Dungeon Daddy by Golden Angel

Chapter 9

Esther

Completely flummoxed, Esther shuffled through the pictures again. There were a lot more than she’d originally gone through, but they were basically duplicates. Cyana had taken extra for posterity—a.k.a. Cyana couldn’t do anything without being thorough.

No matter how many times she looked at the pictures, things didn’t add up.

Yes, the young women were all attractive, but none of them were dressed up like Michelle and Suzie had been in the pictures online… the styles she’d been trying to emulate. They either appeared to be in work clothes or comfortable clothes. Not one of them appeared to have dressed up or looked like they were trying to look sexy.

And none of them looked like they’d just had sex. Neither did Jax. So, what on earth had he been doing in that house last night?

What the hell has he been doing there for the past year?!

Esther reached out without looking and grabbed her wine glass. Which was maybe not the healthiest response, but she was having trouble caring about that at the moment.

“What on earth?” Leah muttered, flipping through some of the pictures Esther wasn’t holding on to.

Cyana was sitting back in her chair, watching the people around them with interest and keeping half an eye on Leah and Esther. She’d had all night to absorb this new information.

“What do you think?” Esther asked her bluntly. Maybe it was the wine, maybe she had just reached the end of her emotional rope, but for once, it wasn’t difficult to be abrupt rather than trying to be polite or delicate.

“I honestly haven’t got a clue. I only know that I don’t think he’s cheating on you. Or if he is, it’s the weirdest setup I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot.”

“Maybe it’s a study group?” Leah suggested, but from her tone of voice, she wasn’t at all sure.

“If he’s doing lots of late nights and skipping gym with the guys for a study group, I’m going to…” Esther didn’t know what she was going to do, but she felt unusually… violent. Smack him? Castrate him? Murder him?

It would be better than cheating on her, though. Right?

So, why did she feel so angry?

When she’d thought he’d been cheating, she’d been so hurt. Betrayed. Devastated. This… this was totally different. She wasn’t sure why, but the rage building inside her was completely new.

“Breathe, honey.” Cyana’s voice was calm, soothing. Esther knew she was being managed, but she took a deep breath, anyway. And another. That was a little better.

“I just don’t understand.”

“I don’t think any of us do.” Leah looked up at her sympathetically and shook her head. “This is… I don’t have an explanation, but I’m dying to know what it is.”

“You and me both.” Esther flexed her fingers, clenching and unclenching her fists in her lap. It took a lot to get her truly angry, but once she was there, she burned hot and long. She pressed her lips together, flexing her neck.

Cyana had likely chosen the restaurant to tell her because she knew it would give Esther time to calm down. She never liked making a scene in a public place, and she couldn’t go flying at Jax the way she wanted to, so she had to sit and wait. Which wouldn’t do much but bring her down from a boil to a simmer, but that was better than completely flying off the handle.

She scowled at Cyana. “You did this to me on purpose.”

“Of course, I did.” Cyana smiled, sitting back in her chair as her plate was set down in front of her. “Now eat up. You’re going to need your build up your strength to yell at Jax later.”

Despite everything, the corners of Esther’s lips twitched upward. God, she loved her friends.

* * *

Jax

Kids fed, movie over, and abandoned to his own devices, Jax pondered what to do with himself. Normally, with free time like this, he’d have planned the next part of the campaign as part of his Dungeon Master duties, but he didn’t have those anymore, which left him feeling kind of aimless.

Huh. Maybe he was the one having a midlife crisis, although he thought that was something that happened in someone’s forties, not their fifties. Esther was barely out of her forties, so he’d figured it could make sense for her, but for him… Well, they’d had kids later than many people they knew, so maybe he was doing everything else a little late as well.

Well, one thing he hadn’t done nearly enough since doubling up his C&C campaign time was workout. He could probably get in a quick one before Esther came home. Hell, she liked it when he worked out. Maybe he could greet her the same way she had greeted him and get some sexy time. Reconnect a little more. Celebrate how he would no longer be ‘working late.’ Talk about what they’d do with his new availability. The kids were old enough, maybe they could get away for a weekend.

Changing into looser clothes, he’d get in a few jumping jacks and push-ups before bed, maybe some burpees while he watched the news.

The sound from the television meant he wasn’t able to hear Esther’s car when it pulled up, and he was completely unprepared for his wife to come storming in with stomping feet and hair flying. Mid-pushup, he looked up at her, and his elbows buckled when he saw her expression—so angry, he barely noticed the dress she was wearing or that she looked incredible.

Something plopped onto the floor in front of him, and Jax automatically looked down—pictures sliding over each other on top of a light brown envelope. Pictures of him, Suzie, Katherine, and Annie, coming out of Michelle’s house.

“What the hell?” He shook his head, scarcely able to believe what he was seeing.

“Yeah… that’s what I’d like to know.” Anger seethed in Esther’s voice.

Shit. Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!

“Are they your harem, Jax?”

“What? No!” Feeling incredibly awkward, not to mention vulnerable sprawled on the floor, Jax pushed to his feet, scooping up the pictures along the way. He didn’t look at them, though, too busy staring at his wife in consternated horror. She couldn’t really think that… could she?

“Then what’s the explanation, Jax? I know you haven’t been working late or going to the gym on Sundays with the guys. You’ve been at that house doing something with those women.” Esther’s dark eyes flashed, but they also filled with tears. Her hands were fisted at her sides, jaw clenched and jutting out. Every inch of her screamed hurt, betrayal, and rage.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“I have been sometimes,” he said weakly. There had been nights when he’d legitimately had to stay late at the university. His brain was racing, spinning in circles like a hamster on a wheel, trying to find some kind of escape, some kind of acceptable excuse, and getting absolutely nowhere.

Esther wasn’t backing down and was angrier than he’d seen her in years. She was the type to suppress her emotions and keep them on lockdown unless she was being his babygirl or when she was royally pissed.

“Jax…” She looked like she was about to spontaneously combust.

“Right, sorry… yeah… I’ve been… uh, I’ve been DMing a C&C game—”

“What?!” Esther shrieked.

“I’ve been DMing a C&C game,” he said a little louder, not able to meet her. Esther’s arms went from hanging by her sides to crossed over her chest. Never a good sign. The words spilled out in a torrent, a rush of explanation he had to get off his chest. It helped that he’d already told the whole story once. “Suzie had a group of friends who wanted to play but none of them ever had before, and it was only supposed to be a couple of sessions, but then the girl that was supposed to be Dungeon Master dropped out and well… I didn’t want to leave them in the lurch.”

Esther’s mouth dropped open, clearly speechless. He couldn’t blame her. What was she supposed to say? Her lips shut, and a little muscle ticked in her jaw as she stared at him. Jax did his best not to hang his head in shame, although he felt like doing so.

“How long?”

“How long what?”

“How long has this campaign been going on?” She bit off the end of each word, making them oddly staccato as if she could barely bring herself to speak them.

“It ended yesterday,” he said quickly.

“That’s not what I asked, Jax.”

Bracing himself, knowing exactly how bad it looked, Jax took a deep breath before confessing.

“Over a year.”

Her face turned dark red, lips pressed together, and the sound that came from her was pure rage.

“I… I…” she stuttered while she tried to find the words, and Jax flinched. Raising her hands up on either side of her face, she spread out her fingers in a short burst. “Flames.”

Flames on the side of her face.

It was a quote from Clue, their favorite movie. Under most circumstances, it was hilarious, but right now, Jax felt nothing but shame and regret that he had driven Esther to such rage, she couldn’t find the words to express how upset she was, only that she felt like she had flames on the sides of her face.

“Honey, I’m sorry, I…” He stepped forward, reaching out toward her, but she held up one hand, shaking her head and looking away while she got control of her emotions.

Jax bit his bottom lip, but he respected her ‘stop’ gesture and came to a halt. His arms ached to pull her into him, to hold her until she felt better, but he was the one who had caused her pain.

When she met his gaze again, her eyes were dark pits in her face, empty of emotion. She’d pushed it all down.

“Why didn’t you just tell me from the beginning?” Her tone was as hollow as her gaze as if he’d sucked all the life from her. His heart clenched, his chest too tight as if something was squeezing the air out of him. “Why lie? Why not tell me what you were doing?”

“I was worried…” Fuck, how could he say this so she would understand? Was it even possible? “I didn’t want to hurt you. I know Suzie has made you feel insecure, without meaning to, and I didn’t want you to think…”

“You didn’t want me to think, what? That you were cheating on me with her? Because guess what, Jax, that’s exactly what I thought. That you were cheating on me… for months now.” She laughed. Hollowly. Bitterly.

Fuck, he missed the rage she’d shown when she’d first stomped in here. He had never seen this cold, distant side of Esther and was actually frightened. Not for his safety but for their future together.

She’d thought he was cheating? Fuck. He hadn’t even realized she’d thought much about his late nights. At least, not until recently. He sure as hell hadn’t realized, hadn’t thought she would think he’d actually cheat on her. For months? Fuck. Why hadn’t she said anything? Maybe, eventually, he’d feel hurt or angry she’d thought he could, but right… right now, he knew he was so in the wrong, he couldn’t do anything but think about how he was going to salvage this situation, salvage their relationship, and fix the pain he’d put in her eyes.

“I’m sorry. Months? I’m sorry.” The words felt completely inadequate, but they were the only ones he had. “I’m sorry, it was only supposed to be a couple of sessions, and you weren’t supposed to even know—”

“So you lied, and kept on lying, and were going to keep on lying.” Esther closed her eyes but only for a moment before her gaze pinned him again. “And what, you thought that was fine?”

“Not fine, exactly. I didn’t want it to be a thing, so I tried to keep it from being one, and everything got out of my control.” It was lame—so, so lame—yet it was the truth. He had nothing left but the truth, for all the good it might do him now.

“Well, guess what, Jax, now it’s a thing, and it didn’t have to be.” Esther whirled around, headed back to the front door. Jax followed like a puppy begging for scraps, hands still clutching the small pile of photos.

“Esther, wait, where are you going?”

“Cyana’s! I can’t be here tonight.”

“Esther, please…”

He stood on the steps of their house, watching helplessly as his wife drove away into the night.

Fuck.