Carolyn eyed Lucas wearily as they made the three-hour drive back home. They had spent a lovely and relaxing weekend at a nearby bed and breakfast. Their days had been spent exploring the town like tourists and their nights had been spent exploring each other.
She had never felt so satisfied or relaxed or content in her life, but Lucas had been on edge since the moment they had started packing up the car to head for home. He had barely said a word, and she swore his jaw was twitching. It wasn’t a side of him she had seen, or one she liked. It made her nervous.
The smart thing to do would be to be sweet and play on her phone or read a book. She still had a few months of school left, and plenty of reading to catch up on. Unfortunately, being sweet when it was wise to do so had never been one of Carolyn’s strong points. Her father called her a bear poker, because she wasn’t one to let go of something easily, and being given a warning to stop was to her, a green light to go as far as she possibly could. Given her new husband’s penchant for a hard-handed approach, it was going to be her downfall. To bad old habits die hard.
Carolyn quickly unbuckled, and slid across the truck’s large bench seat, wordlessly moving into the middle spot and resting her hand on Luke’s thigh.
“What are you doing?”
“I wanted to sit next to my husband,” Carolyn purred mischievously, moving her hand closer to his groin as she spoke.
He pushed her hand away, taking it in his and placing it back in her lap. “Go back where you were. It’s safer.”
Carolyn scooted. In the opposite direction, closer to Lucas instead of farther away, smiling to herself as she watched his eyes darken. “I just want to be near my husband, and enjoy these last few minutes of our honeymoon together.” She placed her hand back in his lap, taking care to reach even higher this time, enjoying the instant evidence of his attraction to her.
Lucas cleared his throat, and shifted uncomfortably. “Carolyn,” he growled in warning.
Fluttering her long eyelashes, she looked up at him innocently. “Yes, my darling husband?”
“Stop. Right now. Go back to your seat.” Once again, he unceremoniously lifted her hand and dropped it back in her lap. “Your behavior is bordering on dangerous. Do you want to guess how I feel about dangerous behavior?”
A wiser wife than she would have taken the hint. Carolyn did, but only barely. Begrudgingly, she scooted over a whole three inches so that she and Lucas were no longer touching. And she sat there stubbornly with her arms crossed and her mouth set in a full pout. “You’re no fun!”
“That’s not what you said last night.” The corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk.
“Oh, you!” She smiled, happy that he had loosened up, if only for a moment. “That’s better. I was just trying to cheer you up, you know, you’ve been a big old grump ever since we got in the truck this morning.”
“I’m sorry. I’m trying not to be. I’m just... worried.”
“Yeah, I got that,” she muttered sarcastically. “About me and Rosa?” she asked, already knowing the answer. “It's not fair. I’m trying to enjoy these last few hours alone with you.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll try not to worry, and try to be present in the moment with you for right now.”
“Good,” she harrumphed. “Anyway, I don’t know what you’re so worried about. Rosa and I have been getting along fine. Wonderfully, even. Unless she secretly hates me, and you’re just not telling me? I guess it would make sense for you to side with her. First and favorite.” The last sentence was said in a shrill mimicking voice, echoing an overused and generally untrue sentiment that was oft repeated in the community.
That comment earned her a long side-eye. “That’s exactly the sort of comment you don’t need to be making. It’s that kind of talk that is going to earn you a trip over my knee in the very near future.”
Her tummy tightened and she cursed inwardly as her pussy clenched in arousal. Who knew the threat of a good spanking could have such an arousing effect? Certainly not her. It was the last reaction she had expected. “Yes, Sir. I’ll behave,” she promised. “Please don’t worry, Lucas. I’m not going to try to start trouble. I was an immature child who was hurting. I lashed out wherever I could. I’ve changed a lot. I promise,” she vowed, praying it was true.
“Good, thank you. You promise to behave, and I promise not to worry until there is something to worry about, deal? Now,” Lucas said, changing the subject, “let's talk about school. How are we going to work this out, with the college over an hour away? Are you planning to commute every day? I’m not sure I like that idea.”
It wasn’t quite the subject change she had been hoping for. With the majority of her classes being late evening or early morning, Carolyn knew that commuting back and forth every day wasn’t a good option, but the thought of it meaning significantly less time at home with her husband tied her stomach in knots of jealousy. Down girl, she scolded herself. This isn’t real. Your feelings shouldn't be this strong this soon. This was never supposed to feel so real. It was just supposed to be a temporary safety net. When Lucas finds out this was your plan, and not God’s, he’s going to drop you like a hot potato.
The thought made her want to curl up in a fetal position and cry. This wasn't supposed to happen. She liked Lucas, she respected him, she trusted him, but she hadn’t wanted to love him. She had only wanted him to think that she did.
Forcing herself to push the thoughts out of her head, she tried to focus on Luke’s question, and as he had said earlier, be present in the moment. It wasn’t easy, but conversation between them flowed fast and easy, and the rest of the drive passed quickly. Before she knew it, they were home, at the small house behind the church that he and Rosa shared. And now her. No more coming for weekend dinners and enduring awkward meals with her father. She was home. For now, anyway.
As he always did, Lucas got out first, coming around the side to open her door and help her out of the oversized cab. His strong arms grabbed her waist and lifted her from the truck before setting her on her feet in front of him. “There you are, Mrs. Miller,” he said with a grin, “we’re home.”
Lucas hadn’t lied when he said he was nervous about her and Rosa living in the same house together. The courting stage was like a honeymoon period before reality set in, and it wasn’t uncommon for everyone’s tune to change when it all got real.
He couldn’t help but feel a sense of impending doom as he carried her over the threshold and into the living room. The house was empty, and he frowned. He had specifically told Rosa what time to be home. He had wanted her to greet them and for the three of them to have as much time as possible adjusting to their new relationship before Carolyn went back to school next week.
He hadn’t realized he growled until he caught Carolyn looking at him funny. “Is everything okay? Where’s Rosa?”
“That’s what I intend to find out.” Later. He would do it later. If Rosa couldn’t find the time to obey, he couldn’t find the time to make her his first priority at the moment, no matter how much he wanted to. Getting Carolyn settled was more important.
It only took him a few minutes to haul in the luggage they had picked up from her parents’. Most of her stuff was in her dorm, and that’s where it would stay for now. As he entered the small second bedroom, he saw that Rosa had indeed done what he asked her to, and made sure it was set up and ready. She had done a great job, too. The bright yellow curtains and white comforter with its bright floral print really reflected Carolyn’s personality and the patterns she was so fond of. A vase full of roses left over from the wedding adorned the small night stand, and a pile of wedding gifts sat in the corner waiting for them. As he looked around the room at the care taken with each and every small detail, he felt silly for being so annoyed at her absence. It was obvious that she was doing her level best to make this a smooth transition for all of them, and especially to make Carolyn feel welcome. Conviction clutched his heart as he realized he was borrowing trouble. His wives we
re doing fine. There had been no issues and he needed to stop expecting there to be.
Instead of going out and hunting for Rosa, he sat on the bed in the middle of the room, and patted the space beside him when Carolyn appeared in the doorway. He watched with pride, as she appraised the small room with a smile.
Instead of sitting beside him, she perched on his lap and threw her arms around his neck, beaming at him. “Did you do all this? It’s perfect.”
“It is perfect. I agree. But I had nothing to do with this. Last time I was here this room had a bed and a dresser in it. Nothing else. This was all Rosa.”
Carolyn’s face was an expression of wonder as she too gazed around the room taking in each small detail. From the hand-crocheted doilies on the dresser to the wedding photo already framed on the wall. A large mirror hung on the closet door. Really, all that was left for Carolyn to do was to unpack. Everything else had already been handled. The fact that it had come from Rosa seemed to make it mean that much more.
Carolyn must have read his mind, because she reached up and ran a hand through his hair. “See, you were worrying for nothing. Everything is going to be fine.” She was rewarded with a generous smile, one that made her melt. Her husband had a great smile.
“Maybe you’re right.”
She giggled in response, swatting him playfully. “I’m always right. You’d do best to remember that for future reference.”
His eyebrows went, up, but there was laughter in his eyes, and in the smile he was trying to hide. He quickly moved into action, and in a half a second, she was turned around and bent haphazardly over an extended knee, as he swatted her backside playfully. “And you, my darling wife, would do best to remember who’s in charge around here.”
Carolyn giggled, pushing her bottom out suggestively. There was nothing fun about a serious spanking, as she had learned, but these soft slaps he was delivering over her skirt were more of a turn on than a deterrent.
“I’m in charge, Lucas. Trust me on this,” she argued with a laugh.
He was laughing too, as he quickly righted her, whirling her around and pulling her into his arms. He kissed her quickly and deeply, then pulled away, still laughing and tapped her on the nose. “Trust me, darling, when I say that if you plan on going through life thinking that way, your ass will be grass, and I, my sweet wife, will be the lawn mower.”
She immediately sobered recognizing that while the delivery was humorous, the threat was a valid one. “Duly noted, Sir.” And then, to keep the mood light, she added a mock salute, which Luke punctuated by reaching around and delivering another, much harder swat to her rear end.
“So, wife, it appears we have been given the rare treat of having the house to ourselves for a while. What do you say we test out this mattress, and make sure it meets your high standards?” He said it in the form of a question, but he was already reaching for the buttons of her blouse.
After they both quickly undressed, they fell back onto the bed in a heap of limbs, and didn’t bother untangling from one another as they kissed and laughed exploring each other for what seemed like hours. As Luke’s body finally covered hers in the ultimate culmination of their commitment to each other, Carolyn had the fleeting thought that she had never felt so happy or so free.
Chapter 10
On a Wednesday night, her first one since coming back to school after the weekend, Carolyn sat on the floor of her dorm room, propped up against the footboard of her bed, with her Psych book open on her lap and two dozen index cards spread out on the floor in front of her. She was supposed to be studying for midterms, but she couldn’t focus.
She wondered what Lucas and Rosa were up to without her. In the week before and after the wedding, she had found joy and peace in simply being with them. They weren’t super exciting—there was certainly much more to do here, but without company she truly enjoyed, what was the point? She'd rather be beating Rosa at gin rummy, or sitting at the sewing machine making a new dress while Luke read the sports page, or even better, curled up on the couch with Luke between the two of them watching whatever happened to be on.
She had been counting down to Friday since Monday morning and the week was dragging.
A knock on her door interrupted her melancholy and she jumped up to answer it, scattering the notecards as she walked over them.
“Hi!” Her next-dorm-neighbor, Jenny, smiled widely, taking in the dazed expression on Carolyn’s face, and the scattered pile on the floor. “You look like you could use a study break!” She nodded as she spoke, and her pony tail bobbed up and down in time with her words.
“Maybe. What do you have in mind?” Even as she asked the question, she knew two things. One was that it didn’t matter what the distraction ended up being, she was down for anything that would distract her brain from missing her new home. The second was that she really should study. The psych midterm was no joke, and Lucas had told her in no uncertain terms that he expected good grades on her midterms, or there would be consequences. The kind that were exacted out on her backside. But that wasn’t really something she could share with Jenny. There was no way to say, “I really should study because if I don’t get at least a B on this test, my husband will bend me over his knee, and spank my bare bottom until I cry.”
“Just a study break party and snacks over in the rec room. No biggie. Just a way to relax and let off some steam before we finish out the week of tests. You in?”
Say no. Tell her you can’t. Tell her you’re tired. Shut the door and go to bed if you don’t want to study. Read a book. Watch a movie. Call Lucas. There were a million better decisions that she could make. Everything in her gut told her that this was a bad idea. Carolyn wasn’t much in the habit of listening to her gut.
Someday, when this is all over, and Lucas finds out the truth, he’s going to leave you and you’ll be all alone. And you might regret not taking the time to enjoy this experience for his sake. Because in the end, what does it really matter what he thinks of you? Don’t get too attached. Her brain rolled over the mantra she had been pushing away on a daily basis.
“Yeah, okay,” she agreed with a cheerfulness that wasn’t real. “I’m in. I could use a break.”
“Woo-hoo! Party time! Let’s do this!” Jenny, who had looked like a sweet freckle-faced innocent sorority girl only moments before threw both hands above her head, yelling and whooping and took off down the hall like a shot.
Carolyn stared at her retreating form in shock. “Oh, what the hell!” she exclaimed a minute before following suit. The rec room was at the other end of the hall from Carolyn’s dorm, and by the time she reached it right behind Jenny, she was slightly out of breath and her heart was racing. The door to the rec room was closed which was unusual. As soon as she pushed it open, and took in the scene before her—she understood why. This party was about two bodies short of classifying as a rager—and the majority of the attendees appeared to be inebriated, although she didn’t see a drop of alcohol anywhere. It wasn’t, as she understood it, unusual for an on-campus college party to have a hidden and copious supply of alcohol.
The method of smuggling soon became apparent when Jenny materialized at her side with two small, twenty ounce seemingly innocuous bottles. “Rum and Coke, or a screwdriver?” She asked, holding out the offerings.
“Oh, I’m good. Thanks. Maybe just a water?” She expected some sort of friendly cajoling, a little bit of peer pressure, but none came.
Jenny just smiled and called out over her shoulder to a guy standing at the fridge. “Hey, Jake, can we get a water over here, please?”
She half expected him to laugh and say that they didn’t have any water, that this was a drinking party, not a sports event, but he simply bent down, pulled out a small bottle of water and sent it flying through the air in their direction. Jenny caught it over her head with a cry of victory, and handed it to Carolyn. “Here you go, Toots. Enjoy.”
She popped the top, and chugged, letting the ice-cold liquid cool her down as she
surveyed the room. So, this was a college party, albeit a tame one. It was the first one she had ever been to besides the social mixers put on by the school or different groups. Those parties did not have alcohol. With the exception of the circulating contraband, this party seemed like all the others. She, as usual, was way overdressed, and the room was divided into the usual cliques. The skaters were in one corner playing hacky sack with the stoners. The jocks and cheerleaders were congregated on one side of the room hanging all over each other. The intellectual types and geeks sat at tables in the middle of the room, playing chess and discussing Pokémon types. She rolled her eyes. At least they were all at the same party. Carolyn had acquaintances in each group, but no real friends. Friends and parties were not the reason she had come to college. An education and an escape had been the only goals, and she kept her eyes on the prize.
Still, it was a party, and an actual college experience she figured she ought to have at least once, minus the alcohol. Lucas would kill her if she drank.
“Should have done it before the wedding,” she muttered to herself, swigging from the water bottle. “Oh well, live and learn.” She honestly had no inclination to drink, she just hated feeling awkward and left out. Even the nerds with their chess pieces and Pokémon cards had a drink in their hands.
She was still standing near the door, and it made her feel horribly self-conscious, but she didn’t know where else to go. Jenny had immediately found her boyfriend and was furiously making out with him in the corner. Every once in a while she would come up for air just long enough to chug from her orange juice bottle before returning to sucking his face off. Spying a girl she recognized from her English class, who also appeared to be alone, Carolyn sidled over to her, straightening her skirt as she walked. She really needed to invest in some more casual clothes for lounging around the dorm.
She had just reached the girl, whose name she believed was Amy, when Amy turned abruptly, so that Carolyn was facing her back, and started making out with one of the football players who had just shown up. Carolyn sighed and spun on her heel, retreating back to her post near the door. Apparently if you weren’t into drinking, making out with randoms, or playing chess, these parties were pretty damn boring. Still, her dorm room and her notecards were more boring. At least here she could people watch for a bit.
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