Seeing Red

Home : Stories by Mick : Twisted Web : Seeing Red

Summary: Boiling blood and a rising temper lead to disaster.

AUTHOR: Mick
EMAIL: mick@cryptoffic.com
RATING: R
SERIES: Twisted Web
CHARACTER: Jimmie Johnson, Chandra Johnson, Jimmie POV
WORD COUNT: 1,443
COMPLETED: July 19, 2008
DISCLAIMER: If I owned them I’d be too busy to write this stuff. Just fiction, folks. I own NOTHING and am affiliated with NO ONE mentioned here. Not the drivers, not the teams, no one. This is all fiction and fun. In other words...NOT REAL, NOT REAL, NOT REAL. ;-)
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Lake Norman, NC - The Johnson Home

Ever since I found out about Chandra sleeping with someone else, my mind’s been a complete mess. I want to know – NEED to know – who it is. Need to know what man has been taking my place in our bed. She won’t tell me who and it’s driving me mad. How dare she keep it from me? I’m her husband. I have a right to know who she’s been cheating on me with. I have a right to know whose ass to kick. Don’t I? I mean, I might be partially to blame for this, but fuck!! I’ve been nothing but loyal to her…mostly…so why does she get to make a fool of me? What gives her the right to find comfort in another man? Why couldn’t she just talk to me? We could’ve worked this out; made it right again. But no, she ruined it; ruined us. There’s no going back now; all the trust is gone. I just wish I knew who to go after. God, I want to kill someone. I’ve never been this angry in my life. I’ve been betrayed in the worst way possible. It feels like there’s a knife in my chest.

I’ve been racking my brain for days trying to solve the mystery on my own. I know who it isn’t, but there’s still so many unknowns. Jeff would never cheat on Ingrid, especially with my wife. Same goes for Chad and Stevie. Casey and Ron are too good of friends to be so cruel, and besides, they have girlfriends of their own. There’s a couple guys on our crews that are single, but Chandra’s never been particularly close to any of them. Why would she hop into bed with some random engine builder or chassis specialist? It doesn’t make any sense. If she were looking for affection from another man, wouldn’t she want to mess around with someone close? Someone she felt comfortable with, someone who would show her the kind of affection she was craving? She wouldn’t get that from a man she barely knew. No, it has to be someone closer than that.

Of course, there’s no saying it has to be someone from HMS. It could easily be an official that she’s friendly with or another driver. She’s always been close to Clint and he did just break up with Athena…No. No, it’s not Clint. He’s been bed hoping since the second they broke up. Chandra wouldn’t stand a chance of getting even one night from him, let alone weeks of some secret affair. No, it has to be someone else, someone who could give her the kind of time she was obviously getting from the guy she’s been sneaking around with. It’s going to drive me insane if I don’t figure it out soon. Who would have the guts, the balls, to sleep with my wife? What man would throw caution to the wind and bed a married woman? Who has the means to sneak a woman in and out of his home or his office without anyone noticing?

Oh my god. Oh. My. God. Why didn’t I think of him before? God DAMMIT!

JUNIOR.

Dale FUCKING Junior. Of course. He’s the one. It’s GOT to be him. He’s the only one with the balls to do this. It makes so much sense. Why Chandra’s phone is always out of area. All of her little “I got you lunch” visits at the shop. Why he suddenly hangs around with us so much in the coach lot. That bastard. All of this time, he’s been fucking my wife and then hanging around with me like he’s my friend; like he’s my fucking teammate. I can’t believe this. I cannot believe Chandra would have the nerve to have an affair with Junior. It has to be him though. The pieces fit together far too well for it to be anyone else. It’s a well known fact that the cell reception on his land is for shit. He’s the only one with enough privacy to be able to slip someone in and out of the house undetected. And his office. He’s the only one out of all the drivers to have an office in the Nationwide shop…and it’s tucked away in a secluded little corner that no one pays any mind to.

I shove myself up off the couch and storm upstairs to the bedroom, where Chandra’s been locked away all afternoon. Ever since I found out what’s been going on, she’s been in a funk and were it for any other reason I’d feel terrible seeing her so miserable. She brought this on herself, though, and for that I have no pity. I push the door open, my hands shaking with the rage pumping through my body. I need to keep calm, at least for a little while. I can’t just immediately blow up at her and start screaming and throwing things. The second I raise my voice she’ll go on the defensive and it’ll turn into a boxing match. Chandra’s got one hell of a right hook and it’s not one I want to be on the receiving end of. She looks up at me from her spot on the bed, her eyes bloodshot and her cheeks tearstained from all the crying she’s been doing lately. I can’t decide if the tears are from self-pity, the shame of hurting me, or fear for her new lover. It’s probably a mixture of all three, but I’d put my money on the self-pity over all else.

“Junior,” I spit his name out like it burns my tongue and she tenses up, sitting up quickly, “It’s fucking Junior, isn’t it. All of this time, you’ve been fucking him behind my back, and I’m an idiot for not realizing. It’s so fucking obvious now. How you hang around him all the time, how you always make sure to stop in to see him after you visit me at work. How your fucking cellphone never has reception when you go out. You’re at his house, in his bed, letting him fuck you.”

“N-no! Jimmie, no! I-it’s not Junior. It’s not!!” The horrified look on her face gives her away. She can deny it all she wants, but I can see it now, clear as day. Her eyes widen with worry, “Please, Jimmie. Just stop this. Stop trying to figure out who it is and let’s just move on. PLEASE, let’s just move on. I love you, and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…this never should have happened…”

“Begging now, are you? That’s great, Chandra. Why don’t you just get down on your knees for me like you got down on them for him? I mean, you did get down on your knees for him, right? It’s only fitting that you’d let him treat you like the dirty slut you’ve turned out to be. I can’t believe you,” all of the anger bubbling up inside of me finally spills over and I can’t control myself anymore. My hands are shaking at my sides, my entire body trembling with the rage I’ve been trying to keep in check for nearly a week now. I’ve never felt like this before, so betrayed and angry and so inclined to violence.

“Jimmie! Would you listen to yourself?” She pushes herself up off the bed and glares at me, obviously hurt by my accusations, “If you want to be angry with me, then fine. Be angry. You deserve to be, but don’t you fucking dare start calling me names and saying such terrible things about me! I don’t de-“

“Don’t even fucking say you don’t deserve it, Chandra,” cut her off and glare back at her just as hard, fighting with all my strength not to shove her back down on the bed and smack her, “The only thing you deserve is a divorce. I loved you, god dammit! I fucking married you, wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, and this is what I get in return? Fuck you. And fuck Junior too. He’ll get what’s coming to him, too. This is far from over, Chandra.”

I turn quickly and storm downstairs, snatching up my keys on the way to the door. I can hear her behind me, screaming my name and begging me again. Ignoring her as best I can, I stomp out into the garage and climb into my car, peeling out of the driveway. It’s not often I get this fired up and if I don’t go now, I’m not going to get another chance to take a swing at him. If Junior wants to mess around with another man’s wife, he’s going to find out just how heavy the consequences are.

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Mick - mick@cryptoffic.com