Must Wait (12 page)

Her face turns red. “No, Pedro. It is over. Please get
over it.”
“I can’t. All I do is dream about her. Please, I want to
know how I can find her.”
“No. You are going to confuse her. She needs to stay
in school. She only will hurt you as well.”
I search Olivia’s eyes to see her anger. “Olivia, I love
Katie and I know that she loves me too.”
I hear a truck stop and doors open and close. Olivia
glances to the side then back to glare at me.
She tilts her head and starts speaking in Spanish, “No
Pedro, you cannot love her. That man walking behind
you is her father. He will destroy you if he finds out. If he
knew you were touching her and I did not stop you. He is
going to kill us both. No more talking about her. Move
on, Pedro.”
A chair slides up next to Olivia and I move away from
her and sit back in my chair. I see Olivia’s husband for
the first time and I am downright scared. He glances over
at me quickly then returns to stare at his wife.
“Hi, honey, I am back.” He plants a kiss on the side of
her face.
She looks over at him angrily snapping. “I saw you
pull up.” Then she tilts her head to one side and cracks
her neck, then does the other side.
His head jerks back. “Whoa, are you alright?”
“No. And, Ryan, meet Pedro. Pedro meet Katie’s
father and I hope he tears you from limb to limb.” Olivia
gets up from the table, slamming her chair into the table
then walks with angry heavy steps into the kitchen.
He glares over at me and he can tell that I am scared. I
offer him my hand to shake it. “Hola, Señor Nora.”
He looks at me in the eye as I am shaking his hand.
“Pedro, is there a problem here?”
I look around nervously, not wanting to meet his stare.
I feel my heart dropping and decide to tell him the truth.
“I need help getting a passport and Señora is not happy
with me. She says that my reasoning is invalid and
unjustified.”
He looks confused so he asks me, “A passport? Where
do you need to go and what is your business there?”
I look him dead in the eye. “Love. I want to go see if
she feels the same. I know she does. Señora tells me that I
am stupid and need to stay here to take care of my son
and my farm.”
He leans forward. “Where is this woman?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I do not know. Señora will not
tell me where Katie is.”
His jaw drops when I say Katie’s name. He does not
show anger towards me, but pity. “Pedro, follow me.”
He gets up from the table and I am scared as hell. He
picks his laptop computer off the bar, moving it to the
farthest stool away from us. He motions to me to get
over to him. I slowly get up, walking over to his side,
ready for what he is going to do to me.
He pushes buttons on his computer then I hear, “Yes,
Daddy?”
He smiles, looking at the screen. “I think I have
something that might belong to you, maybe not.”
He turns the screen towards me. I see Katie and she
starts screaming. I am confused by what I am seeing.
He guides me down to sit on the barstool. “Sit here
and talk to her. She can hear and see you.”
I nod then I turn to the screen. I see him out of the
corner of my eye, talking to Olivia. Katie is speaking to
me in Spanish.
Her eyes look worried. “Daddy does not understand
Spanish, Pedro. No English when he is around. How did
this happen? How did you get him to let you talk to me?
What does he know, Pedro?”
I open my eyes really wide. “I am not sure. He
overheard Olivia and me arguing about you. I told her
that I was going to get a passport to go and see you. She
freaked out and said a few things. She stormed off leaving
me with your father. I just told him the truth about
wanting to see you and here we are.”
She nods. “You have to watch yourself around him.
Do not let him find out that I stayed with you a few
nights?”
I nod. “About that Katie, I am sorry for the way I
treated you.”
“Hush, Pedro, I know. I will not be able to come
down and visit now. Too much going on here. Mommy is
famous.”
I blush. “I know. I saw what pushed your father over
the edge.”
She laughs. “You are such a prude, Pedro. That video
is cool as hell. Mommy is totally hot.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Yes, Paolo sure seemed to
thinks so.”
She shakes her head. “Tell Paolo I said hands off.
Mommy and Daddy are back together for good this time.
There is nothing that is going to tear them apart.”
“Katie, when am I going to see you again?”
She looks to the side. “Grandpa is coming back down
to see Rosalie soon. I have talked him into bringing you
an iPhone. I told him that I would leave school if he
didn’t. Don’t worry, I have him wrapped around my
finger. Pedro, I have to go. My cousin, Nick, and I are
going clubbing tonight and he is banging at the door
because he wants to leave.”
“I thought you were at school?”
“No, my grandpa Nora died. I am in New Jersey
staying at my aunt’s house tonight.” She looks away from
the screen and yells some words that I can’t make out.
She returns to look at me, smiling. “He is suck a dick, but
he wants to leave now. He is prowling for chicks, you
know. So, I am going to go, Pedro. I really miss you and I
am very happy that I got to see you tonight.”
I smile. “I miss you too, Katie. Please come see me
soon.”
“I will try, but get your passport. You can come to the
beach house with us.”
I laugh. “I have the beach here.”
She smiles. “Bye, Pedro. Soon, I promise.”
I nod. “Bye, Katie.”
I get up and Katie’s father smiles up at me. I nod my
thanks as I go sit back at the table.
Parker stares over at me. “That went extremely well
with Ryan. I thought for sure that he was going to kill you
as he stared you down with those nostrils flaring.”
I glance over at Olivia and Ryan at the bar. “I thought
so too. I was afraid that I might have to fight him. He
seems like a caring man.”
Parker laughs. “He must be something. Did you check
out his new ride?”
I look towards the road to see a brand new Range
Rover. “That is expensive. Is he rich?”
Parker laughs. “Duh, just do not get on the man’s bad
side, Pedro.”
I nod. “I think I am more on Olivia’s bad side.” I look
around not seeing Olivia or Ryan. I glance to the road to
see that they had left.

A few days later as Ramón and I wait for church, I see
Olivia walking towards me waving her hand. She looks
upset and her face is red like she has been crying.

“Pedro, good, I caught you before you went into
church. I have an enormous favor to ask and I will even
buy you dinner.”

“Everything okay with Olivia? You look upset. Have
you been crying?”
She laughs. “No, well, yes. Parker and I got into a fight
this morning. Back to my favor…”
I cut her off. “Fight? With Parker? Where is your
husband?”
She laughs again. “Ryan flew back to New Jersey this
morning for his father’s memorial service. Pedro, please, I
have a favor. Could you drive me later today to San
Jose?”
“No, I do not think so with Ramón and all.”
She puts up her hand. “We can take Ramón with us. I
am staying in a hotel and flying out tomorrow morning to
be with my family. I would drive myself, but I wanted to
come back home on Wednesday with Ryan.”
“Parker couldn’t take you?”
“No, Pedro. He is drunk and I had a hard enough time
with him this morning getting my truck keys back from
him. My Land Cruiser is all fueled up, please.”
I smile. “Yes, if we are taking your truck. It is fun to
drive. I was out last night in it with Parker.”
She puts her hands on her hips. “Were you drunk too
last night?”
“Just a little bit. I would like to leave right after church
if that is fine with you. Ramón has never been to San
Jose. He never has seen those large buildings.”
She beams up at me. “Great, I will go home and get
my luggage. I will meet you back here after church.” She
walks away back to the Cantina.

I meet back up with Olivia and I start driving her truck
up the rocky terrain. She looks over at me. “Geez, Pedro,
you are a really bad driver too, just like Ryan.”

She laughs. “You are driving fast and hitting every
rock.”
I watch her as she leans over playing with her radio.
She turns up the music before sitting back in her seat.
The music is nauseating and I turn it off. She glares over
at me then turns it back on.
I turn the radio back off as she hits my hand. “Olivia,
please. The music is scary and Ramón is sitting back
there.”
She looks back. “Aww, I can’t believe he is sleeping
while you drive like a maniac. Wait, you said the music is
scary?”
“Yes, quite.”
She laughs hysterically.
“You and Ryan must be
drinking the same water. You both hate my art.”
I glance over at her. “That is you screaming those
nasty words.”
She grins. “Yup! I thought you saw the videos with
Rosalie and Paolo?”
I blush. “Yes, but Rosalie had the sound way down.”
She stares at me. “Did you just blush? Pedro, what are
we going to do with you? You have a rude awakening
coming to you if you think you love Katie.”
I glance over at her. “I do love Katie.”
She puts her hand up to silence me. “I know. I hear
about it all the time. I just mean you are not
knowledgeable in life. Do not get me wrong, you are a
very sweet boy. You just do not know what is out there.
You think Katie maybe the girl for you, but, honey, I am
not sure about that if you can’t handle a provocative
video.”
I glare over at her. “I know what is out there. I do not
understand how people throw sex around. It is an
intimate act based on love.”
“No, you have no clue. I think you should talk to
Rosalie. Maybe she can give you a book to read or
something. I know my daughter very well and she knows
what she wants and how she wants it. If you do not make
that happen for her, she will leave you in the dust, Pedro.
Then you will be heartbroken again.”
I am in shock listening to this conversation. “Katie is
the virgin, not me.”
I can feel Olivia’s eyes staring at me before she speaks
her next words, “Pedro, I really do like you. I really do
think you are a very handsome sweet boy. I want to see
you and Katie together, but you are from different
worlds. I wish there was a way I could help you
understand without having Ryan or my father give you
the sex talk.”
I feel horrified. “Sex talk? I know what I am doing. I
do not need help.”
“If you say so, Pedro. I will have my father talk to you
when he gets back here. I do not want you to be
blindsided by Katie. I want you to fully know what you
are getting into with her. She probably thinks it is cute
now how you ask for permission to touch her, but that
will not last long. You need to be more pre-emptive,
maybe a little more aggressive.”
I bit my lip. “What, Olivia? How do you know what I
do?”
She laughs. “Katie tells me and
her
grandfather
everything. There are no secrets, well, yes, the ones that
we keep from Ryan. He is not ready to hear about his
daughter’s experiments. He may never be ready.”
I shake my head. “What is wrong with you people? I
do not get it? Is it an American thing to be talking about
sex so openly?”
She shrugs. “Maybe. Seriously, if you want to keep
Katie happy, you will need to keep an open mind. You
might be just fine since you accepted her relationship
with Noelia.”
I scowl. “What relationship? They are over.”
Olivia chuckles. “No, Pedro. The girls live together.
Katie is hitting that every night you silly boy. Power to
her, I could never get in to the girl thing even though
Ryan might have enjoyed it.”
I grip the steering wheel really tight. “Please stop it
right now. I do not want to hear anything more. Olivia
you are killing my respect for you.”
She giggles. “Well, Pedro, you better get used to it if
you want to be a part of our family. You need to talk to
Rosalie, seriously.” She takes out her cell phone and looks
at it. “Good, I have a signal now. I will call her right
now.” She dials her phone. “Rosalie, you answered your
Skype phone. Awesome. You have to do me a favor. If
Pedro really wants to be with Katie, he is going to need a
sex education. I tried, he blushes and gets all mad. This
exceedingly wholesome boy needs to be taken up a notch.
You will talk to him. Great. Give him something to watch
or read, he is clueless. Okay, bye bye, and thank you.” She
hangs up the phone and smiles over at me, “You are
good. Rosalie is going to hook you up.”
I shake my head. “I can’t believe that I am hearing this
from you. You do want me with Katie?”
She nods. “Well, I guess I can’t keep you apart. So, we
might as well give you the tools to make it work. Keep an
open mind and learn, Pedro. That is all I ask of you.” She
glances back at Ramón and smiles. “I miss my son. He
was a really cutie too.”
“I saw a photo of him in your house. He looked just
like your husband.”
She glances over at me. “Yes, he looked just like Ryan
and just as nasty too. I wish Ryan would have opened his
eyes years ago to what his mother was doing to all of us.
Things would have been different for us.”
I am confused. “His mother? What did she do?”
“She would pit us all against each other and create
drama. Ryan tuned me out, she had him convinced that I
was a bad mother.”
“Sounds like you just described Katie. She likes to
cause problems too.”
She laughs. “Yeah, Katie is a yeller too, like her father.
It must be the Italian thing. They are loud animated
people.”
“Was Ryan your first?”
She chuckles. “First what?” She sighs, “Sorry I know
what you meant. He was not my first sexual partner, but
he was the first man that I loved. I only loved him.”
“Were you Ryan’s first?”
She throws her head back laughing evilly. “Wow,
Pedro, with the questions. You are going to be freaked
out by the answer. Ryan slept around a lot. Over or close
to three hundred woman and none of them were
relationships. I was his first girlfriend and his first only
love. Just like me, even though that crazy Parker believes
otherwise.
I glance over to see the angered look on her face.
“Why are you angry with Parker?”
“Oh, Pedro, he just doesn’t take no for answer. Today
he came on to me really strong and I had to hurt him
badly. He will be fine though.”
I glare over at her angrily. “What did you do, Olivia?
You and your husband have inflicted enough pain. Did
you see his face when Ryan busted it up?”
She bites her lip. “Nice to know that you do know my
husband’s name. But really, Pedro, did you want me to
just take it from Parker?”
I jerk my head and glare at her, “You have screwed
with his head. He is in love with you.”
Her eyebrows raise in surprise. “Is that what Parker is
telling you? I have no interest in Parker. I never have had
interest, only as a friend. What did you want me to do,
Pedro? Lay there and take it, no never.” She breathes in.
“Since I have been here, I only had interest in Paolo.
Paolo and I understand each other. We are both happily
married and our flirting is cute. We knew it would never
grow into anything else.”
“My brother is right. You women are poison.”
She laughs. “And you Araya men are toxic. Katie told
me about Lasaro being a cheater and a voyeur. I am
pleased that both you and Paolo have your morals.”
I shake my head. “I am embarrassed by my brother’s
behavior but he claims that his wife condones it.”
“No, I would never tolerate that type of behavior from
any man. Pedro, Ryan must never find out what Parker
tried to do to me. Ryan will kill him this time.”
I turn out on to the main highway. “Parker would
never hurt you.”
She glares at me again, “You are wrong. He was so
drunk this morning. He had me pinned against the wall.
When I tried to fight him off, he would be even harder
on me. I had to twist his scrotum to get away from him.
You ask him about it when you get home.”
I gasp sharply. “Oh, Parker. He has been drinking
heavily since he came back from San Jose after your
hospital stay for your head. He was crushed when Ryan
came back for you. He was sure he left you for good.”
She nods. “Me too. Not sure if you know this part of
the story. Ryan accidently left me divorce papers when he
hurried out. That is actually how I fell and hit my head. I
fainted.”
“Why would he have divorce papers? I am confused.”
She shakes her head. “Katie again. She had him
convinced that I moved on with Parker. He came down
to Costa Rica to free me. He wanted me to be happy.”
“Oh my gosh, now it all makes sense. I was with Katie
when she spoke with Ryan. She did tell him that you
moved on. She thought it would be weeks before Ryan
came here. She assumed the paperwork was to protect his
assets.”
She nods. “I wish you would have stopped her. She
really did put Ryan through emotional hell.
I raise my eyebrows. “I did try. She wanted to protect
you from him. I remember the one call where she said he
was crying.”
“My poor Ryan. Even though he is so stalwart, he is
fragile. That is why I am going to New Jersey. I need to
support him while he is grieving.”
“I understand.”
She smiles and settles back into the seat. “It is going to
weird going back home. At least I have a fun-filled night
planned thanks to my father.”
“Really? What are you doing?”
She laughs. “I am going to the spa to get all sexy. Then
I am going to go to the hotel bar to pick up a man. Bring
him back to my room to have a wild one-night stand.”
I choke. “Olivia, what is wrong with you?”
She laughs. “I am just joking, Pedro. I wanted to see
you freak out. I am going to the spa though.”
I shake my head. “You are just like Katie with all your
joking.”
She corrects me, “No, Pedro, Katie is just like me.”
“What does Ryan say when you talk that way?”
“No, no, I never talk that way when Ryan is around.
He is a very jealous man. Well, I sometimes do say things
to get what I want from him.”
We remain silent for a few minutes. As I think about
Parker and what he said about Olivia beating her husband
up. I glance over at the woman sitting next to me,
knowing how she had to fight off Parker. How could she
possibly be beating her husband? He is so much stronger
than her. I bite my lip wanting to ask her why she is
abusive.
“Olivia, can I ask you a personal question?”
She stares over at me. “Sure, Pedro.”
“Why do you beat your husband?”
She coughs, laughing. “Is that what Parker told you?”
“Yes, he told my brothers and me that you hurt Ryan’s
face.”
She laughs again. “That was an accident, plus he
begged me for it.”
I open my eyes really wide. “Why would he beg you to
hurt him?”
She snaps her head to look at me. “Really, Pedro. Are
you that guileless?” She studies my face for a moment,
“God, you are. I do not think we want to get into this
topic, Pedro.”
“What topic? The reason why you abuse your
husband. Why does he let you do that to him? He can
stop you. He is so much bigger that you…”
She puts up her hand to stop me from ranting. “He
begs me to do that to him. We play around sexually. It is
not abuse, Pedro. He and I take turns being submissive.
That night that Parker was telling you about was Ryan
being submissive.”
“Submissive?”
She turns in her seat to glance over at Ramón who is
still sleeping. Then she stares at me. “I cannot believe that
I have to explain this to you. So get ready, Pedro.” She
takes in a breath. “Ryan likes it when I dominate and
punish him. I love it when he does it to me too. It is a
major turn on for him when I tie him up and slap him
around. I control his body taking what I want. It drives
him nuts that he can’t touch me back. There was a time
when I kept him tied up for five hours. I had to gag him
because he kept begging me to stop making him orgasm
over and over again. Five hours, Pedro, I just kept
pleasuring him with my mouth.”
My eyes open really wide. “Please stop, Olivia. I do
not want to hear anymore.”
She laughs and turns in her seat. “You asked.”
I shake my head in disbelief. I feel my heart beating
faster. “You are crazy, Olivia.”
She smiles. “Open mind, Pedro, remember that or you
will never satisfy Katie. Oh, nice scare tactic you used on
Katie too.”
“I do not understand, scare tactic?”
She laughs. “That a woman’s first time having sex is
not going to feel good and take weeks to heal. She
believed you, so that should keep her at bay for a while.”
My eyes shift. “I was not scaring her. That is what it
was like with Cyntia. It was weeks before she touched me
again.”
Olivia puts her hand on her forehead covering her
eyes while shaking her head. “Pedro, I am very sorry. I do
not know what type of game Cyntia was playing with you.
Maybe you both were too shy. Normal newlyweds can’t
keep their hands off of each other. When Ryan and I first
had sex, I could not get enough of him. I stayed in his
bed for days in his apartment. We hardly ate and never
left. I can’t believe that you are twenty eight years old and
this naïve. I just learned this, but my fourteen-year-old
son was getting it more than you ever had in your life.
Maybe there is something wrong with you chemically. It’s
possible that you do not have enough testosterone to fuel
your desires.”
“Olivia, there is nothing wrong with me. I have
desires. I just do not act on them like Lasaro or Parker. It
is hard being a single father.”
She nods. “I see your point. You are alone and trying
to do what is best for Ramón. You are a very good father.
I was shocked to learn about you and Katie. I was
worried about what you were exposing your son to. When
I learned that you and Paolo made sure that Ramón was
cared for during Katie’s sleepovers. I was so relieved. You
and Paolo are really good men. You both put your
families first. Most men would have just given into their
desires even with their children around.”
“Lasaro is like that. Not your husband though.”
“No. Ryan has no self-control. My father yells at him
all the time for it. He will take me where he wants when
he wants. He does not care who is around. We always
could never keep our hands off of each other. I guess
Parker did not tell you that he and Marcus watched from
a distance as Ryan and I had sex in this truck.”