Jennifer Remains faithful

After they had a late breakfast on Sunday afternoon, John had to leave for work. As John got up to leave She playfully teased him with a kiss and a quick touch to his manhood, while promising to talk again to him again that night. He missed her so much; he just wanted to stay. He wanted this to last forever

But the nagging message on her phone consumed his every thoughts, even when she was sitting in front of him, making him question everything about her, driving him to make drastic plans. He dressed himself up in disguise, determined to enter the strip club unnoticed and uncover the truth of those message and the deleted messages.

His heart raced with anticipation, fully expecting to find that everything she said was a lie, but hoping it wasn’t, as he prepared put his plan into action. However just as he was about to drive to the club, his phone rang.

Only the thumping bass of the strip club music played on the phone for a while.

The familiar thumping bass of the strip club's music blared through the receiver for a few moments making it difficult for John to hear anything else so he spoke up "Jennifer, are you there?" Her voice sounded like she was wailing as she replied, "Can you pick me up?" His heart twisted at the sound, knowing that phone calls were strictly prohibited for strippers during working hours. Customers didn't want to know the woman they were watching take off their clothes for filthy money also had a life outside of the building and Steve wanted his customer to believe that the women that worked there were always available for their needs.

“Why? Your shift just started," he questioned, his voice laced with concern. Ever since his friends had found out about his relationship with a stripper, they bombarded him with horror stories about the dangers of working at a club. Now, his mind raced with worry, wondering which one had come true for Jennifer.

It was clear that Jennifer was struggling to keep it together. As her voice crackled

"I don't want to talk about it over the phone. Can you just come and get me?" Without hesitation, he jumped in his car and drove to her work, fearing the worst.

As he pulled up to the club, John's heart sank at the sight of Jennifer sitting on the cold sidewalk, her head buried in her hands. The dim streetlights cast eerie shadows on her tear-stained face, highlighting the despair etched onto her features. The stench of stale **** and cigarette smoke hung heavily in the air, creating a sense of hopelessness that seemed to permeate the entire scene.

"Jennifer, what's wrong?" John said, his voice filled with concern as he bailed out of his truck.

"Steve said tonight was my last chance. Put out or go. When I said no, he fired me for refusing to look available for the customers." She look up at John longing for support as she asked “What are we going to do?"

Rage surged through John's veins but What could he say? It was blatantly illegal for Steve to fire her refusing to have sex, but without any solid proof, it would just be their word against his. And hers word didn’t carry as much value as his, and with her losing her job, more than half of their household income was gone. They couldn't afford to fight it.

Uncertain of the future himself, John wrapped his arms around her and held her close, trying to offer some comfort in this difficult situation. "We will make it through, don't worry," he whispered reassuringly.

But Jennifer's voice trembled as she spoke again. "But I'll have to quit school...”

John's expression turned solemn as he shook his head, "No, you only have a year and a half left; we will take out loans. We will just have to downsize elsewhere." And downsize, they did. They quickly went from a two-car family to a one-car family.

They moved out of her luxurious uptown apartment into a rundown slum, with only one bedroom, bath, and a half-sized kitchen.

Their sex life also suffered as Jennifer spent every moment of her waking hours desperately searching for a job. She felt unattractive and unsexy, too consumed by worry and stress to even think about intimacy. But even if she had wanted to, no one wanted to hire an ex-stripper with a reputation for not following rules. Her resume was lacking any valuable experience that could land her a well-paying job. The situation seemed bleak and hopeless, leaving them both feeling trapped and defeated.

However, even with her not being able to find a job, they managed to scrape, if just hand to mouth. Their life may not have been glamorous, but it was their life, and they were going through it together, which made them both happy.

It was not that John actually wanted to have sex because it was kind of hard for him to get it up, knowing he could not scratch her sexual ich.

She was down and didn't feel sexy. He was down, not being able to provide, knowing he wasn't getting it done for his beautiful wife.

That was their life, at least until the summer of her last year of college. You see, her father saw the town handyman, and her mother was the town busybody. With a family of five, they were only slightly better off than John and Jennifer are now. Despite growing up poor, they were oddly close. Every morning they would have an hour-long conversation before she started her day. They talk about anything and everything, sometimes they seem to talk just to talk and didn't really say anything at all. Although she talks to her father every morning, she never really talked about them to John.

On July ninth, she a very short text message from her younger sister, which changed everything.

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Dad, hospital, needs surgery, no money.

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Jennifer tried to text her what's wrong, but her sister wouldn't answer.

That day was a Tuesday, and on Tuesday, a local coffee shop did a two large coffees for a dollar while college students did poetry. It was what they call going out and date night since they could afford to go anywhere else. John just looked across the table at her as she held her coffee for an hour. Despite them cutting her off, she still loved them and hurt John, knowing she was suffering. He was about to talk when he heard the chair next to them being pulled out.

"Hey, babe, I hear you need money." Without looking, John knew it was Steve; he just didn't know how he found them.

Jennifer's eyes snapped to him, "Fuck off, asshole." silencing the room.

"Oh babe, don't be like that; I am just here to give you what he could not."

Much to your pride, she answered, "I don't want what you have to give."

Steve smirked, "ok… ok, at least let me pay for your trip back home so you can attend your old man's funeral." Jennifer's face twisted in pain as she thought about missing her father's funeral.