Page 4 of Stealing Iris

IRIS

“Strip,” Conrado says as he goes past me in the same room he always gets at the pay-by-the-hour motel.

My eyes widen as dread rips through me, twisting my stomach into knots.

“Why?” The question slips out before I can stop myself. In the time I’ve had to submit to his twisted appetites, Conny hasn’t bothered with having me take my clothes off completely.

“Because I said so.” He tosses the button-down shirt on the extra bed then pulls the wife beater over his head. The edge of his striped boxers are sticking up from his waistband, making him look like the gangsters on TV.

The gold chain around his neck clinks as the medallion slides down his chest to land on the name tattooed over his heart: Olga, his mother. He’s always been a mama’s boy, and she gives him everything he wants, including me. Though she made him stop screwing me…at home. Oh, it’s not because she objected to what he made me do. Rather, she was afraid the neighbors might find out and think she raised a pervert.

Something’s up. Conny’s antsy, and it’s putting me on edge. He turns on the old TV, set to a porn channel. He likes that, Asian porn in particular. Small-breasted women with narrow hips, tight butts, and straight hair get him off. They’re the total opposite of everything about me, yet I’m the one he drags to the room when he’s in a mood.

For my part, I concentrate on the framed poster over the bedside table as he fucks me. Five different kinds of fruit. Three types of grapes, two peaches, two plums, three strawberries, ten raspberries. I keep meaning to check the library to see if two types of grapes can really grow on the same stem. It’s the kind of thing going through my mind when I’m trying not to think about what I have to let him do to me.

“Come on, bitch. Get naked.”

Moans filter in from next door while tacky porn music fills the room. My shoulders tighten until they ache. I let the messenger bag with my writing tablet and borrowed library book slide down onto the bed before I toe off my shoes. He goes to the dresser and pulls out a mirror and baggie from a pocket in his cargo pants. My heart sinks. He’s going to get high. I can barely breathe as he keeps shaking the bag. If he takes too much, he may not be able to finish, and that’s never good. Sometimes he blames me and smacks me around. Other times he’s left me bleeding or unable to sit comfortably for a couple of days. He’s a pig, but I have no real choice, not since he and his mother set me up.

“Let’s get this party started.” He sniffs, pulling the powder into his nostril then whoops as the drug hits his system.

I fumble with the first button on my top then go to the next one. My heart’s in my throat as I drop the blouse on the bed and push the jeans and my high-cut panties down my legs. The whole time vivid images flash into my mind: the first time…, the pain, blood. His laughter when I said I was telling his mother and threatened to call the police. The sickening feeling when they showed me the film. The humiliation when Ihad todo it again.

Conny tosses his pants and boxers next to my clothes. He’s hard. Hopefully that means a quick night. But then he wouldn’t want me naked. I work the clip on my bra with a heavy heart.

“Come on, come on.” He’s jittery, shifting from one foot to the other as the drug pumps through his veins.

I pull the scrunchie off my ponytail, slipping it over my wrist. No need to give him something to hang on to. I drop my arm over my breasts. I can’t help feeling exposed, but he doesn’t bother to look at my body. Sometimes I’ve wondered what his deal is. Considering what he prefers, he might swing the other way. Which would mean he only does this to punish me for being my father’s daughter. That hurts more than it should considering he’s the reason I’m in this mess.

“Okay, let’s see here.” He jams two fingers between my legs, startling me into taking a step back.No, no, no. I fight the urge to bat his hand and run away. I spent too much time in my head instead of trying to relax and think about something, anything to help me get wet because Conny doesn’t like to use lube.

“Shit.” His hand curls into a fist, and I try not to flinch. “Okay, get on the bed.” I place my knee on the mattress, shifting my weight while he gets a condom from his pocket. Ripping open the package, he rolls the latex on then gives himself a long stroke. The way he sucks in air sounds like a quick sizzle, and it’s all I can do not to have my stomach roll. I hate that I have to do this, especially with him.

His head snaps back toward me, his eyes narrowing. I look away, coming back to the fruit, but it’s not working for me this time. “Turn around.” My back muscles stiffen, and I swallow hard. Desperate, my gaze darts around, looking for something that will open a space between me and the ugliness I have no choice but to endure. Light slants in from the window, dusting the green leaves in the painting with gold specks.Dante. My mind scrambled for every detail of that hot afternoon: his gaze, like a caress across my breasts, how he made my pulse skip ahead and my tummy flutter without even touching me. Something deep inside me wants to believe Dante is different, and I close my eyes, losing myself in that thought.

A loud clap fills the room a moment before the sting of Conny’s palm spreads over my right cheek. My hand goes to the painful spot as I turn, my legs still folded. “Open up.” He drops, squatting at the foot of the bed.

I pull back my hair, shoving a strand behind one ear as I spread my legs.Dante. Dante. Dante. Conny’s fingers spread me wide and his head goes down between my thighs. His mouth covers me, and my body jerks. Not because this is so hot or because of the rasp of his wiry, meager facial hair against my skin. It’s the instinct to get away, to fight this as I struggle to accept what’s going to happen.Why can’t this be Dante, someone I actually want touching me?

As much as I’ve read about how good oral is supposed to be, I don’t get it. All I’ve ever known has been Conny’s mouth sucking hard or the rough pull of his fingernails scratching long enough to leave me burning for days. My body eventually surrenders and releases the moisture he wants before it finally ends. Then he flips me over and—

The electronic lock on the door clicks, startling me. Then the knob turns, and the door swings halfway open. My arm goes to my breasts, trying to cover myself as Dante comes straight out of my memory to fill the doorway. With my heart beating out of control, I watch as he checks the room, including the door to the bathroom before his attention settles on us…on me. Heat rushes across my face and down my body. Mortified, I push back, trying to scramble away.

Meanwhile, Conny sits back, unaffected. “Come on in, man.” He signals to the bed next to us. “We’re just getting started.” His hand grips my ankle, giving me a hard stare, a warning about going against him, so I’m left with no choice but to move back. “Iris, you remember Dante.” He spreads me open again, his nails digging into my flesh as his mouth comes down on me. I wince, unable to control my reactions with all the emotions running through me right now. The door shuts then, a few seconds later, the mattress on the other bed creaks, taking his weight.

Tears sting my eyes. It’s one thing to have Conny do this to me, it’s another for Dante to witness it. Yet I’m achingly aware of him close by, and my body reacts as I hoped. All I can do is let my head fall back so I don’t have to face either of them. I shut my eyes for just a moment to escape into my little fantasy world so I don’t freak out over Conny inviting someone to watch.

“That was quick.” Blunt fingertips slip inside me, taking moisture to rub into my puckered hole. Clenching my teeth, I bring both hands behind me, bracing myself while he sucks at my clit one last time before pulling back. “Go on.” He gives me a light smack so I’ll turn as he comes up off the floor. Now, Dante is in my peripheral vision, his presence dominating the room. I can’t help but glance over. Conny chooses that moment to rub himself against me. I look away, my neck and shoulders stiff.Relax. Relax or it’ll hurt so much more. He spreads my cheeks, pushing into me. The first second is the hardest. Once things get easier, I can lose myself…except this time I have an audience. “It’s been too fucking long since we did this.”

It had been a while, and I fooled myself into thinking he’d gotten tired of me. Obviously, I was wrong.

Seconds tick by while Conny fucks me. He adjusts his angle, giving a single thrust.

“Hey, join in, man.” My brain stumbles over his words. How can he do that? The blood’s rushing to my head, making me dizzy.

“Iris needs to practice giving head while I go to town on her.”

My heartbeat echoes in my ears, but Dante’s deep voice breaks through. “Are you good with that, Iris?” Conny grinds into me, his fingers digging into my flesh, where Dante can’t see. Tamping down my emotions, I assume the blank stare I’d mastered for those times when my thoughts risked earning me a beating, and nod. Dante leans forward, cupping my cheek while his thumb rubs my lower lip. He tilts my head up ever so slightly. “Let me hear you say it.”