Episode 65
Episode 65
Flashback
GIOVANNI
It took every ounce of strength and resolve I had to stay quiet while my lawyers informed me and my wife that she was facing legal repercussions for having fired a warning shot at Bianca.
“Considering the sexual assault, trespassing, and drugging charges that Ms. Bianca Cameron is facing, I am confident I can convince the DA to lower the charges to brandishing a weapon, which would come with probation, fines, and the loss of your gun permit but no jail time,” my lawyer explained.
“Whatever, that’s fine,” Jules waved flippantly. “I don’t regret what I did. Bianca would have escaped, and I wasn’t going to shoot a pregnant woman, but I knew the authorities were on their way and just needed to buy some time.”
“The fact that Lee is a highly decorated former-police officer and is claiming the warning was necessary under the circumstances is helping your case.”
Lee lifted his chin when my gaze went to him. He’d be getting a large bonus and a raise for having taken care of my wife—and me—during what was a terrifying situation.
I gritted my teeth and firmed my jaw, staring my lawyer down. “I can’t even believe Julianne is facing anything. She prevented a known assailant from leaving the scene of the crime before the authorities could arrest her. Julianne was skilled in the use of the weapon, and no one got hurt. She’s a fucking hero.” I fumed, reaching around my wife’s shoulders and curling her closer to me where we sat on her couch.
I’d been given a common date rape drug, and after I told the police what I could remember and Jules made her statement, the police told the ER staff to do something called a rape kit. The photos, the exam, the swabs… I shivered as I flashed on the nurse taking the swabs of the lipstick smears on my face, neck and chest. The counselor they insisted I speak to told me that, with the drug, there was no way I could have consented and I should try and remember that as I processed what happened. I’d been sexually assaulted, and every time I thought about those lipstick marks, I wanted to vomit. I couldn’t scrub my skin enough to feel clean, even though the marks were no longer visible. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the here and now and make the memory disappear.
“Hey,” Jules brought her face close to mine, her fingers threading through my hair. “Don’t go back there,” she warned. “I’ve got you.”
And she did have me. In every way that mattered. Julianne had doted on and catered to me since I was released from the hospital a few days ago. We stayed in her apartment where she made sure I remembered to eat, watched movies to distract us both, and lounged around while I tried to wrap my mind around what had happened. It was all so fresh, and I didn’t expect to have random grotesque flashbacks of what Bianca had done to me.
Her naked body hovering over mine.
That red lipstick and her smarmy smile as she undressed me.
The complete inability to move or defend myself.
My mouth wouldn’t work. I couldn’t cry out or scream. I just had to take it.
Her mouth dragged down my chest as she did whatever she wanted.
Bianca rubbing her naked body across my lower half as she told me I liked it.
Suddenly, sweat beaded on my forehead and my entire body went white hot. Then came the sour, metallic taste in the back of my throat, and I knew what that meant. My breakfast was racing up my throat as I bolted off the couch to the guest bathroom near the living room. I fell to my knees and hurled everything I’d eaten that morning into the toilet. I heard water running as my stomach continued to flex and churn until there was nothing left but dry heaves.
A cool cloth was laid over the back of my neck, and I winced, knowing that Julianne was there, helping me through this, doing whatever she could to provide an ounce of comfort.
Her body wrapped around mine from behind. “Flashback?” she asked gently.
“Flashback,” I gritted out, my throat as raw as my mental state.
I felt her place a kiss on the back of my neck as she rubbed circles over the entire expanse of my back, letting me have a moment to process.
“I’m okay. I’ll wash up,” I muttered, needing to be alone to collect myself.
“Okay baby. I’m gonna get you ginger ale and some toast.”
I closed my eyes and hung my head. She was too good to me. Here I was a six-foot-two man, billionaire for chrissake. I handled horrible people and assholes every day, and now I’ve been reduced to a simpering weakling who couldn’t even bring himself to leave the comfort and safety of Julianne’s home. The flashbacks were plaguing my days and my nights. Sometimes I’d wake up in a cold sweat thinking I was still there, that woman still abusing me.
It was fucked up.
All of it.
After a few minutes of breathing, I found an unopened toothbrush and toothpaste in one of the vanity drawers Jules left for guests. I scrubbed my teeth and mouth, trying to cleanse away the nastiness I couldn’t shake. The doctor and counselor had warned me that some difficult memories might affect me and gave me some information on therapists in the area that specialized in sexual assault.
I’d blown them both off, thinking I’d get past this. It’s not like Bianca had been able to make me penetrate her, but she tried to make it happen. Tried to get Julianne to leave me. But my wife was not one to be swayed so easily. Her intelligence and quick action lifted her up to goddess status in my mind. I just needed to get my head back in the game, back on the things that really mattered.
Julianne. Our marriage. And seeing Bianca brought to justice for her crimes.
And then, of course, there was Brenden. He’d tried to call several times after what happened. Neither one of us answered any of his requests, nor did we listen to his voicemails.
The man was dead to me.
He and his wife could fall off the face of the Earth, and I’d be one happy man. It’s sad, especially after so many years of being as close as brothers, but it was true.
Brenden Myers could fuck right off.
I left the bathroom to find Lee and my lawyer gone. “Did they leave?” I called out, making my way to the kitchen.
“Yeah, I asked them to go. You need your rest,” Julianne said, placing lightly buttered toast and a tall glass of ice with ginger ale on the counter. For some reason my wife believed that ginger ale and bread cured all ailments. She wasn’t exactly wrong; it had worked on my stomach more often than not the last few days, but it was still irritating.
“I’ve done nothing but lounge around and sleep.”
“And have nightmares and moments where you go ghost white when you have a memory, or the alternative, vomiting up everything you’ve eaten that day. I’m worried, Gio. I think you need to talk to someone.”
I sipped on the soda and took a bite of the toast, mulling through what she’d shared.
“It’s stupid. I’m a grown ass man…” I was about to go into all the ways I should easily be able to handle a difficult experience.
“You were sexually assaulted. You think because you’re a man you’re somehow exempt from having strong uncomfortable feelings about what happened?”
I clenched my teeth together and groaned. “Jules, this will pass.”
“Maybe. But I still think you need to discuss it with a professional. They’ll help you work through those flashbacks and hopefully find more positive ways to deal with them. I’ll say it again: I’m worried about you, Gio.”
I pushed my chair back and slapped my thighs. “Come here, baby.”
Julianne slumped against the counter, thinking I was once again going to change the subject. Still, she came around, straddled my thighs and wrapped her arms around my neck, a cute little pout firmly in place.
“I’ll see a therapist,” I sighed.
“Really?” She smiled huge, and I knew it was the right thing to say to make her happy. It was also the best plan of attack for me too. Something had to give. Who knows, maybe therapy would fix it or at the very least, put a bandage over the worst of it so I could function like a normal member of society?
“Really. If it means that much to you, I will give it a go. I can’t promise it's going to work, but I’m uncomfortable enough with the aftermath, I need to do something. I haven’t wanted to leave our sanctuary here, and the vomiting isn’t healthy.”
She ran her fingers through my hair the way she knew I liked, her nails scratching along my scalp. “I love you, Gio. And I’m proud of you.”
I cupped her juicy ass, grinding against her. We hadn’t made love since I got home from the hospital because my head’s been all over the place. For the first time, my dick was taking notice of my very attractive wife, sitting on my lap.
Her eyes widened and then turned hazy with lust. “Are you sure you’re ready?” She licked her lips like a cat ready to drink all the cream.
I stood up with her and planted her ass on the sturdy kitchen table. “Am I ready to fuck my wife hard until she screams her pleasure for the whole building to hear?”
Her chest rose and fell as her breathing increased, and she reached for the hem of her tank top and pulled it over her head. She had a tiny thin band of fabric holding her large breasts, which was almost comical, because it covered very little of her spectacular tits.
I fingered the edge of the fabric and circled a nipple with my finger. “What is this supposed to do?” I cupped her breasts in both hands, lifting them up and swirling my thumbs around her nipples. “It’s not offering any support.” I teased her with my voice and my fingers.
She moaned as I did so. “Um, mostly just to prevent my nipples from showing through my tank, and it does offer a little support.”
“Hmm, I disagree.” I shoved the fabric under her beautiful tits then dipped my head and sucked a tight peak into my mouth.
“Oh God, yes,” she arched her back, and cupped my neck, giving me deeper access to her body.
“I think what you meant to say was, oh, Gio, yes. God is not the one making you feel pleasure, baby.”
She laughed as I gestured for her to ease her body back on the table. When her back was flat against the surface, I curled my fingers around her lounge pants and panties, swept them down and off her legs, and tossed them behind me while she removed the bra.
Her curves made my mouth dry. The juxtaposition of her round stomach to her more nipped in waist and those thick, strong thighs made me want to fold her in half and pound the fuck out of her. Something I thought she’d greatly enjoy.
“Gio,” she mewled, her body shifting and squirming as I pulled off my t-shirt and shoved down my gray sweatpants.
Her hands made grabby movements the second my cock made an appearance.
“You want this, Jules?” I stroked my length while taking in her undulating bare form spread out for me to pleasure however I wanted.
Randomly, an image of Bianca’s naked body sitting on top of me flashed across my vision and I stopped mid stroke, my stomach tightening.
“Gio, baby…you okay?” Jules sat up and reached for me.
I stepped into the V of her legs and held her tight. She pulled back and looked at my face. “It’s okay…we don’t have to. We have all the time in the world to make love.”
“No.” I growled, lifting my wife up until she wrapped her legs around my waist and I carried her to our bed. I eased her onto her back and stared into her clear blue eyes.
She lifted her hands and cupped my cheeks. “I love you, Giovanni Falco. You are my husband, and I am your wife. I will be here for you through every second of whatever it is you need to manage your pain.”
“I just need you. She doesn’t get to have this,” I grated then crashed my mouth over hers. My cock instantly started to harden again the longer I kissed my wife. Being able to taste and smell Julianne, the woman I loved with my whole heart, made pleasure soar through every nerve ending, obliterating any thought of that vile woman. “I just need you close,” I whispered against her neck as I peppered her skin with open-mouthed kisses. “Talk to me. Let me hear you.”
I sucked her nipple into my mouth.
“That feels so good,” she whimpered as I nipped and twirled my tongue around her sensitive peak.
I widened her legs with my own and centered my cock at her entrance.
“Make love to me, Gio,” she pleaded in that tone that drove me fucking wild.
“You want me inside, Julianne?” I growled, my entire form lit with desire.
“God, yessssssss.” She drew out the word, and all thoughts of what had come before were gone.
I centered the head of my cock and plunged deeply into my wife. Pleasure soared through my body and a battle cry left my lungs. Julianne was right there with me.
Her hands ran up and down my back, her thighs tightening against my hips as I plowed into her over and over. I gritted my teeth, lifted her ass, and pounded as deep as I could. I wanted to merge bodies and souls. Fuck her so good she’d know I could never be without her, without this. It was ours and no one could ever take it away.
“Damn, you’re perfect. So fucking beautiful. And all mine, Julianne. You are all fucking mine.”
“Yes, baby, oh God, I’m going to…” And then her body convulsed and her cunt clamped around me so tightly I lost my breath, falling over her and finding her hands so I could interlace our fingers. Holding her hands, my face hovering over hers, I stared straight into her eyes as I kept fucking her, not wanting to leave this moment where Julianne and I were one.
“Take what you need baby…” She clamped around my cock with her internal muscles.
“You. You are all I need in this life.” I covered her mouth, planted my cock as deeply as I could and came harder than I ever had. She held me through it, her tongue tangling with mine until finally we both slowly relaxed back to the present.
She curled her body around my side, a long pearly white leg draped possessively over my thighs.
“How do you feel?”
I grinned while playing with her long red hair. “Like a new man,” I admitted.
I hadn’t wanted to admit it to Jules or even myself that I’d been afraid of having sex. The flashbacks were horrible enough, but not being able to perform? That scared me. I didn’t want anything to taint the connection Jules and I had in the bedroom. Our marriage was still new, as was our intimacy, and I couldn’t bear the concept of losing it. Of allowing that bitch to take something so precious from me after everything she’d already stolen.
“You had a moment when we were in the kitchen, huh?”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “But you got me through it. I was worried about uh, being intimate.”
“I would have waited a lifetime to be with you again. You didn’t have to rush the process.” She traced one of my abs with the tip of her finger.
I grabbed her hand and brought her fingers to my mouth and kissed each one of them. “It was more about me not letting her have that too. And I want to thank you for taking your time with me. For being here, tending to my needs. I couldn’t have dreamed of a better partner.”
Julianne lifted up on an elbow so she could look me in the eye. “There’s nothing I won’t do for you, Gio. And if you need time, or space, or whatever it might be to help wrap your mind around this trauma, I’m going to give you whatever I can. And if making love is triggering…”
Oh hell no.
I rolled Jules over until I’d caged her under me once more. “Loving you will never be triggering. Being sexual after what happened might be touch and go for a while, but this was an amazing first step, wouldn’t you agree?”
She smiled, and it was so pretty I couldn’t help but taste that beauty for myself with a deep, wet, kiss.
“I agree,” she hummed sweetly.
“Figured as much. Let’s just take it day by day. Nothing is off the table, especially when it comes to physical touch. You’re affectionate. I like your hands on me at all times. And I’m going to touch my wife as much as humanly possible. If—and I’m hoping the kitchen was a one-off—if I have one of my flashbacks when we’re being intimate, I just ask that you follow my lead. What we did today helped more than you can imagine. It made me realize I’m going to be okay. We’re going to be okay in that department. Yeah?”
She pecked my lips. “Yeah.”
“Now, I want to get showered, dressed, and take my wife out to dinner.”
“Are you sure?”
“Having a wonderful meal while looking at my gorgeous wife sounds a lot like living, and I think that’s what we need to do right now.”
She grinned. “I’ll follow your lead, baby.”
I tugged her up, smacked her fine ass, and led her to the shower.
We’d be okay, I’d make sure of it.