September

It didn't take Beth long to figure out Dean's patterns, his ploys. Quite frankly, he was obvious about it. There was no finesse to his deceptions. And maybe that was on him and his lack of creativity, or it could have been on Beth and her apathy towards her husband, her marriage, but whatever the reason, Beth might have been embarrassed by just how long she had been unaware of Dean's lies if she actually cared.

Which she didn't.

It also didn't hurt matters that Dean's continued cheating facilitated her own. Although that's not how Beth saw what she was doing with Rio. In fact, if anything, it felt like she was cheating on Rio to remain married to Dean. Beth wouldn't say that they were dating. They worked all day together, and then fucked away the evenings until Dean slithered back to the house from wherever he had been keeping himself occupied until all hours of the night. Sometimes, he legitimately stayed late at the dealership, though Beth suspected it wasn't work which had him preoccupied but his secretary. But no matter what or who kept her husband away, Beth very much took advantage of his absence.

The fake jogging stunt was a favorite. At first, Beth couldn't figure out why Dean just didn't change at the dealership before driving home, but then she realized that he wouldn't want his employees seeing him come dressed for work one way but leave another. It wouldn't make sense to them for him to change in the cramped, shared work bathroom rather than at home. They wouldn't realize that, while he had no problem coming back to the house all sweaty and tired from his jog , Beth couldn't know when he left for his run, because even the woman he wasn't sleeping with would know that he didn't have the stamina to exercise for that long.

Dean used jogging for several of his mistresses - the ones whose husbands were routinely away at night, whose kids were young and in bed before he trotted over. Beth struggled to imagine how that seduction might work - Dean having to strip out of both his baggy sweats and his wrinkled work suits. Then again, it was difficult for her to imagine Dean tempting any woman, anyway or anyhow… not only because she herself had never been attracted to him but also now because she could only think and see Rio in that way.

Jogging nights meant Rio would fuck her from behind… like the first time; or he would hold her up against a wall as he plowed into her, maintaining eye contact the entire time; or he would bend her over any and every available flat surface. By staying on his feet, his thrusts had just that much more power, driving her to completion at a fast, punishing pace… only to start again as soon as Rio had recovered. He'd eat her out that way, too - with Beth's back braced against the upper kitchen cupboards or the staircase banister and her legs tossed over Rio's shoulders, putting her pussy in just the perfect position for Rio to devour her. On those occasions, he would bring her to orgasm with just his tongue, his lips, his teeth, and his nose, while his hands would grip her ass, her hips, the small of her back and help her ride his face.

There was a house on the market just down the street from Beth's own house. The sellers had long since moved away, leaving the property empty and abandoned. Occasionally, the realtor would host open houses or showings, but those were few and far between and always well advertised… if not actually attended. Sometimes, Dean would park in the driveway, no doubt believing that, if his neighbors noticed the car, they would think it the realtor or an interested buyer - stupid and reckless in his hubris and lust. Once parked and out of his car, Dean would stick to the fence lines and hedgerows, creeping his way down the cul de sac until he arrived at his destination. These nights seemed to be reserved for the women whose husbands, though not working, had regular engagements - like club commitments - in the evenings, whose children were out with friends or busy with their own activities.

When Dean parked at the house that was for sale, Rio became adventurous. It boggled Beth's mind sometimes to think about all of the various positions he arranged them in before fucking her good and hard or slow and erotic, and then their fucking would wipe her mind of any thought besides yes, and more , and deeper , and faster , and Rio . It didn't take long for Rio's creativity to inspire her own, and they seemed to delight in the challenge of surprising each other with new styles and new moves to try.

Sometimes, Beth would lay down in bed but scoot so that her ass was almost to the edge, hanging her upper body over the side and supporting herself with her hands flat against the floor. Rio would crawl between her legs while on his knees, holding her open and wrapping her shins around his hips. As he would pound into her, he would press her closer and closer to the edge of the bed - her breasts bouncing powerfully… almost to the point of discomfort. With her clit just right there for the taking, Rio would massage it and her pussy stretched around his cock, rubbing and fucking Beth to completion. Cumming, the blood would rush to her cunt, leaving her hanging upper body feeling tingly, her head dizzy.

It was always around dinner time, though, when she and Rio would have the opportunity to be together. He could take that quite literally at times, insisting on fucking her in the dining room - Beth on the table, while Rio would stand at the head… where, traditionally, the man of the house belonged. Only… Rio didn't always lay Beth out like a feast. On some nights, he would have her climb completely on top of the wooden structure, kneel and push her legs as wide as they would go, and then bend forward so as to reach and hold onto the opposite end of the table with her hands. Then he would rail into her from behind, using one hand to hold her back down or whisper his fingers along her delicate, sensitive spine, while the other played her clit, orchestrating her orgasm. Beth knew that, in that position, it looked like she was praying, but it was Rio who was worshipping her.

But Beth's favorite positions were when they were face to face. There was a greater level of intimacy when she could look into Rio's eyes as he was fucking her. Plus, she liked taking his mouth and having him take hers in return. There had been the memorable experience in the office - Beth wanting to commemorate the discovery that eventually led her to Rio in the first place. She sat on the very edge of the lowered chair with her shoulders braced against the back, while Rio, on one knee, kneeled on the floor in front of her. One of Beth's legs wrapped around one of Rio's, and the other he lifted higher, higher, and higher until it was braced and then hanging over his shoulder. Because of the angle of their bodies, her clit rubbed against him with every thrust, so Rio used his free hand to stimulate her breasts, tweaking, twisting, and teasing her nipples - ripping his mouth from hers every few thrusts to drop his face into her chest to suck and bite at her areolas. The wetter and more aroused his tongue and teeth could get her breasts, the more pleasure his hands could wring from them.

And Rio loved to get Beth on her back, too. It wasn't about dominance; it was about giving, and she was never more passive or at his mercy for her pleasure than when she was prone beneath him. Rio would crawl between her legs, pushing them up and out, lifting her hips and opening her for his seeking cock. She would take him to the hilt, and his body would massage her clit - dragging against it when he thrust in and then slipping over the sensitive bundle of nerves when he pulled out. While Rio's hands were braced against the bed to give him even better leverage to sink into her, Beth's were free, and she would explore every inch of Rio's body that she could reach - his powerful legs, his corded back, his taut ass, his intriguing tattoos. The burn of the stretch felt almost as good as cumming, and she never missed a chance to sob her appreciation into Rio's attentive, wicked mouth.

Of course, Beth appreciated being on top as well - riding Rio, taking what she wanted from him while, at the same time, giving him what he craved, what he needed from her, too. She'd make him lay down on his back and then stand over top of him on the bed, so he could see just how wet, just how ready, just how greedy she was for him. Then she would lower herself until she was sitting on his hard cock, laying one leg against the bed but bracing the other with her foot against the mattress to better give herself leverage to control their pace and roll her hips. At the same time, the slight twisting of her torso would allow Beth to reach behind her and between Rio's legs to fondle and caress his balls, heavy with the need to cum. His hands would either gravitate to her pendulous breasts or return the favor, massaging her clit, but Beth wouldn't need the extra stimulation - the power of the position getting her off just as easily as Rio himself could.

Then there were the weekend mornings and afternoons when Dean would tell Beth that he was going for a bike ride. Her husband would go through the motions of changing into biking gear, getting out his old ten speed, and taking off down the road, but he never went further than the end of their street, and he was always gone long enough for Beth to drag Rio inside if they were working or call him to come over if they weren't. Morning rides were for the mistresses whose husbands golfed, and Dean's afternoon jaunts were saved for those wives whose husbands didn't pay for Rio to care for their property - the cuckolded men out mowing their lawns while Dean saw to their wives.

The bike ride excuse brought out Rio's obsession with screwing Beth on the couch. He loved nothing more than to sit down and lean back, pretending like he was going to watch the game like any other boring suburban guy who lived in her neighborhood… only Rio would be naked, as would Beth, and he would pull her down to sit on his lap while he fucked her to the background sounds of the Detroit Tigers. Or he'd have Beth sit on the back of the couch while he kneeled before her, spreading her legs and throwing them over his shoulders while he ate her out. Other times, Rio would position Beth so that her mound, her clit, would rub against the scratchy fabric on the arm of the sofa while he fucked her from behind, practically ramming her into the cushioned piece of furniture.

But the absolute best ploy - and by best she meant worst… in a hilariously sad way - was when Dean tried to pretend that he was working when he visited their female neighbors, that the women were in the market for a new car, and he was trying out a new at-home sales service. They didn't want to buy a new car, and even if they did, there were far better salesmen out there than Dean Boland - his failing, debt ridden dealership proof of that, but either the mistresses' husbands were too grateful to have their wives distracted and occupied by someone else, or they simply didn't care what Dean was really doing there, because no one involved even blinked a lash or raised a brow.

It was on those nights - the nights when Dean's cheating was more apparent than ever, when he was deceiving no one more than he was deceiving himself - that Rio didn't fuck Beth. Instead, he touched her gently, sensually, reverently. Her orgasms were just as powerful, but they took their time in bed, or on the couch, in the shower again, or on top of the kitchen island. Rather than making her cum several times, Rio would slow down his thrusts and turn his touch on her clit, her breasts, her pussy, her ass delicate and soft, calming her down only to build her arousal back up again, and again, and again - denying the both of them their releases until they were desperate and pleading.

Once Beth became fully aware of her husband's lies, she was never quite sure which ones were meant to facilitate his cheating and which ones were simply to help him delay coming home, so he could hide - hide from himself, from her, from his betrayals, and from his debts. Across the street from the turn-in for their road, there was a little park. The neighborhood used it to host block parties and events. Dean would park there and just… sit in his car - not reaching for his sale flyers or his always handy extra pair of sweats. What Beth did know for sure was that, after that first night when she and Rio had sex, it became a daily occurance. They couldn't stay away from each other, and Beth failed to understand how either of them had gone so many years without the other.

She only hoped, when she was free and clear of her husband, divorced and on her own, when the job was done and they both had what they wanted from it, that Rio would still want to fuck her - that she and what they were doing together were more than just conveniences or passing fancies. Because she would still want him. In fact, Beth was starting to suspect that she would always want Rio. She just didn't know how to tell him or ask for - no, to demand - what she wanted. Since finding Dean's list of expensive lingerie and corresponding security codes, Beth had started to go after what she wanted, what she needed: leaving her husband and procuring the means to do so. Now, she just needed to go after keeping Rio with the same level of determination and confidence. That was easier said than done, though.

!

"So, I have this business opportunity, yeah - one that'll take me from a boss to the king, but I gotta bankroll it first, and this ain't exactly somethin' I can go down to my local Comerica branch for and take out a small business loan or some shit."

This was it. Rio was finally bringing Beth completely into his plan… or, at least, more into their plan. Sitting up straight, Beth placed her cup of coffee aside, wanting to focus entirely on Rio. It wasn't a challenge for her or a sacrifice - finding herself absorbed by the man lounged so casually, so carefreely, beside her at the picnic table in her backyard. Rio often felt like a black hole - everything and anything about Beth gravitating towards and being swept up inside of him. But not consumed. Somehow, Beth fell into Rio, and the two of them emerged anew, together.

"To buy in, do you need cash, or will you be able to exchange goods of equal value instead?"

The gleam in Rio's eyes told Beth that she had asked the right question. "Where it's goin'? Nothin's too hot. We can straight up trade."

That was good. That was easier. Pawning off stolen goods was risky, and Beth didn't see how Rio would have need of the valuables from twelve suburban families. But if they could use the risk of a pawn shop to their advantage…? "Maybe we sell off a few things," Beth suggested.

Without taking the bait, though she had no doubt that Rio would cycle back to it, he said, "just because we're not sellin' this shit off, doesn't mean that we don't need to hit a certain number. That's why I need you to guarantee that the houses on your list can provide me with enough… capital."

With fall just around the corner and September blazing by, mornings had a bit of a chill to them again, but Beth could barely feel it with the cardigan she had tossed on over her t-shirt and jeans, the heat emanating from Rio's body next to her, and coffee - coffee Rio now brought her before work - flowing through and charging her bloodstream. The answer to Rio's question was obvious to Beth, though without knowing why she had initially recognized the security code format from all of her husband's mistresses' homes, he probably wouldn't come up with the same solution. Shrugging to show how blase she was towards his concern, Beth stated, "if we fall short, we just hit Boland Motors, too."

She expected him to be pleased with her suggestion. With her. So, when Rio abruptly stood up and climbed down off of the picnic table, taking several steps away from Beth before rounding on her, she was taken aback. "You really hate him that much?"

"Who?"

Although Rio didn't answer her directly, his next question clued Beth in, though it did nothing to explain his agitation. "He hurt you that much? Because those are reflexive emotions. Passionate."

God, he meant Dean . After everything she had told him about her and her marriage, after everything she had done to, and with, and for Rio - not to mention what she still planned to do with him, Beth was completely caught off guard by Rio's worry. They were sitting in the backyard of the house she shared with her husband, at a picnic table Dean's parents had bought for them, and Dean himself had only just left for work minutes before, but he was furthest thing from Beth's mind. He certainly held no place in her heart. But, obviously, the former could be said for Rio as well, and the latter needed to be shared immediately. Beth wasn't necessarily ready to share what, instead of Dean, was in her heart these days, but she could certainly put Rio's mind at ease as far as her feelings for her soon-to-be ex-husband were concerned.

"Setting Dean up, maybe even robbing him, too, is just a means to an end. It gets me out." It also got her Rio. "It wouldn't matter to me if that list of security codes paired with Dean's fantasy football league buddies… or something else equally as inconsequential. When I found proof that Dean was cheating on me, I wasn't hurt or even sad. I felt nothing besides frustration that I was trapped. And then I was worried, because the discovery of his affairs went hand-in-hand with the discovery of his awful business decisions. We're drowning in personal debt, because he's maxed out every credit card and mortgaged the house, and the business hasn't made a profit since Dean took over from his father. I want to be free of my marriage, free of Dean; I don't want him or his debts following me after the divorce."

Folding his arms across his chest - the movement pulling the sleeves of his t-shirt tight against his biceps and making Beth squirm with awareness and want against the slatted wooden bench beneath her, Rio challenged, "wouldn't hittin' Boland Motors undo settin' your husband up as the patsy on the neighborhood job?"

As Beth spun the scenario that was only just taking shape in her own mind, she slowly stood up and made her way towards Rio. He didn't back away from her, but he also didn't meet her in her movements either. "Not if he got away with stealing from his neighbors first. Not if, suddenly feeling confident, he'd sell off some of the goods while away on his annual trip to Vegas to attend some big car expo and network . Not if he then used those profits to hire professionals to roll over his debt-ridden dealership, stealing from himself and filing an insurance claim. Not if he thought such a desperate act was the only way he could save face and his family business.

"Admittedly," she allowed, grinning to herself when Rio's arms dropped so that he could wrap them around her waist… and lower. Rio seemed to burrow underneath her clothes - the skin of his wrists, his questing fingers, the coolness of his rings, his bracelets finding the sliver of her suddenly exposed lower back. At the same time, Beth rested her hands on his chest, gently rubbing the hard flesh beneath his shirt. "This would require a little more… maneuvering on our part, but our first move does not preclude the second… if necessary."

Bending down so that he could bury his face in her neck, Rio nuzzled her throat, nipping at the hollow between her collar bones before moving his mouth back up towards her right ear. She wanted to return the favor. She wanted to lick the lines of his tattoo until the ink bled onto her tongue. Instead of continuing with his attentions, though, Rio whispered her name in that way of his - seductive, and demanding, and teasing all at once, the rasp warm with affection. "Elizabeth?"

"Hmm?," she moaned.

She hoped he was about to tell her to take the day off… as well as all of her clothes. She wanted to turn back around and go back inside, dragging Rio with her, despite the fact that she had only emerged, dressed and ready for the day, minutes earlier. Or she wanted Rio to just pull her down to the ground then and there, right where they were standing, fucking her on her back in the morning dew, rolling them both over so that she could take him while the late morning sun dried and warmed her spine, carrying them both over to the picnic table so they could have each other for lunch - Rio eating her out, while Beth drank down every last drop of cum he could offer her, and then finishing the day by making good use of and getting creative with the brick half wall that served no purpose and still needed defiled.

"I need you to start thinkin' of ways to clean cash." At some point, Beth's eyes had fallen shut, but they snapped open in a hurry when the palm of one of Rio's big hands made solid, slapping contact with her ass. "Time's a wastin'," he teased her, striding off towards the front of the house and the street that would take them to whichever customers' lawns they would be working on that day. "And I have plans to fuck you later, Baby, so let's get movin', yeah?. What's that cliche all you white people say?" Without giving her a chance to reply, Rio continued, "the early bird catches the anaconda, right?"

Following after him, Beth took a brief detour to pick up her coffee, wanting to finish it on their walk to that morning's job site. Dryly, she said, "an anaconda? Really?" She even rolled her eyes, too, at his conceit, though Rio, with his back to her, couldn't see her mocking him. He'd have to rely upon hearing it in her voice instead… which shouldn't prove difficult.

"It ain't no fuckin' worm, that's for sure, Mami."

Anacondas were known for their abilities to constrict. If that description applied to either of them sexually, it was Beth. Mumbling more to herself than to him, she warned, "I'll show you an anaconda."

!

"Get out of the car, Beth."

Annie was already reaching for the handle. Otherwise, Beth might have considered locking the doors and attempting to wait her sister out. She didn't like her chances. Annie was… concentrated sized, but she also had the personality of a cantankerous, foul mouthed, really old woman. She'd gone from 'out of the mouths of babes' to 'she's too old to care anymore,' skipping a good seventy years of appropriate behavior and a filter for her thoughts. But the longer Beth delayed the inevitable confrontation that was coming her way, the better prepared she would be for it.

She should have already been readying herself for a Ruby and Annie sneak attack. Her best friend and baby sister would only allow her to cancel on them so many times before they would demand answers, and Beth had sped on by that point and continued to hand them thinly veiled excuses and obvious lies for why they couldn't get together for their weekly Bachelorette nights. Of course, just her luck, they chose that particular Monday to ambush her.

Reaching over to the passenger seat, she gathered up her purse and tote, shouldering them before climbing out of the low riding car. Before shutting the door behind her, Beth performed a quick once over, making sure that she wasn't leaving anything behind. She wasn't. Unfortunately. Double checking the luxury sedan showed that it was just as immaculate now as it had been when she left with it hours earlier.

Before she could even open her mouth to say hello, to ask why they were there, to offer up some inane comment that would surely send Annie off into a tailspin and, hopefully, distract her, Beth's sister, with a disgusted gesture towards the car, was already launching her first salvo. "So, this is why you've been avoiding us!"

Beth paled. She could feel all of the color drain from her face, and she just stood there, shocked. Because… how could they possibly know… anything?! That it was Rio's car that she was driving, that she'd borrowed it to meet with her divorce lawyer, that she was working for him, and sleeping with him, and planning a job with him, and falling for him - all of it separate yet related in a messy, imperfectly perfect way.

"I cannot believe you let Dean buy his way back between your legs with a car!"

Beth wasn't sure what reaction hit her first or harder: relief that Annie and Ruby were still completely clueless about what was really going on or insult that her own sister thought so little of her. The heat rushed back into her cheeks, ran down her neck, and suffused her chest. "I didn't let Dean do anything," Beth snapped. And that included getting anywhere near her legs, let alone between them… as Annie so crudely put it. "That," she emphasized the point by waving towards Rio's black Chrysler 300, "is not my car, and Dean couldn't afford to buy it even if he was so inclined to seek my forgiveness. Which he's not. Because he has no idea that I even know about his… antics."

"Oh, so that's what we're calling screwing half of the neighborhood now," Annie challenged, throwing up her arms in accusation and frustration. "Antics?!"

"Maybe we should take this inside," Ruby suggested. Beth was about to thank her before her best friend added, "before the half of the neighborhood that Dean isn't sleeping with knows about the half he is."

"No," Annie refused, folding her arms over her chest, shaking her head in denial, and tapping her toes impatiently. "I want to know whose car this is and where Beth has been…"

"I've been running errands," she interrupted casually - like it was obvious.

"... for the past two months!," Annie finished, undaunted.

Rolling her eyes, Beth said, "I borrowed the car from a friend." And it was the truth. The Chrysler was borrowed, and she and Rio were… friendly .

Without missing a beat, Annie turned to Ruby, "I'm mad at you, bitch!"

Defensively, Ruby exclaimed, "what did I do?"

"You bought this sweet, sweet ride and didn't even tell me?" Without giving Ruby a chance to respond, Annie turned back to Beth. "Because we both know that we're the only friends Beth has. Hell, she's practically a shut-in. Unless she's rolling around in some car belonging to the guy who starches Deansie's cheap suits, you've been holding out on me, Rubes."

"You're my sister, not my friend," Beth retorted darkly. "And never before has the distinction between the two felt greater." Annie opened her mouth to reply, but Beth cut her off. "There's a lot about me that you don't know, Annie. Do you think I tell you everything just because you like to overshare with me? I have friends. I am not a shut-in. And this is definitely not Mr. Popadopoulos' car. For your information," she continued, wanting to imply an answer to the question at hand without actually having to address it head-on, "I've been spending a lot of time at my neighbors' this summer."

Again, Beth was being completely truthful with her sister and best friend. She had been spending all day, almost every day at her neighbors'... only she was weeding their flower gardens, not making new acquaintances.

Annie's voice thawed slightly when she asked, "sizing up the competition?"

"Trust me, there's nothing they have that's worth fighting for."

"Bee," Ruby ventured hesitantly. "If you just borrowed this car, why is it now parked in your driveway?"

She looked between the two women confronting her - back and forth several times while she desperately sought an explanation that they would believe. "Before I could return it, I saw the two of you staking out my driveway. I thought it better to stop now and take it back later than to risk Annie catching sight of me through the window and then chasing me down the street on foot." It was a cheap shot, playing on Ruby's absolute bewilderment in regards to the way that Annie ran, but sometimes a girl needed to fight dirty… like pulling hair or throwing a tit punch. "It's one thing to have a fight with my sister on my front lawn; it's a whole different level of embarrassment to unleash those legs on my neighbors!"

"Seriously," Annie snapped, glaring at both Beth and Ruby. "There's nothing wrong, or strange, or weird about the way I run." Under her breath, she finished with the complaint, "assholes."

Practically herding her best friend and sister towards the house, Beth approached the front door, unlocked it, and then ushered them inside first. Once they were within the relatively private confines of her living room - Rio was there, hopefully aware that Beth hadn't returned alone and keeping himself out of sight in her bedroom, but at least the entire block wouldn't know all of her business, Beth started to relax… only for Ruby to resume the interrogation.

"So you borrowed a car to run errands? What was so urgent that you couldn't wait until Sunday, and where are your bags?"

"Some errands can't be run on a Sunday." Like visiting a divorce attorney who didn't keep weekend hours. "And it was less of an errand and more of an appointment."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Boland… despite the circumstances. Please, take a seat," her newly hired attorney gestured towards one of the two chairs positioned in front of the large, simple yet sturdy desk.

Before doing so, however, Beth opened her tote, removed the thick file of papers, and placed them before her lawyer. "It's Beth. Please. And I want this divorce to be as expedited as possible."

"Well, we're dealing with a pretty strict time frame. For example, as the filer, you'll be the plaintiff, but your husband, the defendant, will have twenty-one days to file a response with the court after you serve him the papers. Then there's Discovery and Mediation before you can meet with a judge. It is Michigan state law that at least 60 days must elapse after the date the complaint was filed and before the judgment can be entered. And that's the best case scenario and if the divorce is amicable. If not, if Mr. Boland contests the divorce, this process could take upwards of a year."

Nodding towards the paperwork, Beth stated, "I have ample proof of infidelity." Technically, she was cheating on Dean as well, but Beth didn't feel like what she was doing with Rio could compare to what Dean was doing with at least a dozen of their neighbors. It had nothing to do with who cheated first or Dean's actions influencing her own.

Beth's lawyer was already shaking her head. "Michigan is a no-fault divorce state. It won't matter to the courts that your husband cheated on you, though it could help us when it comes to the division of assets or even in securing you alimony."

"Trust me, there's nothing worth having." Gesturing once more towards the folder sitting between them, Beth wordlessly instructed the older woman to look through the paperwork.

"I see a house here, a car, a family business. These are all things that you're entitled to, Beth."

"Even if they weren't all saddled with debt, I still wouldn't want them. I just want out. Dean can keep everything. If he tries to contest the divorce, play that card. I'll leave with nothing but the clothes on my back… as long as he lets me go. This marriage was a mistake from the start, and staying in it any longer than necessary would be an even bigger one."

"Gyne," Annie stated definitively, drawing Beth out of her recollections of that afternoon.

Her divorce attorney - and she was her attorney, not Rio's… much to his chagrin - said that it would take her two weeks to draw up the papers. Rio had wanted Beth to use the lawyer he had on retainer - some hotshot, expensive, up and coming criminal defense attorney named Gretchen Zorada, but Beth had refused. After so many years of living under Dean's and his parents' thumbs, Beth finally found the courage to stand on her own. She couldn't do that by going from one man to another, by allowing Rio to take care of her. He could be there for her - support her emotionally, assist her financially, and of course fuck her physically, but he couldn't do everything for her, certainly not obtain her divorce for her, and using his lawyer to do so would have been tantamount to just that.

"No, it wasn't... that," Beth denied. She refused to let Annie and Ruby think that she had just gotten back from the gynecologist - not only because she was trying to stick as close to the truth as possible but also because a visit to her OB-GYN would only bring up questions and topics of conversation that Beth really did not want to talk about. "If you must know, I'm looking for a job." On her way home from meeting with her divorce attorney, Beth had stopped to pick up several applications, so, again, not a lie.

"A job," Ruby tentatively questioned.

"I can't leave Dean, get a divorce, move into my own place, and support myself without one."

"Yeah… but what kind of job can you get that will pay enough for any of that?" Annie's question was both insulting and frustrating, because five minutes earlier, her sister was ridiculing her for thinking that Beth had made up with a cheating Dean. "I barely make ends meet with my crappy job, and I at least have the child support that Greg pays me. I'm not saying you don't deserve it for everything you've put up with all of these years, but it's not like Deansie's going to be able to pay you alimony… unless you accept second hand panties as currency."

"Don't say panties," Ruby flinched, claiming a line that Beth herself had used in the past, but Annie's choice of words was the least of her complaints about her sister's rant.

"What do you want me to call them then," Annie challenged. The three of them were awkwardly just standing there - Beth unwilling to offer her best friend and sister a seat, not wanting them to stay any longer than necessary, and Ruby and Annie too uncomfortable for the first time to not just make themselves at home. "Underwear? Underoos? Briefs? Thongs? G-Strings? Skivvies?"

Not wanting to know just how many different ways Annie could make the word panties even worse, Beth recaptured everyone's attention by tossing her arms up in the air - her calm cracking even further - as she exclaimed, "I don't know what kind of job I'll be able to get, Annie… or if anyone will even hire me. But it's a place to start, and anything I can get will be better than the nothing I have now."

Well, the nothing legal .

And that cycled them back, at least in Beth's mind, to the reason why she had been avoiding her best friend and sister in the first place. It was just easier to avoid Ruby and Annie than it was to constantly watch what she said and did around them. For very different yet equally important reasons, neither woman could learn what was really going on in her life… at least, not yet. Maybe Beth would confess all after she was safely divorced, including how she paid for it, but Annie and Ruby in the know before the job with Rio was finished was a recipe for disaster.

She didn't fear either of them turning her in, but Beth couldn't guarantee Rio and his boys the same, and she had too much riding on their plans to let Ruby's judgement get in her way. Beth's best friend was a very principled woman, and it was one of the many things that Beth loved about Ruby, but she also didn't feel even a speck of guilt about stealing from her neighbors. Maybe the regret would kick in afterwards , but Beth didn't think so.

After the way she and Annie had been raised, Beth could admit that her moral compass was a bit skewed. But it was more than that. She didn't feel like Dean's mistresses or the universe owed her, but she did feel like, if the women she and Rio were about to rob didn't value their own lives enough to protect them from someone as selfish and self-absorbed as Dean, then why would Beth be in the wrong for taking their possessions from them?

On the other hand, with Annie, Beth wasn't avoiding her sister's judgement; she was avoiding her jealousy. It was alright for Beth to have someone like Dean. Yes, Annie wanted better for her, but Beth being married to Dean wasn't threatening to Annie, because Annie hated Dean, wasn't attracted to him, and Beth's marriage to Dean was a joke. Rio, however, was no Dean. Annie had already expressed an appreciation for Rio, and if Beth could take a business partnership and fantastic sex between them and build something more with Rio - something strong and successful, a functioning and healthy relationship, that would be something that Annie herself seemed incapable of having, and it would eat, and eat, and eat away at her sister, and nothing good could come of that, especially because, in all likelihood, Annie would want to be cut in. Even if Beth was so inclined - which she wasn't, Rio would never allow Annie's involvement, and the good thing that Beth was building for herself would fall apart even before it had a chance to find its legs.

"You know we'll help you however we can, but…"

"But we're both broke as a joke," Annie finished Ruby's thought in a way that Ruby herself would never have put it, though the sentiment wasn't wrong.

"Once you get all your ducks in a row and you're ready to..."

"That's such a weird thing to say," Annie interrupted once again. "Ducks in a row. Who has ducks, and why do they need to be in a row? A line would be just as neat and orderly, but no one says 'get all of your ducks in line."

"It's just an expression, Annie," Ruby sighed with exasperation. "It's not meant to be taken literally."

"Yeah, I know. But still. It had to have come from somewhere. Were rowed up ducks an enviable thing in the past? Was duck herding an actual job? Or, like, was 'ducks' code for something else? Or maybe 'in a row' once had a different meaning as well?"

Ruby gave Annie a look that clearly stated 'I just can't with you ' before turning back to Beth and finishing what she had been trying to say previously. "When you're ready, if you need a place to stay, my couch has your name written all over it."

"And you can always come bunk with Sadie and me. She'll die and think she's gone to pillow heaven if she gets to cuddle up to those puppies every night," Annie nodded towards Beth's breasts.

"Thank you, both. I think," Beth threw some side eye at her sister. "But I need to do this my way… and that might include cancelled girls' nights, borrowed cars, and errands that I do not explain to you. If you want to help, then trust that I know what I'm doing. I'm not going into any of this blind, and I'm prepared for the consequences."

She might have been talking about more than just leaving her husband, but Ruby and Annie accepted Beth's request without further argument, allowing her to steer them towards the front door. After hugs were given, promises of phone calls made, and warnings issued that Beth couldn't just go radio silent again, her sister and best friend finally left. Beth only had a moment to herself to lean her forehead against her heavy front door and release a tired sigh before Rio approached her from behind.

"You really lookin' for a different job, Elizabeth?"

Shrugging, she turned around to face him. "It's not like we're going to continue mowing my neighbors' lawns after we rob a dozen of them blind. Unless you plan on taking this scam to another suburb…"

"Hell no," Rio vehemently swore. "When we're done with this shit, we're never workin' for another rich, white asshole again." He took several steps towards her, swaggering - a smile pulling up the corners of his full lips, especially after he slid his hands around her waist, dropping his touch to hold and squeeze her ass through her jeans. "But that doesn't mean I don't have other plans for a Boss Bitch like you, Mami."

"Partner," Beth perked up, suggesting saucily.

But Rio just laughed - a loud, booming, beautiful guffaw. A pout was already forming on her lips as she watched Rio bend at the knees slightly. Then, before she realized what was happening, he angled his body so that his right shoulder was pressing against her midsection, lifting her and standing up to his full height all in the same motion. With Beth in a fireman's carry, Rio turned around and took them both towards her bedroom.

"I don't think so, Sweetheart, but I have a feelin' I'm gonna enjoy your negotiation tactics." To punctuate his words, Rio smacked her solidly on the ass… only to kiss it better as soon as he had her naked, wanting and waiting on the bed.

!

"So, paint me a picture, yeah? You've just entered the code for Susie Homemaker's security system. What do you steal? Where do you head first?"

Beth had been close to falling asleep from where she was laying on top of Rio - her head pillowed against her hands folded underneath her, her hips cocooned by his legs - before he spoke up, rousing her from her post-orgasm haze. Their naked, sweaty skin sticking together, she could feel their combined cum trickling out of her, her own juices smeared on her lower belly where Rio's flaccid, for now, cock rubbed against her. His questions felt like a test. There was no passing or failing; it was just a teachable moment, but she wanted to impress him nevertheless.

Turning her face so that her chin was resting on her wrist, Beth started to squirm to attention, but Rio's grip - one hand on the cleft where her ass met her thigh and the other cupping the small of her back - tightened against her, making Beth still. "Jewelry," she said with conviction, feeling confident in her answer. He didn't verbally respond, but the curious quirking of his left brow told Beth that he approved, that she should elaborate. "People around here have enough money to buy good jewelry but nothing that's one of a kind or so unique that it could be traced. Plus, most pieces can be broken down - the metal melted, the gemstones reset… kind of like chopping cars."

"I didn't just choose your 'hood at random, Baby. It was intentional, and that's exactly why." In further praise, Rio dropped both of his hands to her ass, palming the cheeks and then pulling them apart. "What else?"

Beth bit her bottom lip but, otherwise, didn't react to his physical attentions. "Designer purses and luggage, even used, have great resale value. I'd look to see if Susie has any. Plus, if she does, I can use them to store and carry the other stuff that I'm taking."

Rio split his touch again, using one hand to pull the globes of her ass up towards her waist, while the other dipped down, down, down until he could run the back of his fingers against her swollen, puffy pussy lips. But that's as far as he went. He didn't slip inside to seek out her cunt. He seemed content to just pet, spreading her rapidly forming wetness from her clit all the way back to where his left fingers were still holding her ass cheeks slightly parted. "Does Susie's husband have anything that interests you?"

She couldn't help it. As she talked, Beth started to rock her hips, seeking to encourage Rio to give her more, to go deeper, to not just tease. "I'll take his jewelry, too - watches, cufflinks."

"You like your accessories, don't you, Darlin'?" Rio must have liked them, too, or he just appreciated Beth's regard for shiny things, because he pushed the tip of a single finger - only just to the first knuckle - into her sopping cunt. It wasn't much, but it was a start, and she began to ride the shallowly thrusting digit.

"I'll look to see if he has any valuable sports memorabilia, too - rookie cards," she panted. With every suggestion Beth offered, Rio's finger plunged just that much deeper. "Autographs. Signed jerseys, balls."

"Susie's husband's gonna be more pissed about you taking his baseball cards than he is about some douchebag car salesman taking his wife's pussy."

"Golf clubs, too," Beth said on a moan. "Each one can be as much as a few hundred dollars. I'll shoulder the bag and take the whole thing."

"And I'm sure every asshole on this street plays a round of eighteen on the weekends," Rio both praised Beth's idea but also insulted their quarry. For the golf clubs, Beth earned herself a second finger.

"Susie's husband keeps his clubs in the garage, and while I'm already out there, I'll take some of his power tools, too. No one around here actually builds or fixes anything themselves, but they all like to have all of the toys anyway."

With the addition of yet another digit, Beth angled her mound towards Rio's right leg. He wouldn't let her sit up onto her knees so that she could impale herself better on his fingers, but he did allow her to twist just enough so that she could press and work her clit against his leanly muscled thigh. "Who doesn't enjoy a good drillin', Baby?"

She was probably forgetting something else, something obvious, but Beth couldn't think beyond her rapidly approaching orgasm. She was so close, just… almost there, but Rio was keeping her on that edge. Moving her arms so that her face was now pressing into Rio's chest and her hands and fingers could spread out, nails biting into his skin for purchase and in persuasion, she didn't need to wait long before Rio was prompting her. "And what about the family's electronics - their computers, the big screen TVs?"

"Too easily traced," Beth whined, her need to cum verging on painful. "Too big and cumber...some."

"That's right," Rio commended her. More importantly, he twisted his hand so that his fingers, instead of sinking deep inside of her cunt, found the spongy wall of her g-spot and started massaging. "You need to get in and out. Grab and dash. We might have a whole crew running this job simultaneously, but it needs to be believable that one man could've pulled it off on his own during a two hour community party." As the last words fell past his lips, Rio slipped a single digit of his left hand between the bouncing, shaking rounds of her ass, finding and wiggling just the very tip into her tight, puckered hole.

Beth wailed her release, its strength stealing her breath and her awareness.

It took her several moments to regain her composure. Once she did, she noticed several things. Her throat felt raw and scratchy from already screaming and moaning through two orgasms. The sheet was wet beneath them. And Rio, leaking precum onto his own belly, was so hard that his entire cock was turgid and red, practically purple.

Sliding down his body so that she could eye him appreciatively, Beth just looked; she didn't touch while trying to figure out just what she wanted to do with Rio now that it was her turn to play. As an idea started to form in her head, her breathing increased with eager anticipation. Rio attempted to jerk his hips upwards, but Beth held firm, keeping him in place. It was obvious that he wanted her to suck him off, but that wasn't what she had planned for him.

Or, well, at least, not just what she had planned.

Scooting herself back up his body, Beth only stopped once her chest was hovering over Rio's dick. Then she dropped down, using her hands to push her breasts together on either side of him. Because Beth was on top, though, Rio couldn't thrust into the exaggerated cleavage she had created for him. Instead, he was at her mercy. Sitting up on her knees for a little power but keeping the rest of her body flat and pressed against his, Beth started to rock, sliding Rio's cock between her breasts.

At first, it was more like she was dragging against him than anything else - the friction on her pebbled nipples fantastic, but his precum and their combined sweat soon made the movements easier. Eventually, Beth was practically gliding along Rio's thick, throbbing shaft, so she intentionally slowed down her pace, setting a languid, taunting rhythm. She waited until he was completely lost in her softness, in the drag, before she buried her face against the ridges of his abdomen, opened her mouth, and licked the head of his cock

Every time his tip appeared from between her breasts, Beth would lavish it with some wet attention. Sometimes, she did nothing more than tease Rio, lapping at him. Other times, she would close her lips around the first few inches of his dick and suck as hard as she could. The whole time she fucked him with her breasts and played him with her her mouth, Beth could smell nothing but Rio - his sweat, his seed - and her essence on him; she heard nothing but his husky pleas, his desperate-to-cum groans; and she imagined what they would both look like - her chest, her chin, his stomach - when he finally spilled long, and hard, and satisfied.

But that fantasy was never actualized. Beth was so lost in enjoying Rio's body and giving him pleasure that she didn't notice just how wet she was once again; she didn't notice him take hold of her thighs, grip them in his big, powerful hands, and then lift her completely off and over him… not until he was settling her and her cunt back down, directly over his face and eagerly awaiting mouth. She tried to twist around, she tried to return to his cock, wanting to give him head and have him cum in her mouth, down her throat, while he ate her out, but Rio held her too tightly, keeping her legs spread wide around his head and her pussy poised just where he wanted it, though he didn't seem to mind Beth attempting to move as long as she was just grinding herself even deeper, tighter into his face.

His strength made her pussy even more drenched for him. Beth had curves. She had hips, and an ass that didn't quit, her natural breasts were huge, and her thighs were thick and lush. She was not waif thin and delicate, yet when Rio manhandled her - when he could pick her up and put her exactly where he wanted her, she felt more feminine, more desirable, than ever before in her life. Beth wasn't sure what it said about her as a woman, and frankly, she didn't care.

Rio didn't just use his mouth on her; he got her off with his entire face. His unwavering, worshipping gaze on her pink, puffy cunt drove Beth wild. Rio bumped her clit with his nose, alternating the soft taps with the grazing of his teeth against the sensitive bundle of nerves. He rubbed his scruff against her pussy lips, abrading them. And then, of course, he licked, and sucked, and fucked into her with his tongue, following no discernable pattern, so Beth couldn't anticipate or brace herself for what he would do next. She could feel her juices running out of her, smearing against Rio's chin, his lips, her ass and thighs. The first flutters of her orgasm were just starting to ripple through her when Rio lifted her once again, dropping her down directly onto his punishingly hard cock.

And then he just held her there, buried as deep as he could possibly go, while Beth quivered, and squeezed, and clenched, and gushed around him. She voiced her release in what could only be described as stuttered grunts. Everything disappeared except sparking satisfaction jolting outward from her center. Even Rio faded slightly until his bruising touch upon her hips - his fingers spread out wide so that his thumbs ran along the lines where her thighs met her pelvis - just barely grazing against and caressing her mound, while his fingers wrapped around until they could sink into the rounded plumpness of her ass - brought her back to the moment, including the fact that he was completely aroused and poised to pound out his own release deep inside of her.

But Rio didn't pull out of her. Instead, while the head of his cock pushed and pressed against, stimulated the furthest reaches of Beth's pussy, he lifted her by the waist and bounced her on top of him. It felt like he was tattooing his dick against her cervix. Disbelieving that she could cum again already but just going with it, Beth mindlessly licked the first two fingers of her right hand and then dropped them to her clit, alternating between sharp pinches and soft grazes. By the time Rio exploded inside of her, she was climaxing again, her release leaving her in one long, continual, high pitched mewl.

Sometime later with their positions reversed - Beth on her back and Rio laying on his stomach with his head contentedly cushioned by her chest, he said something that caught her off guard. "I've been thinkin' maybe you shouldn't physically pull this job with us."

Beth had been gliding her fingers through Rio's shorn hair, but his words made her pause. He rubbed against her hand, trying to encourage her to resume her attentions, but she was suddenly frozen. "You don't think I can do it?"

He tsked, mouthing at her breast while he muttered, "That's not what I'm sayin', Mami."

"Then what are you saying, Rio?"

He nipped the sensitive flesh of her left areola. "Can and should are two very different things, Elizabeth."

Frustrated, she demanded to know, "what does that even mean?"

He sat up enough so that he could look her in the eyes while he explained, "it's one thing for a neglected teenager to borrow her inattentive mother's shit car to buy groceries so her brat sister doesn't starve; it's something else entirely for an adult woman to get caught rippin' off her neighbors. You don't have a record, Baby. You're completely clean, and you come in this wholesome, hot as fuck package, and I'm thinkin' maybe we keep you that way."

"If there was a chance we might get caught, then I'd agree with you. But that's not going to happen. And if you were even slightly worried that it might, there's no way you'd be pulling this job yourself." Hardening her tone so that he knew there would be no arguing with her, no changing her mind, Beth stated, "as long as you're getting your hands dirty, so am I."

"You sure I can't convince you to dirty those soft, delicate, li'l hands of yours in a different way?"

"I think you've sufficiently gotten my entire body, not just my hands, absolutely filthy already, Rio."

"Oh, Honey, I can always get you messier."

And to prove his point, Rio proceeded to latch his mouth onto the underside of Beth's right breast where he sucked a massive, ostentatious, and frankly grotesque hickey onto her skin.