Proserpina
Being with Lucien was an intense experience. He would come to me at night, carrying the strong odors of drink and expensive cologne, of maleness and musk. Sweeping me into his arms, sometimes kicking the front door shut in his impatience to take me, we would indulge in a frenzy of passionate coupling as though we had not seen each other for years. It would continue till the wee hours of the morning, when he would leave, dropping a kiss on my exhausted face. Sore and tender, I would wake up the next morning, deluding myself into believing that this was love. I would head to college unless he left a message asking me to stay home and wait for him.
Yes, he ran my life for me, but I never felt the need to protest. I loved him devotedly and wholeheartedly.
I never imagined for a minute that it would not be reciprocated.
***
It was almost a year of our being together and I wanted to do something special to celebrate. Lucien had been busy and apart from seeing him when he visited me, I barely knew what was happening in his life. Our nights were full: we didn't seem to be able to keep our hands off each other. The minute he walked into the house, he would pull me into his arms and we sometimes scarcely managed to make it to the bedroom!
So I decided to surprise him and managed to convince the driver to take me to meet him at the club. it took a whole lot of persuasion. The man was hesitant, to put it mildly.
***
Now as I entered the club, it was early evening and the doorman bobbed his head in acknowledgement; I flushed faintly. He knew me, all right.
Even as I reached the door, I could hear voices: Lucien's deep growl and a woman's higher tones. Puzzled, I hesitated but the door was wrenched open from the inside and the woman coming out almost collided with me.
She was slim and dressed in a waistcoat, ice-blonde hair cut close to her beautiful head. Her cold blue eyes swept over me dismissively and her red lips twisted derisively.
I smiled shyly in apology but her eyes narrowed as she saw me.
"Oh, so you're Lucien's latest plaything, hmm?" she drawled insultingly.
She ran her eyes over me in an insulting way and I cringed. Her look made it obvious that I fell short of whatever expectations she had had.
"Cradle snatching now, Boss? From the villages, eh?" she called out loudly over her shoulder, and with a loud raucous laugh with absolutely no humor in it, she deliberately shoved past me.
***
I stood gazing after her stupidly as she stalked out, in high heels and a well-cut suit. Her short blonde hair swung in a neat bob as she went and I was suddenly aware that I was dressed in my old jeans and a plaid shirt, having come straight from law school.
"Get the f*ck inside girl!" bellowed Lucien and I jumped at the fury in his voice. And the way he addressed me. bothered me.
But I scuttled inside quickly, closing the door behind me. Turning to him with a smile of expectancy, I stopped at the look on his face.
Disgust.
That was the expression and for a moment, I stared at him, uncomprehendingly.
Was this the man I loved so achingly?
Before I could speak, he spoke, threateningly.
"What the hell do you want?," he roared, getting to his feet menacingly, his expensive, tailored grey suit a total contrast to my humble everyday clothes.
As though becoming aware of my clothing which stood out like a sore thumb, he added, gratingly,
"And do you have to dress like a penniless hippie? Don't I give you money to spend? What the f*ck do you do with it? I have many important guests who come to meet me."
I smarted, flinching from the jibe.
Penniless Hippie???
"If you're busy, I'll see you later," I said quietly and turned to leave.
In my youthful foolishness, I had half expected him to step forward, clasp me in his arms and tell me it was a misunderstanding.
But nothing like that happened.
He made no move to stop me as I left closing the door behind me softly, hurrying down the corridor, hoping that my tears would not be visible to the staff.
Lucien didn't come to see me that evening, or the next.
There was no word from him either. When I tried to call him, he was unreachable.
***
The next afternoon, I returned home earlier than usual. A class had been cancelled unexpectedly and I had not wanted to sit around in the library.
It was not as though I did not run into my old roommates in college anymore, Rachel and Tanya had tried to approach me twice over the month but I had slipped away, wary of Lucien's warnings and now, with a hurt look on her face, Tanya stayed away from me. Rachel watched me coolly as though she could understand my predicament but I avoided her too.
All this while I had lived in a bubble, imagining Lucien Delano loved me. Today, I realized that he was ashamed of me. He kept me away because although he desired my body, he did not care for me as a person.
With a weariness that made me want to hide in a corner and cry, I returned to the waiting car and went back to the tiny house hidden away from the world.
***
The front door of the little house was shut and I entered using my key.
To my surprise, I heard voices coming from the kitchen.
Ana was generally alone at this time of the day and curious to know who had come, I walked in.
Liletta Gomez sat at a chair, very much at home, sipping from a cup.
Seeing my startled face, she directed a malevolent look at me. Ana wrung her hands in her apron nervously.
"So the whore is still here?," she sneered in Spanish.
I coloured. I understood Spanish, a little anyway. Enough to comprehend the insult.
Furious with this woman whom I didn't know but who had decided to be as nasty as ever, I marched into the kitchen and faced her.
"What are you doing here? Lucien had ordered you to leave. And why do you hate me?" I demanded, pushed to the brink with her hostility.
"The LORD GOD, JESUS will punish an adulteress and a whore like you!" she screamed shrilly, advancing at me, flecks of spittle flying from her mouth as she came closer. "This is a house for his whores, and you are the latest!"
If someone had hit me with a baseball bat, I would not have reacted any differently.
I stumbled back, eyes round with shock as she came round the table to where I was standing.
"WHORE!" she shouted, "The fires of Hell wait for you. And for that man. For bringing his whores here! SLUT!"
Screaming, she launched herself at me, flinging the contents of her cup at me. It stained my shirt but luckily, I had stepped back and the lukewarm liquid didn't do any damage.
In a panic, I realised that she was about to physically assault me. Just as Ana Sofia pulled her back, the driver rushed in and tackled her to the floor, efficiently.
I stood, staring at Liletta Gomez, shell-shocked as she was unceremoniously hustled out by the non-descript driver, Jamie, thanking my luck that he had been there.
***
The ugly words seemed to echo in my mind
Whore. Slut.
Was that how they saw me?
Ana Sofia tried to console me; I discovered that her English speaking skills were not so bad, after all. She had been pretending all these weeks.
"Don't bother yourself about her words, ma'am," she said, not unkindly,"Liletta is an...uh... a religious person."
Fanatic, I thought, shivering. Bigot.
And then, turning to her, I asked coldly,
"So you know her?" and then, I snapped, "What did she mean?"
The woman appeared flustered but I grabbed her wrist hard. I was not about to let her go and I wanted to know the truth. Stepping closer, I glared at her and said,
"Answer me!"
Something in my face must have scared her.
Stepping back, pulling her wrist free she stuttered, white-faced,
"The master, I mean, the Don...he...he regularly bring women here to stay...keeps them for some time...his mistresses..."
I blanched. My knees felt shaky and I wanted to sit down but gripping the table, I raised my head proudly and stared her in the eye as she continued,
"Liletta and I; we from the same village in Mexico. We belong to same church..."
She went on and on, but I had stopped listening.
The words she used made me freeze.
Mistresses.
Keeps them for some time
So I was only ONE of a string of KEPT women?