Invisible Husband

by Coco Pulliam

Tammy turned away to look at the boxes. Monica stretched out her leg and pushed the other woman.

  “Of course there will be. You got married without me, you didn’t pick up my phone calls and you didn’t come with any gifts.” She got up and picked her sister up off the floor.

  “Was it because he kept you in the bedroom for the whole weekend?” Monica spoke with another cheeky smile. Tammy shook her head shyly.

  “Don’t lie to me, girl. Marcus was your first black man. You have been neck deep in vanilla ever since elementary school. Somehow I knew you should have stuck to what you did before when you and Marcus broke up.”

  Tammy turned around to look at her sister. The look in her face was as playful as her words but still searching.

  “Anyway, we haven’t done anything yet.” Her hands encircled the back of a chair before she sat down.

  “He married you but he doesn’t want you in that way?!”

  “No! He does… I’m just not ready for this style of…sexing.”

  “That Scottish boy is too rough? He’s kinky? He likes wearing your lingerie?”

  “Oh, lord no! No, he’s really gentle and kind of…tender. He makes me feel like we married because of love instead of…a lack of it.”

  Monica kneeled down in front of her sister and held her hands together in her lap.

  “Ah, I see. He doesn’t want to fuck you senseless—he wants to make love and give you sex therapy. And instead of giving in to him, you’re here trying to get beat up by me.” She slapped her sister’s hands roughly. Tammy pulled back before she could receive any more abuse.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You need to go home and start working on giving him a baby. Good men don’t do things irrationally. They don’t marry women they barely know. Before he gets any second thoughts, get him sprung off you!”

  “I can’t give him a baby like this! I can barely even touch him!”

  Monica got up and shook her head. She started to pack the boxes quickly.

  “Did he have someone he was dating before like you did with Marcus?”

  “Yeah, a fiancée who left him at the altar three years ago—that was why he was in the church. He went there every year to wait for her since she left.”

  The last box was packed before Monica looked back at Tammy. The whole time she had been packing and swearing, making the other woman worry.

  “The thing about having a man who loves another woman is that no matter how much he’s there with you at home, she is always the one in his dreams. Give him something that she can’t and you’ll be able to live happily ever after.”

  She wrapped the final Korean bento box. Monica’s mother was a Korean woman, while Tammy’s was Caribbean like their father, so their bento lunchboxes were always filled with foods from both cultures: white rice, black peas, and Korean BBQ, jerk chicken, greens and kimchi. Everything was mixed in. Monica was the better cook, so she made plenty for her sister.

  “Take the boxes and make sure to practice your cooking. I’ll take care of our moms, okay? I’ll hold off them off, so you just make sure that he fits well between your legs.”

  Tammy let out a laugh as she took the food. Monica hustled her to the door instead of joining her.

  “Seriously, this is the last big sister-esque thing I’m going to tell you, married woman. Another thing about a woman who knows she is a man’s first love is that she needs the man to keep dreaming about her to feel alive. Once she finds out he has moved on with you…she’ll be back. Make sure that you have the upper hand when that happens.”

  She forced Tammy out the door, then leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

  “Do you remember that thing Sun Dae and Yi Hee told you to do with Marcus the first time?”

  Tammy nodded her head shyly. Her sister’s girlfriends were Korean-born Japanese sisters, former escorts turned accountant majors whom she’d met in college. There was never a translated story that didn’t make her blush.

  “Then do it with Eric.”

  The door slammed in Tammy’s face, leaving her with thoughts of how she would be able to pull off anything that the two sexperts suggest to her.

  “You have to circle the dick with your tongue. Don’t suck too easily,” Sun Dae spoke first in a businesslike manner the last time Monica called them for advice.

  “When you do suck it, only do it for a short time. He needs to feel tortured before he finally gets inside of you. Make sure he knows that you’ll only focus on him if he keeps you satisfied,” Yi Hee finished in the same professional tone.

  Tammy rolled her eyes and laughed at the memory before turning on her heel and walking toward the exit.

  Chapter Two

  Numbers were becoming Eric’s only constant in life. Three years since his fiancée left him. One minute for him to decide to marry Tammy and another thirty seconds for him to work up the courage to propose. Ten months of marriage. And sex an average of three times a week. Unless Tammy was ovulating—then it was three times per day.

  If someone had told Eric he’d be having this much sex in his newlywed life, he would have laughed at them and then directed them to a place that wasn’t in front of his face. Now he really wanted that person to exist so he could find out when his randy wife would leave and his formerly ice-cold wife would come back.

  So he would know how much time he had left to enjoy.

  It had begun the moment he’d come home from work during their third month of marriage. She had been even more distant with him that week, though she took care of him in every other aspect. She prepared food for the both of them even after he told her he could cook every other day. From the moment he came into the house she fussed over him. She took his jacket off to hang up and gave him slippers to change into from his work shoes. From the outside, she looked like she was playing homemaker, but she hardly spoke to him unless he asked her a direct question.

  “Tammy, what’s going on with you?” he asked finally instead of: “How are you?”

  She stopped mid jacket fold. He had come home early, having finished all of his advertising work for the week. The boss said he was throwing work like a machine, which would be good if it wasn’t freaking out all of his co-workers. They were all waiting for him to finally snap and throw a chair across the room. Instead of waiting for that to happen, his boss decided to give him an early weekend.

  Eric figured it was more time to confront his Stepford wife.

  Tammy focused on his tie. He put his hand under her chin and brought her eyes up to his.

  “You’re my wife, not my maid. I appreciate the help, but where did the girl I know go, Tammy? Where’s the woman who calls me Hubby Coyer? Did you leave her in our honeymoon cottage?” He brought her closer to him tentatively. He remembered how she’d jumped away the last time he tried to put his hands on her bottom, so he placed his hands on her waist, pulling her toward him. She pushed forward with her hands, making his back hit the top of the kitchen table.

  “Sorry, Hubby Coyer,” she said finally, more than a “Yes” or “No” or “Fine.” She pushed again, not with her hands but instead her hips, molding hers to his and grinding his cock. He took in a sharp breath, not believing what was happening.

  “Tammy, I was okay with you wanting to take it slow. I’m not complaining about the sex. I just want to know that you’re okay.”

  Eric could hardly hear himself speak. The words were coming out without his consent. It had almost killed him, not being able to touch her, but he knew it was a delicate situation. He figured that she was still shocked from her decision to marry a stranger in a moment of trust and weakness.

  But he had come home early from work one afternoon and caught her touching herself. Her ebony body was naked on top of their bed covers and writhing as her hands traveled down her stomach onto the tip of her clit, tapping it at first with the thumb of one hand and moving the middle of another finger up and down, hammering into her pussy. Her back was arching above the sheets as she dripped onto them, h
er juices coming up with every thump of her hand. His own hands traveled down to his belt buckle, but he couldn’t bring himself to open it. Though he was about to come just watching her, he’d rather be touching her when that happened. But he needed to build her trust before anything physical happened. He would just have to wait for the day that she wanted his fingers in her pussy instead of her own.

  So he just watched her.

  Now the same hands that had pounded her pussy to climax that day were reaching into his pants, traveling past his underwear, and grabbing onto his cock.

  “Hubby Coyer, I can do lovemaking now,” she said with a cheeky smile.

  She unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down by his ankles. She made to put his cock in her mouth, but he held her by the armpits and pulled her up.

  “Let me please you first.” He grabbed as much ass as he could, bringing her back onto him. He nibbled at her mouth, sucking on her full bottom lip. One full kiss, a bite, another kiss, and he felt himself on the brink of going insane. She was holding on to him again. One hand was in his short blonde hair, the other one trying to undo his shirt, clutching at him.

  “You’re something else…”

  “And you talk too much.”

  “Complimenting you is part of this lovemaking thing.”

  Tammy laughed as she tugged him toward her. He hopped in her direction, going all the way to the bedroom with her and falling onto the sheets.

  “Hubby C, I made the bed so we can wreck it.” Tammy went over and closed the door. Eric hadn’t noticed her clothing; most of the time when she came home it was lounge wear and an apron. This time she was wearing a long rope dress. She stepped to the side to drop her apron and then let the rope dress fall to the floor.

  “Jesus.”

  It was the second time he’d seen her like this, vulnerable and naked, but it was the first time that he would be allowed to comfort her in that feeling. She walked back from the door, turning on her heel and looking back at him. She placed her hands over her breasts, covering her dark chocolate nipples while the rest of her soft body remained uncovered. Starting from his feet, she climbed from the bottom of the bed, moving over him, tempting him with her body.

  “Torturer,” she spoke finally, smiling.

  “I could say the same thing about you.”

  * * * *

  She dragged her hands over his shirt, letting the buttons come undone as her fingertips hit them. His eyes were clouded as he looked at her, a deep gray. She had felt them enough over the weeks to know what his current look meant: lust. He had wanted her as much as she had wanted him. Though her sister’s advice to become the wife that Eric lost instead of the woman who became a replacement was at the forefront of Tammy’s mind, she couldn’t make the first move. She couldn’t see Eric in any way other than the man who had chosen to give up his dream and herself as the woman who’d lost hers.

  But then she had mistakenly seen him in the shower one day. Drops of water pouring down a lone lean body, covered with blond hair. He was a live-action statue of Adonis that she had for herself. The thought of him being only hers heated her up in a way that made her touch herself immediately. She didn’t mind when he came to the door and watched her, although he thought he was hidden. Both of them were somehow released by their fate of their spontaneous marriage. Even if he still thought of the woman who left him, his body was all hers to look at, to inspire her if she wanted.

  Now she grinded down into his cock and watched as his eyes darkened. His hand traveled from his sides, to her bottom and then between her legs. She grinded down onto his cock again.

  “I’m ready when you are.” The words felt a little forward to her, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t want him to misunderstand her; she wanted him to make the first move. She wanted to make sure that he wanted her.

  He placed her hand on top of his with a light smile. “It’s been a very long day, and I haven’t done this in awhile…so I’ll just follow your lead,” he stated.

  He guided her hand forward with his and rubbed her clit back and forth in the same way that she had as he’d watched her. He repeated her movements, letting his fingers go over her clit until the moisture built up. Her hand moved to his wrist, urging him faster. She could feel him growing, his cock hardening against her bum. But he didn’t acknowledge his strain; he only looked deep into her eyes while he continued his strokes.

  Her back arched into his finger as he moved his thumb to her clit and his index finger into her pussy.

  “Baby, move up higher.”

  He tugged on her thighs, continuing his ministrations as she climbed up his torso to his face. He smiled into her pussy, sucking all of her juices into his mouth. Tammy leaned back onto him. In order to give him more access, he figured. But then his cock was grasped. She had leaned back to capture him in a hand job. He intensified the movements of his mouth, making her bite her lip because of the hold he had on her clit. She rocked back and forth above him while he played inside her until she let him go and welcomed her own release, writhing into his mouth.

  Tammy’s sleek dark body was covered in perspiration, but he flipped her over, one knee between her legs. He guided the tip to the mouth of her pussy.

  “Wait!” Tammy was shivering a bit under him from her last release. In the next moment, they were truly going to become husband and wife. There was no going back from this last penetration; their wedding vows would be cemented. Instead of an annulment, there would only be divorce if they couldn’t work things out between themselves. “Slowly, Hubby C—this is our first night together. It’s permanent after this.”

  Eric looked down at her with a quiet smile. He kissed her forehead and then her nose. Her hand traveled up to his cock and she pulled him all the way in, feeling herself expand to take him in.

  Tammy brought both legs up in front of her body as Eric placed his arms at each side to keep from dropping his full weight onto her. She breathed in as he entered her deeply. He rocked forward into her, backed up and then rocked forward again.

  “Oh God…” Tammy held on to his upper arms, pulling him deeper as he continued to thrust into her. Eric kept moving forward until he could feel his own release building and could feel her tightening around him. “I’m s-s-so close.”

  He could feel her heart beating roughly against his chest, mirroring his own. He looked down into her face. She was looking up at him with hooded eyes, her mouth open, sucking in air. He bent down, placing his forehead on hers.

  “Come for me. Don’t hold it in—scream for me,” he said.

  He thrust faster, his lower body hitting her clit with sharp movement. He brought his right thumb down and flicked her clit.

  “Oh, Eric! Eric! Oh! Oh!”

  Her pussy tightened around his cock, bringing him to climax along with her words. He poured into her without realizing it and then fell back at her left side. She took a moment to register the wetness between her legs foreign from her own.

  “I-I…completely forgot about a condom.” Eric shifted to see her face. “Tammy, are you on the pill?” Nothing had changed in her expression aside from a shy smile.

  “Okay, we had no condom but a birth control pill. Maybe next time we can try making our marriage even more permanent, then?” she teased.

  Children were a part of the equation that they hadn’t discussed when they’d decided to live life together instead of lonely. He brought his hand up to her stomach and caressed it.

  “Just start with a daughter then…” he added lightly. He made to move his hand, but she placed hers on top of his.

  “We can be married quickly, but let my body get used to this…lovemaking. After that, then we can have kids,” she stated with a shy smile.

  * * * *

  Six months later and Tammy was still getting her body ready to give Eric a pretty daughter.

  “It’s Christmas Eve, baby, I can’t keep the mothers away from you.” Monica was in the couple’s bedroom, dressed in a simple navy dress, sitting on
the couch while staring at the bed with distaste. “Did you follow all my of girls’ advice?”

  Tammy didn’t answer her, instead opting to do her makeup. Her outfit was a form-fitting red wrap dress.

  “Everything but the scary parts,” she explained.

  “Just call Eric quickly, honey. We’re going to need someone to block the body shots. I swear Omma could be a pro-baseball player with the way she throws her slippers. And with Ma, there’s no way her saucepan is going to hit me in the side of the head, again, because of you.”

  Tammy laughed as she put on more blush. She put the brush down and checked herself in the mirror.

  “Eric is coming after he finishes up work.”

  Monica nodded lightly. “But has he been coming in late or early since you’ve been putting it on him?” She reached over to fix her sister’s hair band. Tammy’s natural black hair had grown from short to past shoulder length. Being with Eric had been stress free on both her mind and body.

  “He’s been coming home every day before seven,” she said with a smile.

  “It’s almost seven right now, baby—we can swing by work and pick him up.”

  Monica grabbed both her and her sister’s bag.

  “Hurry up; if we’re late the newspapers are going to read: ‘Died by Their Mothers’ Hands.’”

  Tammy snatched her bag from Monica and stuck her tongue out at her. “You’re driving, love.”

  The way to Eric’s advertising firm seemed to be longer than usual. Tammy felt herself focusing on the nightlife—daylight savings time was gone, and darkness was entrenched. Ever since she was little she would count the streetlights as the car raced past them; it always made her tired when she did.

  “Is this the place?”

  Monica slowed before the building, settling right in front of it. The tall building had clear high windows, showing the bustling of the work done inside. Eric had told her a little of the work he did at the accounting firm, but she hadn’t ever been at the building. It seemed grander than he had made it sound.