I Was An Emotional Prostitute Part 6

Trigger Warning: Beating
I was about 14 when I met one of the most memorable guys I ever dated. I was in Everett visiting mother’s second husband, Don. He had asked me to help him build a sandbox for his stepson, Timmy. As I bent over to do something, this young man walked up and started talking to Don. I kept trying to get a look at him without being obvious about it. The young man kept looking at me as well. After a few minutes Don introduced us. His name was Andrew.

We were instantly attracted to each other. We started a dating relationship, which we tried to keep going long distance once I got back home to Seattle. As it turns out, neither of us was mature enough to keep such a relationship going so I broke it off. We remained friends despite all this.

Because Don was still a father to me in my eyes, despite everything he’d done to me in the past I’d ride the bus three hours one way to visit him and his second wife, Donna. I think part of that was because for the most part, he allowed me to dress as I pleased. I could wear tube tops or halter tops and short shorts, things mother wouldn’t allow me to wear. In general he allowed me a lot of freedom to learn about myself in ways that mother never did.

However, there were some bad times for me then, too. There were a couple of times when Don beat my bare butt with a belt. I don’t remember what his reason was the first time and I have never understood why on the second occasion. Don had me lower my pants, including my panties, then bend over a chair he’d put in the middle of the living room. I was in tears before the first hit landed. The only reason I didn’t scream was because Timmy, his stepson, was asleep on the couch a few feet away.

The second time it happened, Don, Donna and I had been discussing my desire to become an actress. Don had been telling me what to expect in the job interviews a potential actress must go through. We even play acted some potential scenarios. I went along with that because at the time, I had a strong desire to become an actress.

I couldn’t believe my ears when he told me I was in trouble for going along with the scenarios and that unless I could give Donna a good reason, he was going to spank me. Of course I couldn’t come up with a good reason, so he beat me with the belt again. This time he took me into a bedroom because everyone was awake. Again, I had to take down my pants including my panties. Only instead of a chair to bend over, I had to grab my ankles. Because no one was asleep, I screamed.

At one point, he paused for a moment to tell me to stop screaming. He said that because I’d held it in the last time, I could hold it in this time. I didn’t stop. I wasn’t disturbing anyone’s sleep, so I wasn’t going to stop screaming just because he wanted me to. It was a long time before I realized that no matter what I’d done, I didn’t deserve that kind of punishment.

There is one more thing about the second beating that has always bothered me. Given the fact that this occurred in a mobile home park in the late 70's, I have often wondered why no one responded to my screams. Mobile homes were not well insulated against sound and the nearest neighbor couldn’t have been more than ten feet away. The only reason I can come up with is that Timmy was probably known for being a screamer so the neighbors probably assumed it was he or they weren’t home that evening.

Don’s wife, Donna and I discussed the beatings several days later. She told me she thought he might have done it because he read in his girly magazines that being beaten turns some women on.

Several years later, just before his father died, Andrew moved to Seattle. We started dating again. It was a rocky relationship from the start. We made plans to get married and even attended several pre-engagement counseling sessions, which our church required.

As for why we broke up, there were several reasons for that. The majority of them had to do with his tendency to not listen to what I wanted and needed, yet he expected me to accommodate his wants and needs. For instance, he didn’t like my hair to be any shorter than below my shoulders, as it wasn’t feminine enough. He didn’t like me to wear jeans for the same reason.

Andrew bought me a couple of purses when we dated as mine wore out. When we went shopping for my new purse, he insisted it have several pockets so I could be organized. If I found one I liked that didn’t have enough pockets or compartments to suit him, he would insist I put it back.

One year for my birthday, Andrew bought me a couple of antique dolls. I never understood why as I had never shown any real interest in dolls. I think he thought that because I’m a woman, I would like such things. I’ll admit I have a few dolls now, but they are ones that I chose and there had to be something about them that said, “Take me home, please!”

Only once did he ever truly buy me something I liked. On that occasion he took me to a little shop he’d found and let me wander around to choose what I wanted.

Even when shopping for an engagement ring together, Andrew made the final choice. Not based on money, but based on what he liked. The ring had a round diamond solitaire with a gold leaf extending out to cover the wedding ring. Andrew insisted that he thought it was the perfect ring as it would represent my “turning over a new leaf” when I married him or words to that effect. I agreed it was a nice ring, but couldn’t make him see that it didn’t fit my personal sense of style.

He would frequently reach over in public and tickle my butt. When I asked him not to do it, he asked me why, then told me I laughed about it. Well, yes, I laughed, it was a natural reaction to being tickled. I just didn’t think it was appropriate behavior in public.