Without looking at me, he said “I have something kinda bad to tell you.”
“Worse than the fact that there is Rochelle and untold minions out there threatening my life?” Andrew had given me the low-down on three of them, but he didn't seem too impressed. He said that they struck him as the gang that couldn't shoot straight, kind of a Gilooly bunch.
I was surprised that Rochelle didn't get people more professional.
He looked me in the eye, putting his hand on mine. “The Tokyo trip has been pushed up, because of some of Charlie's screwups.”
My heart was in my throat. I had hoped that I would have some time to get used to not having Ryan around for half the day, then I could wean myself off of him, to where I could get used to him not being around for two whole weeks.
“When do you have to leave now?” I asked.
“Tomorrow.”
I nodded, looking at my shaking hands that were gripping the chopsticks.
“Beautiful, I'm so sorry about this. I wish that it could be helped. I know that Andrew will keep you safe, but I do worry about you just the same.”
“I'm a big girl,” I said. “And Andrew is going to teach me how to shoot a gun.”
He nodded. “I asked him to do this for you. You need to know how to defend yourself. I hope that you don't mind, but I also have asked him to give you other self-defense lessons.”
“Do you know how to shoot a gun?”
“Of course,” he said. “As f'd up as my life has been, knowing basic self-defense and knowing how to use a weapon has been a must for me. Now it's time for you to learn as well.”
I examined my orange chicken at the end of my chopsticks and said nothing. But I knew that Ryan was reading my mind, as always.
Sure enough, Ryan said “Again, honey, I can't tell you how sorry I am that a self-defense course and a weapon shooting lesson is even necessary for you. It's because of me. Sometimes I'm sorry that we met.”
I looked at him, feeling horrified and startled that he would say such a thing.
“I mean, I'm really glad that we met, for my sake,” he said. “You have been the missing puzzle piece for me. But, for your sake, I wish that we hadn't met. Your life would be so much simpler now.”
“The sacrifice has been worth it,” I said. “100% worth it.”
We made love that night with tender passion, knowing that it would be our last night together for at least two weeks, maybe more. Ryan wasn't sure when he would be getting back from Tokyo, but hoped that it would not be too terribly long of a business trip. He made love to me right after dinner, and we went on through the night, both of us exploring each other's bodies in the most sensual manner possible. Ryan said that he didn't mind making love all night, reasoning that he had a long plane trip ahead, on the corporate jet, and he could sleep on the plane.
“And I have to make sure that we make every minute count,” he said, while he thrust hungrily, his head buried in my shoulder.
Once again, I willed the love-making never to end, so that we might put off the inevitable.
Little did I know that this would be the last time we would be making love for a long, long time.
Chapter Fourteen
Ryan had been gone for about a week when it happened. He had called me as much as he could from Tokyo, Skyping with me for hours in the evening. I told him all about my self-defense classes, and target shooting exercises. To my surprise, I was getting rather handy with my .45 pistol that Ryan bought me before he left, although I still wasn’t a great shot. I also was able to flip Andrew when he “attacked” me, and pin him.
Andrew told me that I was a prize pupil.
I was gradually getting into life again without Ryan around, feeling less depressed and more like I wanted to actually engage with the world.
I had Richard and Debbie over for dinner one night.
“So, doll, how are things going without hunky boy around?” Richard asked me.
“Great. Married life is great.”
“Uh, huh,” Richard said. “Tell me the truth.”
“Well, I'm a Country Club wife,” I said.
“Don't tell me you actually joined the country club,” Debbie said.
“God, no. Like I would ever fit in there,” I said.
“So, what are you going to do with your life?” Richard asked.
“Not sure yet. Right now, I'm concentrating on learning self-defense and how to shoot a weapon. I never thought that I would be in the position where I would be so bored with my life.”
Debbie offered helpfully that I should “take some classes, find out what you want to do.”
To which I said “Yeah. Do you guys want to play a game?” I had no desire to engage in a conversation about my future, because I didn't know what to say about it just then.
At that I brought out some board games, and we had fun with that for several hours.
They went home, and I got ready for bed, changing into my pajamas. I was in the kitchen fixing myself a little snack, the dogs having been kenneled for the night, when Andrew emerged from the downstairs. I hadn't told anybody that I had a bodyguard, not really wanting them to worry about me even more than they already were, so I asked Andrew to stay downstairs while I had my company over.
Andrew snuck up behind me, and put his arms around me from the back. I figured that this was my opportunity to flip him again, so I put my hands on his arms, and made the maneuver like he taught me.
To my surprise, however, he didn't flip, just started gripping me tighter.
It was then that I felt him slipping a belt around my neck.
I still thought it was all a game, but I hadn't yet learned what to do when somebody puts a belt around my neck.
“Ok, Andrew, this is my lesson for today. What do I do now?” I asked.
He said nothing, just pulled it tighter. I started to panic, as I was losing consciousness. I desperately grabbed the belt, trying to loosen it, then he loosened it on his own.
I spun around and faced him. He still had the belt in his hand.
“Lay down,” he ordered.
I was quizzical. What kind of game was he playing? He must just be trying to scare me, to simulate a real-world situation.
“Lay down,” he ordered again.
I lay down on the tiled floor of the kitchen. He pulled the belt around my neck tighter still.
Then he started to unbuckle his pants.
My heart quickened. The belt was tight enough that I was starting to lose consciousness again, but he loosened it just when I was about to pass out. He did that several times more, then ripped down my pajama bottoms and my underwear.
He was now without pants, having unbuckled them and thrown them aside. I, too, was half-naked, lying on the floor, going in and out of consciousness with every tug of the belt. I started to struggle, then he tightened the belt.
“If you keep struggling, I won't loosen this belt,” he said. “Hold still.”
At that, he thrust into me. His manhood was huge, as large as Ryan's, and I wasn't wet because of my fear, so the pain was excruciating. He jackhammered me for about five minutes, but every minute seemed like a year. All the while, he kept tightening the belt and loosening, tightening it and loosening it.
I started to scream.
As soon as I started screaming, he pulled on the belt violently. I gasped for air, not able to make a sound, clawing desperately on the belt. “You scream again, and I will tighten this belt so hard that you won't get any air at all.” Then he tugged even harder to make his point. All I could do was open my mouth, and nothing came out. Then he grabbed one of his socks, rolled it up, and put it in my mouth. I bit down on the sock, feeling hot tears running down my face.
He was still on top of me, thrusting over and over and over, not stopping for even a second.
Then he flipped me over, violently putting a handcuff on one of my wrists. He dragged me over to the bar, like a dog, leading me by my leash, which was the belt around my neck. I craw
led on my knees and one hand, my other hand desperately gripping the belt. Then he pounced on top of me, dragging my handcuffed wrist to the leg of the barstool, then dragged my other arm, then handcuffed that wrist as well, so that I was securely handcuffed to the solid leg of the barstool.
I was breathing in and out, in and out, from my nose. My mouth still had a rolled up sock in it, so my nose was the only breath that I could get. Then I muffled a scream as he penetrated me anally. This was pain like I had never experienced, not even when I was being tortured by Rochelle. He was ripping up my insides, not bothering with lubrication, and he pounded me for what seemed like hours, although it was probably only minutes. I could feel hot tears running down my cheeks, as my legs were violently kicking, but he tugged on the belt violently, then said “you keep kicking like that, and I will have to do this to you while you are unconscious. And I'll just leave you here, handcuffs on, to fend for yourself.”
In other words, either I stopped kicking, or I was going to die.
I stopped kicking, then willed myself away from the reality of what was happening. I just lay there, my mind focused on my honeymoon with Ryan. The last really happy time. We were in Nick's villa, making love non-stop, going on bike tours through wine country, seeing the sights. I was posing for him while he made a portrait of me, sticking my tongue out at him playfully. We were on his yacht, the Maggie, while we looked into the deep blue Mediterranean, watching the dolphins and the waves. On and on and on my mind drifted, and I felt myself relaxing.
Then he was once again penetrating me vaginally, but, at this point, I was only vaguely aware of what has happening. My mind was a million miles away.
After what seemed to be days, it was finally over, and he got up, without a word, as he pulled up his pants and fastened his belt. Then he produced a key, and removed the handcuffs.
“Not a word about this,” he said. “You know how I am trained. You won't stand a chance.”
I lay on the kitchen floor, too shocked to say anything.
Then he left the house, leaving me all alone.
I was in shock, dazed, and feeling like I had been dreaming. I lay on the kitchen floor for what seemed to be an eternity, lying motionless, curled up in the fetal position, not crying or screaming. Just lying there. In a pool of blood. I got up to use the bathroom, and wiped more blood off of me. Then cleaned up the blood in the kitchen.
Then I threw on a heavy coat, gloves and a hat, and wandered out of the house. I walked several miles until I found a bus stop.
I laid down on the bus bench, turned off my phone, and waited for the bus to arrive.
Where I was going, I knew not.
Chapter Fifteen
Ryan
I was having drinks in a Tokyo Bar, with some of my colleagues, but I couldn't feel farther away. Iris feels that she has been the one who has been most affected by what has happened in the last few months, and, in a way, she is. But I wished that she knew how paramount she was on my mind, even now that I was on this trip that was necessitated by Charlie's screw-ups. Well, the trip was pushed up because of this, but the trip was originally scheduled because our bank was looking into acquiring some smaller Japanese banks that were struggling because of their current recession. I was the face of our bank, so I was the one who was sent to represent the company, along with the CFO and the CEO, and various management team leaders.
It had been a fruitful trip, but I had to admit that I was worried. I called Iris at 8 PM her time, 10 AM my time, just like I promised, but it went straight to voice mail. I called several times after that, straight to voice mail. After not getting her for several hours, I gave up, knowing that she probably was asleep.
Then, I waited until 8 AM her time, 10 PM my time.
Straight to voice mail.
Yet, here I was, entertaining the Japanese business men with my colleagues, and my mind was literally thousands of miles away.
We were all making small talk, and making plans to go to a strip club later on. The very last thing that I wanted to do at that point, but I obliged like a sheep.
“Before we go to the next place, do you mind if I make a phone call?” I asked them.
“No, no, of course not,” Hirohito, the point man for the merger, said to me, bowing his head a little.
“Thank you,” I said, then went outside and called Nick.
It was around eight AM there on Saturday, ten PM here, and Nick was at work, as he always was on every other Saturday. He was the lead architect for a large firm in town, and was often away from the phone.
I prayed that I would get him.
To my surprise, he did answer the phone. It turned out that he was in his office doing some drafting of a major project in town.
“Buddy,” he said, his familiar greeting for me. “How's Tokyo?”
“Fine. Listen, I need for you to do me a favor,” I said.
“Anything.”
“I need for you to go our house as soon as you can and check on Iris.”
“Sure,” he said. “But she has a bodyguard there. I'm quite sure she is in capable hands.”
“Even so, I need you to check. I can't get ahold of her, and I'm worried.”
“Isn't she kinda an airhead?” he asked.
“She tends to be kind of forgetful. So what?”
“Well, she's the type who would let her phone run out of a battery, then forget where she placed her charger.”
“I know that,” I said, feeling impatient. “But I have a bad feeling. So, please, do this for me?”
“If you say so.”
“Call me when you find out?”
“I get off at noon, I'll swing by there before I go home, then call you.”
“Call me immediately,” I said.
“That'll be around 2 AM your time,” he said.
“That's fine.” I just hoped that I wasn't still at the strip club at that time.
Then we headed over to the strip club. I was laying off the alcohol that night, so far. I was drinking club soda, and waiting for the phone to ring.
Jackson, one of the management team that was also on this trip, came up to me. “You having fun?” he asked flirtatiously. I knew that the boy was gay, which wasn't a problem, but, since everybody in the office now knew that I swung both ways, it seemed that men were coming out of the woodwork to ogle me. I never cared about that, though. People were people, and it was flattering, if anything, but I let them all know that I was happily married, thank you very much.
It was bad enough getting the female attention constantly, now I had to put up with the male attention, too.
“Sure,” I said, looking at my phone anxiously. It was only 1 AM this time, around 11 AM Nick's time, but I was hoping that he would get off early and give me an answer. Not that I expected it, I just willed it.
“This trip has been the time of my life,” the boy said. “I've only been out of college for less than a year, and here I am, sitting in on takeover negotiations halfway around the world. Who'da thought?”
I nodded, distracted. I saw Hirohito motion to me to tip the dancer, and I gave her a hundred dollar bill from my wallet. I felt a little showy doing that, but impressing these people was the name of the game here, and whatever I could do to facilitate the best asking price for this bank, I would do it.
We were still at the club at 2:30 AM, when I looked at the phone and saw that Nick was calling.
“Excuse me,” I said to my companions. I answered the phone in the loud bar, then made my way outside to talk to him. Outside, the night air was warm, unseasonably so, seeing as this was December, and the parking lot was full. There was a loud group of people who were entering the club, so I walked a bit further, under a barren cherry tree, and sat down on the grass. I could still barely hear him.
“Did you go by the house?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“And?”
“Her car is there. But she is not.”
My heart was in my throat. I knew that some
thing was wrong, I just knew it. Iris and I have almost a psychic connection, and I knew somehow that she was in trouble.
“What about Andrew?”
“Nowhere to be found.”
“What about Daniel? Maybe he drove her somewhere?”
“I called him already. He hasn't seen her either.”
My mind started searching, wandering. “What about the other cars? Maybe she took the Jag, the Porsche, the Escalade?”
“All the cars are at the house.”
“What about Maximus, Brutus and Madison?” I asked, knowing that Iris would never, ever, just leave the animals unattended in the house.
“They were there, looking pretty hungry and thirsty. The dogs were kenneled. I gave them food and water, then brought them to my house to care for them.”
Shit. She just left the animals there? Now I was really starting to panic. “Thanks,” I said. “I need to make some other phone calls.”
“Sure. Do you need anything else?”
“No, just please be on stand-by?”
“Of course.”
Good old Nick. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for me, nor I for him. It was nice to know that there was somebody who always had my back, no matter what. Besides Iris, I mean.
I called Charlene, her mother. But I didn't want to panic her, so, when she answered the phone, I asked for Iris as casually as possible.
“Iris isn't here,” Charlene said.
“Oh, I'm so sorry. She said that she might be paying you a visit today, so I wanted to call and wish her happy anniversary.”
“Anniversary?”
“We met a year and a half ago today,” I said, which was actually true.
“Well, I'll be sure and tell her that you called when I see her,” she said. “I guess you couldn't get ahold of her?”
“No, but you know how she is,” I said, trying to sound as light as possible, disguising the panic in my throat, “she no doubt lost her phone charger.”
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