Bullied Cinderella (Olive Skin Devils Book 2) Page 9
“And if no one answered truthfully that time around...,” I continued, pausing to build the suspense. When everyone was good and on edge - Bam! I slammed my fist down to the table as hard as I could. It was enough to send several glasses shattering to the floor while cards floated up and fell again like confetti. The man in front of me looked like he probably just shit himself, while the rest of them took a good minute to catch their breath.
I started laughing, and slowly the rest of them eased into nervous laughter as well. I let them get more used to the idea that maybe it was all just a big joke. Then when they were all erupting in laughter at their own fear from moments ago, without warning, I picked up the closest glass and chucked it across the room at the head of one of the men who was keeping quiet for Jorge.
It shattered against his skull. It was nothing fatal, but enough to give him a nasty gash and disorient him a bit. I let the shock of my unpredictable actions wash over them all, then returned to my speech.
“And my father would dance around like that for quite a while until several of the workers were pretty badly wounded. Eventually, he’d find out what he wanted to know, and everyone would still get fired. So, you see...the moral of the story is...I’m fine to keep working my way around the table cracking open your skulls, or someone can tell me where the hell Jorge is and maybe some of you will still have a job by tomorrow morning.”
One of my suspects had his eyes glued on the guy next to him - the one I had just thrown the glass at. Blood was streaming down his face. It was enough to scare him into talking.
“He took that Chavez girl out to his shed!” he confessed earnestly. “The one that used to work here. He had us rig this whole thing with a flat tire on his truck to make it work out the way he wanted. He said he probably wouldn’t be back tonight and told us not to tell anyone where he was...especially not you.”
There was some chatter about Jorge’s own threats to their jobs. They were all very confused now about if they were getting fired for telling me, or if the others were getting fired for not telling me. Either way, I knew what I needed to know and stormed off without another word. As much as I loved tormenting them, I was not about to let Jorge go through with whatever he thought he was pulling off with Lucia.
I burst into the house and grabbed my shotgun. Dario of course caught up to me and ran behind in a frenzy, asking a million questions. I ignored him completely. I was on a mission and didn’t need him slowing me down. I nearly ran over his toes with my tires as I peeled the truck out of the driveway.
12
Lucia
I was in shock over Jorge’s refusal to listen to me. Sure, I had a bad feeling growing all night, but I didn’t take him for a rapist. I would have never followed him out to this stupid shed if I suspected anything like that - not that I had much of a choice. He continued forcing his lips to mine and groping along my body. My clothes were half torn off, and he continued growling through his arousal - ignoring the fact that I was struggling to get away from him.
The alcohol in my system made it hard for me to keep up with him. I was confused, and still in shock that any of it was happening. But it became frighteningly real as he wedged himself between my legs and began unbuttoning his pants. I wanted to knee him in the balls, but my legs were pinned beneath his weight.
My requests for him to stop were changing rapidly. They started as confused and nervous laughs then turned very stern. When the change in tone didn’t work, I started screaming and slapping his back. That’s when it became very clear that this was happening whether I wanted it to or not. I screamed louder, trying to break through to him in whatever horny, drunken stupor he had slipped off into.
The moment reality of what was about to happen to me set in, there was a loud booming sound of splintering wood. Jorge jumped and whipped his head around, giving me a clear view of Leonardo standing there with something big and black in his hands. I didn’t realize what it was until there was a deafening shot that made my ears ring and filled the room with smoke.
Leo cocked the gun as we wrapped our heads around what just happened. I half expected Jorge to fall down dead on top of me followed by a gush of blood, but slowly we looked up to see the giant hole blasted through the ceiling. Jorge laughed a little, trying to gauge just how serious Leo was...as if the warning shot didn’t make it clear enough. But he was so wasted he didn’t seem to be taking anyone’s requests or warnings seriously...especially not mine.
“Get your filthy drunken hands off of her,” he thundered, aiming the barrel directly at Jorge’s head.
“Oh, come on, Leo. We were just messing around…”
Boom! Leo fired another shot into the wall over our heads, only this time it was enough to send Jorge scrambling to get up. He shuffled towards the door with his pants still around his ankles. Leo wrapped his massive hand around his head and practically threw him out the door. He landed on his ass and crawled like a crab backward in the dirt, trying to defend himself to Leo.
“The truck has a flat tire!” he argued. “I have no way to…”
“Walk,” Leo growled, cutting him off cold. “Or better yet...Run.”
He turned back to face me while we listened for the sound of Jorge’s footsteps rustling off through the leaves. The sight of him standing there left me speechless. That and the persistent ringing in my ears from the shots he fired. His dark wavy hair was disheveled and seemed bigger somehow - like his muscles had magically grown since I last saw him. He stood tall and looked especially daunting with the big gun in his hands. I didn’t know if it was the alcohol, the fact that he just saved me, or both. But he looked attractive in a way I had never noticed before...even after we had slept together.
I felt my heart swell in gratitude. I wanted to thank him and tell him how happy I was to see him, but he did not seem to feel the same softness towards me. The blank expression on his face twisted into a hateful scowl. I was half afraid that he was about to turn the gun on me next. All of my thankfulness faded and I quickly remembered why it was I loathed him so much. He was a heartless beast, and I was certain any reason he had for being there had more to do with his ego than it did with me.
“I didn’t need you to save me,” I barked at him and his vicious-looking expression.
“You sure look like you did.” He looked me up and down with disdain.
I realized I was still spread out across the bed with half of my clothes ripped off. I raced to piece them back together enough to cover me and sat up to look less drunk than I actually was. He didn’t look any less angry, and I couldn’t fathom what the hell kind of right he had to be pissed at me in this situation. It was enough to make me not want to be in the same room with him anymore. I pulled myself up from the bed, being careful not to sway too much, and marched forward to go out the door. I’d take my chances with walking if I had to. Anything to get away from him.
But he quickly stepped into my path, blocking the door.
“What the hell are you doing?” I hissed.
He didn’t answer. He just kept looking down at me with fury. It reminded me too much of our fight over the fence, and that’s when it dawned on me.
“Do you really think you’re going to recreate whatever happened between us before?” I gasped and pounded a fist to his chest. “After everything you just saw!? You’re disgusting. You’re no better than your sick cousin out there.”
“The one you didn’t need me to save you from?”
I darted to go past him, but he was quick enough to block me again. We did that dance several times before I finally groaned, half screamed, in exasperation, and gave up. But I didn’t back down. I squared up to him and looked him dead in the eye.
“What are you gonna do? Force yourself on me like you did before?”
His eyes sparkled with outrage. “Don’t kid yourself. I would have never done anything you didn’t want me to.”
“Oh yeah,” I scoffed. “I was just begging you for that first kiss.”
“I could
tell you wanted me to do it. You never would have let yourself ask for it. Are you really complaining about anything that happened after that!?”
I hated him so much at that moment, I couldn’t bring myself to speak. I was acutely aware that maybe I was so angry because he was right, but I wasn’t about to try and admit that then. Especially not with all that alcohol swimming in my veins. Unfortunately, he mistook my silence for something else.
“What? You want someone like Jorge? Or maybe it’s Dario you’re pining after?”
I pounded against his chest again and shouted. “Did it ever occur to you that I don’t want anyone!? That you and your stupid cousins aren’t god’s gift to women and that we don’t all swoon and crumble at your feet all wet and ready to go!?”
I tried one final time to get around him, once again in vain. But his aggravation with me seemed to be turning into something else. His eyes studied my face as if they were trying to find something to prove my words to be untrue. He was silently begging me to take it back. I finally stilled, stopping long enough to really take him in. The air suddenly felt heavy as I lost myself there in his stare.
Did that fling in the woods mean more to him than I realized? Was his ego just bruised? Or was all of this his sick way of making sure he claimed me by the end of the night...to establish some kind of dominance over Jorge.
I had been so busy trying to forget about it and avoid my own feelings about us having sex, I hadn’t stopped to consider how Leo felt about it afterward. I didn’t think he was capable of feeling anything at all. Maybe in that short span of time in the woods, my body caught onto something my brain hadn’t. Maybe that’s why it was so easy to give into him and why it felt so amazing when I did. Up until now, I hadn’t seen him as anything more than a rich, spoiled, man child who would stop at nothing to get his way. And anyone who so much as looked at him the wrong way would have to tolerate his endless bullying.
The Leo I thought I knew would have left me here in this shed, even if he did know what Jorge was doing. He would have said I deserved it and maybe would have even been happy about it. I imagined him sitting in his parlor, throwing back a drink and laughing about it. He definitely wouldn’t have barged in, guns blazing, ready to kill his own cousin for hurting me.
Once again it was unclear to distinguish between my real thoughts and what was inspired by alcohol. But I became convinced that the man standing before me was someone new. It was a different version of Leo that I had never seen before. His facial features had shifted into something more sincere and mature. And the ever-present spark of desire in his eyes seemed to run much deeper than just his cock.
I found myself swaying a little, only this time it was towards his big, hard chest. I tilted my head upwards and parted my lips, closed my eyes. He was quick to oblige me. His lips crashed back into mine with the same excitement and impatience he had embraced me with the first time. For a brief second, I was certain of just how much I had been craving this since I had it last. I had tried to ignore it and bury it deep down, but as his tongue swirled over mine I knew it was all I had wanted.
But just as soon as it started, it ended. His lips vanished, as did the weight of his body before me. I opened my eyes in shock to see he had taken three solid steps back from me and the indignation on his face had returned.
“You’re just a bitch that likes to play with men,” he growled. “I know what you’re trying to do. Jorge and Dario may be weak and too stupid to see it, but I’m not.”
I instantly felt stupid. Of course, Leo wasn’t any different than the man I knew him to be from day one. Selfish, egotistical, and heartless. But it seemed like a waste to say any of that. Talking to him was like talking to the air. Whatever honest feeling I put forth went over his head. Because I was right all along. He didn’t know how to feel anything.
It was only fitting that his next move was to swing his shotgun over one shoulder while kneeling down to pick me up and throw me over his other shoulder. I kicked and screamed and tried to get out of his grip, but he was too strong. I was being carted out of the shed like a sack of potatoes, completely against my will. I didn’t want to go anywhere with him. I hated him so much all at once that I almost would have rather been left with Jorge.
“You’re a monster!” I sobbed, pounding my fists against his back.
“And you’re drunk. Tomorrow you’ll thank me for this.”
“I would never thank you for anything a day in my life! I suppose I should thank you for how you treated me when I was your grandfather’s caregiver too!?”
“For giving you a job and letting you keep it? Even while you were endlessly ungrateful and constantly questioning my authority? Yes. Yes, I do think you should thank me.”
I hit and kicked even harder, and suddenly it all came back to me. The day he was convinced I poisoned Don German, he wouldn’t even listen to what I had to say. He didn’t even try to give me a chance to prove my innocence. He locked me in a closet and then carted me off, just like this, before throwing me into a shed - not caring if I lived or died. The same Leonardo that did all of that was the same one I gave into in the woods, and again just moments before when I kissed him. I felt sick with myself. What was wrong with me?
He was almost worse than Jorge because he was capable of manipulating me into thinking there was more to him well after he had proven his true colors. The blame fell on me for not believing it. I had been so wrapped up in my game of revenge that I somehow fell for my own game. I wanted to travel back in time and walk up to myself in that shed and slap her for ever thinking there was anything more to Leo than what I had known to be true all along.
But none of that would help me now. Once again, I was at Leo’s mercy, being carried off into the darkness.
13
Leonardo
Lucia was half-drunk, kicking and screaming, as I carried her out to my truck. With every step, I was thinking about how she had a special knack for making me feel like an idiot. It was almost too easy to give into her kiss in the shed, but I knew it was all an act. Whatever reason she had for trying to seduce each of us...it had nothing to do with desiring us. How stupid I was to think that out in the woods she was giving into some suppressed longing in the same way that I was.
I opened the door to the truck and shoved her inside, quickly shutting the door behind her before she had a chance to make a run for it. Jorge could walk until his feet were bloody all the way back to the manor for all I cared, but I wasn’t about to let her do the same.
I climbed into the driver’s seat and looked over at her. She was furious. Her hair was all out of place and her clothes were ripped. I never would have forgiven myself if Jorge had been able to finish what he started without me making it to her in time.
I kept wanting to get sucked into her eyes and her lips. I thought maybe I could forget everything I understood about her now long enough to kiss her again, but the truth was that she was using us. I didn’t really care if she was using Dario and Jorge, but I wanted to be different. And I sure as hell didn’t want them putting their filthy hands on her. Just the thought of it made me sick. The only thing that felt worse was being so close to her again and not being able to touch her myself.
But I could at least help her put herself back together. I reached over and brushed the hair from her face and used my thumb to wipe away the smudged lipstick from the edges of her lips. She grew very still and looked at me with surprise. I adjusted her clothes so they covered more of her, even though Jorge had torn big shreds in them. I took her face into my hands and wiped away the lingering wetness of tears she had cried at some point that evening.
With that, she slapped my hands away. And each attempt I made to reach out to her again, she shoved me away again...harder each time.
“Are you okay?” I asked finally.
Cleaning her up was like undoing Jorge’s mess, but I couldn’t erase the memory from her mind any more than I could stop myself from trying to imagine what went down before I arrived. She
had been screaming for him to stop, and it took everything in me not to shoot him in the head the moment I burst into the door. It broke my heart for her to think what we experienced in the woods, even how it started, was anything like what Jorge did.
“I’m fine,” she answered sternly. “I don’t need your help.”
She shook it off and sat up tall. No matter what I had seen her go through, she would always straighten her spine and hold her chin up high. She was a very proud woman, even when it seemed she had no right to be.
I submitted to driving her home - the only thing left to do. It was silent as we went. Even my thoughts had quieted down. There was nothing more to think about or figure out. I accepted the feelings I had for her, and I also accepted that she did not feel the same way in return. I meant what I said to her. I could see plain as day that she was trying to use sex to take advantage of us. Jorge and Dario were idiots, but I was not going to let whatever I felt turn me into a blubbering idiot that she could use in whatever way she wanted.
Still, I couldn’t deny how good it felt to be next to her. Feeling the heat emanating from her body next to me was comforting in a way. She was drunk, but still making every move so carefully. She made sure to keep her breathing even and slow, so I wouldn’t catch onto how upset she really was. As we pulled up to the end of her driveway, I had another chance to look over and once again take in the sight of just how beautiful she was. Every reminder of that hurt more than the last.
There were a million things I wanted to say, but only one thing that I could let myself actually put to words.
“We need to talk about the fence.”
She tensed up with anger all over again and looked over to me with her eyes flaming hot. “Of course you only care about that stupid fence. You just can’t bear to have anybody do anything that you haven’t approved of. That’s what tonight was really all about, wasn’t it? You didn’t care what Jorge and I did, really. You only care that everyone obeys you...Follows your rules. Perhaps we should have asked for your permission first and the whole thing would have been different.”