Christian Mingle

 

 

 

 

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.

 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

 

For more information contact:

Riverdale Avenue Books

5676 Riverdale Avenue

Riverdale, NY 10471.

 

www.riverdaleavebooks.com
 

 

Design by
www.formatting4U.com
 

Cover by Scott Carpenter

 

Digital ISBN 978-1-62601-226-4

First Edition September 2015

 

 

“If you want to keep your man, you're going to have to do something drastic.”

Jody watched her best friend Mary Sue shove clothes into a suitcase. She clasped her hands tightly together and prayed for her friend to drop this crazy idea. No way on this blessed Earth would she go to a “sex school.” Even whispering it in her brain felt dirty. Unclean.

“You listening to me, Jo?” Mary Sue's voice got higher pitched. She hadn't heard her this mad since, well, the last scandal hit the newspapers. “You know as well as I do, God doesn't help those who don't help themselves. Well, this here is your chance. Start helping.”

A tightening took ahold of her insides.
Could she do this?
At 27, she—they—had four children. The Lord knew she knew how sex worked, a bit too well. Truth was, the dear husband believed in conjugal visits whenever he wanted. Too bad he never learned to keep his cock in his pants, or within their marriage.

“I don't think I can do it. It isn't right.” She shook her head, refusing to open her eyes. If she did, she might have to face the truth. “It's not godly for a woman.”

“Godly?” Mary Sue took Jody by the shoulders and shook her like Jody never would jangle one of her babies. “Do you think it's ‘Godly' to fondle your siblings, and get your rocks off while your wife is at home pregnant with your kids? Do you want me to go on?”

“Plus, what about those reporters who keep calling the house?” Once Mary Sue got on a roll, it was impossible to stop her. “Do you plan on opening your doors and doing interviews? Your louse of a husband took the easy way out, and he's out of the public eye. What about you?”

Good thing she hadn't told her friend about the call from the network, too. Right now, she couldn't even think about doing another show. Resignation settled in. There was no mistaking that she needed an escape, time away from the responsibilities of day-to-day life. She couldn't deal with the pressure and the media. No one would suspect that she, a fine, upstanding Christian woman who promised to “stand by her man,” would ever dare to step foot into a sex school on the other side of the country. San Francisco no less, where people who believed in the homosexual lifestyle lived.

Mary Sue had offered her a lifeline here. A long weekend of babysitting. She'd contacted the school, and did all the paperwork. Sure, they had testing for STDs and everything, but with Jody's background, they weren't that worried.
If he'd been cheating on you, though, maybe you weren't all that safe.
She pushed the thought aside. She shouldn't question the veracity of what her husband said. When she met him and married into that crazy family, she had no idea what it would all entail.

Until death do they part?
Well, this marriage was turning out to be the death of them. Or one of them.

“You know what?” Jody said, turning toward her friend, and picking up some clothes off the bed. “I'm going to do it. If it's anything that I'm uncomfortable with, I can just say no, right? It's probably one of those crazy publicity things. Just because it's called Sex University, doesn't mean that they're actually having sex there, right?”

An odd look passed over Mary Sue's face. Kind of like the time they were supposed to be studying for final exams in the library, and instead she'd brought a magazine filled with naked men. “Sure, that's right. I don't think you have anything to worry about.”

 

*****

 

A rush of cold air hit Jody as she walked through the glass doors into the school's entranceway. Before this little excursion, she'd researched San Francisco and thought it was supposed to be chilly. Instead, heat beat down on her and the cool air inside made her skin prickle.

Behind the front counter sat the prettiest boy she'd ever seen. Long blond hair hung over half his face, and he blew it up on exhale and smiled at her.

“Well, welcome ma'am. I'm Blaine, and we've been expecting you.”

Jody tamed her reaction to look behind her to see whom he was addressing. It was her. She'd just walked in, and knew well enough that no one stood behind her. But, she wasn't used to anyone who looked like a tanned Hollywood movie star acting like he was pleased to see her.

The flutter she'd been fighting returned. She let go of her roller travel bag, and balled her hands. “How did you know who I was?”

Blaine's blue eyes widened a bit, and crinkles formed around the edges. “Well ma'am, I do watch the news, and I'm sorry to say, you're kinda recognizable.”

As he talked, he gestured toward her outfit, and she guessed, general appearance.
Ah, not-so-reality TV.
It's why she wasn't answering calls from the network.

“Since I knew you were set to arrive today, it wasn't that much of a stretch in deduction. Even for a beach bum like me.”

“I didn't say …”

His smile widened. “That's all right. Don't you think after years of looking like this, I'm used to people making assumptions? You bet. It's something you should get used to, also.”

His words resonated. She tried not to think about how others judged her, and her husband, and their lifestyle choices. What they did in their home was their business. The problem was that his family had made it all the world's business with that damned reality TV show. Jody had no control over what aired, and barely any over what was filmed. She'd married into a whole different sort of hell she'd never imagined. One where everyone knew everything, even the hunk standing in front of her.

“Ms. Druger? Are you ready to be seen to your room?”

His question shook her out of her stupor. She told herself to think of it as checking into any fine hotel. She had this situation covered. There was nothing to worry about. Sure, he was a hottie, as they would say on the kids' TV channel, but that didn't mean she had to be intimidated. She was a woman, strong in her faith, and had God on her side. Nothing could throw her.

Blaine approached her, holding out his hand. “I'll take your luggage for you.”

“Well thank you, that's so kind of you.” Just like a valet or bellman.

“When you're finished with your stay with us, it'll be returned to you. Because you know, while you're here, you're not allowed any personal possessions, including clothes.” He perused her body as if she was nude and on display. “Anything you might wear, we'll provide.”

What had she gotten into? At that moment, her thoughts merged with those of her husband as he'd left for sex rehab, “It will be a long journey.”

 

 

 

No suitcase? No clothes? What did that mean?

Blaine gripped the handle of her roller, and for a brief moment, they had a standoff. She wouldn't release. It was her lifesaver to the real world. She glanced behind her, outside the closed doors to the world beyond, and he tugged.

“Mrs. Druger. Can you let go?”

The smooth plastic handle slid out from between her fingertips, and a sense of loss washed over Jody. What would she do without her things?

Blaine wheeled it towards a closet, unlocked it and tugged the suitcase inside. In her head, she heard him tsk-tsk her reluctance to part with the material items. Was Sex U. kind of like getting into Heaven that way? If she wasn't willing to let her earthly possessions go, then she wouldn't be admitted? Something about that comparison made her feel better about the entire situation.

“Are you ready to move on now?” he asked.

“Yes.” She righted her white, button-up shirt. At least she still had the clothes on her back. She had the Lord to thank for that.

“Now when we get to your dorm, usually you'd be nude,” Blaine said.

Suddenly, she started not to like him so much. He may look like an angel, but he was anything but.

“Something tells me though,” he continued, “that Ms. Lucy might have some other plans for you first. And for that, you'll need something to wear.”

Thank God for small favors. She wouldn't be able to handle being nude, and he knew. Time to testify.

“Has anyone ever told you, you'd look better as a blonde?” he asked.

His question resonating through her head, Jody followed. A blonde? What would the husband think if she returned platinum a la Marilyn? She didn't want to know. He might get a kick out of it, her “inner goddess” alter ego (yes, she had read about
that
book) said in an ultra sassy voice. If he can't have any woman he wants, at least he can have a bit of variety in the bedroom and not the same-ole, same-ole.

Once back outside, Jody followed her host through a labyrinth of winding pathways, with overgrown foliage and weeping willows shading the way, until they reached a large wooden building.

“You'll be bunking in here,” he said, ushering her inside.

Bunk beds lined the room. Bunk beds. Like her kids had at home. Here, she thought she'd escaped, and instead, she ended up at a summer camp? With sex thrown into the mix?

“I think there may have been a mistake,” Jody backpedaled, wondering if it was too late to escape the confines of this pit of sin.

A warm hand pressed against her lower back, his heat seeped through the thin layer of material of her shirt.

“No mistake. You'll be staying here, and I'm positive you'll enjoy your stay.”

On the far side of the dorm, a door opened and a striking red-haired woman strolled in, with her focus completely on Jody.

“Thanks for your service, Blaine, you can leave us now.”

“Ms. Lucy, you might want to know …”

“There's nothing I need to know that I don't already see,” she said. The tall woman looked Jody up and down, taking in her appearance from her feet all the way up to her unkempt, limp brown hair.

Jody lifted a hand to pet down her wayward locks. As a busy, stay-at-home mom, she didn't have to worry about what she looked like. The kids didn't care. But obviously, her husband did. Although she hadn't shed an item of clothing, something about the woman's striking gaze made her feel stripped bare. Naked.

She wasn't used to the feeling.

“So I see you made it, safely, Ms. Druger,” Ms. Lucy said. “Are you ready to be serious now?”

Jody opened her mouth, expecting to say … she had no idea what. Instead, all that came out was a weak little eeek.

A bundle of taut energy, Lucy strode around Jody, lifting the back of her hair, tugging down at the waist of her shirt. “Whatever you're thinking, it's not that bad, and it's much worse,” Lucy said.

“I think I may have made the wrong decision,” Jody said, steel making her feel more secure than she actually felt. “I want to go home. I don't think you have anything here to offer me.”

“What about pleasure?” Lucy asked. “Have you ever been eaten out so hard, and your clit rubbed so softly that you screamed, all the muscles in your body clenched, waiting for release?”

Warmth pooled from wherever it came from in her body and zoomed right to her core, between her legs. Her facial cheeks flushed, and she tried to push away the sexual feelings.

Ms. Lucy leaned in, whispering in her ear so close that the woman's warm breath sent chills throughout her body. Damn. She needed to gain control of these emotions. Otherwise, nothing constructive would happen this weekend.

“My, for such a quiet, pretty little thing, you still have a strong will, don't you?” Ms. Lucy said.

“You can't make me do anything I don't want to,” she said.

Ms. Lucy stood erect, back stiff and looking off to the side.

“If you think you don't want to be here, or that we're wasting your time, let me know,” Lucy said. “If you're not willing to let go of your inhibitions, and let us do what's necessary, you won't succeed.”

“For everything I've done already, I thought I was a success,” Jody argued.

“Maybe for what you've done in the past,” she said, “but right now we're more concerned about what will happen in the future.”