The Neighbor [The Complete Collection] by Abby Weeks Page B

the arm.
    —Welcome to the high life, Blake said to Ben.
    —What do you mean?
    —My wife joined that place last week. It’s basically the most expensive, most luxurious gym you could imagine. It costs almost as much as the golf club.
    —Jesus, Ben said. So this isn’t a joke?
    —No joke, Bill Warren said. My wife joined too.
    —You guys are partners though, Ben said. I’m still on a salary.
    —Well, Warren said. You keep a hold of this new client and that could all change pretty rapidly.
    Ben smiled at that. Nothing pleased him more than the thought of making partner. It would have thrilled Janey too were it not for the fact that Suzy worked at this firm. The whole idea of moving out to Sunny Oaks had been to get Ben interested in Albany firms. Now he was moving up the ladder here in Troy. That wasn’t exactly the plan. And worst of all, she was just cementing the whole thing by joining Blue like the rest of the partners’ wives. She just knew that pretty soon Blake and Warren’s wives would want to meet her. Then they’d offer Ben a partnership and he’d be with Suzy forever. Maybe she was overreacting, few affairs with secretaries lasted more than a couple of months, but still. It was a legitimate concern, she thought.
    Janey noticed that Bill Warren was looking at her very closely.
    —Just think of the sexy body she’s going to come home with after all those workouts and treatments, he said and leaned across Blake to put his hand on her arm. I think I can feel muscle in this arm already.
    —No kidding, Blake said and squeezed her arm lightly too.
    Ben noticed their interest in his wife and it was as if that rekindled his own interest in her. He put his hand affectionately on her knee. She was wearing a short dress and her legs looked great on the barstool. He moved his hand slightly up her thigh and gave it a little squeeze. Then he kept it there.
    It felt good to be getting some attention from Ben for a change. He’d been completely ignoring her ever since taking up with Suzy and it was killing her. The stress of it had been unbearable. She hadn’t known what to do. She’d been acting out of character, doing things she never would have ordinarily done. Now that Ben was actually paying attention to her again she felt that all of those things were a million miles away and had happened a million years ago.
    Since moving into the house at Sunny Oaks, she’d felt that her only friend in the world was the neighbor, Henry Walden. She’d been flirting with him, allowing him to watch her masturbate and have sex with Ben, and had even gone over to his house and fucked a complete stranger in front of him. Now she felt as if she didn’t even need him anymore. She was surprised at how quickly she was willing to forget all about the mysterious neighbor who lived next door once her husband began to give her just the tiniest little bit of attention.
    She wrapped her arms around Ben and kissed him again. When she stopped, Ben raised another shot glass and the whole bar drank again.
    Then he leaned into her ear.
    —What do you say we book a hotel room tonight?
    Janey nodded eagerly. She loved the idea. She hadn’t had any excitement with Ben in weeks. He’d been coming home drunk, often in the middle of the night, and it seemed he’d hardly been giving her a second thought. He’d been so preoccupied with Suzy, his new toy, that he didn’t even seem to care that he had a wife at home. And that was what she was, his wife. She was loving and devoted and caring and all she wanted from Ben was some loyalty and affection in return. She knew they could live a good life together if only he would come back to her and forget about Suzy.
    She vowed she’d win him back. All she had to do was work her butt off at this new gym and her body would be so perfect that he wouldn’t even be able to look at another woman.
    She allowed Ben’s hand to move a little farther up her thigh, pushing her skirt up a little with it. She