by C. L. Roman
“What would a proper punishment be?” he contemplated out loud.
“Trust me, this entire situation has been punishment enough.”
He chuckled. I didn’t find my comment amusing, especially when it was the truth. “You haven’t seen anything yet, my dear girl.”
I sank lower into the seat, letting my tears fall on the leather beneath me.
“You should be cowering. Like I said before, I don’t like losing, and I definitely don’t like being made a fool of.”
He rose, his hunched over body moving toward me, a looming presence.
“What…What are you doing?” I retreated even more.
He repositioned me with rough hands and sat on top of me.
“Get off me!” I pushed and shoved at his chest, but he was too heavy. His body didn’t budge an inch.
“Stop moving!” He fisted my wrists. “You are disappointing me to no end tonight.”
I had no means of escape. I tried to shift my leg to knee him in the balls. I managed to hit something—not quite sure what, though.
Ouch! He slapped me so hard stars clouded my vision. Obviously I’d hit my intended target to get such a harsh reaction from him. Sadly, it didn’t give me an advantage over him. He still sat on top of me, practically suffocating me.
“Stay still, my dear girl! I said before I wanted to taste your sweet pussy, and I think right now is as good a time as ever for me to sample it. Consider this me going easy on you.” He reached inside his suit pocket and pulled out a thin piece of rope. Had he put forethought into restraining me, tying me up? “You seemed so fond of being bound at the club.” He tied my wrists together. I tried to pry them apart, but with no success. He brought them above my head. Sweat dripped down my neck. My lungs had difficulty taking in oxygen. My entire body trembled from head to toe. I couldn’t let him do this to me. I had endured abuse since childhood. When were the powers that be going to say it was enough? Maybe my mother had been right all along: maybe I was being punished for my sins. And here I’d never lost faith that my god was a loving one. A loving god didn’t allow things like this to happen to good people.
Foley sat up tall and dug his fingers into my thighs, spreading them on the seat, his aggressive touch painful beyond belief. There would no doubt be bruises. He snatched the blindfold I had removed and covered my eyes.
Prayer had always been my savior. I refused to let my mother’s poisonous words that were flooding me dictate my beliefs any longer. My higher power would come through for me. He had too. He just had too.
Foley blew an exaggerated and heated puff between my legs. I clenched my muscles, tears spilling from my eyes, my body rigid on the bench. The next thing I knew, the door handle jiggled, and a wave of outside air blasted into the car.
Thank you!
If I’d ever doubted God existed, this moment confirmed that he did.
“Oh…please forgive me, Mr. Foley. We’ve, uh, arrived at Ms. Winters’s building. I…I apologize for intruding. I’ll be waiting outside. Let me know when you are ready for Ms. Winters to exit the car.”
“That’s okay. We’re about finished for the night.” He spoke to the driver in a clipped tone. The warmth of Foley’s heinous breath hit my ear as he whispered into it, my body withdrawing into itself. “This isn’t over, not by a long shot, my dear girl.”
His obese body climbed off me, giving me a resurgence of inner strength and my lungs an oversupply of needed air. He tugged my dress down, and removed the rope and eye covering. The driver examined me, studying my tear-stained eyes and cheeks. I knew he wanted to ask the question he was thinking but thought better of it.
With quivering limbs, I leaped out of the car, pushed the driver aside, and ran to the entrance of the building, twisting my ankle during my sprint.
“Open, dammit!” It was the one time I wished the entrance to my building didn’t require a security code for residents to enter it.
Multiple attempts due to my shaking hands later, the lock clicked, and I opened the door. Once inside, I couldn’t get to the elevator fast enough, my ankle hollering at me to slow down. I couldn’t listen to the pain in it, not yet.
After exiting the elevator, I hobbled down the hallway, balling. I stopped in front of Gabriel’s door and beat on it with both fists, all the while saying another prayer—this one that he’d be home alone, while still giving repeated thanks that I had gotten out of that horrific situation, for the most part, unscathed.
While waiting for him to open the door, my tremoring hand clasped the locket again. My grandma’s sweet voice came to me.
“This was my mother’s. I want you to have it, Abby. I know you haven’t had it easy and Irma got most of the attention, but I want you to know you were and always will be my favorite girl. Shh, we’ll keep that between us.” She smiled, her frail hand holding mine. Tears rolled down my cheeks.
They still did now as well.
“Don’t cry for me, sweetie. My heart hurts for you, having to leave you.”
Gripping the beautiful gift and staring at my closed palm, I replied, “You aren’t leaving me, Grandma. I’ll keep this locket forever, which means I’ll always have a piece of you with me.”
I glanced down at the sacred piece of jewelry clasped firmly in my palm.
“Yes, you will. I know you never told me directly how your mother treated you, but don’t think I didn’t see it. I wish I could have brought you here to stay with me. It makes me angry that my health didn’t permit me to do so.”
“It’s okay, Grandma. Don’t feel bad. I’ll be fine. I’m strong.”
“That you are, and don’t you forget it. I know deep inside your mother loves you dearly.”
Maybe. Maybe not. The jury was still out on that one.
“You don’t have to say that. I’m a big girl now.”
Tears fell from her squinted eyes. “And you had to grow up before your time. For that I am also sorry. I should have done more to help you.”
I snatched a tissue from the box next to her bed and wiped her damp cheeks.
“Don’t ever feel you didn’t do enough. You gave me the love my mother never did or could.”
She opened her arms and I hugged her. “You are special, Abigail.”
Many a day I had to remind myself of that, today being one of them. I didn’t feel so special right then.
What the hell was taking Gabriel so long to open the door?
I banged on it again.
Come on, Gabe. Please!
I scanned the hallway—empty. Thank God. I had no clue if Foley would break another agreement and come to my—or rather, his apartment.
Oh, Grandma, how I wish you were still here.
She had been sick for months, and I’d visited her every day. Nobody else did other than the nurses who cared for her around the clock in the hospital toward the end of her life. My mother would pop in now and again over the course of a week, too wrapped up in her own life to worry or think about anybody other than herself. Irma never wanted to visit. She said our grandma’s illness depressed her. I understood her rationale; the girl was sick herself, holding on to whatever hope she could that she’d miraculously get better.
Sadly, several hours after my grandma had given me the locket and pep talk, she took her last breath of life. I supposed she’d known something I hadn’t when she had given me the jewelry.
My mother kept asking about it, going so far as to accuse me of stealing it from my grandmother. One night in a fit of rage, she ripped it off my neck, breaking the gold chain.
“How could you steal from your dying grandmother? You are a selfish, ungrateful daughter, Abigail!”
A few smacks later I retired to my bedroom, though not without putting up a fight and retrieving the locket from my loving mother. The necklace was ruined, but the locket was in perfect condition. I put it on an old gold chain I had stashed away.
Irma had appeared in my room several minutes later.
“She doesn’t mean it. She’
s just stressed about me. If you have to blame anyone, blame me.”
At first, I did. Then I matured and thought differently. Irma hadn’t asked to be sick. She couldn’t help her situation, but my mother could do something about her behavior and chose not to. Her version of love and mine were completely different. Whatever. I had made up my mind after my grandma passed that I would never allow anybody else to hurt my heart, including my mom. The locket was somewhat symbolic of my outlook. I had locked my heart up so nobody else could get close to it. My grandmother was the one person in my life who’d loved me without conditions. Other than Irma.
Interestingly enough, Gabriel was starting to chip away at the bolt securing the lock. I didn’t understand how or why I was allowing him to, especially when I had so much to lose.
The lock clicked on his door.
Finally!
Chapter Ten
Gabriel
“Holy shit! What the hell happened to you?” I pulled Abby inside my apartment. Her cheek was red, her hair was a mess, and she was limping.
She crashed into my chest, throwing her arms around me. “It was awful…so awful.” She sobbed, and I soothed her by rubbing her back and hair.
“What did that motherfucker do to you?” I found it difficult to hold in my rage but had to remain calm to comfort her.
“He tried to touch me.” She wept. I tensed, balling my hands into fists. “We had a deal that touching each other in a sexual manner was off limits.”
It took everything I had not to react. My fist felt like throwing itself against a fucking wall.
“And?” I probed, my jaw tight.
“Thank God the limo driver opened the door before the old guy could do anything.”
“Did that bastard hit you?” My primary concern was whether the fucker had physically or sexually assaulted her. The red cheek hadn’t appeared all by itself.
“He slapped me, that’s all. It was terrible.” She cried, gripping my shirt.
That’s all? In my book, even that was too much.
“Why don’t we go sit on the couch?” The walk there would hopefully give me a breather.
She nodded, sniffling.
When I noticed her trying to keep pressure off her foot, I swept her into my arms and carried her to the sofa.
“Did he hurt you in any other way?” I wanted a bit more clarification and elaboration on this point. My blood was boiling. If I find out that piece of shit—forget it. I didn’t want to jump ahead of myself.
“No, not in the way you’re probably thinking.”
Oh, thank God. I released the breath I’d been holding.
“Can I get you a drink? Some ice for your ankle and cheek?”
“Just some water, please.”
I shouldn’t have bothered to ask because in the kitchen I grabbed a few ibuprofen tablets, an ice pack from the freezer, and a cup of ice water. I brought everything into the living room and sat next to her. She took the drink from me. I handed her the pills, and she swallowed them down.
“Thank you.”
I nodded, and she placed the glass on the coffee table. She ditched her heels and put her foot on the couch, placing the ice pack on her ankle. I inched closer to her and draped my arm around her. She rested her head on my shoulder.
“We went to dinner with a developer and his slutty date, nothing out of the ordinary, but afterward, in the limo, he seemed…off kilter. I’m talking raging mad. I didn’t get it. He said he wanted to change the terms of our deal, said he wasn’t getting a good return on his investment.”
My breaths became jagged. Many questions ran through my mind. I hoped I’d remember to ask all of them.
“He also said he doesn’t like losing and didn’t want to be made a fool of. He’s a powerful man, Gabe. I’m scared. I don’t know what he’s capable of. My reputation, my job with the agency—everything I have is at stake. I could lose it all.”
Except me. At that moment, I was certain that was one thing she wouldn’t be losing any time soon.
“Why did he say he didn’t like losing and didn’t want to be made a fool of?”
“He had a disagreement with the man we ate dinner with. The two men were arguing about some piece of property they both want. They have different ideas about how they want to develop it. One wants to build more apartments, and the other wants to build a community center or something. That’s pretty much all I heard. For the most part I tuned out their conversation, unhappy to be there to begin with.”
Land development? Community center? Why did I have a strange feeling Abby’s world and mine were about to collide? The puzzle was slowly revealing itself piece by painstaking piece.
“What about the part where he said he didn’t want to be made a fool of?” She tightened against me, and I looked down at her. “Abby?”
“Please…I already feel dirty. I don’t want to verbalize it, and I don’t want you to think worse of me than you probably already do.”
“Hey.” I guided her chin in my direction. “It’s quite the opposite. I think very highly of you.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know how with what you’ve seen of me so far.”
“I like what I’ve seen, a lot. Otherwise you wouldn’t be in my apartment right now.”
“I invited myself in by banging on your door. Anyone would have let me in in my current state.”
“Untrue, especially in my case. Ease up on yourself. You’re worried about me thinking bad things about you when you’ve got all those bases covered.” I held her tighter.
“You’re right. I’m so tired, Gabe.” She sighed, her body quivering from crying so much.
“I get it. So you said he didn’t want to be made a fool of…why did he say that?” I still wanted an answer to this question. Why wouldn’t she give me one?
“Because I learned something about him he didn’t want me knowing. I told him I wouldn’t tell anybody. He said he had to think about what my punishment should be. I don’t know if he considered what happened in the limo punishment or if he has other ideas.”
Shifting away from her, I held her arms so she would see the seriousness in my eyes. “Please tell me why you feel dirty. You told me nothing sexual happens between the two of you.”
“It’s the truth,” she spat out.
“You’re confusing me to no end with all these bits and pieces. You came here tonight with a bruise on your face, crying and limping. You keep denying he did something to you. What do you expect me to think but the worst based on what I see?”
Her thumb nail went into her mouth. I promptly removed it and held her hand in mine. “Tonight was the first time he ever hit me or tried to touch me.”
“Let’s hear it for small miracles.” Reel it in, Gabe. I scrubbed my hand over my chin to give myself another breather. It didn’t do shit to bring me down. “One time is too much, but you still didn’t answer my question about feeling dirty.”
She withdrew into herself, wrapping her arms over her chest. She rocked steadily back and forth. “I told you nothing sexual happens between the two of us, but that’s not to say nothing sexual happens. There, I said it. Are you happy now?” She turned away from me, her back now facing me.
What the fuck does that mean?
“I’m not happy seeing you so upset, but I don’t understand what you just told me. Can you please clarify? I promise not to judge you.”
Her body stiffened again. She shifted, facing forward now. She glimpsed at me over her shoulder, mistrust in her gaze. “How can you make a promise when you haven’t even heard what I have to say?”
“Because you told me you had a good reason for getting involved in all this. I believe you and respect you, so I know you wouldn’t have agreed to it if there wasn’t an important cause.”
Her posture softened. She stared in front of her, at the large screen television mounted on the wall. “He gets off on watching me touch myself. He makes me cover my eyes so I can’t see what he’s doing to himself. Tonight I removed th
e blindfold.” She leaned farther back, taking in the ceiling, her body all but melting into the couch supporting her, her disgust evident.
Fuckin’ A. What a dirtbag. While her body melted, my turned to stone.
She rolled her head to the side, in my direction. “Still sticking to your story about not judging me?” She spoke with anger.
“Yeah, I am.” I rose from the couch and paced back and forth in front of it. “I’m having a hard time understanding what you could possibly get out of this deal that would make you consent to something so asinine.”
“I’m hearing judgment. What happened to the promise?”
“I’m not judging you. I’m merely trying to understand the situation better with the little information I have about it.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore anyway.” She glanced up. “Poor Irma.”
“Who’s Irma?” This was a new piece of the puzzle. I could barely keep up with Abby’s train of thought.
Another bout of tears ensued. “My sister.”
I rushed over to the couch and sat next to her. “Why did you say poor Irma?”
“I’ve already said too much. I’ll figure it out. I always do. I’m pretty sure the agreement is null and void after tonight anyway, so I’ll call the agency first thing in the morning. Hopefully they’ll give me another position…unless the jerk gets to them first.” She leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. “Oh my God, my supervisor is going to question me about why I’m not fulfilling the contracted time specified by the employer. She’s also going to want to speak with him about my performance. Forget it—I can’t call them.”
I began to rub her back, but she pushed me away.
“Why are you trying to shut me out? I know that’s what you want to do right now.”
She sat upright, lips drawn tight. “You don’t know anything about me or owe me anything.” She tapped her foot on the floor. “I’ll gather my possessions next door and leave the key to the apartment with the front desk. They can deal with the asshole directly since his name is on the lease.”