As Laurent punched in the reverse address of his hotel into the onboard GPS system in his rental, he felt he was functioning on auto pilot. His head was spinning. The almost glazed look of despair he'd seen shining in Larry's eyes coupled with the information Sofia had given him stabbed at something deep within him.
What Larry said about Sandoval's attempts to control a person by taking advantage of their vulnerabilities kept echoing in his head. Was this what Sandoval was putting Larry through? Had he been subjecting Larry to scare tactics to control him? This seemed supported now by what Sofia told him, and the very thought of it filled Laurent with quiet rage. More and more, it seemed like Larry may very well be an innocent victim of his unfortunate circumstances.
Leaving Larry, yet again, also tugged at him. His thoughts turned back to the kiss they'd shared in the bathroom. Larry was always so responsive to him, which he loved. Initially, he questioned that if Larry truly loved his husband could it be that easy for him to respond so passionately to another man? It seemed simple to him. If things were so bad, why didn't Larry just leave Sandoval?
People got divorced all the time. But now, given what Sofia told him, he was starting to believe Larry was indeed in an abusive marriage. Though Laurent considered himself to be no expert on abuse, he knew, leaving an abusive relationship was often far easier said than done, and the level and kind of abuse tended to run deep and was most likely inflicted shortly after the start of the relationship, continuing throughout. At least, that's what he'd always heard.
Laurent groaned. As he continued his drive back to his hotel, he'd been trying to process all of this ever since he and Larry unexpectedly reconnected. That had been confusing enough, but now, with what Sofia told him, he found himself even more confused. By now, being that he'd completed planting the spyware in Sandoval's computer, the main aspect of his mission was almost complete. He would simply sit back and see what his monitoring would reveal. But instead, he had the additional concern of emotions he hadn't felt before, concerns for another person he hadn't had to deal with before.
What was he getting himself into, and how far was he willing to involve himself? First and foremost, before he put himself out there emotionally, before he even began to try to analyze what was happening between he and Larry, he had to know how Larry felt. Was Larry in love with his husband? Or were Larry's responses to him solely those of a man whose husband was simply being neglectful of his needs? Could Larry and Sandoval be just going through a brief rough patch? Was Sofia only seeing what she wanted to see because of her disdain for Sandoval?
According to the Sandoval marriage certificate, he and Larry had been married close to ten years. Maybe Larry thought he'd invested too much time into the relationship to walk away. Maybe he was just bored being a house husband. Admittedly, he didn't know either Larry or Sandoval well, but from what he could surmise, they seemed to have very little in common.
It was often claimed that opposites attract. The notion of couples seeming to have little in common but who stayed together for other reasons seemed far-fetched. That didn't seem to him to be a formula for a happy marriage that could stand up in the long term.
Laurent recalled the briefing file on Sandoval. His assumption had been correct. According to their marriage certificate, Larry was his own age, thirty-four, which meant Larry had been very young, probably too young to get married at the time he and Sandoval married. And who knows how long they'd been together or knew each other before they married. So why would Larry marry a man fifteen years his senior? Since the file says they married in Nicaragua, was the marriage even legal, by American standards?
Though he wasn't generally hung up on age, Laurent considered that the age difference might indicate a possible Svengali type relationship between Larry and Sandoval. Could Sandoval be holding something over Larry's head, or maybe Larry feels he owes the older man something? Could Larry be trapped in a loveless and abusive marriage and could see no way out? He'd heard of the battered/abused wife/husband syndrome, which he understood clarified the complex dynamic of why one remains in an abusive relationship versus leaving it. Could this be the situation with Larry?
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Uncaging Bunny/LT Fanfiction
फैनफिक्शनLarry Sandoval was at his wit's end, miserable, unhappy, feeling like an animal trapped, living in a gilded cage, desperate to leave his troubled marriage when one night, quite by chance, after he finally gets the courage to leave his husband, he me...
