Finally near the end of the call she broke down. She was emotionally exhausted from their demanding conversation. And the horrific secret that she was holding inside was wearing at her. “Dex please, I’m exhausted and in pain. I can’t answer any more questions right now.”
“Forgive me, little light. I didn’t intend for this to become an interrogation. It’s just so frustrating to be so far away when you need me the most. I’ve requested leave and will be with you as soon as I can. I love you, baby.”
“Te amo, Dex. I love you so much.”
They video chatted at least twice a week over the next month, talking about their wedding plans for this coming August when he would be home for a month on leave. She was counting the days. She needed his big strong arms around her, holding her at night, making her feel safe. Would she ever feel safe again?
Elena was jumpy and subdued. Her parents constantly asked her how she was doing and looked at her with concern, especially her papa. She never could pull anything over on him. She had been back to the rape counselor twice since the incident, but keeping her visits secret and her shame private was exhausting. She had even met with Lexie several times but nothing seemed to help.
She decided to throw herself into other things to keep her mind busy. Wedding plans took up a good deal of her time. Fittings, meeting with florists and caterers, looking at venues - all should have been fun but she had this black cloud lingering over her. She was always on edge, watching for Luis to return. Elena still lived with her parents; she and Dex had decided that when he was in town she could stay with him but there was no sense in getting her own place or being alone. How ironic that she was violated in the place they thought was so safe. They planned to look for a house when he came back for the wedding. Elena didn’t know if she could wait that long.
Elena, Mama, Megan, Regan and the twin’s cousin Moon were in the kitchen working on birdseed favors to throw at the wedding when it happened. Luis and two of his friends walked in. They were laughing loudly and looked to have been drinking. Elena froze when she saw him. Images of that horrible night flooded her memory. She started to panic. She couldn’t let on to mama and her friends that something was terribly wrong.
“Luis, you’re back early.” Mama got up and moved to her stepson who bent and offered his cheek. “We weren’t expecting you back before the wedding.”
“I just couldn’t stay away,mamacita. You know there is so much here at home that keeps drawing me back.” His eyes swept over Elena possessively, “Just like a magnet.” He laughed and his friends looked at him oddly.
Elena stood up, drawing everyone’s attention as she knocked her chair over backward. “I need to get more material and birdseed from my car,” she muttered, then grabbing her keys from the counter she bolted out the back door, heading for the driveway.
She heard Mama call behind her, “Elena!”
Elena ignored her and made it to the driveway where she hurriedly unlocked her little Honda Civic. She let out a sob of frustration as she saw the cars blocking her in from behind. Shit! Now what? She heard the kitchen door slam behind her and whipped around to see who had followed. She saw Luis standing behind her with a leering grin on his face.
“Elena,mi puta,where are you off to so fast?” He laughed as he approached and saw her escape route blocked. “Guess you’ll have to stay and talk to me, won’t you little sister?” He was on top of her then and grabbed her roughly by the upper arms.
She started to struggle and sobbed, “Please, don’t touch me.”
“Shhhh, little sister, I’m not going to hurt you. I need your help with something.”
“You’re already hurting me. Let me go. Why would I help you with anything,pendejo?”
Angered by being called an asshole, Luis gripped her tighter and pulled her up against him. “Shut up, whore. You’ll do what I say - when I say - or your precious Dexter will find out what a slut he has for a fiancée.” The kitchen door slammed again and Luis’ friends exited and moved to join them by her car. “Now, you are going to be a good little girl, and do what I say. You are going to go back inside and tell mama and your friends that you have to run a little errand. What, I couldn’t care less, just make it believable. Then, you are going to come with me and the boys. We have a little job for you.”
Elena panicked. “No. I won’t go. You can’t make me.”
“Ah, but I can.” He signaled to one of the boys who moved in closer. “You see, this is my friend Bobby. He’s the one who saw you playing your kinky games with Dex at that party. He took a few pictures. Show her.”
Bobby handed over an envelope with prints in it. Luis let her go and she flipped through the dozen or so shots of her in her leather club wear. Some were of her tied and bent over a spanking bench with her ass bare. Others were of her sucking a cock. She knew it was Dex but his face and most of his body weren’t in the shot. It was a little blurred but it was clear enough to recognize it was her doing the sucking. The final picture in the stack was of her being taken from behind, again by Dex but his face was cut off making it appear to be anyone.
“Those are copies. We have others that will be delivered to your proud Papa if you don’t cooperate. You won’t be his innocent princess once he sees those shots.” Luis laughed and his friends joined in. She looked at them, all tall and muscular. They also looked like they had been drinking for a while and they were staring at her like she was an appetizer and they were starving.
“What do you want?”
“Go excuse yourself, tell them your car is blocked so I am going to drive you to the store. I’ll be right behind you, mi puta.”
Elena did as she was told and a few minutes later she was riding with Luis in the back of Bobby’s sedan.
“What is this about, Luis?” She cringed as he reached for her and grabbed her bare knee. The touch of his skin against hers made her shudder. When he slid it up the inside of her thigh, Elena fought and tried to push his hand away. “Now sis, is that any way to act?” Hard fingers clamped down brutally on her tender flesh and his fingertips dug in hard enough to leave bruises.
“Not again, please. I’ll do what you say, just don’t hurt me again.”
“Good girl, isn’t that what you are, my little slave?” Luis’ smarmy voice provoked but his targeted words made Elena flinch.
My little slave. Dex called her that often when they played. Oh, my God! Bobby had really filled him in on the details of their play activities that night.
“You are going to pick up a little package for me. That’s all there is to it. You pick it up and bring it back to me in the car and we’ll take you back home, all safe and sound.”
“What the hell, man?” The other man in the front seat protested loudly. “You said we could have a taste when we were done.”
“Shut up, Eduardo.” He turned to a shaking and struggling Elena. “Don’t worry, Niña. I won’t let them hurt you.” He laughed in her ear and his tongue came up and licked the side of her neck before latching onto her flesh with his teeth. “At least, not until I’m done with you.”
Elena gagged. “I think I’m going to be sick.” She took deep breaths trying to control her rebellious stomach and was relieved when Luis pushed away.
“Bitch, puke on me and you will regret it.”
They drove to a rather sketchy part of town and turned down an alley behind a row of porn and head shops. They parked and Eduardo got out and climbed in the back seat with her and Luis. He immediately started kissing her, one hand holding her face still while the other pushed up her T-shirt, flicked open her front hook bra and started groping her bare breasts. Luis grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands behind her back and holding them there firmly. She felt one of Eduardo’s hands leave her breasts and slide down into her shorts and inside her panties. No! Not again. Please God, what did I do to deserve this? She bit and kicked and tried to get away but they were both too strong.
Finally, they released her. She wiped at her mouth with her now free
d hands and tried to adjust her clothes. Bobby was leaning over the front seat with a camera in his hands. He was flipping through the digital pictures. “Yeah, these are hot. She looks like she is really into it and you can see both sets of hands holding her. Oh man!” He exclaimed as he flipped through the pictures. “Your dick is out in this one Luis. It looks like she is ready to give you a hand job while Ed works her tits and pussy. She’s so damn hot!”
He flipped the camera around for all three in the back seat to see the screen shot. Oh God. It looked like she was an active participant in a ménage. Her head was back and Eduardo’s hand was cupping between her legs. With Luis holding her arms and her back arched, she looked like she was offering her bare breasts to her lovers. Her hair was a riot of curls falling over her face obscuring the expression of what she was sure was fear and panic. Anyone looking at that picture would believe she was willing and eager to take the bare cock that was ready to fall into her hands.
“Ok, I’ll do it.” Elena whispered, resigned. “Just please don’t show those to Papa or Dex.”
Luis chuckled; he had her right where he wanted her, the little bitch.
“Third door on the left, knock and ask for Max. He will give you a package. You hand him this envelope and come straight back to me. That’s it. Even a stupid bitch like you can do this simple task.”
Elena’s eyes scanned the alley for an escape route but it was a dead end. “Ah ah, little sister. If you don’t come back with the package or do anything like run or scream for help, Papa gets the prints and Dex gets a nice friendly email from Bobby with all these lovely shots. Wonder what he’ll think about his whore fiancée getting it on with other men while he is off fighting for his country.
The men laughed and a tear rolled down Elena’s cheek. God, how he must hate her to treat her this way. Shaking, Elena took the envelope and made her way through the dark alley. It reeked of rotting garbage and urine. There were several bums sitting next to one of the dumpsters and they leered at her. She was wearing shorts and a tank top. She hadn’t been expecting to go out so her shorts were kind of skimpy and she was wearing a pair of flip-flops. Even if she had to, there was no way she would be able to run in those.
The exchange went off without a hitch and she was back at the car in no time. She didn’t want to think about what the package contained. Drugs, she was sure. Now her fingerprints were all over the package and she was an accessory.
“Good job, Elena. Now we’ll take you back home. I’ll need you again on Saturday so don’t make any plans.”
“Not again, Luis. Please.”
“You either do as I say or suffer the consequences,mi puta, your choice.”
Bobby laughed from the front. “You should be good at following orders, baby. Just pretend we are your masters now.”
They dropped her off in front of the house a few minutes later. She could hear Eduardo whining about not getting his taste as she walked away. She went to her car and got the extra supplies out of her trunk where they had been stored all along. She had to make it look believable. As she headed back to the house she saw Regan standing in the doorway watching her, a concerned look on her face.
Elena forced a fake laugh and said, “I forgot this stuff was in my trunk after all. Guess I’m cracking up, huh?”
The high-pitched fake laugh didn’t fool her friend. “Are you all right, honey?”
“Yeah, Reg. I’ll just put this stuff inside and then run to the bathroom. We’ll be through with this in no time. Can you pour me whatever you guys are drinking?”
Elena avoided the questioning looks from Regan and rushed past the other women. Once in the bathroom she locked the door and curving her arms around her burning gut, slid to the floor in a heap. She cried silent tears of misery. What had her life become? She was a drug mule or something, and a plaything for Luis. Plus, he planned to share her with his friends after he was through using her. Her life was over. If Dex ever found out he would kill Luis, Bobby and Eduardo. Then his life would be over. He would definitely dump her if he ever saw those pictures. And Papa, he would be shocked and disgusted by the shots Bobby had taken, she was certain.
She moved to the sink and turned the hot water on full blast. She soaped up a cloth and began to scrub at her skin. Everywhere they touched she felt filthy. She couldn’t stop wondering what she had done to deserve this kind of torture. Not knowing what else to do, she prayed.
After about twenty minutes in the bathroom she put on a fake smile and went back to her guests. She faked her way through the rest of the evening with the help of tequila and rum. By the time they were through, she was drunk and staggered to bed. Never one to be able to hold more than a drink or two without getting sloppy and emotional, she collapsed on her pillow and cried her heart out. She heard her mother come to the door and ask if she was OK, but she kept on crying. Her father came by later after her sobs had turned to sniffles and shaky shuddering gasps for air. He covered her up and rubbed her back. “Whatever it is, my beautiful daughter, we can fix it.” He pressed a kiss to her sweat dampened hair before he left her. Elena wondered where she went from here.
Chapter Four
Dex rushed through the glass double doors and paused in the lobby to look for a hospital directory. Quickly spotting the elevators, he pushed through the crowd and pressed the call button. It seemed an eternity passed before the doors finally opened. He waited impatiently for the passengers to exit before rushing in to press the button for the seventh floor. It chugged slowly, stopping on each floor for the loading and unloading of passengers before it plodded sluggishly to the top. Christ, how old was this damn elevator? Finally, he arrived at the top floor and hurried out.
He stopped abruptly when he saw the sign for the psychiatric ward. He looked around in confusion before locating Elena’s parents behind the glass enclosed waiting room. They were huddled together on the corner of a worn vinyl couch. Hector had his arms wrapped around his petite wife who was sobbing with her face pressed against his neck and her hands gripping handfuls of his shirt. Please God, No! His mind reeled and he tried not to think about the bad news they had to deliver.
Still dressed in his ACU’s, he moved to the waiting room and paused in the doorway. “Hector? Maria? What is it? Is she…?” he couldn’t continue and the question just lay heavy in the air.
“No Dexter!” Hector stood and rushed to reassure him. His hand was outstretched and Dex grasped it firmly as he automatically responded to the familiar gesture. “She’s going to be OK, Dex but she gave us all a real scare.”
“What happened? What is she doing on this floor? Last I heard she was in ICU after the accident.”
In the background, Maria started sobbing louder. She rose to join them clutching at Hector.
“Oh, Dex, It wasn’t an accident. Elena…” She paused and looked at Hector who nodded his approval for her to continue. “She tried to take her own life.”
Shocked, Dex paled beneath his deeply tanned skin. He staggered to a seat and sank into it, his hands sliding up to his head and burrowing in his sandy brown hair. Hundreds of questions rolled through his mind but his mouth stammered out only, “Why?”
“She won’t talk to us Dex. She woke up yesterday in the ICU, groggy from blood loss. She told the doctors and nurses that she didn’t want to see any of us.” Dex watched as a tear rolled down Hector’s face. He had known this strong, proud man for years. He could see the exhaustion caused by the last few days of stress etched in the lines of his face. Maria’s face reflected the same exhaustion but was also haggard from the pain and grief of this horrible event, her only daughter’s suicide attempt.
“She’ll talk to me, by God.” Dex growled in frustration.
“No son, she is on the locked psychiatric unit under 24-hour suicide watch.” Hector put a strong, restraining hand on the younger man’s forearm and felt the tension and the barely leashed pain that consumed him. Dex pulled away and began to pace.
“This doesn’t make sense.
What happened? She was fine the last time I spoke with her.”
“When was that,mijo?” Elena’s mother looked up at him with tearful eyes.
Dex thought back trying to pinpoint their last phone call. “It was a few weeks ago, three at the most. But we have been emailing almost every day until last Saturday when you contacted my superiors with the news.” Dex paced back and forth running his long fingers through his hair, a habit when he was frustrated or worried. “We used to Skype but I went out in the field and I didn’t have access. She knew that.”
“I think she waited until you were away.” Maria said sadly. “I think she has been planning this for a while. She has been so quiet and withdrawn since you left. We tried to reach her, offered to take her to see someone. She refused. Even Regan and Lexie couldn’t get through to her. My God, we should have insisted, forced her to go.”
“Querida, don’t torture yourself.” Hector pulled her close and rocked her gently, holding back his own tears. “No one could have predicted she would do something like this. She has always been such a happy, outgoing girl.”
“Exactly!” Maria whaled, inconsolably.
“Something must have happened, dammit!” Dex was losing his mind. “I’ve got to talk to someone. Who’s her doctor?”
Dex strode out of the waiting room toward the metal, windowless double doors at the entrance to the psychiatric unit. Somewhere behind those doors was the woman he loved and he was determined to get to her. The locked doors had a sign indicating visitation was restricted on this unit. The next posted visiting hours were not until Friday evening at 7 pm. The hell with that! That was two days from now. He picked up the phone and dialed the extension posted for assistance.
Little Light of Mine (Club Decadence) Page 3