Bound: The Pentagon Group, Book 3 (16 page)

“Do you have an interest in the resort?” I asked Shay.

“I gathered investors to bring this place to the prominence it holds. I’m really proud of what it has created within the local economy,”

“Did you invest?”

“A minor interest given in exchange for my expertise.”

“I thought you weren’t supposed to have any interests in competing ventures,” I asked.

“Well, Pentagon has no interests in the Dominican Republic. Pentagon isn’t missing out,” he dismissed in a voice and terse grin, which demanded an end to the conversation. I remained unsettled by the newfound knowledge.

We were guided to a beautiful restaurant with low lighting and piano music. It was definitely a romantic spot for fine dining. After our order was taken Shay asked, “Do you want to dance?”

“There was no one dancing on the open floor.” I said as I shook my head ‘no’. “We will look like fools,” I denied.

“Maybe we will get others to join us,” he said. I shook my head ‘no’, but something in his look made me change my mind.

It was no longer a plea, but a precursor to his imminent demand. He didn’t mean to give me the subtle look, but many days of trying to romance a woman would cause any man to start feeling anxious. I decided long ago to go back home to my family and friends without incident, I needed to comply. I forced myself to be his submissive house guest for the moment. I had enough experience performing in front of strangers to summon up the courage to do the most uncomfortable things in front of an audience.

I smiled and extended my hand as I was taught early on. And he caught the bait, standing and pulling me towards him. I was led to the center of the dance floor. Brady led me in the first dance. Where he learned to dance was beyond me. He was a great dancer, commanding my body to the twists and turns he wanted. Sure enough, more people joined us on the dance floor. I smiled and laughed at his compliments and jokes.

“I’m going to miss this time with you,” he said with sincerity. I could feel his sadness envelope me as he pressed me tighter to his body.

“We should eat,” I stated, looking over at our table. He smiled and kissed my temple, grabbing my hand to lead the way. I saw him motion to the wait staff, which jumped to attention.

We ate our meals while Shay reminisced about our upbringing, our past interactions as children, his hopes for Pentagon, and desire to make me happy for the rest of our lives. After our meal, which I ate very little of, Shay insisted we dance some more because Matt wouldn’t allow him within one-hundred yards of me when we returned. I couldn’t disagree.

After sufficient time dancing, we headed to the casino on the far end of the resort. It was a hike. I would have preferred to go back to the house and sleep until the morning when I knew it was time to get ready to go back to Boston. I was eager to get back to normal. But I wasn’t sure if Matt was going to be my normal. Time away from him made me concerned with how we could return to what we had. We hadn’t established what our normal would be. I had started anew without him in my plans, living in a luxurious apartment, working an executive position; and spending my free time with volunteer work with Carson’s dance program. We had rushed into a marriage without much discussion as to where we would live. I refuse to live in his bachelor pad where he seduced me for profit. Living in the mansion would be too far for my wish to be close to work. I hadn’t met his parents and they were living there for the summer until the late Fall. I was nervous for us to finally meet because of our unconventional courtship and corporate-merger-marriage.

Shay gave me some gambling chips for the tables and a plastic card for the slots. He told me to stay with him at the blackjack table. He bet high with each wager. He was good, making amazing choices. After a while of standing behind him, I excused myself to look around. I felt exposed as I walked amongst the guests of the hotel and people who appeared to be locals playing on the slots and some of the gaming tables. I sat down at a slot machine and started playing, ignoring the sights and sounds.

“Hello, beautiful,” A male voice said in Spanish.

Instantly, I felt nervous. I looked over to see a mature man staring down at me. He was of average height and overweight; his belly jutted out toward my face. I smelled liquor oozing from his body. I felt it rude to ignore him and I gave him a simple, “hello,” returning to my slot. I was on high alert. Ignoring didn’t help because he plopped himself next to me at the slot.

“You’re going to bring me luck tonight,” he exclaimed.

Once I went to stand, his hand grabbed my wrist, pulling me down. I yelped and tried to pull my arm.

“Get off of me,” I demanded. He refused, holding me tighter. I felt his nails cutting into my skin. “Let go!” I yelled once more.

In an instant, I felt him yank harder as a body rushed both of us, pulling the man down to the floor. My arm was released, but not without immense pain. I watched Shay pummel the man with his fists. I heard screams and cries muffled by Shay’s grip on the man’s throat. Shay held him down with his knee to the sternum. The man yelled for help.

“¡Es mia!” Shay repeated. I blanched when I heard him say ‘she’s mine!’ I was frozen in place and couldn’t manage to stop him or get help in time.

Security came to assist, helping Shay up. In Spanish, Shay demanded the man be arrested, and banned from any of ‘his’ resorts. I watched the bloodied and bruised man be led away, and I didn’t think the ends justified the means.

Turning to me, “Are you okay sweetness?” He asked. I hated the term of endearment, but managed not to scowl.

I nodded, adding “You didn’t have to beat the shit out of him.” Once again flashing back to when he protected me in the streets when I was a little girl.

“He deserved more. He shouldn’t have touched you,” Shay countered. My arm was sore and I stroked my shoulder and elbow where I felt the most pain.

“You’re going to see the doctor,” he insisted, holding me by the waist and guiding me to the resort doctor.

The same doctor who arrived at Playa de Perlas attended to me. I had no broken bones or damage despite the redness, swelling and pain on my entire arm from the grip and pull. He gave me an over-the-counter painkiller.

“I think it’s time to call it a night,” Shay said definitively. “We have to get ready for tomorrow’s trip home,” he said, guiding me to the car. I agreed with him. He held my good hand as I braced my injured arm against my belly as we walked to his SUV. Manuel greeted us and frowned when he looked us over.

Behind us were voices calling out for Shay in the customary moniker of “Don Shay.” He asked Manuel to help me climb into the SUV. Being a man of little words, Manuel remained quiet in the front seat listening to boleros. All I could do was sit quietly and wait for Shay to travel with us back to his home. It was a long while before he returned and I had fallen asleep.

I woke up when Shay pulled me close to him, resting my head on his shoulder. He patted my arm and stroked my knee. It felt innocent at first, until he started gripping and stroking upwards. A kiss on my forehead was the move which prompted me to stop him.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because the challenge was you wouldn’t touch me. You’re touching me. You’re failing at keeping a physical distance,” I reprimanded.

“Can you blame me for trying? I have needs.”

“Why don’t you let Amaryllis fulfill them then?” I asked. His breath halted.

“You saw that?”

“Yes. You’re not my man, and I’m not your woman, so you can fuck whomever you want,” I said evenly. His mouth shut, forming a line.

“I’m not fucking my maid. It was the first time she’d ever done that. I found it odd. She’d only ever held out the towel, not dry me off.”

“But you didn’t stop her, especially when she grabbed your dick.” He looked at Manuel, whose eyes were clearly trained on the rugged road to the house.

“I have needs, Perla. Having you close . . . being unable to fulfill my urges . . . she was there, and it stopped when you came down,”

“Will it ever happen again?”

“No. She’s just the help,” he spewed.

I didn’t believe her social class mattered. If she had a pussy, I was sure he’d stick his cock in it. And by the sight of him receiving pleasure from Amaryllis, I was sure he didn’t care at the moment who she was.

“Will you ever fuck another woman, if you and I are exclusive?”

He grunted. “Can you please stop cursing? It’s unbecoming of you.”

“Hmmm, really? You truly don’t know me, Shay,” I sighed. “If you can’t take my cursing, then you won’t appreciate the type of woman I can be in the bedroom, or the type of girlfriend I can be socially, or the type of wife I can be publicly . . . We’re destined to be friends and that’s it,” I finalized. He didn’t answer.

“Answer me. Would you be faithful to me?”

“Of course! I’ve only ever given my heart to you. The rest is just carnal need,” he stated.

“And I don’t like games, Shay. I don’t want jealous mind games to test me. I don’t appreciate your assigning Andrea as my executive assistant to hurt me and make me feel insecure as a woman,” I accused.

“I’m sorry. She’s no match for you. I just wanted to get you to realize Matt wasn’t the partner he claimed to be,” he confirmed. His honesty was a start.

“Have you ever thought what would happen to us if we didn’t work out?” I asked.

“No, and I don’t care to,” he stated with certainty.

“We would have hurt so many people for no reason, just to see if there is something more between us. It’s not fair to all those people we care about.”

“I really don’t care,” he said matter-of-factly, and stared straight into my eyes.

“And therein lays the problem. I’m not willing to take the chance,” I warned.

“So you’ll be going back to Matt?” he asked with hurt eyes.

“I took a vow.”

“And I made one to your mother,” he countered. I turned away from him and looked out the window as we arrived at the house. I was ready for sleep and couldn’t wait to start the new day, traveling home to what I knew would be a firestorm.

*****

After Margarita came into my room to wake me up with breakfast, she took the liberty of packing the clothing. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I didn’t want a reminder of Aida’s sinister plot. I ate breakfast despite the momentary queasiness. I’d hoped they would subside seeing as I was going home. I chalked it up to being a nervous flyer. Margarita laid out a dress and shoes for my return flight. I was expecting to be giddy with anticipation, but my emotions were mixed. The biggest emotion was fear. I was terrified of what would happen upon our return.

Searching for Shay, I saw Amaryllis stop and consider whether she should turn back around. She was coming from Shay’s room. “Where is Shay?” I yelled out.

“He’s showering. I was just cleaning up his room when he returned from the pool. I’m sorry for what you saw, Doña. It wasn’t my intention to offend you and it will never happen again.”

“Was it the first time?” I asked. Since she took a long to respond, I continued. “I really don’t care what you do with him. He’s not my man. I have no interest in him, but woman to woman, don’t expect him to take you out of your situation and bring you to live here as the Doña of the house. Good luck to you,” I gave her a clipped smile and went down to the beach to sort out my jumbled thoughts and feelings.

*****

“Doña Perla, how are you?” Manuel asked. I smiled at the kind man who was so unassuming. He was alone, cleaning up the beach with his sifter and rake. “We will miss having a Doña in the house,” he said.

I smiled without arguing. “Well I will miss you and Margarita, and her waking me up with breakfast,” I joked, and he laughed.

“She doesn’t like when people sleep in. I’ve never been able to sleep in since marrying her thirty years ago. Our sons had it worse. They had to wake up on the weekends to do chores around the house, but it’s made them the hard workers they are today.”

“What do they do for a living?” I asked, eager to learn more. He was so quiet my whole stay, and it was refreshing to hear him speak.

“My youngest is a civil engineer with the City. The oldest is married with children. He’s security for Don Shay’s company,” I was surprised. I wondered if I’d ever met his son.

“Oh, I’ll say ‘hello’, what’s his name?” I asked nonchalantly.

“Manuel Santiago, Jr., but everyone calls him Manny,” My heart beat fast and I felt sick. All sorts of thoughts went through my mind. I pulled myself together.

“Wonderful. How long has he been there?” I asked to confirm.

“Two years, more or less. He got his mother this job. He was a police officer for Boston, but Pentagon pays better and is safer. Don Shay has done a lot for our family,” he attested. Despite my surprise, I feigned a smile and nodded. Matt got Manny the job, but Shay seemed to have created a deeper connection with Manny’s family.

“Will you be taking us to the airport?”

“No, Doña. Don Shay leaves his car there when he takes the jet,” he stated. I smiled, stepping forward to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He waved profusely when I walked back to the house.