Unbridaled

This is my Literotica Nude Day Story Contest 2024 entry. I hope you have the opportunity to read the other excellent stories presented this year. Comments, favorites, and most certainly ratings would be greatly appreciated by all. Thanks in advance!

This is a work of erotic fiction. Therefore, all persons engaging in sexual activity are over the age of 18. Any resemblance between the characters and events in this story and any persons, living or dead, or actual events is coincidental and unintentional.

Last but not least, the views expressed by the characters are not necessarily those of the author.

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Her lips were moving, she was making sounds, but they made absolutely no sense to me. "Ernie fucking did what?!"

Note to self: Never swear at a church altar during a wedding. Especially when the mic was still hot. The audience had been growing restless, waiting for the ceremony to begin. Now I had their undivided attention.

Gina Halstead was Ernie's mother. At the moment, she was deeply embarrassed and teary-eyed. "Ernie left. He said he couldn't marry Sherry."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Nobody needed the PA to hear that. I tend to get loud when I'm pissed off. I was all of that.

"We're so sorry, Ronnie. We didn't know he was going to do that." From the look on his parents' faces, they were telling the truth. The fucker actually cut and ran.

"I can't believe Ernie would do this. I don't understand it." Bob Halstead was only slightly less angry than I was.

Five minutes earlier, I had been standing at the back of the church, waiting to walk my sister Sherry down the aisle. Ernie's parents walked up and whispered something to the minister, who motioned me up to the altar.

My first thought was that they had eloped. That would be so like Sherry. The fancy church wedding had been both mother's doing. My sister was a big believer in doing things with the least amount of effort, the whole working smarter and not harder school of thought.

Nope. The groom decided to take the chickenshit way out, leaving his parents to clean up his mess once again. I couldn't be mad at them, they had been our co-parents growing up.

"I'm sorry, Gina. I know it's not your fault." I felt bad for her, actually. Ernie was forever putting them in the position of bailing him out of something.

"Go find Sherry, son. I'll handle breaking the news." Bob offered his hand and I shook it firmly.

As I walked back down the aisle toward the sanctuary area, I could hear the crowd murmuring as Bob took the mic from the stand.

"Can I have your attention, please? I regret --" The rest was lost as the heavy wood door closed behind me. I found the room marked "Halstead-Wilmott" and knocked.

"Ronnie? Come in," my mother called out.

I opened the door part way and slid past it. Sherry was sitting in front of the makeup mirror, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. She had been crying hard, the mascara streaks gave her a more than passing resemblance to Alice Cooper, except she was still much prettier.

"I'm sorry, Sher. I didn't think he'd ever do that." Ernie Halstead was a lot of things, and until now, I didn't think coward had been one of them. If I ever got my hands on him, dead man would be at the top of the list.

Sherry stood up and wrapped her arms around my neck, burying her head into my shoulder. Hard sobs shook her body as she let go. Mom rubbed her back reassuringly, murmuring something into her ear I couldn't quite hear.

There was a light knock on the door. Mom cracked it open and let the Halsteads in quietly. Sherry looked like hell now, hair mussed and her face swollen from crying.

Gina spoke, her voice uncertain. "Honey, we're really sorry --"

"No. He did this, not you. Don't you dare apologize for him." Sherry held her arms out and hugged her tightly. "He's supposed to be an adult. He knows better."

After our father knocked up his executive assistant and took off to Belize, the Halsteads watched over us while Mom rebuilt her real estate career and her life. Ernie had been raised the same way we were. There was no excuse for this. Bob and Mom were now business partners and Mom had been friends with Gina forever. They were family, too.

Sherry hugged Bob and he gently kissed the top of her head. "I don't know what to say, Sherry. I'm sorry."

"Ronnie, would you get your sister some water, please?" Mom motioned the Halsteads to the other side of the room for a whispered conversation. Sherry took the offered glass and set it on the table in front of her.

"Why, Ronnie? Why would he do this?"

"I don't know. Wish I did."

"Everybody spent so much money for this. People went out of their way to be here for us. What do I tell them, Ronnie?" Sherry was starting to get worked up again.

I reached out to take her hand and she threw herself at me again, burying her face into my neck and shoulder while she cried.

Gina was also in tears, Bob and Mom doing their best to console her. Ernie had always been the impulsive type, always getting hyped about something until one day he wasn't.

I was too young to remember anything about my father. Sherry had vague memories of him. Mom didn't say much about him or their marriage. Gina refused to talk about him at all, citing him as an example of what not to be as a human being.

Bob was honest about his feelings about our father. They had been friends before getting married. He didn't see it coming, either. He had tried to use what happened as a teaching moment, in terms of the value of keeping your word.

The Halsteads had unofficially adopted us, getting Mom's license transferred to his office, making sure we had adult supervision after school and when Mom had showings.

Ernie had been my best friend growing up. I was convinced he loved Sherry so when he had asked if I had a problem with his asking for her hand in marriage, I said I didn't. She loved him as much as he loved her. Sherry was the yin to Ernie's yang. They were the perfect couple. I never had a reason to doubt how he felt about Sherry. At least until today. The two of them getting married seemed to be a no-brainer. High school sweethearts, they stayed together throughout college, they worked in our parents' real estate business together, it was as if it had been ordained from above.

I had no idea why he would back out now. It made no sense at all. His betrayal, which is how I thought of it, hurt deeply. Not just for Sherry but our parents.

Eventually, both women stopped crying. Mom ran us out so Sherry could change. When they were ready, I brought the car around to the side entrance, loaded everybody up, and we headed to Mom's house.

Sherry hid in her old bedroom once we got to Mom's house. I hung around for a while, we tried to eat dinner, but eventually I had to go home. I had to go back to work tomorrow and I couldn't show up in a tuxedo.

Sherry refused to answer the door when I knocked to let her know I was leaving. She sounded like she had been crying. I couldn't blame her, I kind of felt that way for her, too.

My phone was silent the remainder of the evening. Just before going to bed, I texted Ernie one question. "WTF?"

There was no answer the next day. Sherry let my call go to voicemail and later texted she was doing okay, which meant she wasn't. Mom said she ate but not much, but at least she ate something.

It was a long day at work. Nothing out of the ordinary but it felt long. I stopped by the house, Sherry was still hiding in her room, and nobody had heard from Ernie. Figures.

The Halsteads stopped by to check on Sherry. She refused to come out although she again told them it wasn't their fault.

The rest of the week was more of the same. No word from Ernie at all, he hadn't even contacted his parents. Sherry refused to answer her phone, insisting on communicating by text. She barely ate.

By the Saturday following the aborted wedding, I had had enough. This wasn't my sister.

I showed up at Mom's after work that Saturday intent on getting her out of the house for an hour or two. Sherry was in her room, Mom said she hadn't seen her since morning.

I knocked on the door and turned the knob, but it was locked. But I knew a trick. When the door had been framed, somebody did a poor job of measuring. If you pulled the knob hard toward the hinge, you could pop it open.

Sherry was lying face down on the bed as the door swung open.

"Ronnie! What the fuck?" She had a photo album open on her tablet and a box of tissues next to her. She quickly flipped the tablet over.

"Get up. You've been in here long enough."

"Fuck you, get out." She threw the box of tissues at me.

"Seriously, Sher. Let's go. You can walk or I can carry you. Either way, you're coming with me."

"No, Ronnie, I don't want to." For a second, I thought she was going to fake cry. She had swung herself into a sitting position on the side of the bed and was playing with her hands.

"Look, I skipped lunch and I'm hungry. All we're going to do is get a burger and some fresh air. An hour and a half, max. We're not even getting out of the truck if you don't want to. Promise." I extended my hand with my little finger extended for a "pinkie promise" shake.

She eyed my hand suspiciously. "You'd better not be lying."

I stuck my hand out a little further. "That's not how this works and you fucking know that."

As if it had a mind of its own, her hand came up, our fingers locked, and we shook three times. I would die before breaking that promise. "Ninety minutes."

"Not a second longer. Let's go, I'm dying of starvation here."

"Then eat lunch next time, dummy." She still wasn't happy I barged in on her but at least she was doing something else besides sulking.

"Yes, dear."

She slid her feet into some sandals and stood up. "I can't believe I'm rewarding bad behavior."

"I'm buying, so I'm the one rewarding bad behavior."

Sherry tried not to smile and dropped her head so I couldn't see her face. Using her sarcastic damsel-in-distress tone, she walked past me, "Mr. Moneybags, my hero."

"Shut up and get your ass in the truck." I was simply trying to give her a swat on the ass to move her along but she stopped suddenly and my hand made full contact with her right cheek. And stuck there for a second.

I dropped my hand as her face turned as red as mine felt. "Let's move, girl." I'm pretty sure I failed to play it off but I tried.

We stopped in the living room to let Mom know where we were off to. She seemed relieved to see Sherry out and dressed. She asked that we stop at Dairy Queen and get her an Oreo Blizzard on our way back.

We headed over to the little mom-and-pop place not far from where I worked. They had this monstrosity they called The Valley Burger, I had introduced Sherry to it soon after I had discovered the place, and it became a guilty pleasure for us.

I found a spot in the shade, powered the windows down, and went to the walk-up window and ordered. She always just ordered the burger and a small shake while I got the meal package. I ordered her a large chocolate shake instead.

Sherry tore into the burger like it was the first thing she had had in a month. For the first time in living memory, she was finished eating before I was, and I hadn't been lying when I told her I had skipped lunch. Including the shake.

"That was good." She bundled up the wrapper and tucked it into the bag as I finished the last of mine.

"It was." Maybe not the way she meant it, but she ate more than a couple of bites and that was the goal.

"So, how's work going?" She flipped the passenger visor down to check her face. The barbecue sauce had a tendency to go everywhere. She cleaned up a spot on her cheek and her nose.

We talked about my job for a while. I worked as a line supervisor at a maquila or twin plant operation. It's not that interesting but she wanted to talk.

Sherry specialized in commercial real estate. She partnered with Ernie, working for Mom and Bob, and they were very successful as a team. Ernie was the people person, Sherry the details person, and together they got things done.

Eventually, that subject came up. She stared out the open window, watching some kids playing in a park behind the restaurant.

"Nobody's heard from Ernie. At least we don't have any deals pending right now. There's people coming in next week, though. I'm not sure I can handle that part, he always did that."

"Sure you can. You know how it all works."

"Ernie was the closer. I made sure everything was ready to go. That's what made it work. We each did what we do best. He was good at it. I'm not." She seemed sad.

"Well, I think you're better at it than you think you are. It's just more work now. At least you won't have to split the commission."

She wasn't impressed with my attempted motivational speech. "What if he wants to continue to be partners?"

"Do you?" Out of everything, it felt like this was her main concern. He was no longer reliable in her eyes. She had to decide if that was what she wanted.

"I don't know." Her sigh spoke volumes.

"He was my friend. We grew up together. This isn't easy to say because I know you cared about him too. He didn't keep his word. Maybe I would feel differently if he had manned up and admitted he didn't want to marry you. He didn't.

"I think the split needs to be total. But it's your decision to make, not mine. I can't and won't tell you what to do. Your license is still with Mom, right?" Ernie had already taken his broker's license exam and passed. He could theoretically open his own office. Sherry was still an agent, which required being supervised by a licensed broker in Texas.

"Yeah." She had been studying for the broker exam but wasn't quite ready to take it.

"Talk it over with Mom and Bob. See what they think."

"Yeah, I should do that. I don't want to go back to doing residential if I can help it." She gave me a genuine smile this time. "Thanks for listening, Ronnie."

"Thanks for not putting up a fight. I hate seeing you sad and I thought this might make you feel a little better."

"What would make me feel better is a Blizzard and for you to stop breaking into my room." She laughed. "How did you do that, anyway?"

I explained the process. "How the hell did you figure it out?" She was still laughing.

"The day you locked yourself out. I got frustrated, jiggled the knob while I was leaning on it, and it popped open."

"You let me wander around in a cold, wet bathing suit all afternoon?" She had done something to piss me off so I made her suffer.

"Well --" I let my voice trail off with a hint of fake guilt.

"Wow, you bastard. What did I do to you?" She acted suitably outraged.

"I don't actually remember. It seemed justified at the time." I shrugged my shoulders at her.

"I should beat your ass for that." She punched my arm. "I thought I was going to die."

"Neither one of us knew you could unlock it with a small screwdriver. I just got lucky."

"Okay, Mr. Lucky. I want a Blizzard. Onward to yon Dairy Queen." Sherry pointed in the general direction of DQ and the house.

"Of course, milady." I collected the garbage and walked it over to the can while she checked her face again in the mirror and did a little makeup thing. I waited until she was finished to start the truck.

I've never had much luck with the drive-thru at DQ so I preferred to go inside. Surprisingly, Sherry informed me she was going in with me because I "couldn't be trusted to get hers right." If anyone recognized her, they didn't show it. She was quiet standing next to me in line while I ordered.

We soon had all three cups in a carrier and were on our way back to the house.

Mom was more than happy to have company while she enjoyed hers. Sherry kept her entertained with the door story as well as other childhood transgressions I had committed in the name of sibling rivalry. I pointed out a few things she had done to provoke me, which led to me being kicked a couple of times under the table. It had been a while since we had all laughed like that.

I left a little after eleven. Mom had a showing the next day and she needed to get some sleep. Sherry followed me to the door after I said goodnight and kissed Mom on the cheek.

"Thank you again, Ronnie. I hate to admit you were right, so I won't." I loved seeing that impish grin back, even though she still had a ways to go before she was completely over being dumped.

"Yeah, but I know anyway and I won't forget to remind you." I teased right back.

Sherry stepped forward and gave me a long hug. As we started to pull apart, she gave me a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you later."

"Sure, see you later." I pulled the door closed and heard the deadbolt lock into place. I could still feel her lips on my cheek getting into the truck to drive home.

It wasn't until I was home, in bed, and trying to fall asleep that I recalled grabbing her ass accidentally. Objectively, Sherry had a great body. She was well proportioned, there wasn't one part that looked out of place. Her butt cheek had felt nice and firm, my hand seemed to fit it perfectly.

Between her kissing my cheek and me feeling her ass up a little, it kept me awake for a while. I hadn't had a girlfriend for a while and eventually the intrusive thoughts won. I was glad I got up to get off or I would have needed to change the sheets, too.

I slept like a rock after that, thank you.

Sunday morning was quiet. I did my usual cleaning and laundry. I was surprised to learn that Sherry went with Mom to help with her showing Sunday afternoon. It turned out to be the calm before the storm.

Ernie didn't show up Monday morning, either. He did call Bob to inform him that he was now going to be associated with a competing firm that was interested in opening a commercial real estate operation. He had taken the liberty of picking up his files late last night.

Sherry took the news about like I expected. She did stay in the office all day, working with those clients who elected to remain. Bob wasn't nearly as calm. Mom wasn't happy about it either, but she was more concerned about Sherry.

It didn't get any better as the week went on. They didn't lose many of the established clients, they were used to dealing with Sherry, but it was the new business that took the hit after the first week.

Sherry definitely struggled trying to step into Ernie's role. She was the nuts and bolts person and he had always been the face of the company to the clients. To her credit, she tried to push through.

Word started getting around that Ernie had picked up another partner for the administrative side. She was young, pretty, and by all accounts nowhere nearly as competent as Sherry.

On good days, Sherry was mostly back to her usual self. On the bad days, and there were an awful lot of them, she went through hell.

I had some books I had bought when I made supervisor because I was a lot like Sherry personality-wise. I wasn't a true people person and until I found those books, I struggled too. I hoped that even though they were management-oriented and not sales, she may find some useful tips.

I also started combing through the sales books, looking for stuff aimed at introverts and passing along what I thought were the best candidates.

It took some time and some one-on-one sessions with a performance enhancement coach online, but Sherry started making progress. There were times when she would still get down on herself but they weren't as severe and the episodes weren't as long.

It wasn't something that I paid much attention to at the time, at least until she mentioned it. Once she brought it up, it was kind of obvious.

It was a Friday night. She showed up a little after six, like most nights. I'd given her a key, just in case. She let herself in, popped the bottle of wine in the refrigerator, and collapsed on the couch next to me.