Chapter 29
Daisy
The darkness was misleading. The quiet was not. We were in a cold, damp basement, in an abandoned house somewhere out in the country. That’s all I knew. As soon as Paul had parked my car into the old barn and pushed us through the front door of the boarded-up house I knew that he’d been planning this for a long time. Grocery items sat along the counter beneath the rotten cupboards, and from what I could see as we passed the living room he’d made himself comfortable. There were a few pieces of furniture that he’d covered with sheets.
Paul hated dirt. I knew him well enough to know that he’d probably convinced himself that he was protected by throwing a sheet over it. I doubted there was any electricity so it surprised me when he’d opened a door leading into a black pit and flipped a switch that revealed we were at the top of a set of stairs that obviously led down into a cellar. As we descended and the bottom floor gradually came into view I could see a lone, yellow light bulb hanging from the center of the ceiling below.
“I had to get a generator,” he said with a smug attitude that I was well used to. “This farm house has been vacant for years. No one will find you here.” He sounded so sure of himself that it sent a ripple of fear down my spine. What if he was right?
I hated him, and I refused to respond to him, or let anything he said or did get to me. It’s what he wanted. When we’d been together he’d thrived on hurting me and bringing me down with hateful words. And once he had me at my weakest he’d turn physical. No, I’d save my strength and energy for when it would come in handy.
“Where’s Jasmine? What have you done to her?” He laughed as he pushed me the rest of the way down the stone steps. I stumbled on an uneven stone but managed to catch myself by grasping the rough, wooden railing.
“You’ll see your friend soon enough,” he grated.
“Why don’t you let her go, Paul? You said you’d spare her.”
He snorted. “Right now your friend is my insurance card, darling.” He nudged me along when I didn’t move fast enough for him.
“You’re a coward!” I hissed, stepping off the last step and finally seeing Jasmine chained to the wall. The bastard had removed all her clothes and I could see the bruises forming on her pale skin. She’d obviously put up a fight. “What did you do to her?” I asked in an accusing tone. Had he raped her? She’d awakened once in the car and Paul had stopped to inject her with something I assumed to keep her manageable. Now she was unconscious again, dried blood covered her face where he’d smashed it against the door earlier.
“You should be worried over what I intend to you dear wife.”
“I’m not your wife!” I screeched angrily, tired of his denial.
The dim lighting didn’t allow me a good view of our surroundings or the shadows beyond, but I could make out a wooden bench-like shelf that ran the length of one wall, and some shelving that included the kind of can goods your grandmother might make back in the day. Rows of jars, the contents I’m sure no longer edible was covered with dust and cobwebs. I soon discovered the reason behind the cool, dampness of the room. The cellar was unfinished, the walls and floor nothing but stone and dirt. A thin sliver of light drew my gaze upward where the bulkhead door was located. Wooden steps led up to the slanted door that led outside.
Paul pushed me toward Jasmine. “I hadn’t prepared for having two whores available to me so I’m afraid I’ll need to handcuff you to her chain.”
“Paul don’t do this. Let Jasmine go. She isn’t part of this. I promise if you let her go I’ll do whatever you want, go with you wherever you want.” I didn’t care if I sounded desperate. I was. I knew that once he had me handcuffed to the wall that I’d be totally helpless to him. And I wanted Jasmine out of this so I could fight Paul the way I wanted to. Without being afraid that someone I loved would get hurt in the process.
It didn’t matter what he did to me.
His hateful laugh turned my blood cold. “Take your clothes off.”
“No!” I backed away from him.
“Take your fucking clothes off!” he screamed at me, causing me to flinch. “You bare yourself to your biker scum lover easy enough. I bet he doesn’t have to tell you to take your clothes off before he fucks you.”
My backside came up against the wood bench. “Big John is ten times more a man than you could ever dream of being,” I threw at him recklessly. “You’re the scum, Paul. You’re nothing but an evil monster who likes to hurt women.”
His expression turned dark and menacing. “You dare compare me to him?” he yelled, stepping closer to me. “You were lucky to have me,” he continued, his eyes blazing with a look of insanity in them. “I gave you everything! And you repay me by stealing from me? You had nothing before you met me and should have left with nothing.”
“Is that what this is all about, Paul? Money?” I asked with disbelief. “Are you so enraged that I walked away with a paltry third of your worth that you can’t stand it?”
“No one takes from me!” He caught me unaware, reaching quickly for the front of my blouse and ripping it down the front. “Whether it’s money, or you! I’ll kill you for letting another man touch you. And when I’m done with you I’ll kill him.”
I grasped the front of my ruined blouse, scooted around him and ran to the other side of the room, back toward the stairs leading up to the kitchen. I barely made it up two steps when he caught me by the hair and hauled me back down. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed tight, biting the lobe of my ear hard enough to make me cry out. He swung me back toward the room.
“I’m going to take my time with you,” he grated into my ear. “Make you suffer for your betrayal.”
“You’re sick, Paul!” I struggled to break away. A low moan drew my gaze to Jasmine to see that she was coming around slowly.
“Maybe I should show you how it feels to see me fucking another woman,” he threatened, turning me stone cold. “Maybe then you’ll realize what you had and lost.”
His laugh was positively evil sounding, and my eyes rounded when I felt him getting hard against my butt. I knew that I had to take his mind of Jasmine, sickeningly aware that if I did that and put his attention on me that I would be the one to suffer his abuse. I shuddered, unwillingly remembering how Paul liked to inflict pain. He was a sexual sadist.
Jasmine moaned again, and I watched as she lifted her head and tried to focus her eyes. She blinked rapidly, to clear her vision, before focusing her painfilled gaze on us. “Daisy…” She winced when she spoke and I knew it was because of the damage done to her mouth. “What?” She shook her head, moaning. I had to wonder if her nose was broken or if she had a concussion.
“Jasmine!” I called out, tears burning in my eyes. “I’m so sorry!” She was naked and vulnerable and there was nothing I could do to help her.
“Too bad. She was beautiful,” Paul murmured. “Her body still looks nice, though.”
Sick pervert! I threw my head back and hit him as hard as I could in the nose. He released me with a scream, and I spun around to see him teetering on the heels of his feet and grabbing his bloody nose. Good! Maybe I’d broken it. I glanced around wildly for something to use as a weapon, noticing an array of tool-like instruments on the bench. I ran there and grabbed one after another and throwing it at him as hard as I could.
For a minute, all Paul could do was throw his hands over his head and cower in place as each item bounced off him. His grunts indicated that some of the tools had hit their mark but nothing knocked him out or off his feet. He yelled threats at me but I continued to pummel him until I was down to just a few tools left. I snatched up the longest, sharpest item and twirled back around to face him, putting myself in front of Jasmine. I held the tool out in front of me. “I’m warning you, Paul, come near us and I’ll kill you.”
I’d do it, too.
“You fucking bitch!” he screamed, slowly looking up and over his arm after nothing else hit him. The look on his face was frightening, full of hate with retribution in his eyes.
I took a deep breath, satisfied when I saw the small trickle of blood running down his forehead, realizing that I’d been the cause of hurting him. For once, I’d made him bleed. “How do you like being hurt for a change, Paul, huh? How does it feel being made to feel weak and defenseless?” I remembered all the times he’d made me feel that way.
His lips pulled back from his teeth as he growled viciously, “I am going to enjoy this.”
I knew what ‘this’ was, too. If he got his hands on me I knew that it would be over. He would rape me, I had no doubts about that. He would do everything within his power to degrade me, and hurt me. Only this time I intended on fighting back with all I was worth. Never again would I let Paul, or any man, take something I wasn’t willingly giving freely. He might take it in the end, but it wouldn’t be because I was too afraid or weak to fight.
I wasn’t going to hand it over.
“Go ahead, you bastard!” I hadn’t meant to goad him but the words came out before I could stop them. “Try it! You might be bigger and stronger than me. You might hurt me, even kill me in the end. But anyone who sees you after will know that I didn’t go down without a fight. I’m going to use everything at my disposal to maim you so that the world will see you for the monster you are! A weak, spineless prick who beats innocent, weaker women because that’s the only way you can get your rocks off!”
By the time I was done I was shaking. Paul had turned a deep shade of red and his eyes were practically shooting fire at me. He made me think of a rabid animal getting ready to attack, foaming at the mouth. I imagined hearing the truth hurt and it had felt so good getting out everything I’d been wanting to say for years. I was still afraid of him, but I refused to give in to it.
I was done being his whipping post.
I’d earned that right by leaving him.
I’d secured my freedom.
The knowledge that I’d picked myself up and dusted myself off to live again, to find happiness, gave me the push I needed to keep my head. To straighten my shoulders and face my demons. Thinking about Big John gave me the courage to not give up. I wanted to fight for my life. For our life together. Staring at Paul and knowing that he was going to come at me any second made me sick inside. Jasmine moaned behind me, straightening my resolve. I had her to think about, too.
Paul’s eyes shifted between mine and the tool I held in my hand. It was metal, oblong in shape, about eight inches long or so with ridges, and resembled a file, yet one end was long and pointed. I was holding the pointed end outward toward him but the reality was that he could still get close enough to overpower me.
“Daisy,” Jasmine murmured in a wounded tone behind me, and I could tell that she was crying. My beautiful, strong friend.
I kept my gaze glued to Paul. “I’m here, honey.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“The bastard… he raped me.”
I froze as her whispered words registered with me. So that was why it had taken Paul so long to get back to me after he’d taken Jasmine inside first. Why I’d been forced to wait in the car, handcuffed to the steering wheel. Her nakedness hadn’t made sense to me and now I knew the reason why he’d removed her clothes. His insatiable need to inflict pain and degrade his victim. He was a monster and I hated him. Hated him so much that I began to shake with it. The sense of guilt that I was the reason she’d been hurt overwhelmed me. I couldn’t hold back the tears, or the rage building inside my heart. Paul’s cocky, self-satisfied smile when he’d obviously overheard her remark had been the last straw.
I let loose a warrior scream of fury and hatred running toward him with the intention of killing him. I was possessed, and a moment of surprise and pure fear filtered in his soulless eyes, holding him still. As if he couldn’t believe that I was actually doing it, attacking him without waiting for him to attack me first. Caught off guard, or in shock, he stood there frozen as I brought my weapon down and caught him in the shoulder. With a cry of pain he protected himself from my next blow by grasping my wrist when I brought it down to deliver another blow.
“You fucking whore!” Paul screamed, as he struggled to gain control of my weapon. I was no match for him and we both knew it.
He bent my wrist backwards and I knew that he was going to break it if I didn’t do something fast. I twisted and kneed him in the balls as hard as I could. He groaned and released me immediately, bending over in pain, and I used the situation to my advantage by striking out at him again. I didn’t have time to appreciate his girl-like scream when the sharp end of the tool met its mark, going deep inside the same shoulder I’d stabbed him in before. At that point, Paul had to have realized that he’d lost control of the situation.
Anger and pure adrenaline gave him the strength to overcome the pain and he over powered me easily and brutally, reaching for the weapon I tried to hold out of reach in my hands. Fear at what he’d do I tossed it across the room from us, realizing that I had to keep it out of his hands. I had the satisfaction of hearing it hit something in the darkness before Paul unleashed his wrath on me.
He hit me, hard, and I tasted fresh blood in my mouth as my teeth cut into the side of my cheek. The next time Paul swung his fists he caught me in the torso. I doubled over, the breath whooshing out of me as I fell to my knees and to my side. My lungs were empty. All I could do was lay there and heave, trying to suck in air. Paul took advantage of my weakness and kicked me hard in the stomach, before falling onto me like an animal about to tear apart its meal. I tried to roll away but he straddled my lower body.
“No!” I screamed, trying to buck him off. Blood ran down his chest from the wounds I’d inflicted to his shoulder.
His hand was like a steel clamp around my jaw as he held me in place. “You know you can’t escape me you fucking bitch,” he gritted down into my face, spit flying from his mouth onto my cheek. I could feel his hard-on against me and felt bile rise in my throat. “You think I hurt you before? I held myself back because you were my wife. But now you’re going to meet the real me.”
“Get off her, you sick prick!” Jasmine yelled, sounding more like her old self. I could hear the chain rattle as she tried to break away. Suddenly and without warning she managed to deliver a hard kick to his side.
Paul grunted, and looked her way. I used the distraction to reach up and stick my finger into one of the wounds I’d caused him, hearing his yell of pain before he grasped my wrist and pulled my hand away. At the same time he lifted me up enough to move us out of Jasmine’s reach. I fought him like a wildcat, slapping and hitting out at him until he slammed my arm against the cold dirt floor above my head. He reached for the other one and did the same with that, and then transferred both wrists into one hand.
His hand fell to my breast and squeezed. I let out a high-pitched scream. Next, he pinched my nipple so hard the burning sting splintered throughout my body. Another scream escaped me as I struggled against the hand holding me pinned. I twisted and bumped my hips, knowing that I couldn’t buck him off me, yet willing to try anything to make him release my breast. Paul’s cruel laughter echoed in the cellar, the demonic expression on his face revealing that he was enjoying the pain he was inflicting. His hand went to the front of my pants.
“Help! Someone help us!” Jasmine screamed as loud as she could. What was she doing? She had to know that there was no one around to hear her. Then I remembered that she’d been unconscious when we’d arrived and didn’t know how isolated we really were. She continued to scream at the top of her lungs for help, and I was certain the shrillness of her pleas was loud enough to travel beyond the farmhouse. Hope began to grow.
Maybe…
“Shut the fuck up!” Paul screamed at her. “Or the next thing I stick up your ass won’t be my cock.”
He was an animal!
“You’re a pig!” I hissed, still struggling against him.
Jasmine ignored him and continued to shout out, the sounds seeming over loud in the damp cellar. It was enough to piss Paul off and with a snarl of angry irritation, he left me and went to her. I knew what Jasmine was doing. She was trying to distract him from me but I knew that it was going to cost her. Fear for her caused me to jump to my feet and go after him. Just as he delivered a brutal punch to her mid-section I jumped on his back and brought my arms around his neck.
“No!” I cried out, pulling him back. “Leave her alone!”
“Son-of-a-bitch!” he swore with a bark of frustration, reaching back for me. I glanced over his shoulder and saw Jasmine retching. “You bitches are dead!”
I already knew that. I clawed at his eyes and face until he could drag my arms away from around his neck. Now that his attention was back on me I turned and ran for the steps. He caught my ankle halfway up and I fell hitting the stone hard. As Paul climbed up behind me I twisted onto my back and kicked out at him. But I was tiring, bruised and in pain and soon Paul was overpowering me and pinning me down with his heavier body. I lay there panting, tears filling my eyes when it dawned on me that this was it. It was over. I couldn’t fight him any longer. I was too exhausted.
I felt his hand close around my throat. His breath slapping me in the face as he gasped above me.
“Paul, no,” I pleaded through a raspy tone. “If there’s any decency left in you, don’t do this.”
“This is all your fault,” he gritted down at me, his face dark. He pulled the edges of my blouse apart. His gaze moved to my breasts. He lowered his head and I squeezed my eyes shut, sensing that he was going to bite me. “No one else will ever taste these nipples again,” he said in a kind of dazed state. “Because I’m going to bite them off.”
A chill went down my spine. I gagged when I felt his breath against my flesh, and stiffened beneath him. I could hear Jasmine crying, and whimpering helplessly in the background. Another noise sounded from somewhere above me but I was too frightened on what Paul was about to do to question it. I’d suffered a bite from Paul before and he’d been savagely vicious. I still had the scar. I braced myself for the unimaginable pain about to rack my body, even as I continued to strain against his hold to get free.
“Get the fuck off her!”
My eyes flew open at the hard-familiar voice, and I glanced up to see Paul jerk back into a sitting position, his gaze shooting to something above us. I tilted my head back enough to see the murderous expression on Big John’s face. Our eyes met.
Relief was instant.
“Hi, baby.”
In the next instant he fired his gun, the impact of the bullet going through Paul’s forehead sent him flying backwards down the steps.
I expelled a long sigh of relief, and relaxed against the steps.