Page 73 of What He Wants

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.

Chapter 30

Daisy

I sat in the tub buried up to my neck in hot, soapy bubbles. The subtle fragrance of vanilla and lavender floated up around me, lulling me into a sense of peace and security. The security, I knew though, came from knowing that Big John was just outside the room. He had promised not to leave me, while giving me time to sit with my thoughts and come to terms with what I’d just been through.

What Jasmine and I had both just gone through.

---