by Melissa Jane
The naked girl now looked at me in the same repulsed way she looked at Juan. Did she see me as being nothing more than a monster?
Juan’s behavior wasn’t so foreign to me. As a man, I understand the primitive urges one would have with a woman so enticing. However, unlike the other Latino men around me, I have learned to control my primal instincts.
I could sympathize with the girl who trembled only a few feet away. I knew what would be going through her head, I understood her fear.
My Mexican mother had met my American father when she worked as a topless waitress in some seedy bar in Tijuana. My father had taken leave from the Marines and was out to party with his colleagues when this woman slapped him across the face, accusing him of spilling his drink on her. He had always denied it was on purpose, saying it was her voluptuous derrière that knocked the glass from his hand.
It had been love from that moment on.
My mother quit her job at the mafia run bar and married my father only a week after meeting him. I was conceived within the first two months of their romance.
We lived a relatively happy life in San Diego, though I always remember my mother constantly looking over her shoulder, never being one to throw caution to the wind. It was an act I can only now understand.
I was only seven when my world came crashing down. Witnessing my mother being brutally raped in a home invasion and my father murdered by the intruders is a memory I try to suppress.
My father was knocked unconscious and then shot twice in the head as I watched the scene unravel in front of me. I hid upstairs behind the balustrade in terrified silence, knowing there was nothing I could do as the assholes slit my mother’s throat once they were done taking their turns with her.
Blood had seemed to flow nonstop until the sticky mess created a pool around her lifeless body. I had seen the look of fear, sadness, anger, and humiliation all mixed within my mother’s eyes that night and now I saw it in the eyes of this girl before me. I couldn’t let her meet the same fate as my mother, but what choice did I have? Hector Florez was not a man to fuck with.
His son, Juan, was a carbon copy of his ruthless father, but he conducted matters with far less grace. I knew what Hector had in store for this girl. I had seen it before on many occasions. She would be used, abused, humiliated, broken down to nothing more than a shell of her former self, all for Hector Florez’s entertainment.
Something unsettling stirred in the pit of my stomach at that thought and, as I looked at the beauty in front of me, I could sense why. Walking slowly towards her, I watched on as she tried to bury herself against the wooden dresser.
The message was loud and clear; she did see me as a monster. Holding out my hand, I gestured for her to take it. She looked away, ensuring she avoided all contact with any part of my body.
“Get up,” I ordered coldly.
She turned a defiant cheek.
“That wasn’t a suggestion, it was an order.”
No movement.
“If I leave you here like this, Juan will return and don’t think for a minute that he won’t fuck you every which way he knows how.”
Even I cringed at the crassness of my words, but time was not on our side and what I was saying wasn’t a lie.
The girl turned her face slowly to study my outstretched hand. Clearly determining that I was the lesser of two evils she lifted her hand to mine with so much hesitation, I was surprised it moved at all. Her dainty hand was as soft as silk and looked miniature in my own. Lifting the girl up gently, I used my other arm to steady her around the waist when her legs buckled beneath. From there she allowed me lead her to the adjoining bathroom with ease.
The height difference between us offered a spectacular view and I couldn’t help but appreciate her womanly curves as she tried to vain to cover them with one arm.
Since she was already naked, I turned on the water in the shower and adjusted the temperature. When I could see steam blooming I ushered her underneath. She looked momentarily confused by what I was doing and I could see it in her eyes she was searching for an escape.
“Relax,” I said calmly, trying to put her rampant thoughts at ease. “I am sure you want to wash Juan’s filth off you.”
Perhaps mistaken, I could swear I saw what looked to be recognition of my help in her eyes. She visibly relaxed and turned into the water.
Standing at the entrance of the shower, my arms raised against the glass panels on each side, I asked myself why I wasn’t turning around and closing the door behind me. I had every intention of leaving her to wash in private, but I was caught, hypnotized as I watched the water run like rivers over her small shoulders, down her flawless back and up and over the roundness of her curvy ass. It was obvious she was aware of my presence, her movements stilted and restrained. But I simply didn’t care. A thin spray of water and random droplets marked the front of my clothes yet I remained transfixed.
Forcibly and somewhat resentful of the fact, I shook myself back to reality knowing that at some stage I would have to address the war waging in my mind. I had to initiate damage control, there was no choice in the matter –I knew that now.
Shit had gone from bad to fucking dire while I was gone, and, while I had to act now to sort it all out, I knew I couldn’t be too fair to her.
She had the power to make this situation turn from dire to fatal in the blink of an eye.
I for one wasn’t ready to die yet.
Chapter Eight
Laila
I could feel Aiden’s eyes burning into me from behind. He was still there, standing close, watching me while I showered. Obviously privacy was out of the question. Yet although I hated to admit it, he was right; the warm water was working its magic. Juan’s filth was being washed down the drain, but sadly I knew it would take a lot more to clean my memory of his invasive touch.
I didn’t know if this man was in a position to answer my questions. I hadn’t any idea what status he held in the house. Was it a good cop, bad cop tag team they had going on? Doubt clouded my judgment of him. I couldn’t help but question his motives or wonder whether he was as sinister as Juan.
Turning to face him, I was immediately taken aback. Standing in the entrance of the shower, essentially blocking my path, Aiden’s hands gripped the shower frame above, his bicep muscles and veined forearms bulging. It was difficult to ignore his dominating presence and I found it difficult to know where to look in the awkwardness of my state of undress.
His physique was powerful, his sheer size dwarfing me especially when we were so close. I wasn’t the tallest girl in the world and I could tell he was at least a foot and a half taller than me with a shoulder span of three of mine together. His face hung low, but his intense green eyes looked to meet mine, an unreadable expression making it difficult to judge what tack I should take. That and I was showering naked with a fully dressed man watching my every move.
“Juan, that man, he asked me where Ethan is.” Good start, keep going, another deep breath. “Truth is I don’t know where he is, that’s why I was in San Diego looking for him.”
His expression remained unmoved, so I persisted. The warm water continued to caress my back, my hands covering what I could. I was beyond humiliation.
“I wasn’t even sure he was missing. I guess, what I am trying to get at is, what if I or they can’t find him? What are they going to do to me? And if they find Ethan, what are they going to do to him?”
Without warning, Aiden reached forward causing me to take a frightened step back. His arm moved past my body to turn the faucet lever, then reached for a towel behind him.
“Come,” he said, handing me the towel.
Moving past him, I wrapped the warm fabric around my body while inhaling his cologne. Sweet and delicious, like a fruit orchard with a hint of spice. Completely incongruous to how I was feeling.
Guiding me to the bed, Aiden gestured for me to sit on the edge. He stood in front, towering over me looking like he was searching for the right th
ing to say.
“Look,” he began evenly. “Your brother, he is mixed up in something that has placed you in danger.”
“I know, Juan told me. But I can’t imagine anything he has done would warrant me being here.”
“To Hector Florez, he has.”
“Who is Hector Florez?”
“The older man you met in the library. Ethan has made a lot of enemies along the way and you… you will just be used as a pawn to get him back.”
I was caught off-guard by his frankness. In all honesty, I hadn’t expected him to talk at all. His accent was nowhere near as strong as Juan’s or Hector’s and was only evident on certain words.
“I’m not afraid of him,” I lied.
“You should be,” he said, his eyes filled with concern and impatience. “You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, turning his back to me.
“Look," I said, "you seem really nice and I am so grateful for that, especially after everything that happened but…” – I started to beg – “… If you can just give me a phone I can call the police and they can take me back home.The authorities will be –”
He scoffed, spinning around to face me. “Call the police? You have no idea how far Hector’s influence runs in this country.”
“He can’t know everyone, someone has to be on the good side!” I said, incredulous by his dismissive attitude. Either he was willing to help or he wasn’t.
“The good side? This is Mexico!”
He laughed in way that made me feel stupid for suggesting such a thing.
“A word of advice. In the US you may have all your civil and human rights bullshit and be treated with equality, but here you are nothing but a gringa and no man alive on this side of the border is going to cross Hector. So just forget about your escape plans and start focusing on how you can survive this.”
“I don’t know how to survive this,” I seethed. “This is not something I practice in my spare time in order to prepare for the real event. I don’t belong here!”
“You are just like him,” he said, almost as if to himself.
“Like who? What does that even mean?”
Aiden shook his head slightly in frustration. “Nothing and no one,” he said, dismissively. “Right now, in Hector’s eyes, you do belong here. In fact, you don’t just belong here, you belong to him. So prepare for what is to come. You will be used as leverage to lure Ethan back. If he doesn’t front up within a week, Hector will use you to recoup his loss and there will forever be a target on your brothers’ back.”
Panic rose within my body and overtook all logic I had remaining. Standing up, I paced for a few moments clutching the towel closer to my body.
“Sit down,” he ordered.
I ignored him. Sitting only added to my aggravation.
There had to be a way out. I refused to believe this was my destiny from now. Fate had to cut me some slack after all I had been through so far and I wouldn’t accept anything less. My body started to shudder and I felt the overwhelming urge to run and run far.
The air was growing thicker in my lungs making it difficult to breath and something similar to a panic attack rattled my body. I ran toward the door past Aiden who looked mortified by my actions.
I fumbled clumsily with the door handle in my haste, hindering my speed and resolve. When it finally clicked open it revealed the two brutes on the other side leaning against the far wall of the hall, their eyebrows raised in bemusement. The burly men left their post, immediately closing the space between us in a matter of seconds, and my desire to run was thwarted by their menacing faces.
I retreated back inside the room I had so desperately wanted to escape when I felt two strong arms wrap around my waist pulling me further inside. My feet left the ground and my legs flailed through the air in the struggle.
Aiden carried me across the room and threw me gently onto the soft mattress. The towel that had been my safety net had fallen open, revealing all of me to his prying eyes. I hadn’t the time to rewrap myself before his body fell on top of mine, his large, strong hands wrapping around my wrists, moving them into position above my head. I was pinned down yet again.
Heavy sobs shook my chest and incomprehensible words poured from my mouth. In my head, I was pleading, but in reality my words were mush. I wanted to go home and I wanted to forget the faces and the touch of the men who reveled in making me their object.
“You can’t just do that.”
I wasn’t sure if he were taunting me or giving a word of warning.
“Please, please, please.” I implored over and over through my croaky sobs. It was pointless, he wasn’t listening to me.
“You ok, amigo?” came a good humored voice from the door.
Aiden turned his head slightly in their direction. “Fine! Leave us.”
When I heard the brute close the door, I struggled some more, thrashing my body around as much as I could, but he only pushed down harder. His face was so close to mine, our breath mingled.
“Get off me,” I seethed.
“I wouldn’t be on you if you hadn’t acted so foolishly.”
“Foolish? I want to get out of this godforsaken place and you are calling me foolish?” My tone was loaded with contempt.
“What you just did then would lead to a not-so-pleasant consequence, so yes, I call that foolish.”
Aiden closed the gap between our faces even more, our lips only half an inch apart. A war of emotion was evident in his eyes… and his groin. His hardness pressed against me, but I wasn’t scared of him acting on it. I could sense he didn’t want to hurt me, not in the way Juan had earlier. Yet with his body covering mine, I couldn’t help notice the strange and inexplicable magnetism between us. Despite it all, he seemed completely nonplussed by the obvious.
“I don’t want to hurt you so please just stop struggling.”
His tone had calmed considerably and he spoke with a gentleness that caught me off guard.
“Then why crash tackle me onto the bed?”
“To stop harm coming to you,” he said, his sincerity both disarming and stilling me. “If I get off you, will you not do anything stupid?” He raised his eyebrows in question.
Nodding my head reluctantly in agreement, I noticed his eyes soften. I felt his hands loosen around my wrists and his body eased off mine. In one swift movement he shifted to the side and sat on the edge of the bed. After wrapping myself again in the towel, I opted for the furthest point away and leaned against the headboard, drawing my knees up to my chest, maintaining a safe distance between us.
Aiden, looking exhausted and sighed heavily while rubbing his chin. “It’s only fair you know that your life is about to change.”
He looked pityingly at me and I could sense what was coming next wasn’t at all good for me.
“A word of advice, take it or leave it, but I recommend you take it. The world you are used to living in is nothing like the one you are in now. Use whatever strength you have to get through this because if you don’t, you may as well be dead. God knows there have been plenty before you who did not listen.”
I drew in a sharp breath while comprehending his words. My voice began to betray me and I saw him wince at my pleading. “How can I stop this from happening to me?”
“You can’t! No one can.” It sounded so… definite. So frightening. “Hector’s life is… unique. He has many highly profitable business ventures, but one in particular will now include you.”
“No, that’s not fair.” I was losing it, emotionally and mentally.
“It may not be fair, but it is your reality. Now you must deal with it and hope to hell you survive this.”
“I don’t even know what 'this' means.”
“Submission. Obedience. From now on you live and breathe it.”
Those two words lolled around in my head, colliding with each other and sinking my hopes of ever getting out of here alive. Aiden stood from the bed and slowl
y paced the width of it.
“This whole situation… it has nothing to do with me!” I pleaded, clutching at straws.
Aiden stopped pacing and looked at me square on.
“An eye for an eye, that’s how he works.”
“So now over something that doesn’t involve me, I all of sudden owe them my servitude?” I couldn’t disguise my contempt for everyone under this roof.
“Hector is not a man to fuck with! He doesn’t do ‘mercy’ or ‘compassion’. He only knows one way and unfortunately that means anyone who is stupid enough to step into his firing line feels the full force of his wrath. And since the person he really wants has gone MIA, you are the next best option.”
Aiden headed towards the door and I had to restrain myself from falling at his knees and begging him to save me.
“Wait… please.” He turned again to face me, his jaw set in a grim line. “Why are you telling me all this?”
“Someone has to. Juan gets off on the abuse of others. Especially that of a beautiful girl. The last thing he would ever do is give you helpful advice. The miserable sack of shit would rather watch you suffer.”
“Will he hurt me again?”
Silence. It was deafening.
“I don’t know. You may very well have just become Juan’s next obsession.”
I would rather the silence. It was less horrifying. “Obsession?”
“Juan likes to play a game that generally only involves him and his prey. This time you have caught his attention and he won’t stop until he has satisfied his sick impulses.”
Silence, again. I was rendered speechless, my fate totally out of my control. Aiden stood motionless, one hand on his hip, staring at the carpet.
“Thank you.” My voice was small but a slight twitch of his jaw indicated he heard me. I was grateful.
“For what?”
“For being kind to me.”