Easter's Lilly Read online

  For the first few days, Diego ignored me. Max continued to make breakfast for us every morning, like he always did and he and Diego talked business like they always have. Then one day, the thing I dreaded more than anything else in the world happened. Diego came into my bedroom after dinner. I was reading a book on my bed and when I saw him, I shuddered. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said. “You don’t need to be afraid of me.” He started taking off his shirt. I never noticed how beautiful his body was before. He had rippling muscles on his stomach and his arms were huge. He walked over and sat on the bed beside me. I don’t know what I was thinking but I reached out and touched his stomach. “It’s okay, Lilly, you’re allowed to touch me.” I quickly pulled my hand back. “I had a long talk with Max,” he started. “He told me Johnny was your first, and only lover.” I could feel my face turning red. “Don’t be embarrassed,” he said. “That explains a lot.” I still didn’t say anything. “Max asked me to be gentle with you.” He seemed genuinely sincere. “He asked me to protect you and make it a pleasant experience for you. I understand that Johnny didn’t do that.” I was so embarrassed I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. “But there are a few things we need to talk about,” he continued. “You can’t let Maxwell call you baby girl anymore.” I could feel tears well up in my eyes. He reached up and dried them. “You can never have him, Lilly. He would never betray me like that.” I looked up and met his eyes. “And you can’t call him daddy anymore.” I laughed.

  “I don’t call him that,” I answered. “He calls himself that.” We both laughed.

  “He’s quite a character, isn’t he.” He looked kind of serious. “Lilly, I’m not going to take you against your will. I don’t want this to be rape. I want you to give me a real chance. I want us to make love.” I swallowed hard. I was never so scared in my life. This was the only thing Max could not protect me from.

  “Okay,” was all I could offer. He took my face into his hands and kissed me. He was very gentle but my hands were still shaking.

  “Lilly, are you scared of me?” he asked.

  “I’ve only done this a few times,” I answered.

  “If I were Max, would you be so nervous?”

  I swallowed back the tears I was feeling. “I don’t know,” I answered honestly. He kissed me again, a little harder this time and he pushed me down on the bed. I closed my eyes and tried to think of Max, but eventually I realized that this was definitely not Max.

  He started removing my clothes and I thought I might throw up. There was one article of clothing left between me and having an intimate relationship with him. He slipped them off and I am sure that I gasped a little. He removed the rest of his own clothing as he was kissing my neck. It actually felt nice. I started to relax a little. He worked his way down and things started to change. My heart rate started to accelerate and my body started to tingle. He put me on top of him and securely grabbed hold of me. As he moved me forward something started to happen. Something I couldn’t control. “Diego!” I yelled. “Stop, stop…” But he didn’t. He rolled me over and climbed on top of me. He whispered in my ear, “Hold on tight, Lilly and let go of all your fears.” So I wrapped my arms around him and closed my eyes. My body disconnected from my mind and as soon as that happened I let out a yell of pleasure that I wished I could have taken back as soon as it escaped my lips. “Diego, oh my God!” I screamed it over and over again. My body shuddered and the feelings that were going through me were new and unfamiliar. He looked at me with a proud smile and called my name out just a few moments later. When it was all over, he collapsed beside me.

  I was almost afraid to ask, but I had to know. “Was that supposed to happen?” I asked breathlessly.

  “Every time,” he smiled. “At least once.”

  “More than once?” I asked. “Really?”

  My innocence amused him. “Johnny is a selfish dog,” he added. Then he picked up my chin with his fingers so that I was looking right at him and said, “The more I get to know you, Lilly, the better it will feel.” I wrapped my arms around him and put my head on his chest. He stroked my hair. “I’m not so bad now, am I?” he asked.

  “No,” I answered. “I didn’t expect to like it so much,” I told him. And boy did I mean that. I was sick to my stomach that I enjoyed it the way I did. I just wanted to be with Max, that’s all. We slept in each other’s arms and made love a few more times that night.

  In the morning Max had breakfast made as usual and he was sitting at the table with his calculator like always. When he acknowledged our presence he winked at me. He was trying to be strong, I could tell, but his eyes were empty. “He was here last night,” Max said to Diego.

  “Who?” he asked. “Jorge?”

  “No,” he answered. He was obviously trying to keep something from me. “You know, tonight’s the meeting.”

  “Yes, of course,” he answered. Then they had a moment of understanding between them and Diego started to laugh. “Lilly, maybe you could excuse us for a minute.”

  “No,” I said. “Who was here?”

  “Johnny.” Diego answered.

  “Oh my God!” I cried.

  “Yeah, that’s about what we heard when he was here.” Max couldn’t make eye contact with me when he said that. I know my face flushed because I got suddenly over-heated. “You’re gonna take her with you to the meeting, right? Cause if you’re not, I need to stay here with her.”

  “Okay Max, spill,” Diego replied. “Tell me what happened.”

  “In front of Lilly?” He looked at me then with concern in his eyes.

  “Yes,” I said sarcastically. “In front of Lilly.”

  He looked up at Diego and he gave him a nod to go ahead. “He came in with his delivery and said, ‘finally Diego has a woman. I was starting to worry about him.’ I didn’t say anything,” Max continued, “but he pushed me.”

  “Go on…” Diego responded.

  “Then he said, ‘wow, sounds like a wild one. Who’s he got up there?’”

  Diego began to laugh and said, “You didn’t…”

  “Yeah, I did,” Max replied. “I said, ‘Well, I guess you never made her scream like that before, or you would’ve recognized her voice.’ Then he threw his envelope on the table and said, ‘Is that my Lilly?’”

  “What’d you say?” I asked.

  “It sounds to me like she’s Diego’s Lilly now.” Diego high fived Max and said, “I couldn’t have planned that better myself.” Max’s face dropped a little.

  “Well, now we have a little problem,” Max confessed. “If you don’t take her with you, John will show up here before the meeting. He ran out of here like his ponytail was on fire. He was pissed.”

  “Okay,” Diego agreed. “I’ll take her.”

  “What meeting, Diego, and why do I have to worry about Johnny? We’ve been over for a long time now.”

  “I’m afraid he may try to force his way back into your life,” Max answered. “I don’t want to take any chances with you.” He looked at me in earnest. I wanted to touch him so badly.

  “You know how I go to a business meeting once a month, baby?” Diego asked me. Max twinged when he called me that.

  “Yes, of course,” I answered.

  “They are really territory meetings. Jorge is in charge of the entire organization and I am the number two. We hold cocktail parties in a hotel and invite the territory leaders and their enforcers. They all bring their wives, girlfriends or significant others with them. After the party, the men have dinner together; have their meeting, and the women have dinner together. It bonds the women and we get to talk business and have a nice meal.”

  “I think I’m hurt,” I answered. “Why haven’t you taken me before?”

  “I didn’t want you to see Johnny,” he answered. “But the cat’s out of the bag now, so you may as well come with me.” Max had his eyes fixed on me. It was very uncomfortable.

  “Besides,” Diego continued. “We weren’t really husband and wife, lik
e we are now. I think you’ll have a good time.” I could hear Max swallow loudly.

  “Sure,” I said. “Sounds like fun.”

  “I’ll order you a dress and some shoes. They’ll be here in about an hour. Then get dressed for me, okay?”

  “Yes, of course,” I answered. He took my face into his hands and kissed me. “I can’t wait to see you later,” he said and he left the room. “Max, I’ll be back in an hour!” We heard the door slam. Max and I looked at each other as soon as he was gone. We simultaneously got up and ran into each other’s arms. He hugged me and I started crying uncontrollably. “You didn’t have to like it that much,” he said, trying to make light of this most uncomfortable situation. He picked up my chin the same way Diego had done and looked at me. “It’ll get easier, Lilly.” His eyes were full of tears and I reached up and brushed them away.

  Why couldn’t it be you?” I asked. “I will never be Diego’s Lilly,” I said. Just then his brother Hector burst into the kitchen and Max in his shock pushed me back quickly. “Oh, it’s just you,” he said and he held me again.

  “Careful,” Hector said, “Jorge isn’t far behind. What’s wrong with her?”

  “She had sex with Diego last night,” Max answered.

  Hector laughed, “Yeah, I’d be crying too.” He reached over and pulled me away from Max. “Look you two, knock it off. Jorge can’t see this.” Max let me go and turned his face away and I grabbed a napkin and wiped my eyes. “Remember Max, stay focused. This doesn’t look focused to me.” He went to the door of the kitchen looking out for Jorge. Hector was the second youngest brother. Max was the baby. He was Jorge’s enforcer and looked very similar to Max. He was blond and light skinned and very handsome. He had the same icy blue eyes that Max did. He was acting very nervous.

  “Here he comes. Lilly, you okay?” Hector asked me.

  Yeah,” I said. “I’m good.”

  “Good, because your life depends on it,” Hector said and in walked Jorge and his gorgeous wife. Olivia was slight in build. She was Latina, had long dark hair, and a face that was dark and smooth. Jorge looked a little like Diego but the two were not as similar as the younger brothers. He was very dark, darker than Diego with those same green eyes. He was tall like Diego, I think a little taller, but his face was what was different. He had craters in his face that I understand occur from excessive drug use. He also had a long scar on the side of his forehead, just over his eye. He was scary to look at, not pleasing at all. I could feel evil all over him when he entered the room.

  “This is Lilly,” Max said to Jorge. “Lilly, this is Jorge, Olivia and Hector.” I smiled and said, “Mucho gusto.”

  “Very good,” Jorge answered. “But I’m betting that is all you know.”

  “Yes sir,” I added.

  “His ego is big enough, please don’t call him sir,” Olivia added. “Will you be joining us tonight?”

  “Yes.” I smiled. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Why don’t you go and get ready,” Max asked, obviously trying to get rid of me. “I’m sure your dress will be here soon.”

  “I’ll help.” Olivia took my hand. “I hate business talk anyway.” We left the room and the conversation in the other room turned to Spanish.

  “You’ll get used to that,” she assured me. Then the doorbell rang and it was my dress. We grabbed it and ran upstairs. I was actually kind of excited. Olivia and I ran up the steps and she helped me prepare.

  CHAPTER 10

  The Party