Marriage

by Charles Arnold

  Quickly, she went on, “What I have said is the truth, Abul, and we both know it. Please let me finish.” He nodded and she continued, “Surely, during the last few months you have seen that I am a strong woman and an intelligent one. You have seen how well I can pretend.” She paused and shifted in her chair, “You have also come to know my body. You have observed and participated in my training and have experienced the pleasure I am able to give. At the Facility I have also learned how to make myself look desirable to men, how to make all men want me. At the Facility you’ve witnessed many times that I am able to make men envious of the man who has me. Those men wished to be you because they saw I was your woman.” Although Abul tried to look indifferent, she knew she’d struck a responsive chord.

  He leaned back. “Yes, Mrs. Ryan, under my direction at the Facility, you have become a useful woman. But you have not yet learned your place.”

  Of course, he could never admit that it was Madam Khe who had orchestrated her training. “Even if I haven’t yet learned what you call ‘my place’, I can make it seem to others that I have. Mr. Satomi, himself, thought my spirit had been broken.” She paused. “It is also possible that, in time, you will break my spirit, or that I may truly begin to see that...that you have been right about my place all along.” They sat in silence for several moments. She knew Abul was thinking about what she’d said, and she suspected he was surprised by her boldness and honesty.

  “Get to the point,” he grunted.

  “If you agree to marry me, I promise on my husband’s grave, to continue the act. I promise in private and in public to be as submissive as I was during the trial. Everyone will know that Abul has married a rich, well-educated, strong-willed, American woman who wants nothing more than to please him. In public and in private I promise to do whatever you order me to do. I will show with my words and in my actions that you are my master and that I am your devoted and obedient wife.”

  “What if you go back on your promise? What if this superior attitude you have begins to show through the pretense?”

  Kathy had hoped this question wouldn’t come up. “I realize the marriage ceremony will not mean anything to you even though its sanctification by the Church means much to me. I was raised as a Catholic as was Jeff. For me, the marriage vows are sacred. No matter how much I might hate you, no matter how much the things you require me to do are against my nature and violate all that I know to be decent, I will honor the vows I take. I will think of myself as your wife. For that is what, in the eyes of the Church and in the eyes of God, I will be.”

  Abul nodded, “Perhaps, but these are only words.”

  “If I break my promise, I know I’ll be sent to Doctor Gruber. With that hanging over my head, I will do everything possible to keep my promise to you.”

  It was a long time before Abul spoke, “I’ll consider what you’ve said and probably put you to another test or two.” Kathy took a deep breath and was preparing to stand and leave. “Stay seated, Mrs. Ryan,” Abul said. “I have something you should hear.” From the desk drawer he pulled Jeff’s tape recorder and placed it on the desk with the speaker facing Kathy. “Your late husband left you a message before he took his last trip.”

  “Oh, no!” Kathy gasped. “I...I...didn’t...”

  “You didn’t look for the recorder.” Abul cut her off. “I expect you were quite occupied and distracted after he came home in a body bag.” Abul smiled at her. He stared hard at her until she had to look away. “So, Mrs. Ryan,” he waited until she turned toward him, “eight months after you buried your husband here you are in his den, as you call it, sitting across from the man who was responsible for his death.” He placed a grimy hand on the tape recorder, “Together we will listen to what were to be his final words to his loving wife.”

  Kathy started to rise, “No! Please, Abul!”

  “Sit down, Mrs. Ryan. Recall what you were promising just a few minutes ago.”

  Kathy fell back into her chair and bowed her head. “I’m sorry,” she said.

  Abul switched on the recorder. Immediately, Jeff’s familiar baritone filled the room. “Hi, Sweetheart. I thought I’d leave you a little surprise to make you feel better while I’m gone.” Tears welled up in Kathy’s eyes. The tape continued. “I hate these business trips because I miss you so damn much. Every day away from you seems wasted. Have you noticed that during the past two years we have become closer and that the time we share is always quality time? I think our love is deeper now than it ever was. We have a wonderful marriage that gets better every day.”

  Abul turned the recorder off. Kathy’s head was bowed, her cheeks streaked with tears. After several moments, she looked up. It was obvious from his expression that Abul was enjoying this. “There’s more, Mrs. Ryan.” He switched on the recorder. Kathy closed her eyes. It sounded as if Jeff were here in the room with her. The tape continued: “I have another little surprise for you. I’ve managed to get two weeks off in February. We’re going to spend them at the most exclusive resort in the Caribbean. I’ve made reservations, it will be like a second honeymoon.” There was a slight pause, then Jeff’s boyish laughter. “Have I told you lately that I love your splendid body? There’s a box for you, honey, in my file cabinet. It contains two special things I’d like you to wear to dinner as we celebrate our first night there. Ahh, dear Kathy, I love you so very much and I’m so very happy knowing that you love me. I’ll be home on Monday. Missing you already and I haven’t even left yet.”

  When the tape ended, Kathy’s hands covered her face, and she was sobbing uncontrollably.

  “Your husband says he knows you love him. He says your marriage is stronger than ever.” He waited a moment staring at her before he spoke again, “But that doesn’t mean anything, does it? Because Abul is sitting in your husband’s chair. Abul is wearing his clothes. And now you are going to wipe away your foolish tears. You are here because you want to give me what once was his. Your husband is dead.” He paused and studied her. “That marriage is over...it’s as dead as your husband. You are here begging to become the wife of Abul?” He phrased it as a question. Kathy nodded. “Now, you’re going to make your mouth look desirable for the man who killed him because you are hoping that I will kiss you. Say it.”

  “Yes, Abul…I’m begging you to take me as your wife. I’m going to make my mouth look desirable for you. I’m hoping you will kiss me.”

  “And you want to part your warm lips and tongue kiss the man who murdered your husband. Say it,” Abul demanded.

  Kathy looked down at her hands, then lifted her head to face him, “I want to part my lips and...and...tongue kiss the man who murdered my husband.”

  He pushed a small plastic bag across the desk. In it were a mirror, a lipstick, and a vial of gloss. Kathy propped the mirror on the end table next to her. She wiped her cheeks with a handkerchief and, with a trembling hand, made up her mouth and coated her lips with the shiny gloss. “Look up, look at me,” Abul said. Kathy raised her head. He leaned across the desk, staring at her. “Open your mouth. Let me see your tongue moisten your lips.” She wanted to lower her eyes, or glance away but knew she couldn’t. Looking at his cruel face; the bulging eyes, the hooked nose, the thin lips, she did as he ordered. Her bright red lips glistened. “You have soft, full lips, Mrs. Ryan. Did you kiss your husband often?”

  “Yes,” Kathy said, feeling the tears start to well up again, “yes, I kissed him often.”

  “But from this day on, Mrs. Ryan, who will your loving kisses be for?”

  “My kisses will be for you, Abul.”

  “Will your lips always be warm for me?”

  “Yes, Abul, my lips will always be warm for you.”

  “And you will always prepare your mouth for me as you have? And when we kiss, your soft lips will part. You will welcome my tongue? And your kisses will be long and lingering?”

  Kathy swallowed hard forcing the vision of her future with Abul from her mind, “I...I...have learned what pleases you, Abul
. I will prepare my lips as you see them now. And when...when we kiss, I will part them and welcome your tongue. My parted lips will linger on yours for as long as you wish.”

  “And you will kiss me often, in private and in public without me having to order you to? Kiss me like it’s what you want, like you can’t help it?”

  “Yes, Abul, I will kiss you. You won’t have to order me. I...I’ll just do it. I’ll kiss you, kiss you often because...because I want to...to feel my lips touching yours. “

  “But I killed your husband. I saw to it that his death was a painful one. Does that not bother you? Does that not make you wish to see me dead?”

  She looked steadily at him, “You know the answers to those questions, Abul. But I belong to you now in ways I never belonged to my husband. If...if... you take me as your wife, then I will be a wife to you as I was to him...and more.” She saw he was waiting for her to go on. “In the past weeks, Abul, you have had my body in ways that I denied to him. I never kneeled before him as I do you. I never took his...his cock in my mouth or in my ass. I never really belonged to him at all, Abul. I never knew what belonging meant. In the little time since his death, I have become your woman.” She paused and lowered her eyes fearful of what he might see in them, “I think we both know that I belong to you...we know that I’ve become your whore,” she said softly.

  Abul spoke sarcastically, “Yes, that’s right. If you become my wife you will also remain my whore.” He leaned forward, “Do you wish to kiss me now, Mrs. Ryan, here, in this place that was your husband’s?”

  An image of Jeff flashed through Kathy’s mind, young, clean-cut, strong, and handsome. Across from her sat Abul, repulsive...ugly almost to being grotesque, filthy, smelling always of dried sweat, his thin lips now wet with spittle. She looked into his mocking eyes, “Yes, Abul, I want very much to kiss you, kiss your mouth in this place that was my husband’s.”

  “When you kiss me you will be thinking of my manly prick. You will groan with pleasure and press your hot cunt against me. You will beg me to fuck you, because you want my big prick inside you.”

  “Yes, Abul, that’s how it will be. Even now, I’m beginning to feel...feel this need for you. Sometimes, although I try to deny it, I find myself imagining your great cock inside me and I..I...become aroused.”

  “And when you look at me, others will see in your eyes, not anger and hate, but love and desire?”

  “Yes, Abul, I promise to look at you with love and desire in my eyes. I will, in time, make myself feel it, not occasionally but always...feel the desire and it will be real, and everyone will see it. They will know that I want you, that I am always wanting you. And in private I will say to them I’ve come to realize that your great cock is the only one that can satisfy me. They will see that I have forgotten my husband and live only for you.” She thought to herself, ‘I say these things because if I don’t, this evil bastard will send me to the insane Doctor and his nephew. I despise Abul now more than I ever have.’

  “Now, you’re going to show Abul your titties, aren’t you, Mrs. Ryan?” Kathy nodded. She fumbled with the buttons until they were unfastened. Abul drummed his fingers on the desktop. “Look up at me. Pull your shoulders back. Take the blouse off.” Kathy looked across at his sneering face. Tears again began to trickle down her cheeks. She squared her shoulders and slid the blouse from them. Although she tried not to show it, hatred burned in her eyes. Abul noticed and determined to torment her further.

  “Why am I here, Mrs. Ryan, wearing your husband’s clothes and sitting in his chair?”

  “Because he is...Jeff is gone.”

  “Gone?” Abul mocked.

  “He’s dead.”

  “Yes, he’s dead and Abul is in his place, here in his house, and his wife has quickly become Abul’s woman. Mrs. Ryan now belongs to Abul. She is pleased to be my woman. She is pleased that I can do whatever I wish to her, pleased that her body belongs to me now. Is that not correct?”

  “Yes, Abul, you are in his place, and I am pleased that I’ve now become your woman...that I belong to you. It...it...excites me to know that you can do whatever you wish to me.”

  “Take off your skirt, Mrs. Ryan.” Kathy stood and with trembling fingers unbuckled her belt and pushed the skirt down over her hips, then stepped out of it. She remained standing before Abul wearing the black bra, the panties, and shoes. Abul leaned back appraising her. She felt the color rise to her cheeks.

  “Remove the bra, Mrs. Ryan.” Kathy hesitated for a moment, then unfastened the hooks and let the brassiere drop to the floor. “You have perfect titties, Mrs. Ryan. Did your husband caress them? Did he suck your nipples?”

  Kathy looked away. “Yes,” she said.

  “But now you’re showing your tits to Abul. I notice your pink nipples are already erect, and I haven’t even touched them. You must like baring your breasts for me, Mrs. Ryan? Does it excite you? Let’s not have a one word answer.”

  “Doing this, showing myself to you like this makes me feel ashamed and humiliated. But, as you can see, it also excites me. I like baring my breasts for you.”

  “You must also wish to take off your panties and show me your cunt?” He grinned across at her. “Perhaps Mrs. Ryan wishes to beg for permission to remove her panties so she can stand naked before me? Perhaps she’s going to beg to be allowed to show Abul her cunt? She’s going to beg because Abul makes her hot? I think Mrs. Ryan is anxious to make love to me.”

  Kathy lowered her head and said softly, “Yes, please, Abul, I would like to remove my panties. Please give me permission to...to.” She looked up into his mocking face, “I...I...want to stand naked before you. Please Abul, I want to... to show you my...my cunt.”

  “Yes,” Abul smirked, “you must learn to give yourself to me out of gratitude. When you are naked I want to hear it. I want to hear Jeff’s wife say, ‘I am yours, Abul. My body is yours.’”

  Kathy thought, for a moment, that she might scream at him, fling herself on him and scratch his eyes out. Instead, she said, “Yes, I will say it.” She began to strip off her panties.

  “Slowly, Mrs. Ryan, very slowly. Tease me.” Kathy tugged the bikini panties down until she was free of them. She stood before him feeling the color spread from her face to her breasts. Abul chuckled, “Your words mean nothing, Mrs. Ryan. I know Jeff’s blushing wife hates to display her naked body before me. But tell me, are you becoming aroused? Does standing naked before your husband’s murderer make you hot?”

  Kathy shook her head, “Please, Abul, don’t make me say...”

  Abul slammed his hand down on the desktop, “I’m not forcing you to say anything, you arrogant bitch!” he yelled.

  Kathy flinched, then took a small step forward, “I’m sorry, Abul. Forgive me. Yes, standing like this...naked before you excites me. I can’t help it. It...it...just happens. You must know by now, Abul, that in your presence I am aroused. Surely you have been aware of that.”

  “Yes, I have.” He waited. “There’s more,” he said evenly.

  ‘I have chosen to stand naked before you, to give myself to you Abul, freely and with gratitude.” Abul indicated she was to go on. Kathy forced herself to say the words, “My body is yours...your reward for...for...killing my husband.”

  Abul relaxed and nodded, “That’s better.” He stared at her for a long time. He enjoyed playing with her like this. “Now, Mrs. Ryan,” he said, “show me your little asshole.” Blushing furiously, Kathy turned and, leaning over, reached back to spread her ass cheeks. “You said you never displayed yourself like this for your husband. Is that correct?” Abul asked.

  “No, never.”

  “Did he ever fuck your ass, Mrs. Ryan?”

  Kathy stood up and turned back to face him, “No...he wouldn’t...wouldn’t have ever thought of such a...such a thing.”

  “But we know since his very recent death your ass has been fucked many times. Who have you invited to fuck your ass, Mrs. Ryan?”

  “You have taken
me there. You and your friends have...have taken me in that way.”

  “And you liked it. Tell me you liked it...liked feeling my prick in your American ass...liked feeling the pricks of my friends’ in your ass.”

  She bowed her head, knowing how she had to answer, “Yes, Abul, I’ve learned to like it. I liked it when you and your friends fucked my...fucked my ass. I am glad that I have been trained to please men in...in that way.”

  “I intend to fuck your ass often and offer it to many others. How do you feel about that, Mrs. Ryan?”

  Again Kathy raised her head to look at him, “I am your woman, Abul, my body belongs to you. I am grateful to you for taking me.”

  Abul smiled and nodded, “Very good, Mrs. Ryan, I want you to assume the position.” Still on the other side of the desk, she stood facing him and locked her fingers behind her neck, then arched her back, thrusting her breasts forward. Abul leaned toward her, “Tell me, Mrs. Ryan, where are we? And why are we here, alone.”

  “We’re in my husband’s den. I asked if you would meet me here. I wanted us to be alone.”

  “Are you pleased that you are alone with me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Complete answers, Mrs. Ryan.”

  “Yes, I’m very pleased to be alone with you. I thank you for giving me permission to have this meeting in private with you.” She looked away feeling the heat in her nipples and cheeks. She turned back to face him, “We have had very little time to be alone, Abul, and...and...I hope that will change.” She glanced down then back up at him, “I want to be with you, Abul, to be alone with you excites me.”

  “Describe what you’ve just done. Describe your appearance as you are now in this place that holds so many pleasant memories of your husband?”

  “I’ve made up my lips in the way you like. I’ve removed my clothes. I am wearing only my heels.” She paused. He wanted more. “I stand naked before Abul. My hands are clasped behind my neck. I’m hoping he finds me desirable. I...I...find him, I find Abul very desirable. I’ve learned to respect and admire him. I’ve learned that his power over me excites me. I am waiting for him to tell me how...how...I might please him.”