The Mating Game

A Bruised Ego

After a delicious breakfast, Is there anything Laura can’t do? Aaron and Laura give me the run-through on the various chores that I need to complete when caring for the animals. I am given a quick tour of everything’s location and a stern warning about a fidgety cow named Ana, who likes to kick when being milked. Sure, sure, clean up the s**t, feed the chickens, and watch out for the kicking cow. Good got it. Trying to encourage them that I will be fine and that there is no possible way I could screw this job up I nod enthusiastically and give both of them a bright, confident smile, as well as two thumbs up. Hesitantly they leave me on my own. F*ck up two meals and all of a sudden I’m a dumbass who can’t do anything. Sheeze. The first few days working with the animals go by uneventfully. I complete my chores and deal with the twitchy cow who tries to kick me on a daily basis, and everyone seems to be surprised that I haven’t killed anything or been killed by anything yet. Each night after dinner Laura or Katie goes with Aaron to “spend quality time” with him in his room. GAG ME! I’m nauseous just thinking about it. However, I am still very much a virgin. Aaron has shown no interest in impregnating me.

I have been raised my entire life being told that my sole purpose on this island is to reproduce, but I have a mate that finds me appalling. I have heard stories of mates that do not fornicate with one another. If the elders suspect that a male is not fulfilling his duty with all of his mates, they may force both mates in question to perform intercourse in front of them. I don’t know how much of that is true, but I do know that in about two months I will be given an internal exam to see if I am still indeed a virgin. If I am still a virgin I know there will be consequences, I just don’t know the extent of those consequences. Maybe I’ll talk to Laura about what happens if you are not mating. God that would be embarrassing. Hey, Laura why do think Aaron doesn’t want to lay a finger on me. Just how disgusting am I? I could talk to Aaron about it. That would be even weirder, but I need to know why he isn’t allowing me to fulfill my duty.

Running all of these various thoughts and ideas in my mind I am not paying close enough attention to my jumpy cow friend Ana. Tugging on her utters mindlessly, my feet are suddenly surrounded by a pool of spilled milk. “Damn it!” Jumping back from my stool I stumble behind Ana, at the same time she rears back and kicks me in the right thigh. Pain shoots through my leg and up my spine.

“Holy s**t!”

Sliding down on my butt against the wall and out of kicking range, I grasp my thigh as Ana continues to flail and kick a few more times before settling down. Hay and dirt are flying through the air as I grip my pant leg and pull it up. A bright bluish-purple bruise the size of Ana’s hoof stamps the skin on my upper thigh. Tears stream down my face.

“You stupid f*cking cow!” God, I’m such an i***t. Using the wall for support I try to stand. Tenderly placing weight on my right leg, I find that my leg holds my weight, but it is excruciating. Limping around Ana carefully as not to disturb her royal highness I am still muttering obscenities at her as Laura comes into the barn to tell me dinner is ready.

“What happened why are you limping?” Laura starts towards me, concern filling her eyes.

“Oh, my leg just fell asleep. I was sitting too long when I was milking Ana. I just need to stretch a little, and I’ll be fine. Go ahead and start eating without me, I’m not very hungry. I’m just going to finish up a few things out here and then probably go to bed early tonight.” I say pretending to stifle a yawn.

“Oh, I have had that happen before too. Bending over like that for a long time always gives me a crick in my back.” Laura says turning back around to the door accepting my lie.

“Don’t work too hard and you should try to have something to eat.” I nod as she leaves the barn.

“Damn it!” I say as I fall against the wall again.

For the next half hour or so I use the wall as I practice walking around trying to do so without limping. However, no matter how long I practice there is no way the pain in my leg is going away. How could I screw this up too? If everyone didn’t already think I was completely infantile, they will now. Turning the knob on the lantern to make a brighter flame I shuffle my pants down to get a better look at the bruise, silently hoping it looks better than when I looked at it before. The bruise on my upper thigh doesn’t look like it’s gotten any better instead it has gotten bigger and bluer. Lightly I poke around the blue and purple coloring testing to see where it hurts the most.

“Umm, did I interrupt you?” I hear an all too familiar voice behind me.

“No, No, I was umm…”

Come up with a good reason for having your pants down in the barn.

“Fixing my underwear it crept up my ass.” I say pulling my pants up.

Holy s**t, that was so bad. Really… fixing my underwear. In my mind, I slap my head. Aaron bites his lower lip.

“Really? That’s the best excuse you could come up with?” Slowly he moves towards me.

“Now seriously what’s wrong? It’s not every day I walk into the barn to a woman with her pants down.”

“I told you it’s a umm wedgie. That’s what they call it right?” I fake a laugh wiping the nervous sweat from my forehead.

Aaron stops in front of me, his eyes probing mine.

“Drop your pants.” Aaron moves his hands to my hips.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” I scream pushing his hands from my waist and stumbling backward.

Instantly feeling the pain surge up my thigh again. Unconsciously my hands grip my thigh.

“What’s wrong with your leg?” Aaron is stalking toward me now.

“Nothing” I stammer while limping backward, backing into the barn wall.

There is nowhere to flee.

“Addison, pull down your pants and show me your leg.” Once more his hands are on my hips.

“Why are you so damned worried about me now and wanting me to drop my pants when you haven’t wanted anything to do with me for the last week?”

Taking a step back Aaron looks like I have injured him.

Swallowing he says calmly “Is that how you see things?”

Straightening up the best I can with an injured leg and pushing the hair from my eyes I respond trying to sound impartial and unaffected.

“How would you feel if your mate was mating with everyone else in the house except you?”

My eyes intently watch Aaron as he runs a hand through his hair in what looks to be frustration.

“Good God, you are so brainwashed.” He spits.

This is the last response I was expecting to hear.

“Do you really think this whole thing is fun for me? Oh sure I’m a guy, and I’m supposed to like sleeping with woman after woman. But it’s not like that. I feel like a robot; it’s just mechanical. I’m just getting my job done so I’m not punished, and you girls aren’t punished.” I’m holding my breath as he continues anger brewing in his eyes.

“Do you think I enjoy having s*x with women I don’t love? Do you really think that I enjoy knowing that I have children that I will never know or see for that matter? I f**k girls, and when they get pregnant the elders take them away, and I move on to the next girl.”

“Well if you hate it so much then just stop.” I say taking a deep breath.

“Oh, you think it’s that easy. You’re a newling you don’t know anything. They have spouted to you day in and day out that it’s your job to reproduce, but they left out a lot of details. For one they didn’t tell you what it would be like if you have to have s*x with someone that treats you like s**t or hurts you because some of the guys are like that. They didn’t tell you what it would feel like to become pregnant and to nurse your child for a year and then have your child ripped from your arms, all while you are being thrown into another mating group with possibly the same male or a new one.” He stops and exhales deeply trying to calm himself down.

“Also, they didn’t tell you that you didn’t have a choice. You either do it or face the consequences. And let me tell you the consequences are not worth it. So you just do what they say. We aren’t humans. We aren’t allowed to feel anything. We are simply pawns in a game, and if we don’t follow the rules we’ll be punished for it and our mates will be punished too. So yes Addison I do what is expected.” Aaron leans back against a beam in the barn.

“If you say we will be punished then why haven’t you” He interrupts me.

“Why haven’t I had s*x with you? I have never had a virgin in my mating group before. I don’t want to be the one who is responsible for introducing you to this life of hell.” I’m speechless when he says this.

“You have two more months before they come to examine you. So why shouldn’t you have two more months to be innocent before it’s ripped away from you?”

I can’t look him in the eyes. I feel like a complete moron. I am so embarrassed by my naivety.

“But don’t worry Addison before the two months are up and before they come to examine you I will do what needs to be done, or we’ll face something much worse than having to sleep with someone we don’t love.”

I feel embarrassed and I’m speechless as I watch Aaron rub the back of his neck with his hand trying to release some of his tension.

“I wasn’t paying attention when milking Ana. She kicked me in the thigh.”

Slowly I pull my pants down and turn my thigh to face the light in the barn. Aaron walks over to me not saying a word, sadness filling his eyes and I know it’s not because of the bruise it’s because of what he’ll have to do in two months.

“I was embarrassed, and I didn’t want all of you to know that I screwed up again.” I stutter, focusing my eyes on the ground.

Aaron’s soft fingertips gently move over my bruise, which sends a shock through my body and it’s not a shock of pain it’s something much more than that. Grabbing the lantern, Aaron kneels to get a better look at the bruise.

“Tell me if this hurts” Tenderly he pushes lightly on various places on my thigh.

My flinches let him know when I feel pain.

“Can you try walking on it for me?” Pulling my pants back up I limp to the beam where Aaron just was.

“I don’t think it’s broken, but that’s a pretty deep tissue bruise. You need to rest for a few days. I’ll have Katie tend to the animals.” Aaron hangs the lantern on the hook and moves towards me. Gently sliding his arm under my legs and the other around my back he picks me up easily pulling me tightly to his chest.

“Oh god, please put me down. This is so embarrassing! I swear I can walk, just please don’t carry me into the house in front of Katie and Laura.” I sound like a child throwing a tantrum. Pausing he makes eye contact with me.

“It’s my job to take care of you. At least for the next year. Let me do it.”

Seeing that this does not make me happy he sighs. “I’ll carry you to the porch, and you can walk into the house on your own, okay?”

“Thank you” I mumble.

Aaron carries me out of the barn, and towards the house, the silence between us is unnerving. Without any conversation, I’m left only to focus on the feel of his body. His strong arms hold me tightly against his hard chest, and I can’t help but run my fingers over his chiseled shoulders as my hands move to wrap around his neck. FOCUS! “Aaron” Readjusting me in his arms but not looking at me he makes a noise acknowledging that he heard me.

“Please don’t make me sit in the house and rest. I can still fish and make traps for catching crab while my leg heals. I just don’t want to be sitting around idly.” He doesn’t say anything, and I wonder if he even heard me.

When we make it to the porch, he softly places my feet on the ground making sure I am steady before letting go. Placing his hand on the door, he halts “You can come with me for the next couple of days when I fish, and I’ll bring you materials to make the traps from.” With that, he walks into the house without turning around and down the hallway. To my knowledge, Aaron doesn’t share his bed with anyone on this night.