Chapter 4
Sensation woke me. Sensation between my legs. What was happening? I opened my eyes. I was in Tommy Ferrano’s bed, on my back. Daylight. Then it hit me that he was nestled between my legs with his mouth on me down there. Holy crap.
I tensed up. I couldn’t see him since he was under the blankets, but he had my hips in his hands and his tongue was flicking down there, on my clit. He was doing to me what he’d done to that cherry. Fuck!
My panties were sliding down, down, down, and off. No one had ever done this to me. Truthfully, I was the only one who had ever given myself an orgasm and I always stopped probably a bit short because the intensity always frightened me. The few sexual partners I’d had were more interested in getting themselves off than even figuring out where the clit was.
But, Tommy Ferrano was in between my legs, tongue swirling around my girlie parts, and my eyes were rolling into the back of my head. He sure knew where it was. And I was about to go off like a hand grenade with the pin pulled out.
Holy shit, that felt intense! He flicked the covers off and now I didn’t just feel it, I could see it. He looked up at me, twirled his tongue, sucked inward, and then he gave me the sexiest smile I’d ever seen in my whole damn life. He was the ice cream parlor guy right now, my fantasy come true. Messy bedhead, twinkling pale brown eyes looking sparkly almost like quartz, all muscles and a potently male scent coming off him. Was I dreaming? My head rolled back and my back arched, letting out a squeak as sensation rolled through me.
She was like heaven, wrapped tight around my tongue. She had a tight shaved pussy that, when I spread her folds apart, was so pink and perfect that taking those panties off felt like Christmas morning. She tasted a little like pineapple. What was even more amazing was the way she was responding. I’d woken up at dawn with her sprawled across me, looking, feeling, and smelling gorgeous.
It was the longest uninterrupted sleep that I could remember. I was always up two or three times a night, but I’d slept seven hours straight and woke up with this goddess draped over me, her silky hair fanned out across my shoulder, her fingertips touching one of my nipples. Her hot palm had skated across my skin and she’d let out a sleepy moan as I’d run my fingers through her hair.
So, I flipped her over and kissed my way down the shirt and nestled between her legs while I pushed those silky black panties down.
She was so responsive, moaning in her sleep and spreading her legs for me. She tasted so good, sounded so sweet when she moaned, and she was mine, moaning for me. Something about that just called to me on a deep level.
When her eyes had opened and she looked so flushed, but didn’t pull away, instead arched and let out that hard shudder and high pitched “Ah!” it was perfection. My hand slid up under the shirt and cupped a breast, feeling the silky tip harden under my touch. Fuck, I had to be inside of her. Now.
After giving me the most intense orgasm I’d ever had and the only orgasm I’ve ever had not alone, he rose up my body and settled directly on top of me, looking at me with a smile on his face. I was wide-eyed and probably red-faced, and more than anything, I was freaking scared. The earth had just shattered, and I was in pieces. He’d caught me off guard, doing this to me while I slept. And I was afraid because I didn’t know what was next.
He reached down, not breaking eye contact with me, and freed his erection from his underwear. I was about to protest, but in an instant, he pushed inside of me, hard and to the root. His eyes sparkled as I winced.
“Not a virgin,” he whispered, “but close.”
I shut my eyes and chewed my lip, absorbing the feel of him and at the same time continuing to let the horror sink in.
“Tell me, baby girl,” he whispered huskily in my ear. “Anybody ever make you come like that?”
I would’ve gulped, but I couldn’t swallow. My face was beet-red, I was sure, but I had goose bumps everywhere, too.
“Good,” he whispered against my forehead and then kissed it. “Might as well have been a virgin then. I want to gut anyone who has had their sorry excuse for a cock inside you.” He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him, then said, “Play your cards right and this big, hard cock is the only one you’ll ever have inside you again.”
The seriousness on his face struck fear down in my gut. Then his tongue was in my mouth. I wanted to pull away. I didn’t want to taste myself on him. But, he wasn’t letting me move. He kept pushing deep into me down below, his tongue tracing across my lips, darting inside. His lips were strong, demanding.
“Wrap your arms and legs around me, baby,” he whispered.
I was frozen.
“Now,” he grunted and my arms and legs obeyed him. I didn’t want this but if I fought it I was sure it would turn violent and happen anyway.
“Ah, you feel so good Athena; you are a goddess. You’re so fucking tight.”
He grunted those words into my neck, and I just lay there, letting him do that to me. I felt like I was splitting in two. Half of me felt what he was doing to me, and it felt good, so good. This must be what sex was really supposed to feel like, except that it was missing the emotional component and probably shouldn’t have this fear component. Under my hands, I felt his muscles ripple. Under my calves I felt his butt clench as he drove into me. His body was so muscular and strong. This wasn’t a boy; this was a man, a man who knew how to make me feel good, a man I was petrified of.
The other half of me wanted to float away somewhere else. If I’d risen above my body and looked down, I’d have seen that my eyes were staring at the ceiling, wet with unshed tears. This sensation in my body was real, and it was intense, but it wasn’t what I wanted to feel. I wanted to disappear into thin air. I thought back to my fantasies about him and felt real remorse for ever wanting to be underneath him. I started to sob. Loud.
He started pushing harder and harder and then gyrated his hips and hit something inside of me that made me jolt. My mouth was wide open as I let out a moan and staggered breaths. My legs were shaking. Hard. He grabbed me roughly by the hair and held my cheek to his cheek. I let out a cry of pain and then he came inside of me, moaning loud and the sound of that, it made every nerve in my body prickle. Then he fell limply onto me, out of breath.
“Fuck!” he growled into my ear, and then nuzzled hard all over my face and neck and chest, rubbing his rough stubbly face all over me. It made goose bumps rise all over my body again. He ripped the shirt I had on wide open and sucked one of my nipples into his mouth and moaned loudly. Then he let go and gathered me to him and flipped over, holding me tight against his side, brushing my hair away from my face with his fingertips on one hand and sliding his fingers from behind though the moisture between my legs with the other hand. I shuddered.
“Good morning, gorgeous.” His voice was husky, sleepy. He leaned over so I could see his face and gave me a dazzling smile while he kept rubbing with his fingers. His fluid was leaking out of me as he continued to rub rhythmically back and forth over the seam of my vagina and spreading it all over that area.
I started breathing shallowly again as sensation began to re-build. I think my eyes were rolling back into my head again and I was inches away from coming again. I fisted the bed sheet. But then he pulled his hand away, “Naw, you’ve had enough for now. Wouldn’t wanna spoil you. But I could get used to waking up like this, huh?” He kissed me behind my earlobe and then sucked my earlobe into his mouth for a second and made a victorious-sounding growl in my ear.
I think I must’ve looked back at him like he was an alien or something because he waited for a beat, eyeing me, then burst out laughing. He gave my bottom a stinging slap while biting his lower lip, and then pulled away from me.
“Aren’t you full of surprises?” he asked, crawling backwards out of the bed until he stood at the foot of it and looked down at me, naked and his body glistening a little bit with sweat, “I know vanilla is your favorite flavor, but just so you know, that’s probably the one and only time you’ll ever get it.” He winked at me and sauntered, naked, to the bathroom. I heard the shower spring to life.
I bolted upright, feeling my heart pound against my chest. My eyes scanned the room.
I have got to get out of here. Could I make a run for it now and get away from this psycho?
My dress was in his bathroom, ripped. My shoes were still here on the floor, but all I had on was his blue dress shirt. I threw the covers back and my panties were still around one of my ankles. I pulled them out of the mess of tangled-up sheets and hurried to his walk-in closet, where I rifled through drawer after drawer, looking for pants. I found a drawer of t-shirts, so took one and put it on. I took another and wiped away the mess between my legs. I threw it toward a hamper and it missed. I yanked on a pair of Tommy’s track pants rolling the cuffs up until they were to my knees. I decided to abandon my killer heels. I never wanted to see them again after the day I’d had wearing them. The water was still running and my vagina was still throbbing with raw sensation.
I grabbed my purse from where it’d been tossed on the floor last night, darted out of the bedroom, tying the drawstring around the waist of the pants as I ran, and took off down the stairs. I unlocked a deadbolt on the front door and then dashed out. The house alarm started instantly and piercingly betraying me. Then I saw the Michael Clarke Duncan-looking guy leaning against a car, doing something on his phone. His chin lifted and then he was looking right at me.
My heart thudded wildly. Damn it; I hadn’t thought this through. He quirked his eyebrows up, clearly aware I was trying to escape and probably taking in my disheveled appearance and probably frantic look. This place was gated all the way around, by the looks of it. The guy stepped away from the car and headed in my direction.
I couldn’t see how I’d get out with the property being gated and even if I’d found a way out, would I be sentencing my father to a terrible fate? I didn’t know the whole story and one wrong move and it could mean he’d be dead. I’d be an orphan without ever finding out the whole story.
I certainly didn’t want to piss this big guy off, so I put my head down, turned around, and headed back into the house.
When I closed the door, I leaned against it, breathless. My mind raced. What could I do? I needed to get out of here. Maybe find a phone and call the police? But that might get me killed, too. Or shipped off to some foreign land to be a sex worker.
I stood there for I don’t know how long, my hands over my ears, and not knowing what to do and then he was coming down the stairs, holding his phone to his ear and wearing just a towel. He casually strolled past me and pushed buttons on a panel on the wall by the door. The alarm’s screeching halted. He looked at me with what looked like an amused look on his face.
“Thanks. Yep, got it under control.” He ended his call. “Looks like you tripped the alarm on your way out for a stroll, huh? Nice outfit.”
He stopped in front of me.
I was sure I was quite the sight barefoot in his track pants, which I could’ve swum in, and a way-too-big men’s t-shirt with no bra underneath. Where the heck was my bra? I’d gone to sleep with it on last night. I covered my chest with my arms and blew my hair out of my face.
“Why don’t you go get a shower and I’ll have my housekeeper get some breakfast together for us.”
I gave a little nod, wide-eyed and started to head for the stairs. As I passed him, he caught me by my upper arm and leaned in,
“Don’t try that again.” His grip tightened painfully. “You get a pass because you pleased me so well this morning. But, try that again, you won’t be able to sit down for a week.” There wasn’t a trace of humor in his eyes; his expression shook me right to the core.
I swallowed hard. This man was beautiful outside but obviously hideously ugly on the inside. He smirked like he’d read my mind and let go of my arm. I went upstairs and took a shower.
I scrubbed myself for at least twenty minutes, almost frantically. I tried to wash him away, but I could swear I still smelled the sex on myself.
When I came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, I noticed clothes on the end of the bed, which had been made. There was a stack of ladies’ t-shirts and tank tops, a pile of several new pairs of underwear with the tags still on. Yoga pants, a pair of capri yoga pants, and a pair of denim shorts sat in a neat stack. I got dressed and sat on the bed and combed my hair with the small hairbrush from my purse. Thankfully, the tank had a built-in bra. Not ideal on its own for a bigger chest like mine, but better than nothing.
Someone knocked and then opened the door. An attractive Latina woman was in the doorway. She looked to be in her early to mid-forties, about my size with shoulder-length wavy dark hair with copper highlights all through it.
“Oh good, they fit. I’m Sarah Martinez. I’m your housekeeper. Welcome, Miss O’Connor. I’ve put your underthings in the wash. The dress can’t likely be saved, I’m afraid, but I’ll see what I can do with it. You can borrow those things until your things arrive. The panties, they’re new; you can keep those.”
Her kindness was sort of disarming. She reached out and shook my hand. She stared at my left hand for a second, probably noting I wasn’t wearing a ring. Had she actually come into the bathroom while I was showering to get my dirty clothes?
“Thank you,” I managed to say.
“I know it’s all unconventional,” she whispered, lifting her chin toward the heart-shaped box on the dresser, “but I’m so happy to see him settling down. I’m here for you and at your service. If there are changes you want to make after the wedding, I’m happy to be accommodating. Don’t hesitate to come to me for anything, okay? We must talk but we’ll do it later.” She had a mild accent and her tone was conspiratory. She winked at me.
I nodded slowly, not sure what to make of her. If she knew the circumstances under which I was here and knew how this family operated and still chose to work here she couldn’t possibly be a good person. I couldn’t trust her. I wouldn’t trust her.
“Come; breakfast is waiting.”
I stood up. She linked arms with me like we were bosom buddies and led me downstairs, saying, “All those rooms are bedrooms. There are five and each has an adjoining bathroom, except the room that’ll be the nursery. That has a door adjoining to the master suite in through the walk-in closet.” She gave me a squeeze. What the heck?
She led me through a big modern kitchen and then out some sliding doors onto a patio area where Tommy was sitting at a table, reading a newspaper with coffee in front of him.
He tucked his phone in his jeans pocket. He was Mr. Casual today, dressed in a pair of button-fly faded jeans and a tight black t-shirt. His still damp hair was pushed back with his sunglasses. He was barefoot. How could he be so attractive and yet be willing to be put in an arranged marriage? I suspected with his family being criminals, he couldn’t get a woman to agree to marry him. Either that or he was so ugly on the inside that no one cared how good he looked on the outside.
“Sit,” Ms. Martinez told me. “I’ll bring you coffee. Or tea? What do you prefer?”
“Um, coffee, please. Milk with three sugars.”
“Three? Oh, that’s bad.” She waved her hand dismissively. “I’ll wean you off.”
Tommy glanced up from his paper at me. “She’s a sugar hater. She weaned me off a few months ago. Didn’t tell me until 2 weeks after I’d been drinking it with no sugar.”
“Sugar is evil!” she replied, waving her finger at him. He rolled his eyes.
I sat across the table from him. He was smiling, staring at the paper with what looked like not a care in the world. No, no cares. He had a prisoner here and had tricked me into giving him sex this morning by starting something when I was asleep, but now he didn’t have a care in the world. Too bad I didn’t have it as easy.
Ms. Martinez brought me a coffee. When I sipped it, it tasted sugary enough. She winked at me, “I gave you three today, but bit by bit I’ll cut back and then you won’t even miss it.”
How poetic. Tommy had promised me that I wouldn’t have my favorite vanilla after today and she was promising to wean me off sugar. Obviously, by his statement and by the way he’d spanked me and pulled my hair, he was a kinky sonofabitch so vanilla sex was off the menu. Would I soon stop missing my freedom and everything else I loved because I’d be weaned off? Would I ever stop missing vanilla ice cream? Freedom was something I was missing already.
There was the illusion of freedom in front of me. The patio area was nice. Spanish themed, mosaic tiles, big infinity pool that overlooked a lush-looking forest. I wondered what the drop was like on the other side of the pool. Could I escape through the forest? I was in a big giant cell. A ginormous cell with an infinity pool and servants.
“Tia?” Tommy’s voice broke my daze.
My attention snapped to him. Ms. Martinez was putting a plate of scrambled eggs, toast, and fruit in front of me. Then she went back inside.
“I’m leaving. I’ve got work. You’ll behave?”
I think I nodded a little, I wasn’t even sure. I could hardly look at him, after what he’d done to me. After how I’d participated. I knew my face was red, I could feel it.
“Uh, you want your things picked up at your old place or are we starting over?”
I was shocked at the question. “I, um… I have to talk to them, tell them, uh…” Tell them what?
“I’ll take care of it. I’ll have your things brought here. Then whatever else you need, I’ll arrange.” He got up, pulled me up to standing and took me into his arms. “Be a good girl,” he said and poked me gently on the nose, “No phone calls yet and no attempts to run.” I caught sight of his hand; it was covered in scratches from our scuffle last night. He saw that I’d noticed and smiled devilishly at me and then touched his lips to mine. His tongue darted in as he hauled me closer. I didn’t react, I didn’t respond. I guess was in shock. He let go of me and then said, “Watch her.” I glanced behind him and the Michael Clarke Duncan guy was standing in the doorway. I guess I had a babysitter.
I robotically dropped back to sitting and stared at my plate. Ms. Martinez sat down with a cup of coffee,
“Shoo Earl!” she said to him, annoyed. He backed away. She sat down and put her coffee in front of herself. “He can go. Leave us girls to talk. Food not okay?”
“I…I uh, haven’t tried it.”
“Eat. I’ll keep you company.” She took a sip of her coffee. “Are you okay?”
I stared, dumbfounded at her, then finally answered, “Not really.”
“Tell. Tell me everything.” She leaned forward and propped her chin on her palm, her elbow on the table. She stared at me with big brown doe eyes.
I winced.
“You don’t trust me. I understand. I’m a stranger to you. Let me talk while you eat. We’ll become friends in no time.”
I took a bite of cubed melon from the plate.
“I’ve been with the family since Tommy was a small boy. His mother died when he was just a boy. The Ferrano family hired me to look after him. I was an illegal alien with no future. I’d been smuggled into the country by a nasty piece of shit who wanted to work me and my family to death in payment for getting us into the states. Mr. Ferrano, Tommy’s father, Tom, he broke up the operation that was ruining lives of a lot of people. He freed dozens of people treated like slaves. In thanks to him I offered to work here for their family for nothing; they saved us, a lot of us. Of course, they have paid me generously all these years, anyway. He got me citizenship, too. I stayed anyway; I wanted to be surrounded by people who cared.”
“Slaves? They saved you from slavery?” I shook my head, a sour look on my face.
She continued, “This family, they don’t play everything by the books. But, they did a lot for me. There are a lot of people out there like them, don’t kid yourself. They don’t all get called by the same names but there are some very bad people out there disguised as good people and there are people who do bad things sometimes but are not bad, they do what they need to do. This family, what you see is what you get. They did good for me.”
She pointed her thumb at her chest, “And for my parents.” She looked up, kissed her fingertips and pointed them at the sky, “They’ve become family to me.” She motioned to my plate again. “Please, Chiquita; you need to eat.”
I took a bite of food. She kept talking.
“Tommy is the oldest of four. He’s taking over the family business after he marries you. He has big responsibilities. Big. This means you will have an important position. He’s like a son to me, you know? I have no kids but his mother died and so I was like his mother. We’re like family. You’re resistant to this. I know a bit about your father. I know that he gave you to pay them. Having a man like this for your father, what he did was a blessing. Better to be with the Ferrano family than a man like that.” She spat the word ‘that’ out with a grimace.
I was shocked. “I’m a prisoner, Mrs. Martinez. How is this better?”
“Call me Sarah. Better to be a prisoner of a good man than an evil one. Tommy is a good man. You’ll see. Underneath all his – you’ll see.”
I shook my head. “I wasn’t imprisoned by my father. He left me in foster care for years. I was free but he came and he – and Tommy is forcing me into –” I stopped talking. I didn’t want to say another word. Rule number two.
“Your fiancé will provide for you, keep you safe, give you a family, an amazing loving family. Maybe you don’t think this is what you want but you will be very blessed. I know he has dark tendencies, but I think the right woman will bring him into the light. He’s had much pain in his life so far. He’s had a lot to prove. He’s beautiful outside; he just needs love to help create some beauty inside where he feels ugly. You’ll see.”
How promising. Ugh.
I sipped the coffee and stared out at the forest beyond the pool. I was done listening to her. This was pointless.
“I hope we can be friends. You can come to me if you need anything.”
Yeah, she’s loyal to him, to them. I won’t go to her for a thing. I stared, unseeing, ahead of me.
She must’ve picked up on my vibe because she left me alone then, patting me first on the shoulder and saying something softly in Spanish. I ate a bit, but it was tasteless and pointless. I was worrying about Rose, Cal and everyone who would be worried about me. I don’t know if ‘worry’ was the right word for the emotions I was feeling about my dad, though. He had really done it this time. And Tommy said he’d take care of things with Rose and Cal but I hadn’t a clue what that meant. I felt sick about it.
Would Dad try to get me out? Tommy’s father had certainly said different. How could Dad have looked so calm when he watched them drive away with me?
It started to rain, so I wandered back into the house. Mrs. Martinez was cleaning the kitchen. She piped up. “Tour of the house?”
“Actually, I’d like to lie down. I don’t feel all that great.” I couldn’t care less about a tour of my prison.
“Do you need something? Painkillers, tea, anything like that?”
“I just need a nap. Thank you, Mrs. Martinez.”
“I’m not married. And call me Sarah.”
I nodded, then I went back upstairs to Tommy’s room and got under the covers. I felt dirty in his bed, the bed where he’d screwed me that morning. The bed where I’d let him do that to me without fighting back. The bed that smelled like him and smelled like sex. I thanked my lucky stars, if I had any, (I probably didn’t) that I wasn’t going to get pregnant from this morning’s activities since he hadn’t worn a condom. I rubbed my arm, feeling the small birth control implant that was there. I only hoped that Tommy Ferrano didn’t have any STDs.
I woke up a few hours later, feeling no better. I wandered over to the wet bar Tommy had gotten wine from the previous night and opened the mini fridge. It was stocked with bottled water and had several wine bottles plus a few bottles of beer. I got a bottle of water and then wandered into the bathroom and found a bottle of Tylenol in the medicine cabinet. I took two of them, hoping they’d save me from this excruciating tension headache, and then I climbed back into the bed. My eyes landed on the heart-shaped box. It had been moved from the dresser to right beside me on the bedside table. My eyes flew up to the ceiling so fast that it was like I was trying to un-see the box. I didn’t even want to think about that box. What I needed to think about was how to get out of this mess.
* * *
When it got dark the door opened and I thought it’d be Sarah Martinez again as she’d looked in on me and tried to engage in conversation at least three times. But this time, it was him. I looked up from the bed, where I’d been all day. He stood over me, staring.
“Honey, I’m home.” He was smiling, probably thinking he was funny. I looked back to the television. My whole body was tense, locked tight.
“Sarah has dinner ready for us.” His tone was gentle.
I shrugged.
“I need to talk to you about a few things so maybe up here is better. It’s more private. I’ll bring it up.”
I chewed my lower lip and didn’t give him anything.
He sat on the edge of the bed and flicked the lamp on, “I’m gonna try to be patient with you, but I won’t tolerate this for long.” His eyebrows were up and he looked serious but not angry. I blinked at him a few slow times and then rolled my eyes and looked back to the TV, trying to give off a ‘whatever’ vibe.
Suddenly, he hauled me up to standing. Now his eyes were cold and angry-looking and he had my chin in his grasp. “I don’t appreciate being ignored,” he told me, “You’d be smart to remember that.”
“I wasn’t ignoring you. I know you’re here.”
“I don’t appreciate the attitude, then.”
“I don’t appreciate being kept prisoner,” I said softly, pushing my palms against his chest to get him to let go of me. How dare he think he can just manhandle me!
He let go of me and I sat back on the bed, ignoring the fact that he was looking at me like I was a piece of meat.
“I’ll go get dinner for us,” he said.
“Not hungry,” I muttered.
“Fine, suit yourself. You can wait until tomorrow to find out about the fate of your father, your belongings, and to find out what’s happened with your foster family.”
He let me go and left the room and I sank down into the pillows like they were the pits of despair.
I silently prayed nothing had happened to any of them, biting back tears and stared off into space until it got darker and darker. I eventually slept.