Chapter 87 – No one expects the Spanish Inquisition
He kept kissing Victoria while trying to avoid contact with her legs, with his rear end up, suspended over her, placing all his weight around her on his knees and elbows, so she wouldn't notice that Bulgy wasn't making an appearance. She wouldn't notice unless she tried to reach for it, but he didn't think she would. Not today, or at least not yet.
He tried hard to push the images of that cabrón off his mind, but it was bloody difficult, and the harder he tried to relax and enjoy the contact with his preciosa, the smaller his tool was getting, shrinking rather than expanding.
Maldito hijo de puta, will you haunt me now for the rest of my life? Get off my head!
In a desperate bid to improve the situation, he reached for her breast, over her gown. She tensed immediately, and her tongue stood still, no longer playing with his. After the initial shock she went all floppy, not making any attempt to interact with him, just lying still for him to do whatever. As she had done with Tomás. As if it was her duty or something. The goodwife's duty.
Fuck. Please, Victoria, don't do that. That's not going to help me at all if you play corpse.
"Diego, can I talk to you for a moment, por favor?"
His father was at the door, knocking on it. Diego had never felt so happy to hear his demanding voice, loving his timely interruption, which gave him a fantastic excuse to move away from her and pull his underwear and trousers up quickly, before she would realize what was going on (or rather not going on) down there.
"Excuse me, querida, I have to find out what he wants. You know how persistent he is, he may never go away otherwise." He kissed her forehead, hoping she would understand his haste. "I'll be back in a moment. Don't go anywhere."
He leapt off the bed, got his shirt and shoes on, and walked to the door. He grabbed the handle, took a deep breath, and let the air out in a long, long sigh to pull himself together before he got out of the room to face his father.
Despite being saved by the bell, he was still upset by his father's lack of delicacy, and when he saw him there at the corridor, with his arms crossed over his chest and such expectation on his face, he barked at him.
"What the heck do you want now, Father?"
ZZZ
He was acting so odd. Instead of reaching for her nightgown to reveal her breasts and the rest of her body, he stopped for a moment, looked down, and carried on kissing her urgently, but not lying directly on top of her, as if avoiding her body. Why was that? Was he being extra-careful with her, as if she would shatter in pieces otherwise under his weight, like a delicate, glass figurine? No, he was probably afraid of pinning her down with his body again, after the explosive reaction she had before. Whatever the reason, that position was atypical for him, as rubbing his naked erection on her legs was usually part of their foreplay, because she liked to feel how much he wanted her. His growing, hardening erection made her melt with excited anticipation.
Suddenly, he reached for her breast, over the thin fabric of her gown, and she freaked out at that contact, while the memories of those men groping her flooded her mind. She got paralyzed again while he fondled that boob, even her tongue stopped interacting with Diego's, now that she was finally starting to enjoy the exchange, as his taste and touch had nothing to do with the bastard's. Her whole body tensed then, rejecting that paw, and she had to make a big effort to relax and not move away from that familiar hand, letting him twiddle her breast to arise her nipple. She decided to do the same as she had done with that son of a bitch: she played dead, letting Diego do whatever he would like to do to her without interfering or complaining. Like a good wife. A healthy one, not a deranged, crazy wreck.
Come on, I can do this, she thought with her eyes closed.
She just had to concentrate on controlling her erratic feelings and thoughts, and above all, ignoring the disturbing flashbacks, hoping she would not slip into a full-blown vivid nightmare again.
"Diego, can I talk to you for a moment, por favor?"
Instead of getting cross, when she heard Don Alejandro's voice at the door, she had to supress a broad smile of relief. Diego got off her quickly then, like a spring recoiling.
She got a glimpse of his dick before he pulled up his trousers, and she was surprised by its small size. She had only seen it that flaccid that time she helped him to pass urine when he was unconscious. What was going on? Where was Bulgy?
Bulgy was her pet name for his erected penis. With the tight trousers he usually wore, she had teased him sometimes in public, using her hands to sensually but subtly touch and caress him without anybody noticing what she was doing, on non-erogenous areas like the back of his neck, shoulders, forearms and waist, whispering a playful "Bulgy" to his ear when the hint of an erection embarrassed him. He hated it, but that naughty trick of hers worked every time.
He had admitted before that he felt so insanely attracted to her, that sometimes he had trouble controlling himself, like an inexperience teenager, and, if she had managed to touch him somewhere else during those playful times, he could have ripped his tenting trousers.
She knew she had him wrapped around her finger, and the slightest effort she did to arouse him, resulted in an instant hard-on, as if he was always ready to have sex with her, no matter what. For that reason, she couldn't understand why he had failed to get Bulgy up and ready today, as he looked so eager to make love to her. Then, it hit her: despite what he had said, he didn't want to make love to her anymore because she was filthy now, disgusting and unworthy. Maybe he was pretending, just like her, trying to please her because now she looked so keen to have sex with him, and he felt obliged. He was such a pleaser, and so polite, it was the most probable explanation.
As he left the room, no doubt delighted by his father's interruption, fresh tears flooded her eyes. She got under the sheets and hid beneath them, covering her head again.
Damn you, fucking Tomás! I hope you rot in hell, maggots and all!
ZZZ
"Help! Somebody help me, please!"
Don Alejandro and Felipe left the library, hurrying to find out who was in trouble now. It was María, Pedro's wife.
"María, what's wrong?"
"Don Alejandro, was that a gunshot what we heard?"
"Yes, but don't worry, everything is fine. It was an accident. We are not under attack or anything."
"Thank God for that! We heard the noise and Pedro insisted on getting out of bed like the last time, just in case something really bad was going on again, but he is so weak now he collapsed on the floor and I can't lift him on my own to get him back in bed. Can you help me, please?"
"Of course. Vamos, Felipe, deprisa."
They rushed to Pedro's room. When they got there, they found him struggling on the floor, trying to get up, but he was too weak to support his own weight and reach the bed, even with María's help.
"Easy, Pedro," Don Alejandro said, helping him up. He held him under his thin arms and Felipe got his feet, and between the two of them they lifted him back on the bed. He had lost so much weight they didn't need to make a great effort. "For crying out loud, what were you thinking? Playing hero again?"
"Gunshot… What happened?" he said using economy of words, wild-eyed and panting out of breath.
"Yes, that was a gunshot, but don't worry. Everybody is fine. Come on, calm down, breathe." It upset Don Alejandro so much to see that poor, brave man struggling in so much pain, but he didn't know what to do to help. "Should I get Diego?"
Pedro grimaced while making a horrible, wheezing sound as he took air with difficulty, but he shook his head.
"No need," he said. "Later."
Better, because Diego needs a bit of time now to sort out whatever is going on in Victoria's bedroom, the old don thought.
Don Alejandro and Felipe stayed with the sick man until he calmed down and settled, reassuring him everything was fine. Don Alejandro told him he should not worry, and don't try to get out of bed under any circumstances. He had done enough.
Watching that man struggling made him feel guilty again for his oversight, leaving the hacienda unprotected while they went out to find the horses. He should have left at least two or three men behind, and things would have been different, for everyone.
When they left the room, Felipe set off to do some errands, but Don Alejandro stayed on that corridor for a while, thinking. He wanted to help Diego and Victoria, but for that, his son had to open up to him and tell him what was happening. He was always quite reserved and kept his feelings to himself, and the rape wasn't an issue he would like to discuss in the open, obviously, but as a father, he wanted to know, and he wanted to be on top of things, and help his family as much as possible. While his mind wandered, his feet took him to Victoria's bedroom. He hesitated, but in the end, he knocked on the door, hoping he would not be interrupting anything important.
"Diego, can I talk to you for a moment, por favor?"
He got no immediate answer, but he heard some movement and voices in the room, so he stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, patiently waiting. After a while, Diego opened the door and rushed out, looking cross and annoyed.
"What the heck do you want now, Father?"
"No need to be so rude, Diego," Don Alejandro said, also cross. Well, yes, they were doing… whatever they were doing, he didn't want to know the ins and outs exactly, and his interruption was probably untimely, but that didn't excuse his son's lack of manners. "I'm so worried about you two. Come on, tell me what's going on."
"Nothing is going on."
"Diegooo…" He sent him his most serious, stern look, and he didn't need to say anything else for his son to cave in.
"All right, but I'm not going to discuss this in the middle of the corridor."
"Right, let's go somewhere quiet then."
The old don headed for the library with his son in tow. Maybe not the best idea, but after all, it was the best place in the house for this kind of conversation. He knew it was a cruel thing to do, but, by making Diego step into that room, facing his fears, maybe he would break down and tell him exactly what was going on through his head.
Don Alejandro took a seat on one of the armchairs by the fireplace, and as he expected, Diego didn't come in, hesitating by the door.
"Can we go somewhere else? The garden, for example?"
"No, it's hot outside." Don Alejandro hated torturing Diego like this, but he thought it was for the best.
Diego swallowed hard, still unwilling to step in, like a horse refusing to walk into an unknown, dark pen.
"Diego, I know what you are thinking, but you can't let that bad experience haunt you for the rest of your life. What happened here was awful, yes, but you must get on with your life. Come in and take a seat," he said, offering his son his favourite armchair, not taking into consideration that it could be exactly the one Diego had occupied that fateful day.
"Please, let's go somewhere else," Diego said, getting increasingly agitated while he looked at that seat.
"No, this is fine. Take a seat," he insisted.
"Don't push me! I don't want to come into this damn room!"
When he saw Diego's twisted facial expression, and how his hands and lips started to shake, losing control, he backed off. He couldn't be that cruel. What was the ultimate point of causing him such a break down? None, really. He stood up and got to the door swiftly, taking Diego by his tense arm.
"All right, Son, don't worry, we'll go out. Another time, ah?"
They got out to the garden and sat down on one of the benches, in the small shade provided by an orange tree. Don Alejandro waited until Diego calmed down and relaxed his tense expression, composing himself a bit.
"Come on, tell me what happened. Who fired that gun? Victoria?"
Diego nodded then, looking down, lacing his fingers as if trying to control any further shaking of his hands.
"Why? Did she fire at you?"
Diego nodded again.
"On purpose?"
A third nod.
"Did she really aim that gun at you and pulled the trigger? Does she hate you so much now? Jesus, she could have killed you!"
"She could have killed me, yes. But she didn't mean to."
"Diego, why would she point a firearm at you then, if she didn't want to hit you with a bullet? That's ridiculous."
"She is not herself, Father. She has these hallucinations now, reliving the nightmare, losing touch with reality. For a moment she thought I was that son of a bitch, trying to rape her again, and she tried to kill me. She didn't listen to anything I said, and she couldn't recognize me, or even see me clearly while I was standing right in front of her. That's why she missed. Otherwise…"
"Diego, that's awful! Why didn't you tell me before she was this bad?"
"There is nothing you can do, and you have other things to worry about right now. Besides, this is all new."
"Is she losing her mind?"
Diego sighed, shaking his head a bit, in denial.
"I don't know. But I can't stop thinking about that hideous man myself, and about what happened in that room. I'm hating this, and I'm not the victim, so I can not imagine how bad she feels. I also have flashbacks, to a lesser extent, so please, don't you ever again try to make me step into the library, or I may lose my mind, just like her. Please!"
Don Alejandro was astounded. He didn't know the situation was that bad.
"Sorry, I knew you two were struggling, but I couldn't imagine it was this bad. What about the wedding? Are you still getting married?"
"I guess so, yes."
"Good. I think things will get better when you get away from here, on your honeymoon."
Diego nodded for the fourth time, slowly, and remained silent for a while, lost in thought. When he talked again, he sounded nervous, hesitating, reluctant to say the words, but also in need of his advice.
"Father, have you ever failed to… Oh, God, this is so embarrassing."
"Failed to do what?"
"To make love to a woman."
"Well, if they had rejected my advances, yes. I know I'm handsome, but not irresistible," he joked, but Diego didn't laugh. "Do you mean, having an erection?"
Diego nodded silently for the fifth time in that conversation, that must be as painful to him as pulling teeth.
"If you ask them, most men would tell you that they never, ever, had that problem. But in fact, we all do. Yes, of course it has happened once or twice in my life… Or twenty times, who's counting?" he laughed again lightly, playing down the situation because Diego looked so affected, but he didn't appreciate the humour. "If you should know, the last time it happened to me was on my last visit to Azucena Collado, about a month ago. After you caught me red-handed and told me off on my inappropriate behaviour, I couldn't… you know? Yes, I couldn't concentrate in the task at hand. Very embarrassing. And that ended our ill relationship for good. You should be happy about that."
Diego didn't say anything, with his head held low, still not looking at him, as if mesmerized by his own, intertwined hands.
"Diego, have you just tried to make love to Victoria and failed? Is that what's bothering you?"
Another slow and embarrassed nod followed that question.
"Are you out of your mind? She is not ready for that!" Don Alejandro shouted, holding back his hand so he would not slap the back of his son's head. What a fool! "For goodness sake, Diego, can't you see that? No wonder she is trying to shoot you down!"
"Father, please, don't. Lecturing and shouting won't help me. I must make love to her. And, she tried to kill me before I tried that, not as a consequence."
"What do you mean you "must" make love to her?"
"Because if that son of bitch got her pregnant, I want her to have a reasonable doubt about who's the father of that child. It would be a 50-50 chance then."
Don Alejandro thought about that for a moment.
"Yes, I guess there is a twisted logic in that… But she doesn't appreciate your advances right now, does she?"
"She didn't, but well, after trying to kill me, she suddenly did, with some twisted sense of marital duty, or to repay the damage or something, I don't know. But I blew it, because I couldn't… It didn't… Gosh, I can't get out of my head those images of that repulsive man abusing her! I think we'll both end up insane, Father."
"Don't say that. You only need time, and peace and quiet. As I said, get married and go away on your honeymoon, far away from here. That will help you both."
"Yes, that's what I hope too."
"So, we'll carry on with the wedding on Saturday, right?"
"Yes."
"All right. Now, please, relax, leave her alone, and wait for the wedding night to have sex, like any other couple that have not been naughty, misbehaving like you two, would do. Tell me, have you made love to her since her last period?"
"No."
"How many days have you got left to push your plan to create a reasonable doubt?"
"Seven, at the most, maybe less. She said she is very regular, and her cycles are always short. I know all those details because I had to be so careful not to get her pregnant before our official wedding. I also know women are less likely to get pregnant at the end of their cycles, but I have to try just in case."
"All right. You still have time then. Yes, wait for the wedding night; that's in four days. Jeez, Diego, I never thought we could be having this kind of conversation. You never asked me about any of these things before! You always found everything you wanted to know in your books."
"Desperate times, I guess. Can I go now? Are you happy with the interrogation?" Diego said, standing up, looking at his father in the eye for the first time during the conversation.
"No, not really. How could I be happy about any of this, Diego?"
"I don't know. You tell me, as you keep making jokes... By the way, you would have worked wonders as a Spanish Inquisitor to get confessions out of people."
"I didn't torture you, did I?"
"No, but the next time you could set up a nice rack in the library, that would do," Diego said, smiling at last. "I'll go back to her now. Please, don't interrupt us again."
"Well, for what you said, I think I made you a favour before by knocking at that door," he said as Diego walked away, back to the house. It was a bit childish, but Don Alejandro couldn't help himself teasing his son.
"Oh, shut up!" Diego said without looking back.
ZZZZZ