Mick and Keri

Mick and Keri The Beginning Of The End

Chapter 35

It was a busy time of the season for me. I'd been on the road with the various levels of championships that our team aimed at. I'd been spending a lot of nights sleeping in my apartment and missed Keri so much. I needed to make sure to make it up to her when this last Championship was over and the team took a break.

The past several years and been great and I did not want to mess it up this time. We had settled into a bit of a boring and mediocre life for the past six months as I focused on my team and its' rise to a national level of competition. We even had kids with Olympic possibilities.

I kept thinking that I should do something, but there did not seem to be enough time for everything. It was wearing on my nerves, too. During the competition this last weekend, I'd gotten a little hot under the collar and I'd thrown the three-ring binder I keep practices and workouts and test results and stuff in and destroyed it.

I decided to head out to the Office Max to get a new one during my lunch break since Keri had a conference downtown and could not join me. The shop I was headed for is down in one of the various little entertainment districts that dot the downtown area. This one was across the street from the sushi buffet that Keri and I often go to for lunch. It was our favorite spot to enjoy each other's company.... in public. I was walking at a good pace with my headphones on and my phone turned on to my music library. The music was up tempo and helped me walk at a good healthy speed. As I was going along I would look into the windows and bars that I passed, just as a normal thing.

As I got to the sushi restaurant, I looked in to see a woman sitting at the bar with a great head of thick black hair and a glass of wine in her hand. As I looked in I saw two things. First she was sitting next to a guy who had his arm around her and second her hair had a few streaks of silver in it, just like Keri's. I slowed my pass and focused a little more and an icicle stabbed me in the heart. The woman turn around just enough that I could see her face, but she could not see me. It WAS Keri.

She and the man were at the bar chatting and as I watched they laughed and he kissed her. She did not pull away. She did not look insulted or upset as she sipped on the wine and looked into his eyes. And then she kissed him back. I almost blacked out.

I walked across the street and into the Office Max store and stood in a place where I could watch. After about twenty minutes the two of them walked out of the sushi restaurant, holding hands, and without any conversation, walked across the cross street and into the new high end hotel that had just opened.

Leaving the store, I started walking my mind blanked out the music. I suddenly found myself at the door to my office and did not know how I got there. My mind was a blank. I went back to work and muddled through the rest of the day. I went to practice and got through it like I was sleep walking. After practice I took out my phone and sent a text to Keri and Sarah, like I normally would.

"I'm beat and have a ton of work to do. Sleeping at the apartment tonight. Talk to you tomorrow."

I went to my apartment. Although I lived with Keri, I kept the apartment near work for days when I WAS really swamped and DID need to get some work done. I walked in, turned on the lights, locked the door, removed my coat, fell into bed and cried myself to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up around 6:30 and took a shower. I stood under the water stream and remembered the first time Keri had come to my apartment. She let herself in and I ended up in this very shower, with my dick in her ass. It was the start of the finest time of my life. Now it seemed that it might be over.

I kept telling myself that maybe there was a reasonable explanation for what I saw. Maybe it was Keri's doppelganger. Maybe there was something else. No. I saw what I saw. I saw the looks in their eyes. I wondered how and if and when she was going to tell me. Was she going to let me down easy or just drop a bomb on me? Had she been meeting him for a long time?

I decided to wait until later in the morning and I drove to Keri's house. Funny, I didn't think to myself "our home". I pulled up to the garage door and the signal from the Lexus opened the door. I walked in to a quiet house. Sarah was not there and if she was, she was in her apartment and as soon as I walked in her alarm would go off telling her someone was home.

The intercom remained silent. Sarah was not here. I walked back into the garage and found the big leaf bags that we used in the yard. I pulled two of them off the roll and returned to the bedroom. In the closet I began to pull down all of my shirts that had to do with my team. I stuffed them in one of the bags. I collected all of my team polo and t-shirts, my sweat shirts and hoodies. Then I went to the dresser and packed up all of my underwear, except for the sexy ones that Keri had bought for me.

I did a quick inventory. I'd all of my team gear and socks and underwear. I left all of my dress shirts and slacks and coats and sweaters. I left the dress shoes as well. I packed up all of my toiletries from the bathroom and then lugged both of the bags down to the car, throwing all into the trunk. I started the car and drove back to my apartment. After putting everything away in my closet, I sat down on my computer and opened the email program.

I typed in Keri's work email and began to type.

"I saw you at lunch yesterday"Was on the Subject line.

"I guess you were just waiting for the chance to tell me when you got done at the hotel. Well, no need now. I'll return the car to you in a few days when I have a replacement. I guess I should have known that this could not last. Keep the rest of my clothes maybe they will fit the next guy. Good bye"

Without taking the normal split second to think if I should hit "Send", I just clicked on the tab and off the email went. I then busied myself with the day's work and got ready for the day's practices.

Some unknown amount of time later my email notice chimed and an icon popped up letting me know that I had an email from Keri. "Re: I saw you at lunch yesterday" in the subject line. I deleted it without opening it. A few minutes later another and then another, all deleted. Then my phone began to ring.

I turned the phone off and went back to immersing myself in the mind numbing tedium of paperwork. More emails, more deletes.

After about an hour, I was sitting in the quiet of my thoughts when there was a knock on the door. I tried to ignore it. The knock became louder and faster. Finally, I could not put up with the noise. I stood and headed for the door. As I walked past the table by the door I picked up the keys to Keri's car and opened the door.

There stood a mess of a woman. Her hair was unkempt; her eyes were red and swollen from crying. She looked franticly into my eyes.

"Here are your car keys."

And with that I closed the door. Soon there was more pounding on the door. Now the sound of a pleading voice.

"Mick, please open the door. Please, we need to talk. Nothing happened. Mick. Mick! MICK!"

I returned to my desk and turned up the music until the noise at my door stopped.

At 2:30 I got up to go to practice. I walked the 15 minutes to the practice facility since I no longer had her car keys and proceeded to bury myself in my kids. I was not my normal self and it was apparent. One of my assistants pulled me off to the side and asked what was wrong. All I could say was "Keri left me." I had to return to practice rather than break down into a tearful mess.

After practice I shrugged off the questions and concerns of my staff and began my walk home. As I walked out the doors, there was a black Lexus. I walked past it like I'd not seen it and continued on. I never knew if it was Keri's car or not.

**********

Keri was at work managing some of the easier accounts when her email chimed. Looking up she saw it was from Mick and she smiled. Then she saw the words in the subject line and froze.

"I saw you at lunch yesterday"

She opened the email and read the short text and covered her mouth like someone in a horror movie when the monster appears. She looked around the office to see if anyone was looking. No one would be since she was in her office by herself.

What have I done? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?

She should call him. No. He did not call, he emailed. Answer the email. She clicked on the reply button.

"Mick, I can explain. Call me."Send.

After several minutes, she typed another email.

"Mick, call me please. I can clear this up."Send.

No reply. She grabbed her phone and dialed Mick's number. The phone rang for several minutes and then went to voice mail.

"Mick, please call me. Nothing happened. I can explain."

She called again, and again, leaving messages each time, each one more frantic than before as she realized how bad this situation was. Finally, she ran out of the office and down to her car. She started it up and raced out of the parking garage. So many damned red lights. Everyone was driving so fucking slow. Move! Move!

She pulled into the parking garage at Mick's apartment and after parking next to her black Lexus twin, she ran up to the third floor. Reaching his door, she took a deep breath and knocked on the door. No answer. She knocked harder and faster. No answer. She knocked again, louder, more frantic.

The door opened and before she could speak, Mick reached out to her.

"Here are your car keys."

And the door closed. She stood in shock. Frozen in time.

The full realization of what was happening suddenly hit her. She collapsed in front of the door and pounded on it all the while crying out to Mick, getting louder and louder until at last she screamed out her plea and collapsed onto the ground at the base of the door.

"Mick, please open the door. Please, we need to talk. Nothing happened."

"Mick."

"Mick!"

"MICK!!"

No answer. And then she heard loud music coming from the other side of the door. Mick was drowning her out. She slowly stood and walked back to the car. Starting it up, she drove home almost blinded by her tears. Pulling into the garage, she turned off the car and broke down in tears as the garage door closed behind her.

**********

When Sarah came home she found Keri still in the car still crying and on the verge of hysteria.

"Keri! What is wrong?"

"Mick."

"What about Mick? Is he OK? Did something happen?"

"He is gone" she finally whimpered between sobs.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?"

Keri was shaking and crying and could not speak, so Sarah helped her out of the car, into the house and onto the couch in the TV room. She lowered her boss to the seat and ran back to the kitchen to get a towel and some water for her best friend.

When she came back, Keri was curled up in a fetal position and was sobbing and shaking. Taking her friend in her arms, Sarah held her tight and asked again.

"What happened to Mick? Is he OK?"

"Sarah, what have I done?" and she broke down in hysterical tears again.

It took about a half an hour for Keri to finally tell the tale.

She had met a man a couple of days ago at a conference her company was hosting. He was charming and handsome and said all of the right things. They went to lunch and while at lunch he kissed her and she kissed him back. He asked her to go back to his hotel room and, for some reason she still did not understand, she agreed. They went back to his room and had sex.

As soon as he had slipped his cock into her she realized what she had done and, too late, she returned to her senses. Pulling off of him, she told him that she had a very special man in her life. She had then grabbed her clothes, dressed and ran out to her office. At some point between the restaurant and the hotel, Mick happened to walk by and saw them.

Sarah's eyes went wide and she stood up and ran up the stairs into the bedroom. The dresser drawers were open and most of Mick's things were gone. She went to the closet and saw that all of his coaching and team clothes were also gone. She ran back downstairs. Keri was now sitting up and looked to be in a state of shock.

"Most of Mick's clothes are gone."

Keri slowly looked up and into Sarah's eyes and as the news sank in she slowly began to sway back and forth and then she passed out.

**********

Three days later, Sarah felt that Keri was safe enough to leave alone. She got in her car and drove to Mick's office. She had to talk to him and she figured that perhaps he would listen to her since she scared him to death at one time. She had to bring the two lovers back together. She had to.

**********

Mick was at his desk reading over the details for an upcoming competition when he heard a soft and familiar voice over his shoulder.

"Can I please talk to you? Please?"

Mick turned to see the feline pit bull, only this time she was not intimidating. She was slouched and demure and seemed to be very worried.

"Hi Sarah, Yeah, I suppose so. Sit down." Much more warmly than he thought he could have been.

Sarah sat in the other chair in the office and quietly looked at Mick for signs of anger or rage or some other strong emotion. But there were no outward signs. He actually looked very much at peace.

"Keri needs to talk to you."

"Why?"

"She needs to explain what happened."

"I saw what happened. She was kissing some guy in public in our favorite restaurant. And then they left and went to the hotel across the street and were holding hands."

"You saw a part of what happened."

"So, what did I miss? Did she fuck him when they got to the hotel?"

Sarah got very quiet and would not look Mick in the eyes. She was very upset and very much trying to control herself.

"Sarah, I assume by your silence that she did just that, and that means that she also lied to me when she said that nothing happened. So, what more is there to say?"

"There is a lot more, Mick. You need to hear it from her."

"Sarah, when my daughter was 14, she came to me and asked me what I would do if I found out that she was using drugs. I told her that first, I would find the person that supplied the drugs to her and I would kill that person, then I would go to prison and when I got out I would continue with my life, and although I would always love her, I would never trust her again."

"A few years later, when she turned 21 she asked me if I remembered that question. I told her that I did. She asked what I would do in that same situation today. I told her that she was an adult now and I would forgo the killing of anyone, but because she was an adult now, and had made a conscious choice, I would also never trust her again."

"So, Sarah, can I trust her? If she tells me she loves me, can I believe her? If she will go off and fuck a stranger once, why would she not do it twice? How do I know she hasn't done it before? Now I have work to do. Good bye, Sarah."

I turned in my chair to face my computer screen and returned to my reading. At some point Sarah quietly left. It was not the way I would have thought the last time I'd ever see her would go.

Over the next several days, Keri tried to contact me; I always refused to answer the phone or email. I buried myself in my job and cut myself off from everyone else. I left word with my secretary that if Keri showed up to the office, that she was not to be let in and that if she would not leave to feel free to call the police and report Keri as trespassing.

After about a month, Keri quit trying and I moved on with my life, such as it was.