"Billy?" she began hesitantly, without looking at him, "Look, I know what you think about earlier, but what did I really do wrong? I was just catching up with an old friend and having a laugh with some of the others - they're nice people ....."
"I've already said all I'm going to about that. I thought we agreed to forget about it?" he replied as he parked the car, his voice strangely calm.
She took a deep breath and turned to face him, "I think we need to talk - properly. Not now though, it's getting late and I've got work tomorrow."
Billy's eyes searched her face and he frowned, guessing at what her little talk would entail. She made it sound so innocent, but she couldn't fool him - he wasn't just going to sit back and let this happen.
"Maybe now's as good a time as any." he said, suddenly smiling, "And anyway, aren't you going to invite me in for a coffee?"
"Maybe he's right." thought Shannon to herself, "Get this over and done with."
She nodded and opened the car door, stepping out into the cold night air, shivering suddenly. "Damn! I must have left my jacket behind." she groaned, "It was my favourite one too."
She heard quick footsteps and, feeling something warm slip over her bare shoulders, she reached to find out what it was. She found that Billy had taken off his own jacket and given it to her and, a little surprised, she gave him a grateful smile.
"Thanks, Billy." she said, tiny seeds of doubt appearing in her mind; he could be sweet, when he wanted to be. His changed behaviour was making her wonder if she had maybe been wrong and had judged him too harshly. If he had been jealous, maybe it was because he did still care about her after all and just didn't want to lose her.
"Can't have you freezing now, can we?" he said, draping an arm round her shoulders and steering her towards the building.
"Hang on a minute, Shan." she silently told herself cautiously, "Sure, give him the benefit of the doubt - after all, it was great at the beginning - but just don't get carried away; you've seen how he can get. He gave you his jacket, not a promise of undying love!"
Nevertheless, she relaxed a little and they walked into the building together. On reaching the door of her apartment, Shannon fumbled in the pockets of her jeans for her keys and quickly unlocked the door.
"C'mon in." she said to Billy and he followed her willingly. "Take a seat and I'll make some coffee."
She slipped his jacket from around her shoulders and handed it to him before heading into the kitchen. Billy waited until she had crossed the room, watching the slight sway of her hips with a smile on his face, and then settled himself comfortably on the couch.
*****
Waiting for Shannon to return, Billy quickly became aware of something digging into his back and reached behind the cushions to find out what it was. His fingers brushed something solid and closed around the object, pulling it free from its hiding place. He looked to see what had been bothering him and found Shannon's tape recorder.
"Stupid place to leave it." he thought, "Me sitting on it probably hasn't done it a lot of good."
Deciding to check to see if it still worked, he rewound the tape a little and then, turning the volume down so Shannon wouldn't come to see what he was doing, pressed the play button. He heard a male voice and sneered, not bothering to pay attention to the words.
"I wonder who?" he thought sarcastically, glaring at the small machine. Then he heard the next voice, Shannon's, and his attention was immediately grabbed.
"He knows about ..... us. He didn't want me to come here today." he heard her confess, "If he can't even trust me ....."
"Oh, been telling tales, have we?" he murmured to himself, "No doubt HE was all too willing to provide a shoulder to cry on."
"Are you going to be okay?" came the kind of reply Billy had expected to hear, almost making him laugh out loud.
"Well, Shannon, what's the answer going to be? You better have thought carefully about this one." Billy thought.
"What? Oh, yeah! It's nothing like that ....." she said, making him smile smugly. "..... he's just being a jealous, paranoid PIG!"
The smile on Billy's face contorted with rage into a snarl and he tightened his grip on the tiny tape recorder, narrowing his eyes. "You little bitch!" he spat out, not really caring this time if she heard him or not.
The tape continued but Billy wasn't listening, instead staring furiously at the door of the kitchen and only beginning to pay attention again when Chris's voice took on a forceful tone, saying "DON'T! Don't talk like that. If he can't see when he's got a good thing, then he doesn't deserve you. Don't let him EVER make you doubt that."
"Very touching." said Billy quietly, his voice tight with rage, "Stupid move though, VERY stupid."
As the tape continued, Billy merely shook his head slowly. He couldn't hear much, but what little he did hear spoke volumes and he stopped the tape having heard all he needed to. "Well, looks like someone's got a secret. Or THINKS she has anyway."
Hearing Shannon making her way from the kitchen, Billy hurriedly shoved the recorder back behind the cushions and tried to gain control of his anger.
*****
"Here you go then." said Shannon cheerfully, handing him a steaming mug of coffee before taking a seat beside him.
"Thanks, babe." he replied.
For a moment there was an awkward silence as they both sipped their coffee, Shannon trying to think of something to say and Billy just looking at her, wondering if she had any intention of telling him what she had done.
"So," began Billy, getting tired of the silence, "You wanted to talk?"
"Uh, yeah." said Shannon, no longer so sure that this was a good idea - maybe she should give him one last chance. "But it is late, we could save it for another time ....."
"Depends what you got to say." said Billy, "Anything important?"
"No, nothing important." she lied, "I just thought it would be nice, since we don't really get much time alone ....."
Billy raised his eyebrows and set his mug down on the coffee table. "I guess you're right." he said as he reached over and took her mug from her, setting it beside his own.
"What are you doing?" she asked as he moved closer.
"Making the most of it being just the two of us." he said, leaning in to kiss her.
Surprised by his sudden change of attitude, Shannon merely allowed him to kiss her at first, before eventually returning his attention somewhat hesitantly. Billy wasted no time in deepening the kiss, changing it from gentle to forceful and demanding in a short space of time. With alarm bells going off in her head, Shannon raised her hands to try to push him away or at least tell him to slow down, but Billy grabbed her wrists tightly. Still kissing her, he pushed her back down onto the couch, pinning her there with the weight of his body.
Managing to break his rough kiss, Shannon struggled to sit up but to no avail.
"What the hell are you playing at?" she asked fearfully, "Let me go."
However, Billy merely laughed. "Go ahead, play hard to get as usual - we both know you're not! You like playing games, don't you? Like flirting with all those other guys - you just do it to make me jealous!"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" she exclaimed, "Let me go NOW!"
"Oh, come on, Shannon! I think a month is long enough for all this teasing - if you're so keen to mess around, where better to start than with me? After all, I AM your boyfriend."
"Billy, please," she tried desperately, "I don't know what's going on - can't we just talk about this?"
"But we both know TALKING means something entirely to you, sweetheart, don't we? Why don't you tell me what you and Chris TALKED about this morning?"
"It was an just an interview ....."
"Don't give me that shit!" he snapped, holding her wrists with one hand and reaching to pull the tape recorder from its hiding place with the other.
Unable to see what he was holding, Shannon frowned in confusion and Billy held the object in front of her face, mocking her. He pressed the record button and growled into the machine, "Note to self, when I decide to cheat on my boyfriend, I must remember to turn OFF the fucking tape recorder!"
He glared down at Shannon as she paled and closed her eyes in horror, waiting until she opened them again to hurl the machine at the wall, smashing it. He laughed as she flinched and then leaned down to whisper into her ear.
"Since you were willing enough with HIM, I think it's my turn now."
Shannon tried to blink back tears as she pleaded with him, cursing herself for thinking he could have changed so quickly. "Please, Billy, I know I was wrong, but we only kissed - I swear nothing else happened. It was a mistake and I really am SO sorry ....."
He cut off her words with a kiss, his free hand roaming over her body as if he owned it, bruising her skin with his less than tender caress, finally reaching the buttons of her jeans. Annoyed when she started screaming for him to stop, he drew back and slapped her hard across the face, drawing blood from her cheek with the ring he wore on his right hand. Although stunned by the sting of his blow, Shannon had enough presence of mind to notice that he had shifted his weight and she drew her leg up, kneeing him in the crotch as hard as she could. As he howled in pain, he let go his grip on her wrists and she seized the opportunity to push him, sending him toppling backwards still holding his crotch.
Scrambling off the couch, she tried, in a split second, to decide what to do. Realising that if she left the apartment, he would just follow and probably catch her, she decided that her only option was to lock herself in the bedroom where the phone was. She glanced around and saw to her dismay that, although he wore an expression of unmistakable pain, Billy was already on his feet. She ran for the bedroom door and slammed it behind her, hearing him lunge forward and crash into it just as she closed it. Feeling his weight pushing against it, Shannon tried to lock the door, but it started to open. Pushing as hard as she could, she only just managed to turn the lock and sank to the floor in relief. Now that she had escaped, the full horror of the situation hit her and tears flowed freely down her cheeks, stinging her cut, as she leaned against the door. However, she had not yet completely escaped. As she could hear Billy throwing his weight against the wood, she became unsure that this was a sturdy enough barricade and hurried to the phone.
Unfortunately, she had only lifted the receiver when there came an almighty crash and the door flew off its hinges, catapulting Billy into the room.
Straightening up, he leered at her and nodded, "The bedroom - good idea, why didn't I think of it? I did say you were a whore, guess I really was right!"
"Just go and I won't call the cops." she promised, her voice shaking.
"You ain't calling anyone anyway." he told her, diving for her.
In order to get away from him, Shannon had no choice but to drop the receiver and dodge to the side. Billy stopped in his tracks only long enough to rip the phone line from the wall before going after his prey again. She was heading for the doorway but he cut her off and, as she turned quickly, she stumbled and fell onto the bed. As he approached, she kicked out, making him back out of her range and give her the chance to leap to her feet. However, she had nowhere to go and Billy stalked towards her purposefully. He grabbed a handful of her blonde hair and when she resisted, he threw her towards the wall where she struck her head sharply before slumping to the floor.
Seeing her lying motionless left Billy a little taken aback - this was not going how he had planned; in his mind, things had been considerable more straightforward.
"Clumsy bitch." he muttered, looking around uncertainly, "Stop pretending - you can't fool me like that."
A little worried at the extent of the damage he had caused, yet convinced she was acting, he aimed a kick at her ribs to test her reaction. He judged his kick carefully, not too hard but hard enough that she should make a sound or flinch or something. He watched intently but she didn't even move and her eyes were closed. For the first time, he noticed blood oozing from the back of her head and he stepped back in alarm. He hadn't wanted to kill her or anything, just teach her a lesson and give her a taste of her own medicine.
"Shit! I gotta get outta here!" he panicked, looking for any incriminating evidence and spotting his jacket. He grabbed it and headed out the door, only glancing backwards once and shrugging as if there was nothing he could do.
*****