly, Pete walking with a stick, which he leaned on when he stopped walking, maybe thirty meters away. Then as they got closer I heard a phone ring, then Iris took hers out her pocket and held it at her waist. Then as the three approached, with Danny and Lisa either side of her, they stopped, maybe two feet away.

"Dave," she said non committedly,

"Iris," I replied.

"So you wanted to meet, we're here, say what you have to say and we can go, Pete can't stand upright for long, so it'll be a short meeting."

"Fine, I just want to make sure you're all okay."

"We are now, is there anything else?"

"Iris..."

I pressed the button on the scanner in my pocket. Iris looked at me.

"He's jammed so I'll make it quick, in a second I'll turn it off, we'll be in the middle of an argument, then you slap my face, Danny and Lisa will shout and point at me and then they'll drag you away, don't look back and go straight to him, ready."

A flicker of their eyes and I pushed the button,

"No you don't Dave, you don't get to just barge back into our lives. We're settled it's over..."

I pointed at Iris and snarled at her,

"I spent time inside for you, you owe me, you owe me big time..."

Wham! she put her whole being into the slap, I staggered sideways and felt my cheek, she was crying hysterically, then Danny pointed at me and I winked, as I pressed the button,

"Jammed, go on you two pull your mum away."

I flicked the jammer off.

They screamed at me and pulled Iris away, cuddling her and taking her back to Pete. With that little display of public disaffection I hoped to calm his suspicions. I turned abruptly and walked off shaking my head. Without looking back I knew he would have a vey smug look on his face. I drove home and washed my face in cold water, looking at the red mark Iris had left with a grin. I was told later that he had laughed as I walked away, telling Iris that she did good slapping me, that would teach me a lesson I needed to learn. She was his now, his and his only. I spent the rest of my time off sorting my flat out and preparing for the next stage of removing Iris, Lisa and Danny away.

Monday morning I went to work and my employment really began. It was less than an hour later I spotted an obvious error in the source code I was working on. I signalled Dusty, who ambled over.

"There's an elementary error in the code here,"

I pointed to my screen, but instead of frowning, he smiled,

"Well done, my man, it took you less than fifty five minutes. Hey everyone, he found it!"

A round of applause followed and I looked around to see seven smiling faces.

"if you missed that we'd have had you out the door at lunchtime. It's surprising how many new entrants do, but you're good Dave, welcome to the team."

I got a round of high fives and a minute or two later Jo came out of her office and offered a handshake. Seems I was now fully onboard and accepted. After that they let me have the real source code and off I went again. I asked around where we were going and with that information began to work my way to the point where another pair of hands took over. The company's work was for a government agency, so no one person had all the code, we worked to points in its development then another pair of hands worked from there. It was painstaking as we were never entirely sure it was working as expected. I later learned we only did so much anyway. At a certain point our code got shipped to the agency, where their in house developers spliced our code into several other companies work to complete the system. It was maddening but lucrative work. We were given a specification to work to, we did and off it went. If there was a problem, it came back with directions on where it should be amended.

This was one of several projects we were working on and I got a real mix of work, from small business accounting requirements, to very large corporate back office integration projects. The small business ones were a pain, but again they paid the bills,, it was pretty much the work I had done prior to my imprisonment. I could work the code and save it, using it as a boilerplate for other clients. That way I didn't reinvent the wheel. Dusty was impressed by that and got the others to try it. That made work easier all round, it surprised me that the others hadn't thought of it. I thought it was because they were all much younger than me and therefore a bit less experienced. We had enough work coming in that the others were quickly grateful for me sharing my knowledge and experience.

About a month in I decided to start part two of my extracurricular plan. This time I needed to get into Lisa's college, that proved fairly easy. I found her with a group of girls and moved towards her, she spotted me and her smile was amazing,

"Daddy!"

She ran and hugged me, so much for a discrete meeting. I took her outside and gave her the phone and charger. I asked her to transfer all the contacts she needed. When she had that done that, she was to leave it in her locker, but take it out everyday and keep it charged. She would get a text from me with instructions when it was time. I hugged her and told her to tell Danny to go out for lunch tomorrow. We hugged again and I left to return to work. I had a busy time making up for my long lunch hour, but it was worth it.

The following day I took another extended lunch break, explaining, truthfully I was meeting my estranged son. I sat in the park opposite his workplace and he duly left the building looking round. I raised my arm and he saw me, racing across the busy road to meet me. We hugged and sat on a bench, once again I handed over a rugged phone and charger, explained what he needed to do and after another hug I left. So now all my family had a second phone hidden away from Pete and soon they would get a message when my plans were ready.

Work over the next few weeks was hectic, but I managed to leave messages for Danny and Lisa to let them know it was getting nearer to the time they could escape. I sent a text to Iris on a Saturday later that month, asking her to read the Bonham file and let "Miles" know her thoughts. Bonham was the code we had decided meant we were ready. The actual Miles was away in Manchester on company business. Once again I slipped into her offices and waited, around ten am she appeared dumped her coat, with her phone buried in it and came to Miles's office. We had to be quick, but there was time for a cuddle.

My plans were for Iris, on Monday, to box up her phone and have it couriered to the furthest day care centre for older people I had found. I gave her the address which she would leave in her office drawer. I told her to tell Lisa and Danny to leave school and work around midday tomorrow and I would pick them up, Lisa first, then Danny. So Lisa leaves school at midday and Danny at twelve thirty. Iris nodded, a quick hug and kiss and I was left alone. An hour later my phone received a message from Iris. Read and understood, all parties clearly ready to sign, can we do this tomorrow? I simply sent, yes please set it it in motion, you have my full support. I had asked work for two days off for family reasons, they were happy to agree.

Monday morning came and I got ready to pick up Lisa, I had purchased two padded bags and a sheet of labels. At her school I found her outside and jigging with excitement. In the car we hugged and I drove into the city. As we drove I pointed out the bag and the labels. I passed her a piece of paper with the day centre address. She had the phone inside, the label written, before we left the street her college sat on. Iris had used Miles's empty office to make up the parcel with her phone in. I had arranged to meet her at work at twelve forty five. So now I went past Danny's office and there he was. Twelve thirty exactly, he bundled in the back seat and I felt his hand on my shoulder. As we drove off Lisa gave him the envelope and sheet of labels, then the address on it's scrap of paper. By the time we reached Iris's office, she was outside waiting, so Lisa slipped out and Iris stepped in. Danny slid over, so Lisa could get in the back seat from the pavement side.

I drove to the courier office and we asked if the parcels for our uncle could go immediately. He said they could dispatch then in about thirty minutes. Maccy D's called and so we headed out to the Outlet Park near my old home, their place. Twenty minutes later my car was parked at the bend in the road. We had a good view of the house as we ate lunch. An hour later a car drew up, probably an Uber. Sure enough Pete came out in his thick coat and leaning on his stick. He was in the back of the car and there it sat for about three minutes, then suddenly it moved off. We waited ten minutes before entering the house. In quick succession we had everyone's clothes and trinkets boxed up and in the car. One final look and we were gone. I drove to my apartment and we were quickly emptying boxes and arranging clothes. Ornaments and keepsakes decorated the rooms, until finally we sat on the floor in my lounge arms around each other.

"Missed you guys so much."

"We missed you too Dave, more than I ever realised."

"Good to be home dad,"

"Love you Daddy."

We went out to a local seafood place and ate hungrily. Now we had to sit back and await the flak. Early next day we made a call to Danny's office. Danny told his line manager he quit as of now. There was a bit of back and forth, but in the end his manager accepted that Danny had left. The phones had been set up not to show Caller ID at the receivers end, so the number was virtually untraceable. Next Lisa let her best friend know that she had decided to take a few days off as she was unwell. She then spoke to the vice chancellors office and advised them that she and her mum and brother had fled an abusive relationship. She was now in hiding for a few days, but expected her stepfather, her abuser, to try to track her down. The lady in the office, Joyce, said they had protocols for this and she would be protected by the college, no information at all would be released without clearing it with Lisa.

So now, we waited, by nine thirty everyone was so tired we went to bed. I'd like to say that Iris and I made sweet love for hours on end, but it would be a lie. Within seconds we were both fast asleep. It was not to be a quiet night however. At four am there was a sharp knock on the door and a shout of

"Police, open up!"

I staggered out of bed and unlocked the door, several very large policeman pushed their way in and I was made to lie on the ground to be handcuffed. Iris emerged and screamed at them, Lisa and Danny emerged and shouted at the officers. Eventually I was hauled up and placed on the sofa, the others immediately sat either side of me. A detective appeared and began to ask questions. We explained that everyone was here by consent, there was no coercion involved. Each was then taken into the kitchen to be individually questioned. At last they stood me up and removed the handcuffs. I nursed my battered wrists, as we all sat again.

Apparently Pete had gone to the day centre and been surprised to find the three phones, addressed to him, waiting for him to collect. He had gone straight to the police and filed a complaint of abduction by me of his loving family. They had searched and found my address and then mounted the raid, knowing that at four am we would be at our weakest. We would be required to attend the police station to be formerly interviewed and statements taken. A file would be transferred to the CPS to see if any charges should be laid. After that, if no criminal intent was detected we were free agents (that was directed at me primarily).

So at half eleven that morning we finally got back to bed and slept. We had breakfast at a cafe just four streets away. Then we made for the police station. I hadn't thought about it but obviously Pete was there. As we walked in he flew at me, I knew it would happen eventually, but it was still a surprise. His stick hit me several times before officers dragged him off me. I sat with blood running down my face as an hysterical Iris held me. Pete's eyes bored into me and Iris as she cried at my shoulder.

"Whore! Filthy dirty whore. Look at you prostituting yourself with that man. You and your filthy whore daughter belong to me, you're mine, leave him alone and come to me, you filthy addled whore! Stop pawing him, get over here, you and that slut of a daughter."

The two guys holding him quickly hustled him away. I was seem by the duty Forces Medical Officer, but he agreed with me it was just cuts and bruises. While the took care of me, Iris, Danny and Lisa were each interviewed, under caution and told their stories. Iris gave permission for the house to be searched. I was then interviewed and signed and dated a typed up statement, after carefully reading it. Later we were met by Miles and he told us that the firm would represent us in court. Finally we arrived back at the flat, took turns to shower and then decided to go out for a meal, as I had not a lot in the fridge or cupboards. I was given an Iris look for that, which melted into a grin.

We found a nice trattoria and the wine and beer flowed, we were all a bit tipsy, so ordered a cab home. Inside, we had a group hug and split up to our bedrooms. Iris and I were soon coupling happily, finding we had muscle memory that quickly reasserted itself. I slid into her warm and comfortable pussy and the years melted away. It was a long languid lovemaking session. Finally I could hold out no longer and climaxed, throwing Iris over the edge again. I cleaned her and she cleaned me, we kissed messily and laughed. We slept, woke, coupled, cleaned, then slept through the night. It was good to feel that soft and gentle body beside me. She had turned to make sure that we could spoon and that is how I woke, my cock hard and rubbing her bum crack, she giggled, and turned over,

"We still haven't tried that have we?"

"Mmm, still want to try then?"

"Yes and no, yes with you, no because I'm scared."

"Fair enough, one day then?"

She kissed me lazily,

"Probably, but you have to be a really good boy." And another kiss, longer, insisting, wanting, urging.

Then we were coupling again, no urgency just two lovers caring for the other. She came, I came, we cleaned each other. I got up to make tea. I passed Lisa's room and found Danny asleep on the top of the covers In tee shirt and shorts. At his room door I paused, sliding it slowly open I peeked in. There was Lisa fast sleep gripping the covers round her. This would b an interesting story later. I made tea and took it to our room. Iris sat up the duvet resting under her bare breasts. I raised an eyebrow, she blushed but patted the empty space beside her. Placing the mugs on the coasters on the top of the bedside drawers I quickly moved in beside her. We kissed and snuggled down together.

Hearing the toilet flush, we looked at each other, then heard the pad of big feet over the carpet. Danny's head, with tousled hair and startled look came round the the doorframe.

"Hi mum, dad, okay?"

That was almost a conversation from Danny, he is definitely his fathers son, not a morning person. We laughed and waved, he grumbled something unintelligible, but I thought I detected the word breakfast in it. He disappeared to be replaced by Lisa, she came and sat on the bed, giving each of us a kiss. I saw her nostrils twitch and she blushed, oops post sex breath for each of us, bad parents.

"So want to tell us about the bed swap?"

"Duh! The kid and I were talking and he fell asleep on my bed. I thought fairs fair and turnabout, so I went into his room and slept in his bed."

It seemed years since I'd heard her call him kid, which she did, but never in his earshot. Even though he was older, she still thought of him as her little brother. Meanwhile the kid himself returned, spoon angling towards his mouth a bowl of cereal in hand, munching away.

"You found something then?"

"Mmm, mmmhuh mmm?"

"Oh sorry, we're right out of them, pick some up when you go shopping."

"Smarmmmsss!"

We all laughed at him struggling to eat, talk and stay awake. If you wanted to get at Danny talk to him in the morning, before or during breakfast. About twenty minutes after the food has started to percolate he becomes almost human. He's adorable according to his mother, a dork according to his sister and mini-me according to me. By eleven we were all ready and so we went to Iris's workplace where Miles showed us into his office. Preliminary reports by the police showed the scale of the paranoia that had come over Pete. There were hidden cameras in all the rooms, sound detectors in the communal areas. The police had recovered their three phones, all of which contained, trackers, key loggers and an app that opened an app on Pete's phone that allowed him to listen in on their calls.

Together with the statements we had given, a file had been passed to the CPS, the police expected to confirm a decision on multiple charges and would press for a custodial sentence.

While we were with Miles he began the process of removing the redundant exclusion zones from around the three of them and the house. In their place were four requests for Pete to keep away from us and create a non contact zone for a hundred meters around us and a mile exclusion zone from around the house. Later it was confirmed Pete had been released on bail, the money being put up by his father. We learned that he had been collected by his parents and his address was given as their home. That meant the house was free, if the exclusion zone was granted. It effectIvely gave it back into Iris's possession. What I later learned was that she had resisted Pete's attempts to have her transfer it into his name solely. Instead she had successfully argued that it was in our joint names and to change that they would have to buy me out. She was lying to him, as the court had it invested solely in her name.

It was Iris who had transferred the money to my bank accounts, in order to protect our savings from Pete. This was before he had become enmeshed in their life, while he was still recovering. As he didn't or couldn't work, he was on a state subsidised disability pension. While he didn't appear to work, his father had him on the company books and he had a seat on the board, not that he ever attended or voted, but there was an offshore account which took his dividend payments from his share allocations. This matter had somehow come to the police"s attention and a further charge was added of benefit fraud. Meanwhile Miles had made application for the cessation of the current exclusion zones and substituted them naming Pete as the person who was the threat to the family. A series of phone calls ensued as another law firm called to say that they represented Pete and would strenuously fight any application to remove the current court approved exclusions. That threat disappeared when Miles said he had the protected people as clients and that they had signed affidavits, duly witnessed attending to Pete's cruel and unusual behaviour.

Lat in the evening we were once again at the flat when the door was banged hard several times, Pete could be heard shouting and screaming outside the door. I just called the police and sat back to wait. Ten minutes later there were sirens and blue flashing lights in the courtyard below, after a slight delay there were shouts and sounds of a scuffle outside. A little while later there was a gentle rap on the door and a hatless police officer told us Pete had been arrested again, this time on charges of Disturbing the Peace, refusal to obey a lawful request by a police officer, assaulting a police officer and uttering threats. All in all another night in the cells for him. We settled down again and soon there was silence. In the early hours I needed to pee and walked to the bathroom. Glancing into Danny's room I saw him curled up and Lisa lay next to him, her arm resting over his shoulder, keeping him safe. Those two were so close it was scary, they had obviously got that much closer with the events of the last five years, protecting each other.

At the end of the week Miles let us know that the court had agreed to lapse the old exclusion orders, but wanted a full hearing to discuss the proposed new orders. So Monday morning we would be at the local magistrates court to plead our case. I phoned work and explained the situation, Jo was not exactly best pleased, but understood. She had known about my circumstances when I applied. She asked that I keep her in the loop and updated as soon as was practicable. So we had a weekend of walks and talks. Lisa and Danny walked together, heads close, talking, laughing, sometimes arguing but always together, I mentioned it to Iris.

"You know those two seem awfully close for siblings?"

"And you know why, does it worry you though?"

"I don't know, I'm an only child, is it normal?"

"Is anything about our family normal at the moment?"

"That's true enough, but were you ever that close to your brother?"

"You mean the guy I haven't seen or heard from for twenty six years, no we weren't especially close then, now even more so. Look let's just let it run its course, they're in a state of flux at the moment, their worlds crashing and burning around them, let's give them to benefit of the doubt and let it roll."

"Well you're their mother and mothers know best."

"Correct, now I'm getting cold, so I need a cuddle and want to go home."

With that she hugged into me, her arm hooking through mine, then she steered us around to return, shouting out to the kids and they stopped and turned round which is when I noticed they were holding hands. Danny looked at me and smiled, Lisa laughed and they were back talking in whispers, heads down. We went shopping later and filled the cupboards and fridge / freezer. I opened a bottle of red and Iris and I curled up on the sofa huddling together. Lisa and Danny drifted in with a coke and a beer respectively. Danny sat and Lisa sat down on his lap, her back resting against him. They held their drinks but their free hands came together.

"Is there something you want to tell us, about your somewhat close relationship?"

That was me, diving in with all guns blazing.

"No, not really, we're friends and siblings, that's about it." Danny said with a grin.

"Dad, don't worry about it, we're just looking out for each other. It's all cool."

"Okay, but if you do want to talk, I'm here, finally."

There were hesitant laughs but we eventually just sat and watched TV.

Monday loomed dull, dark and rainy, it was cold and damp, the pavements ran with the falling rain, the roads were wet and slippery. I nudged the car through the traffic, red lights striating across the rain covered windscreen. Headlights also burst over the screen dazzling us all. If it wasn't for the fact that we were only able to ten miles an hour, I'm sure that there would have been carnage. As it was there were a couple of fender benders around us but we made it through. At ten thirty we were called into court and the process began. Three hours later we trooped out, not exactly ecstatic but thankful the judge had agreed with us. In addition he granted us the right to return home and confirmed us as the legal owners. Another small brick removed from the barriers Pete had built.

We were in no hurry to go back, but possession is as they say nine tenths of the law. Danny and I went over to the old place and noted the disturbances in each room where the police had searched. We had been advised that all the camera and microphones had been removed, but we had no idea where they had been placed. We had called a locksmith and when he arrived we watched as he replaced all the external door locks. He fitted and tested each one, before giving us the keys, which we labelled immediately. He also installed two additional locks on the front and rear doors so that you had to unlock the main lock and the ones at the top and bottom of the door to get out. He also suggested a home security system with external monitors an a cloud based storage system. We didn't dismiss it out of hand, so he left us with some brochures when he finished. We left too, going to the hyper market which had an outlet that cut keys. We obtained two more of the keys for the front and back main locks, so we each would have a key to get in at the front or back, also we could lock all doors when we left.

On the way back to the flat Danny asked me to stop for a while. I agreed and so he pulled over into a side road and we sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Dad you seem very concerned about the relationship Lisa and I have. I want you to know there is absolutely nothing untoward or sexual about our closeness. You haven't been around for us, because you were in prison. However, as I said I never went to uni because I feared what that fucking pervert would do with my sister if I did. Yes we are close, very close, I love her as my sister and I would do time for her. I act as her protector but she also acts as mine. We're like twins, we've got that ability to know what the others thinking or feeling. That's what that pervers done to our family. God knows how mum's survived relatively unscathed. The guy is a fucking basket case. Sorry about the language but he makes me so angry. He tries to act like he's my dad, he's not you are, and I've told him enough tines. I also told him that if he touched Lisa, they'd never find his body."

"Thank you Danny, for being there and standing up to him, without you I'm sure mum and Lisa would be in a much worse plase than they are now. You're my man Danny, my fucking beautiful man."

I cried, I cried a lot, I cried for the fact my little boy had to grow up so suddenly, but not only that but that he took the role of protector of Lisa. I had failed them all. I cried for Iris, having to live with that vile creature for five years and I cried for myself and the stupid mistakes I had made over the years. Yes Iris strayed but the result had almost destroyed her as well as us. I was complicit, I didn't listen, I didn't see it, I was so involved in me, my job, my status, I'd lost the most important things in life, my wife and my children. I never stopped working long enough to see what was happening. Eventually with Danny's arm around my shoulder and his soft but well meant words, I calmed down enough for him to drive me back to the flat.

Inside Iris and Lisa were curled up together on the sofa, watching a sappy room-com they had found on the movie channel. I made teas and coffee and brought them in to the lounge. Danny was now cured in under the blanket with Lisa one side and his mum the other. I pulled out my phone and took several shots. Looking at the smiling, happy faces they displayed. This is what I had lost sight of, this, my family, my wonderful beautiful family. I made myself a promise to keep them in mind at all times.

Everyone except Danny returned to work or school on Monday. I had a very productive day, resolving two bugs that had been eluding the team for a few months. I came back from lunch to find an A4 sheet of paper with the word Smartarse written in green felt tip on it, I looked at it laughed and sat down leaving it there. The fact I knew it was Dusty's writing made it even sweeter. Iris was knee deep in work, trying to catch up and rebuild friendships, however, when they knew she had left Pete that helped tremendously since he was universally loathed at her place. Lisa soon picked up the threads of her course and naturally her crew were delighted she had returned. Danny had said he would begin the task of tidying up the house, but would pick Lisa up at four when she finished.

That night shattered we settled for a takeaway, Chinese and lots of it. After it we lay sated and semi comatose as another rom-com played out in the background which at points had us laughing at the ludicrous plot holes. The rest of the week was easier as the rhythm of work seeped back into us. On the following Saturday we all went over to the house. Danny had made a brilliant job of tidying each room. Filling the tiny holes were the cameras and microphones had been hidden. He had changed and washed every piece of bedding. Cushions and carpets had been hoovered, he had dusted and polished every surface and put all the crockery and cutlery through the dishwasher. The place sparkled and he had even brought in fresh flowers for the lounge and set up toilet blocks in the toilets so each was fresh and flushed. In all this Iris and I could find no fault. Lisa hugged him as she realised he had fitted a lock on her door, which he demonstrated to her.

We locked up again and left for the flat, determining to make the effort to move all our stuff out of the flat and back home. On the way back we diverted to a lock up store. Iris produced a set of keys and took us to a section on the second floor. Using the keys she unlocked a roller door and slid it up. Inside were six boxes, inside of which were my record, tape and cd collections. At the rear were the storage units I had kept them in. Iris said that, despite Pete insisting they were disposed of, she had brought them here and paid for a years storage, which she diligently renewed on each anniversary of her depositing them. Once again that woman had surprised me. A very happy crew returned to the flat, changed and went out to celebrate. The following morning we made endless trips back and forth transferring everything back to the house. Finally Danny and I retrieved my precious music collection back to its place in the lounge. I wanted to celebrate by playing a few cd's, but everyone said that it could wait surely, Phillistines!

Life settled back to how it was before that fateful day, Pete's father wanted to send him to a retreat but the terms of his bail prevented that. Finally eighteen months after my release Pete stood trial, charged with so many offences that if found guilty would send him away for at least twenty years. The case outlined by the CPS's Barrister was comprehensive and showed him as a wilfully coercive man, deeply flawed, egotistical to the point of narcissism. They accepted that his head trauma had increased his problem. We all gave evidence, scrutinised by a scowling Pete and his overbearing father. The defence barristers team did their best, finding medical treatises on the effects of blunt force trauma. They played on his current physical state, how weak he was and that a grown man like Danny could have taken him down easily. Danny was grilled ferociously, as was Lisa about her need for privacy, several times we had to be told to sit down, as the nasty pettiness of the questions rankled. Finally Iris was called and she spoke in clear terms, wouldn't budge on the detail, firmly help to her answer and wouldn't be swayed at all. The prosecution gave it's summary and the defence made their final submission.

The jury retired, for three days they deliberated. We heard through the barrister that they had sought clarification of several points until finally we reassembled in court. The foreman of the jury was asked if they had reached a decision, he said they had. As the clerk of the court read out each charge the foreman replied guilty. In all he was found guilty of seven charges. The Magistrate remanded him in custody for two weeks, at which point a sentencing hearing would be held. Two weeks later at the sentencing hearing the Magistrate gave him prison time of not less twenty five years, with a recommendation that he not be eligible for parole until after he had served two thirds of his sentence.

For us it was over, we could slip back into life, not like it was before him at least with some semblance of it. Danny decided to do a part time degree course. Lisa passed her degree and celebrated with her friends and Danny. Within two days Danny was dating Lisa's friend Julie, within six months they had moved in together, taking over the lease on the flat, which we had retained in case the kids wanted it. Eight months later with her job paying well, Lisa moved in with Danny and Julie. A year later, owing to a mishap with tablets and timings, we had to announce that Danny and Lisa would now have another sibling. It turns out it was all my fault for being so potent. Edward James made his voice known on March the tenth the next year and life again went off the rails as he attempted to make us bend to his will, while we tried to impose ours. We won but only just, soon he had a working routine. We kept it up until just after eight months when he went to spend the night with his big brother and fiancée, together with his big sister, to be completely spoiled overnight.

Oh and when Eddy was five, his older sister came out to us by introducing us to Triss, a beautiful girl who we all fell in love with immediately, and who we could tell loved our daughter ferociously and completely. This is why the two older siblings were so close, not only was Danny protecting her from Pete, he was also protecting her secret until she was ready to emerge, although he told her constantly that Iris and I would be fine about her sexuality. So for once Danny was the wise one, he'll be a fantastic dad and but the way Julie always fusses over Eddy, I don't think that's so far away.