She half expected him to hit her right in the mouth, and she wouldn't really have blamed him if he had. But he didn't. He took her in his arms and drew her close, caressing her back and buttocks as he spoke soothingly to her. Keeping his erection from touching Sue, Doug told her everything would be all right. He explained that Hub had admitted it was all his fault, saying he couldn't be sorrier over what he'd done to her.
'Yes I do want to move. I think we'd better move, don't you?' Sue replied, when Doug finally got around to asking her, after parroting everything else Hub had said, word for booze-repentant word.
Doug hemmed and hawed. He brought up the medical bills, saying that maybe they ought to hang fast the way things were until they got them paid off.
'We can move and pay them, too, so much a week,' Sue said. 'I'm well enough to go back to work now. I can get my old job back. They promised me. I'll call Mister Thackery tomorrow.'
'I don't want you going back to work yet,' Doug countered, adding that he wasn't too sure he wanted her to go back to work at all. He told her a woman's place was in the home, and that it made him feel like less of a man to have his wife supporting him.
Sue couldn't understand her husband's attitude. If their marital roles had been reversed, they would've been packing right then instead of lying cuddly and cozily in bed and more or less calmly discussing whether they should move into an apartment of their own or continue to live in the house of the man who'd raped her. But their roles weren't reversed. Doug was the husband; she was the wife. Sue wasn't as sure as Doug seemed to be that Hub would keep his word and leave her alone in the future. But if Doug could forgive her molester, then Sue thought that maybe she ought to give Hub another chance, too. It was the Christian thing to do and, after all, Hub had been stoned half out of his head at the time, hadn't he?
Sue gave in to her husband's wishes, but she couldn't escape feeling uneasy about it. Her mind told her, Yes, it'll probably be all right.
But her feminine intuition said, Don't be a little fool! You know what a liar Hub is, and he's always getting drunk, isn't he? If you don't move out of his house, you know he'll be forcing his vulgar attentions on you again sooner or later!
Only moments after Sue had drifted off into a troubled slumber, she was awakened by the jiggling of the bed. For an instant she was horrified, the dreaded thought EARTHQUAKE! flashing through her sleep-dulled mind.
Then she realized the truth of the matter and would've almost preferred an earthquake. Her husband was JACKING OFF right there in bed beside her! Sue didn't know what to think.
Chapter 3
As he'd promised, Hub began dating again. The very next evening he phoned the thirtyish widow who lived down the block. This woman had had her eye on Hub for some months, ever since the death of his wife, and had let him know in various subtle ways that she found him attractive.
Her veiled flirting didn't fool Hub in the least, for he knew he wasn't a handsome man and damned few women had ever given him the come-on. She was looking for a husband and figured Hub would be a good provider for her and her three kids. Hub never intended to get married again, but Helen was a decent woman and quite pretty for her age. Hub could well afford to get his sexual tensions relieved at a cathouse, but paid-for sex didn't appeal to him, whereas Helen did. He'd already decided that she might be a good lay. As a widow, she was certainly seduceable, and he decided to play her game. It would be interesting to see how soon he would be able to slip the meat to her. Once he'd scored, Hub intended to amuse himself by stringing her along until Helen woke up to the fact that an affair was all she would ever get out of him. When he called her on the phone and hit her up for a date, she eagerly accepted.
'Do you like to dance?' Hub asked.
'Oh, yes, I love to dance,' came Helen's reply in a purring tone over the phone. 'And I haven't been in ages.'
'How about tonight? Pick you up in an hour?'
'That sounds lovely, but I couldn't possibly get a sitter for the children on such short notice.'
Hub glanced across the room at Sue. 'How about if I provide a sitter?'
Sue was elected. Hub paid her five dollars and took her along with him when he went to pick Helen up.
It was a hectic evening for Sue. Helen's children wouldn't obey her.
The little brats misbehaved badly. They resented Sue and made it painfully clear that they preferred their regular sitter to her. Not being used to kids, Sue didn't know how to handle them. They gave her a hard time. It was after eleven when she finally got them into bed and settled down for the night, and her nerves were very much on edge.
A few minutes later Hub's car pulled into the driveway and Sue heaved a sigh of relief, thinking her ordeal was over. Only Helen didn't come in right away. Sue waited and waited, pacing the floor. This went on for nearly twenty minutes before she went over to the window, parted the drapes a tiny bit and peeked out through a crack wide enough for only one eye.
There was a streetlight on the corner on the opposite side of the street. It set at an angle behind Hub's parked car. She could make out Hub's and Helen's silhouettes. It looked like they were wrestling in the front seat. Helen's arms kept flying about. No sooner would she push away from Hub than he would grab her again. Sue knew Hub was feeling the woman up as well as kissing her and, strangely enough, this excited her. It also made her jealous, and this upset Sue.
Why should I care what that uncouth brute does? Sue wondered perplexedly.
But the fact of the matter was, she did care, crazy as she knew it was to feel the way she did. Hub had raped her and she'd thought she never wanted to see his – if not ugly, then certainly not handsome – face again. Rape or not, though, he'd given her a real screwing and the only orgasm she'd ever had, and Sue resented his trying to put the make on Helen. To her dismay, Sue realized that she didn't want Hub to have intercourse with another woman.
When Helen came into the house, her lipstick was smeared, her hair was disheveled and her dress was rumpled. The young widow's cheeks were very flushed and she seemed more than a little embarrassed over her appearance as she thanked Sue for baby-sitting.
As Sue walked across the lawn toward the car, she felt odd and let down. Logically she shouldn't care one way or the other, but a part of her was secretly hoping that Helen would refuse Hub another date.
The dome light came on when Sue opened the car door. She couldn't help noticing the obscene bulge in Hub's trousers. He was drunk and did nothing to hide his erect condition from her as she slid into the front seat with him and closed the door. Without a word, he started the engine and backed out into the street. Hub's house was located on the corner lot at the other end of the block, so Sue couldn't help being alarmed when, halfway there, he pulled over to the curb, stopped, and switched off the engine and lights.
'What are you stopping here for?' she demanded.
He reached down, flipped the lever and let back the seat. From his hip pocket he tugged out a handkerchief and tossed it into Sue's lap.
'That bitch got me good and hot but she wouldn't let me go all the way on our first date,' Hub said as he unzipped his fly and pulled out nine inches of rampant erection. 'Jack me off, Suzy baby. Catch the come in the handkerchief.'
'You can't be serious,' Sue whined, as he scooted closer to her. 'Hub, no. I don't want to, and besides, you promised you wouldn't try anything with me again.'
'I promised not to screw you,' he retorted. 'But the mood I'm in, I'm liable to go back on my word unless you give me a hand-job. Come on, goddamn it, I need relief. This won't hurt you none, and at my age, I'd feel silly beating my own meat.'
'Well, how do you think it'll make me feel?' Sue argued. 'Or don't my feelings count for anything at all with you?'
'Not right now, they don't' he barked, grabbing her wrist and forcing her hand into his lap. 'Take hold of it! That's the girl, wrap those soft little fingers around it nice and tight. My cock feels good to you, doesn't it? Oh, baby, yeah, that's the way. Work your hand up and down on it. Faster. Go faster!'
