1
Mac didn't notice the thin rain quietly soaking him to the skin as he wandered the streets of London that night β he felt too sick in his stomach for the drizzle to bother him. His wife was about to shatter the boundaries of their marriage, and there was nothing he could do to keep her from doing it.
He should never have done it β it had been unethical from the start, he accepted that now. Sitting down at the computer at home, he should have closed the browser window on seeing his wife's email open like that. But he hadn't β curiosity had got the better of him.
Perhaps this was all some kind of punishment for his lack of trust.
They had been married five years now - surely that meant she shouldn't have been keeping secrets from him? She shouldn't have had anything to hide in her email, and there shouldn't have been any issue with him looking in her in-box.
Ethical or not, he had looked and he had found. And now here he was, tailing her like a cheap private detective as she wove her way through the narrow streets of Soho.
He should have bought an umbrella β he was getting drenched here β but it would have made things more difficult. Hiding when she turned her head, keeping in the shadows when there was a danger she might spot him.
For a little while, he wandered if, perhaps, this was all some kind of ghastly nightmare. She kept walking in circles, down streets she'd already been. No real destination. Maybe she'd decide against it, decide against meeting
him
.
Maybe she'd come back to Mac, quietly forget about her attempted adultery.
As the rain began to clear for the first time in two hours, and his wife perched in a coffee shop for a latte, Mac felt his heart lifting β damn, she was beautiful. He'd resolve to spend more time at home, tell his bosses that the workload they had given him was too much, it was killing his personal life. He'd take a damn pay cut if he had to.
Her beauty made him wince, even after five years of marriage. Her golden hair flowing down one side of her head, her gentle blue eyes, delicate mouth, the thrilling rise of her breasts under her blouse.
Making love to her was the single most amazing experience he'd ever had. Being with her was so amazing that it hurt to be apart from her β even for just a few hours. And yet every day he went through it just so he could provide for her, put enough money away so they could have the family they'd always wanted.
Maybe he should just go in there, tell her he'd been allowed home after all, that he'd happened to be passing... she would be suspicious if he did, though. Bad idea. He should just go home, light some candles, crack out some champagne to celebrate their love β
Who was that?
A man, approaching her in the coffee shop. Recognition on her face, though Mac couldn't make out the man's face. The man, stooping to kiss her cheek β no, her mouth.
Mac's heart suddenly sank. More than that β it dropped, it collapsed, it imploded. She was meeting him, she was meeting him now, and there was a sudden brightness, an excitement in her face at meeting him.
Another kiss, this time longer, like two naughty teenagers, a dream for them but for him, a living nightmare in an innocuous London street.
2
Mac felt shell-shocked as he watched the two of them step into a taxi, a move that could have meant anything from a simple trip to dinner to the quick step towards illicit sex in a hotel room somewhere. He had to suspect the worst, based on the body language of his wife and her fellow co-adulterer.
Someone had stuffed a flyer in his hand as he had stood there watching, he hadn't even bothered to refuse it, his mind was so far away from reality now.
It was a leaflet promoting the "Charlie's Angels" club, and it made him realise he was now wondering in one of London's more seedy areas, in Soho. What was his wife doing getting into a taxi with a man here, in the city's red light district?
Safe enough meeting place: wouldn't expect anyone they knew to be there. Logical enough.
Usually he'd feel strange to be here, but right now he found that he really didn't care β his whole world was collapsing around him. Looking at the flyer, he even felt revolutionary stirrings β his wife had ruined their marriage, so why shouldn't he go to a strip club, entertain his own lust?
It might just take his mind off the crushing truth for a few blessed moments.
But no, it was horrible. How could he go to such a dirty, seedy place, where the girls were leered over by old, perverted men?
Walking through the shadier streets of Soho, he felt the warmth of embarrassment stealing over him β although this was where the sex shops were, the bohemian nature of Soho also drew above-board types out, media types, artistic types, and with them the more respectable bars and restaurants β thriving on the slightly risquΓ© nature of the area.
So there were more people walking through here than just the types that haunted the strip clubs and the adult video stores, sex shops. Did they know he was thinking about going to a strip club? Could they tell? Did they think he was a dirty old man, too?
Damn it, he didn't care β how could he care? The sensation of humiliation was stronger from what his wife was up to than from anything he could do as a 'single' guy in Soho. No β she was challenging his manhood, her actions clearly stating he was not man enough for her. This was merely restoring that manhood.
He got to the doorway marked with a red neon sign that read "Charlie's Angels". It didn't look very glamorous, didn't look like the kind of places you saw in the movies. It was just a depressing doorway. A guy went in β old, older then him. Gloomy, downtrodden. Almost a tramp.
Was he really reduced to that?
Mac wavered on the curb. He couldn't decide. His stomach felt full of molten lead as the indecision, excitement, horror and grief burned at his insides. Come on, it wasn't illegal to go into a place like that. It wasn't something to put in your memoirs, but there was nothing wrong with looking at young girls willingly taking off their clothes. It wasn't like his wife could take the high ground in this.
He was just about to cross the street over to the club, when he noticed the car driving along the street, faster than it should have been. He stepped back, up onto the pavement to wait for it to pass β he hated this hesitation, this delay. If he was going to go in, better to go in quickly, so people didn't notice him on the street.