Shotgun

I asked, "Do you love me?"

She shook her head with no guile then said, "But I want to... and we can love each other... If you will just give me the chance."

I thought for a second and asked, "You know this is weird to the point of being more like a story on the internet, right?"

She nodded and said, "Yes... but you are my chance at a better life and I like you a lot.."

She looked me in the eye with startling intensity and said, "I WILL WORK hard every day to be the wife every man dreams of. I am Kelsey Abrams, not Kelsey Malley and I want to stay with you. You will never meet anyone more motivated to be your wife... ever, and I want to grow old with you."

I said, "But you don't love me."

She said, "But I like you... a lot... and I am attracted to you... a lot. You make me feel safe and safe makes me want to be intimate with you."

I scoffed, "Safe. The next thing you are going to tell me is that I am a nice guy."

She nodded, smiled, and said, "A nice guy who holds me and makes me feel safe."

I shook my head and said, "Women love bad boys."

Kelsey looked at me like I was an alien and said, "I LIVE with a bad boy and three other bad boy minions. I LOATHE bad boys. I have been around them for ten years since my mom married Earl and I hate them."

"I just want to feel safe and you make me feel safe. I liked having you in my bed last night because for the first time in my life, I was not alone in that bed. I just want to know I will have a roof over my head tomorrow. I just want to not walk around on eggshells worried I might say something and get hit. Earl hits my mom. Not a lot, but it does happen. You are smart and kind and that is exactly the man I want to wake up next to for the rest of my life."

I doubted her and said, "Then you are not like the women I know."

She was offended, "STOP... assuming I am like anyone you know!"

Kelsey shook her head and gave me the 'Really?' look and said with quite a bit of edge to her voice, "Look where we are. This is where I grew up for most of my life. I guarantee I am nothing like the women of your hometown. The women you grew up with have no idea what real poverty is like and what my life is like, so yes, I ***AM***... different."

She relaxed then looked at me and asked, "Want to just go for a walk?"

Just getting away from the trailers a bit sounded good so Kelsey went into her trailer and talked to Susan for a few minutes then we walked down the hill toward the creek at the bottom. There was an old cement foundation for a mill and a small dam there then we walked left upstream at the top of the dam along the creek until we came to this twenty-foot waterfall maybe a quarter mile up that ended in a shallow pool. She sat on a large rock and patted an area beside her for me to sit. She turned to me and we made out. We were getting better at it every time we did it. I got half hard and she saw it. She stroked me hard then went over onto a grassy area by the side, laid down, and opened her legs.

We made love again... was it making love? It was soft, warm, and wonderful as I had no urgency for release and concentrated on softly stroking inside her while making out, adjusting myself to how she seemed to like it best. I kissed down her neck and hit the base of her neck. Very quickly I felt that breathing change and tightening as I pushed her to climax. It wasn't a huge one, but I felt her vagina flutter as her stomach muscles tightened underneath me then she relaxed. As she came down, I pushed in harder to have my own release.

As I deflated I looked down at her smile and happiness in her eyes. Being near her was growing on me by the hour. She was making a supreme effort to be both pleasant and accommodating. Kelsey got into the sex and was wet each time we did it. It was still... not a fully free choice that I was making, but... my mind was changing about this whole mess. I was enjoying being with Kelsey as it wasn't just the sex. She was smart, brave, very sweet, and just nice to be with. Every time I looked at her, she smiled. She trusted me to not hurt her and her company felt.... Right.

She sat back on the rock again and patted beside her. I sat down then she leaned into me and asked, "Of all the guys you know. Are they all the same? Are some players? Are some mean? Are some others even quieter than you?"

I said, "Yeah. All that."

She sighed and said, "Then why do you think all women are the same? I know what a bad boy really is. I seriously doubt what your friends think is a bad boy really is one. Your so-called 'bad boy' people you know... are fakes. It's an act to get girls. I get it... but I have spent a over a decade in the shadow of the real thing and it is not attractive to me. A nice guy for the rest of my life sounds like heaven. Nice does not mean doormat. I want you to be nice to me, so I can be nice to you."

She looked me in the eyes and asked, "Have you ever hit a woman?"

I grimaced and shook my head vigorously and siad, "NO."

She smiled and said, "That is a strength, not a weakness."

She sighed and said, "Look. I can tell some women have taken advantage of you and possibly friend-zoned you because of it. I saw it happen in high school. I promise, being nice to me will only get you laid more, not less. Men fall for the women they inseminate. Its biology and I understand it. I did well in school, paid attention to health class and I want you to fall for me."

I smiled, she meant what she said.

Later, after the required late fuck to prove we were consummating our marriage, I got into bed that night and we lay side by side facing each other. She smiled at me and reached to stroke my cheek and said, "I hope to wake to see your face for the rest of my life. 'Nice' and 'kind' make me love our intimate times together."

She turned off the light, faced away then scooted against me so I was spooning her. She took my hand and placed it on her breast and sighed quietly, "Nice."

My bare body embracing her bare body, holding her close wasn't just nice, it was overwhelming. She purred and cuddled closer. I began to truly consider staying in the marriage. Holding her was... magic.

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Kelsey and I did our obligatory morning fuck for the picture then just walked around with each other. Every time I looked at her, she smiled at me. We spent the day at the waterfall. She told me that was the place she came to when life was bad at the trailers and she needed time away from the violence and tension at home.

We were on the grassy area near the waterfall and I was sitting leaning against a large log with her leaning against me with my hands holding her across her stomach in back to front embrace. She took my hand and put it on her breast and left it there. I gently squeezed it... She sighed and snuggled against me and told me of some of the very few good days she had in her past. It made me sad... there were so few of them.

Earl got back at six that night and threw our clothes at us.

Earl did invite me fishing Sunday evening after he got back and seemed almost like a human as we fished at the bottom of the hill at the creek. ALMOST human.

Monday, May 28, 2018

They drove me back to the gas station without Kelsey in that old Bronco again and I was let out as Earl parked. I walked toward my car and looked at it. There were four new tires, not two and they were very nice Michelins. I waited about fifteen minutes until an old Silverado came up, Susan and Kelsey got out.

Susan came up to me privately and asked me to step inside the station while everyone else was waiting outside, making sure I left with Kelsey. She did something I didn't expect.

She got down on her knees and begged me. Damn, that was uncomfortable. She cried and said, "Please. Keep her. She is a good girl with a great heart. You are her chance at a life far better than I have known. There is no hope here. Please! You are a good man and that is what she needs. She has been around bad men all her life."

I decided to stay married and a realization hit me... HARD. A feeling was GONE!!!... I wasn't lonely anymore. I had never realized how heavy that feeling was until it disappeared when I decided to stay married. Suddenly this weight I was carrying vanished into nothingness.

Insane! Yep. Stupid! Yep. I decided to stay married to Kelsey and nodded at Susan. Susan got off her knees and hugged me then sobbed uncontrolled for a minute, "Thank you. You won't regret it. She knows you are her ticket to a better life and she understands the stakes. Ask her anything that won't harm her and she will agree to it."

I walked out the door toward my car. Kelsey was standing apart from the rest holding a manilla folder as Earl and Susan were standing beside the car on the driver's side.

As I walked around inspecting the car, Earl patted his gun and I sighed. I nodded at Kelsey and she gave me a shy hopeful smile. At her feet were two suitcases and a large duffel bag. When I opened the trunk, one of the original tires was in there with a note taped to it that said, 'This one is a good spare. 70% tread. You need to rotate your tires from now on. The front one was at 20%.' Earl really did know cars. Kelsey hugged her mom in genuine affection as I put her suitcases and duffel in the trunk for her. I opened the passenger door of my car for her and she got in then I closed it behind her. It also hit me that those suitcases were her entire life. That hit me hard. I had more shit in just one of my closets than Kelsey had in her whole life.

I walked to the driver's side and got in. My gas tank was at full. It had been at less than half when I arrived. A sticker on the windshield said the oil had been changed with full synthetic. There was a fourteen hundred dollar invoice from 'Earl's Service Station' marked paid in full- cash. The radiator had been flushed and filled and it turned out one of my radiator hoses was bad and had been replaced. The windshield wipers were brand new Michelin wipers. Earl was a violent asshole, but thanks, Earl.

I started the car and drove away, watching Earl, Susan and the rest get smaller in my rearview mirror. I sighed a sigh of relief as I headed East toward Bluefield, putting Earl and the rest behind me. We rode in silence for a few miles before Kelsey asked, "Are you dropping me in Bluefield?'

I shook my head.

Her shy smile brightened to a thousand watts.

She asked nervously, "You mean?"

I nodded and said, "We are going home, Kelsey."

Her thousand-watt smile brightened to ten thousand watts and she took my hand that was resting on the center console. She gave the most delightful happy squeal, "Aaaaahhh! YES!"

She looked at my car and said, "This is the nicest car I have ever been in. I've never sat on leather seats in a car before."

That was shocking. Toyotas are nice and the XSE is even nicer than the more typical LE, but it's still just a Camry.

She turned up the stereo and smiled, apparently, she had never heard a premium sound system in a car either.

That smile. Her face was average? prettier?... I guess? but that ten thousand-watt smile on her face... delightful... as she sang along to 'Momma I'm Coming Home' by Ozzy Ozborne. She sang well... VERY well.

*******

She relaxed visibly when I turned the car to the entry going South on I77 at Bluefield to pick up I81 at Wytheville Virginia. That was the moment she was sure she had made her escape from Coalton. She picked up that manilla folder that she had at her feet and asked if she could place it in the glove box to be safe. I asked her what was in it. She said her birth certificate, social security card, marriage license, and a family tree. Having given her that folder, Susan had planned out her daughter's escape carefully. All she needed to begin her new life was in that folder along with her driver's license in her clutch.

She read my mind and said, "The family tree... No. They don't all have the same last names!" She stuck her tongue out at me and we both laughed.

*******

We stopped at an Arbys near Hagerstown Maryland on I81 where she wolfed her roast beef sandwich down faster than I ate mine. She looked at me with a maelstrom of emotions playing in her eyes and asked, "I want this marriage to work. How can I make you truly happy to be with me?"

This is not a modern-day question asked by a modern-day woman. I shrugged.

She asked, "Do you like my hair? I think it's too long. Earl said women should have very long hair and shouldn't ever cut it."

She could read me like a book before I could answer. There was no way I could ever have an affair. She could read me.

She said, "Too long. Good. I will get it cut. How long?"

I had no idea how to even begin this conversation. I am the only guy to have this conversation in the entire country. No woman today asks her man how to change her appearance to please her man... except Kelsey.

She sighed and said, "Tell me damnit. I want this marriage to work and that means I make minor changes that make you desire me more."

She sighed and said, "Tell me damn it!"

Finally, I said, "Maybe shoulder blade length. My mom cuts hair and would know better."

She nodded and asked, "And what else? Do you like a hairy vagina? Some of the girls in swim were shaved bare."

I sighed not knowing how to answer this pointed question without blowback.

She demanded, "Tell me damnit!"

I said, "I am willing to try oral on you if it's not all hairy."

She smiled and said, "And..."

I said, "I liked it when you slept naked and cuddled up to me."

She smiled at me and said, "I liked that too. I liked walking around naked with you over the weekend. It was fun... kind of... I dunno free feeling."

She said, "So we are agreed. I will have your mom cut my hair, I will make my vagina more attractive to you and you will go down on me and I will always sleep naked. Now what I need from you. First. I can read you, and you know I can read you. I will cut your dick off if you cheat on me. I will never cheat on you by the way. I know damn well you gave me this chance and will repay you in a lifetime of loyalty."

I laughed and nodded. Yeah, I like fidelity. Not like there is a line of women waiting for me anyway.

She said, "Second. You need some manscaping. I shave my vag and you cut down the forest around your dick and I am willing to try oral on you. Your dick looks like it's sitting in a forest of hair and your ass..."

I laughed aloud.

Interestingly, once we started talking about what we wanted... it got easier until...

She asked, "Are you open to loving me?"

I sighed then nodded.

She smiled and said, "And I will do the same."

Kelsey asked, "What if I am pregnant? It all happened past my fertile period, but nothing is guaranteed."

That hit me like a ton of bricks. She was apparently telling me she was not on the pill.

I said, "Then we are parents."

She kind of smiled halfway and nodded. She was clearly nervous about that one.

As we were getting up to leave Arby's, I had to make an important call. I had been delaying it, but I couldn't just show up with Kelsey without warning. I called my parents to give them the news, "Hi Dad. Uh... I have news."

My father asked, "What is that?'

I said, "I uh... had love at first sight and married on Friday."

My father exclaimed, "Married?!!"

I heard my mom grab the phone from my father's hand.

My mom asked, "You got married!???"

I said, "Yes Mom."

My mom sighed and said, "You are too young!"

There was a pause then she said, "But what's done is done. What is her name?"

I said, "Kelsey."

My mom asked, "And what does she do?"

I said, "She is eighteen Mom. She needs some kind of training."

My mom sighed so loud I could hear her from New York without the phone, but she held her tongue.

My mom asked, "Have you told her about where we live?"

I said, "No Mom. We have not gotten that far yet."

She said, "You can't hide that from her honey. It will affect her."

I said, "I know Mom."

My mom said, "You have to be at work tomorrow. I will take her to SUNY Orange to get her tested and enrolled. Your education trust still has thirty thousand in it."

I said, "Thank you, Mom."

My mom took a conciliatory tone and said, "Son. You are twenty-two and your family desperately loves you. Will will support your marriage and come to love your wife."

I have the best parents on the planet.

My mom said, "I won't bring the nudism thing up on this call, but you need to tell her before you get here honey. When she looks out the back and sees naked people... Now hand your phone to Kelsey."

I sighed, Kelsey was about to talk to my mom. She may well demand to go back to Coalton after this. My mom is part mother hen and part Rambo.

She talked to my mom, timidly at first, but for two minutes I heard her give basic biographical information to my mom then Kelsey handed me back my phone.

I had a brief goodbye conversation and then ended the call. My mom had kept to her word about the naturist thing and having me bring it up.

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that I live in a three-bedroom A-frame cabin? My family is wealthy. Not dirty stinking rich, but at age eighteen, I received a trust that holds a million and a half plus dollars, an education trust with one hundred ninety thousand, and the deed to a large--ish A-frame cabin at Lake Chantrain Naturist Resort. My brother got the same deal but his is next to mine rather than next door to my parents. Being the elder, he got the first pick and did not want to live directly next door to our parents. I got the cabin on my 18th birthday. I can't sell until I am twenty-five but I moved out (and all of a hundred feet to next door) on my eighteenth birthday. The trust is not fully mine until I'm twenty-five, but I draw a thousand dollars a month from it on top of my salary.

My mom is a hairdresser and she owns a small shop and spa in the back where they do massages, beauty treatments, and Brazilian waxes. No, not the happy ending kind of massages. It's a four-chair salon and spa and she actively cuts hair on one of them. She simply loves doing it. Like 90% of other marriages, she runs the house and the relationship. My parents adore each other in a sickeningly sweet way. There is literally zero unaccounted-for time in their marriage. My mom hangs with my dad and they adore each other. Friday night out is them together, usually at a bar with a band. Sickening sweet. They are best friends and what I aspire my marriage to be.

My dad owns a small maintenance firm that does emergency repairs on schools and does maintenance. Business is heaviest from October through April. This works for a nudist family that is active in the summer.

*******

We got back in the car and were soon going north on I81 in Pennsylvania. Kelsey looked at me. She must be a mind reader because she said, "You have something to tell me. Your conversation with your mom was stilted and your eyes shifted when she said something. What is it?"

I said, "I live on Lake Chantrain."

She smiled and said, "So I will love the view... but that is not it."

I said, "I live next to my parents on, Lake Chantrain Naturist Resort."

She said, "Naturist means nudist. Right?"

I nodded.

She was silent for a minute then said, "Then I will be a nudist."

I laughed.

She said, "My place is with you and I know that your family will not change for me. Therefore, I will change for them... wait... they don't swing do they?"

I shook my head and said, "Lake Chaintrain is family-friendly naturism. I grew up there."

She nodded and said, "Beats Coalton by a mile."

Kelsey sighed the blew out a breath nervously.

I said, "You will get used to it."

She nodded, but looked extremely nervous then smiled and said, "Being naked with you Saturday and Sunday was kind of fun..."