Title: Cuts Like A Knife
Author: Stress
First written: May 12, 2002
Edited and replaced: January 21, 2005
Summary: Part I of the Soul Mates Series; She thought that life couldn't get any better. She had friends and a family that loved her – she was taken care of and had no complaints. But that was before he came into her life. And, no matter how hard she tries to escape his grasp, he'll never let her go.
At the Boys' Lodging House
Spindle was livid. She had spent the last hour at the boys' lodging house waiting for Rip, yet he was nowhere to be found. As she sat on Rip's bunk, trying to ignore the looks some of the other guys were giving her, she began to worry. What if he was out with another girl? What if he was cheating on her while she waited for him like the good little girlfriend was supposed to?
Spindle was no fool, she had seen the looks Rip was giving Jess that morning at the distribution center. "Those were the same looks he gave me when we first met two years ago," she thought to herself. "I bet he picked Jess out to be his new girl. He better know, though, that I ain't going to let him go so easily." Spindle had given too much of herself to Rip, both physically and mentally, and no one, not even that pretty little goody goody, was going to take him away from her. She'd make sure of that.
"Hey, doll face. What's a perdy little thing like you doing here?" called an extremely tall guy with shaggy brown hair and hazel eyes as he walked into the bunkroom.
Spindle laughed to herself. "He must be new here." Before she started dating Rip, Spindle had spent many a lonely night in the company of any one of the luckier newsies at the lodging house. Though she had a reputation for being easy, it came no where close to the reputation she had as someone not to be messed with. "I think I'll show this oaf her why he shouldn't try that stuff with me."
Putting on the most seductive smile she could manage, Spindle strolled over to the guy. Obviously thinking that she had taken a liking to him, he began to smile at her. The smile was barely in place when Spindle whipped a pocketknife out of her shirt pocket, flipped it open and pressed it against his throat in one swift motion. "If you ever get the urge to call me 'doll face' again, I'm going to introduce you to me knife, personally," she whispered into his ear and smiled when he began to sweat.
Spindle walked back to Rip's bunk calmly as the other guys in the bunkroom cheered for her and poked fun at the guy, who, in the mean time, had sank onto the floor next to the door.
Rip chose that moment to come strutting into the bunkroom. He saw the guy on the floor near the door and gave him a snide look. "What are you doing down there, Danger?"
Spindle, a little cross that Rip did not say hello to her first, snickered upon hearing the oaf's name. "His name is Danger? I don't think the name quite fits."
Rip turned to face Spindle, who was still sitting on his bunk. Pasting a charming smile on his face he went to say hello.
Spindle sighed in relief when she saw Rip come walking up to her with a smile on his face. Even after two years of seeing his handsome face, Spindle still got butterflies in her stomach when Rip looked at her. When he strolled up to the bunk where she was sitting, she leaned forward to give him a kiss. She was surprised when he turned his head and her kiss landed on his cheek, but even more surprised when he turned his head back and said, "Hiya Spindle, what are you doing here?"
Spindle flushed with anger and stood to face Rip. "What do ya mean, Rip? You told me to meet you here at seven. Yet, it's after eight now. Where have ya been?" she asked jealously.
Rip looked at her and gave her a winning smile as he smoothly ran a hand through his thick black hair. "Spindle, I just lost track of the time, that's all. No need to worry about me."
Spindle could see right through his words. "Rip, I asked ya where you've been. Are ya going to tell me or not?" she said with her hands planted firmly on her hips.
Rip was quickly losing his patience. He suddenly remembered why he wanted a new girlfriend which in turn only made him angrier because it brought thoughts of Jess back to his mind.
He still couldn't get over the fact that Jess hadn't melted from his charms. All the toughest girls did when he turned his gaze on them, even Spindle. But the fact that Jess didn't only made him want her all the more. He had a plan that he was prepared to use if it came to it, but he hoped he wouldn't have to use force. Victory was sweeter when it was well- earned.
Suddenly aware that Spindle was still staring at him, waiting for him to answer her question, he realized that he would have to wait to work on his plan.
Turning to look at Spindle, his smile no longer on his face, Rip firmly replied, "That ain't none of your business, Spindle."
Not caring that she and Rip now had an audience, Spindle decided to take a wild stab in the dark. "You was with that tramp, weren't you?" She purposely didn't fill in a name because it would have made it more difficult to figure out if he was cheating on her. Spindle figured that if he was seeing another girl, her comment would offend him and he would tell her the name.
Rip, too smart to fall for her trap, but still pissed at her for implying that Jess was less than pure, turned his icy eyes on her. "The only tramp I know is you, Spindle," he said coldly. Nobody talked to Rip like that, nobody.
Spindle recoiled like she had been slapped, but, nonetheless, shot right back. "So which girl is it, Rip? Which girl am I going to have to get rid of to keep you?"
Rip, tired of the way the conversation was going, walked away from Spindle. "I'd recommend you going back to your lodging house now, Spindle. I'm tired and I'm going to bed. I'll see ya down at the distribution center tomorrow," he called over his shoulder, letting her know that they were through talking for the night.
Spindle softened her voice and said, almost pleadingly, "Rip, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it," as she ran over to him, threw her arms around him and began to kiss his neck.
Rip remained unmoved and broke free of Spindle's embrace. He didn't need her anymore. "I said good night, Spindle."
She knew he was angry at her and decided just to leave. It would be no fun sleeping with him that night anyway for Spindle was no longer in the mood. Well she was, she always was, but she wasn't going to tell him that. "Good night Rip. I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she said as she stormed out of the bunkroom, angry only at the girl who Spindle thought was taking her man away from her. "If I find out that he's fooling around with another girl, I will kill her. I'm the only gal for Rip and I'll make sure that everyone knows it," she vowed silently to herself.
As Rip watched Spindle leave, he grew even angrier. Who was she to try to boss him around like that? She may be the leader of all the newsgirls here in Queens, but Rip was the boss. He had let her know that the first day they had met. He did what he wanted when he wanted, and he just plain didn't care who he hurt in the way.
He sighed as he thought about Jess. She was just so different from the rest of the girls he had ever been with, and not only because she wasn't interested in him. Most of the girls he knew, including Spindle, were rough girls looking for a good time, but Jess didn't seem like that at all. She looked like a vision of innocence and that's what Rip was going to take from her. He smiled to himself as he thought of how he was going to make her see that they would be together forever (or until he got bored with her and went after another girl). He would break her and bend her and do whatever he wanted to her and she, too, would realize that he was the boss. And he would do it all tomorrow.