I was crying out for him to stop, but I could tell he wasn’t hearing my pleas as he pushed me violently back onto the couch. I was no longer dealing with Micah; I was dealing with pure rage. I was shocked that he was actually undoing his jeans as I rolled from the couch and scrambled on all fours to try to get away. He grabbed me brutally by my calves and jerked me back.
“No!” I screamed at him as he flipped me onto my back. I was kicking and sliding backwards as he continued to grab at me as if I was nothing more than a piece of meat. He was bruising my thighs as he pulled me to him. He lowered himself toward me and I took the only opening I had to punch toward his face. I was aiming for his nose, hoping to stun him enough that I could get out before his weight came down on me, but he was too skilled of a fighter as he turned his face and I hit his rock-hard jaw. His hand came around my throat and tightened so hard I thought he would crush my windpipe. He slapped my face twice, open handed, but shockingly hard.
I was passing out. I couldn’t breathe. His hand moved just before I lost consciousness. I gasped and sputtered for air. Then he was on me, his weight crushing my already air deprived lungs. He was tearing the last of my clothes and under garments, my body screaming in pain as the elastic on my bra cut into my skin. Then he was biting me, not the way he used to when he would make love to me, but literally sinking his teeth into skin. I was crying and pleading for him to stop. I was saying his name over and over, hoping it would shake him out of his inhuman state before he did the unthinkable.
It was too late. I screamed out in pain as his body tore into mine. I wasn’t prepared for his entrance and even if I had been, his aim was skewed and my body seemed to split under the punching drive of his hips. His massive hands were gripping my shoulders too hard and it felt as if he had bruised every inch of my body has he raped me on the floor.
I was convulsing with sobs, as the violence slowed. The rage was releasing its hold over him and he began to call out my name. He was becoming controlled as he found his rhythm inside me. “Leese, Leese, I’m sorry,” he cried, tears now coursing down his face as he continued to bring himself back to the human side. “I love you, baby-I’m so sorry-I need you so badly-please, please don’t cry.” He lifted slightly as he looked into my bloody, shocked face. His mouth came down again, but this time softly, kissing my eyes and my cheeks, my chin and my mouth.
My body was starting to respond to what was now turning gentle. I didn’t want to let my physical side win this battle, because that was what it had been, but the needs I’d had stored away for so long were now being brought to life.
His mouth was begging me to part my lips and respond. With tears rolling down my cheeks, I accepted the kiss; the taste of my blood mixing with the flavor of the alcohol. His hips were grinding so deliberately and I couldn’t fight the feeling any longer as I cried out and thrust my hips upward to meet his strokes. He cried out at the same moment and we crested together.
I didn’t want to open my eyes and look at him as he observed the damage he’d done to me. “God, Leese, why did it have to be this way?” he said with a stunned, choked sob, “I never meant… I didn’t want to hurt-”
At that moment, I heard the sound of the Javelin and terror flooded me. Micah raised himself, pulling up and refastening his jeans. His human side simply vanished as his eyes went blank; he reached in his jacket and pulled out his pistol.
“No,” I begged, gripping his arm, the gun pointing dangerously toward me, “Don’t hurt him, Micah. I swear if you hurt him then you might as well kill me right now.”
His eyes were still blank as I heard the engine turn off. He looked up and then looked back at me.
I grabbed the barrel and pressed it to my chest. “Go ahead,” I choked, “pull the trigger, Micah, because I won’t live if you hurt him.”
“I-I can’t.”
My finger went into the trigger guard and I was poised to finish this.
“Don’t Leese,” he said pushing the safety back on with his other hand, “He’s not worth it, is he?”
“He’s worth every breath left in my body. Take his life and you’ve ended mine, too.”
I could hear as the key was turning in the lock. Micah was up and away from me in an instant, the gun still gripped in his hand. The scream strangled in my throat as Ryan opened the door and Micah jerked him inside and slammed him against the wall so hard I thought he would knock him out.
Ryan’s eyes blinked a couple times, not really understanding what had just happened. The gun went against his head as Micah spewed out the two most bitter words I’d ever heard in my life.
“Your turn,” he growled, then slammed his shoulder into Ryan’s chest, knocking the air out of him and then letting him fall to the floor. Micah was out the door. A car cranked and I heard it screech away from the house.
“Leese?” he coughed and gasped out my name.
I was so relieved that Micah hadn’t killed him that I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move from where I’d been drilled to the floor; my body beginning to cramp and burn and ache.
Ryan rose, shaking his head as if he was trying to bring his brain back to life. He looked toward the couch and he saw me. I think he thought at the moment I was dead, because the look on his face was horror struck. He rushed to my side as the ability to sob returned to me. I didn’t want him to see me stripped down naked, but there was nothing left of my clothes to cover me.
“Oh, God, baby girl, oh, God-what the hell did he do to you?” he said reaching under me as gently as possible and picking me up from the floor. He carried me to the bedroom, tears pouring down his face as he laid me down and used the corner of the sheet to cover my body.
“That son-of-a-bitch is going to jail,” he snarled, grabbing his cell and flipping it open.
“No,” I choked, reaching out and stopping him, “No cops-please, I don’t want anyone to know,”
“You’ve… God, Leese, you’ve got to go to the hospital. You’re bleeding, baby girl, pretty bad. I-I don’t know what to do.”
“I’ll be okay-I just need-”
“Leese, I’m freaking out here-I don’t know what to do to help you.”
“I-I-need to wash off and get some clothes. Can you help me to the bathroom?” I pleaded, the pain growing stronger and I was starting to double over.
He removed the sheet and reached underneath me as I wrapped my arms feebly around his neck. He lowered me into the tub and turned on the warm water, allowing the tub to fill as he used a washcloth to clean my face and neck. He was crying his eyes out as he washed each cut, bruise, and bite mark. He worked lower, but I took the washcloth away from his trembling hand and I washed my most private area. It stung so badly to clean the tear. He drained the pink water and helped me stand as he wrapped me in a towel and carried me back to the bed, placing me on the opposite side to avoid the stained sheets and then went to the dresser.
He returned with a button up the front top and a pair of underwear.
“I need a-a pad. Would you get me one from under the bathroom sink?”
He returned and helped me swing my legs over the side of the bed as I slipped on the underwear and placed the pad inside and pulled them up. He took the bloody sheet away and came back with a fresh blanket and covered me up, crawling in behind me and trying to find a way to hold me that wouldn’t cause me any further pain.
“You can’t let him just get away with this,” he whispered, smoothing my hair away from my temple. “You’ve got to turn him in.”
“No-I know you won’t understand this, but something was wrong. He wasn’t himself.”
“Leese, I think you’re wrong-I think you just met the real Micah.”
“No,” I sobbed, refusing to believe him. “I know him well enough, he didn’t intend for this to happen.”