The McCain Marriage Contract

She was a lot different than I remembered. Maybe that was what time did to a person.

When we were younger, I misplaced a new phone my dad got me for getting great grades. It was an iPhone 5, but back then any iPhone at all was considered a luxury. I was so scared I would be disowned because I knew how much my family

was struggling then -- Dad was working so hard on the apps he was developing then and spending whatever money he had on women, mom was busy keeping the home together. So we barely had funds to spend, much more to waste. I couldn't bring myself to tell my dad how careless I had been. I knew he was going to noise about how spoiled and irresponsible I was, so I decided to save my paltry allowance until I could buy a new one. But in a few days, I returned from school to find a new phone on my bed. Stuck on the rectangular box was a sticky note that read: "Take better care of this one. Love, Dad."

It was Valerie. She had taken it upon herself to talk to my dad about the phone. She never told me exactly what she did or said to get him to buy me a new one and not call me irresponsible or careless. That was not the first nor last time she got me out of trouble with my dad. While my mom wasn't exactly taken in by her, my dad seemed to dote on her endlessly like she was his own daughter. It wasn't so strange to me at first -- what boy wouldn't like his father to get along with the girl he was interested in? -- but much later I had reason to grow suspicious of their relationship. Especially after my dad told me everything.

There was a lot of mystery surrounding my dad's decision to turn me into a husband and father impromptu. The most mysterious aspect of it was that he chose this same Valerie, after all she did to my family. Had he forgotten so soon? Had he forgotten the reasons we had to move out the way we did, staying the farthest we could from the Jensens? And now I was stuck in this awkward bubble, wanting the love of my life all to myself again but constantly reminding myself that she was treacherous underneath the innocent facade she put up so perfectly. But teaming up with Valerie was the surest way for me to gain her trust and get to the root of this insane marriage contract. And on the plus side, I got free sex. Still lying beside Valerie on her bed I could not believe what had just happened. First of all, I discovered I didn't have erectile dysfunction, thankfully. Secondly, Valerie was a virgin. How come?

I cleared my throat. "So..."

"You were my first," she said quickly. "Don't make it any weirder than it already is, please."

Weird was the word, but I decided not to dwell on the virgin talk any longer. "So will you tell me now?"

"Tell you what?" She asked.

"The deal between you and my dad."

She chuckled. "Get over it already, man. You're, like, obsessed."

Maybe I was, but didn't I have the right to be? "Listen, Valerie, there's some stuff going on between my dad and myself, and somehow he always seems to get the upper hand. I'm growing sick of it, you know, him trying to control my life. If you won't tell me why you accepted his offer, can you at least tell me why he very desperately wants us married?" I asked.

"You mean, besides whatever deal you think I have with him?"

"Exactly. I think there's something else neither of us knows about, and I must get to the root of it. But I need your help."

She clicked her tongue. "So because we just fucked we're partners all of a sudden?"

"Of course," I said with a grin. "Sexual partners. And you better not give me that look. If we must be stuck in a marriage we don't want, it only makes sense that we try to create some form of pleasure for ourselves, isn't it?"

She seemed not to like the sound of that. "No can do, sir. Even though the sex was beautiful it wouldn't happen again. I even need to get tested for STIs as soon as possible."

I felt hurt by her statement. "True, I've been around the way when it comes to women but I'm always taking care of myself. I'm completely clean, I promise."

She snorted. "Even if you were clean before, I'm sure you've been defiled on this island already by at least one of the women always making noises in your room."

I sighed. "You may not believe this, Vee-Jay, but I didn't do anything with those women. I only watched them do their thing, for my viewing pleasure. This is the honest truth, I promise."

There was a faint flicker of a smile on her face and then she said, "Okay. But you must promise not to disrespect me any longer."

"Done," I said immediately. "And you must promise to help me figure out what my dad is really up to."

"Deal," she said. "Now how do we seal this deal? With a handshake?"

I smiled and moved close to her until my lips were barely an inch away from hers. "With mad sex."