Against Her Will

Episode 5

She had then swapped partners and she was now dancing with Luke who she could see was a little more tense than usual and she sighed as she said, “I know what’s going on in that head of yours Luke but she’s a grown up woman, you can’t protect her forever, she can take care of herself now. Just remember that if anything does happen, we’ll always be there to help her through it.”

“That’s just my problem, I don’t want anything to happen at all, I can’t see her hurt. She’s my baby sis and I promised mom I’d look after her.” Lucas said to her and her heart tightened, she remembered Luke’s mother, she had died a few years ago after begin diagnosed with cancer, it was a heartbreaking time for the Anderson family. Their father had lost himself in drinking in an attempt to take away the pain but he had soon realised with their help that it wouldn’t do anything and now he lives for his kids, he loves them to pieces, and her, as he and his late wife used to constantly remind her. She’s always felt part of their family as if she was also their child so when their mother had died, it had been painful for her as well. She had been in the hospital room, when Luke and Bella’s mother had asked Luke to look after Bella and after that, he had become so protective of her, he always had been beforehand anyway, not only to Bella but for her too but after their mother had died, he had done everything possible not to being a single tear to any of their eyes and she loved him like the brother she never had, she always would.

“I know Luke but your mother had asked you to protect her not control who she wants to be with, yes, we will keep an eye on whoever comes into her life but we need to give her that space to find that person out for herself otherwise she’d remain single forever and when she’s old and grey sitting on a rocking chair with no one beside her, she’s going to blame you so just let her live right now, this is her time.” Leilani advised gently.

“Lani I’ve seen you go through s**t with this stupid love thing, first that i***t in high school and then Liam…” Lucas said and he winced when Lani flinched at the name. “s**t, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned him.”

“No, it’s fine and you’re right, love has screwed me over a few times which is why it was clear they weren’t really true love. I admit that yes, after everything that happened, I don’t really believe in love but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop Bella from finding it, this is her choice and it’s not my place to take that away from her. I can’t project my past and my experiences on her, yes, I can advise her but in the end, it’s her choice, all we can do is stand beside her and support her so that we’d be there to catch her if she falls.” She said to him and Luke smiled at her.

“You know, you should become a guidance counsellor, you always know just what to say. I promise I won’t go all overprotective big brother on her, well not too much at least, I’ll support her if it’s what she wants and if I approve of the guy.” Luke said reluctantly and Leilani just laughed at the face he made but she thought it was cute how protective he was, even when they were younger, he had been really protective. He had punched a guy in the face for ogling Bella and had beat the s**t out of a guy who had touched her without her permission. She remembered the state she had found Christian, her boyfriend at high school after what had happened, he had been bruised all over, and she had immediately known who had done it.

Ricardo was by the drink sector after his mother left to talk to the other guests thinking about how his life was going to change now with her in his life but he was pulled out of his thoughts when he saw his new wife dancing with another man, what the hell does she think she’s doing, the b***h was going to ruin everything, she couldn’t dance with another man, smiling and laughing the way she was, on their wedding day. Did she have no self-control, she was going to ruin his reputation, he immediately excused himself from his mother and walked towards her.

“May I have a dance with my wife?” He asked putting emphasis on the my so that the guy could back off, she couldn’t be seen with any other man, especially on their wedding day, the media will speculate and then all too soon, rumours will be flying around, each one more ridiculous than the last.

“Sure, I’ll see you around Lani.” Lucas said unsurely to his best friend, he didn’t feel comfortable leaving her in his hands, but he had no choice right now, he didn’t want to cause a scene and besides, they had already danced before, so it was going to be fine he thought to himself before walking off to grab a drink.

“You too Luke.” Leilani responded before he left as she was pulled into his arms to dance.

“What on earth are you playing at? It’s our wedding day, you can’t be seen with another man.” He hissed at her lowering his voice since there were now other couples on the dance floor.

“He’s my best friend.” Leilani said defensively, what’s so wrong with dancing with Luke?

“The media doesn’t know that though, do they? They are going to have the time of their lives spreading rumours about that if you do it again. You can’t be seen walking away from me and then dancing with another man, do you have any idea how badly that will reflect on me and my family?” He asked his hands tightening around her in anger.

“I…I’m sorry, look, I didn’t know it would be a problem, I told you I respect your parents too much to do anything to ruin their reputation, now let go of me, you don’t always need to us violence to get your frigging point across, I can understand just with your words, I’m not illiterate you know.” Leilani said annoyed at being manhandled for the third time, she refused to live the life she had with her uncle, she would not go through that again.

He thankfully loosened his grip on her as they danced for a while complete silence, her eyes anywhere but on him as he gave her subtle side glances, mixed emotions swirling in his eyes, the main one of them was lust. She was really beautiful, up close he could see the the dashes of so many different colours in her blue eyes making her look so exotically beautiful. She had curves in all the right places, where his hands were resting, her skin looked so smooth and he was itching to feel it, her beautiful locks were curled at the back of her head in an elegant but messy bun with a few tendrils framing her face and of course, her plump pink kissable lips just begging for him to kiss but he controlled himself, they were in public now but later he would, he may not believe in love and he may already hate the girl before him but that didn’t make her any less beautiful nor him any less attracted, he had to admit, against his better judgement that he wanted her.

After the dance was finished they both went their separate ways, Leilani to her friends and Ricardo to the drink section with Leo, he needed a drink, something to take his mind off the uncontrollable attraction he felt towards her, no one could blame him, I mean she was the definition of beauty. He talked with Leon and drank a few drinks alongside, he tuned him out though because he was too busy gushing about his wife’s best friend and he could care less about that. Thank God he wasn’t a lightweight considering the amount of drinks he was drinking, he hadn’t even realised how many though until he stumbled slightly when he took a step and Leonard quickly stabled him before grabbing the glass from his hands.

“How many drinks have you had, you i***t? You can’t be seen drunk on your wedding day.” Leonard hissed lowly at him, what would the people think?

“I’m fine.” Ric waved him off.

“Sure you are.” Leonard said rolling his eyes at his friend, whenever Ric got drunk, all his inhibitions are lowered but he still somehow manages not to look like a complete i***t which he was thankful for otherwise this wedding would be a disaster.

It was only a little while later that it was time for everyone to go, Leilani hugged her friends goodbye with tears in her eyes as well as theirs before she reluctantly got into the car in the backseat as her husband sat next to her stiffly, his mother having got into another one of his cars, telling him that he had to have alone time with his wife. Leonard had been about to go into his own car when he had turned back for a second to meet those stormy blue eyes and he smirked as he called out, “I hope to see you soon darling.”

Isabella blushed as people gazed at her but she did call back, “We’ll see, bye Leo.”

“Bye beautiful.” He said with a wink and a smirk at her before getting into his car and telling the driver to go, his eyes gazing at the girl one more time before he spent the rest of the ride with a smile on his face his thoughts consumed with her.

A few minutes into the drive after Ricardo told the driver where to go, he turned to his ife annoyed as he said, “Would you stop with the incessant tears?”

She wiped her tears before glaring at him in anger as she said, “Oh forgive me for being upset that I’m going so far away from my best friends and the only home I’ve ever known.”

“Well forgive me for feeling no sympathy whatsoever considering you chose this life for yourself. If you hate it that much you could have just said no.” He said rolling his eyes resentfully, both of them wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for her.

“I didn’t exactly have a choice.” She said wiping the last of her tears as she looked out the window.

“Don’t give me that bull. My parents told me that you were low-class at birth but your uncle is really well-off, if worse comes to worse he would have been able to pay it off and would have been as low as you had been when you were born, which means you did have a choice to say no because it wasn’t like you would have been on the streets but no, you girls are all the same, once you get something more you just want more and more and its never enough, even thinking about going back to the life you had lived would make them do whatever it took to get out of there, which is why we are here right now.” He explained rolling her eyes at her excuse. He considered her low class because according to his parents, she had only lived with her uncle for 3 years, and he had assumed that her parents had been the one to send her there for whatever reason, he had tuned his parents out after a bit of information so he had probably missed the fact that her father was dead, and he didn’t know a thing about her mother.

“Believe me I would gladly go back to that life in a second to get out of this one and if you don’t want to believe that then that is not my problem, you can carry on making assumptions all you want but let’s get one thing clear, the last thing I want is your money.” She said seriously and he scoffed disbelievingly.

“You expect me to believe that?” He said in total disbelief.

“I don’t care what you think of me, we are only husband and wife on paper, nothing else, I will live my life and you will live yours because it had become abundantly clear that we can’t get along. And besides, if you hate this marriage so much why didn’t you say no?” Leilani asked with curiosity.

“None of your business.” He snapped at her, the alcohol he had drunk was messing with his head right now and the last thing he needed was the girl challenging him when it was taking all he had not to lose control and r****h her in the backseat of his car.

“Were you forced into it?” Leilani asked gently.

“No.” He said through gritted teeth.

“Then why agree?” Leilani asked exasperated, if he wasn’t ready to hear her reason, the least he could do was tell her why he had agreed to this farce of a marriage.

“Fine, I’ll tell you because you’re going to realise that soon anyway. I have a kid at home, and he has no mother, which is what you’re going to be when I’m at work, there is nothing else to this marriage.” He said to her bluntly.

“You married me to be a nanny.” Leilani said to him, not really knowing how to feel about that, she didn’t really believe in love but having a child was a dream of hers so maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.

“No, I married you so that you could be a mother.” He corrected.

“Great.” Leilani said to him before turning to look out the window feeling content now, yes, she’d rather not live with him but it was better than the life she left behind and since he had a kid of his own, it would prevent him from hitting her as her uncle often did and she’d get to take care of a kid, she was finally feeling optimistic about this, all she had to do now was stay as far away from him as she could.

“Your kid, what’s his name? How old is he?” She asked in curiosity.

“Daniel Jeremiah Adamos and he is 5 years old.” He answered confused, shouldn’t she be upset that this is what she was going to get from the marriage.

“Nice name, very…posh, but still adorable.” She complimented with a smile on her face that only had him more aroused, couldn’t they get home already, the way she was fine with his son, the way she was talking with a smile on her lips, it made him feel something, he didn’t know what it was but all he knew was that he wanted her, right now. The rest of the ride they both stayed silent until finally the car parked outside his house and he got out Leilani following behind him before staring up in awe at the mansion before her, her uncle had a beautiful house too but this one was clearly much more lavish and expensive.

He led her inside his house still in their wedding attire and called a servant to him asking about his son. They told him he was asleep in his room and he went to go check on him, right after telling the servants to lead her to his room.

Leilani was looking around in awe as she followed the servant throughout the bloody maze of a mansion towards the room she was allocated.

“So what’s your name?” Leilani asked the girl curiously as they walked.

“I’m Lavendar.” She said with a small voice, she was clearly shy.

“Well, I’m Leilani, but you can call me Lani, it’s nice to meet you.” Leilani said smiling at the girl.

“Nice to meet you too Lani.” She said with her head down slightly.

“So, Lav, can I call you that?” Leilani asked hopefully.

“Uh, sure if you want to.” She said with another demure smile that Leilani vowed would change to a confident one.

“Wonderful. Tell me about yourself, if you want to that is.” Leilani said wanting her to open up.

“Well I’m 15 years old, I’m an only child, my parents work as servants here too.” She began before Leilani cut her off

“No, no, no I meant about you, not about you, and that made a lot more sense in my head.” Leilani mumbled to herself and Lavendar couldn’t help but giggle at that causing Leilani to smile before she said, “what I’m trying to say is that tell me about your likes, dislikes, hobbies, favourite food etc.”

“Oh, well, I like dancing and swimming, I hate cooking, I play the piano, my favourite food is, does dessert count, because if it does, it’s definitely chocolate, if not, then it is lasagne.” She said and Leilani beamed at her.

“Oh we are going to get along so well. I love dancing and swimming, I can play the piano and my favourite dessert is chocolate ice cream, Ben and Jerry’s to be precise, and my favourite food is lasagne as well however I do actually love cooking as well as baking, it’s really fun.” Leilani said to the girl who had clearly loosened up as they talked, which she was really happy about, it would be nice to have a friend here. They talked a bit more before they ended up outside the room she would be staying and her jaw dropped as she looked inside, it was so big.