First & Long

by Jesse Jordan

  “Well, that answers that question,” Freida says, giving me a knowing wink. “Okay, I’ll go send this in to corporate.”

  Freida leaves as Rick sets me down, still grinning. “You’re sure?”

  I hand him the two tests, Rick looking at the windows in awe for a moment before placing his right hand on my belly. “Rick… I know that this might change things, but-”

  Rick pushes me gently against the wall, kissing me and running his hand lower, cupping me between my legs through my jeans. I whimper, stunned at his reaction as his tongue swirls around mine. I wrap my arms around his neck as he lifts me, the hard pressing of his cock against my moistening mound already making me tremble. “Come on… let’s go celebrate.”

  “Are you sure about this?” I ask as I look at myself in the mirror. I feel both ridiculous and powerful dressed like this, a long nearly skin-tight dress with wine red trim at the waist, a cleavage enhancing padded bra that makes me look almost two cup sizes bigger, and platform heels that make almost six feet tall.

  “You look amazing,” Rick reassures me as he adjusts his jacket. He’s got grayish-green face paint all over his face and a shoulder-padded jacket. “I’m the one who looks like a monster.”

  “You wanted to look like Frankenstein,” I reply as I put on my makeup. Black eyeliner, deep blackish red lipstick, and a set of blood red ruby earrings. “Who am I supposed to be?”

  “Oh, some people will think we’re going for a whole Munsters vibe,” Rick says as he attaches the bolts to his neck and checks his fake scars, “but I just thought you’d look so sexy as a vampire, and I’ve always wanted to be Frankenstein. I didn’t even make the connection until Freida brought it up.”

  I attach the fake teeth to my canines, grinning at myself. These aren’t cheap toy store plastic teeth, Rick put out good money to make sure our costumes are Hollywood quality, including porcelain temporary caps for my mouth. They don’t slide around at all, and while the long fangs make my bottom lips bulge a little, they don’t hurt and I think I’ll be able to talk relatively normally. I turn to Rick, cocking my hip. “How do I look?”

  Rick looks over at me, his eyes widening. “Like I want to skip the party.”

  I smile seductively and sashay over to him, we’re nearly the same height in my heels, and give him a light kiss on the cheek. “Be careful, later on I might want to suck your… blood.”

  Rick laughs, running a hand through my hair. “Or something else?”

  I smile, cupping his crotch and massaging until he’s hard and throbbing in his pants. “Maybe. But I’ll take the fangs out first.”

  We leave our bedroom, and I feel happy as we walk downstairs, because it has become our bedroom. While I still have my walk-in closet with all my clothes in it in my old room, for the two weeks since I told Rick about my pregnancy, we’ve grown even closer. He’s showered me with a hundred little kindnesses on an almost daily basis, from getting me pickles at two in the morning simply because I wanted them to driving me personally to my first pre-natal appointments.

  I feel closer to Rick, and he hasn’t shunned me at all since I became pregnant. If anything, we’ve become more affectionate, and sex has become… well, even more amazing. The things the man can do with his tongue should be legendary tales that are passed down to all young men in a solemn ceremony upon entering puberty so that they know what a woman really wants.

  Rick stops as we come down the steps to the foyer, and I look to see a beautiful woman in a sexy suit and skirt looking up at us. “Well now, that isn’t what I expected.”

  “What are you doing here?” Rick asks, coming down the stairs ahead of me. There’s more than a hint of anger in his voice, but he keeps himself mostly under control. “You don’t come out to this part of the country often.”

  “No, but I had an old sorority sister who’s getting married up in Minneapolis of all places, and Daddy wanted me to check on a few of his investments while I’m out here,” the woman says, reaching out and running her hand over Rick’s jacket. “I gotta tell you Rick, not too many guys can pull that off without a ton of padding in their costumes. You though… you could probably give the real Frankenstein a run for his money.”

  “Again, what brings you here?” Rick asks. I make it the rest of the way down the stairs, but both Rick and the woman ignore me as she looks at him like she wants to rip his costume off and fuck him right there in the hallway.

  “Can’t I just check on an old… friend?” she asks, cutting laughing, sarcastic eyes my way. “Since seeing you in New York, I realized it’s been a while since I saw where you lived.”

  “I don’t think so,” Rick says. “Now, if you don’t mind….”

  “I’ve got papers Daddy wants you to look at,” the woman says quickly. “It’s… it’s for his charity, Rick. I told him there’s no way in hell you’d want to give money to anything connected to me, but he insisted.”

  Rick sighs, and the woman smiles again. “What for?”

  “The charity? It’s kids,” the woman says. “Healthcare, education, all that sort of stuff. I have the paperwork, and if you could take a few minutes. I promise just a few.”

  Rick looks at his watch, then nods, sighing. “Fine. Su Lin, if you could have Freida drive you to the school, I’ll join you as soon as I can.”

  They leave without me even having a chance to get a word in edgewise, and I feel the fear creep into me again as the woman looks over her shoulder at me, giving me another laughing, evil glare. She tosses me a sarcastic lick of her lips, and I know exactly what she’s thinking about.

  A moment later Freida comes out of the same door Rick and the woman went through, dressed in her own costume, a fairy princess. “Rick said you needed a ride to the school?”

  I nod, not saying anything as Freida leads me towards the door and out into Halloween afternoon sunshine. “You know, we should look at getting you a driver’s license, if you want,” Freida says as we climb into her car, a regular Toyota of all things. “Not that I don’t mind driving you around.”

  “Uh-huh,” I murmur, looking out the window back at the house. “Freida… who was that woman?”

  Freida glances over at me and sighs. “That was Amanda Rhett. Why?”

  “She was looking at Rick like he was a piece of meat. And he didn’t introduce me, he just sort of ignored me-”

  “Stop,” Freida says, not harshly but with firmness. “Rick didn’t say anything because Amanda, more than anything else, pisses him off now. As for her looking at him, ever since they broke up she’s been wanting to get back in Rick’s bed. She thinks she can fuck her way to being a billionaire.”

  “So Rick wouldn’t… you know?”

  Freida shakes her head. “Su Lin, I can’t say anything a hundred percent. I can say that Rick would never, ever stray on you with some low class slut like Amanda Rhett. He probably went with her because he wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. He writes her a check for a hundred grand or something, and she goes away. That’s all there is to it.”

  I think, then nod. “Sort of like how I’d feel if my mother or stepfather came to visit.”

  Freida nods. “Have they communicated with you at all?”

  I shake my head, looking back out the window. “No. All my family is now in America, as well as my future. If they do reach out to me… well, we’ll see, but I doubt it would be a pleasant visit. I would need Rick’s strength… or yours.”

  “I’ll be there if you need me,” Freida says. “Come on, let’s go have some fun and give candy to children. Remember, Halloween is about pretend frights, not about real ones.”

  I nod, forcing a smile. Real frights? Freida’s right about those. Because, while I can’t admit it verbally… I’m starting to have feelings for Rick. My anger at Amanda’s presence wasn’t just about my petty fears, or petty jealousy. It was because I don’t want to share my man with anyone else, and I certainly don’t like the way she was looking at him.

  It’s more t
han just physical now, and that worries me. How am I supposed to have feelings for a man who’s dying?

  Rick

  I finish up my workout, grunting in frustration as I have to let the bar crash to the floor unlifted. It’s nearly forty pounds less than my maximum weight, I should be able to lift this bar easily. Instead, I just can’t get the final pop of my shoulders and low back to get it cleaned properly.

  Saying nothing, I use the assist device to pick the bar up and rack it to make it easier to unload. It’s not a matter of rest, I know that. I’ve been taking it easier than ever, spending a lot of time with Su Lin. For the past week, ever since Halloween, I’ve noticed she’s been quiet, and for the most part I’ve chalked it up to pregnancy hormones.

  No… this is a progression of my disease. So far it hasn’t affected my day to day activities, and I guess I look about the same as I always have. Su Lin doesn’t seem to mind if I’m not quite as gym strong as normal, she loves running her fingers along my stomach and tracing my abdominals as a playful way of saying she wants physical affection.

  Still, I guess our timing is as perfect as it can be. Su Lin’s pregnant, the doctor confirmed it and she’s, quote, ‘as perfectly healthy as anyone could ever ask.’ Still, I hope she’s feeling okay.

  The door to the gym opens and Su Lin comes in, dressed for a workout. She’s been emphatic about her health, getting her workouts in on a daily basis. She takes off her sweatshirt and I feel a little stir below my waistband as I see her body in her tank top. Guess my disease hasn’t progressed that far yet. “Hey,” I greet her as I put the bar away on the wall, “how was your time in the library?”

  “Not very good,” Su Lin admits before sighing. “Rick… can we talk for a bit?”

  Uh oh. I hate when women I’m in a relationship with ask me if they can talk. It almost never means anything good for me. Still, Su Lin deserves my time. “Sure. What’s been going on?”

  Su Lin goes over to the open mat area where she normally practices wushu and sits down. I take it as a good sign she doesn’t have her swords with her, and sit down across from her, looking into her face. She bites her lip, then takes a deep breath before replying. “Rick, when Amanda came by, why didn’t you introduce me?”

  I blink, surprised. “Is that what this is about?”

  Su Lin nods. “Rick, I know I’m being stupid, you’ve included me so much more in your life, but I’m trying to deal with a lot. And I can use a little bit of truth.”

  I nod and reach over, taking her hand. “Su Lin, I didn’t introduce you because Amanda’s a pain in the ass. I could see from the first glance she took at you that she was A, jealous, and B, going to try and fuck with your head. While you’re more than a match for her brains wise, I didn’t want that arrogant bitch it our house any longer than possible. So I took her into the lab, read through the materials she brought from her father, and cut her a check.”

  “Did she hit on you?” Su Lin asks, and I nod, snorting derisively.

  “Yes. But Su Lin, and I’m not just saying this because you’re carrying our child inside you, but you’re far more beautiful than Amanda. Physically, but also… you’re a quality person. She isn’t. Even if she had begged to have my baby, I never would have let her because I know she would take the baby and twist its mind or ignore it. You… you won’t.”

  Su Lin gives my hand a squeeze. “Rick… I wish our child would have a chance to meet you.”

  I nod. “I know. Me too, I’d love to see how it looks. I gotta admit, I’m kinda hoping for a boy. Call me arrogant.”

  “Arrogant,” Su Lin says, smiling. “But I’m sort of hoping for a boy too. Although twins would be better.”

  “Twins?” I ask in wonder. “That would be… that would be best. So, is everything okay now?”

  “Better than okay,” Su Lin says, getting to her feet. “It’ll be perfect once I get this workout in and I can meet you in the hot tub. I asked Freida to get me some appropriate swimwear.”

  “Oh really? I sort of liked the lingerie,” I joke, and Su Lin gives me a naughty smile. “What?”

  “You haven’t seen my bikini yet. It weighs only a hundred grams.”

  I blink, my mind trying to figure out how much fabric that could be… and no matter what I think of, it isn’t much. I grin, getting to my feet. “I think that sounds like a great swimsuit.”

  “I didn’t realize how warm it’d be,” Su Lin comments as we enter the ballroom. “I thought we were in fall.”

  I chuckle, feeling a trickle of sweat on my back in my tuxedo. “This is New Orleans, Su Lin. While the nights might be below freezing now back in Minnesota, down here, it still gets warm. And this ballroom’s going to have a lot of people in it.”

  When Amanda gave me the papers on her father’s charity, I didn’t realize that by cutting her a check I was also agreeing to appear at a charity ball for the foundation. To compound matters, I cut a check big enough to be given an award tonight, and if I didn’t show up in person to accept it, that would also be reported in that backhanded way charities have. If it wasn’t for the fact that Su Lin said she wanted to see New Orleans, I’d have told them to shove the award up their ass. I’m not worried about getting shamed, after all.

  But here we are, and I take a moment to admire my wife. She looks stunning in her green gown, her long hair flowing down her back serving only to highlight the diamond and emerald necklace and earrings she’s wearing. Frankly, she’s the most beautiful woman in the room. “Shall we?”

  Su Lin nods, and we enter the party. For the next half hour I introduce Su Lin around, always making sure she’s included whenever someone wants to try and marginalize her. It’s important that she gets familiar with these people, some of them will be important to her after I’m gone, and she needs to learn to recognize the vampires and leeches from the real people.

  The whole time, Su Lin handles herself beautifully. “Oh, so you’re new to America?” Hillary Worthington-Vance asks. A perfectly coiffed grandmother of a bitch, I think she can give the credit to her still relatively youthful looks more to her plastic surgeon than her well-published daily beauty regimen. “Do you find English easy?”

  “Of course,” Su Lin says, not getting offended. “I do have a degree in English, after all. I’ve read everything from Chaucer to Kardashian… not that I’d brag about some of those.”

  I can’t help but smirk, but Hillary doesn’t get the slight jab. “Well, if you ever have a problem with it, I’m sure someone can help you dear. I count myself lucky, I’ve learned four languages myself, my parents insisted on it as part of my education before I was sent to Vassar. Of course they were the Romantic classics, French, Latin, things like that. Those that have made an impact on the history of the world.”

  “Nà bùshì nàme tèbié, nǐ àomàn de bit zi?” Su Lin says with a smile. When Hillary gives her a questioning eyebrow, Su Lin smiles again. “I said, you must be a very intelligent woman, I would hope to hear more of it sometime.”

  Hillary smiles, apparently mollified, and I lead Su Lin away. As we cross the room, I lower my head to whisper to her. “What did you really say?”

  “I said, ‘isn’t that special, you arrogant bitch,’” Su Lin says with a snicker. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.”

  “Not at all, that’s perfect. Don’t be afraid to jab back at these idiots. The biggest hint I can give you is that when you fight them verbally, you don’t fight them head on. That’s seen as bad form. But the subtle weapons, the backhanded compliment or the verbal jab they can’t call you on… they’ll be your biggest weapons in these situations.”

  “Sounds like my wushu might come in handy,” Su Lin says, and I nod, chuckling. “Good to know. The sword’s different this time-”

  “But just as deadly. Don’t worry, I’ll teach you as much as I can.”

  The event starts, and we take seats. I’m surprised when I’m not the only award winner being rewarded tonight, and as the emcee, a local New Orleans sports
star, announces us, there’s a growing hum from the crowd. I lean over to Paul Wellstone, one of the other honorees, curious. “Hey Paul,” I ask, knowing he and I get along reasonably well, “what the fuck’s going on?”

  “The auction,” Paul says like I’m an idiot. “Were you drinking before the party started, Rick? All of the honorees will have a dance auctioned off to anyone in the audience. It was in the charity packet.”

  “What if you don’t want to?” I ask, shocked. There was nothing in all of this when Amanda presented the information to me. “Shit… Amanda tricked me.”

  “Not surprised,” Paul says with a smirk. “She’s had her eye on you for… well, a while now. Okay, listen. Deal is, you can weasel out of the auction by bidding on yourself. So if someone you really, really don’t like demands to dance with you… just outbid them.”

  I nod, hoping things aren’t going to go strangely, but knowing they probably will. I’m near the end of the line, and as things get started the whole thing goes in a spirit of good fun. The average price for a dance is about ten thousand dollars, and since most of the guys onstage are either bachelors or long married, there’s no problems from wives or dates like that. One funny moment does happen when an ex-wife and a current wife get into a bidding war over their ‘man.’

  “Twenty five thousand!” the ex-wife says, holding up her hand.

  “Thirty!” the current wife yells.

  “Thirty five!”

  “Forty!”

  “Forty-five!”

  The emcee, who hasn’t had to say much in the past minute, whistles. “Y’all must really like this man!”

  “Fifty thousand!” the current wife yells, her face pink. “And Eric, if you even give one more smile, you’re going to find out I’m going to take you for a lot more than that!”