She raced toward to coffee table, grabbed the book my dad gave me, and threw it into the fireplace.
“No!” I watched in horror as the heartfelt message in my dad’s handwriting went up in flames. I yanked on the metal cuffs and didn’t even care if they dug into my skin, or if I ripped the fucking leg off her goddamned heavy couch.
As I tried lifting the corner of the couch with my fingertips, she came over and started slapping my back and yanking on my hair.
“I can’t believe you took my crop!”
“I can’t believe you burned the book my dad gave me!” I yelled back and tried to shield my face as best as I could with my shoulders.
“Fire ends up consuming everything we hold dear to us, Andrew!”
Elise dug her razor-sharp fingernails into the top of my back and then dragged them down my back.
“Ahhh!” I cried out as she ripped open the flesh on my back.
As she scratched me, I watched my book be engulfed by flames in the back of the fireplace. I was livid.
Elise slapped my back and then took off in a sprint down the hallway. I heard her in the closet as I continued to try and get enough leverage to lift the couch to free my arms. The couch was one of those older heavy styles with thick block legs. Elise came running back into the living room, and I saw something silver catch the light as it sliced through the air.
“Ow, fuck!” I yelled as a buckle from a belt connected with my torn up back.
Elise laughed like a madwoman as she relentlessly whipped me with the belt. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I yelled and begged for her to stop, but she was so caught up and full of rage. The tip of the leather belt grazed my chin and bottom lip as my face hid as best as it could in my shoulder. Suddenly, I could taste blood. She had cut my lip or my chin. I didn’t even know at that point what it was.
“Red!” I finally exclaimed. “Red, Elise!” I kept repeating it over the constant beating.
It went on for what seemed like forever. My body was in so much pain. I had finally curled into myself on the floor while leaning against her couch. I tried to protect my face and dick as much as possible. I ignored the barrage of hateful words she spat at me, just as she ignored me saying my safe word over and over.
“Red, Elise!”
Nothing. She hadn’t even let up. In the distance, I could hear the doorbell and pounding on the front door. James!
“James!” I yelled. “James, help me!”
“Oh, you little shit!” Elise kicked me in the side. “This is all your fucking fault, Andrew! Now you have your goddamn former protector out there!”
I was winded from her swift kick to my side. While I tried to catch my breath, Elise grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head backward.
“Ow! Fuck! Red, Elise! Red!”
She slapped me hard in the face and then let go of my head. Relieved when she walked away from me, I closed my eye and rested my head on the seat cushion of the couch.
“Red,” I wheezed.
I heard Elise open the front door and then opened my eyes briefly to see James hurrying toward me.
“Andrew, my God, Andrew. Don’t move, just stay still.” His gently familiar hand on my head calmed me down. “Elise, hand Brandon the keys to the cuffs, now,” James instructed.
“James, we were just playing,” Elise tried to tell James.
“No, James, I said my safe word.”
“Quiet, Andrew. Elise, the keys.”
“I must have misplaced them.”
“Very well,” James said as he stood.
No! Fuck, he wasn’t leaving, was he?
