Zarya

Discord | Twitter

To make a recurring contribution, support me at patreon.com/keirrevival

To make a one time donation, tip at ko-fi.com/keirrevival

Monday through Friday, Galina attended class at the local community college. She wanted to get her associate's in web development, a challenging field that necessitated extra study time. Consequently, Galina didn't come home until nine pm, by which time Zarya will have left for work. Zarya worked at a retail outlet and spent her nights restocking shelves- a residual arrangement from Galina's childhood. As a single mother, she had to balance being in her daughter's life while scrounging money to cover rent, utilities, food, and miscellaneous expenses.

Working the night shift had been the best way to meet her obligations. Not only did the outlet pay workers extra for taking the graveyard shift- seventeen dollars an hour as opposed to the standard fifteen- but it also allowed Zarya to be involved in Galina's life. When the arrangement started, Galina had been in elementary school. Zarya had napped while Galina was at school, woke up when it was time to pick her up from school, kept her daughter company during the day, and then left after putting her daughter to bed for the night for work. Once she finished work, she would go home, shower, wake Galina and feed her before dropping her off at school, before coming home and falling asleep. At the time, she had thought the cycle had been functional, but in hindsight, Zarya could see it wasn't.

Galina had classes from eight am to two-thirty pm. Zarya dropped her daughter off half an hour early, meaning she received seven hours of sleep on a good day. Once she woke up, she had to deal with the stress of being a mother to a hyperactive child, followed by eight hours as a minimum wage retail employee. The turmoil took a toll on her. Looking back now, when she wasn't in the throes of exhaustion, she felt ashamed of all the times she took her hardships out on her child. All the times she snapped at Galina when she didn't deserve to be yelled at, the times she failed to muster enthusiasm for Galina's achievements, and the times she couldn't be there for Galina.

Worse was that all of Zarya’s struggles were unnecessary. She could have- should have- gotten a helping hand sooner. Raising Galina would have been much easier if she had a partner- boyfriend or husband. A husband would have added another paycheck to the mix, boosting their household income with all that entailed. Zarya could have provided Galina with toys, dresses, and vacations- a decent lifestyle instead of subsistence. Having a husband would have also helped in an intangible but no less critical manner. Children benefited from a stable family comprising of a mother and father, and Galina was no different.

Zarya should have gotten a partner earlier, but she had let her past chain her. Fortunately, it wasn't too late to fix her mistakes, and Zarya had found the perfect father for Galina.

John was a broad man. Zarya could easily picture him staring down the first boyfriend Galina brought home. If the relationship turned sour, she could also imagine John wrapping his burly arms around Galina and comforting her. If the relationship worked out, Zarya could imagine John walking Galina down the aisle at her wedding. Since entering their lives, John had done a lot for her child, and there was the promise of more to come if Zarya could make him stay. John was perfect for Galina- but he did have a flaw.

"I don't want to wear this," Zarya said. She hoped her boyfriend would respect her wishes or, at the very least, have the decency to meet her gaze. He didn't do either. His eyes had been fixated on her breasts since she had walked into the living room. Zarya knew some women appreciated the attention of their partners. Male attention made them feel beautiful. Once she entered a relationship with John, she tried to follow their example and appreciate his attention. She had failed. John's gaze didn't make her feel beautiful. His stare made her feel unclean.

"Really? You're going to do this again?" John asked. "We've been over this last week and the week before."

It would be easier to accept John’s appreciation of her body if he indicated he appreciated anything else about her, but it was apparent he didn’t. Whenever Zarya offered her ideas regarding how they should handle domestic situations- or objected to any of his ideas- John dismissed her. He treated her like a child who couldn’t know what was beneficial for the family and made it clear he was doing her a favor by humoring her objections. Zarya especially hated John’s long-suffering tone.

Tears stung her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall. She didn’t get mired in an argument about how John talked to her either. She had brought up that argument a week ago and lost the fight. She wasn’t going to make any progress on that front. Instead, Zarya said, "There's a story about a frog placed in boiling water. If the water is scorching from the start, the frog will jump out, but if you raise the temperature slowly, the frog will stay in the pan until it has been cooked. Do you think I'm a frog?"

“Frogs don’t have tits that large."

Zarya grit her teeth. It was always about her looks with him. She reminded herself not to get distracted and pressed on. "Then why are you raising the temperature?"

"Whatever can you mean?" John’s asked, voice saccharine.

"You know what I mean," Zarya insisted. When John raised an eyebrow in response, Zarya sighed. She had been hoping John would have played along for once, but he never made things easy. "Are you going to make me recount the ways you've humiliated me since our relationship began? Is this a fetish that gets you off?"

"Make you humiliate yourself? I didn't make you do anything. We had a deal. I've upheld my half of the bargain. Why are you having so much trouble upholding yours?"

Neither John nor Zarya were under any delusions. Zarya had initiated this relationship because Galina needed a father figure, and John had entered this relationship because he wanted to fuck Zarya. The 'deal' John was referring to was a tacit acknowledgement of this reality. Whenever Galina was home- nights on the week days and all day on the weekends- John would play the role of father and husband. In front of Galina, John and Zarya were the ideal couple, and together, the three of them were the perfect nuclear family. Zarya would pay John back for his service when Galina wasn't home.

"When you proposed the deal, you didn't mention I would have to wear this." The first week after the deal took effect, John had been content to let Zarya choose her own wardrobe. The week after, he had changed the terms slightly and asked her to wear a low-cut dress he had bought her. The week afterword, he made her go without underwear so he could have easier access. Every week, John's demands got more outrageous until it got to the point where Zarya had to object to preserve what dignity she had left. "I'm not a whore."

Zarya was sure there were strippers who wore more conservative outfits than what John had selected for her. His latest pick consisted entirely of leather and chains.

"Aren't you a whore?" John asked, confusion exaggerated. Zarya's hand twitched. If it had been any other man, she would have followed through with her impulse and slapped him. With John, she couldn't risk it. "A whore is someone who has sex for money. I might not be paying you, but is exchanging sex for a service really so different?"

"I'm doing this for my daughter."

"And I'm sure there are prostitutes who enter prostitution to support their family's as well. It makes no difference to me, and it's semantics in regard to this conversation. I'm staying for the sex. If you renege on your side of the deal, why should I stay?" John rose to his feet

Any anger John's words evoked was subsumed by panic. "You can't leave!" she said.

Instead of turning and walking out the door, depriving Galina of a father, John walked towards her. Zarya's heartbeat slowed down and then sped up for a different reason as he started to play with the chain connected her breasts. Every movement pulled on her overstimulated nipples, and Zarya had to clench her jaw to refrain from gasping.

"I won't leave as long as you can give me a reason to stay," he promised.

Zarya gave in. She turned her cheek, lifted her face, and waited to feel John's chapped lips press against her cheek. The kiss- the slimy feel of his tongue tracing her jawline or his teeth on her neck- never came. She glanced back at him and found he hadn't moved. "Give me a reason to stay," he repeated before letting go of her chain.

She was free. If she wanted to, Zarya could run. John wouldn't pursue her. If she left, he would too, and Galina would lose her dad. Zarya couldn't allow that. Repressing a sigh, she asked, "Do you want a blowjob? I can't give you a titjob with these chains between my breasts."

John didn't reply, and Zarya clued into the fact that no reply was coming. He wanted to see what she would do- how much she was willing to debase herself- to keep him.