Cara sat up on her knees as her fingers traced the long scar in the middle of Adonis’s back, the first one she had seen, and her heart squeezed in her chest once again.
The rose tattoo was the biggest on his back and spanned across his entire spinal line.
His back wasn’t rough, but it wasn’t completely smooth either. The scars looked to have been thoroughly treated.
Maybe that’s why it didn’t occur to her. She thought. They were not so obvious.
Her finger drifted to another one that wasn’t as large as the scar beneath the tattoo but was also visible, and she asked.
“How did you get this one?”
“During one of the beatings, he pushed me so hard I crashed into a glass table and it broke,” Adonis replied, and a tear rolled down Cara’s face again.
He didn’t even think about the one she was touching first. He just said it like he had it memorized.
“How did you even know the one I was asking about? Don’t tell me you recognize each scar and when you got it.”
Adonis remained quiet.
Cara broke into a sob again.
“I’m so sorry. I know pity might not be what you want, and I shouldn’t even be crying; it didn’t happen to me, but I…” Cara choked on her words. “I… I.”
He hauled her towards him, sealing her lips with his for a few seconds, and then he pulled back to look into her eyes.
“It’s okay. It’s okay.” He consoled, and she couldn’t help but stare up at him, so much emotion in her eyes.
He was the one who went through it all. He felt the pain. He lived with the trauma, yet he was comforting her.
She softly placed her hand on his cheek and sealed their lips together again.
This wasn’t a normal kiss. She related everything she could never summon the courage to say to his face through the kiss, and he responded with so much and more.
By the time they pulled away after a while, they were both panting heavily with their naked chests crushed against each other. Adonis gently pushed her onto her back. He ravished her, touched her in places she never knew could bring so much pleasure, and drank her up until she could take no more.
When it was time to claim her fully, his hand moved to the bedside desk to pick up the sachet as always, but she stopped him. They gazed into each other’s eyes, the intensity of their feelings being too much; it felt like the little barrier would create a rift between them.
“Are you sure?” Adonis muttered and she nodded.
This was it for her. There would be no going back after now. Not for either of them. And with one push that erupted a loud moan from Cara, he took complete control of her.
****
Cara caressed his chest, her hands tracing each tattoo as she listened to Adonis continue the story of his past.
“So the beatings went on for how many years?” She whispered into the early morning air.
Adonis laced their fingers together.
“From when I was six to a while after I turned seven, so, a little over a year.”
“And your grandfather stayed away all through that time?”
“Yeah. He cared deeply for his wife-my grandmother. I didn’t get to spend enough time with her because she fell sick soon after I was born, but I heard she was a wonderful person. It took Nonno (grandfather) a long time to get over death. Meanwhile, I was being used as a stress reliever for my father. Everyone knew, but no one could do anything about it.”
Cara traced the line of a cigarette burn on his chest.
“How did you get this one?”
Adonis sighed.
“It’s one of the most painful out of them all. That day, my mother was there. They were both high, and I think I triggered my father by asking why they were talking sluggishly. He took his cigarette stick and squashed it on me repeatedly. I remember screaming from the pain as it burned through my shirt to my skin. My mother just kept on laughing. I think she never loved me… never wanted me, but I didn’t really notice. I grew up with only my father caring for me.” He muttered, and Cara could hear the anger in his voice.
She did the only thing she could do at the moment-
-offer a comforting caress.
“I called him Babbo (father), and he called me Ales. He was my hero. You know the funniest part of all. Whenever he came to and realized what he’d done, he’d apologize, pet me, buy all my favorite toys, and whatever I wanted to make me happy until he lost again. The same vicious circle repeated itself. It started getting worse. It was confusing for me. He’ll be fine today and tomorrow, boom.”
Adonis stiffened.
“Then one day, I packed my little bag to go in search of Nonno (grandfather). I didn’t know anyone, and I’d never been out on my own. So obviously, I barely made it to the estate gate when his men spotted me and brought me back to him. I nearly died Cara. He almost killed me and would’ve, if my grandfather hadn’t walked in.”
“He came back?”
“It turned out that Nadia couldn’t take it anymore and reached out to him. He was furious at my parents! I was unconscious, but from what I heard, no one had ever seen him that way. He sent my father for treatment when it was confirmed that he had actually gone crazy, but he was already an addict too. He’d become like my mother and would always find a way to return home. Sometimes, they said he’d check up on me and cry in guilt; other times, he’d go ballistic and destroy a lot of things. It was like he was sane but not. Then I woke up after a month, and they were gone.”
“The both of them?”
“Yeah. I cried and threw a tantrum, asking for my father. Nonno (grandfather) was helpless. He didn’t know how to tell his seven-year-old grandson that his father was mentally ill. That same night. We got the news. My father was been found dead in his hotel room.”
“What?” Cara gasped. “Your mother too?”
He shook his head in denial.
“No. She’s still very much alive.”