The man who he'd seen outside Moon in Ibiza hadn't been small either, though Rafael towered over him.
Using my size to my advantage was in my best interest. Playing on the expectations that I would be nothing but a tiny girl with no ability or interest in fighting. Jabs to the dick, the heel of my palm into the end of a person's nose and thrusting up, and the side of my hand to the edge of a man's neck.
All the ways I could take a man to his knees long enough to escape. What I would do from there, I didn't know. But I guessed the hope was that someone would be there to help me after that was done.
"Gouge out his eyes if you can," Joaquin said, taking my hand in his grip. Hugo flinched every time Joaquin touched me, as if the point would work against him every single time he did it. He bent two fingers at the middle knuckle, tucking them together and guiding them to the right side of his nose. "Strike with all the force you have, and you'll blind them. Temporary or permanent, that will give you a huge advantage through the rest of the fight and will probably give you the opportunity to get away. Objects are even better. If you can puncture the eye itself, you'll stand a chance at killing them."
I twisted my body back, pulling my hand away and practicing the spacing between my fingers. "One eye at a time?" I asked, trying to spread my fingers wide enough that I could take out both at once.
"You'll get more force that way," he said, pushing them back together. I jabbed at his face, stopping just short of his eye. He blinked back at me, looking far too trusting as he looked to the sun in the sky. "We should get you back before Regina sends out a search party."
"Okay," I agreed. Even though I wanted to keep going, my body ached with the tiredness from the day. I didn't have an active lifestyle in Chicago, and I hadn't done much to change that since coming to Spain. We turned and made our way back for the house, walking through the clearing as I thought over the reality of the last twenty-four hours.
Rafe was gone from the island. He wasn't in my way, and Joaquin had shown he was willing to defy Rafael in some ways.
Yet I hadn't once asked him to take me off the island or to help me escape. I should have wanted my freedom more than anything, but I didn't. He'd taken my choices and left me with no other option but to do what he wanted. But there was something amazing about not being responsible for once.
There was something addictive about having someone else make the hard choices for me, and that terrified me.
Because if I liked it, it was never going to stop.
How long could it really go on before Rafael crossed a line?
Hadn't he already?
My bones hurt. It didn't seem like it should be possible for a person's bones to hurt, but mine throbbed under my skin. The muscles clenched and contracted as I shifted my body in the bathtub of our bedroom to try to soothe my sore limbs. Regina didn't expect Rafael home until the next day, given the nature of his business in Rome, apparently, but I needed to be able to move by the time he returned.
If I couldn't walk, he would know I'd done something wrong. He'd know that there was a secret I kept, and I knew the moment he started asking questions would be when he got the answers I so desperately wanted to keep from him for as long as possible.
If I had to be punished, I wanted to get more than one lesson out of it first.
I sighed, leaning my back against the tub fully and letting the water glide over my skin. It had long since cooled down from the scorching hot that I'd filled it with, but I couldn't bring myself to move.
I didn't know if I could get out on my own, and the thought brought a chuckle to my lips. Maybe I'd just stay in the bathtub until Rafe came home and discovered me as a pruned mess.
I moved slowly, forcing myself to sit up first and wincing at the pain that pulled through my stomach muscles. "Are you feeling alright, Princesa?" Rafael asked suddenly, standing in the doorway that was open to the bedroom. I hadn't even heard it open, so absorbed in my own pain.
"Rafe," I gasped, turning my head to look at him in shock. All the bravado I’d felt in his absence was nothing but a fleeting memory the moment I was hit with the overwhelming reality of him again.
Despite the pain in my body, I forced myself to move as naturally as I could. To not allow my stiff joints to show just how sore I was. "I'm just feeling a little queasy," I lied. The random moment of nausea I'd had the day before hadn't returned since, proving to be nothing more than a case of being too tired.
It seemed ridiculous when I didn't do much, but the emotional weight of all that had happened put me in a constant feeling of needing to sleep. Rafe walked forward, leaning toward me and touching his lips to mine briefly as his fingers tested the water. "It's cold," he observed.
"It is," I admitted. "I was just being lazy and didn't want to get out."
He smiled, the dark grin making my own falter. "I want to show you something," he said, holding out a hand for me. I swallowed before placing mine in his, letting him pull me to standing. He wrapped a towel around me, drying me off and picking out pants for me to wear while I stared at him in my own nerves.
Did he know?
He held out underwear for me, and I placed my hands on his shoulders before stepping into them and letting him pull them up my legs to cover my body. I knew something was very wrong, because there was no world in which I wouldn't have thought Rafael would want to fuck me the moment he came home.
Unless he'd had another woman to entertain him in his absence. My old insecurities plagued me as he helped me pull a sports bra over my head.
"What's wrong, mi reina?" he asked, his fingers tracing the seam of my pussy through my panties. "Did you do something that you shouldn't have while I was gone?"
I swallowed, letting him help me into the jeans he held out. "I think we both already know the answer to that."
He hummed, pulling a shirt over my head and leaving me to stare at him in annoyance. "Well you clearly don't need your husband's cock," he mused. "So I'm not sure why you seem disappointed that I'm dressing you." Socks and shoes followed, driving home the point that we would be leaving the house.
I suddenly wondered if I’d be returning.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked when he took my hand and guided me out of the bedroom. Regina smiled as if nothing was wrong as we made our way past her and into the SUV in the front driveway. There probably was nothing wrong in her world.
She wasn't the one who'd defied the devil and felt like he was leading her to her funeral.
Rafael pulled up to a stable with barn hands working through the open aisle in the center. He helped me out of the car while I stared at him in confusion, letting him guide me to the massive gate across the front of the open barn doors.
"You have horses?" I asked, turning to look up at him as he pulled the gate open and stepped into the barn. A tan horse was cross tied in the aisle, looking clean and pristine with an orchid halter on its face.
"I do," Rafael admitted, stepping up to one of the open stall doors. A massive ebony horse poked its head out, turning his strong neck to face Rafe and leaning into his body. Rafe accommodated the affectionate touch, stroking his face with a gentleness I'd only ever seen him use with me before. "This is Valerio," he said.
Rafe walked to the table at the head of the barn, grabbing a cube and hand feeding it to the massive horse who took it from him carefully with massive, flat teeth. I didn't move to them despite the horse's beauty, too distracted by the tan horse in the aisle. The horse's warm brown eyes studied me cautiously as it tossed its head twice. "That's Challen," Rafael said. "Shining Moon."
"Shouldn't he be white to be a shining moon?" I laughed, stepping forward cautiously.
Rafael hummed his amusement. "Perhaps, but you were always my shining moon in the night. It seemed fitting since he's yours."
"Mine?" I asked, wincing when he took my hand in his and held it out for the horse to smell. The whiskers of his nose tickled the back of my hand as he scented me, his nose twitching against my skin. "But I don
't know the first thing about horses."
"I've had him for over a year, so he's well trained. He'll be a good horse to teach you anything you want to know." Rafe released my hand, letting me move closer to the horse that studied me as uncertainly as I did him. I touched my palm to the top of his face, stroking over the short hair there and chuckling when he raised his head into the touch and his nose brushed against my stomach. His nose twitched there, tickling me through my shirt gently. Rafael went into the room off to the side, emerging with a fabric pad that he tossed onto the horse's back. He secured it beneath his body, pulling it tight. Challen nudged me with his nose, his eyes glimmering as Rafe disappeared again and came back with a leather and rope halter. He attached reins to it, tossing them over Challen's neck before unfastening the one from his face and taking it off.
He moved me to stand beside Challen's shoulder, placing the halter in my hands and helping me to guide it on over his nose. Once it was secured around his jaw, he pulled the reins free from his shoulders and placed them in my hands. I stood there, holding the fucking horse with no clue what to do, while Rafe moved and grabbed a helmet from the tack room. He put it on my head while I stared at him in horror.
"You can't possibly think I'm about to ride a horse," I protested. "Shouldn't there be a saddle or something at least?"
"I have always thought the best way to learn to ride is bareback. You can feel the horse's movement better, and there's just something about the connection it creates that you can't achieve with the barrier of a saddle," he explained, stepping out toward the back entrance of the barn. He motioned for me to follow, and I hesitantly guided Challen to turn. He followed at my side, his footsteps so close to mine making me nervous.
I backed away, giving him more slack in the reins but he just moved closer to me once again until his shoulder almost brushed against mine. "You sound like a man complaining about condoms," I said to Rafe with a swallow.
“And what would you know of that, mi reina?” He laughed, stopping just outside the barn. When Challen and I caught up to him, he took the reins from my hands and tossed them over his neck. The horse stood still as Rafe moved me to line up with his back. He bent down slightly, putting his hands out and cupping them. "Left foot in my hand. I'll give you a leg up. You get your body on his back and pull your right leg to the other side."
"Oh for fuck's sake," I groaned. "That sounds way too coordinated for me. You realize I trip over my own feet right?"
He raised an eyebrow at me without answering, leaving no doubt that we wouldn't be going until I tried. Putting my foot in his hand, I shrieked when he flung me up onto Challen's back. The poor thing must have hated me as I struggled to maneuver my aching body onto him and swing my leg around, but he didn't so much as take a single step. "See? Not so bad."
"Are they always so tall?" I asked dumbly, knowing the answer to the question as I gathered the reins in my hand.
"Challen's a pony, mi reina," he chuckled. "He's small for a horse."
"Well I'm glad for that," I mumbled, touching the short multicolored mane that stood up straight on his neck with a chess board design of black and white cut into it.
"He's a Norwegian Fjord. That's a typical style for the mane," he said, smirking as if he could hear my thoughts. He took my foot in his hands, tilting it harshly as my sore muscles protested the change in position. "Always keep your heels down. It helps your seat and will keep you on the horse."
"Smart. Remind me about the potential of falling, because I see that being totally helpful." I swallowed as he touched my spine, guiding me to straighten it beneath his touch.
"We're just going to go for a walk today," he teased. "Maybe we'll do some trotting. I want you nice and sore by the end of the day." I swallowed again, the reality of already being sore feeling like a condemnation as I tried to shove off the physical signs of it. Maybe the riding would give me an excuse for it and I wouldn't have to worry about hiding it any longer.
"Why do you want me sore?" I asked nervously as he clucked at my side. Challen walked forward, keeping pace with Rafael as I fought to sit still through the intensity of the movement beneath me.
"I told you there would be consequences for playing with my pussy while I was gone, Princesa. You did it anyway, so now I am going to take it out on this pretty little ass of yours before I fuck it." I fought back the heat that built in my core, the driving force making me ache in an entirely new way.
The friction of Challen's movement between my thighs wasn't a good combination when met with Rafael's filthy words. Even touching myself the night before hadn't been enough to curb the insatiable desire Rafael caused.
I'd been needy and greedy for him minutes after finding my orgasm, needing him inside me to ever feel truly complete. He'd been my first, and he'd ruined me for all pleasure that didn't involve him.
He'd broken me. Totally and completely, and I didn't think I could even make myself regret it.
31
Rafael
"Keep your heels down!" I shouted, watching Isa tentatively walk Challen around the ring for the tenth time. She was gentle with her hands as if she worried she would hurt him by using them to steer him, but I hadn't given her a bit for that reason.
Not that Challen needed one. The stubborn pony was much more likely to refuse to trot than he was to take off with her. She fixed her legs, tilting her feet in the way I'd shown her. The position was uncomfortable to adjust to, particularly without stirrups, but she understood the basics at least. I stepped in front of them as they came closer, watching Challen gladly stop. Isa reached down to touch his neck. "You ready to trot?" I asked.
"Nope," she said. I laughed, moving to her side and taking her foot in my hand. "When you want him to go faster, apply light pressure with your heels. Not a kick or anything like that, just give him a little squeeze with your calf. When you want him to slow down, sit heavy and squeeze with your thighs."
"Isn't that confusing?" she asked.
"Not for him," I said with a smirk, clucking at Challen as I pressed her calf into his side. He walked off at a quicker pace than before, making Isa tense up. "Relax," I urged her, clucking again. The horse glared at me, but picked up the trot regardless.
Isa's tense body bounced on his back, and I winced along with the poor horse. "Sit. Keep your ass on his back." She sat deeper into the motion, moving with him instead of tensing up and fighting the motion. "Now post," I instructed.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she hissed at me, but there was a smile in her voice that hadn't been there before.
"Use your thighs to lift your ass off him. Up. Down. Up. Down." I instructed. She looked at me like I'd lost my mind, glancing down at the lack of stirrups. "You can do it."
Heaving a sigh, she finally tried and managed to lift herself up and lower herself down carefully, but her face was pained as she did it. It seemed I had underestimated just how much Isa needed to work on her core muscle groups. "Okay," I said, letting her off the hook. I walked up as Challen slowed to a walk and took the reins from Isa's hand to guide them back to the dismount area. “Swing your leg over and I’ll help you down.” She did as I said, letting me guide her body down Challen’s side slowly until her feet hit the ground and she gave a tiny whimper.
The pain shouldn’t have been so immediate, and suspicion filled me and left me wondering why Isa seemed so miserable.
I took Challen back to the barn, handing him off to Esteban and taking Isa's hand in mine. I guided her into the spotless tack room that was nicer than the kitchen in the house Isa grew up in. Stripping the helmet off her head, I hung it on one of the hooks and kicked the tack room door closed behind us.
Isa spun to face it, swallowing down her nerves as she squirmed where she stood. I moved closer to her, forcing her to back up until her ass connected with the edge of the table in the center of the room. "What are you doing?" she whispered, staring up at me as I cupped her face in my hand. Running fingers over the skin of her cheekbone and
my thumb beneath the spot in her eye, I leaned into her space and kissed her softly.
Tracing the seam of her lips with my tongue, I groaned the moment she opened for me and accepted me inside despite her anxiety. Her fear built as I enjoyed the taste of her on my tongue. I'd been gone for a day, and already I felt pathetic with how much I'd missed her in such a short timeframe.
Mi reina was part of me. Printed on my very soul in a way that I couldn't escape.
I pulled back from her mouth, kissing along her cheek as I slid my hand into her hair and tugged her head back so sharply she gasped in pain. "I don't appreciate knowing you disobey me while I'm gone, wife," I murmured. She shuddered in my grip as I released her and stepped back just enough to turn her to face the table. Reaching around to the front of her pelvis, I unbuttoned her jeans and slid down the fly, jerking the fabric down her thighs harshly.
"What are you doing?" she repeated, her gaze straying to the window on the door. Isa still didn't understand that no one would dare to look at her. But even if they did, I didn't care that they saw her with my cock buried balls deep in her ass. She was mine to fuck, mine to use.
Mine to do whatever the fuck I pleased with.
"Bend over the table," I ordered, pressing a hand between her shoulder blades until she laid flat.
"Rafe," she protested, earning a warning swat from my hand as I smacked the tight globe of her ass. She jolted against the table, laying her torso against it until the side of her face rested against the back of her hand.
"You're going to hold very fucking still, Isa," I said, stepping away to quietly pull one of the riding crops off the wall while she couldn't see me. "If you move, I'll tie you up. Do not fucking test me."
Until Forever Ends: A Dark Mafia Romance Page 20
