17 people who have walked in on a partner in the act of cheating share their stories.

There are pros and cons to walking in on a partner cheating on you. Cons: heartbreak, betrayal, a scarring memory, and potentially losing the ability to ever fully trust someone again. Pros: you can break up with them, move in with three roommates of the opposite sex, have an on-again, off-again relationship with one of those roommates, and become the plot of the sitcom New Girl. Also: you now have an excuse to absolutely destroy someone's car with a sledgehammer. And let's be honest, that part seems fun?!

Someone asked Reddit: 'have you ever walked in on your husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend having sex with someone else? What did you see & What happened?'

These 17 people who've experienced the living nightmare of catching a partner in the act of cheating share their horror stories:

1.) From throwaway12934509834:

It was a weeknight. I woke up a few hours early (4 AM-ish) to play a few video games before work. My wife (of 6 months) is not in bed with me. I call her phone, and hear it ringing in the guest room. I peek inside, and saw her in the throws with one of her male friends that I had met the previous night.

They did not see me, so I closed the door. I went out to the garage, and returned with a claw hammer. I sat against the door for almost an hour, deciding what to do with my life. After that, I kicked in the door, gave them both a stare that I can only hope froze their blood, then walked out and drove to work.

I left her that night, and I kept her hammer. She begged me to stay with her. It was winter, and I did have to live in my car for almost a month, but it was still the best decision I ever made.

2.) From anthrbrickinthewall:

Ugh, I'll bite. I not so much walked in as caught them on camera. It is a long and sad story honestly. My 'best friend' offered to come take our dog to the groomers on his day off since my 'wife' and I couldn't get out of work the day of the appointment. I thought this was odd so I set up a camera to see if he was going through our stuff.

I get home from work and find a video of him screwing my wife. To make matters worse we were trying to have a baby so she was not on BC and they weren't using protection. I felt like I lost everything. Turns out it had been going on for at least a year.

Wife just said 'You took care of everything, I felt like I was 8' and my 'friend' said, 'You were a shitty friend' That was what both of their excuses were. Oooh I almost forgot 'We were going to stop being whatever we were when she got pregnant', so he even considered her his girlfriend.

All things considered I got really lucky to get out when I did. I had to wait 2 weeks to find out if she was pregnant or not and if she was I wouldn't know if it was mine. Talk about hell. This was almost a year ago. Let's just say I'm in a MUCH better place now. Edit: I meant to use a throwaway...all well!

3.) From Blu3j4y:

The summer after my freshman year in college, I caught my girlfriend (who had just graduated HS) making out with her former band director in a car parked in her driveway. I watched for a minute or two from across the street until I saw her swoop down for the BJ.

She called me the next morning to ask when I was picking her up for a concert for which we'd made plans. I asked her 'When I kiss you, will I be able to taste nameredacted's d*ck?'

Aftermath: Some good citizen sent that guy's wife a letter detailing his infidelity, and a few weeks later some prankster beat the crap out of the guy's car with a baseball bat. Bad luck for that silly old bastard.

4.) From wee_man:

Yep. Was dating this ridiculously hot girl in college that I knew was out of my league but we still were together for over a year and I was in puppy love. She got a job at the campus liquor store and I immediately start hearing stories about her 'cool new boss' who is obviously trying to f*ck her from day one.

Fast forward a few months and she decides we should sleep at our own apartments so she can 'get better rest'. The next morning I'm driving to work at 7am and swing by her place to drop off a note and her boss's car is parked in the driveway. Like an idiot I go inside and immediately hear them f*cking.

I run upstairs but her door is locked. I bang on the door and all goes quiet, she even whispers 'Shhhh, just wait until he leaves'. I yell 'She's your f*cking problem now' at the door and walk out. We never spoke again.

5.) From TheyCallMeLithium:

Yep! At a small Halloween party at our house, I went to bed early (re: midnight), and went to go sleep in our bedroom. So far so good. Then the boyfriend comes in and tells me that I need to sleep in the living room and he's made up a couch for me. I'm annoyed, but sleepy so I trail along to the living room.

I can't sleep, and a few minutes later get up and go back to our bedroom and his ex-gf from highschool (that he had recently re-met via a hs-reunion) is naked on top of him and f*cking him.

Icing on the cake: Four months later they got engaged.

Extra icing: They got married two years ago, and she sent me multiple messages asking me to come to the wedding because she said I meant a lot to him and that I should be there. F*ck that :)

6.) From necrodae:

Not to me thankfully but my girlfriends uncle came home to a guy f*cking his wife. He opened the door and yelled out... The guy f*cking his wife just looked at him and smiled while proceeding to f*ck his wife. Uncle didn't say a word, walked to dresser, pulled out his gun and shot and killed the guy. Went to prison for 14 years.

some updates He was only sentenced to 10 years, only served ~8-9. 2 years in prison with the remainder in ASH (Arizona St. Hospital) as he was diagnosed with some sort of serious mental illness (I want to say paranoid schizo with some other social disorders but I'm not 100% sure).

The crime happened in the 80s even after he was released for this crime in 2002/2003 he went to prison again for ~2 years for aggravated assault. From what I know he spent about half of his life in and out of lock up. He was also connected to another murder because he gave some type of blunt object (I thought it was another gun issue, I was wrong) to his friend who ended up murdering someone with it.

tl;dr he's been mentally unstable and a criminal for most of his life involved in multiple homicides and in and out of jail/prison/mental health facilities for ~1/2 his life. Still, killing the guy who smiles while f*cking your wife, priceless.

7.) From eckpm:

I was in the military, stationed in Hawaii. I got married when I was 19 to my high school sweetheart after being there for about 6 months. She moved out there with me and our house instantly becomes the 'flop house' for all of my alcoholic and idiot friends. The night before Thanksgiving she decides to stay at home to get some sleep so she can get up early and cook for us.

I thought nothing of it and went out to the bars with all of the guys. For whatever reason we get back to the house earlier than usual (around 2am) and as I get out of the cab I notice a familiar car down the street parked under a street light. I decide to look in the window of our bedroom first and can just make out two people doing it doggy style outlined by the dim light of the alarm clock.

I flew up to the front door and fumble f*cked with my keys to get the door open. Just as I got the front door open I hear the bedroom door slam. I race down the hallway and knock (slam my fist) on the door and tell her to open it. I can hear whispering and a much deeper whisper than a woman at that. I put my shoulder into the door a few times and she scream and then I just kicked the living shit out of the door right by the handle.

The door flies open and she's in our waterbed naked and one of my best friends is bent over in the middle of the room trying to get his pants on. His back was facing me so I laid my fist right into the side of his back which made him fall over and I just kicked and kicked. Like a mule... I kicked and stomped.

She already has the phone and is calling the police. I picked up a lamp and smashed it on the floor next to his head and ran out to the living room. I waited on the couch for them and waited for the military police. They show up and take reports. I was hauled off to the cool down tank and spent Thanksgiving in a holding cell. My Staff Sergeant brought me dinner and told me that she was on the next flight home.

Our divorce was finalized over the mail and I never saw or heard from her again. The guy that she was with ended up testing positive for cocaine and meth at the hospital and was kicked out of the military. I was never brought up on any charges.

8.) From [deleted]:

i broke in through the kitchen window (she lived on the 6th floor and i scaled the fire escape) and yes they were getting it on. the guy she was boning just pulled the covers up to his neck and yelled 'who the f*ck are you.' my shocked response: 'who the f*ck are you?'. all 3 of us stood in awkward silence for maybe a minute and i realized that breaking and entering was probably good enough for the day. my work was done, so was the relationship. the look on their faces though! ah, fond, fond memories

9.) From icanhasreclaims:

Not me, but my dad's friend had learned his girl was cheating on him and chose to say nothing. However, he placed a hidden camera in their bedroom. Now with conclusive evidence, he brings up taking a trip to puerto vallarta. She is completely dependent upon him financially and quickly jumps at the offer. They leave about a week later.

As they are boarding the plane, he mentions that he must have left his wallet at the counter and for her to go ahead and board, and he will be there in a moment. She boards, he goes to the boarding agent explains he will not be getting on the plane, and the plane takes off with her having no cash, no accommodations, canceled credit cards, and only her baggage. They no longer talk.

10.) From omgpokemans:

Yeah, came home to my GF banging my best friend/roommate. Lost my girlfriend, best friend and home that day.

11.) From turbie:

My best friend told me my (ex) fiance and her had been cheating on me. I went to go confront him (He was living in a converted garage). He thought I was asleep for the night, so when I started banging on the garage door all insanely he went ahead and opened it with out thinking, and there sat another chick with out her clothes on. And he still tried to deny it.

12.) From VaporMaus:

My previous girlfriend cheated on me with one of her study buddies. I barged in on them mid hump. I told my girlfriend that I was just diagnosed with the HIV. Which was a bold faced lie, but the look of shock on my face sold the lie to them. I knew the guy was condomless because that was her thing. Two weeks later, she told me that her results turned up negative, and that I am an asshole.

13.) From JoeRuinsEverything:

Walked in on her having sex with another dude. I paused for a moment, walked around the bed and went absolutely batshit ballistic on a really old wooden chest she got from her great grandmother. I knew she loved that chest, so it was really satisfying to smash it to pieces. Walked out without saying a word, while the two were looking at me with completely baffled faces.

Standing in the door i gave her one last look and she started crying. Up to this point it was a really great relationship and we were supposed to move in a few days later. Never saw her again or even talked to her after that day.

14.) From Kinetic_Waffle:

Girlfriend and my sister. Scarred for life. THE THERAPY DOES NOTHING.

15.) From ChocolateJigglypuffs:

My girlfriend at the time went with me to the hospital one day so I could visit one of my really good friends who just underwent surgery. She left the room to take a phone call and told me she had to go and take care of something. I stayed for about another hour.

I leave and go home (we lived together) and when I walked in the front door, there was some guy on top of her on the couch, just going at it. I slammed the door, called them out and tried to grab the guy but he was able to get away from me. My girlfriend tried to explain everything but I didn't listen to any of that shit and left.

16.) From jrik23:

While in the army I walked in on my girlfriend and my army buddy going at it. We were planning to go to her parents house 10 hours away for the 4th of July weekend. I acted as if nothing happened waited till we were half-way to her parents house stopped at a highway rest stop let her get out to pee took out all her bags and took off. Drove back to base with the biggest grin on my face. I got some really interesting voice mail messages from her. Boy was she pissed.

17.) From gold_pants:

I had a spinal tap a few days before the incident. As a result, I had a spinal headache that left me unable to even sit up without extreme pain. I popped some painkillers and fell asleep. My boyfriend of about a year, who lived with me, was there when I fell asleep...but not when I woke up at 3am.

I called for him, no answer. He didn't pick up his phone. In extreme pain, I got up to look around. The back door of the apartment was wide open and he was missing so I called 911. We lived in a not-so-good neighborhood at the time so I worried he'd gone to take the trash out and never came back. I ran around the property looking for him as I was on the phone with a dispatcher. I remember being amazed at how I could run around like that after barely being able to sit up. I thought he might be dead.

The police officer arrived and looked around the place. He then went down the back staircase that was connected to the downstairs neighbor's apartment. The cop had a big smile on his face when he came up, and asked if I was sure the boyfriend was missing - there were two people 'f*cking like rabbits' down there. I laughed at that, thought it was preposterous. I said there is no way that would happen - he wouldn't do that and she had a boyfriend. I didn't give it a second thought.

About 5 minutes later, my boyfriend came in. He was obviously flustered and upset. He asked if everything was ok and was worried about the cop car - worried that something had happened to me while he was on a late-night walk. We all had a good laugh and the policeman chided him a bit and told him to leave a note next time. The boyfriend and I even saw the policeman around town the next week and we all laughed about the situation.

I was incredibly innocent. I was in the apartment while he was f*cking the downstairs neighbor while I was sick. The policeman was right. I found out from a chat log he saved to his desktop a few months later. I created an account just to tell this story, at least it's useful for something.

tl;dr: I thought my boyfriend was missing after he took out the trash at 3am; turns out he was downstairs f*cking the neighbor. That cop knew what he was talking about.