THE INSTANT ERIC and I arrived home, he placed his hands over my eyes and began to walk me across the threshold.
“Eric?”
“I’m not done spoiling you.” He pressed forward, ensuring I continued to walk toward my destination. When he uncovered my eyes, my mouth fell agape.
“Oh. My. God.” I touched the thing of beauty, glad that he didn’t put it together yet. As I fingered the dual twenty-seven inch iMac screens and examined the cylinder shaped computer, I was awestruck. “Is this the two-point-seven gigahertz with the twelve core processor and sixty-four gigabyte memory? What’s the video card specs?” I looked back at Eric and gave him an embarrassed smile. “I went completely computer geek on you, didn’t I?”
“It was hot as fuck.” The smile on his face turned down, transforming into something sinister. “Come here.”
I stepped toward him, ready to give him my own Christmas present: news about my pregnancy. “Eric, I—”
“Shh.” He took my hand, placing it over his heart. “Do you feel this right now? How happy I could make you?” His fist propped under my chin as his thumb grazed against my bottom lip. “How I could change things for you—for us? Nik, this is just a tease. I could make you ecstatically happy.”
On the first mention of the word “could,” my smile dropped. My mouth began to move without sound.
He immediately covered it with his palm as all sense of tenderness disappeared from his face. “I don’t ask you for much, Nikki. Do I? Honesty. Loyalty. Respect. Obedience. It’s less than I expect from strangers.” He gazed into my eyes for a several passing minutes of agonizing silence. “Tonight, you’re going to show me the honesty, obedience, and respect that I deserve from you. I’m going to ask you a few questions. If you can answer them correctly and willingly, the feelings you’ve experienced throughout the day—I will give my life to make sure you feel it every single minute of our life together.” He fell silent, giving me a moment to digest his words, but I was incapable of swallowing them whole. “Are you ready for the first question?”
I nodded. My heart thumped with a quickened pace, choking me with its rhythm.
“Do you know Victor Meíja? And I’m not speaking of him. I want to know if you’ve met him. If you chatted with him beyond the phone conversation you had the night we lost our child. Have you laid eyes on him since the night before you killed Preston?”
I shook my head.
He dropped his hands from me and took a step back.
He stalked across the room and disappeared into the hall. He came back, carrying a large big box with a huge bow attached to it. He placed it carefully on top of the dining room table.
Puzzled, I walked toward it. It was previously opened, as was the card on top of it:
For your new home in San Francisco. Congratulations on your new position with Celeste at Xpress Graphics. She is delighted to help and I was more than happy to get the job for you.
Vic.
There was a picture of a house and keys taped to the back of the picture. I opened the box and found a set of expensive crystal dishware inside. That wasn’t all there was. Papers for a trial separation were neatly set aside with my signature on all of the documents. My hands trembled as I fingered a signature that looked exactly like mine.
He tossed a phone on the table in the midst of playing a video. I couldn’t look at the screen, hearing it was enough.
“Do you want to fuck, Nikki?” Preston had asked.
“Y-yes.”
"Turn it off," I whispered, tears streaming down my cheeks.
Eric grabbed my chin, forcing my head to tilt in his direction. His eyes slowly lifted to me as his jaw clenched so tightly it spasmed. “I could believe what you told me—because I could think this was Vic fucking with us again, but my problem is…wait for it.” He closed his eyes for a moment, making me hold still and relive the night Preston violated me. “Did you hear that, baby? You came…with him. I wouldn’t call myself an expert, but when Thaddeus fucked with me, not once did I nut on the mattress. Not. Fucking. Once. That video makes me doubt everything you’ve ever told me. It makes me doubt you, Nikki.
“I thought you’d stop fucking with me, playing your games and lying to me if I showed you what you wanted to see. I was very wrong. I’m never fucking wrong. I don’t exactly feel warm and fuzzy about that, Nik. What the hell are you playing at here? All this time, I thought Vic was the one fucking us over, but now I’m thinking you aren’t as naïve as you appear to be—that all this time you’ve been willingly working with him and maybe Preston.”
“Can I feel the ground beneath my feet before you snatch it from underneath me again?” Wiping the tears from my cheeks, I peered up at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t do anything to warrant Victor doing this, nor did I seek out papers for a trial separation. He’s doing to you what he tried to do to me. The video conveniently cut off the parts you needed to hear to believe me. I was cornered by Preston and he forced me to—”
His eyes. The look held within his light brown eyes terrified me and shattered me. He cocked his head to the side putting his hands in his pockets. “I think you’re a fucking liar, Nik,” he stated quietly. “I checked your phone records on the day you claimed he called you. You know what’s fucking hilarious? Not only did you call him, but you’ve been calling him repeatedly. I think he’s doing favors for you because you asked him to. Victor never does favors for women. Ever. If he’s orchestrating things for you, it can only mean one thing. Are you fucking him, or was fucking Preston a part of your payment?”
“I told you,” I almost shrilled, offended by his line of questioning, “I’ve never officially met the man.”
His eyes slanted as he rocked on his heels. His fists turned into balls as they remained in the pockets of his fleece pants. “You can’t pick and choose your lies, Nik.” He slid his feet across the floor to meet my position. “You know what I’m noticing.” He stood so close his body heat radiated against my form. I began to perspire profusely.
The calmness in his voice I witnessed was very familiar and unnerving. It was the tone he used prior to punishing me.
As he inched toward me, I walked backward, keeping my distance.
“I’m noticing how unconvincing you are,” he said with a deadened calm, pacing toward me. “How you’re avoiding looking me directly in the eye. How rapidly the blood is pumping from your heart…” He took one large step forward. Abruptly, he grabbed my wrists, encasing them in one hand. The fingertips of his alternate hand grazed down the length of my neck. “…right here. How you’re avoiding answering my goddamn question. So, I’m going to ask again. Are”—his hold on my wrist firmed—“you”—he brought me forward with a harsh force, causing my body to crash against his—“fucking him?”
The fire of anger roared up my spine. “What if I did? What if he did make me come? What if his tongue was inside my pussy? What if he made me come harder than you ever had? What if Victor and Preston had me at once? What if this was all a game—a mission from my mother? Maybe this was all a ruse to break you, Eric. What if?”
Every single hint of human emotion dropped from his face. Strengthening the hold he had on my wrists, he lifted them high above my head. His body pushed forward, forcing my spine to slam against the nearest wall.
“Let me go,” I strained, struggling to get away from him. “Let me go.”
“No,” he growled, slanting his head down until his lips were almost on mine. “Let me tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to hurt you, Nik. I’m going to punish you. I’m going to spank the ever-loving shit out of you. What I want to do? I want to fuck you so raw and so rough that you’ll bleed on my dick. I want to make you cry until you beg me for reprieve. Say something to bring me back from the ledge. Because my nature is clawing to get out. I want so very, very badly to make good on all the things I threatened you with.”
He pushed forward until I could feel his erection press against me. “Nik, I’m hard just thinking about it. You being at my mercy and feeling every fucking second of the pain you deserve. As I hurt you, you’re going to spill every one of your secrets to me. And I will continue to hurt you until you tell me every last fucking one.”
“Stop it,” I demanded quietly.
His eyes darkened as he held me tighter. “I’ll stop when you cry out for mercy. Go ahead, Nik. Cry for me. Because right now, my idle threats are about to be very fucking serious.” He let me go for a moment.
I swung, contacting against fragile parts of his form.
His strength overcame mine and he bent me over the table. Reaching underneath my sweater dress, he tore my tights and my panties from my body. The brutal yanks made the once soft fabric burn on my skin and forced my body to thrash in every direction.
His hits against my behind were so violent and brutal, they rang up my spine and made me whimper.
“Stop,” I sobbed.
He flogged me again much harder than he had before, leaving no moments of hesitation between each harsh hit. My ass stung so severely it began to blister with an indescribable pain.
He never stopped.
I squealed through the surge of pain so intense, my eyes watered. “Mercy,” I said though a quavering voice.
He pushed forward, ensuring that the erection struggling in opposition to his pants was felt on my sore behind. I sucked my teeth and winced.
“You’ve changed so much, baby. You used to be able to handle more. I see not everything has changed; your pussy is dripping wet.” Leaning forward he clenched the lobe of my ear between his teeth and yanked. “I’m in the mood to play a game, Nik. Are you ready?”
The instant he released me, something was placed over my eyes and tightened behind my head. He grabbed my hands behind my back. Through the tension of leather, my wrists were bound together. He picked me up and slammed me into what I assumed to be a dining room chair.
The second I tried to move, the chair was scraped hurriedly against the floor. I leaned back to keep from falling. I staggered in my position once the back of the chair hit a wall with a hard slam. I attempted to flee, but the crashing of glass around me, some of which bit into the soles and heels of my feet, made me remain seated.
“I wouldn’t do that again if I were you.” The continuous shattering and sweeping of glass startled me. The backlash of the impact hit me repeatedly, biting my ankles and the tops of my feet.
My body quivered in anticipation of the unknown things he had planned to do to punish me.
His footsteps echoed throughout the room as they drew closer. The splashing of liquid resounded on either side of my chair. I could hear the faint sound of something sizzling on either side of me. His steps quieted and the sound of wood scraping across the concrete rifled through the stifling air.
“There is at least four feet of glass standing between you and me,” he stated calmly, his voice looming in front of me, “and I’m not clearing a path until you tell me the things I want to hear, Nikki. See, because you’re blindfolded and your arms are bound, logic is going to direct your steps forward, because it’s the safest option. And honestly, I wouldn’t try walking around the chair if I were you. What’s on either side of that chair is going to cause you more pain than what’s on your path to me. If it can ruin the finish of the floor, what do you think it will do to the bottom of your feet?” He left his warning to hang in the air. “I’m very interested in how this will turn out. To tell you the truth, I’m pretty goddamned excited about this. I get to act out every single one of my undisclosed fantasies if you continue in your act to be a deceitful bitch. So, Nik, what will you choose to do?”
“Ask your questions,” I stated brusquely.
“Good, girl. See. That’s what I’d prefer to do here. A cordial question and answer session. Here’s a few more to answer on top of the first you still need to answer: Nikki, did you really graduate from WSU? Did you attend every class and every group study? Did you maybe even act like a little bit of a cock-tease for one of your professors? Did you walk across the stage to receive your diploma? If you did those things, tell me what you were on to help you fight through your irrational fear of crowds.”
Slowly standing, I pressed my lips together and stood. The glass crackled and crunched underneath my feet as it sliced into the skin.
I kept my steps as light as I could, fighting through the pain and the burn of glass pieces embedded into the bottom of my heel. I persevered. I didn’t stop until my legs met the seat of his chair and were surrounded by his gaped open legs. My breath continuously eluded me. The ache tugged at something I’d successfully pushed aside. Something I thought I’d cured in order to find my way out of my dependency.
“I…” My lip quivered from the pain, the chilling shocks vibrated up my spine and made it difficult to continue. “…never lied to you.”
The leather chair creaked with motion. His warmth rushed at my body, causing my position to falter. His fingers crawled down my back and unbound my wrists.
“Did you come just then, Nikki? Fuck, what am I going to do with you? I hurt you, it arouses you. I fuck the senses out of you—hard and rough—and it arouses you more.” Pressed against me, he remained there, his breathing heavy and his voice calm.
Suddenly, my head was jerked back by way of my hair. “You were so perfect, my twisted angel. Why are you so bent on destroying your perfection with lies, deception, and disobedience?” The hold he had on my hair began to pull. He dragged me across the floor until I slipped and fell to the ground. I yelped as the impact hit hardest to the left side of my body. His body covered mine, pinning me flat on my back between his form and the stained concrete.
He jerked my legs open, placing himself between them. I struggled until I tired myself out and couldn’t move. Tears streamed down my cheeks and soaked the cloth covering my eyes.
“Is that all the fight you have, baby?” he asked, slipping the blindfold from my eyes. His hand found my throat and closed in. My breath was stolen from me. White streams of light clouded my vision. “You think I want to hurt you to get my way? I’m still your fucking husband, not some strange sicko who wants to torture you and kill you.” His teeth sank into his bottom lip as he unsuccessfully fought a skewed smile. “Fuck, that statement was more ironic than I intended it to be.” His eyes darted to mine as he continuously tightened and loosened his hold on my neck in a torturous cycle.
I remained silent, staring at him with watering eyes. The catch in my throat released to a resounding sob.
“Shh. Don’t do that.” He sloped forward, swaying his lips against mine. “I’m not going to hurt you unless you make me. I want to be the man who spoils you rotten and makes you feel like I’ve brought you the fucking galaxy on a daily basis. But…I don’t know if I can trust you. If the things Preston said to me were outright lies, then okay, I can believe that. How-fucking-ever, I would be very careful about what you call a lie.
“You know what’s crazy, Nik? Recently—last night as a matter-of-fact—I did a little research on you, using my connections. Those connections dismantled some of the things you’ve told me.” He remained stuck in a thought for many torturous seconds. “I think I’m being very kind by giving you a heads up. I’m doing this because I love you, Nikki. Despite how much you’ve fucked up with me, I still do. The last person I want to hurt is you.” The corner of his mouth turned up into an insidious smile. “Well…not too much.”
He slowly took his hand away, his gaze glued to my mouth. He ran his fingertips across my lip and pressed in, forcing it to become immovable. “I had a little time to think about things while papers for separation were staring me down, fucking with my calm. Then, of course, there’s the whole thing about you repeatedly lying to me. It’s my fault, really. You know why? I made you think you could. You know why I think that, Nik? Because I’ve been too nice to you. Now…answer the questions I asked you earlier.”
I remained silent, gazing at him through emotionally devoid eyes.
He suddenly lifted up from me. I moved my hands; he immediately stepped on them, planting them against the floor. The pain was slight but not enough to rule me. He put more of his weight on the heels of his shoes, making them dig into my palms.
A squeak in protest escaped my throat. I wiggled, attempting to set myself free.
“Look. At. Me.” The darkness in his voice called my attention.
As I complied, he reached behind his back and pulled out a set of rolled-up documents from his back pocket. He dangled the white sheets of paper—the source of his deterioration into the version of Eric I didn’t want to see. He tore the pages to pieces, allowing them to fall like snowflakes to the floor. “Never. Do you hear me? Never. We would both die before I ever let you divorce me.” Glaring down at me, he pressed more of his weight into my palms. “This is your last chance, Nik. Do you want to come clean with me before I force you to through torturous sexual means?”
I pursed my lips together, remaining silent.
He crouched down, pressing the full extent of his weight on the heels of his foot. I pressed my lips together to stifle my sobs. “Do you understand English, Nikki? Responde!”
“It doesn’t matter what I say. You won’t believe me.”
He pressed his heels in deeper, making me whimper. “Let me be the one to decide that. Last call for slight comfort.”
“I’m not responsible for any of this!” I proclaimed my innocence. “I graduated WSU. I don’t know Victor Meíja. Preston…” I choked on the emotion and had difficulty continuing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. After all I’ve been through, why are you doing this to me? Please, stop.”
“Careful words and outright fucking lies.” He sighed heavily, dropping his head. “We’ll tackle the largest issue that’s pissing me off the most. I know you asked Victor to help you. Hell, I caught your calls to him. I know Victor picked up. That’s about as far of the extent of my knowledge because Dom is an idiot most of the time.
“Here’s what I’ve surmised from the situation: I know Victor has complied with your every whim.” He grabbed my chin and made me look into his eyes. “So help me, you better say something to make me believe you didn’t let Vic so much as glance at your pussy, that Preston really did force himself on you, and someone got creative with the video. Tell me that you haven’t been playing me this entire fucking time.”
I felt like I was staring at my dark dismal ruin. I used to think he was my angel of catharsis, but now I knew differently. I stared into his eyes as he tried to pull me underneath the darkness. My heart and mind were torn into several little pieces. There was a nagging feeling, telling me it was good to feel alive as he punished me. It left me torn. It was the same feeling that started the cycle of need for the pinch of a razor blade. A larger part still craved it, was aroused by it, and I wish I hated him for making me remember.
The corner of his mouth turned up in a devious way. “You keep trying to fight against what I give you, what I know you want, but I won’t let you.” He reached behind his back and touched my sex with such haste, I jumped. His fingers rocked against my slit and he gently moaned. “Nikki, you really shouldn’t pretend you’re any semblance of normal. Your pussy always tells the truth. I’m making you hungry for my cock, aren’t I? Good. Answers, Nikki. I need them.”
I stifled a moan as his fingers slowly slid into me. “I-I’ve never met Victor.”
“The whole what-if scenarios you threw at me earlier were just to piss me off? Of course.”
“I’ve never met him,” I pressed with my voice shaking.
He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. Taking his time, he crawled his fingertips down my body and settled between my thighs.
I began to say something but he covered my mouth with his palm.
Moving closer, he touched his damp forehead against mine. His heavy panting breaths fell heatedly against my face. “I don’t fucking believe you.” His fingers rocked faster as his thumb circled my clit. A burning rush hit my spine. My hips involuntarily moved, encouraging him further. “I know what I saw the night Preston died. You’ve definitely met Victor before.” He gripped my mouth strongly, the pads of his fingers dug into the side of my cheek. Twisting my head to the side, he licked the tears from my hairline in one long swoop. He slowed the movement of his fingers, slowly withdrawing and entering, his thumb strummed purposefully and methodically around the most receptive part of my clit.
I shuddered, slowly closing my eyes.
Shifting his position, he lay fully on top of my form, his lower half wedged in between my thighs. His erection throbbed at my naked opening, stretching the material of his pants. Slipping his hand from my mouth, he slowly moved it down the side of my body, increasing my shivers. My body responded in contradiction to my anger and began to twist. My hips tilted up in invitation.
“Everything your body craves,” he whispered against my face, “you have to beg me for. Every single goddamn thing. What do you want me to do to this body, Nikki? Beg me for it.”
“No.”
He reached up, pulling my dress up to my breastbone. Tickling the skin at my torso, he increased my body’s response. His fingernails dug in, pinching the naked skin on the side of my torso. I moaned. He pinched harder and tugged the skin. I bit my lip to keep from moaning more. “Please, please make me c-come.”
His smirk turned up at one corner. “Too easy, Nik.” He widened the distance between my thighs with a delayed speed.
He slipped further down onto me. Pulling down his pants, he slipped his cock inside my wet, waiting core.
“Fuck,” I gasped as gooseflesh took over my entire body. My body arched, receiving him.
My pleading made him groan in a way that melted me further.
“Shh,” he hissed, kissing my lips. Twisting his hips, he slowly rocked inside me with long purposeful strokes. “Your weakness is my strength, my twisted angel. You are powerless because you love me. I have so many tools. Shit you haven’t seen before. Keep fighting me and you will find out what they are.” He rocked me faster. “And?” he strained through his question, his arms cradled my head. “You will lose. Do you remember when I said I would drug you to such an extent you would be a paralyzed sex toy?”
He plunged harder faster, groaning my name as he dove into me, over and over again. “If you ever try to leave me or break this marriage apart, it will happen. If you keep lying to me, it will happen. I wanted you to see me as the good guy who tried for you, but now, I want you to fucking fear me.”
His eyes fell heavy with a menacing stare that was hard to endure. My thighs shook against his form, ready to relent to the pleasure he controlled. His hips stilled, leaving his cock to jerk inside me, massaging my walls. My neck craned as my body fell fully into the agony of pleasure.
“Do you know how many people I’ve killed?” He licked the curve of my lip and tugged my lips open with his teeth. “Not the ones who’ve asked for it, but the ones who didn’t see it coming? The ones who died by other means? Though sloppy, Thaddeus wasn’t my first. I was very purposeful in making it look that way. How stupid would I look, trying to claim someone like my stepmother committed the deaths when they looked like trained hits? I’m not so much into guns anymore, but…”
He placed his palms flat against the floor on either side of my body. Pushing his upper half away from me, he remained motionless as the muscles in his arms flexed. He looked down at the tattoo on his arm. “We mark the name of our first kill on our skin, and the man on my arm was a traitor. He was also my blood. What do you think will happen to you if you don’t stop lying to me? Love can only go so far, baby. Since you started fucking with me, I’ve…had an urge so strong. I’ve wanted to kill so badly.” Propping up on one arm, his hand slid up my sternum resting at my neck. His hand surrounded it, transforming into a painful vice grip. “Preston’s death…was stolen from me. I really, really wanted to be the one who killed him. It’s left me unsettled, Nikki. Not a good thing.” With a shuddering breath, he rocked inside me again, entering and exiting me at a teasing pace, reigniting a fire that roared through my veins.
“I never bullshit.” He thrust inside me, picking up the pace. “I never give up.” He thrust again, slamming into me, his groin manipulating my swollen clit. My back arched as my eyes strained and watered. “I warned you, if I was pushed what would happen. I make good on my promises. I want to trust you, Nik.” He ducked down to nuzzle his nose against mine, he writhed against me, ensuring my bundle of nerves were fully stimulated under the constant friction. “Earn it back.” The words were pointed, recalling the moment I had the power and made him bow to me.
My legs trembled as he moved my body to another area. He leaned back, lifting my hips and undulated into me fast and hard. “Talk to me, baby.”
“I-I’m gonna c-come!” I pronounced, verging on an ethereal precipice.
He abruptly stilled. “Not the words I wanted to hear.” He immediately slipped out of me, leaving the head of his cock to throb against my slit.
A begging plea slipped from my lips.
With a sinister curl of his lip, he shook his head at me and clucked his tongue.
I threw my head back, my eyes jammed closed to prevent revealing to Eric how close I felt to breaking down.
He ran his hands down my forearms erecting a ticklish feeling that moved quickly into a burn. “Look, at you, baby. You’re so strung out, you’re jonesing for a hit. Damn, it’s beautiful to see.”
“Fuck you,” I spat at him.
His grin taunted me, promising me my torture wasn’t over. “You’ve already fucked up monumentally, do you really want to keep adding to it?”
My head fell to the right, my cheek nearly met the floor. My body was filled with want. My mind was consumed with so many divergent thoughts, my head throbbed in a constant rhythm.
“Since you won’t answer my questions and I’m beginning to lose my patience, let’s move back to the biggest topic that’s pissing me off. How. Do. You. Know. Vic?”
I shut my eyes, hoping that if I kept them closed, I could remain firm in my refusal to give him any answers.
Standing, he stomped on my hands, keeping his feet firmly over the palms of my hands. I looked up at him in wonder. His erection glistened with my arousal. The waistband of his pants remained just below the base of his shaft. Staring down at me with indifference, he wrapped his hand around his cock, stroking it with a wild need. “Open your mouth Nik and keep it that way.”
Showing my defiance, I glared up at him and disobeyed.
He pressed more of his weight on my palms. I brought my teeth together, fighting the urge to cry out in pain.
“If I have to ask you one more time, shards of glass are going to be buffers beneath my shoes.” He fisted harder, faster, a guttural moan escaped his throat. “Open your goddamn mouth, baby.”
I didn’t comply.
Reaching down, he grabbed a handful of glass and placed it on my palm. Before I could recede, his sneaker-adorned feet slipped over my hand.
My quavering cries echoed throughout the room.
“Now,” he barked, his heels digging into my palms.
I whimpered and slowly opened my trembling mouth.
“Ready for my cum, baby?” His head arched back for a minute as he groaned. The long white streams of his arousal ejected from his cock in short bursts and fell in and around my mouth.
Squeezing the head of his erection, he forced the last remnants to fall into my mouth. He put himself back inside his pants and ducked down, regarding me with his brows darkening his eyes. He thumbed a corner of my mouth, shoving more of his pleasure inside. “Swallow.”
I closed my mouth, rounding up his cum, and hocked a spit straight into his face.