Reversals Ch. 06

Eric swallowed hard. He shrunk under her withering words. The harsh appraisal was devastating. The really difficult part, despite how painful the litany had been to hear from Julia's sweet lips, was that he couldn't really refute any of it. Everything that came to his mind just sounded like lame excuses or even lies. He needed to accept the uncomplicated truth - he had failed her as a husband. His heart filled with self-contempt as he dwelt on it.

Maybe he should have seen all of this coming. Being an average-built, average-looking, nerdy guy he had always worried that Julia was out of his league. She was a strong, intelligent, well-educated, successful, beautiful woman. An alpha female. If there ever was such a thing, she was it. When he had been successful at work that was one thing, but now that he was faltering, his weakness was clear, his position was obvious. As much as it pained him to admit it to himself, how could he claim to be anything but a beta male to her? It was understandable she might resent being attached to a man below her station. It might even be coded into her genes, some biological imperative, a survival of the fittest sort of thing. He suddenly felt they were very broken together. Defeated, he lowered his eyes back down to Julia's pretty feet. Somehow, it seemed more appropriate.

"I... I admit I have some problems. Things I need to fix," Eric said meekly. "But I think I can get back on track and prove myself to you again, Juls."

"I don't know, Eric," she said skeptically. "Maybe? But, it seems unlikely right now. With everything you've done I'm not even sure I can trust you again, maybe not for years, and that doesn't fit in with my plans like having a baby. Remember that? How am I supposed to have a baby and stay at home for a time to breastfeed her when I can't even depend on you to get and keep a job?" she asked angrily. Julia shook her head. "No, I think we need to agree that the way we've done things in the past just isn't working anymore. We need a new direction."

Eric looked at her with a questioning, confused expression.

Julia took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. It was time. She was going to really do it - formally turn their marriage into a female lead marriage. She was going to sweep away the old Eric and all his nonsense. He would properly support and serve their marriage or else. "Yesterday was a big day for us, Eric. Even bigger than you realize. Honestly, it was a turning point for us as a married couple," she said.

"Juls, I'm not sure I like where this is headed," he said plaintively. "When we started this morning you said you wanted to talk like we used to." Eric lifted his hands to the air and just dropped them in defeat. His whole body was filling with loss and regret. "I admit I need to change. But... a whole new direction? A turning point? No. I don't think so."

Julia pouted and subtly shook her head. "Eric," she said dismissively. "We both have to open our minds here and be bold enough to see the truth. And, bold enough to do what needs to be done."

Eric gave her a blank stare, lost in his own misery of self-contempt and pity. He felt like a failure. He wasn't good enough for her. How long would it be before he lost her entirely? How long before she kicked him out into the street?

"The truth is Eric, whether you like it or not, I've taken charge. And, I'll tell you something else, I like it. It feels right. For the first time in months I'm beginning to believe we're getting back on track and it's because I've been leading us, because of what I did by taking charge."

Eric shrugged his shoulders, feeling too depressed to even debate her. He was a terrible provider. She could not depend on him. She was an alpha female and he was only a beta male, beneath her, a failure. The themes just kept repeating themselves in his mind. Obsessing like that was wrong, he knew it, but he felt so lost.

"I'm taking this to the next level, Eric." Anticipation began gnawing at her. Part of her believed it was wrong to be traveling down this path, taboo. Could she dare? How far would it go? Could she put him on his knees to serve her? Even further than that? Permanently change him? Put boobs on her husband?! Turn Eric into a milk maid for their baby?! The whole thing felt almost crazy but exciting too. She needed to say the words, make it real. Then, in time, she could decide what she wanted to do with him.

Eric sat there nearly motionless, staring at his wife's pretty polished toes, her lovely feet, her sweet ankles, her glorious thighs, the briefness of the skirt on her nightgown.

"We're not going to be in an ordinary marriage anymore Eric," she said.

Eric looked up, grief tearing at him, convinced she was going to leave him, abandon him.

"They call it a FLM."

"What?"

"Female lead marriage." As the words dripped off her tongue she could feel the heat between her thighs building. She'd actually done it. She'd said it, made it something real. Smiling with conceit and satisfaction, she watched Eric struggling to understand his new reality.

"I don't... understand," he said meekly.

"It's fairly simple, Eric. From this point forward, I'm leading our marriage. I'm making all the decisions," she said matter-of-factly. "Or, to put it another way, I'm the boss."

Eric's face was scrunched up into a pained, confused expression. "What... does that mean exactly?"

Julia regarded him and almost felt sorry for him. He was so unlike the man she thought she would marry. If she was honest with herself, she preferred large, strong, very masculine looking men, always had. Eric was anything but that. He wasn't much larger than she was, just a bit taller, thin, and rather average looking. She was even taller than he was when she wore heels and certainly more impressive looking overall. He sat there, at the end of their couch, topless, with a blanket wrapped around his waist that looked almost like a skirt. As a man, he looked somewhat pathetic. Add cute little boobies to him and there'd be little doubt that he was more girl than boy.

"I have some lotion on my vanity in the bedroom. Why don't you be a love and fetch it and come back. We'll talk about it," she said. Her voice sounded sweet, almost lyrical.

Eric stood up slowly, perplexed by what was happening. Wouldn't a real man stop this? Still, she controlled all their money and she controlled their bedroom. Now, she had declared herself the boss of their female lead marriage? She'd taken everything. How was he supposed to fight her? With what? Going along with it, for now anyway, at least until he got a job, seemed more reasonable than risk getting cut off by her. That would be a disaster.

"The lotion. Hurry up, Eric," she said with a couple little waves of her fingers and long, red nails.

Eric went into the bedroom, found the lotion, and returned to her with it, keeping his other hand clutched to the blanket around his waist the whole time to make sure it stayed in place. He probably should have grabbed a pair of pants but Julia seemed impatient for him to return so he hadn't bothered.

"Sit down," she encouraged him.

Eric sat back down where he had been earlier, at the end of the couch, next to her feet. He reached out to give her the lotion.

Julia shook her head, looking a little irritated. "My feet," she said, pointing to them. "Use it on my feet while we talk."

Eric's jaw went slack and he stared at her with disbelief. Did she plan on turning him into her servant too?

Julia flexed her perfect toes at Eric and poked him with her foot. "Come on Eric, who do you think you're kidding?" she asked. "You love my feet. You've been staring at them half the morning," she said with a seductive little grin. "You should consider it a privilege to rub lotion on my feet," she added, poking him again, trying to goad him into action.

Eric was torn with indecision. He sat there wanting to rub his hands all over her beautiful feet and wanting to resist giving in to her at the same time.

"You don't want me mad at you, Eric, trust me," she threatened. "Now get to it."

He did love her feet. His vixen of a wife was right about that, he thought. Her arches, alone, were enough to drive a man half crazy with lust for her. Eric picked up the lotion and pressed down on the pump, squeezing out a large dollop into his hand. He gently grasped her right foot by the heel, lifted it, and began rubbing the lotion along her long arch, slowly running it along from heel to toes, every inch of it a delight to touch.

"Good boy," she said. "Now, take your time. Use plenty of lotion on both feet. You can massage them too, until I tell you to stop," she commanded.

Eric nodded. He was both turned on by what he was doing with Julia's feet and ashamed that she could so easily compel him to do it.

Julia smiled and wriggled her toes at Eric as he rubbed lotion into her feet. "Very nice Eric," she said. "Make sure you don't leave my feet greasy, rub the lotion all the way in. Take your time."

Eric nodded with a grunt, trying to maintain his composure.

"The truth is," Julia began, "I don't think you could have talked me out of a FLM, Eric," she said. "I wanted to give you a chance to convince me differently but you never really got there. It's okay though. This makes sense for us. I'm convinced it's the right thing for our marriage. It's a new foundation, a stronger one, a better one, with me in control," she said.

Eric tried to remain calm. He focused of the sexy curve of her dainty foot and her lovely polished toes. The more he rubbed, the more sensual it became. He stiffened under the blanket as he ran his palm slowly along the full length of her arch to the pad of her foot.

"Think of it this way, there's a lot of couples who see the benefit of having one of them work while the other stays at home to care for the children and their home life together. So long as the family can do well on one income, that really does make a lot of sense. What never made sense was the idea that the woman would always stay home while the man always worked outside of it. There's nothing fair or even practical with that. How is it fair to demand the woman never have a career? If she's the better earner it only makes sense that she would have the career and the man would stay home. More and more couples are realizing it. It's fair and reasonable."

Eric only nodded to make sure she knew he was listening. He finished stroking the pad of her foot; then, reaching her toes, he gently massaged each one of them between thumb and forefinger, rocking them gently side-to-side. He hoped Julia couldn't tell how excited he had become under the blanket.

"Change feet love and use more lotion," Julia cooed.

Eric pumped another dollop of lotion into his palm and switched to her other foot, gently sliding his hand under her long arch to spread the cool emollient.

Julia smiled. "For us, it's very clear that I'm the far better choice as the earner," she continued. She was treading perilously close to telling him about her promotion. It was dangerous territory. She needed to steer away from it, spare his ego.

Eric shrugged as he kept rubbing her feet. "I admit that's true today, Julia. But, I'll get another job and soon. And, let's be fair, I was earning just a little more than you were before," he said with a weak smile.

Julia flashed a faux smile back at him and twisted her lips. After months of sitting around and doing nothing but playing games it was irksome that he'd even dare suggest he was the better earner. She had been trying to be kind to him from the moment she first hear about her promotion. It was a substantial position with a considerable bump in salary and perks. If she had told him about it, she knew, it could pulverize his fragile male ego. After what she had put him through, in the last couple days, it would almost certainly do so now. It would be like rubbing his face in her success and his failure. It would be borderline cruel, she couldn't do it.

"I got a promotion," she said.

Eric stopped rubbing her foot. He looked her in the eyes, searching for the truth. His heart sank.

"A big one, Regional Sales Manager" she added, rubbing his face even harder into the wound she had just created. She could hardly believe she had done it. That sense of power, she was beginning to crave, was humming throughout her body. Eric was like a piece of clay she wanted to mould. She would shape him into her stay-at-home submissive husband and maybe do far worse with him in time.

"When... did this happen?" Eric asked with a tremor in his voice.

"Yesterday," she said. "It comes with a fairly substantial salary increase. I'll also get a bigger bonus and my own office. Looking like a company car too and some other perks," she added. Julia watched Eric begin to droop as the reality settled in. As his brow furrowed, the corners of her mouth twitched upwards into a crooked smile. "My feet, Eric," she reminded him. "I didn't ask you to stop massaging my feet."

Eric waited a moment then pushed himself to resume rubbing his wife's pretty feet, going through the motions, but his heart wasn't in it anymore. Julia really was taking over everything. He had no idea how to even compete with her anymore. How could he even start to be a good provider when she kept gaining ground past him? How could he get her respect for him back? What did he even bring to their marriage anymore? A foot massager?! A pussy licker?!

"Focus, Eric. Don't just haphazardly rub at them," Julia said bluntly.

"Sorry... I-" Eric choked out, simply hoping to keep Julia from getting angry with him. At the very least, he should be able to give her a decent foot massage in light of everything else. Right? It was like his entire world had just collapsed. He needed time to think everything through.

Julia smiled as she enjoyed her foot massage. If he took his time, he actually was good at it. It was almost like he was worshipping her feet and she suspected that wasn't far from the truth. It would become part of his standard duties in time she decided. She hadn't expected Eric to be as malleable as he seemed to be but it pleased her. His weakness would make it all the easier for her to change him to whatever she wanted and she planned to enjoy every minute of it.

"Eric, I've been thinking and I believe there's new opportunities for us here. You have to open your mind to it. But, if you do, there's a wonderful opportunity for you to redefine yourself in a really great way," Julia said.

Eric looked up with apprehension then continued her massage.

"Like I was saying, many couples see a benefit in having one person working at a job, bringing in the money, while the other stays at home to be a homemaker," Julia stated. She watched him struggling with the changes being imposed, with the humility he was being expected to swallow. A few days ago, it would have troubled her to see him so upset. Now, it simply wasn't for some reason. "I think we can do that, have one of us take care of our home while the other works outside of it," she said. "Of course, with my new position, it's obvious that I would continue to be the earner for the family and naturally you'd become... the homemaker." Julia smiled as she declared his new station in their marriage.

"Homemaker?" Eric echoed, sitting there with a confused, twisted expression, looking as if he were in pain.

Julia nodded slowly with a sinister smile locked onto her pretty face.

"But, I'm still looking for a job, Juls," he complained. "I don't want to be a... homemaker. That's woman's-"

Julia's expression turned hard, stopping Eric in mid-sentence. "You better not say, 'woman's work'," Julia warned.

Eric shook his head vigorously, having headed inadvertently into dangerous ground. "It's just... I plan on getting another job, Juls. Eventually, I will."

Julia rolled her eyes and sighed. She couldn't push him too fast, she reminded herself, he might rebel, maybe escape the plans she had for him. He'd gone glassy eyed. He needed a little breathing room, for now. "That's fine, Eric. When you find a job we can revisit your role but until then I think you need to have some focus, something important to do. I won't allow you to continue playing computer games all day, drinking, and pretending to look for work," she said. "So, I think it's reasonable, and only fair, for now, that you become the homemaker."

Eric nodded, almost imperceptibly.

"Eric, it'll be fine," she said reassuringly. "Really, when you get a new job we can revisit it. That's not a problem. You can have control over that," she said. "But, for now, it makes sense for you to be the homemaker. It's fair and reasonable," she reminded him. "If our circumstances were reversed I rather suspect you'd expect me to play the traditional female-homemaker role. So why shouldn't you? And, I don't want to hear some sexist nonsense about how it's okay for a woman but not a man. That argument died decades ago."

Eric just nodded his head, agreement being easier than trying to argue with her.

"Also, and I'm certain you'll like this, so long as you keep the house clean, you can even play games during the day, whenever you want really," she said.

Eric looked at her confused. "What? I don't get it," he said.

"Being a homemaker is a job, Eric," she explained. "If you're keeping the house properly cleaned and you're being a good homemaker then you are working. We'd both be working again. So, I'm fine with you playing games while I'm at the office," she said.

"Really?" he asked with a cautious incredulity.

"Yes, really," she said with certainty. "In fact, if you wanted, you could even stop looking for a job outside of the home. I'd be fine with you being our full-time homemaker," she said. "That can be your job going forward. No more painful job hunt. No more interviews. No more gender politics. No more disappointments." Julia smiled at him.

"You'd really be okay with me being a full-time homemaker?"

"Honestly, I'd prefer it," she said with sincerity. "I guess, you can think of it as role reversals if you want, me taking the traditional male role and you taking the traditional female role but who cares? That doesn't matter anymore, that type of thinking is archaic," she said with distaste, "part of the patriarchy," she added, surprising even herself at how easily it fell off her tongue.

Eric sat up a little straighter. In the midsts of everything else, oddly, the idea of being a homemaker felt like a lifeline Julia was throwing to him. It was something she might respect, something he could provide to their marriage. "You're really, really sure you'd be okay with me doing the homemaker thing?" he asked with apprehension.

"Yes, of course, I am" she said. "I really want you to consider it as a new full-time job opportunity. In fact, I'm really hoping you do because there's another huge benefit for both of us," she said. "We could consider having our baby."

Eric could see the sincerity in her eyes and what looked like hopeful optimism on her face.

"You would have to commit to being at home full-time, that might not be right away, but once you did we could consider having our baby," she said.

"I thought the plan was for you to stay home for awhile to breastfeed the baby," Eric said.

Julia looked at Eric and flashed a quirky smile at him. "I'm considering some different options," she said, her smile settling to something more subtle and mischievous. Knowing the truth would be too much for him to hear. It was simply too soon to tell Eric she was considering putting breasts on him, that he might nurse their baby with his own womanly teats. "The important thing to remember, if you're at home full-time you can nurture our child and provide a loving home for her," she said.

Eric nodded, taking it in. A baby girl was fine with him, a baby boy was fine too, of course.