Lyra Parish - Weak Without Him

"Come eat."

Macaroni and chicken filled the plate. The thought of him doing something nice for me, in my current condition, made me sick.

"I know it's your favorite."

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Go on. I've seen what you've been eating."

I sat and so did he. Slowly he slid a spoon and fork to me, and I stared at it. I didn't want anything from him, not even food that made my mouth water. Instead, I flipped the tray over. Macaroni slung onto his black shirt, and the chicken landed in his lap.

"Damn it," he yelled and grabbed me by my wrists.

I jerked away from him.

"Why do you insist on being a bitch when I'm trying to help you?"

"Help me? Help me? Are you fucking kidding me? Have you seen where I'm at Luke? The only person I have to blame for this is you. You! The only person who knows where I am."

He grabbed me by my hair and yanked me to the cuffs on chains in the corner. He slammed my wrists above my head and tightly bound me.

"I hate you. I fucking hate you ." I didn't raise my voice. No, I didn't need to for my point to get across.

Luke forcefully flipped me around and made me stare at the wall, then he inched his hands under my panties and moved them out of the way.

"Tell me again how much you hate me."

"You'd like that wouldn't you?"

And that's when his hand slapped my ass, hard .

"Tell me."

Then another slap slammed against my bare skin. Luke wasn't holding back at all, instead he gave me every bit of his strength. I bit my bottom lip and held back whimpers. Then another slap, and another, and another. With every hit, the chains jingled and crashed against the wall. I felt so much pain that I became deadened to it. He kept the hard slaps coming until he wore himself out and panted behind me.

I looked over my shoulder at him, and the tears welled in my eyes. The imprints of his hand on me burned, and the pain radiated up and down my body. My hair fell into my face, and Luke tucked it behind my ear. I flinched.

"I'm sorry. It's for your own good," he whispered.

No words formed. I couldn't reply. I had nothing to say to him.

Luke looked at the marks on my ass and exited. He left me standing with my arms above my head. Today was one of the worst days I had experienced since I'd been taken, and I had a feeling there were many more of these to come.

I closed my eyes, imagined Finnley and my parents, and for the first time since I had left, I wanted to go home. Home as in back to Texas. I leaned my forehead against the wall and wished someone would come in, anyone, to free my arms. Like the devil heard my prayers, the minions entered.

"Looks like you got your ass beat real good," one said. I didn't turn around, but I felt a hand on my other ass cheek, the one that didn't have welts. Forcefully, I pushed my leg out and knocked the skinny one in the balls. Cab driver decided I couldn't do that without consequences and headed toward me to avenge his friend, and he did. With tight hands grasped around my neck, he slammed me against the wall.

"You shouldn't have done that, bitch."

My vision slowly faded to dark. I gasped for air. I needed to live. I wouldn't die by the hands of this bastard. Maybe another one, but not him. My knees went slack, and he released my neck. I gasped for air.

As much as I wished my time in this prison would end, I didn’t want the end to be by death. Club guy stood after he adjusted his balls that I had crushed so easily, and slapped me across the face with the back of his hand.

"I hope Luke fucking kills you, and I hope I get to watch," he said.

Once he physically and verbally abused me, I assumed we were even, because he then released me from the cuffs.

My body slid down the wall and I lay there in a crumpled heap for an unknown amount of time. If I made it out of here alive, I would seek revenge on them all.

Nights drifted into days, and days into night. Time didn't exist. A piece of me wanted to sleep forever but my bastard wouldn't let me. He brought a dress for me to wear along with a towel and new soap. Maybe he understood how horrible the other soap was on my skin, but that would mean he had feelings, and I knew he didn't.

When Luke visited me today, agitation seemed to drift from him. His bad mood practically suffocated me, and I wanted it to. He picked up one of the wooden chairs and slammed it against the wall. It broke in several pieces. He knocked over the table and tried to tear the room apart with his bare hands. I didn't dare say a word. He was in a dangerous place, and I didn't want to get caught in the middle, but I knew the crosshairs were already on me.

He breathed deeply, his chest rose and fell from the force he used to destroy every piece of furniture in the room. Pieces of wood lay around in scattered piles. I stood there with my arms crossed, waiting for him to speak.

"We will soon become one. I'm going to fuck you, and you'll beg for more of me. Maybe then you'll finally realize what you've been missing."

I swallowed as he stared at me with crazy in his eyes. I kept my mouth shut for once. He walked toward me, and I backed against the wall. His body stood inches from mine, and I wanted to push him away, but didn't want to light the fuse to a ticking time bomb.

Luke ran his fingers through my hair, wrapped strands in his fist, and tilted my face up to look at his before he forced himself on me. Forcefully, he gave me several lip-numbing kisses. I struggled from his mouth, but when I did, he pushed his lips harder onto mine. Then his tongue was down my throat, and he kissed up and down my neck. I pushed him, but he roughly pinned my body between his and the wall. His breath was hot on my skin.

"Why do you fight it? I know you want it."

He ran his fingers up my dress and held my breast in his hands. He moaned, and it disgusted me. With forceful hands, he grabbed the material and ripped it open. The dress fell to the floor around me.

I stood in bra and panties in front of him, and he smiled. He really frightened me. If he wanted to have sex with me up against this wall, I wasn't strong enough to stop him. I knew that I had no choices, and the thought of that pissed me off and scared me. It sickened me to look at him, so I turned my head away.

His lips swept across the softness of my neck. He moved down my body and kissed the tops of my breasts, then dropped to his knees in front of me.

I took myself from the situation, from it all, and forced myself void of Luke's hands and lips on me. There were memories I wanted to erase from my mind and this was steadily climbing the list of things to forget. Luke hooked the lace of my panties with his index finger, and before he inched them down, the door slammed open and drew me from the abyss.

All I could see were red high heels and skinny jeans.

I wrote dark poetry on a napkin at the bar as I waited for the men that watched over the underground sex ring to arrive. My thoughts had skulked in a dangerous place for weeks. But no matter, I had to make sure Jennifer hadn't been seen where the darkness of the industry roamed freely. It was no place for her.

Everything had polar opposites. Where there was a positive, there was a negative. Where there was The Elite, there was prostitution, sex slaves, pimps, and whores. Where there was Finnley Felton, there should have been Jennifer Downs, but someone decided to fuck it up, and for that, I would return the favor. I didn't get back, I got even plus ten.

I popped my knuckles as I waited, my patience waning.

To keep my mind busy, I finished scribbling my thoughts and downed the Maker’s Mark. When two bulky men sat on either side of me, I tucked the napkin in my pocket and snapped for the bartender to bring us a round.