Cheating

I got out of the taxi half a block from the hotel, as always. The receptionist no longer asked my name: she handed me the key to 304 without looking at me.

When I saw her kneeling among the park bushes, I knew that night I’d check her phone. What I found changed everything I planned to do after.

I opened the door convinced it was my husband. I was in my underwear, hair messy, and barefoot. When I saw who it was, I knew I wouldn’t be able to shut it in time.

I got off the plane knowing I’d have to look him in the eye. What I didn’t know was that that same night, through tears, I’d ask him for something I had never dared say aloud.

When I saw her walk into work in the same black leggings from the day before, I knew that day wasn’t going to end like the others. Not like I thought it would, either.

I was half asleep, my nightgown hiked to my waist, when I saw the silhouette of the man leaning into my window in the vanity mirror.

I got out of the car convinced the house was empty. Then I heard moans upstairs and turned on the bedroom camera.

I sat down in front of him, took his hands, and started talking. I knew every word tied me more tightly to him, even if it hurt like a badly placed caress.

I put on a miniskirt and heels that Thursday when I had the house to myself. I was only going to flirt for a while. That’s what I told myself as he shut the camera room door behind us.

Rodrigo kept watching me every time I crossed the living room. I’d known for months, and that afternoon I decided it was time to collect a debt.

When she sent me the photo from the fitting room wearing lingerie, I closed it without replying. She saw that. That was how it all began.

Sandra took the wine bottles, looked at me, and whispered: “It’s going to be needed, trust me.” Her smile was the kind that already knows how the night will end.

That night the three of us wore light clothes in front of the TV. I tried to hide what they were doing to me just by looking at them.

I’d spent months thinking about her, about her feet, about her mouth. The Halloween party gave us the night we’d both wanted without saying it out loud.

I ran out in my nightgown, naked underneath, with the vibrator in my hand. The door clicked shut, and I knew I was locked out. Someone was already in the hall.

I always trained alone, in silence, never looking at anyone. He’d been watching me for three months, and I found out when it was already too late to walk away.

I’d been burning up for an hour with Rodrigo not home. When I called the sex shop, I never imagined the clerk would show up at my door ten minutes later.

Four weeks watching her move between the tables, wanting what I didn’t dare name. After that, nothing was ever the same.

I was the impeccable stepmother, the woman who made the rules. But when my stepson appeared naked before me, I knew my rules were made of paper.

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