Constructive criticisms and comments are welcome and appreciated . If you like or even dislike this story please take the time to comment or send me an email . Also a vote or rating on the story would help me improve as a writer . The reason the reduction in the noise level was sitting in a back booth with another man or maybe I should her new man . The bar crowd was almost silent with only a few muted whispers , waiting for the confrontation between me and her . I 'm Jake Connors and the people were waiting to see what I was going to do . Kelly 's was my hangout and I had been coming in at least once a week after work for the last several years . The last two weeks I had been in Kelly 's every night . I was trying to drink my way through his supply of Jack Daniels . I know alcohol doesn 't solve any problems and the problems are still there the next day or whenever you sober up . What alcohol can do is help you forget while you 're drinking . I needed to forget what happened between Jackie and me at least for a little while . If I didn 't dull my senses with alcohol my mind went round and round with questions . How could she do that to me ? Why would she do that ? Do I do something to cause her actions ? And so on , round and round , with no concrete answers . Half of my drink disappeared quickly and I leaned against the bar looking at the mirror behind it . That mirror gave me a perfect view of that back booth and the two people sitting in it . Jackie saw me standing at the bar and through the mirror I could see her watching me . I had to admit Jackie looked good . She must have dressed especially nice just to yank my chain . She had on a dark green skirt that finished about three inches above her knees . It showed a lot of leg because she was 5 feet 10 and had beautiful legs that went all the way up to her ass and back . She had on some kind of frilly top that showed enough cleavage to tease a guy . The light green color complimented her auburn hair , blue eyes , and her freckles . I knew from experience that she had freckles on some of the more interesting parts of her body . Add to this package the fact that her face was classically beautiful and Jackie was a walking wet dream . When she walked across a room most men and some women would watch her glide past . The way she looked tonight was just another knife in my heart . " It 's okay Kelly , I 'm just gonna talk . I 'll walk away before any trouble starts . Just like the last time . " I tried to reassure him . Last week when Jackie came in looking for me I told her to stay the fuck away from me and to stay away from Kelly 's . I was afraid I would lose my cool and before she could say anything I left the bar . I wasn 't gonna leave this time . I wouldn 't want to be sitting down looking up at an angry me either . I 'm 6 feet 4 and about 230 pounds of muscle . My hard body and muscles come from hard work not the gym . I work construction and like the most guys in my line of work , I 'm in good physical shape . I have grey eyes that become laser like when I 'm mad and right now they were boring holes into the shit head sitting with Jackie . I turned to Bill and said , " Friend , this is between Jackie and me . Just stay out of it , okay ? " I really didn 't think macho man would mind his own business but I hoped I could say what I wanted to say without any trouble . " You don 't want to talk ; you want to justify your actions . What you don 't understand is that I don 't care why ; it 's enough that you did . This is my hangout and has been for years . You don 't care about Kelly 's ; you just want to rub it in that you 're with this dipshit now . I promise you won 't like what happens if you keep coming in here . " I kept my word to Kelly and turned to walked away . Mr . Macho wouldn 't let it go . " Hey dick wad , now I 've got a few things to tell you . " He came out of the booth and stood , holding Jackie 's hand . I turned to face him and had to admit , the guy was good looking . He wasn 't as big as me , only about 6 feet and probably 190 pounds but he did have a presence about him . Wearing a nice sports jacket , shirt and designer jeans , he was a picture off the front cover of GQ magazine . Designer jeans for Christ sake , I thought . " First whatever concerns Jackie concerns me ; we 're friends . Second , you don 't order her or me around ; we 'll go anywhere we want , when we want . And Third , I 'm a third degree black belt and you don 't scare me . " Now he was really smirking and stepped closer to me . " Well Mr . GQ , you better listen to your " friend " because your mouth is writing checks your body can 't cash . Take a piece of good advice and get out of my face , " I said . That 's when he hit me . I 've got to admit , he was very fast and I didn 't see it coming . He hit me right on the nose and when I took a step back , he hit me again . More surprised than anything , I tripped on a chair and fell on my ass . As I fell I pulled a table and a couple of chairs with me . Bill was standing in some kind of " kung fu " stance with a big grin when I got up . As I stood I threw one of the broken chairs at him . When he ducked the chair , I kicked him in the nuts . Not very sporting I know but in the area I grew up in you did whatever was necessary to win . He doubled over and I grabbed his hair , lifted his head , and hit him with my ham like fist . It was his turn to hit the floor . I had wanted to nail this asshole for some time but I restrained myself ; I was afraid that I would kill him if I kept going . Jackie was screaming as I knelt down to him and picked his head up again . " One thing they forgot to teach you at the dojo Billy Boy , every once in awhile you run into somebody you shouldn 't fuck with . I 'm that guy . " I dropped his head , stood up , and looked at Jackie . " You 're the one that should be lying there bitch . This is your fault . Now get this piece of shit and get out before you join him , " I ordered . Normally I would never hit a woman , but my resolve was being tested here . Jackie stared at me with anger and something I was surprised to see . . . sadness . She had knelt down to Bill and said " Damn you Jake . Why won 't you listen ? " She helped Bill get to his feet and supported him out the door . I was working on my next drink when the police and the EMTs arrived . The police came up behind me and ordered me to stand up , put my hands on the bar , and told me that I was under arrest . Before they could handcuff me , I had at least 30 people explaining that I was defending myself . The EMT that was working on me said that someone had called them and they called the police when they heard that it was a bar fight . He told me I needed to go to the ER because my nose was broken and the cut over my eye needed stitches . It wasn 't the first time that my nose had been broken . Bill must have tagged me pretty good . I don 't know because it was just a blur after he hit me . I promised to go to the hospital when I finished my drink and the EMT laughed . His partner came in from outside and said that the guy out side had a broken nose too . He also said that Bill 's nuts were going to be sore for several days . Even exchange , I thought . Maybe I even got the best of it because he wouldn 't be fucking Jackie for awhile , but then again neither would I . Looking at myself in the mirror , at the swollen nose and the cut over my eye I thought back over the events that led me to my current physical state . My mother was a single parent ; my dad just disappeared when I was eight . Mom and my grandmother raised me and my older brother James who was twelve . Although we never had a lot of money , we always had clean clothes for school , enough to eat , and a decent place to live . The neighborhood we lived in wasn 't the inner city but it wasn 't far from it . It was a tough area for a boy to grow up in and a lot of my friends and kids I knew got into trouble with the law . The only reason that James and I stayed on the straight and narrow was because of my mom and grandma . I wasn 't afraid of the police or jail , I was afraid to disappoint my " ladies " . I could have taken punishment or jail but I couldn 't take the look of disapproval that they would have had if I got into trouble for stealing or something . I know James felt the same way . James waited until he was seventeen and with Mom 's permission enlisted in the Marine Corp . He came home for two weeks after his boot camp and I didn 't see him again until I was a senior in high school , a period of four years . Then it would be several years before I saw him again . My " ladies " made sure that I studied and learned something while I was in school . After high school there wasn 't the money needed for college so I joined the military like my brother . I enlisted for four years . For some reason , maybe my size , I was assigned to the Corp of Engineers after basic and AIT . That 's where I learned about construction and grew to like it . My first sergeant liked me because I always hustled , worked hard , and would step in to help on any project even if it wasn 't my specialty . He thought I was a virgin and decided to include sex education to my learning process . . . I mean why pass up pussy when it 's shoved in your face , right ? I didn 't tell him that I lost my virginity when I was sixteen , maybe actively gave it away is closer to what happened . So I said good bye to the Army and the engineers and went home . I got lucky and landed a construction job as an apprentice rough carpenter . Later I branched out into other construction specialties and became an all around type of guy . Three years later I met Jackie . We met at the bank where she worked as a teller . I needed someplace to cash my checks and a friend took me to the bank to set up an account . Jackie was the teller that handled my first transaction and pretty soon I would wait in line just to get to talk to her for a few minutes . Jackie and I dated at least once a week , sometimes more , for the next three months . After our sixth date she invited me into her apartment . I didn 't leave until the next day . Jackie was everything a man could want in the bedroom . Not only was she drop dead gorgeous , Jackie was wildly uninhibited in bed . She like oral sex , both giving and receiving ; me too . Jackie liked to be taken from behind doggy style ; I like to do her that way too . She enjoyed being on top or bottom , in fact there wasn 't much that she didn 't like sexually ; me too . " Jake I know we were supposed to go dancing tomorrow night but I 'm going to have to cancel . Something came up and I can 't go . I 'm really sorry and I 'll make it up to you , " Jackie said . She acted like she really hated to cancel . " Okay , I guess we can go dancing next Saturday . What came up anyway ? " I didn 't read anything into the cancellation , I was just curious . Jack looked down at the table and didn 't say anything . Either she didn 't hear me or she doesn 't want to answer I thought . I was getting a bad vibe about this broken date . " What kind of emergency and how can you help ? " The bad feeling was getting stronger . I don 't think I 'm going to like this , I thought . " Let me get this straight now . You 're going to break a date with me that we made over a week ago so that you can go out with another guy that just asked you yesterday . Is that about right Jackie ? " I think the sarcasm showed in my tone . I motioned for the check , paid the bill , and stood up . " C ' mon , I brought you here and I 'll get you back to your place . After that , you 're on your own , " I told Jackie . The ride home was less than comfortable . Jackie tried to talk to me and explain again why she " just had to help " Bill . I never made a comment , or answered her questions , or said a word on the entire trip . " You 've got to be shittin me Jackie . Get out , " I said with more force than I intended . She got out and I peeled rubber getting away . Jackie called me on Sunday morning . When I realized it was her I hung up without saying a word . She called back and I let the machine answer . Jackie left a long message on the machine saying that going to the dinner with Bill wasn 't a romantic thing ; she was just helping him . She said she cared about me , that we needed to talk and please call her . When she finished I erased the message . The next two weeks when I went into the bank to cash my checks , I made it a point to go to any teller but Jackie . If her window was available I would stand in line at another window . If she motioned me over to her window , I ignored her . Twice she came out from behind her counter and tried to talk to me and both times I walked out of the bank . I just plain didn 't want to talk to her . Some people will say I was acting childish . They will say that I should talk to her . To those people I say fuck you . You weren 't the one that was shit on . It wasn 't pride , it was anger that she would screw me around the way she did . Three weeks to the day when I came off a job site , Jackie was leaning on the fender of my truck . Damn it , I thought , how did she find out where I was . I put my gear in the bed of the truck and opened the driver 's door . " Are you going to just leave me here ? I caught a ride with a friend and don 't have a way back to the city , " she was concerned . " Can you at least give me a ride back to my place ? " Oh hell I said to myself , I can 't leave her out here . I motioned for her to get into the truck and took her home . Every time Jackie tried to talk I would hold up my hand or shake my head no . She finally got the hint and kept quiet . We got to her place and I reached across her and opened the door . When I sat back up , Jackie reached across and grabbed my truck keys and jumped out of the truck . " That night with Bill wasn 't what you think . He just needed a companion that evening ; it wasn 't a romantic date , " she told me . " We didn 't do anything but go to the dinner and come straight home . " " I 'm sorry , " I shouted at her . " That was uncalled for and I apologize . Please come back and let 's settle this . " I realized that I had stepped over the line with that last comment . " No Jackie . An emergency is when Bill calls and says he cut off a finger or hand , please come take me to the hospital . An emergency is when he calls and says he 's fallen and broken his leg and needs your help . Those are emergencies ; Bill needing a date is not an emergency . " I got out and stood in front of Jackie . " Don 't you understand ? When you broke our date to go out with him , no matter what the reason , you were saying that I didn 't count with you as much as he does . I wasn 't very happy that you were dating other guys anyway and then you tell me that I 'm not important enough for you to keep your date with me . " I hadn 't realized until just then how hurt I had been by Jackie 's actions . The anger I knew about but the hurt was a surprise . Jackie apologized again and she got me to talk some more . She finally got me to go inside for coffee . Then she talked me into staying for dinner . I didn 't leave again until the next morning . Yeah I know I 'm a wimp . What can I say ? I was about half ass in love with her and when she came out of her room wearing nothing but high heels , my little head took control . Jackie hadn 't changed in the three weeks that I hadn 't seen her ; she was still a sexual dynamo . The Army and then the construction crews taught me a lot . They taught me a good work ethic , they taught me to do the job right and they taught me to be dependable . They didn 't teach me how to deal with women . So I took her back . Jackie and I become exclusive or were going steady or whatever you want to call it . We didn 't date other people . This continued for about six months . She never broke another date with me , but there were a few nights that she couldn 't go out . She was visiting her mother or having a girl 's night out or some other innocent sounding reason . Jackie and I didn 't move in together but spent very few nights apart . I thought if this is what married life is like , I 'm all for it . I bought an engagement ring and proposed to her in Kelly 's after a movie . Not the most romantic setting but Jackie must have liked it . She said yes through her tears . We planned to get married in three months and I was looking forward to being a family and maybe having kids . The month after I proposed I began to hear little things concerning Jackie . On more than one occasion a couple of the guys that I worked with would kid me about Jackie and me having an open relationship . I took it all as a joke until Rose saw me at Kelly 's one night and sat down to talk to me . Jackie was on one of her girl 's nights and I was there alone . Rose is a friend and is Jeff 's sister ; Jeff is one of the guys I work with and a good friend . I had dated Rose a few times before I started dating Jackie . Rose is a good looking gal but there wasn 't a spark there so we decided to be buddies . " Hey Rose . She 's out with some girls from the bank again . I think I 'll have to put a stop to that after we 're married . " I laughed . I thanked Rose , finished my drink , and left . If it had been anybody other than Rose , I would have just brushed it off . It was only about 10 PM and I wondered if I should check up on Jackie . I remembered Jackie 's emergency date with Bill and the fact that her nights out with the girls didn 't start until we got back together . Before I knew it I was in Bailey 's parking lot ; I guess I had made the decision to check up on her . Bailey 's is a large club on the other side of town . Inside the place a bar ran down one wall separated from the tables around the dance floor by a chest high divider . The place was fairly crowded for a week night but I found a place at the bar where I could see the dance floor . It didn 't take long to spot Jackie ; she had just finished dancing and came back to a table with several other people at it . There were two guys at the table ; three counting the guy that Jackie had been dancing with . Mostly it was girls that Jackie worked with . Nothing wrong with that I thought ; man was I wrong . Jackie and her dance partner sat down side by side at the table . The guy said something to Jackie , put his arm around her , and pulled her to him . She smiled at him and kissed him . It wasn 't a peck on the cheek but a full fledged , stick your tongue down the throat kiss . Jackie was wearing a little summer dresser held up by two straps leaving her shoulders almost bare and showing a lot of cleavage . After the kiss the guy hand was sort of hanging over her shoulder and his fingers would brush the top of her breast now and then . Jackie was rubbing his leg and appeared to love the attention . Finishing my drink , I pushed myself off the bar and started toward Jackie and her friend . I had no intentions of starting trouble but I wasn 't going to put up with this shit . Our engagement was over and I wanted my ring back , at least that 's what I told myself . But I also hoped that her buddy and / or his two friends would want to get involved . That would be just fine with me . Just before I rounded the room divider , my friend Jeff stepped in front of me . He grabbed my arm and tried to pull me away toward the door . I shook his hand off and turned back toward Jackie and her friends . " I 'm not going to start anything . I just want my ring back from that bitch and I 'm going to get it . No trouble , I 'll just get my ring and tell Jackie that we 're over , " I explained . " Bullshit . Your eyes have that crazy look in them . If you go over there one of those guys will say something and all hell will break loose . They 'll end up in the hospital if their lucky and you 'll end up in jail ; maybe for a long time . You don 't ' need that . " " Are you going to put me down too , Jake ? That 's what you 'll have to do because I 'm not letting you go to jail tonight . " Rose stared at me defiantly with her hands on her hips . " I knew you would come here , I could see it in your eyes . I called Jeff and we decided to follow you and keep you out of trouble . " I hesitated and stared back at Rose . If the situation hadn 't have been so sad , it would have been funny . This little girl about 5 feet 6 standing in front of this 6 foot 4 behemoth ; trying to stop him from making a bad mistake . It 's nice to have good friends . Rose had shocked me into thinking and not reacting . She and Jeff were right , if I went over there someone was going down . Jeff and Rose convinced me to confront Jackie in a more private setting , preferably when she was alone . Good idea , I knew I would never physically harm Jackie and I could get my ring back . That was cut in stone , I wanted my ring and I wanted shed of Jackie . On my way home the more I thought about it , the more I didn 't want the situation to continue any longer than necessary . I drove to Jackie 's place and parked a couple of houses away to wait for her . She shouldn 't be very late because she had to work tomorrow . If she came home alone , I would get my ring and tell her to go to hell . If she came home with that guy and he wanted to get involved , that was his problem . Either way , it would be settled tonight . About midnight a car parked in front of her apartment and Jackie and the dude from the club got out . They walked hand in hand to her door . Jackie turned to say good night and in the next minute they were making out . There was no doubt , they were swapping tongues and grinding against each other . If it 's possible to fuck with your clothes on , those two were doing it . After five minutes or so , Jackie pushed him away , smiled , and said something to him that made him laugh . She unlocked her door and turned back toward him . Some guys would have went belly up and been all torn up by seeing what they were doing . Some guys would wait and get pictures or other evidence to use in confronting their cheating partners . And some guys would do what I did . I didn 't hesitate and went right to Jackie 's door . They didn 't notice me at first and then Jackie looked over the guy 's shoulder and saw me . She let out a small scream and stepped further away from her friend . Of course I heard the classic line . " I 'm breaking up with my lying , cheating , whore of a fiancée . I 'll take my ring back bitch . " I grabbed her hand and pulled off the engagement ring . Then I heard the rest of the clichéd lines . " Wait ! It 's not what it looks like . Bill 's just a friend . We weren 't doing anything . It doesn 't mean anything , " Jackie said . " Bullshit . I saw you and your " friend " at Bailey 's Jackie . " Her eyes got big and she put her hands up to her face . " Yeah , that 's right ; I saw the kissing , hugging , and his hand on you . I saw you stroking his leg and loving the attention . I also saw the make out session just now . " He braced himself to come after me , but before he could do anything Jackie stepped in between us . " Bill , please leave . Don 't make things any worse , " Jackie pleaded with him . " Don 't leave on my account Billy Boy . Stay , go inside and finish what you two started at the door , " I told him . I turned to Jackie and said , " It doesn 't matter to me because we 're done Jackie . I walked past Bill and started toward my truck . Jackie was following me crying and trying to get me to talk to her . I never said a word went to my truck , and drove off . Two or three blocks away I had to stop because I was shaking so bad . The anger was boiling inside of me and I needed to calm down before I drove into a tree or ran over someone . After ten minutes or so , I restarted the truck and headed back to Jackie 's . Why I did it , I can 't explain but I had to know if Bill stayed or left . I drove past Jackie 's and his car was gone . For some reason that made me feel better . I know it 's a cliché but it 's true anyway . If you love someone you can 't turn it off like a beer tap ; no matter what they have done . You may hate them , but you hate them because you love them . I guess that 's why I felt better when Bill didn 't spend the night at Jackie 's . Jackie had called several times after that night at her door , but I refused to talk to her . She would say we needed to talk and I would say no we don 't and hang up . I guess she got the message after eight or nine times . That 's when she started to come to Kelly 's . There weren 't a lot of people in the bar , maybe 20 or so regulars but it got really quiet all at once . It was the old " you could 've heard a pin drop " scenario all over again . I looked into the mirror behind the bar and saw Jackie standing behind me . Oh shit , not again I thought . " Okay Jackie , grab a booth . I 'm going to get another drink and then I 'll come and talk to you . You want something ? " After getting my drink and a white wine I slid into the booth across from Jackie and said , " By the way , where 's Billy Boy ? Didn 't he want to come with you ? " I asked with dripping sarcasm She smiled a little and answered , " No , he said he never wanted to see you again . I think you destroyed his confidence in his black belt . It was a mistake to bring him with me , but I thought it might goad you into talking to me . Guess I was wrong , huh ? " " You wanted to talk so talk . Let 's get this over with . " I wanted to get away from her because I didn 't want her to see how much I was hurting . Jackie started with the clichés again . I 'm sorry , it didn 't mean anything , it wasn 't what it looked like and it 's you I love . I listened to her spout all the usual bullshit until she wound down after about five minutes . " Enough ! First , you don 't cheat on or lie to someone you love . I 'll tell you what it looked like . At the club , it looked like you were lovers . At your door , it looked like you two were humping each other like dogs in heat . That 's what it looked like . And it did mean something , it meant everything to me . It meant that the woman I loved , my fiancée , the woman I was going to spend the rest of life with was a cheating bitch . No don 't start crying now ; it 's too late for that bullshit . " " I was told by several people that you were out partying with some guy on you girl 's nights out , but I didn 't believe the rumors and gossip . I didn 't want to believe that my lady would do that . It wasn 't until a close friend told me she saw you that I knew you were cheating . " I stopped to take a drink and Jackie jumped in . " But I didn 't cheat . I didn 't sleep with Bill ; we just danced and fooled around a little . Maybe I did let things go too far that night , but I wasn 't going to sleep with him . I wasn 't Jake , " she told me . " It isn 't just the night that I caught you , although that 's a big part of it . You used your girl 's nights as an excuse to spend time with Bill and lied to me about it . The first time you lied to me , you cheated . The first time you let him hold you too close as you danced , you cheated . The first time you hugged him or the first time you kissed him , you were cheating . " Now I was the one that had to get control of myself ; I was getting mad all over again . " The fact that you didn 't sleep with him doesn 't change the fact that you were cheating Jackie . I believe that you would have screwed him if things kept on the way they were . The next time you probably would have invited Bill in . Let me ask you something . If you had known I was at Bailey 's would you have still acted the way you did with Bill ? If I had been at your door would you still have had the make out session that I saw ? Jackie hung her head for a few seconds and then looked over at me . " No , I wouldn 't have done any of that if you had been there . It wouldn 't have been right and you wouldn 't have liked it . " " Okay Jackie , we 've had our talk and nothing has changed . You say you love me ; well that 's your misfortune . I still love you and that 's my cross to bear . At least until I can get you out of my heart . Now , I expect you to keep your promise and stay out of Kelly 's . Good bye Jackie . " I got up and went back to the bar . Kelly saw me coming and had another drink waiting for me . It took a few minutes but Jackie got up walked past me and out the door . I never saw her or Bill again . I heard later that she quit her job at the bank and moved to the west coast , alone . Two years have passed since Jackie and I broke up . I still go into Kelly 's almost every night , but most of the time I drink club soda or coffee . The Jack Daniels still gets poured for me but only on the weekends and then with moderation . I found I didn 't need it after Jackie and I talked that night . Do I miss her ? I certainly miss the sex ; she was the best I 've ever had before or since . The idea of " us " , a family , and the life with someone you love is what I miss . Am I bitter ? No , I don 't think so . I still want to get married and have a family but none of the ladies I 've met and bedded have touched me in that way . But I keep looking . I 'm still working construction , but I 'll have to get out of it in the near future . I fell off a scaffold about a year ago and messed up my knee big time . Right now I can keep working but there will come a time that the knee won 't hold up to the abuse . My brother came home about six months ago with a bum leg ; it got shot up in some shit hole third world country . He uses a cane to help him walk but that 's okay . James won 't have far to walk behind the bar . You see Kelly wanted to retire so James and I bought the bar . Between the two of us we were able to come up with most of the cash and Kelly financed the rest of it . Maybe I can get into the office and do construction planning or scheduling but even if I can 't I 'll be okay with my share of the bar . I 'm already cutting back on expenses at the bar because I don 't have to hire a bouncer .