I'm working late. It's a big project, and I'll look good if it's finished by Friday. I'm enthused. I'm doing a great job.

When they see how good it is, and even done early, I'll ask for a raise. I'll get one, sooner or later. And this will be one more jewel on my resume when I go up for promotion.

Someday I want Lily to look into my eyes and thank me for our beautiful house and bless the day she married me. The house we have now is okay, but I know she must want bigger. And I want her home and raising my kids, not having to work to supplement my income.

Which makes me think of her. I check where she is on my tracking app.

She's not at home. Shit. I start to get angry.

She said she was going home after work. I zoom in on her location, then Google the address.

It's a fucking bar.

I slam down my mouse, cracking it into pieces of plastic. Fuck. Now I have to get that replaced. One more thing for me to do instead of providing for my family. Stupid bitch. But what the hell is she doing at a fucking bar?

I can see in her in my mind, with some guy. Getting drunk. I scream in rage and storm out of the office. As I slam the door as hard as I can, I realize I didn't save my work on my computer. Fuck it. I don't care. If she doesn't care what happens to our future together, why should I?

The bar isn't that far, and I'm too angry to drive, so I walk. I'm cold, because I left my coat in my office, and that just makes me angrier at her. All she had to do was go home like she said she would. I really do not need this in my life.

But no, she didn't want to go home like she said she would. She wanted to go to some bar with some guy. To do something behind my back. I know her. She'll undo a button or two on her blouse. Then she'll lean forward across the table as she talks to him, showing him cleavage. I pound a cement wall in rage.

Then she'll turn her head, lift up her glass, and take a drink. Showing off the curve of her neck. I own that neck – I married her, her father gave her to me, I take care of her, and I'm the only one who gets to look at that neck. And she won't be looking at him while she drinks, so he'll stare at her breasts.

I'm the only one who gets to stare at her breasts. I will fucking kill him. I reach the bar and burst through the doors, my fists at my side.

Finally I find her. She's at a table with 6 other people. 3 men. I knew it.

She sees me walking up to her and startles. When I reach her table, I say coldly, "Hi Lily. Funny seeing you here." Funny seeing you in a bar. With men. Funny that you're here when you lied to me and said you'd be home.

"How did you know I was here?"

She doesn't know about the tracker. "I was just walking by and saw you through the window."

She looks at the window of the bar. It's possible I could see her through the window, though not likely. I say. "That's not really the issue, is it? Why are you here, Lily? Why?"

She looks guilty. She's up to something. "These are some friends from work. They invited me to come with them here." Of course they did. She's attractive and nice. Any straight guy would want to fuck her. She adds, "We were just talking."

Yeah right. I'm a guy. I know that "just talking" to a good looking woman is never just talking. One of the three guys is a fairy, and the other one just looks annoyed. So it's not them. The third one looks concerned for Lily. He's the one. She likes him.

"Why didn't you call?"

The third guy says, "We just came here to talk. It's no big deal. Have a seat."

I glare at him. Yep, he's the one. She says, "I didn't know it was important."

"I told you to call me if you're going somewhere. Was that too much to ask? You promised to love me forever, and now something's come up that you can't call me?"

"I'm sorry, David. I forgot. You're embarrassing me."

I'm embarrassing her? She's the one cockolding me. I'm the one who looks like a complete idiot. "Time to go, Lily."

One of the women says to Lily, "You let him push you around like that?"

Lily turns to the woman. "It's okay." Then she sees my hand. "You're hand is bleeding." I can see the concern and love on her face.

I look at it. "Only a little." I grab one of the napkins from the table and rub off the blood. Just some abrasions.

"I'm sorry." She better be sorry – because of her my hand is bleeding.

I grab her hand and pull her up. Lily tries to pull away, but she can't. Then she says, "Calm down, David. Nothing happened. Let's just all be happy."

The same woman says to Lily, "Call me if you need anything."

Lily says, "No, really, it'll be okay."

No, it won't be okay. I found her sneaking into a bar, talking to some guy she likes and who likes her. If I didn't have a tracker in her wallet, I would never have known. They started out "just talking" while friends were around, then they would "just talk" while the two of them go out together. Then it's just casual touches that don't mean anything. Then just finding things that they share. Then just confiding in each other and just working more closely together at work.

And, sooner or later, the touches aren't casual. Step by betraying step, I can see it all. Lily did that with me. But then she married me.

She pulls me out of the bar. "Where's your car?"

"At work. I was just out walking."

We start walking back to my car. And she somehow melds her body into mine, so we fit together as we walk. And she tells me she loves me, and how she's going to fix me my favorite dinner, and she asks about my work and listens, and she kisses me every chance she gets, and I can feel my anger melting away.

And I can feel the gaping hole in my life, in myself, if she had left me for that guy in the bar. Or even just done something with him and ruined our relationship. I would have killed him. I would never have trusted her again. "I love you Lily." My pain is strong, but my need is so much stronger. I love her so much.

And she loves me. I can try to make this evening happy for her. I'll praise her cooking, I'll let her choose what we watch after. Then I'll give her a back rub and great sex. And she can feel how much she needs me.

I give her a hug, and for the first time since we left the bar, she smiles. She makes me so happy when she smiles at me.