104: Invalid

I went to see Coach Hancock as soon as my third period class was out. He wasn't happy.

"I'll work at it, Coach, but I can't stretch without pain. It's just a cracked rib so it should heal quickly if I'm careful."

"A cracked rib. An eye that still shows the remnants of being blackened. And bandages and stitches all over your face. Did you have to be a rock, Brian? There's water, too," he said shaking his head. "I didn't teach you anything."

"You did, Coach. It was being water that cut my ear. It saved my life since the knife was headed for my eye." Coach looked at me.

"Fuck, Brian. Please tell me it was worth it."

"Coach, it's worth it."

"Don't show up for practice until the stitches are out and your doctor has said it's okay to play," he said, getting back to business. "We need you on the team, but we need you healthy. There's twelve weeks of the season left and you'll be healthy for at least half of them. And Brian. You know I'll find out the whole story eventually. You can come and tell me any time."

Whitney, of course, had to leave for class at MHS, but IUSB classes didn't start for another two weeks so I finished lunch with the rest of the crew. Of course, everyone wanted to know how Rhonda was doing. There wasn't much new to report other than we were talking a little more now that Donna was gone. When everyone headed for their next class, I headed for my car. Liz tagged along right behind me.

"What's up, Red?" I teased. "Don't you have class this afternoon?"

"Cutting class. At least one, maybe all afternoon."

"Oh really? Why?" There could only be one answer to that question.

"Sex. You took off during our clan party on the twenty-first and we didn't get together again until New Year's Eve. Then we all left. Well, I thought we all left. This morning I find out you nailed Rose, Jennifer, Courtney, and Samantha that night. And Donna in the morning. I feel neglected. My pussy feels really neglected."

"I don't know about going to my place in the middle of the day, sweetie," I said as I opened her door.

"Just drive someplace where we can park. You still have the bed we made up in the back." I glanced in the back. Donna and I slept back there for a few hours the night we drove down and then Rhonda slept back there part of the way home after Christmas. It was a little mussed, but was probably cleaner than my bed at the moment. I drove out into the country and chose a farm lane. One nice thing about this truck was it was high enough to go through some pretty deep snow and had rugged tires. As soon as I was in the shelter of a woodlot, we pulled off our shoes and crawled into the back of the Suburban. Liz was practically tearing her clothes off. I hurried to catch up and we snuggled under the blanket. It was below freezing out and the interior would cool off quickly if we didn't do something to warm it up.

That wasn't a problem with Liz. Just holding her firm little tits against my chest and feeling her rub her pussy against my cock as we kissed had the windows fogged over in a few minutes. Liz, as usual, was zero to sixty in seconds.

"Shit! I don't have a condom!" I said.

"I'd take you bareback, you know," she said. "I know. We all agreed. Well, it just so happens that your girlfriends packed a box of condoms back here before you left for Evansville. They're between the seats."

"That wouldn't have done me much good since I didn't know about them," I laughed.

"Donna knew."

That was that. Liz unwrapped the condom and popped it in her mouth. What the hell? Her, too? The girls must get together and practice these things! She grinned at me and slid down my torso to capture the head of my cock between her lips and after a few seconds managed to use her mouth to roll the condom on. Damn, that was sexy! She bobbed a few times on my cock and then crawled back up and lay on her back. She spread her legs wide and positioned me at her entrance. I tried to push in slowly, but Liz thrust her hips up at me and I sank to my balls. She wrapped her legs around my butt and clutched me to her as she shuddered through her first orgasm.

"Wow! You were really on a hair-trigger," I laughed as I kissed her again.

"I can't help it, Brian. I love you so much and I get so horny I can't even think. I just want to live with your cock in my pussy. Move in me, lover. Oh, Brian, I know I'm voracious and like to fuck, but make love to me. I missed you so much." There was something almost desperate about the way she made love. It was different than her usual I-need-cock-now-thank-you-goodbye. There was a sense of need and fear that drove her to peak after peak. She'd come three more times before I unleashed and that sent her over the top again. "I love you. I love you. I love you," she chanted in my ear, kissing me and holding me tightly.

"Are you okay, Red?" I asked. "You know I love you and you can tell me anything. What is it, baby?"

"I'm so afraid you'll leave us. Now that Rhonda is back and I know you've always wanted her. Will you still have room in your heart for me? For us?" I rocked her back and forth, my cock wilting out of her pussy as I held her.

"Sweetheart, you are my cónyuge. We're in this for the long haul. Intimately committed," I said. "Liz, I will not leave you for Rhonda. I will not leave you for Rose or Whitney or Elaine or Samantha or Jennifer or Courtney. You are cónyuge. You can depend on me."

I was going to have to make sure each of my girls knew how much I loved them and I needed to do it whether Rhonda was in the house or not.

After Liz was satisfied, we dressed and I ran the car heater and defroster for several minutes while we kissed to clean the frost off the inside of the windows. Water was dripping off the windshield when I managed to get turned around and out of the woodlot. Liz decided to go back to school for her last two classes of the day. She kissed me again and ran to the school. I drove home.

It seemed like the place was deserted. I wondered where everyone went.

"Hello?" I didn't get an answer so I headed for my room. As I passed the downstairs bathroom, I heard crying.

"Rhonda? Is that you? Are you okay baby?"

"No. Help me." The bathroom door was locked, but it's one of those push-button locks and we keep a paperclip over the door. It took me a second to pop the lock out and open the door. She was sitting in her panties on the toilet. Her camisole was partially off and her left breast was exposed. The strap was caught on her cast and her left hand was caught in a strap.

"Honey, how can I help you? Let's get your camisole on."

"No. Off."

"What is it, sweetheart?"

"I hurt. And I smell. And my hair is greasy. And I'm dirty. And I can't even wash myself."

"Oh, honey. Did you go without a shower all last week?"

"Donna helped me."

"Jennifer and Courtney would help you. We got pretty good at it when Jennifer was in a cast. Where are they?"

"They went for Jen's PT appointment. I ... told them I was going to sleep. But I stink." I'd managed to extract her hand from her cami and get it over her head and then down her cast. She sat in front of me in just her panties. "Will you help me take a shower, Brian? Please?"

"Of course I will if you want me to," I said. "We'll need a plastic bag to wrap your cast."

"I had one but I ripped it trying to get my shirt off." I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a small garbage bag then slid it over her cast and tied it tightly enough that water couldn't get in too easily. Rhonda stood up and started to pull at her panties.

"Are you sure you want to do that with me here, honey?"

"I stink. And you might as well strip, too, if you're going to wash my hair. It's nothing you haven't seen before only now there's a lot more of it. I'm so gross!" She'd probably gained twenty pounds since the last time I'd seen her. She was never all that big, so I could imagine that she might feel uncomfortable. She was a long way from fat, though. I started the water and took off my clothes down to my underwear. She looked at me and frowned with determination that I'd seldom seen before. I was worried. The last time Rhonda and I had been naked together, I'd gotten her pregnant. "I've seen it before. You have to get in and wash my hair. Please, Brian? Don't make this any harder." I pulled down my pants. I was only partially hard from helping her undress.

I carefully helped Rhonda into the shower and got in behind her. She leaned into the water and sighed. As soon as her head was good and wet, I grabbed the shampoo and started working it into her hair. I also started looking her over. There were huge bruises, still livid on her sides, where he'd broken her ribs. I wondered if he hit her or kicked her. I was thinking about driving back to Evansville to finish the job. But her back and her legs bore orange marks of slowly healing bruises, as did her stomach and even her unbroken arm.

"Rhonda, honey, I had no idea how badly he beat you up beyond what they said about your ribs and arm. How could he do this to you?"

"I deserved it."

"Bullshit."

"Besides, they weren't all from that time. Some of them are from the time before."

"You mean this wasn't the first time he beat you up? Honey, why did you stay with him? Why didn't you tell him to get lost?"

"That sounds easy, doesn't it? And if I tell you again, you'll just say bullshit again."

"Nobody deserves to be abused."

"Well you know what a stupid girl I am, then. I stayed and I took it. I'm ugly and gross and stupid."

"You know I don't believe that at all."

"Then you're stupid, too. Just look. I'm letting you—begging you—to wash my ugly rolls of fat."

"Rhonda, listen up," I said sharply. I'd finished washing her armpits and back. "If you needed my help, I'd wipe the shit out of your ass. You got that?" She looked at me with her lip quivering. There'd been tears, but she'd cried them under the running water.

"You could ... you could ... wash it. Please? And my hair down there? I'm so dirty. I'll never be clean."

"Rhonda, I will wash you every day for the rest of your life if you need. Even if you don't need me to. If you want me to." I started to use a washcloth to protect her modesty and then thought 'hell with it.' She needed to feel and know that I was not afraid to touch her with my hands. I was not disgusted with her. I didn't make it sexy, but I lathered my hands and washed her breasts, her stomach, her pussy, her ass, her legs and right down to her toes. I traced the lines of her tattoo. My words. I was gentle and thorough. I rinsed her and then turned off the shower and helped her out. I dried her as carefully and thoroughly as I'd washed her, avoiding putting pressure on her bruises. I didn't bother to get her dressed in the bathroom, but led her to her bedroom and sat her on the bed.

"I'm going to get some arnica cream and tend to your bruises," I said. "Don't move." When I got back from my room with the cream, she was in exactly the position I left her in. I carefully spread the cream on her back, her stomach, her breasts, and her legs. The freshest bruises were where her ribs were broken and her stomach. I touched especially lightly. She winced just the same. I spread the cream around her eyes and cheeks where her broken nose had bruised. I silently berated myself for not doing this a week ago. "Now, what would you like to wear? Do you want to dress or just put on a robe?"

"You can fuck me now."

"I can what?"

"I know you always wanted to. Might as well get it over with." God damn it! Now that pissed me off.

"You can pick at me all you want to, Rhonda. You can keep pretending to be a bad ass and not care about anything. You can keep belittling yourself until you're blue in the face. But you'd better understand right now. I will not be fucking you. I don't know—I don't even want to know—how you've been used for the past two years. I'm not that guy. I'm not going to participate in your self-immolation. You might need or want my help bathing or dressing or cutting up your food and feeding it to you, but you sure don't need any help tearing yourself down. Now answer my question. What do you want to wear?" She glared at me. This wasn't going well. I just stood there and waited. Her eyes softened slightly.

"Robe," she whispered.

I went to the kitchen to start putting dinner together. I was a little angry with Jen, Court, and Anna. Sure Jen had to go to PT, but certainly one of them could have stayed home with Rhonda. One thing was for sure; if I was going to shower and wash Rhonda again, I was getting her a new robe. The ratty old cotton thing I gave her to put on was so threadbare she might as well not have been wearing anything. I was slamming things together and decided to make Swiss steak for dinner. That let me pound away at a round steak with a mallet for a while to work out my frustrations. I know everyone knew I was angry at dinner. Hardly anyone said anything even though Mom asked about everyone's day. Rhonda sat next to me but never looked at me. After I cleared up the dishes I went to my room. Finals were next week and I needed to review all the stuff for Physics and Senior English Lit. Advanced Life Science: Foods proved to be a bust so far. I think both Nolan and Sullivan were out of their depth. All we'd really learned so far was how to read the nutrition labels on canned goods. Plus, I had menus to plan for my show. We would resume taping this Saturday. I'd talked to Harvey about my injuries but he thought they could shoot from my 'good side.' Right.

I quit about ten and turned out my light to sleep. That was a wasted effort. At ten-fifteen, I heard footsteps on the stairs.

"Not tonight," I said sharply.

"Well, if that tone of voice wouldn't chase away your lovers, nothing would." Anna came into my room and came to sit on my bed next to me. I just looked at her. "Okay, spill it. What happened today?"

"You all left Rhonda alone this afternoon."

"Jen had PT."

"And it took all three of you?"

"Brian, why does this have you so upset? Rhonda said she was napping."

"When I came home she was sitting in the bathroom crying with her underwear tied in knots because she couldn't get it off to take a shower."

"Oh, fuck!" I'd only rarely heard Anna swear. "I'm sorry, Brian. She said she was taking a nap and we figured you would be home shortly. I didn't see a problem with leaving her alone. It won't happen again. Now tell me what else happened."

When she'd finally dragged the whole story out of me we were both exhausted. I didn't tell her about the 'fuck me' incident.

"She'll get better," Anna said. "But for now—at least until classes start in two weeks—we'll make sure she's not left alone and someone will bathe her every day."

"I've got that covered," I said. "I did it today and I'll keep doing it. Somehow she's going to figure out that I'm not repulsed by her."

"Don't push it too hard, Brian," Anna cautioned. "You have more responsibility now than any man twice your age. How did your coach put it last year? Share the pain."

"It's really hard, Anna. She's so ... damaged. I wish I'd killed the bastard."

"Shh. Shh. Here now, honey." She hugged me and I was stupidly, teenaged, aware of the soft, unfettered boobs she pressed my face against. "Dr. McCall is going to visit with her tomorrow. I have a feeling that the real damage wasn't caused by the bastard boyfriend."

"What do you mean?"

"Think of all you know about Rhonda. Brian, you were closer to her than any other person on earth. Why would she let herself be used and abused by a man like that?"

I had a lot to think about. Why would she let herself stay in that position? Why would she keep saying that she deserved it? I guess I was still thinking when I went to sleep.

Somewhere around midnight, I felt the bed shift. I didn't feel like making love with one of the girls. I was tired and emotionally spent. I just lay there with my eyes closed. Whoever it was must have got the message because she just lay beside me with a hand on my side as I went back to sleep. When I woke up at four-thirty, she was gone.

I did not bathe Rhonda on Wednesday. Anna had taken her to see George's mother, Dr. McCall. When I got home, Elaine was waiting for me. She was just sitting at the kitchen table reading. I went immediately to her and kissed her.

"Mmm. I love that, cónyuge," she whispered into my mouth as I kissed her again. "Brian, if you aren't ready for anything else, I'm okay. I just wanted to spend some time with you before I have to think about going back to school. You don't have to feel obligated."

"Elaine, my cónyuge, please come to bed and make love to me. I've missed you so much and I don't want our winter break to go by without tasting your lips and your sweet juices. I'm not doing this out of obligation. I want you. I want you as a man wants a woman who has given herself to him. Will you make love to me?"

"Brian, at least try to get my clothes off before you make me come."

I made love to Elaine all afternoon. I heard the girls come home, but I didn't stop. I heard Mom and Dad come home for dinner, but I was buried in Elaine's sweet pussy for the third time by then. My sheets were soaked with our mixed fluids and sweat. And when I'd come the third time in her pussy, I stripped off my condom and we sixty-nined until she'd come again. I was feeling hard and strong. I tossed her a long t-shirt that I had on hand in case Whitney needed something and we finally went downstairs late for dinner. We got plates and helped ourselves to food as we sat with the rest of the family. Jen and Court were staring at us in amazement and Mom looked worried. It was Rhonda's giggles that started the whole table laughing. Elaine didn't go home.

I thought I felt the bed shift and a hand on my shoulder in the middle of the night. I was spooned tightly behind Elaine breathing in the scent of her hair. When I got up at four-thirty, I kissed Elaine and left her alone in bed.

"You know, what Coach said to me when I told him I couldn't play?" I said. I was mixing bread ingredients. I was just talking to Rhonda like I normally would in the morning, only now I was talking out loud instead of in my head. "He looked at my bruises and my stitches and said, 'I hope it was worth it.' How do you answer something like that? I would do it all again in an instant. There are times that I wish I'd done more damage. But, coach didn't know the damage I did ... we did. He only saw the damage that was done to me. Was whatever I did worth getting beaten and cut for? Yeah. It was. And then before I left he said that he'd know the whole story eventually, so any time I wanted to tell him, I could. What do you think of that? Should I just go to his office at lunch and tell him what I did and why? I'm pretty sure your answer is 'no.' I mean, if it was 'yes' you'd be telling me everything that happened. I'm going to find out eventually. You can just tell me any time. Well, I guess that's why we really go to counseling. Maybe it's less scary to tell someone you don't know than it is to tell someone who loves you. I won't push, but you know, you can tell me." I heard a chair scuff along the floor behind me and turned. I just caught sight of the tail of Rhonda's bathrobe as she disappeared down the hall.