Truce
837 Words
When Helena woke up, it was already daylight. Remembering the previous night, she jumped out of bed and, incredibly, found the room free of the shards from the night before. She was so tired that she hadn't woken up while he was tidying up the place.
Now calmer, she didn't know where she had found the courage to attack Estefano. She had slapped him in the face. If it had been Otávio in his place, he would not only have retaliated but would have made her bitterly regret her audacity. Despite this, it was impossible for her to trust any man, including Estefano. She was lost in her thoughts when he entered the room. Immediately, Helena became tense.
"The boss's wife asked you to call her. I think she's worried about you."
"Yes."
"Yes, what, Helena?"
Her name sounded different in his voice.
"And should I call her?"
"That's for you to decide. Since it's the boss's wife, you have the freedom to talk to her; you can even meet with her either here or at their house."
Once again, Estefano knelt at Helena's feet. She, who was at the edge of the bed, retreated as much as she could from the ex-soldier. She couldn't stand his proximity; she was grateful he hadn't forced her to endure a man's touch once more, but she felt such a strong aversion to him. He had forced her to become his woman after everything she had gone through at Otávio's hands.
"I want you at the edge of the bed now, Helena."
Helena forced herself to approach him. She was angry at herself for obeying; she wanted to have the courage to say no, but her obedience had been forged at the cost of constant beatings and horrible things she had been forced to do in bed. She didn't know how she had managed to endure so much depravity and pain.
When she felt Estefano's hands on her legs, she closed her eyes and waited. She could feel him smelling her thighs, and prayed for it to end quickly, for the current under-boss of the American mafia to satisfy himself quickly and leave her in peace.
"Helena?"
Silence was the response Estefano received. He smelled fear; it was more than that. Used to torturing people, he had learned early on how to identify when someone was terrified of him, and that's what the woman sitting on his bed was feeling, the terror. He took a deep breath to control his desire; he needed to work, had orders to fulfill, but first, he needed to at least taste her, or he would go crazy. He had that right; he was her husband.
"Answer me when I speak to you, Helena."
Helena flinched, as if she had been slapped.
Sitting at the edge of the bed, wearing only a t-shirt, she wanted to run, even if it was toward a truck, but she couldn't.
"Let me taste you, Helena. I promise I'll leave you in peace. I'll go crazy if you deny me this."
Helena looked at him without understanding what he meant. For a moment, Estefano interpreted her silence as refusal, but upon looking at her, he realized everything.
"Helena, you don't know what I'm asking, do you? Answer me."
"I don't know, taste of what?"
"God, what kind of man was that i***t Otávio?"
Hearing her late husband's name, Helena let her restrained tears fall; it was like being burned by fire to hear his name spoken aloud. She was still grateful that, for some unknown reason, he always used protection; at least she wasn't forced to receive him without a condom, and their three-year marriage bore no fruit.
She was pulled from her thoughts by Estefano's movements. He rested his head against her most intimate area and gently tried to open her legs. But Helena kept them firmly closed.
"Helena, please?"
"What are you going to do?"
"I want to touch you, feel you with my mouth, may I, sweetheart?"
"If I say no. What will happen?"
Estefano let out a long sigh.
"Nothing will happen. Damn it, I've already told you I don't force women."
Estefano stood up and moved close to the wall.
"Get out of here, Helena. Don't let me see you until I've left for work."
Helena quickly fled that room, once again escaping being touched by him. She was grateful to the heavens for that. She still preferred death to finding herself intimately in bed with a man.
Estefano punched the wall. He desired her more than anything in life, but he didn't have the courage to force her. Not after everything she had been through; he had learned the hard way what a man's abuse could do to a woman.
After leaving his hand bleeding from punching the wall, Estefano left the house. He had business to attend to and orders from the boss to fulfill. He was nearly driven insane by having Helena in his bed but being unable to touch her.
- Writer
