“Why would she work for a man like that?”
“Rebecca too, came from the same side of the tracks as I did. She grew up very poor and never had much. She was waitressing in a diner in some small town when Drew approached her about working for him. I don’t think she really knew what she was getting into, and I think she too was afraid of him. She had a five year contract to take care of me. He would give her, her own suite, take care of all of her needs, and once her contract was up, she would be paid a half a million dollars for her time. I guess Drew thought that five years would be enough time to train me.”
“So she too was weak. What a coward. So she left before you?”
“No, she signed another one year contract. I think she was afraid to leave me. She was the one that came and put me back together when he decided to come home pissed off and take it out on me. But she was leaving shortly after I left. I hope she did,” I added.
“How often were you…”
“Punished, you can say it,” I said, finishing his sentence.
“You were a grown woman. You shouldn’t have been punished.”
I ignored that part. “It depends. Sometimes I would go months without any encounters. He would come home and do his thing with me and leave me alone. Other times, mostly when I had to go out with him,” I added. “I always said something or looked at someone or something that he made sure that I was going to be punished for.”
“And this Derik prick, did he leave you alone?”
I snorted. “No. Once I was trusted enough to go out and shop or go to the library, Derik had to be the one to go with me. He always made sure that he took a back way home, but I did become friends with his wife Jena and was occasionally allowed to go out to a show or to eat with her.”
“You couldn’t talk to her?”
“And tell her what, Dawson? Hey, your husband has sex with me, and I am living in this mansion with everything that a woman could want with this good looking rich guy against my will. We didn’t talk about personal things, well I didn’t anyway. She did. I used to be absolutely repulsed when she would giddily tell me about their sex life.”
I almost felt bad thinking about it. I said, almost. I did start to somewhat enjoy sex with Derik. Not that I liked him or anything. I hated the slime ball, but at least he would let me finish. He loved for me to come and tried to make sure that I did every time, unlike Drew who used it to torture or punish me when I did.
“So you were getting raped by not only Drew but his business partner as well.”
He didn’t say it like a question. He knew what it was.
“Not for long with Derik. I got up enough nerve one night and told Drew that I thought Rebecca should go along the next time I was going to the library. I told him that I didn’t think it looked good to be running around the city with him so much alone. The bastard agreed. He made sure that Rebecca was with me from that point on.”
Our deep conversation was interrupted by none other than my annoying neighbor.
“I’m making coffee. You guys going to sleep all day?” Lauren called from the kitchen.
We both laughed.
“Why don’t you have any leftovers in here?” she asked as I made my way out to meet her.
“We had pizza at the shop last night, remember?”
“Yeah, but what happened to that lasagna?”
“You ate that yesterday.”
“Great, now I’m going to starve,” she pouted.
“Or you could go home and cook. Hey, I know.
How about you cook once and let me come over and eat your leftovers?”
Lauren laughed. “Nah, I kind of hate that idea.
What are you guys doing today? Wanna go hangout at the mall?”
“No. We’re staying in today,” Dawson said, joining us. I knew then that our conversation wasn’t over.
“You guys are pathetic. You act like you’re forty or something,” she stated.
“I am forty,” Dawson said. I laughed. He wasn’t forty. He was only thirty.
I made us all breakfast and noticed how Dawson kept staring at me. It wasn’t his sexy, I want you stare. It was more of a trying to determine whether or not I was okay kind of stare. I wasn’t okay, and was beginning to wonder if I ever would be. Some days I did think I was okay, and couldn’t be better. Other days, like that day, made me question that.
I smiled a warm smile at him. He returned it.
After Lauren left we got dressed and walked down the path to the beach. It was chilly but not too bad for October in Maine. Dawson held my hand as we walked.
He was quiet, and I didn’t quite know what to say. We spoke to John, out for his daily walk with his dog, and then sat in the sand. The sand was warm from the sun. It felt nice, therapeutic.
“I want to know how you got here, Ry.”
I knew it was just a matter of time before the questions continued. I picked up a handful of warm sand and let it funnel through the bottom of my hand. I looked up to him, and he leaned in and kissed me.