Cheating

I’d been trying for years to get her to give in again. That afternoon, between joints and caresses on the couch, she sat up and kissed me like before.

That morning, her husband left on patrol without looking at her. By nine, she had already chosen the clothes she would wear to open the door to another man.

When I moved her panties aside to tend her wound, I thought she’d protest. But she only pressed her face into the pillow and opened her legs a little wider.

For weeks I’d been pretending everything was fine, until that night a man looked at me the way my husband had stopped looking at me, and I chose not to resist.

I only knew Beatriz because she was my wife’s friend. One night she came down to the kitchen with an unexpected proposal.

When Inés opened the door to the two men in uniform at exactly midnight, I knew the promise of a quiet night had been a delicious lie.

My boyfriend was snoring like a log in the back room when she came up to me. Her southern accent and those black eyes told me everything before her hands did.

Two months ago I started dating a girl who truly loves me. And yet, the moment she leaves, I open the contacts site and look for what she can never give me.

We started with stupid stickers at the end of the shift. Then came the nickname. Then the fantasy. That night he texted that my place was closer, and I couldn’t say no.

When I arrived at the restaurant in my black dress with lace underneath, I already knew I wasn’t leaving there as the faithful wife I was pretending to be.

I’m married. I’m straight. That was me when I walked into the mall bathroom. What I was fifteen minutes later, I’m not so sure anymore.

From my wheelchair I watched my wife get out of the car on my boss’s arm. And I knew, without knowing how, that that night I’d be surplus in my own marriage.

When she quickened her pace on the trail and caught up with him with a smile too wide for that hour, Mateo knew the sunrise would not be the only thing he saw at the summit.

When she leaned over my desk to show me the file, her skirt rode up two inches. I couldn’t hide a thing anymore. She didn’t want me to.

Diego’s voice in the audio sounded defeated. When I heard her name, I knew he’d been cheating on me from his office for months.

At forty-eight, in a Miami bar, my best friend grabbed me by the neck and kissed me. It was my first time with a woman, and I knew I could never go back.

When Diego closed the van door and disappeared toward the supermarket lights, I knew I had half an hour to do everything I’d been imagining for months.

The phone rang just as he walked through the door. It was my boyfriend. I couldn’t hang up. And my ex wasn’t about to wait for me to finish the call.

Diego always turned me on and I avoided him because of my boyfriend. Until that afternoon he took me to the gym sauna and I realized I couldn't keep lying to myself.

I thought it was a secret date with my girlfriend’s cousin. What I didn’t know was that the phone beside the bed was streaming everything live.