Sucker Bets

"Don't worry, he won't try anything here." Ricki tried to reassure me. I wasn't convinced.

Fortunately, Dante and his friends sat on the other side of the bar. Unfortunately, they sat at the bar, and Dante was right under the TV we were watching. We were face to face, forty feet apart.

Dante's eyes locked on mine, and he smiled, thinking I'd have to look away. Instead, I grabbed Ted and sucked his tonsils from his throat, sliding my hand down between his legs and grabbing his crotch. When we broke our embrace, I glared at Dante until his smile faded into an angry leer.

"Look at Dante and laugh." I whispered in Ted's ear, giving it a lick with the tip of my tongue. He did as I asked and I laughed, too.

Dante's face turned purple. He tried to get up, but his friends stopped him.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" It was Victor.

"He wants to play intimidation games; well, I can do that too."

"Yeah, but he's twice your size and looks like he wants to break you in half."

"Somebody told me that you deal with fear by facing it." I squeezed Ted's hand. "I figure if he thinks I'm not afraid, maybe he'll move on to someone else. Besides, I've got a restraining order and you guys to back me up."

"I don't think guys like Dante are what he was talking about, and antagonizing isn't facing. Just be careful, and remember, a restraining order is just a piece of paper, and we won't always be there with you."

Maggie looked at me in disbelief.

"I didn't say I wasn't afraid, just that he needed to think I wasn't." I gave her a sheepish grin in return. Victor was right. The game I had decided to play was dangerous.

Ted's encouragement to not let him win; one too many drinks, or maybe it was the confidence I got from being surrounded by my friends. Whatever it was, smiling, winking and blowing Dante a kiss when he left the bar, probably wasn't a good idea, but I was leaving with Ted and wasn't worried about Dante. Maybe I should have been.

I think the last straw was when Dante showed up for brunch. I let the manager know I had a restraining order, and they asked him to leave. The way he looked at me sent shivers down my spine.

Thursday is perhaps the most innocuous day of the week. It's not the start of the workweek and doesn't get associated with tacos. It's not 'hump day' or anything. And it's certainly not Friday, which many people consider their favorite day of the week, which I find odd since it's a workday. And it's not the weekend. It's just, well, Thursday. I guess you could give it credit for being the day before Friday, but that's kind of depressing. This Thursday, however, the one after I had Dante removed from the café at brunch, would change the way I thought about Thursdays forever.

I was still staying with Ted. I had effectively moved in, just keeping my apartment because it was too expensive to break my lease, and I didn't have anyplace else to store all my furniture. Besides, I might change my mind and want to move back in. Yeah, no...

This Thursday had been a long one. A week of problems at work. Meeting after meeting to discuss what had happened and how to make sure it never happened again. Scrambling to restore the databases we had lost and trying to regain the lost updates from developer notes and change sets. I just wanted a bath. I just wanted to decompress. At least I had Friday off.

"Ted. I'm home." No answer. Not totally unexpected. He had a dinner meeting with his team and told me I'd be on my own until he got home. I flipped the light switch by the front door and the living room stayed dark. Kicking off my shoes, I made my way through the dark house, setting my computer and purse on the kitchen table and getting myself a beer from the fridge. No light in the fridge either. The power must be out in the entire area, except there were lights on next door and in the house across the street.

"Hey, Ted. I'm home and the lights are all out..." I called him to leave a message on his phone.

"I told you, bitch, nobody tells Dante no." Dante grabbed my arm and spun me around.

"Dante, what the hell?!" was all I got out as his massive fist hurtled toward my face.

I woke up in the hospital. My left eye had a cold bandage over it, and I could tell Dante hadn't treated me gently. From the way my ass hurt, I was pretty sure he got what he came for. Trembling, I couldn't hold the tears back.

"She's awake. Ted, she's awake." I heard Maggie's voice.

"Miki, I'm here. I stopped him. You're going to be ok. I promise." He took my hand. I had to turn my head to see him. He looked like he had been crying, too. "I stopped him. Miki, I stopped him."

It registered what he was saying. "But it hurts."

"He was using his fingers when I got there, but I stopped him before he could..." He couldn't say it.

"You stopped him. How?"

"Never underestimate a man in love with a baseball bat." Eddie sat down next to me on the other side of the bed. Maggie stood behind him. I tried to smile, but my face hurt too much. "I talked to the arresting officer in the hall. Dante won't be bothering anyone for a long time. Breaking and entering, aggravated assault, attempted rape, and violating a restraining order. Plus, I think he parked illegally. Your boyfriend had the whole thing recorded on his phone."

"Your message." Ted smiled at me. "I was almost home when you called and my phone was in my bag, so I couldn't answer. My phone recorded everything."

"I also talked to Dante's nurse." Eddie continued. "Your boy here gave him a concussion, shattered his knee, broke his arm, cracked three ribs, and evidently ruptured one of his testicles. Never figured you for the kick him while he's down kind of guy, Ted."

"What would you have done?" Ted gave him a somber look. Eddie just nodded. I knew the answer. Eddie wouldn't have stopped.

"Ok, everybody. Visiting hours are over. Say your goodbyes and let our girl rest. You can come see her tomorrow." A nurse came into the room and chased my friends out. Ted leaned down and kissed me, which helped, but I still hurt all over. She had something for that, and after she checked all my vitals, injected it into my IV, letting me drift off into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning, I met my doctor and got the gory details. Dante had beat me and tied me up before raping me, or trying to. That was another reason Ted could stop him. Dante hadn't broken anything. I guess he had practice beating girls like me up. I'd have bruising and an impressive black eye, but no permanent damage. The pain in my rectum was from Dante's fingers. From what they could tell, he had three fingers inside me and inside me fairly deep.

The police were next. I told them all I knew, which wasn't much. Ted's phone corroborated what I told them and debunked Dante's claim that I had invited him over. They confirmed what Eddie had told me and assured me it would be a long time before Dante would bother me again.

Ted must have taken the day off, because he got there just before lunch. He kept apologizing for not getting there sooner and for not answering the phone. I kept telling him to stop apologizing. He had saved me, and that was it.

"Michael, honey." I knew who it was as soon as I heard my mom's voice. This was not how I wanted to have this conversation.

"Hey, sport." Fuck, my dad was with her. I was going to kill Eddie.

"Mom, dad." I tried to smile.

"I'll come back after you've talked." Ted squeezed my hand and stood up.

"You must be Ted. Eddie told us what you did. Please stay. I think we all have some things to talk about." Well, at least my dad wasn't freaking out too badly.

"So." My dad took a deep breath. "Eddie said something about a golf bet and that we should call you Miki."

I could only imagine how Eddie had butchered the story, so I started at the beginning. There were details I omitted, but my dad could always read me like a book, so I'm sure he correctly filled in the blanks. My mom just sat and listened, stroking my arm and asking if she needed to call the nurse, or did I need anything.

What I needed was to not have this conversation. I needed to not have Dante try to rape me. I needed more time to figure out how to tell my parents that their only son liked to dress like a girl. Somehow, I needed to explain that I probably wanted to be one and was in love with another man, but I wouldn't get any of that, so I just told her I was fine.

My dad asked questions, and I did my best to answer them. Ted just sat by my side, holding my hand, supporting me, and sharing my pain.

"Ted, Eddie tells me you did a number on this Dante guy. I guess I owe you my thanks."

"He was raping my girlfriend, hurting someone I love. You don't owe me anything. I just wish I had gotten there sooner."

"So, you two love each other?" My mom finally asked a question that didn't involve calling the nurse.

I hadn't ever thought of it in those exact terms, but when I heard my mom say it, I knew it was true. "Yes, mom. I do." I looked at Ted. "I love Ted very much."

"Yes, ma'am." Ted smiled down at me.

"You know this won't go over too well with the rest of your family, right?"

"Yeah, dad. I've been thinking about that a lot. I'm most worried about how it's going over with you and mom."

"To be honest. I can't say I like it, but you're my child and I wouldn't change that for anything. I can either try to accept it, or I can lose you. Eddie prepared us a little, and right now, I'm just glad you're safe. I think your mom and I will just have to figure it out along with you. Besides. A blind man can see how you and Ted are with each other. I know what he did for you. I can't ignore that."

Doctors must have a sixth sense or radar or something, because just when things were feeling awkward, she came in to take the bandage off my eye to check for damage. The swelling had gone down enough that I could open it. The worst of it was Dante's ring had left a minor scratch on the lens area. I would have an impressive shiner for a while, but I would heal. The minor scratch would just be annoying.

"You are going to take some time off work. I'll write you a note if you need one. I'll also give you the name of a good therapist I want you to talk to. She works with women that have gone through what happened to you. What this man did to you was not your fault. She'll help you understand that. You can talk to her about other things, too." She had the most comforting smile.

The way she kept referring to me as a woman was so validating. Even though, laying in a hospital bed with no makeup and my breast forms in a bag off to the side of the room, I certainly didn't feel like one.

I had another night in the hospital before the doctor said I could go home, and a nurse came in with a stack of papers. Ted showed me the bag he had brought for me with a change of clothes and my makeup. I listened intently to the nurse's instructions and signed the discharge papers. Right there in front of my parents, I started the transition from Mike to Miki.

There were no restrictions on my wearing makeup.

"Just be careful with your left eye and you should probably wear sunglasses whenever you go outside or into bright sunlight." Those were the nurse's instructions.

My dad shook his head when I glued my forms on and slipped my bra over my shoulders, but that was about it.

When I started working on my makeup, my mom came over. "Let me help you with that." She smiled at me.

What happened next was as cathartic as it was therapeutic. My mom was helping me with my makeup. Just like all the girls that had grown up as girls.

She took her time with the concealer, completely covering up the discoloration from the bruising. I surrendered, letting her take over. When she was done, the mild remaining swelling was still visible, but my makeup was perfect.

"Thank you." I bit my lip, trying not to cry. She just hugged me.

I called my boss while Ted convinced my dad not to get a hotel. We took them to halftime for lunch, which my mom wasn't too sure about.

Ricki was happy to see that I was ok, and there were plenty of sports for my dad to watch, including some big golf tournament, so he was happy.

I noticed my dad giving Ted some curious looks as he treated me the way my dad had taught me to treat the women in my life, opening doors, and things like that.

I knew he was trying hard to process it and that my mom was over-pretending a little to help him along. Her doing my makeup was part of that. I had laid a lot in their lap, and none of us were ready for it.

My parents stayed through Thanksgiving, which was both nice and too much. The best part was hosting all our friends for Thanksgiving dinner. We ate too much and then sat and watched football while we snacked on leftovers, only to all go back and eat again.

My therapist was amazing. We worked through the whole dynamic with Dante. With all the evidence, he went to trial faster than I thought. I got closure by testifying against him, and then glaring as the judge announced the verdict, guilty on all charges. When it was all added up, Dante was going away for twenty years with no parole.

We talked about all the other stuff I was going through, even about Ted and how I felt about him. When she said, "You know, your gender doesn't have anything to do with who you love." I felt this warmth rush over me. I saw her twice a week for a while. We even talked about the not-so-subtle dis-invite I got from my grandparents for Christmas.

It turned out for the best anyway, because I got to meet Ted's family and they had already figured their son out. I wasn't the first girl like me he'd brought home. I hoped I might be his last, but only time would tell. After Dante, we took things a lot slower, and Ted never complained.

One thing I love about central Texas is, when the weather cooperates, you can play golf almost year-round. It had been almost a year since this whole thing started and I made that stupid bet with Maggie. She and Eddie were officially engaged, and I had a feeling Ted wasn't far behind. I had already decided I was going to say yes.

"God, I love it when she does that." I heard Ted whisper to Eddie when I bent over to tee up my ball on the first tee. "One day, I'm so going to own that ass." They both laughed.

"Really? Tell you what. You haven't won a round since we started playing. You even tie me today, and it's all yours. But if I win, the tables turn."

"Deal." He grinned at me.

There was no way I was letting him win the bet. Sure, I would let him fuck me after I fucked him, but only after. Maggie was rubbing off on me.

He must have been taking lessons or something, because all four of us were neck and neck for the entire round. On the eighteenth, he was even the closest to the pin on the green. Maggie, Eddie, and I putted out. All he had to do was make his putt, and I was his. If he missed, he was mine. I had been thinking about it all afternoon. When he placed his ball and started to line up his putt, I walked over to his ball, picked it up, and tossed it to him. "That's a gimme if I ever saw one."

He smiled. I grinned back at him and blushed. Eddie and Maggie laughed.

"You and your sucker bets." Maggie shook her head as her laugh faded into a chuckle.

When we got home, Ted did things to me and made me feel things I didn't know were possible. I didn't even think about Dante when Ted slipped his fingers inside me to open me up for the main event. When he moved inside me, I moaned and let out a long sigh. There was no pain, only a wonderful feeling of fullness, a closeness, an indescribable feeling of oneness with another person.

Tears welled behind my eyes, and I sobbed softly as he pushed deeper and deeper inside me.

"Are you OK? Do I need to stop?" The look of compassion in Ted's eyes just made me cry harder.

"No. I'm just so happy. This is so perfect." I pulled his lips to mine and kissed him as passionately as I could. "The man I love is making love to me, making me his woman. Nothing could be any better."

I was wrong. The feelings that tore through me as he massaged my prostate with his cock were epic. The energy that ripped through my body as I raced from one climax to another amplified the love I felt a thousand fold.

Ted's body trembled and shook as he exploded inside me, collapsing next to me, pulling me as close as he could, kissing me hard and whispering in my ear. "From that first kiss, I knew. I knew that you'd be mine, and I'd be yours."

We fell into another passionate kiss, making love again and again, until neither of us had anything left.

"I love you; you know that?" He cuddled behind me.

"I love you, too." I pulled his arms tight around me, thinking back to that day on the golf course, so long ago. Smiling at that stupid bet with Eddie; all it had cost me and how willingly I had, and would, paid for it again and again. I let out a soft chuckle.

"Best bet I ever made. So fucking worth it," I thought to myself as I nestled into Ted's arms and drifted off to sleep.