Before she could register what was happening Rico was pulling her by her hair, dragging her from the bathroom. She had never been so scared, so frightened by a man’s anger before. She’d pushed him to his limit and he was the one who was caught cheating.
“Rico, please. Stop it, don’t do this. What did I do?” she asked, half covering her face.
“You showed up here when you’re supposed to be at work. This is my place, my apartment.”
“You’re cheating on me?” she asked, tears flowing.
“What the fuck? This is my business. You do as I say. I own your ass, Nina.”
“No. No, you don’t. You’re my boyfriend. We’ve been together for months now.”
“Fuck, Nina, you’re my regular lay. There are others. Are you that fucking dense? Do you really think there was only you?”
He bent down and stared at her. She could see the anger in his eyes. She didn’t want him to hit her again. She just needed to see if they could work it out. She had no one, no place to go. The deep, desperate feeling of abandonment like she had when she realized her mother didn’t love her or care filled her body. Her gut clenched. Why did every person in her life she counted on fail her, give up on her, and just toss her out like garbage? She was a good person, hard worker, and caring, yet they still thought so little of her. She didn’t want to be alone. She wanted love, she wanted a man’s arms around her at night caring for her and protecting her the way it was supposed to be. But it seemed that was not reality, only fantasy. She needed to try and calm Rico. He was so pissed off.
“Rico, Rico, please tell me what I did wrong? I never cheated on you, so why would you cheat on me?”
His eyes widened. “You’re fucking right you never cheated. You’re mine. You ever fuck another man, hell, kiss another man, and I’ll fucking beat you and kill him. You got it, Nina?” he yelled at her, threatening her as he stood up.
“Yes. Oh God, but what about you? What about Stacy and the others?”
His eyes widened and his expression changed to one of pure evil. She knew that look. It meant trouble. It meant whomever did him wrong was done.
He yanked the belt from the waist of his pants and ran it over his palm.
“My business is my business. Not yours!” he yelled and struck her over her shoulder.
“Please, Rico, don’t. I don’t understand.”
“You will soon enough.” He struck her again and again as he warned her that she was to keep quiet, to do as he said, and to never leave him. He said he could be with whomever he wanted to be with. That he could fuck one, two, three women together if he wanted to because he was the boss, the man.
Nina cried out and begged him to stop. She was petrified and then came the anger, the disgust knowing she had been had. It was a lie. All his words and his actions were lies.
“Please, Rico. I will obey. I’ll obey,” she told him as she continued to cry.
She wondered where things had gone so wrong. Who was this man, this monster, she adored and thought was her future, her destiny? She didn’t know him and her need to feel loved had her making bad choices one after the other. She gave him her virginity and her heart, and he’d stomped on it like a bug.
Rico stopped, but her body continued to convulse in the aftereffects of his abuse and the extent of her emotional turmoil.
He fell to his knees and pulled her up by her cheeks. His dark, almost black eyes bore into hers.
“God, look what you made me do. Nina, you’re special to me. So very special. You are my everything, but I have needs, desires that are too corrupt, evil, dirty for someone so sweet as you. You need to accept this. You are mine, Nina.”
“But why another woman? If what you say is true, then why cheat on me? Why do you need to have sex with someone else? If you didn’t want me anymore, you should just tell me so I can leave.” The tears struck her eyes because she really didn’t want that to be true. Life would be so difficult, so lonely without Rico or anyone she knew. All her friends were his friends. All her acquaintances were Rico’s. She truly would have nothing, would be completely on her own, and it scared her more than his strikes and his disgust with her.
His eyes grew darker, his grip on her cheeks tightened and he clenched his teeth as he spoke softly, yet with such power.
“I don’t think you understand. You’re mine. No other man will ever have you. This is your life now. I say when it’s over.” He was silent and his words tore her heart open and made her realize how stupid she had been.
He shoved away from her with an expression of disgust, yet he was the one who struck her cheek, caused her to hit her head and bleed, and the one who caused the deep red marks across her shoulders, back, and arms.
“Tell me you love me, Nina.”
Her lips were quivering. She was petrified. Why would he ask that now, when obviously he didn’t love her?
He raised his hand at her.
“I love you,” she said and cried out, the tears rolling down her cheeks.
“You need to show me. Get undressed, and get on the bed.”
Her eyes widened in shock. The last thing she wanted right now was for him to have her. She obviously didn’t move quickly enough as he pulled her up by her blouse, ripping the material and lifting her to her tiptoes.
His face was against hers, his spittle hitting her cheeks and eyes.
She could smell Stacy’s cheap perfume. Could see the lipstick marks on his neck this close to him. She scrunched her eyes together and tried not to breathe her scent in. It was all consuming. The realization that this man she thought she loved didn’t love her and now would degrade her in such a way caused turmoil and disgust to swirl in her empty belly. She felt this sudden hollow sensation, like she was going to die. Like even if he forced the sex on her tonight and she survived his abuse that she would lose what little bit of soul she had left.
Rico shook her. “You’re going to learn the hard way. I’m in charge of you, Nina. You do as I say, or your punishments will be worse. Now get undressed or I’ll do it for you.”
She reached for the buttons, her fingers shaking. She didn’t do it fast enough and he grabbed at her blouse, tearing it off of her. Her large breasts bounced. The red bra she wore under the black blouse had been meant for him but that was before. Before Stacy, before his abuse, and before he degraded her and let her know he used her for her virginity and innocence.
She stared at him in his dress pants, the belt in his other hand, his chest heaving, his red lips wet from his yelling. He was no longer the sexy, attractive man she had thought she loved. Instead she saw him as the monster he really was.
He struck her again and yelled for her to get undressed. His strike was so hard she turned and hit the side dresser. She grabbed onto the solid wood. In her mind she had flashbacks of years ago when she was a little girl and her mother brought home one of her johns. The man was drunk, abusive, and he struck her mother, grabbed her by her hair and dragged her to the bedroom. Her mom’s eyes locked onto Nina’s. That lost look was how Nina felt right now. After all she went through, was she going to turn into her mother, the woman who died in some alleyway with none of the men she gave her own daughter up for?
She locked gazes with the marble statue of a dolphin. The anger, the disgust and hatred, filled her belly. She was desperate to be free. Rico had so much power and control that Nina could never leave him or escape from this destiny, as he called it.
He struck her with the belt across her back and she felt her skin break. He hit her again and then ripped her skirt. He was going to rape her. Her mind scattered into a thousand directions and was lost in the past and where she had been and how she wound up here. Just like her mother. A woman used by one man and eventually others would take from her what they wanted, too. She had wanted a better life. She wanted to succeed, to make it and be someone. But just as women before her, she allowed a man to take control of her destiny and use her.
The repeated strikes to her back sent her over
the edge as her skin felt as if it tore, and she cried out in anger.
She gripped the marble dolphin and used all her strength to pick up the thing and swung it around her.
She was shocked as she hit Rico just right. He fell to the ground, blood dripping from his skull, and passed out.
She was shaking as she dropped the marble dolphin on the floor, then slowly moved toward Rico. The man was not moving. She feared she’d killed him as she covered her mouth and cried out. She was shaking with anger, fear, and emptiness. It wasn’t that she cared about him at all now. Not after what he did to her, degrading her, cheating on her, abusing her, and then getting ready to rape her. She realized she felt nothing. She had been living in a fantasy because she feared taking on life alone. Not anymore.
She wouldn’t get too close to him. She feared him now more than anything else. She kicked his foot and nothing happened.
“Oh God, did I kill him?” she asked aloud to no one. She felt terrible and then reminded herself that he was going to hurt her badly. She felt the stinging pain on her back caused by him. The throbbing in her cheeks, her lips, and her entire body caused by Rico. She had no choice. This wasn’t the same man she had fallen in love with.
It was a moment of realization, an epiphany. She could stay here, continue to be abused, neglected, used, and eventually wind up dead, or she could live. She could go out there and make something of her life, even temporary. She looked at Rico’s body, around the apartment, then back at him.
She knew she couldn’t leave him like this. Not dead and then run. She slowly knelt down on the rug and reached toward his neck. She felt his pulse. And he moaned.
She pulled back, jumped up, and frantically looked around the room. She didn’t know what to do. She went over everything in her head and wondered if this would be her only opportunity to escape his grasp. He thought he owned her. He said it himself that she was his. He was going to continue to have sex with all these women and keep her as his woman, too. She had become a possession, an obsession for him and nothing more. He kept her because she never had sex with anyone but him. He was sick in the head. She would die if she stayed here.
She felt disgusted and angry. She needed to make a quick decision. Stay here and be a victim of this monster, be his whore, his piece of property or run, escape to a better life, a new life elsewhere, and far, far away from Rico.
The tears spilled from her eyes. Could she survive on her own, all alone? Or was she too weak, too dependent on Rico?
I’m all alone. I have no one.
She thought about calling the police, but knowing that Rico knew so many cops around here, this situation would get turned around on her. No, she had to run. She had to get the hell out of here and never look back.
He moaned again and she knew time was running out. If she stayed now, he’d probably kill her, and Rico knew people.
The decision was made and she ran to the closet, pulled out her bags, and started throwing everything into them. She knew she only had a little bit of money. Rico was going to be very angry and he could try to come after her. She went over to the dresser and pulled out his wallet. She took a wad of money from it and then went into dresser drawer and took more. Enough to get her across the state, and somewhere safe, small, where she could blend in and begin a new life. She could put Rico and this mess behind her. She could live instead of stay here and die.
She didn’t count it. She just stuffed into her purse and looked around to see if she forgot anything. She didn’t have time. She couldn’t keep the mementos because this life was over.
She ran past him, heard his muffled moans getting louder. He was going to come to. Then she ran toward the dresser and took his phone and put it into the toilet bowl in the bathroom. Like many people he didn’t memorize people’s numbers. He had them locked in under their code. She was buying more time. He would call Cougar and Alex, his two best buddies and security. Perhaps even Martino and Miguel, the two thugs who hung around sometimes at the club who looked like murderers.
She shuddered just thinking about the two crazy men. Her body ached and burned, her cheek was incredibly sore, and she knew she should probably see a doctor but she couldn’t now. She was on the run. She needed to get as far away from San Francisco as possible.
She ran toward the door, looked back one last time at her old life, and headed out the door, slamming it closed behind her.
I can do this. I can survive on my own without a man, without anyone, and live. I just want to live and not feel any more pain again.
Chapter 1
Six Months Later
Detective Buddy Landers was running late. He was supposed to meet his brothers, Trent and Johnny, plus Ace, Bull, and Ice at the Station for drinks. First, he took a phone call in his truck from another detective in regards to a domestic violence assault in Fairway, one town over. The woman was involved in a relationship with the guy for the past six months when he started becoming abusive. One night a week ago things got out of hand. The police were called, but the boyfriend resisted arrest. They took him in. He was released the next day when the girlfriend didn’t press charges. Then three days later the girlfriend turned up dead. It was terrible. It seemed to Buddy that abuse was a vicious cycle. It was heartbreaking to think that this woman loved this guy so much she forgave him only for him to lose his cool again and kill her.
Buddy shook his head as the detective informed him that the boyfriend admitted to the murder. He fessed up to his attorney and said he didn’t want to go through a long trial trying to pretend he wasn’t guilty.
Buddy disconnected the call and headed inside when he heard his name.
“Buddy.” He turned around even though he knew he recognized the voice. It was out of habit of being respectful and courteous, unlike the individual approaching.
Tara Kelly. A lying bitch who tried to press charges against his brother Johnny for sexual harassment. The bitch has nerve calling my name and wanting to talk to me. She caused nothing but aggravation and a temporary suspension for Johnny until his innocence was proven. Which was within two weeks. What the fuck does she want with me?
He crossed his arms in front of his chest and stood there in his protective stance. It was one he used when questioning criminals or trying to intimidate an untrustworthy person.
She flung her long blonde hair off her shoulder so she could show off her breasts. The woman’s choice of dresses got shorter and shorter, tighter and tighter every time she came around.
“I thought that was you. How are you?” She smiled then winked. He kept his arms in place. He wasn’t going to take a chance that this woman would say he tried something on her.
“I have nothing to say to you, Tara.”
“You’re not still angry with me about Johnny, are you? I mean, it was my mistake. I took his flirting the wrong way.”
“Flirting the wrong way? You accused him of practically forcing himself on you. Sexual harassment is a very serious crime. It cost him his good reputation, a suspension on his record, never mind the social aspect of it.”
“It all worked out. Is he here tonight? Is Trent here, too?” she asked, straining her neck to look past him and into the main room.
“Listen, you stay clear of my family, you got it? We don’t like you. We don’t have anything to say to you.”
She reached out and touched his arm, but he pulled away.
“Don’t touch me. Take a hike.”
She looked him over. Those soft, sinful eyes looked at him with lust and then with evil intentions. He didn’t trust the woman as far as he could throw her. He turned and walked away from her and toward his brothers. He saw Johnny’s facial expression. The guy looked pissed off and worried. Tara’s damn accusations caused them all relationship problems. Plus they were so untrusting of women that none of them had dated anyone for nearly six months.
Something had to give soon. Johnny needed to get over the sexual harassment thing. Most knew he was innocent. Trent needed to not be so co
ncerned about a woman seeing the burns on his body from a fire a few years ago, and Buddy, he needed to stop taking his work home with him. Every case affected him. But mostly the ones where women were victims, or men were abusive to some really sweet women.
He couldn’t help but to think that he and his brothers were good men. Compassionate, caring men who would never lay a hand on a woman or be controlling. Despite all the negatives of each of their individual relationship problems, Buddy and his brothers knew one thing for sure. They wanted to share a woman. They wanted one that could understand their individuality yet accept them as a package. Together. It wasn’t so easy. They each had strong personalities and expected a lot from any woman they were with, even one-night stands. They were particular, and they were passionate.
But looking at Trent and Johnny, and feeling pretty damn lonely and unconfident they would find someone, he hoped that things would change soon. If they didn’t, then each of them would fall deeper and deeper within themselves and never open up their heart again to another woman.
* * * *
“You guys are out of your minds. I can’t believe that Serefina is letting the three of you hang out with us at the Station tonight,” Buddy Landers said. His brothers, Trent and Johnny, chuckled.
“She’s an amazing woman. If she were ours, we’d be home with her right now.” Trent Landers teased his cousins some more.
“Yeah, right. You three are never going to settle down. Too caught up in your careers,” Ace said then took a slug of beer.
“That’s not it at all,” Johnny added as he looked around the Station and then back toward his cousins.
“Who the hell do you keep looking around for?” Buddy asked his brother.
“No one. Just looking.” Johnny winked at Bull before he took a slug of beer.
“You’re all talk, Johnny,” Trent told his brother and then looked at Ice.
Hearts on Fire 4: Kisses Sweeter Than Pie (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 2