Chapter 2 #3
Before she could stop him, he pressed his mouth on hers, pushed her back on the couch forcefully, resting his full weight on her so she couldn’t get up, and with one deft hand, he reached under her dress and yanked down her underwear and pantyhose brutally, keeping his weight on her as he crushed his mouth on hers.
She couldn’t breathe and she tried to push him off, but he had her dress up around her waist by then, and before she could stop him, he had entered her with a driving force, slamming her back against the cushions.
She tried to get him to stop but she couldn’t get away from him or even speak with his mouth on hers.
He was pounding the full force of his body into her, with his whole weight on her, and his mouth pressed on hers, and she was totally at his mercy, as he intended, and within minutes he came with a shuddering wave and a shout, and lay on top of her, staring at her.
He looked as surprised as she felt, and she ached from the force with which he had entered her.
He rolled slowly off her as tears sprang to her eyes.
There were tears in his eyes too, as sanity returned to him slowly.
“I’m sorry, Felicity, I don’t know what happened. I wanted you to say yes tonight. I want you to be my wife.” They were both crying at the realization that he had raped her in a blind rage.
“That’s not the way to do it,” she said as she pulled her underwear on and her dress down and sat up.
He had never done anything like it before.
He had punished her severely for not accepting his proposal and having doubts about it.
She would never forget the fierce look on his face as he pounded into her.
She wanted to get away from him now, as she stood up on shaking legs.
“I told you I wanted to think about it. We’re adults.
Marriage has to feel right to both of us.
You can’t force it on me,” she said, choking on a sob.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking genuinely contrite, as she walked away into her bathroom and closed and locked the door. She took off her dress, and saw that she had bled on it, he had forced her so hard. Even if he meant her no harm, he had hurt her and frightened her.
It wasn’t a lot of blood, but enough to remind her of what had happened, and how.
He had never raped her before, but she was sure that what he had just done was rape.
He never liked it when he didn’t get his way about something, but this was different.
He had used brute force on her and he was a strong man.
There was no way she could have stopped him, and she had tried, but she was no match for him, with his full weight on her.
She didn’t come out of the bathroom for an hour, and he was asleep on the couch when she did.
She tiptoed past him, slipped into bed, exhausted, and thought about it for a long time, lying wide awake.
She had seen a violent side of him that night that she’d never seen before, and hoped she’d never see again.
She didn’t know how she felt about him now, other than angry and hurt and scared, and humiliated, and even ashamed.
She finally drifted off to sleep, and it was morning when she woke up.
Taylor was sitting on the edge of the bed, still dressed.
He was staring at her with tears in his eyes. She didn’t want another scene with him.
“I’m so sorry, Felicity. I don’t know what happened to me last night. I was drunk. And I wanted you to say yes so badly that I went crazy when you weren’t sure. Take all the time you need to think. I want to marry you, and I swear I’ll never do anything like that again.”
“You scared me to death, and you hurt me,” she said with tears in her eyes too. He didn’t come closer or try to kiss her, he could tell she didn’t want him to.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, and gently took her hand in his.
She felt bad for him, but more so for herself.
He was genuinely distraught at what he had done.
He kept stroking her hand and apologizing to her.
She wanted to tell him she wanted a time-out, and for him to move out for a few days.
She no longer knew who he was. He’d been a stranger the night before.
She wanted to be alone and needed time to think.
She loved him, but she didn’t know if she wanted to be married to him, or anyone for the next few years, but he was so heartbroken that she felt sorry for him.
It was as though he had been kidnapped by aliens and had been deposited back on earth, filled with remorse.
“I love you, Taylor. I just needed some time to think,” she said sadly.
He was gentle again now, but the night before he had been a dangerous man.
They both wanted to put it behind them now.
And she suddenly had the thought that even if they got engaged, she could break the engagement if she wanted to.
She didn’t have to marry him. An engagement was a promise, it wasn’t a prison sentence, or it didn’t have to be.
“Maybe we can still get engaged,” she said quietly.
“But if you ever do that again, I’ll go to the police.
” He could see in her eyes that she meant it.
“I promise you. It won’t ever happen again.
I am heartbroken at what I did.” He went to get the ring, and slipped it gently on her finger.
She felt a shudder when he did. It would always remind her of the savage animal he had become, but she didn’t say anything.
He didn’t try to kiss her and was deeply contrite.
He left late for work a little while later. Before he did, he turned to her.
“Can I tell my parents we’re engaged?” he said. She nodded slowly with a serious expression. The joy had gone out of it for both of them. He had ruined it, no matter what happened now. She needed time to get over it. He could tell.
“I’ll call my mother,” she said quietly.
“But let’s go slow for a while. I want to get used to the idea,” she said, and he left for work.
She got up a little while later and walked over to her studio setup.
She stared at the painting she’d been working on, but for the rest of the day she couldn’t paint at all.
Her mind kept going back to the images of the night before.
She couldn’t get them and the memory out of her mind.
She didn’t call her mother until late that afternoon, after sitting in front of a canvas all day.
She didn’t feel excited to tell her the news, but she wanted to hear her mother’s voice.
Her mother sounded busy in her office when she answered on her private line, and the minute she heard her daughter’s voice she knew something was wrong.
“Are you okay?” she asked Felicity.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just wanted to tell you that Taylor and I got engaged last night.” Felicity could feel her voice tremble as she said the words and was trying not to cry, at the memory of what had happened and what he had done.
“Are you happy about it?” Dominique asked her. She didn’t sound it. She sounded dazed and traumatized.
“He surprised me. I didn’t expect it. I’m fine as we are now.
I told him I feel too young to get married, but he wants it so badly, I didn’t have the heart to make him wait.
His parents are pressuring him. They want us to get engaged because it’s been three years.
” It didn’t seem like the right answer to Dominique.