Crazier Than Ramona
Crazier Than Ramona
Presley returned to her room on the ship and immediately noted pajamas laid out for her. She gav
e a sideways glance at Estrella who stood in the room her back to the door.
“You’re staying?”
“I presume you’ll want to brush your teeth after eating.”
“I didn’t eat.”
“Are you hungry? I can get you something and bring it to you.”
“No.” When the woman continued to stand there she rolled her eyes angrily. “Estrella, what the hell do you want? Why are you still standing here? You can leave.”
“I’m to take your dress with me. You get one change of clothes only. There are straps on the dress you’re wearing which could be used to strangle.”
“Oh my god, I’d never strangle anyone. I can barely write violent scenes in my books without feeling nauseated and you think I can do it with my bare hands?”
“In your last book, your heroine used the neck of a wine bottle to stab someone in the neck. In another one the heroine used the metal chain of handcuffs to choke out her opponent. My favorite,” Estrella was getting excited, “was the time the heroine used spray deodorant as an accelerant and burned off the face of her captor with the candles.”
“I,” she stared in disbelief at Estrella, “you read my books?”
“All of them. You’re exceptionally talented as an author. It is why I was so extremely disappointed to know a woman who writes such strong, independent women who don’t need men to save them is such a simp in real
life.”
“I’m not a simp!”
“I mean to each their own but the guy you dated, the fitness instructor, who was sleeping with three other women at the same time as you, he was not even trying to hide how he cheated on you and you kept letting him back in your bed.”
“He cheated on me?” Presley sat down in disbelief on the edge of the bed. She hadn’t thought it was love but he cheated?
“Wait, you didn’t know? How blind are you when in relationships? Are you like a racehorse and just shove those things on your eyes to keep you from looking around thinking love will keep you safe?”
“What is wrong with you?” she asked Estrella angrily.
“My favorite author is a huge disappointment, and you ask what is wrong with me? Where is your self–respect? Your first boyfriend in college was only with you because his mother wanted it. He complained to her all the time how he wanted to be free to explore college life and she convinced him you’d be his mal ticket.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes it is. Why do you think he could leave you so easily? He and his mother argued about it because she was
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sure he was making a huge mistake leaving you behind. She wanted him to continue your relationship in case he couldn’t make it work in Texas.”
“How do you know this?” warning bells were suddenly going off her in head.
“We’ve been watching you since you attended college. One of my friends was assigned to you. I didn’t know any of it other than you wrote my favorite books but then when I was reassigned here, Liborio told her to update me, and she told me all about how you’re weak and you let people walk all over you and you date men who treat you like s**t. I’ve never been more disappointed to meet someone in my life.”
“Estrella,” Presley stared at her, feeling tears clogging her throat, “your opinion of me doesn’t matter. I don’t care if you like my books but don’t like me. I don’t care if you think I’m weak. I know my heart. I know who I am as a person. I didn’t start therapy at the age of eight or nine to be my age now and do not know I have no control over your brain and your thoughts and your opinions. I also don’t know you. I don’t need to know you. I don’t want to know you. The limited interactions we’ve had so far tell me you’re not a good person. You are not anyone I would want in my circle of friends for me to heed opinions,” she watched the woman’s face turn stony and cold. “You work for a criminal who kidnaps women and tries to force them to procreate. It’s disgusting and sick. I tell you what though, the next book I write, make sure you read it to see how I make a side character who is a sycophantic ass–kisser to the evil villain get destroyed. I’ll be sure to be extra creative in her demise.”
“Get changed so I can take your clothes.”
“No.”
“Do as your told or I will make you.”
“Do your worst. If it makes you feel good to hurt another woman at the commands of a man, go ahead. You
stand here and call me a simp because I didn’t know my ex was cheating on me yet you’re the kind of woman
who screams women should support one another and be strong and resilient yet you beat them when they’re down. You’re so desperate to get the pat on the head from the big bad leader of your little family you would commit acts of violence and belittle other women just for an ounce of his approval. You’re a horrible human. being Estrella. So go ahead. Beat me into getting changed. I’m not a fighter. You’ll win the physical round but if you think your opinions, thoughts, or ideas matter to me, they don’t. You’re nothing but a lackey, a minion, a pick–me girl, sucking up to a man to make you feel better about yourself because you know, deep down inside, you’re just a terrible human being.”
Estrella grabbed Presley by the neck and slammed her against the door. “You will get changed.”
“f**k you.” Presley didn’t know where this sudden need to nettle the other woman was coming from but after all the recent events, she was done being complacent. She was here to save her family, but she wasn’t going to make it easy on anyone. She wriggled in Estrella’s grasp and kicked and flailed to get out of her grip.
A knock on the door had Estrella pulling her away from it and throwing her onto the bed before opening the
door.
“Boss.” Estrella nodded at Liborio who entered the room. “She is refusing to get changed.”
“Why?” he looked at Presley. “You can’t want to sleep in your dress.”
“She’s a b***h. I hate her. Out of principal, I’m going to fight her at every turn.” Presley looked at Estrella. “You should know she talks a lot. She tells me things I don’t think you would like her to tell me. I know your sister had red hair as did your mother. I know you’ve been watching me since college and assigned someone to
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keep tabs on me. I know you’re running drugs on this ship.” She lied on the last one. It was Odin who told her this but why not throw Estrella under the bus just a smidge.
“Leave.” He shot Estrella an angry glare which caused Presley to shiver.
“Odin told her of the drugs. Not me. You permitted her to talk to him.”
“I said leave,” Liborio’s jaw tightened with rage.
“Yes sir,” Estrella shot her an angry look and left.
“How the hell do you let women like her work for you. She’s horrible.” Presley scooched up the bed and wrapped her arms around her knees, resting her chin. She looked at Liborio and noted he seemed more perturbed than usual. “Why are you here?”
“I received a call from a friend, and they want to talk to you.”
“Who?”
“His name is Belkin. He is Russian. He wants to know you’re safe and unharmed.”
“Your security Valkyrie wannabe just slammed me against a door and gave me a raging headache and hurt my cheek but sure, I’m unharmed.”
“Presley, stop being so argumentative. Look, I’ve worked with women before who have been brainwashed by their own families and even cults. This is for your own good.”
“Do you tell those other women they need to have your babies, or their families die?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I never wanted anyone else to have
my
babies.”
“You want me to have them though?”
“I do.”
“Why? Do you love me?” Presley was aware of the snarky bite to her tone, but she didn’t hold back. She was angry. She was angry at Liborio, Estrella, and Odin and even Cruz at this point, though she wasn’t sure why she was mad at him yet.
“Yes. I do love you, Presley. I have for a long time.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“Your favorite color is green. You write all your outlines of your stories with a pencil in a notebook, and you chew through those pencils until you reach the lead within. The more frustrated you are with your character development, the harder you chew. You like running best after rain because you like the fresh smell. Your favorite breakfast is the smoked salmon bagel from the little shop near your condo. When you go out with the girls, your guilty pleasure for drinks is a paloma but they hit you hard. When you’re drunk you giggle a lot. You cry at movies where kids or animals get hurt and the television commercials where old people hold hands. You love your best friends and your editor more than you do most of your family, though it’s easy to see why. You spend days and weeks picking out the perfect gifts for birthdays and Christmas. Your huge, and you donate a percentage of every book you write to the women’s shelter.”
She stared in awe at his words.
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“You entered a b**m parlor when you were just nineteen under the guise of needing to do research for a book and when the club manager let you watch a scene where a person was flogged, you cried real tears.
“How do you know that?” Her head snapped incredulously at his words. “Nobody should know what happened in the club.”
“I own the club. I was in the club. My manager needed my permission to allow you to watch a private scene. You cried. Even when the sub, who I personally made sure wanted to be where she was, experienced her orgasm from the spanking she was given, you sobbed your heart out. All alone in the viewing room, you cried at watching her get hit. It made me very curious about you because despite crying, you stayed until it was over and then you watched the next couple’s scene as well. I knew then you were special, Presley. I started digging into you.”
“You lied to me. You said you only started looking into me because of Odin.”
“I set Odin on his path to downfall because of how he treated you. I ruined him for you. I will destroy him for
you.”
“It’s not what I want.”
“Do you know what I observed in the club each time you came to watch?”
“No.”
“I learned something very important about you, Presley Brookmore.”
“What is that?”
“You don’t know what you want. You are so scared of everything because of the way you were raised, needing to walk on eggshells all the time lest you set off your brother and his minions, you struggle to make decisions about your own wants, needs and desires because you’ve been trained all your life to put everyone else first. I know what you want. I know what you need. I’m going to give it all to you.”
She stared at him in disbelief and then believing it with all her heart she blurted, “you’re f*****g crazier than Ramona.”
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