“Goddamn you,” Earl awakened from his catatonic state to scowl at his wife.
She suddenly turned shy and went in search of her clothes
“You take me out on this trip”—Earl turned his attention to Elias and pointed a thick finger in his direction—“make me do work for you. Wet work. I'm just an owner of a restaurant, not some mercenary killer. But I did it…for you. Did shit I have never had to do for your father.
“You, you spoiled little twerp. I do what you ask me to do only for you to tell me, you're taking the business I put my heart and soul into away and leaving me with nothing? Now you take my wife and turn her into a lesbian slut like the bitch you call a girlfriend?” Earl glared at me. “She’s not your girlfriend, she’s just a hooker and you’re her fucking pimp.” His words cut at me, further pushing me down inside the deep hole I’d sunk into when I allowed myself to be used, degraded, and put on display.
“I hope you burn in hell Elias Cari. I don’t care what you'll do to me next. You've taken the business I worked my ass off for…my goddamn wife. I've been nothing but loyal to you. No more.” He shook a finger at him. “The whole world is going to know about you and your father.”
“What’s happening to you,” Elias addressed Earl, his indifference made way for a darker mood, “is what happens when you can’t get on board with a new regime. If you think I’m done with you, I’m not. Despite what you might think”—he glanced at me—“tonight wasn’t about you.” His head snapped back to Earl. "Tomorrow will be about you. Tonight, I want you to take your wife and leave my home."
“Fuck you!” Earl growled. “You’ll be lucky if you catch me. I’m not bending over grabbing my ankles and taking it up the ass for you anymore. Do you goddamn hear me?” Staggering and cursing, Earl began to leave with his wife.
Elias gestured in the air, and I wasn’t sure who he was gesturing to, until Jaco and Mateus came out of the house through the patio door and blocked Earl’s path.
“Mr. Romo felt the need to tell me he’s tired of taking it up the ass for me,” Elias intoned. “Which is ironic to me, because tonight, he disrespected me and my girlfriend—repeatedly—before telling me this. If anyone should feel screwed in this situation, it should be me. I was going to give him a night to at least practice what he’d been shown about how to please a woman.” With a skewed smile, Elias nodded to Jaco. “It’s clear, he doesn’t want to end the night peacefully. I think he needs to know what it really feels like to be tired of taking it up the ass.”
Jaco and Mateus laughed in a controlled and derisive manner while shoving Earl around until he fell to the ground. Jaco disappeared in the house for a few minutes, and reappeared with a metal baseball bat that he happily handed to Elias. The two men—Jaco and Mateus—grabbed either of Earl’s arms and dragged him. Earl struggled, yelling his discontent.
His fight did very little to halt whatever was going to happen to him. He was pulled roughly, his knees scraping against the ground, toward the outdoor dining table. They lifted him up and bent him over the table. It wobbled underneath him, eventually stilling when Jaco and Mateus pinned his arms down. With the bat firmly in his hand, Elias approached Earl’s position and rounded the table to stand behind him. He yanked down Earl’s pants and held the thicker end of the bat up, just behind Earl’s bare behind.
The sound of a blood-curdling scream from a man in agony hit me deeper than I expected it to; I felt his pain and his anguish.
“Are you tired now, Earl?” Elias snarled. He brutally wielded the bat, making Earl cry profusely, pleading for Elias to stop as he jerked with the violent motions of Elias’s arm. “Tell me, are fucking tired now?”
I dropped my chin to my chest as tears flowed down my cheeks. Unable to stand the screaming pleas of a man being violated and feeling helpless to stop it, I covered my ears, wanting it to end.
When things seemed quiet again my eyes fluttered up to the scene.
Elias was still behind Earl, the bat still his hands. The end was coated in bright red blood. He tossed it back to Jaco with a wink.
With his face contorted in pain, Earl slid down to the ground. His body shook violently as he curled up into a ball and howled. Elias reached in his swim trunks and pulled out his cock and proceeded to relieve himself on the man. Jaco and Mateus simply laughed as though it was the most humorous thing they’d ever seen.
“Clean this up and get this ungrateful asshole out of here.” Elias tucked his dick back into his swim trunks and kicked the man while he down, making him weakly yelp upon impact.
Jaco hauled Earl out of the pool area, dragging him out by his feet. Daniella looked shell-shocked as she stared at Elias. She fell to her knees and began to sob and plead for her life. Elias nodded to Mateus and his silent order made Mateus speak to Daniella. His words were too quiet for me to hear, but with the way he tenderly touched her, running his hand up her arm and smoothing her hair, it was highly likely she had nothing to worry about. Naked with her dress in her hands, she stumbled behind her husband’s trail.
Elias set his blazing eyes on me and beckoned for me with a curled-hand gesture.
With my legs shaking and wincing at the pain, I slowly stood. My legs failed me and I fell; my knees hit the ground first with a painful thud. I kept my head bowed, giving up the fight to obey him.
His steps were steady, pounding in an offbeat rhythm in sync with my wildly beating heart. His shadow loomed over me. His touch made me jerk. He grabbed my hand tenderly, helping me to stand and steadied me by grasping my waist.
He ran a hand down the side of my face while wearing a crooked and serene smile. “It’s always an interesting occasion when you’re able to break two virginities in one night.” Leaning forward, making me recoil in fear, he inhaled my scent deeply and exhaled, allowing his breath to flit around my lips. “I don't ever want to see you shed tears for another man again. Especially a simpering, pedophile like Earl Romo. What happened to him tonight was no more than what he’s done to others.
“I think you might’ve given his wife her first orgasm in the seven years since she made the mistake of staying married to him. His ability to live through another night is more than he deserved. Trust me, he will get everything he deserves for everything he’s done very soon.” He ran a finger down my cheek, trailing a tear as it fell. “Shower before you get into our bed. You’re drenched in Daniella’s scent.”
Still in shock, I simply nodded and headed back toward the house.
If last night Elias’s intention was to hurt me and tonight’s purpose was to fracture me, he succeeded on both accounts.
TWENTY-SIX
LYING ON MY STOMACH on the patio was the only way I felt the least pain. I had taken a hot bath in the morning and a cold shower shortly afterward, nothing alleviated my suffering. Wishing I could’ve indulged in the cool water swirling around my fingertips, I closed my eyes. Varied strategies pervaded my thoughts. Nothing I had planned prepared me for this. How different things would’ve been if I was more experienced with men and Elias was as simple as Roth. Then again, I knew I wouldn’t have survived more than one encounter with someone like Elias. As it was, I hadn’t a clue as to what he had planned for me. I would’ve been sure before, but after last night, anything was possible.
He was unpredictable in his volatility.
Announcing his return—after being vacant from my side in bed all night and during breakfast this morning—the taps of his shoes resounded loudly on the concrete as he paced near me.
Feeling frozen in place, my body began to react viscerally and tensed at his presence. It didn’t matter where we were, and if my sense of smell, hearing, and touch went away. He elicited a reaction every time he was around me. I could feel him before any of my other senses knew it was him.
The rustle of clothing made me shut my eyes tighter. The wind at the top of my head fluttered. The sound of his clothing dropping to the ground, fell only inches away from me.
When I heard the splash of water from the pool—the
water spraying back on me—I flinched.
The volume of the movement in the pool reverberated strongly, increasing in sound as he swam toward my position on the edge of the patio.
I could hear his breaths and feel it tickle my arm as he waded inside the pool beside me. A wet hand gripped my hand, making it form a fist. A soft kiss was placed on each one of my knuckles. Another hand reached up to move a curl away from my face.
His heat imposed upon me, making my breaths shallow. The water splashed and swayed. Streams of water dripped down onto my body, touching the flesh left exposed from the bikini I’d worn. His body hovered over me, continuing to allow the water to rain down on me. He grabbed my hips and gently rolled me back first on the towel underneath me.
I whimpered the second my ass hit the concrete.
His breath pressed against my face, the warmth of his body pressed at me, suffocating me with its closeness. “Open those beautiful eyes and look at me, Ley.”
I remained still with my eyes jammed closed, unwilling to look at him.
I heard him sigh in disappointment. “I want to show you one more thing, and after I do, there is someplace I want to take you. From there, I will give you two choices. You can sign the papers you are given and get what you want, or I can get a plane ticket and send you home.”
My eyes popped open, peering at the man staring down at me. His dark wet hair draped over his forehead. His thick lashes clumped and curled together, the sun shone across his eyes, making him squint to reveal only a peep of his glimmering green eyes. A smile pressed against his lips, making his dimples apparent. The smile that could excuse a thousand heinous crimes began to move me in ways I wished it didn’t. Gone was the man I witnessed last night. The man I fell for had made a return.
“And if I go home, you’ll leave me alone?”
The slight movement in his eyes told me no, even if his mouth couldn’t. There was also a small hint of distress. He shut his eyes tightly for a moment, allowing the genial to completely fade away. “Is this another one of your games? You and I both know you’d never leave me.”
“This isn’t a game to me, Elias.” I propped up on my elbows, hoping to make him move, but only succeeded in bringing us closer. “Last night? You…humiliated me. You made me feel ashamed for being bisexual.”
He faltered for a second and struggled to maintain his usual confident front. “You enjoyed every second of the way I treated you, and you deserved it, Hanley. You lied to me when you told me you wouldn’t want anyone else while you were with me. You’ve proved it was a lie time and time again. And let’s be transparent, it isn’t the only crime you’re guilty of.”
“I didn’t want Daniella,” I retorted, my words falling dreamily from my lips. I had no idea what last night was about until this very moment. It hit me like a tidal wave and diminished my anger. “She hit on me in the store yesterday, and I turned her down. And yes, I’m attracted to Skylar, but I never would’ve slept with her while I was with you. I never would’ve touched her or let her touch me in a sexual way, if you hadn’t pushed us together.
“Don’t you get it, Elias? I don’t go out seeking women to sleep with, you bring them to me. And I feel like I have to perform for you. I like Skylar a lot, but she was a friend.” I swallowed hard, hoping to clear the hoarseness in my voice but only made it worse. “You said you didn’t trust me anymore, and I think I finally figured out why. From the moment I told you the truth about my sexuality, you've become viciously insecure.”
Quickly changing from one emotion to the next, abject sadness took a firm hold of him. Forgetting about the days past, and deeply affected by Elias showing more cracks in his armor without saying many words to show me, I couldn’t help but feel empathetic. I reached up, moving his hair away from his forehead and allowed my hand to linger behind his head. “I want more of you—the man I met—instead of this man who does and says horrible things to punish me. The man who is capable of doing what you did to that man. Even if he did what you said he did, he…I don’t know.” Shaking my head, I moved to another land-mine of a topic. “Let me go, Elias. If you don’t really love me”—I choked up, dropping my hand from behind his head—“let me go.”
“You keep alluding to leaving me. Is that really what you want?”
Unable to answer him, I averted my eyes.
He embraced my face, reigniting our common gaze. “If at the end of the night you decide you don’t want what I can give you—what I’m willing to give you—take the plane ticket. I can’t leave here for another day or two, and that will give you time without me. It’s all I can give you, Hanley. Don’t ask me for more.”
“You can give me more.” My voice escaped me, fading in and out.
“I know”—he brushed his fingers down the fine hairs at my hairline—“and that is where the paperwork enters the equation. I can’t tell you what it is until after you come with me.”
“I need more than that, Elias.”
He closed his eyes, grimacing in torment. It was gone in a flash as he hoisted himself up on the patio and scooped me into his arms. I put up not a single hand to fight against him when he brought me inside the house and transported me upstairs.
Entering the bedroom, he moved toward the bed and gently placed me down. Even the softness of the bed made me wince and suck my teeth in pain.
Sitting on the edge of the bed next to me, he reached over to the table and grabbed a bottle of pills. Retrieving one white elongated pill, he brought it to my lips. “Open.”
My head swayed from left to right, denying whatever he tried to give me. He clutched the back of my head, digging his fingers into my scalp and yanked my head back. He repeated his demand as quietly as he did the first time.
My quivering bottom lip detached from the top, allowing the bitter pill to slide onto my tongue. He retrieved a bottle of water from the table, bringing it to my lips. I swallowed it down, gulping slowly.
His hands slipped up my body to cup my breasts through my bathing suit. His fingers swayed against my nipples, hardening them. He lifted my bikini top and sank down. His damp hair tickled my chin as he mouthed my nipple, grazing his teeth against the nub.
I slowly brought my legs together, fighting against the reaction he pulled out of my body. I began to feel weighted, and the pain he left me with last night began to lessen.
His lips raked down my abdomen and stopped just shy of my hip. Tucking his fingers underneath the knotted portion of my black bikini bottom, he moved them down my legs.
He looked up at me, bringing his hands around and underneath my thighs, directing my legs to drape over his shoulders. He found my hands where they rested on either side of me. Our fingers intertwined, evoking an unwanted calm inside me. He sank down, blowing a cool stream of air against my clit that made me whimper.
His tongue ran up the furrow of my pussy and stopped at my clit. He swirled the flat of his tongue against the center until I squirmed. Grasping my hands tightly, he wrapped his lips around the nub to suckle the most sensitive part. The warmth of his tongue lapped back and forth at the head of the bundle of nerves. The muscles in my legs convulsed at a constant rhythm.
My back arched as the feeling made me soar.
“Can I come?” I implored, my lips trembling and my voice shaking.
His eyes met mine over the landscape of my body. He never stopped manipulating me. Instead, his wink served as my permission. The wave pulled my body into a tense state. My orgasm leveled me, forcing me into a still, arched position as the rush debilitated me.
He kissed my inner thigh and gently kissed my quivering slit. Standing up, he ducked down and sank his teeth into my knee. His hand smoothed over my abdomen, ebbing and flowing with my panting breaths.
The gaping pit of emptiness inside me was uncovered and clamored to be filled again.
He moved to hover over my body and positioned my legs, allowing them to rest against his chest. He wiggled out of his boxer briefs, grabbed his erection and guided it insi
de my wet pussy. His pace was gentle, moving me in an ethereal way, giving me what I’d been clamoring for but had been deprived of. The heels of my feet dug into his shoulders as he stroked inside me, his momentum purposeful and unhurried, plunging deep and withdrawing almost completely from my sex. He repeated the motions over and over, evoking a different kind of response from my body. I bounced in slow motion in response to his movement and sank into bliss.
I spread my legs wider, allowing them to fall on either side of his body. Reaching up, I joined my hands behind his head and brought him closer to me. He exhaled a stream of heated hair at my lips. I opened my mouth and tilted up to kiss him. He responded by opening his mouth and exploring mine with his tongue.
Above me, I could feel the tension of his body disappear. He rested against me, letting his entire weight press against me. Our bodies mashed together as we worked together in a slow-winding rhythm. My lips and his never separated as we exchanged kisses tinged with passion and words we couldn’t express verbally.
The slow sway of pelvis and the gentle rock of his hips brought us to a purging and quiet climax.
In the aftermath of the slow and gentle session we had, we stared at each other—a continuing conversation without words. A conversation that pulled me right back into the sinking dark pit of quicksand. I closed my eyes, but it didn’t matter. Nothing I did mattered. I damned him by making him feel, and he damned me by skewing my purpose.
“I love you,” I admitted, my voice quiet and soft.
He lifted away from me, and when I opened my eyes, all I could see was his shocked face staring back at me.
“Did you hear me, Elias?” I asked, my voice quavering with disappointment and apprehension. “I said: I love you. It’s what you wanted to hear, right? Aren’t you going to say it back? You have…before.”
Ensuring I felt worse, he immediately slid out of me and got out of bed. Taking my hand, he led me to the bathroom to shower with him.
We didn’t exchange another word the entire morning.
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