Piece By Piece

Chapter 16

"Hey" Carrie said softly as she entered her dressing room.

Mike looked up from his phone and stood up to walk over to her. "Hey"

"Can we talk?"

"Of course." He smiled.

"I'm sorry" she mumbled, looking down at the floor. "For what I said. I didn't mean it."

"I know." Mike said, but Carrie didn't hear it and kept going.

"I'm not mad at you, you've gone above and beyond to help me and you've been so amazing. I'm so so grateful for you and I couldn't have done it without you. I'm just mad at myself, I hate myself for this." Carrie rambled as she started to cry.

"Don't hate yourself Carrie, you're doing so well. You don't have to apologize, you have every right to get frustrated." Mike held her hand, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear.

"How does he manipulate my mind so much? I can't even do the one thing I love most without him messing it up, It's not fair." Carrie started to cry, falling into her husband's arms.

"Shh, shh, I promise it's going to be easier. It just takes time. Shh, don't cry." Mike rubbed her back, kissing the top of her head.

"I just want to be normal again." Carrie cried, standing up to look at Mike through her teary eyes.

"Can I do anything to help? To make you feel normal again?" Mike asked softly, caressing her cheek.

Looking down at the ground, Carrie thought for a minute before speaking.

"Can we have sex?"

Startled by her comment, Mike had to make sure he'd heard her right.

"You want to have sex?"

Carrie nodded, avoiding eye contact with her husband.

"Are you sure you're ready for that?" Sex was a huge step that Mike hadn't expected her to take for many months. He knew the flashbacks would be too much if they tried, but if that's what she wanted, he would let her try.

"I don't know, but I want to try."

"Okay." Mike whispered, kissing her softly.

"But only if you'll treat me like you used too, I don't want you to treat me like I'm broken and fragile. Push me up against the wall and make out with me and carry me up the stairs while ripping my dress off. Make me forget everything he did to me." Carrie said sexily, holding both his hands and resting her head against his forehead.

Mike smiled and kissed her again. "Let's go home."

Carrie grabbed all her stuff and took Mike's hand as they walked out of the dressing room.

The couple drove home in silence, listening to the radio play quietly as they wove down the dark country roads. Mike's hand softly caressed Carrie's thigh while he drove.

They pulled into the garage and Mike came around to open her door.

"After you my lady." He smiled, putting his hand out to help her.

Carrie hopped out and followed her husband to the door, waiting for him to unlock it.

Immediately, he captured her against the door and closed the distance between them, just like she'd wanted.

"I love you." Carrie panted breathlessly between kisses, wrapping her arms around his neck tighter.

"I've missed you." Mike smiled against Carrie's skin, catching her as she wrapped her legs around him.

Carrying her upstairs, the two discarded clothing and quickly found themselves naked on their bed together for the first time in so long.

"Just tell me if you want me to stop." Mike said, caressing her cheek softly.

Carrie nodded, a moan escaping her mouth as his hand found her center.

As much as the flashbacks tried to take over, Carrie was determined not to let him ruin yet another thing.

She focused on the sensations of her husband instead of the fact that Drake had done all of this to her multiple times just two months ago.

She repeatedly reminded herself that it wasn't him, she wasn't tied up, he wasn't hurting her. It was just her husband, her husband who loved her more than anything in the world and was doing all of this for her pleasure, her husband who she'd done this with thousands of times before.

Finally, after pushing the flashbacks away for so long, Carrie began to forget about Drake and get lost in the touch of her husband. She let herself relax and enjoy the pleasure her body craved.

This was exactly what she needed. This was what would bring her out of her funk, what would help her feel normal again.

It wasn't a big deal to anyone else, it was a routine part of life for most people. But to her that night, it was the biggest step to recovery she'd taken yet.