need you to understand this. The picture is becoming clearer now of what he did to you, why you were so gun shy in the beginning. I get it but when you love someone, Babe, you love everything.” I feel the tears burning the back of my eyes. “Nothing that you say to me, nothing that he did to you will ever make me love you any less. I want all of you, the beauty, the silliness, the kindness and I’ll even take the sadness, and the pain. I’ll take it all because it’s a part of you.” He tightens his grip and kisses my forehead. “Do you understand me?”
I nod my head to let him know that I understand, my eyes get blurry with unshed tears. “He hit me towards the end, several times. The last time was the worst after I found out about the other girl. He was angry because when she found out about me, she ended things with him. He came back that night and I could see the rage in his eyes. I knew it was coming and it was bad. Black eye, busted lip, a few bruised ribs.”
“Fuck.” I can sense that he is desperately trying to rein in his emotions. “I wanna kill that son of bitch!”
“Trust me, he’s not worth it.”
“Baby, look at me.” I hesitate but I do as he asks. “I need you to know that I would never hurt you like that. I never want you to be afraid to say what you want to say or act how you want to act. I may not always agree or like it, but I would never physically hurt you, okay?”
“I know that.” And I do know it. In my heart, I truly believe that I am safe with Victor. I know that he would never hurt me that way. I know this because he has shown me every day that I am free to be myself around him and, furthermore, he likes who I am.
“I still have to go up to my mom’s room. Will you be alright if I leave you here for a bit? You can take a nap and then when I get back, we can do whatever you want, okay?”
“A nap sounds good right now. I’ll be fine here.”
“Good. I promise you that everything is gonna be okay, Babe.”
“I believe you,” I reply, and I do. Looking into his eyes, I’d believe anything that he tells me. He leaves to go meet up with his mother. I close my eyes and let myself fall asleep, happy that Victor and I are alright. I sleep and relax for the remainder of the day, only really getting up to eat dinner. The events of the morning exhausted us both. Victor assured me that the video was taken care of and will never see the light of day. After that debacle, we were both able to just relax and enjoy the rest of our evening.
“Wake up!” I hear from a distance. A strong hand shakes me. “Baby, wake up.” The voice is closer now. My eyes flutter open and Victor’s smiling over me. “Hey, sleepy head. You gotta get up. We have to go soon.”
I lift my arms over my head and stretch out. “Mmm, where are we going?”
“Remember when we first met, I told you I was looking for a house here? We never got the chance to take the trip and since we’re here now, I thought we could go take a look at some properties.”
“Oh. Alright, sounds like fun.”
He gives me a quick kiss. “Get dressed. The realtor is meeting us in the lobby in twenty minutes. I ordered you a coffee and some pastries. We can eat them in the car.”
“Yes, sir,” I say, sitting up in bed and throwing the covers off of me. I pick out an outfit to wear, deciding on a simple navy blue sundress which I pair with black flip flops. Victor opts for cargo shorts, a green t-shirt, and baseball cap. He looks super casual and sexy. We make it down to the lobby on time where we meet up with Caroline, the realtor. She’s an older woman, maybe in her early fifties, short and stout but very pretty.
After introductions, Caroline tells us that we’ll be seeing houses in the exclusive community of Star Island. We decide that it would be best to take two cars, so Victor and I follow her in the rental car. After a