When we get to the stables, Mikey shoves open the door. It slams into the wall beside it with a thud. A part of me wants to ask what happens now, but another part knows that's what a weaker version of me would do. There's a girl inside me who wants reassurance from him. He divorced that beautiful raging bitch, I want to know why, I want to know every hateful thing about her, I want a knife to stuff in my harness so I can cut her stupid face. But a stronger version of me, tells me it doesn't matter. While he clearly has strong feelings around her, he doesn't love her. He doesn't smile at her the way he does at me, like the sun shines for me alone.
I am a fucked-up mess. I know it. It's clear as day. Palpable as the hard stable floor beneath my feet, cold and unyielding. Truth. I'm thinking about Mikey and I'm thinking about love. This is a man who raped me. Who rapes women professionally. That's his job. Women come here with their husbands, and they are given anti-anxiety drugs, stripped naked and their bodies are used with or without their consent until they learn to like it. I know because that's exactly what they did to me. It's wrong. It's ugly. It's immoral. But for some reason, I feel better than I ever have.
What's wrong with me? I don't know. But I do know one thing. I feel better in his presence than I have in years. Peace. Calm. Comfortable. If lapping up his man-goo is what it takes to make me centered, I want more of it. It's still new. It's only been days. But I don't want to be away from him. I don't want to be alone ago. Cold and angry all the time. I don't know what to say.
So I just wait. And watch, as he stomps across the floorboards, his broad shoulders rigid with whatever's going through his own head.
It's cold outside and I'm naked. The air rushes over my skin, pulling my lips to hard beads, my skin tightening with goosebumps, so I close the door. The lights aren't on, and it's dark.
"You want to go somewhere?" he asks.
Somewhere? "Where?"
"Away from here. I don't care."
"With you?"
"Yeah."
I don't need to think about that one. "Yes." I look down at myself. Pool water still drips from my tangled hair. I've got nothing else on but a harness and a pair of plastic plugs. "But, I'm not exactly dressed for a restaurant."
The corner of his lips curves.
I push my lips out. "Maybe a sex shop? They might welcome me with open arms."
He walks to one of the closed stalls, fiddles with a padlock, and opens it. He steps inside. I lean my hip against the desk that I'm becoming increasingly fond of. When he steps out, he's holding sneakers, a pair of leggings, a t-shirt and a fleece jacket, all stacked up in a tidy pile. "I was thinking we could go for a walk in the woods."
This is it. Or not. I've wanted running shoes since I got here. I could run straight to the closest police station and come back with a media circus and enough handcuffs to arrest them all. But if I were going to do that, I'd have taken Mikey up on his offer to give me his keys and his wallet. If I'm honest with myself, I'm not leaving here. At least not yet. "In my harness?"
I look down at the massive dildo wedged in my pussy where he put it back, his cum still squelching around it. My ass clenches around the plug.
"If you like."
Beneath the harness, the careful pale pink polish on my big toenail is chipped. "What would you like me to do?"
He sets the clothes down on the desk beside me. "What would I like? I would like you to wear it. I'd like to go out there, with you stuffed full, getting hornier and hornier, thinking about my swelling ballsack, filling up with cum just for you. We'll walk till we don't feel like walking anymore, then, I want to bend you over, push down on your hands and knees on the floor of the forest, pull that plug out of your soaking pussy, and fuck you like a caveman, pure, savage, rough. Fuck it so hard you'll have to hobble home.
I'm still not looking at him. I reach for the t-shirt. Make to pull it over my head. Flash him a grin. "Works for me, big man."
He stills my motion, a hand on my arm.
"I want to fuck you while you smell like nothing but you and me."
"Fair enough." This is me. Easy as pie. I used to fight Jay about everything. Mikey. Nope. He says what he wants. I say what I want. We figure it out. I take the clothes, go to the bathroom, remove the harness myself, and take a quick shower. When I'm done, I try to work the plugs back in. It takes work, and spit and an incredibly awkward body posture standing in front of the mirror. The dildo goes in smooth, and I lock the harness in place, but the plug is kettle of another fish. Or whatever that saying is. "Shoving this shit in is not easy," I shout through the door.
"Need help?" Mikey calls.
I grimace at my own face, grunt, wriggle my hips, pull with all my might, but the plug won't penetrate my ass more than half an inch. It's like my sphincter is locked up tight. "Yes. Fuck. Come shove this plug in my asshole," I shout, grinning at my reflection. "Please." That I would say such a thing is bizarre. Me. Prim. Prissy. Me. A woman who rarely sucked Jay off, certainly never let him come in my mouth, and almost never had an orgasm. I'd have threatened divorce if he even whispered the word anal my way.
The door opens.
"You got a mouth on you, woman."
"Apparently."
"A dirty, dirty mouth."
I nod. There's no shame. It's true. And I think shame went out the window a long time ago. I study him. He's changed into joggers, a worn, tight t-shirt and a pair of running shoes. Athletic Mikey is a new one. I like Athletic Mikey as much as I liked Rugged Mikey.
"You're smiling." He takes the plug from me, meeting my gaze in the mirror. "Are you happy, Tara?"
I think about it. "Kind of."
He moves me, hands on my hips, directs me to rest my hands on the counter, and push my ass out his way. "Why are you happy?"
Because of you, I want to say. Because you're trusting me to go for a walk with shoes and a shirt. Because you want to spend time with me away from here. Because I'm not ashamed of who I am, because you like me, and I like you. Because when I look at you, sometimes, my belly flutters and my breath catches, and I'm pretty sure my cheeks go hot, and when you smile, my insides melt. Because you asked what I liked to do like you cared. Jay never bothered. No one else has ever bothered. Because when I'm with you, I don't feel alone. I feel like a ballsy woman. A woman who fights back, who gives as good as she gets. Who asks for what she wants and doesn't break down, but a woman who's also not too proud to bend her knees, open her mouth, and own the fact that she loves cum. But I can't say that. It's all true. But it's also terrifying. This man...what he does, what he believes in. This place...It's too fucked up.
He presses a finger against my butthole, but his eyes don't leave my face. "Are you happier than you were the day you arrived?"
"Yes."
The finger slides in. "Do you like who you are?"