“You wanted to be the only breadwinner. I went to college too. I could have a career. Just because you don't want me to work, doesn't mean I have no say in anything.”
“You want a job, Lilly? Is that what this is about?” He chuckled mockingly. “Come
on . . . you've been taken care of your entire life. Daddy's little girl. You're smart, but you wouldn't last a day out there.”
“Stop treating me like a child!” I yelled, slamming the dish in my hand in the sink. “Stop making decisions for me like I am too stupid to take care of myself. I am your wife, not your kid!”
“Well, maybe if we had some you wouldn't be so restless!”
I turned away from the sink and scowled. “How dare you . . . have you considered that it might be you who has the issue, Rory? I got checked out. I'm fine. You want to talk about childish behavior? How about the fact that you refuse to get yourself looked at? Your stubbornness might be the reason this house has no children!”
I had done it. Delivered the grand blow. I spoke what had remained unspoken this entire time. Challenged his manhood.
“Lilly, you are such a bitch.” Rory sneered, his face glowering as if he could taste the bitterness of his own words.
I gasped like that word was a dagger that had stabbed me in the chest.
He paused for a moment, I could see the wheels turning in his inebriated brain, and then threw his hands up. “We're going to Minneapolis. I'm not discussing it.” Rory made a beeline for the front of the house and slammed the front door behind him. The car screeched out of the driveway.
I screamed in frustration, slamming my fists on the edge of the sink before turning to see Bobby standing at the entrance to the kitchen, a towel wrapped around his waist, dripping wet. His face wore a fixture of pity and disappointment. Rory had mostly been on his best behavior since Bobby had arrived, and this was the first time he had witnessed the ugliness that brewed in the walls of his house.
“You two are no good for each other,” he said, before turning and walking back to his room.
I didn't follow. It wasn't fair to seek his consolation about the brother I had chosen over him. I wouldn't make myself a wedge between them. I created this problem and I was going to have to find a way to solve it.
Seven Years Earlier
As the reception went on, I kept an eye out for Bobby. I hadn't seen him since his speech, but the property was vast, there were many guests, and I understood why he wouldn't want to see Rory and me. Yet something felt deeply unsettled. After those words he delivered, a eulogy to our love, I feared his absence signaled something more. What? I didn't know, but there was an empty feeling when he left the reception.
“Why don't you say we get some sleep?” Rory asked. I knew what that meant. Rory was like any other man, eager to consummate his marriage. The guests had filtered out, and the cabin which housed my bridal room was now ours for the night. The next day Rory and I would leave for our honeymoon.
“Sure. Where's Bobby? I never got the chance to thank him for his speech.”
“Who knows? There were a lot of girls and it's Bobby. He's probably having fun with one as we speak.”
I faked a smile to mask the sensation of being stabbed in the heart.
On that note, we headed into the cabin.
“I need to change,” I told Rory.
Rory grinned. “Okay, gorgeous.”
He left for the bedroom, and I went back to the room in which I had last been alone with Bobby. Makeup and items from the vanity were still scattered on the floor. I sat in front of it and looked at myself in the mirror. I was nervous. I had gone from never having sex to having to fake the loss of my virginity with my new husband within the span of 24 hours. I dropped my head into my hands as I sighed, and that's when my eyes caught the ring. The one I had dropped and Bobby had retrieved. The token of love and commitment from someone to whom I could never return the favor. I smiled when I saw the pretty thing and picked it up, gently pressing it to my lips in Bobby's stead. I grabbed a handkerchief and rolled it up, slipping it into a jewelry box. Then I changed out of my dress into a fresh slip, unpinned my hair, spritzed on some jasmine perfume, and made my way to the bedroom.
The Livelys were blessed with good genes. Rory was attractive. But the prospect of lying with my own husband made me feel as though I was being unfaithful to Bobby.
I slowly opened the bedroom door and Rory stopped unbuttoning his cuffs when he caught sight of me. He looked handsome, his hair a little out of place and the top of his shirt already undone. “I know I keep saying this, but you look beautiful. I am a very lucky man.”
He made his way over to me, softly gripping the back of my neck and pulling me in for a kiss. At first I stiffened in response to his touch, but then I relented. I was torn between my feelings towards Bobby and my carnal curiosity about sex with Rory. After all, he and I had battled not to go this far. It wasn't like we never wanted to. In fact, I hoped that I would be overcome with passion for Rory. Then I would know I made the right choice.
Rory placed a soft kiss on my lips. “Don't be nervous,” he uttered against them.
I nodded. But I was. I was afraid as soon as he entered me, he would know that I had already given myself to another man.
He slid his hand along the silky, lavender-hued fabric of the nightgown and pulled me close to him. I felt how hard he already was, how much he yearned for me. “I'll try to make sure it doesn't hurt, okay?”
I nodded.
He ran his hands along the mound of my backside, gripping me. “You're so soft,” he cooed.
I smiled at the warmth in his green eyes.
He ran his middle fingers under the straps of the nightgown and pulled them away from my shoulders, then down, just enough to expose my breasts. He kissed one on the tip, then around it, up my neck.
“Here,” he said, taking my hand and pressing it against his bulge. “Look how hard you've made me.”
Holding him in my hand awakened a stirring in between my legs.
“Take it out,” he asked.
I unbuttoned his pants and slid them down. He popped up, eager to finally feel what it was like to be inside of me.
“It would help if you put your mouth on it,” he suggested. I had used my hands on Rory before, but never my mouth. In fact I had never used my mouth like that before. Bobby didn't ask, he gave, and I didn't have the experience to initiate it.
I looked up at him innocently, licked my lips, and knelt like an obedient wife.
“All you have to do is put your mouth on it and go up and down. No teeth,” he instructed. He took my hand and placed it around the base of his shaft. “You can do it with your hand at the same time.”
I cautiously wrapped my lips around him and followed his directions. He filled my mouth with his desire, rocking gently back and forth to assist my pace. Tears filled my eyes as he reached the back of my throat.
“Just like that,” he encouraged in a low voice.
Rory grew even more in my mouth before stopping. He helped me to my feet and pulled down the rest of my nightgown so that I was exposed, but he was still mostly clothed. I motioned at his shirt, and he assisted by pulling it off and completely ridding himself of his pants and underwear. Rory was a lacrosse player and his fit, athletic body was something to behold. He took my hand and led me to the bed, where he guided me onto my back.
His erection was still wet from my mouth as he crawled over me. I opened my legs to receive him. Bobby was still there, in the back of my thoughts, just as he had always been. But right now, I was alone lying naked with my husband, and that could be my only concern.