Against Her Will

Episode 7

Ricardo rolled over in his bed before he groaned holding his pounding head, god that hurt, how many glasses did he drink last night, he’s never had a hangover this painful before. He painstakingly sat up on the bed and he was thankful that the girl wasn’t on his bed, he hated anyone beside his son to go there, no girl he had brought home had ever been on this bed and he wanted it to stay that way. He saw her form lying on the sofa curled up in a ball and she did not look comfortable but he couldn’t care less.

He hissed as he got off the bed, his head was still killing him and that had him pause, why couldn’t he remember a thing after coming home last night, he tried to think about it and he could only get as far as kissing his son’s forehead before everything became blank. He shook his head to clear it before he went to the bathroom to shower and get changed, when he came out he found that the girl had already gotten up and was now standing on the balcony as she held a locket that hung around her neck whilst looking up at the sky with an expression on her face that he couldn’t quite make out. It was then that he noticed what she was wearing, it was a nightie that went up to her knees and it was a really modest one but still the sight of her soft smooth legs made him want to desperately know if they did it last night, why did he have to forget this particular night, honestly, it wasn’t fair.

“Breakfast will be served at 9:00, we only have a few minutes, you should get dressed.” He instructed in a cold voice. Leilani immediately turned around before freezing in utter fear all she could see was him r****g her, the pain and her cries. She had no idea that she had gotten into a panic attack and was having trouble breathing as he looked at her alarmed, he didn’t know what to do but when her face began turning blue from lack of oxygen he rushed towards her and tried to calm her down. But as soon as he came closer, she flinched away from him screaming, “S-stay a-away f-from me, d-don’t…don’t t-touch me…p-please.”

He stood shock still as the familiar words registered in his brain and he suddenly remembered everything, he backed away from her in horror as she carried on screaming at him to stay away from her. He faintly called a servant in to help her before rushing towards the bathroom and emptying his stomach in the toilet. He rinsed his mouth in the sink with his mouthwash before gripping the sides with a white knuckle grip, his breathing heavy as he realised what he had done. He remembered her screaming, crying and begging him not to do it but he hadn’t listened, God, he….he hadn’t listened. What was wrong with him? He’s gotten drunk before but this has never happened, he knew himself, he knew that no matter how intoxicated he was, he would have never taken advantage of another woman but then what had happened last night? He felt like puking again as the memory played on repeat in his head, he had r***d his wife on their wedding night, he was a monster, that is the worst thing you could possibly ever do to a girl and no matter how much he hated her, he never wanted this. What the f@£$% has he done?

Ricardo stayed in the bathroom listening to her, he heard her crying and hiccupping as the servant tried to calm her down, it felt like ages had passed before he heard the door close and he then actually had the courage to open the door. As he began getting ready for his work, he again froze as he saw the blood stain on the bed, no, she…she couldn’t be, right? She wasn’t a virgin, she just couldn’t be, he had thought he felt guilty enough before but now…God, it must have been so painful, he hadn’t even been gentle, no wonder she was screaming, he felt the urge to puke again but he controlled it as he tried to calm down but ti wasn’t working. He had not only r***d a girl on her wedding night but on top of that, she had been a virgin. Now he really wanted to leave as soon as possible, he didn’t want to see her right now, or at all, what he did, it was imprinted in his mind, and seeing her would only make him feel that much more guilty. He didn’t know what do but he just really felt the urge to talk to Leo today, he really didn’t want to tell him but he wanted to get it off his chest at the same time, though he prepared himself for the rage Leo would show. The one thing they all hated the most was forcing a woman, they’ve cursed rapists whenever a new news came about a young girl having been used so brutally and now to tell his best friend what he did, great, now he was having second thoughts about telling him but he was his best friend, he could help him with this, more or less, maybe, ok no, he would curse him to death first before advising him on what to do and right now, he thought he needed that advice so going through the cursing would be a piece of cake, he was wrong.

“What the f@£$ Ric, what the hell have you done? I told you to give her a chance, not f@#$&! r**e her you bastard! She’s a young girl who had a life ahead of her and you have f@#$&! ruined it.” Leo screamed at him the second he told him the truth.

“Leo I…”

“No, don’t you dare say a word or I’m going to give in to the urge to beat you within an inch of your life. I don’t f@#$&! care how drunk you were, what you did is unforgiveable. It’s literally the worst thing a girl could go through and on their wedding night no less, by her fricking husband.”

“I know Leo but I…”

“Imagine if she had been a virgin, do you know how painful that would have been for her.” Leo said enraged, he had talked with the girl yesterday and she was very nice, he thought that Ric’s parents had chose the perfect girl for his best friend so he had told her not to give up on Ric just yet and then he goes and pulls a stunt like this, and these were the time where he questioned why the hell he had to sit next to him in kindergarten, his life would have been so much easier.

“About that…”

“You cannot be f@#$&! serious! She’s…she’s never…oh my God, what the f@£$ have you done, do you have any idea what she’s going through, what she would be thinking? She had a freaking panic attack because you couldn’t control yourself and do you know what I just found out? I did some research about her for your f@#$&! piece of mind because I know how much you care about Dan and apparently she is only 19 years old.” Leo said to him and he watched as his best friend immediately paled, he had been shocked to find that out as well.

“What? N-no, you…you’re serious?” Ricardo asked faintly when he saw the unflinching look on his best friend’s face, he felt nauseous again as he thought about the fact that he had just r***d a teenage virgin, how was he any better than those rapists he’s spent years cursing.

“Deadly.” Leo said and Ric buried his face in his hands before pulling at the front of his hair as he got up and paced the length of his office.

“Are you…are you completely sure?” Ric asked again as he pinched the bridge of his nose at the incoming headache he could feel increasing by the second.

“Yup.” Leo nodded his head from his position leaning against Ric’s office desk with his arms crossed.

“God what have I done? I honestly don’t know what came over me, I thought she was beautiful before but then after the amount of drinks I had, I just, it’s like I just lost control, I wanted her so badly, like every inch of my body was telling me to have her. I can’t even explain it, It was like I was someone else, I’ve gotten drunk before, you know that, but never have I ever even come close to taking advantage of a woman.” Ric explained as he ran a hand through his already messed up hair in frustration.

“I know that Ric, otherwise I would have most likely broken your nose or at least dented your pretty little face.” Leo said seriously before he suddenly had a look in his eye as he gazed at Ric. “You say that you felt this lust after you drank the alcohol. I was there and you drank as much as you would had you come to the bar with me so I don’t understand how you could have lost control like that.”

“I know, what do you think has me so frustrated.” Ric said as he stopped pacing to look at Leo’s face, he knew that face, he was contemplating something.

“Did you know your mother invited Dante?” Leo asked and Ric’s face immediately changed into a scowl as he thought about him.

“What?” Ric asked enraged, his mother didn’t really know what happened with him and Sylvie and that Dante had been the main reason.

“Yeah we were talking before you came to have a drink, he was literally by the other side of the drink section.” Leo explained and he now had a sudden suspicion.

“He was? Huh, I hadn’t noticed.” Ric said as he sat down, he was confused about where Leo was going with this.

“When did you start feeling the lust?” Leo then asked.

“Uh, what?” Ric asked confused, he really didn’t want to talk about it, he just remembered those screams and it made him desperately want to go back in time to rip himself off of her, he couldn’t believe she was only 19.

“Just answer the question.” Leo said rolling his eyes.

“After I drank, I told you, I just couldn’t keep my eyes off her.” Ric said a little embarrassed to admit it.

“How many glasses did you have before you felt it?” Leo asked as he sat up and looking at him seriously, telling him to think hard about it.

“I…well, I’m not sure. I just remember that after I went to you I took one glass and then I saw her dancing with her uncle for a while. Now that I think about it, I hadn’t realised but my eyes never left her for a second and the more drinks I had the more...well, the more aroused I was and then when I came in the room to see her there and the fact that we were alone, all my restraint was just thrown out the window.” Ric tried to give him as much information as he could, he knew Leo for a long time and he learnt that whenever Leo had that expression on his face and he asked you something, you were to give him every single detail of information.

“Ric, I’m just going to be blunt about this but I think it’s the only explanation. You were drugged and I have a 99% assurity that it was Dante Jackson.” Leo said expecting the blow up that was to come.

“WHAT? No, he wouldn’t have actually gone that far! You’re not just making excuses for me, are you, you actually do think I was drugged?” Ric asked to make sure.

“Have I ever sugar-coated things for you? If I thought you did it just because you were drunk I would tell you that without hesitation but everything you explained are symptoms of someone having ingested an aphrosidiac.” Leo explained with anger on his voice and on his face, that girl’s life was ruined and his best friend was feeling a heap of guilt all because of that f@£$%@ bastard. He was so going to regret this, no one messes with a Hernandez, least of all an Adamos, without getting away with it.

“Call him.” Ric ordered in a cold voice, Leo’s never heard him this enraged before, you could see it in his eyes practically smouldering in rage, the white knuckled grip on his chair and the rigid stance of his body so he didn’t even bother to question him before he found the number, it was actually quite easy to find, before he dialled it.

It took a few seconds before it was picked up and the voice that Ric had come to despise suddenly spoke up, “Took you long enough Ricardo, how long did it take you to find out, I’m guessing it was Leonard, he was always the smarter one.”

“What the f@£$ did you do?” Ric asked standing up in anger trying to control the urge to break the damned phone. It didn’t do anything and you need answers right now he carried on telling himself.

“I’m not sure we’re on the same page, would you mind elaborating?” He asked tauntingly.

“You already just admitted to having done something you incompetent fool, so yes, I ‘m pretty sure we’re on the same page.” Leo interjected before Ric would break the phone, he knew his friend and he was literally doing everything to control himself form doing just that.

“Before we get to the gist of things, why don’t we have some small talk beforehand, like I don’t know, let’s just go with how was your wedding day Ricardo, or shall I say wedding night?” He asked and Ric’s face immediately turned into something scary, it was way worse than the face he used to scare off people who annoyed him which was already scary enough. It was one of the main reasons people walked on eggshells around him.

“You are going to tell me exactly what you put in my f@£$%! drink right now before I personally send my people at your doorstep to beat the s**t out of you until you open your damned mouth.” Ric shouted into the phone threateningly.

“Alright, alright keep your hair on. It’s called Red ginseng, happy? Bye bye now.” He said chuckling as the call was cut.

Ricardo stood still for a second before he picked up the chair and threw it the other side of the room, and immediately one of his secretaries came inside concerned and he shouted at her to leave causing her to pale and scurry away shutting the door behind her.

“That’s one of the strongest aphrosidiacs in the world.” Leo said not fazed by the anger his best friend had just shown.

“Do you think I don’t know that? How the hell am I going to explain this to her? She had a panic attack at the mere sight of me, she’s not going to believe me at all.” Ric said groaning as he pulled his hair at the front of his head in frustration.

“Isn’t this what you wanted though, for her to stay away from you, this is the one thing that will make her.” Leo said purposefully.

“I said I wanted her to stay away from me not fear me.” Ric said annoyed at his friend.

“You’ve got to tell her the truth and then make it up to her, she didn’t deserve this.” Leo advised gently.

“How on earth do you think I should do that?” Ric asked actually wanting to know.

“You need to find a way to talk to her, so that she’d listen because at the moment, the last thing she would want is an explanation, she would want you as far away from her as possible. What you need to do is make a situation so that she would have no choice but to stay with you, but it can’t be through force or you’re just going to make it worse.” Leo explained.

“I don’t know how I’m going to do that.” Ric said helplessly.

“I know. Dan’s birthday is in a few days, use that to make her come with you two and whilst Dan is having fun just quickly blurt out the truth, do not drag it or something will happen and you won’t be able to tell her.” Leo said and Ric nodded along as he explained what to do.

“Ok but what if she doesn’t want to go, I mean obviously she wouldn’t want to go anywhere with me.” Ric said and Leo contemplated this.

“In the few days you have before his birthday, make sure she spends a lot of time with Dan, it would be pretty hard for her not to go because who could resist spending time with that adorable little kid especially on his birthday.” Leo said and Ric nodded, hopefully this would work, he didn’t want her to fear him for the rest of their marriage life.

“You know I have always wondered how someone like Dan came from a b***h like Sylvie and a bastard like you.” Leo teased before dodging the file Ric threw at him.

“Oh shut up, he’s the best of both.” Ric said proudly.

“I’m sorry, did you just say there is something good about Sylvie?” Leo asked with a hand on his chest in mock shock.

“You really need to learn to shut that damned mouth of yours, it’s going to get you in a lot of trouble one day and yes, despite what happened, there has to be something good about her to have given me a son like my ninito.” Ricardo said in annoyance at his friend.

“True. Still hate her though.” Leo said.

“Obviously.” Ric said seriously before he shooed Leo out of his office.