This is a flash conversation about "Fighting" for your spouse when they show interest in another person. There is no sex, no BTB, and it's not a RAAC.
"So, You're just gonna sit here and drown your sorrows? You think your wife is falling for some other guy and you're just sitting on your ass doing nothing! What the fuck, Mark?"
"What do you want me to do, Sis? Do you think I should attack the asshat and smash his face in? Will that make Jinny come running to my side?
"No, I don't want you to end up in Jail, but you gotta fight for her!"
"Why? Why do I have to fight for her? She's my wife, I chose her as the one and she accepted my proposal. I thought I beat out all the competition five years ago."
"Men! You can't be that stupid! You have to fight for her love! You have to prove to her that you're the one she needs to be with!"
"No, I don't. I did that when we were dating. I proved to her I was the best choice. She agreed to stop dating other guys, we got engaged and spent a year learning if we were truly compatible with each other. Then she stood up in front of God and everyone we knew and vowed to be faithful to me forever. Now you're telling me that meant nothing!"
"You can't be that naive, Yes, she married you, but you still need to fight off all the guys looking to take her away from you!"
"Why? Why do I NEED to do that? Isn't that her job? Shouldn't SHE be fighting off the guys that come sniffing around?"
"Oh my god, Bro, you can't be serious! Jinny is a beautiful woman, guys are going to be after her all the time, you have to protect what is yours!"
"She's not a prize pig or a fancy piece of jewelry, she's my wife. She has free will to do anything she wants. Of course, she usually gives my opinion some consideration, just as I do for her, when making a decision, but, ultimately, it's her decision to make."
"Yeah sure, free will and all that good shit, but she's still your wife and you can't let her do stupid stuff with other men!"
"So what should I do? I can't lock her up, she's a CPA with a great job, so she's out in the world every day. I can't watch her 24/7, I have a job and responsibilities. She's my wife, I'm supposed to be able to trust her!"
"But Marky, a woman likes to see her man make an effort to protect her against all the hound dogs out there."
"Sis, are you forgetting about what happened to Jason Hadley?'
"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about! You beat the shit out of that asshole right there at the community 4th of July party. It took three guys to pull you off that dipshit! Everyone knew you were protecting Jinny, fighting for your woman!"
"Exactly, I was protecting her because he was groping her and she was trying to fight him off. He grabbed her when I left to go buy us another beer, but she was tougher than he thought she'd be and I got back sooner than he expected. When I pulled him off of her, I was in a rage and damn near killed the stupid bastard."
Exactly! That's what I'm saying! You fought for her then and you need to fight for her now!"
"It's not the same. I would gladly risk my life to save her, ... if she wanted to be saved. She's been flirting and going to lunch with Tom ever since he joined her division eight months ago. He's not forcing her to do anything. She doesn't need or want, to be protected from him. She's doing exactly what she wants to do."
"And you're just sitting here on your ass letting her get away with it!"
"I've tried, I kinda felt something was wrong six months ago. I tried talking to her, asking what was going on. I tried to put more effort into showing her how much I love her. I gave her flowers, took her out dancing, and bought her a nice necklace. I tried extra hard to please her in bed and paid extra attention to her when we were just hanging out. I complimented her constantly and sent sentimental cards to her office.
"I tried talking to her to ask her what was going on and she denied there was any kind of problem. She said I was just being foolish and worrying about nothing. She kinda returned to her old self after that, but it only lasted a couple of weeks.
"Then you saw her having lunch with him at Victoria's and you knew something was not right. You saw what I felt, something was developing between them. Those two had become more than just friendly colleagues.
"Last week I showed her the video you took and asked her to be honest with me about him. She admitted she is attracted to him, but swore she hasn't done anything inappropriate with him. I replayed the video and told her everything on it was inappropriate. We fought and I told her she needed to choose him or me.
"I told her she owed me an honest answer and gave her until tonight to decide what she wanted to do. I didn't want to just sit around the house, so I came here. I was enjoying my second Gin & Tonic when my little sister pounced on me.
"I'm sorry, I guess I kinda feel responsible because I sent you that video. Have you heard from Jinny?"
"Firstly, you are not responsible, she is. Secondly, yes she called me. She's at home waiting for me right now. I was just trying to sort things out in my mind before I faced her. Your outburst actually helped me do that. Thanks for caring, Sis."
At Home -
"Hi, I made us a pot of coffee, would you like some?"
"Sure, Sorry I'm a little late, I ran into Mandy and she talked my ear off."
"Yes, well your sister does like to talk," Jinny said with a chuckle.
Mark took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Jinny, I think I deserve full honesty from you, I promise to listen to everything you have to say, but I need to know what is going on."
Jinny looked up with tears on her cheeks, "Mark, honey, I don't want to hurt you, but I'm still very confused. I have feelings for Tom, but I'm not ready to give up on us. I still love you, but I'm drawn to Tom. I swear I haven't done anything except kiss him on the cheek, but I'm tempted to do more. I'm sorry, I know that's awful, but you asked me to be honest with you."
Mark looked at his wife of five years. "Mandy came to me all fired up, demanding I fight to get you back, well I'll tell you the same thing I told her. ... I shouldn't have to fight for you. If you still loved me the way I love you, the way I thought you loved me for the past five years, there'd be no need for me to fight for you. If you loved me 100%, you would never have been tempted by Tom, and you would have rejected him the way you rejected Jason Hadley."
A flash of revulsion raced across Jinny's face at the mention of Jason Hadley, then it slowly turned to shame as her face flushed red.
"But, Mark, I DO still love you! I don't want to lose you. I'm just confused by my feelings for Tom. Please, Mark, just give me a little more time to sort things out. I want to explore those feelings, but please don't give up on us."
Mark stood, slipped off his wedding ring, and dropped it on the table. No Jinny, don't you see, you're the one that gave up on us, not me."
The divorce took the standard six months. Jinny tried to get Mark to come back to her, but only after she had "Explored" her feelings for Tom. Turned out Tom was exploring his feelings for a couple of other gals while helping Jinny to explore hers.
His friends all expected him to plot some revenge on Tom and even Jinny, but Mark had no interest in that. He just ignored them both and carried on with his life. A few even asked why he hadn't "fought" for Jinny and he just smiled and said, "I did, a long time ago."
END
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