Disclaimer: This story is fiction. All the characters are fictional with borrowed names to comply with the fan fiction genre. They should not be confused with any person living or dead. I am not now nor have I ever been affiliated with any professional wrestler or wrestling company. No disrespect intended.
New update. Sorry for the time in between. It's just not coming as easily as it did before. :)
Chapter 12
Mya had no idea where Roman was going. Sometimes she wasn't completely sure that he had a particular destination in mind. He was quiet. They both were, but she was the only one accustomed to keeping silent. Two weeks they had been on the road. Cooking by fire, sleeping on the hard ground. Obviously he was deep in thought, or perhaps his fondness of her had faded. She wondered if her captivity had aided his lust. Perhaps he needed a woman's complete submission. She wondered if that was the reason he hadn't loved his wife. Courtlin had been a strong woman physically and mentally. She'd gazed upon the portrait of her that resided on Roman's fireplace. She'd had black hair, hateful eyes and wide hips, but human men always favored husky women. Their large hips promised easy child bearing and their size was considered beautiful because they could hold their own beside their men. Equals in every sense of the word doing everything they could do. The humans had standards that she didn't understand and she knew that even if she managed to blend into their world she would never fit in. She'd seen woman her size at the flea market Roman had taken her to. She'd heard groups of young men snicker as they passed. Small human females were considered unattractive. But at least she was free. She had to keep reminding herself of that.
That night they had to share the cab of the truck. Raining for the first time during their trip even though she'd bed in prayer for it to hold off. It was hard to be so close to him. And it still hurt that she didn't trust him as she once had. He touch, even accidental terrified her. She guessed it was just one of those things that would never go away. The happiness she had once found as his pet would never return.
Mya daydreamed about what her new life would be like. She knew she would have to find a job but she had no idea what she might be able offer a possible employer.
"Tomorrow will be our last day on the road" Roman whispered, his eyes not lifting from his lap. "The reason I scrimped so much – here." He picked up the purse he had given her and placed a neat stack of folded up cash inside. "You can't show up in town with nothing. There's enough to for you stay at a hotel for a week or two until you find work. There's a restaurant downstairs. I'm sure they would hire you. You're an amazing cook and you would make good server too." He sighed. "Or I guess you could move on to another town. I hope you don't because I would like to see you from time to time. Just to know that you're okay."
Mya didn't say anything to him. It still felt like she was his pet. Like he was her master. She'd been tempted to stay with him. She wanted to stay, but only because it was comfortable. He was all she really knew, besides her first owner. Who had ignored her presence, unless he felt the need to punish her for something. She'd cleaned his home, prepared meals doing the exact same routine every day including the jobs that usually were only required to do once a week or once a month. The routine was comfortable. She wasn't allowed to sleep anyway and she would finish her tasks just as the sun rose and would begin at the beginning with breakfast. Her days were filled.
She did learn why the new wife of her first master hated her so much. Diesel had told her so many details about their mother in their short trip to the orphanage. Her first master had been her father. That was why he had kept her in the home and why he'd had to kill her mother. For so long she had thought her mother had been sold.
The man had loved her mother. Loved her long before she had been convicted. He'd watched her. He'd been friends with her at the diner she worked in and after her husband, diesel's father had died he had helped her with the burial expense. However, he wasn't the only man who had lusted after the woman. Her mother had been beautiful. One of the most beautiful in town. Her owner had wanted to wait a respectable amount of time before asking her on a date. But only two months after becoming a widow, she was attacked. A man, a highly respected man pulled her into the shadows and raped her. She'd vowed to go to the police but he beat her to it. Calling an officer who walked out of diner and reporting her as a prostitute who had solicited him. He was believed and her mother was sold to the highest bidder.
It would have all worked out fine if the laws were different. If only a man wasn't forced to marry by a certain age. He'd ran out of time to find his second wife and his elderly parents chose a woman they thought was lovely. A woman half his age. Who unfortunately knew the man too well. Who had lusted after him and watched as he longed for another. She recognized the former waitress in the mob of Ivex and forced her execution. Then she set eyes on Mya. She looked so much like her mother and she had her father's eyes.
"You look lost in thought." Roman brought her out of the thoughts she had been trying to make sense of since she'd learned them. She just turned away and curled her feet under her, lying her head on the pillow she propped up against the window.
Letting Mya go was the hardest thing Roman ever had to do. He wanted to be selfish. He wanted to make her stay with him. Force her to be his bride. But as he pulled into town, the very town he was born in he realized that he couldn't follow through with his whims. The truth was, he did love her. He loved her like he had loved his child hood sweetheart when he'd thought he would never love another that much again. He loved her enough to let her go. She didn't feel the same for him. Not anymore. Maybe she had once. Or maybe she had just been the victim of circumstance. Naturally vulnerable to the only kindness she had ever received. It wasn't fair for him to take away her chance to experience a real life. She'd already lost so much. When she had never done anything to deserve the punishment.
"Never lower your eyes in front of them." He said with a smile. "You are better than them no matter where you started." He tapped his own chest "right here. You are better than any of us could ever be. Stay sweet, Mya."
And he walked away, got into his truck and drove to his parents' home. He was fortunate to have understanding parents who had petitioned the courts to give him an extra month to find his own bride. Claiming that he should have time to relocate and meet the available women in the new town before succumbing to their choice. They were good people and their word meant so much that they could get anything they wanted when they chose to ask. Which wasn't often.
His parents didn't own a huge farm, but they still owned enough land to make a good living. He planned to build the same greenhouses he had built for himself and he was still shocked his father had agreed, seemingly proud of all the reading Roman did that the man had once scoffed at. It had made him smarter than most his age and some of history's old texts proved to be an access in his time.
His mother greeted him before he could turn off his engine.
"My baby has finally come home." She put her arms around him. "I'm so happy you stopped trying to run away from here."
"What can I say mom?" he chuckled. "No other place can be home"
'I told you." She laughed. "That is why I told you father not to sell that land we bought for you. I always knew you would be back some day."
He had a few acres across the road from his parents. It would be enough to start over, but it would take time to build a new home to live in. It really didn't matter much at that moment. How could he have a home without Mya?
