SCREAMIN' in Pain

by Cynthia Pegram

  Giovanni has tears in his eyes. I am furious with that bitch. How can anyone do that to someone? I know I went through a lot hell with Hugh. However, he had his hands full with Maria. I want to hunt her down and kick her ass. My poor baby. I feel so sorry for him.

  Giovanni takes my hand giving a little squeeze. He looks at me smiling, “Kristy, she tried to take my life. Now you are giving me life. You are the best thing that ever happened to me!”

  I get up to go sit on his lap. I give him a kiss. I hold on to him. I was not going to let him ever be hurt again!

  “I love you, Kristy. I do not want anything to happen to you. Maria is not mentally stable; I fear she will hurt you.”

  “I already told you I am not afraid of her. She will not hurt me. I can take care of myself. She is not going to scare us. We are not going to run from her. We will face this head on. I told you I have lived my life in fear. I won’t ever do that again.”

  He pulls me close to him, hugging me tight. I kiss him once more, rubbing his face.

  “Kristy, I just want her to leave us alone and go home. I want us to get on with our lives.”

  “Then we will, Giovanni.”

  I get off his lap retaking my seat. I know now why Giovanni has suggested me to sleep with other people. He is truly afraid I will cheat on him. Now I know I never will.

  “Kristy, now tell me what happened in your marriage. I only heard bits and pieces from Heather. I want you to feel like you can be honest with me.”

  I let out a big breath. I do not like to talk about my marriage. I knew it had been hard for him to tell me so I would tell him.

  “Hugh used to beat me. He cheated on me. He was very mentally abusive! It was not always like that. The last few years of my marriage things got worse. He would do whatever he wanted. I could not do anything. He was so controlling he would tell me who I could hang out with. He would tell me what clothes to wear. How much makeup to put on. It never ended.”

  I find myself babbling, looking at my hands. I can’t look at Giovanni. I am so ashamed of myself.

  “After he would beat me he would tell me how sorry he was. He said he would never do it again. If he had a bad day, he would take it out on me. He had neighbors, people at the gym, anyone he could find to spy on me. Everyone was afraid of him. One night he told me I could not see Heather anymore. He thought she was a bad influence on me. That is the first time I ever told him no. No, I wouldn’t do that.”

  I fall silent. I am remembering that night. I never want to think about that again, still I have to. I feel like I am reliving that night all over again.

  “I told him Heather was my best friend. She was all I had. I needed her in my life. I told him you took everything away from me. He wasn’t going to take that too.”

  I can feel the tears freely pouring down my face. Giovanni sits his hand on mine giving a soft squeeze. I lower my voice. I get up to go look off the balcony.

  “Hugh held off and punched me in the face. I remember dropping to the ground crying. He kept kicking me. I begged him to quit except he would not. He was drunk not caring what he did to me. He almost killed me that night. Hugh and a couple of his friends had raped me. He did so many bad things to me. I couldn’t leave.”

  I am wailing, crying so hard. Giovanni starts to walk over to me. I put my hand up to stop him. I do not want him to get close to me. I have to get it out. I have to get it off my chest.

  “Kristy, how did Hugh die?”

  I start to bawl like a baby. I am crying so hard I cannot breathe. Giovanni comes to me lifting me in his arms. He takes me to the couch. Setting me on his lap. He holds me until I quiet down. I take a big sigh. I decided I had told him this much I might as well go on.

  “I was in the hospital, Heather came there. I had told her I could not go home. I knew one day Hugh would kill me. She knew I was right, she agreed with me. Randy and a friend had gone hunting. I stayed with Heather.”

  My voice goes so low that I feel Giovanni lower his head closer to my mouth. He can barely hear what I am saying.

  “Every Saturday Hugh and a buddy of his would go running. On the Saturday he died, his friend could not go running. I left Heather’s to take a drive. I found myself driving down the road he ran on. I saw him - I did not think about what I was doing. I stepped on the gas running him over.”

  I am so upset that I let out a loud scream. I start to cry. My whole body is violently shaking. I feel so guilty! What have I done? Giovanni holds me so tight.

  “Kristy, what did you tell people about how your car got damaged?”

  “Nobody ever said anything to me about that. Did not suspect anything. I do not know if the dent was not seen or what. Months later, I took it to a junkyard. They said they could part it out.”

  I sit remembering excessively much. He was going to kill me! I knew that as the truth. I did not want to die although I knew he had to. Eventually he would have killed me!

  “When the police came to Heather’s to tell me what had happened I became hysterical. Not because I was trying to act that way. It is because I knew he could never ever hurt me again. I did not mean too. I had too.” I am bawling like a baby. Begging myself for forgiveness.

  “A while ago the police finally came to see me. They told me they closed the case. They couldn’t prove anything; however they believed it had something to do with his business.”

  I start to cry once more. Giovanni holds me so softly. He knows I am broken.

  “Kristy, if he wasn’t dead I would kill him myself.”

  He lifts my head kissing me. He wipes my tears away with his hand, “Baby, I am the friend that was with Randy hunting. He told me what happened. He left me so he could go home to help Heather with you. I did not know that was you at the time. Randy told me Heather’s friend had finally taken care of business. Did you ever tell Heather the truth?”

  “One night Heather and I went out. We were drinking. I did end up telling her. She was so relieved. She said Randy was going to kill him. That Hugh had to quit abusing me. He also knew he would kill me.”

  Giovanni pulls me up to his mouth kissing me. We sit there holding on to one another. Thinking about what we just learned from each other. It seems like hours we stayed that way. We held onto each other knowing we had just gained trust in our relationship. It was such a relief to get it off my chest to Giovanni. Hugh has been gone a year. The pain and memories will be with me forever!

  After a while, I get up going to the kitchen to make us a drink. I want to calm my nerves. I want to try to forget. I need to try to move on. I need to forget.

  “Let’s go get something to eat after we finish our drinks. I am starving.” Giovanni had suggested. He is also trying to get me to quit thinking. He knows I am putting myself through hell. I should, I deserve it!

  I went to my room to change and slap on some makeup. I put on a black pleated skirt with a low cut sweater. When I get back into the living room, Giovanni has a suit on. Damn this man is hot.

  “You look very sexy.”

  I smile at Giovanni giving him a kiss, “so do you.”

  When we get outside Angelo is waiting for us. We climb into the limo, ending up at a steakhouse. We both order steak, salads, and whiskey on the rocks. He was starving. Before I had half of mine done he was finished.

  As I am finishing dinner he starts to talk to me, “I have some business meetings coming up. I need to take care of them. I have to go to New York. I would like you to come with me.”

  “Giovanni, I would like that except I have to go to work. I did not work at all last week. I have already taken too much time off.”

  “Baby, you can take all the time off you want. Remember you are a boss.” He tells me smiling.

  “Giovanni, I have to go to work! I love my job and it helps to keep me sane.”

  “I will be right back, G. I have to use the lady’s room.” I give him a kiss then leave.

  I am reapplying my lipstick at the sink when this woman walks up to me
. She said nothing, just stands there staring at me. She was looking me up and down.

  “You need something?” I ask her.

  She takes one more look at me then leaves the woman’s room. It made me wonder what Maria looks like. I shrug my shoulders walking out.

  CHAPTER 29

  When we get back inside the limo I look at Giovanni, “Baby, what does Maria look like?”

  “She is tall, thin, dark hair although she likes to wear wigs. She believes they change her personality. Did something happen?”

  “No, I was curious. That’s all.”

  I lay my head into his shoulder. I think about our day. We communicated so much today. I am grateful we are finally being very honest with each other. That is something Hugh never did.

  When we get to my place, we settled in on the couch with a drink. I have my legs up on Giovanni’s lap. He is rubbing my thigh underneath my skirt.

  “Tomorrow morning I have to attend court for this Mariah thing. You do not have to be there. I will take care of it. After I complete that, I have to leave for New York. I am not sure how long I will be gone. Maybe a week or so. I really wish you would come with me.”

  I lean into him kissing him. He smells so good. I wish he were not going although I knew he had to go.

  “If you can’t call me I won’t freak out. I will understand you are busy.” I tell him playfully.

  “I promise I will try to call every day.”

  When we finish with our drinks, we head to the bedroom. Getting undressed we climb in bed. Giovanni kneels in front of me.

  “Kristy, kneel in front of me.”

  I did, we are facing each other. I straddle his thighs so he could enter me. I wrap my arms around his neck. He starts to move up and down. He arches his hips up to me getting deeper into me. I join in his movement. He buries himself further into me.

  “Oh baby, yes that feels so good. Harder please.” I am screaming. I am so pleased. I am so turned on I could barely stand it. I lift my hips slamming them back down.

  “Fuck!” Now he is yelling.

  I smile at him, moving right along with him. He is arching his back so I dig my fingernails into him. He flinches but continue to let me do that.

  “Oh, Giovanni.” I pant as I shiver and cum. He cums right behind me.

  We hold onto each other. Shaking with pleasure. We kiss then I get off him. He turns to lay next to me. He holds me so tight that night. I think he is going to suffocate me.

  The next morning we make love again. We get ready for work. I am putting on my makeup Giovanni goes to make coffee. I dress in a tight fitting, low cut red dress. Putting on my black pumps, I enter the kitchen.

  When Giovanni sees me his mouth drops open, “Hot damn, you aren’t wearing that to work are you?” I give him a big smile.

  “Yes, do you have a problem with it?”

  “Not at all, Kristy. You look amazing.”

  I sit in silence. I am still thinking about everything we said this weekend.

  “A penny for your thoughts,” G says.

  “I am going to miss the hell out of you! I hope you won’t be gone long.” He comes over to kiss me.

  “Only as long as it takes to get my business done. Then I will come back here. I will call you as soon as I can. You know I am going to miss you too. I love you so much, Kristy.”

  “I know, G. I love you back.”

  He heads for the door and turns around grabbing me. He kisses me as if he will never see me again. He looks so sad. He kisses me one last time then leaves.

  I head down to the parking garage. When I get to my car, I find all my tires slashed. What the fuck! Seriously! I call Giovanni. However, he did not answer.

  Next, I call Sebastian, “hi, Kristy. What’s up?”

  “Sebastian, I have a problem. I was hoping you could help me.”

  “Of course, anything. What do you need?”

  “Sebastian, I was headed out to work and found all of my tires are slashed. Could you give me a ride?”

  The first thing that comes to mind is Maria. That stupid bitch. Why would she mess with me? Oh, I am furious!

  “I am on my way.”

  When I step into the lobby I see a woman talking to, Jon. He points over to me. When I see her face, I recognized her from the restaurant. I start to walk over to her. She turns quickly walking away.

  “Jon, do you know who is that women? What did she want?”

  He looks at me frowning, “she said she is a friend of yours, from school. She wanted me to give her your condo number but, I let her know it is against policy.”

  “Jon, I really don’t know who she is! Please let me know if you see here again.”

  Sebastian walks up behind me placing his hand on my arm, “is everything okay, Kristy?”

  “Yes, everything is fine.”

  We walk outside getting into Sebastian’s truck. He turns the radio down then looks to me, “what’s going on?”

  “First of all, some women stares me down in a restaurant. The same woman shows up here. Then I find my tires slashed. What the hell!”

  “Kristy, do you think that Maria is behind all of this?”

  “I don’t know who Maria is! Yes, it might be. Giovanni told me she was in town. He also told me she is unstable. I am sure it’s nothing.”

  I lean over to turn the radio back up. I am tired of thinking about all this shit. I have to think about it though. I want to know what is going on. I look out the window hoping to figure this out.

  “The Power of Love” comes on. Without realizing what I am doing, I start to sing. Not loud but still I am singing, I am trying to clear my head. I feel the truck pull to the side of the road.

  “Is something wrong, Sebastian?”

  His mouth is hanging opened, “Wrong? Are you kidding me? Your voice is incredible. I want you to sing loud so I can hear you.”

  I shake my head feeling embarrassed, “no, that’s okay. I’m good.”

  “Kristy, don’t be shy. We are good friends. I want to hear you sing.”

  “If I do will you drive and leave me alone?”

  “Yes, I will.”

  I start to look out the window once more. I love this song so it is easy to sing. Sebastian pulls back on the road driving away.

  When I get finish, I look over to him. He has a huge grin on his face from ear to ear, “Kristy, you should sing professionally. You are awesome!”

  “No more talking about this, Sebastian. I humored you, now I am done. You said you would be quiet and drive.”

  We do not say anything else on our drive to work. I sit staring out the window. When we pull up front, it feels so good to get back to work.

  When we get upstairs and Cecelia sees me, she stands up. She comes over to me giving me a big hug, “Good morning, Ms. Kristy. How do you feel? I heard you had the flu.”

  “I feel a lot better. How are things going for you? Do you like it here?”

  “I love my job, thank you.” She turns, walks away going back to work.

  I enter my office finding a stack of papers that need my signature. I skimmed through them signing where I have. Cecelia’s voice comes softly over my intercom, “Ma’am, Mr. Scott would like to see you in his office.”

  I get up heading to Brody’s office. Not sure why he wants to see me. When I get there, Jordan waves me in.

  Brody is sitting behind his desk, “Kristy, how are you? I was worried about you. Giovanni told me what was going on. You don’t have to worry about anything happening here at work.”

  “Or anywhere else,” I tell him.

  “Kristy, tonight there is a party. I want you and Sebastian to attend. We are looking at a few bands to sign. Talk to them, check them out then let me know what you think.”

  I take the files Brody hands me. I smile remembering the last party I attended. That was a fun night! It ended with an incredible kiss from Sebastian. I told myself not to do that tonight.

  I enter the office I stopping by Sebastian’s door.
He is busy working. When he looks up, he gives me a big smile. His smile is very contagious. I smile back at him.

  “Hey Sebastian, can I see you in my office for a minute?” He stands to follow me next door.

  “We have a party to go to tonight.”

  He shakes his head yes. He gives another big smile. I assume he is thinking of our last party also. It was a special night!

  “Yeah, I heard about that Kristy. What are your feelings on it? I mean us going together.”

  “Sebastian, we are great friends. It will be fun. We have nothing to worry about.” I am seriously hoping that will be the truth.

  “Kristy, I ordered four tires for your SUV. They will be delivered today.”

  I look at him so surprised, “Sebastian, you didn’t have to do that. That was very nice of you! However, I would have done it.”

  “Now you don’t have to.” He says smiling at me. He leaves going back to work.

  I look at the files Brody gave me. I work all morning long. I stay busy so the time is flying by. I look up when Sebastian walks up to my door.

  “Lunch time. Let’s go.” I look at the clock it is one. I did not realize how quickly time flew by.

  “Where are we going?” I ask him as I grab my purse to leave.

  “There is a pizza place not far from here.”

  We are walking down the street. Sebastian is close by me, “Kristy, you look really good today. All the men and some of the women are looking at you. They are checking out your ass.”

  I smile at him feeling my face flush, “thank you, but they are looking at you.”

  He is so easy to hang around. To get along with. I enjoy spending time with him.

  When we get there, a woman sits us into a back room. Sebastian orders us a medium size pepperoni pizza, salads with a couple of beers.

  “Sebastian, what did you do in your band?” I want to get to know him a little better. We talk a lot but, not too much about his personal life.