Reversals Ch. 06

A New Day

Eric woke to the pleasing scent of bacon teasing at his nose, beckoning him to wake. He inhaled deeply through his nostrils, flaring them, drawing in the rich smell on the air as the bacon crackled in a skillet nearby.

Eric sat up on the couch with some difficulty, easing himself up, rolling his shoulders to and fro trying to work the stiffness out. He hadn't sleep well on the couch with only a small throw pillow and throw blanket for comfort; but after last night with Julia, after what she'd done to him, he just couldn't bring himself to sleep next to her in the bedroom. Spending the night alone had been the only option. He wasn't alone any longer, though.

Julia was in the kitchen cooking breakfast wearing a black, sweetheart apron with white polka dots that looked like a short, sexy dress from the front with the back open revealing her black, chiffon nightgown underneath. She was minding a skillet on the stove with a spatula while her curvaceous ass swayed almost hypnotically about. Given the large open floor-plan of the apartment, she was less than a dozen feet away, with little more than the back of the couch between them. She was humming some nondescript tune as she cooked, seemingly happy and content. It was a harsh contrast to how Eric felt.

After yesterday and last night, with everything Julia had done to him, his whole world was upside-down. He had no idea where he stood with her. She had manipulated, threatened, and dominated him, practically forcing him to do her bidding, making him feel more like a servant than her spouse. Then, later, she handcuffed him and used him for her sexual pleasure, abandoning his needs entirely, humiliating him so deeply it had carved a mark in his psyche.

When she finally released him from the cuffs, he felt so debased, he slinked out of the bedroom, retreating with her panties still covering his face. He just wanted out of the bedroom. He wasn't even able to look at her when he fled. She said nothing to him as he left the room. Nothing. Like everything that she had done that day was fine, normal, maybe even proper, and his feelings just didn't matter. After throwing himself to the couch, he finally mustered the courage to pull her wretched panties off his face and hurled them back towards the bedroom. She'd left him there, all night, never bothering to check on him or say a word to him. It had taken hours to fall asleep. That she was actually cooking breakfast now seemed more than odd.

He watched her bouncing about in the kitchen, in her cute apron dress and nightgown, humming pleasantly to herself. She appeared genuinely happy as she bounced around the kitchen. He didn't know what to think. That she seemed to be making enough breakfast for both of them reminded him of the old Julia.

He shook his head trying to make sense of the last twenty-four hours. It was impossible to reconcile the loving and nurturing Julia that he had always known from the one he met yesterday. Which one was she today? Was she trying to apologize for the horrors of yesterday? Was this a peace offering?

Watching her work away in the kitchen, swaying around in the short skirt of her nightgown, she looked tantalizing and delicious. In the past, it was an invitation to closing in behind her for a sweet hug and maybe more. But now, he was actually a bit afraid to let her know he was even awake. It was easier to watch her and remember how things used to be, like being in a pleasant dream, just enjoying the moment and not wanting it to end. Still, all dreams, regardless of how pleasant they are or how much we wish the moment could last forever, eventually end.

Julia finished making breakfast, bringing a big bowl of scrambled eggs and a plate heaped with scrumptious breakfast meats to their small dinette table. She then turned her attention to Eric, looking straight at him. His heart almost skipped a beat when she locked eyes on him. Then for some reason, without even thinking about it, he bolted up from the couch and stood straight up to face her, his face flush like a child who got caught doing something naughty. It was a reflex to stand and that bothered him. Quickly, as an after thought, he grabbed the light throw blanket from the couch and pulled it around his waist.

"Good morning, Eric," Julia said cheerily. Her eyes were bright and welcoming. The greeting seemed so genuinely warm and inviting it made him wonder if the previous day had been some terrible nightmare or something. It was only a moment of wishful thinking though. Yesterday had been all too real. His tongue still ached from Julia's demands of service last night and, despite the heavenly scent of breakfast permeating the room, he was fairly certain he could still detect the stale odors of her womanhood on his face.

"Good morning, Eric," she said again, a little louder, wresting him away from the painful memories of the night before.

"Morning," Eric replied hesitantly, quietly.

"See, that wasn't so hard was it?" she asked rhetorically. "Come on. I want to talk. Like we used to," she said encouragingly. "Come on. I've made breakfast for us," she said. "No punishments or anything like that this morning," she added.

Eric swallowed hard at the mention of punishments, the memories from yesterday still far to painful and recent to forget. "Okay," was all he could manage. Eric tucked the blanket, he'd hastily grabbed, around his waist as he moved towards the kitchen. Naked underneath, he felt a bit vulnerable, but at least he was covered.

Julia smiled as she discarded the apron and sat down at one of the two chairs of the dinette while Eric crossed over from the living room and into their kitchen.

"I made your favorites," she said. "Scrambled eggs with cheese, sausages and bacon, and some toast with jelly".

Reaching the table, Eric stood there for a moment, struggling with uncertainty. Julia sat there, looking up at him from the other side of the table, smiling warmly at him. She looked delightful in her little black nightgown. From his angle, he could see deeply into her cleavage, it looked so warm and inviting in there. He wanted nothing more than to bury his head between her breasts, to discover that it had all been some horrible mistake and that his old Julia was back.

"Don't just stand there. Sit," she encouraged, gesturing to the chair in front of him.

Eric knitted his eyebrows briefly with trepidation. Pulling the chair out, he carefully sat down, adjusting the blanket as he lowered himself into the chair. After yesterday, things felt so different between them.

"That's better," she said approvingly. "Eggs? Some bacon?" she asked.

Eric nodded.

Julia smiled and heaped a few scoopfuls of scrambled eggs onto the plate in front of him. She added a small heap of crisp bacon, serving breakfast like she had done countless times before. When she made breakfast for them, she would often prepare a plate for him. It had always made Eric feel special and cared for.

"Thank you," he said.

Julia sat there, still, gathering her thoughts, staring at him with a plastic smile fixed on her face.

Eric began to pick at his food as an awkward silence filled the room. He finished a couple strips of bacon and a few forkfuls of egg while Julia just sat and watched him.

"I wanted to talk this morning," she finally started. "We need to have a very open and honest discussion."

Eric nodded, his hopes rising for an apology for yesterday.

"I want you to feel totally free to say whatever is on your mind. Honestly, no punishments or reprisals or anything like that," Julia said with sincerity. "For now, I want you to forget that yesterday happened. I want you to think of me as the Julia you've always known. Before yesterday. Alright?"

"Okay, Juls," Eric said with optimism.

"See, before we got married, I made a promise to you. I told you I'd be a good wife to you," she said with sincerity, "so today, I'm going to fulfill that promise". Then looking at his plate she asked, "Do you want any more bacon, Honey?"

"Not yet, thanks Juls," Eric said with a smile, hopefulness growing in his heart as he listened to her.

"Okay, then let's get to it." Julia said sitting confidently in her chair. "Simply put, we need to talk about what happened yesterday and what it means for us as a couple going forward."

Eric's face tightened. "Going forward?" he asked skeptically.

"Of course," Julia replied.

"I... I don't want to go anywhere, unless it's back to where we've always been, Juls," he said.

Julia frowned and looked at him skeptically.

"I thought maybe you were going to apologize for yesterday," Eric said quietly.

Julia jerked back slightly, her eyes widened at the suggestion. She looked ready to spit back a retort but waited, pressing a pensive glare at Eric instead. The atmosphere in the room shifted.

"Apologize? What ever gave you that idea?" she asked, a current of tension riding in her voice.

Her sudden change in mood sent a shiver down his spine. Julia's lovely face was infused with a quiet anger, her bright, beautiful eyes had become hard and uncompromising. He wanted to scream at her for everything she had done to him yesterday but the words wouldn't come. Instead, he shook his head nervously, a few small little jerks of denial, and looked down to the table to avert her harsh gaze.

The thrill of power coursed through Julia again. She settled back into her seat, the corners of her mouth curling into a subtle sneer, as she looked at him. The idea that she would apologize to him seemed absurd. It was his disgraceful behavior that had lead to what was happening to him. Had he been a better man, a better husband, they wouldn't be where they were now. He was simply to irresponsible. She was taking over. She decided to let his ridiculous notion of an apology drop, she had invited an open dialog after all. She could be magnanimous.

"Here's the thing," Julia said slowly, "sometimes life can just change. Something big happens and life is just different after that." She paused to see if Eric was taking in her meaning, if he understood that their life together was about to change irrevocably.

He was nervously picking at his food, glancing towards her fleetingly, avoiding direct eye contact.

"Eric! Look at me!" Julia said firmly.

He set his fork down and focused on her. He looked odd sitting there, naked from the waist up, wearing a blanket almost like a skirt. Julia couldn't help but wonder what that flat chest might look like with little boobies large enough, functional enough to suckle an infant.

"Do you understand what I'm getting at?" she asked. "Yesterday was one of those times Eric. Everything is different now between us. I don't think it can ever go back to how it was. You need to give up on that notion entirely."

Eric looked distressed. His lower lip trembled and he quickly looked away from her, then back to her like he wanted to confront her but just couldn't summon the words or the courage. Julia waited, she wanted to know what he was thinking. Finally, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes to calm himself. "I don't understand what you want," he said softly. "What can I do to fix this? Fix us?" He looked back to Julia and shrugged, palms up, looking lost and vulnerable.

Julia stood up and grinned. Eric seemed vulnerable, ripe for picking. Maybe she could accelerate her plans for him. She started walking out of the kitchen. "Follow," she commanded with her back already to him, crooking her finger to encourage him to fall in behind her.

He got up from the dinette, careful to keep the blanket wrapped around his waist, and followed her. She plopped down on the couch, sitting at the far end, then slid her legs up and stretched out over the length of the couch. In her short little nightgown she looked delicious.

She pointed to the far cushion, near her feet. "Sit down," she told him.

Eric hesitated a moment then sat and turned to face her. She was so sexy looking, reclining there. The briefness of the skirt on her nightgown put nearly all of her lovely legs on display. Smooth, trim and fit, her legs were a delight, enough for any man to love, even crave. Her feet were even more a delight to Eric though since years of wearing high heels had graced them with high feminine arches, elongating them to better match her daily footwear. From delicate ankle to her pretty polished toes, her feet were a testament to all the time she spent in power pumps.

Julia was well aware of the admiration he felt for her legs and feet. It was something else that could be used against him, to manipulate him. She scooched down the couch and playfully poked him in the ribs with her foot, trying to engage him and lighten the mood. He needed to see the pleasant side of her too, the playful side. She controlled sex between them. His brain was wired to want her and she intended to grow the want to need, to nurture it, make him more desperate for her, and to grow her power over him for all the things to come. Eric would slowly be molded to his new role in their marriage. Of course, if he knew the full extent of her plans he might run off. Maybe he should. She had no intention of making it easy for him though. It was another skirmish in the war of the sexes and Julia expected to win.

"So, how did you feel about our little bedroom scene last night," she asked, giving him another playful poke in the ribs with her foot.

Eric couldn't believe what he was hearing, the cavalier attitude was shocking. He opened his mouth wanting to yell at her for the indignities she had put him through, wanted to tell her that she had taken it too far. He needed to summon the courage to confront her as she sat there looking so sexy and innocent. She looked utterly unburdened by what she had put him though. Gracefully, she folded her arms under her breasts as she grew impatient, waiting on an answer. The simple movement pressed her breasts together, forming sweet, lovely cleavage that swelled above the cups of her nightgown. She looked so damn enticing. Even when she was upset or angry with him, Eric found it nearly impossible to ignore how deeply sensual Julia was. How did he feel? What could he possibly say to her that wouldn't upset her?

"Do you feel like I defiled you Eric?" she asked with a husky, sassy voice, making what happened sound like nothing more than a sexy game, trivializing it.

Eric struggled with the reality of it all, hating what she had done but still finding her irresistibly compelling and sexy at the same time. It was mortifying at how turned-on his demanding, beautiful wife made him. Maybe if he had been a stronger man, a better man, he could find the courage to confront her easier. As it was, he found it difficult to even look her in the eyes, preferring to idly stare at her pretty red toes and lovely feet. It was simply easier to get lost in her beauty than challenge her authority.

"I expect an answer, Eric. Did you like last night or not?" she demanded.

He was determined to tell her the truth. He needed to, at least, do that. She had handcuffed him, trapped him between her thighs, used him for her pleasure, and abandoned him afterwards. It had been deeply wrong. He was tormented though. As much as he didn't want to admit it, as shameful as he felt over the truth, much of it had also been deeply erotic at the time, almost painfully so. Satiating her lust on him as she had, making him a toy to her sexual needs, soaking him in her feminine nectar, reveling herself over him, all of it made him feel like a pawn to some superior, very feminine, queen. He had loved and loathed it at the same time. But, it had been wrong of her to simply use him like that, even if part of him had wanted it. She had to be told it was wrong. The tension in him was becoming nearly unbearable, his heart began pounding in his ears. Finally, his answer came, the conflict in him making it sound almost panicked. "No! I didn't. How could I?" Eric stood up, preparing to confront Julia, to tell her she had gone too far, that he had been used, demeaned, to demand some control back, some respect as a man.

"Sit down!" Julia commanded, each word spat out with firm resolve. She pointed to the end of the couch with a rigid finger, her long red nail looking almost sinister but sexy at the same time.

Eric's determination crumbled, his indignation faded. Slowly, one hand holding the blanket around his waist, he sat.

Julia looked at her hapless husband, pleased and repulsed at the same time at how easy he was to control. If only he had been more of a man none of this would have been necessary, she reminded herself. Samantha was right, taking complete control of his sex life was the next step. He needed to hear it, to know it, so there was no doubt about it between them. Her eyes hardened. She flexed the pretty toes he had locked his eyes onto again.

"I told you yesterday that there were things I was going to do to make sure our family gets back on track, Eric," her voice was calm but firm. She let her words sink in before delivering the harsh news to him, "Honestly, thinking about it, I don't care if you liked our little scene or not. Last night was just the beginning. What happens in our bedroom is for me to decide from now on. You better learn to get used to it because, from this point forward, if we have sex, when we have sex, and how we have sex is for me to decide." She let the words hang in the air for a bit to see if he would dare to raise an objection. He didn't. "If you ever want to touch me again, it's on my terms, totally and completely. You understand?"

Eric swallowed what little manly pride he had left, feeling utterly subdued, and nodded in agreement. He didn't know what else to do.

"I'll tell you something else too, you're going to learn to satisfy me orally. You're going to get over whatever silly hangups you have and learn to love having your face between my legs. And, until you learn to properly satisfy me with your mouth, don't you dare expect me to satisfy you."

Eric sat there for a few moments trying to take it all in. He thought back to the opportunities he had yesterday to stand-up to Julia, regretting that he hadn't somehow stopped her then. He needed to take some control back. Things were getting worse. She was so damn firm in her resolve, so unlike the Julia he had always known.

"Any questions?" she asked.

Eric nodded jerkily. "Yes, I have a question," he said as he summoned the courage to look away from her pretty feet. It was a big question. He was almost afraid to hear her answer. "Why?" he asked, looking her in the eyes. "Why are you doing this?"

Julia sighed. "I thought I'd been very clear about that, Eric," she said, glaring at him in frustration. "You need to listen, okay? I know these are big changes for you, for both of us; but, I don't want to have to go over this again with you," she said with irritation.

Eric nodded grimly, his face betraying how deeply troubled he felt.

Julia waited until he looked like she had his attention. He needed to hear the harsh, naked truth of it. "The old version of us is broken," she began. "You've been out of work for months and you haven't been looking very hard for a new job. That's become obvious." She waited to see if he would offer up some meager excuse, he didn't. "You're addicted to computer games and you've disrespected me tremendously, and really yourself too, by playing them while I've been working to support us. The very idea that you're playing some stupid game while I'm struggling to pay all the bills is galling! But it doesn't end there. You sat around and let our apartment go to hell even though you were home all the time and you're apparently working on becoming a drunk too!" Julia was making herself angry as she read off the charges against him. A small part of her still wanted to have compassion for him but the more she thought about it the less she believed it anymore. Maybe Samantha had always seen him more clearly than she had. He needed to accept what was coming for him, or else. "I have to tell you, honestly, and I'm sorry to say this, but I've lost all respect for you as a man and a provider." Julia's eyes bore into him like daggers. "I hope that's enough of an answer for you. It should be obvious, even to you. Somebody, needs to take charge in our marriage and you're clearly in no position to do it. So, I'm going to," she said firmly. "You can either accept it, accept the fact that I'm totally in charge now or you do have one other option - you can get out."