I froze, feeling my legs weaken beneath me. My throat tightened and my heart raced. I trembled when I felt his hot breath on the back of my neck. I glanced at the table where I’d last seen my car keys. They were gone.
I heard my keys dangle. ‘Is this what you’re looking for?’ Eric walked around so he was in front of me. He held my keys in one hand and the list I’d written in the other.
‘You think you’re going to divorce me, bitch?’ He clenched his teeth and tore up the list. ‘I’ll be the one to say when it’s over, not you.’ He poked my chest with his finger with such force that my upper body jerked back.
I looked down, desperately wanting to escape his menacing eyes.
‘Look at me, bitch!’ He slapped me across the face.
My hand flew to my right cheek and I looked into his beady eyes, fearing if I didn’t more harm would come to me. They were the eyes of Satan, I was sure.
‘Eric, please.’
He circled around me. ‘Eric, please.’ He mocked me. ‘You sound pathetic. You are pathetic. A pathetic whore! I bet you’re wondering how I found you. Did you think I was that stupid?’ He was back in my face again. ‘Did you think I’d rely on a tracker app you could easily delete from your phone?’
My eyes widened.
‘That’s right, bitch. I installed a tracker in your car. Hid it in the dash so you wouldn’t see it.’ He snickered.
My entire body shook and I sobbed uncontrollably. I’d never seen Eric so out of control and vicious. I feared for my life.
‘You thought you were so clever coming here.’ He continued his rant. ‘You’re not. You’re dumb. I have a dumb bitch for a wife. I need to smarten you up. I need to show you what happens when you don’t listen like you should. You’ve been a naughty girl. A very naughty girl. Do you know what I do with naughty girls?’
He walked over to the kitchen counter and pulled a knife out of the wooden block. ‘I thought you learned the other night what happens when you disobey me. Why do you disobey me, bitch? You know when you disobey me it only makes me angry. Do you like making me angry?’ He grabbed my chin and stared into my eyes. ‘Well, do you?’
He pointed the knife at my neck. ‘It would be so easy to end your life now. No one would know it was me. Jackie would tell them you came here to get away from me. I’m sure that bitch knows where you are, doesn’t she?’
I listened as he had a complete conversation with himself, detailing all the steps he’d take to ensure no one would know he was my killer.
‘Then just do it,’ I said. ‘I’d rather die than be married to you.’
This time he put both hands around my neck. I coughed. I thought he was going to choke me to death.
‘Shut up or I will shut you up.’ His eyes were evil daggers.
I became dizzy and thought I was going to pass out. He released his grip on my neck and I gasped for air and then coughed violently.
‘No. I have other plans for you. I thought we had a good thing, Shel. You worked hard to make me happy. I liked that. Sad, really, that it had to come to this. Why did you have to ruin everything?’
He stood behind me and pulled my hair so my head tilted back and I was looking into his ugly eyes, which grew darker by the second.
‘You belong to me. I own you. You are my possession, and I will do with you what I want.’ He let go of my hair.
‘Perhaps I just need to retrain you. Will that work? Yes, that’s it. We’ll spend the next several days retraining you to follow orders. Dogs sometimes must repeat obedience classes. Then we can go back home and live happily ever after. You, of course, will tell Jackie that we worked things out, that you no longer want a divorce.’
Listening to him having a conversation with himself was surreal. He’d pose a question and then answer it.
‘You need to think of me as your white knight once more, the one who you waited your entire life for. I could never allow you to damage my flawless image and superior status. The sooner you accept that you are the object of my pleasure, that you should be happy regardless of how I treat you, the easier your life will be.’
I will kill myself first! I thought.
‘Shall we get started?’
‘Please, just let me go. If there is any part of you that loved me, just let me go.’
‘In time,’ he said. ‘But not before I’m ready. I will discard you like the piece of trash you are when I’m done with you.’
He ripped off my shirt and the buttons flew everywhere. He picked up the knife he’d left on the table and pointed it at my chest, teasing me that he was going to cut me. I screamed as he slid the knife between my breasts and cut off my bra. My hands covered my breasts. I was afraid he was going to cut off my nipples.
‘Get undressed, bitch. Then get down on all fours.’ He sat the knife back on the table.
I knew better than to disobey Eric. I quickly took off my jeans, nearly falling over in the process. I got on all fours like Eric had instructed. He slapped my buttocks with his bare hand. It stung and I yelled.
‘Do you like being spanked?’ he asked.
‘No.’
He slapped me again. ‘I don’t like having to spank you. Why do you make me do things I don’t want to do?’ Another slap.
‘Please, stop. It hurts.’
He rubbed his hands over my butt. ‘It’s getting good and pink.’ Another slap.
‘Count down starting at ten,’ he demanded.
Slap!
‘Ten,’ I yelped.
Another slap.
‘Nine.’
Slap!
‘Eight.’
Somehow I managed to endure the abuse but I knew it would be difficult to sit through this much longer. I sobbed as he entered me from behind and grabbed the hair on the back of my head and pulled it.
‘Giddy-up whore!’
I wanted to die but instead I did everything he told me to do. I planned to escape, but it had to be at the right moment. Lying naked on the floor with him towering over me wasn’t the right moment.