Simon Says

2

Six months after celebrating their engagement, Elaine and Simon had been married. It was an elaborate affair, as Simon came from a large and wealthy family who were very traditional about such ceremonies. They had insisted that the wedding take place on the spacious grounds of their country house. The guests numbered in the hundreds, and every detail had been carefully planned in advance.

About half an hour before the ceremony was to take place, Elaine was standing in the small bedroom that had been designated as her dressing room, gazing into the mirror at the sight of herself in her wedding dress, a rather fanciful costume of white silk and lace which ordinarily she would have thought silly, but which, she had to admit, set off her dark beauty and the curves of her sensuous body, not blatantly but effectively.

She was very excited. She was actually about to be married to the man she loved more than anyone in the world, and it almost felt like a dream. In the six months since their engagement dinner, Simon had treated her like an angel. He had made no further requests of her such as the one he had made that evening, and in fact had never even referred to the incident since then; and neither had she. She told herself it had been an aberration on his part, some kind of test she had to pass to show her devotion. When she thought of it, it was still with revulsion, and with anger at herself; but most of the time she tried to put it out of her mind.

She was putting the final touches to her long dark hair when there was a knock on the door. She called, "Come in!" and when the door opened she was surprised to see Simon enter the room, all dressed for the ceremony in white tie and tails. With him was another man who she did not know, a round, middle-aged man in a natty-looking suit and tie.

"Simon!" Elaine said, smiling at him. "What are you doing here? I thought this was supposed to be such a traditional wedding! Don't you know the groom isn't supposed to see the bride just before the ceremony?"
"Well, there are traditions and traditions," Simon replied, smiling back at her. "Elaine, this is Reverend Brady. He's the minister who's going to perform the wedding."

"Oh," Elaine said, surprised. "Well...how do you do, Reverend. It's nice to meet you." But it was obvious that she was bewildered at his presence there with her groom-to-be.

Simon explained. "You see, Elaine, there's another tradition in my family. Which is that the minister should get paid before he actually officiates at the ceremony."

Elaine seemed more confused than before. She gave a little laugh. "Well...I guess that's a good idea," she said uncertainly. "But what--"

"Well, Reverend Brady hasn't been paid yet, you see," Simon said.

"I--I don't understand," Elaine stammered. "Do you--do you want ME to pay him?"

"Yes," Simon said. "I do."

A terrible suspicion began to form in her mind, but she quickly smothered it. In a determined effort to keep it from growing, she didn't even ask him why in the world she should be expected to remunerate the minister, or whether this unusual practice was also a family tradition. Instead she rather confusedly began to search for her purse, and when she found it, extracted her checkbook. "How much?" she asked.

But Simon was shaking his head. "No, Elaine. It's not money the reverend wants for his services. It's you."

"What?" Elaine said tonelessly.

"His payment is to be able to have sex with the bride before the ceremony," Simon said. His voice was calm, almost casual. "My family is really set on having him as the minister, you see--he's an old family friend and all--so he and I arrived at this arrangement."

Elaine could not speak. She could hardly think. There was a long silence. She just stood there gazing at Simon in disbelief, while he looked back at her expressionlessly. She could not bring herself to look at the minister.

Finally she found her voice. "Simon," she said, in as controlled a manner as she could. "May I speak to you alone, please?"

"There's no need for that, Elaine," Simon said. "There's no reason the reverend can't hear what we have to say. I told you, he's a family friend."

"I see," Elaine said. She was trembling now. "All right. Fine. Then let me tell both of you that I have no intention of having sex with a man I've never even seen before on the day of my wedding. And also that this is the most outrageous, insulting and...and preposterous thing I've ever heard!" She was almost sobbing. "Oh god, Simon, how could you? Would you really want me to--How can you be so horrible?"

"Well, Elaine, I thought you wanted to get married," Simon said. "You do, don't you?"

Elaine knew that she should tell him that now she wasn't so sure. That a man who could ask her to do these things was not the kind of man she wanted for a husband. But she couldn't say that. She loved him.

"Yes," she said. "You know I do, Simon. But--"

"Well, the thing is, you see, that if the reverend doesn't get paid his agreed-upon fee, he won't perform the ceremony. No ceremony, no wedding."

"That's ridiculous!" Elaine burst out. "We'll just get someone else."

Simon shook his head again. "No. My family won't stand for that. And neither will I. We engaged Reverend Brady to do the job, and it wouldn't be right to replace him with someone else. If he doesn't officiate at this wedding--and without being paid, he won't--then we'll have to call it off."

Elaine stared at him again. There were tears in her eyes. "Simon," she choked out, "are you saying that if I don't--give myself to this man, right here and now, that you won't marry me at all?"

Simon shrugged. "That's how it would have to be, darling."

Then it's off , Elaine started to say. I don't want to marry you anyway. You are a horrible man. But she didn't say it. She just looked at him, and as she did the tears overflowed her eyes and ran down her face. But after a minute she brushed them away. And then, for the first time, she turned and looked directly at the minister.

"What--what do you want me to do?" she said.

But it was Simon who answered. "Take your panties off, Elaine," he said. "Then just lift your dress up and lie down on the bed. That's all. And I'll be here with you the whole time."

She was numb. As with the man in the restaurant, a part of her couldn't believe she was actually doing this, even as she did. She wasn't crying now, but she was trembling. She pulled up the long, full skirt of her wedding dress so that she could reach under it for her panties. Her face burned as she slid the flimsy undergarment down over her hips and down her stockinged legs. She bent awkwardly to pull them off over her high-heeled shoes. Then she straightened up and once again tugged at the lower part of her dress, this time raising it to her waist and holding it there. Then, with stiff-legged movements, she stepped over to the bed and lay down on her back, still holding her dress. Without being told, she raised her knees and spread her thighs apart. And she rolled her head to one side and closed her eyes.

"No, darling," Simon said. "Look at me. Let me see in your eyes how much you love me."

For a moment she didn't move. Then she turned her head and opened her eyes, looking up into Simon's face. She heard the rasp of a zipper being opened, and then the reverend was on top of her, still fully dressed, his hands pushing her thighs even wider, his hard cock poking at her opening. She cried out as he pushed himself into her, the sound mixing with his triumphant grunt. Simon smiled at her, and she continued to look into his eyes as the reverend rutted at her, plunging with hard but uncoordinated strokes in and out of her lifeless body. His grunting got louder and louder, until he gave a hoarse cry and thrust himself deep inside her, spurting again and again. And then it was over.

"Good girl," Simon said. "Paid in full, I believe, Reverend. And now we'd better go down and have the wedding, don't you think?"

.

Everyone agreed that it was a beautiful ceremony. Elaine thought so too, even as she stood there promising to love, honor and obey her new husband, with the Reverend Brady's come still running down her legs.