Life Match

The Wedding

I try to wait for Riah, but it's well past midnight and he isn't back yet. I fall asleep on the couch, and awaken to Riah, glaring down at me.

"Sage!" he's louder than necessary and his voice echoes throughout the house.

I struggle into a sitting position, interrupted sleep slowing me down. He grabs my arm, roughly yanking me to my feet.

"Riah, ouch," I say. He smells funny, and I realize he'd been drinking. He does let me go however, but the alternative isn't very better.

"You need to be punished. A wife isn't supposed to sleep before she knows her husband is safe,"

He pulls me over to the kitchen table, and clears the setting in one sweep of his arm, all the stuff crashing to the floor. He bends me over the table. He pushes up my dress and gropes my ass, which still is slow to recover from the abuse it's been dealt in the past week. I'd checked in the mirror, and some of the newer bruises were still purple and discolored from the porcelain white of the surrounding areas. And those were punishments when Riah was not under the influence.

"Riah please, I didn't know," I plead with him, "I'm sorry."

He laughs, "Sorry. It's be a while since I heard you apologize to me without an excuse."

I hear the sound of his belt zipping from the loops of his belt. This isn't working. I right myself against orders and place my hands on Riah's shoulders.

"You don't want to do that," I coo, talking to him like one would a rabid stray, "You know how long it takes me to heal and we're getting married today. You don't want to hurt your bride do you?"

I run my hands down his arms and to his hand, gently taking his belt from him. He lets me, and I place it on the table, "Do you?"

"No," he says, calming down a little. I hold his one large hand in my two smaller ones. I look him in the eye and they are unguarded, but hold no emotion. I direct him to the couch and he lies down. In minutes he's out like a light. Then I quietly dart up the steps and slip into our bedroom, locking the door behind me. For extra precaution I slip a chair under the knob and then slip under the covers, comforted by my thrown together security system.

*****

Riah grabs me and we fall onto the bed together. I can tell something is off about him, but I can't pinpoint what. He kisses me and it feels good, but I'm struggling against him.

"Riah..." He isn't listening, "Wait."

"We have to..." Is all Riah keeps saying, even though his lips aren't moving, since they're too busy kissing mine. I grab Riah's hands, trying to push him away from me, but they keep dissolving and attaching themselves to the zipper of my wedding dress, yanking it off my shoulders.

"Riah!" I shouting now, panicked. Riah snaps his fingers and he too is unclothed. We're close, but it's now obvious I don't want this.

"Please wait!"

"We have to!"Riah shouts back. And he does. And it hurts. I keep screaming, but they aren't good screams, only painful ones. The entire time I'm begging him to just wait.

*****

"SAGE!"

I bolt up in bed, a thin veil of sweat covering my forehead. Riah bangs on the door and I remember I'd locked him out. But he'd been drunk, and I was already terrified of sober Riah, so drunk Riah had to be worse, but morning after Riah was uncharted territory. I move the chair and unlock the door. Riah throws it open, knocking me to the ground.