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.
... let it fall directly across her face. Jess fell against the brick wall, her body thrown off-balance with the force of his blow.
"Get up," he whispered menacingly at her, ignoring the blood trickling from her split lip.
Jess knew better than to ignore him so she stood and faced him, straight-backed and proud. Even though tears welled up in her eyes, she refused to give Rip the satisfaction of seeing her cry. This was a normal occurrence in their relationship. Rip got mad at someone, hit her around a few times then forced her to make love to him to show her how sorry he was for hitting her in the first place. "Pain is only something that's made up in your mind. If you don't think about it, it ain't going to hurt," she repeated to herself constantly as she accepted his blows.
As each blow fell across her face, Jess took it without saying a word. She was just wondering what it was that had gotten Rip this mad, this time.
Meanwhile, Rip was getting more and more infuriated. Here he was trying to teach her a lesson and she wasn't doing anything except taking the hits. She was supposed to break down and cry and say she was sorry and beg for his forgiveness. Then they would lie together and express their love for one another. She was not supposed to enjoy "learning her lesson". Desperate to show her how angry he was, Rip grabbed her head and slammed it into the brick wall.
The final blow succeeded in breaking Jess's spirit. After being beaten repeatedly by Rip for the last few weeks she had developed a thick skull. Though she remained conscious, she hurled herself at the ground and clasped her head with her right hand, using her left hand to keep her steady against the dirt. Without even looking up at Rip, Jess looked down at the hand that she had held her head with. When she saw that it was covered in sticky blood, she vomited by the side of the alley and tried to crawl away from him.
"Get up, Jess," Rip said, a quavering note in his voice. He knew he had a temper but he never wanted to use it to really hurt her. He pushed the pity out of his mind when he noticed that she had not gotten up; better yet, she was still crawling towards the entrance of the alley.
"I said 'Get up'!!" he cried as he ran in front of her and picked her up by her wrists. Dragging her to her feet, he threw her up against the brick wall. He slapped her across the face once and then grabbed her face forcefully. When she had stopped squirming, Rip kissed her roughly, ignoring her tears.
He pulled away from her and prepared to strike her again. He stopped for a second when he saw her flinch and try to duck her head from his hand. He looked at her beaten, bloody face mingled with tears where a black eye was already beginning to bloom and dropped his balled-up fist.
Pulling her close to his chest, ignoring the fact that her blood was staining his shirt, he threw his arms around her and being to sob himself. "I'm so sorry, Jess but you had to go and tell Spindle. I warned you that this would happen," he whispered as he stroked her hair, which resulted in Rip covering his own hand with her blood.
Even though she felt like she was going to die and Rip's words sent confusing messages to her brain, Jess responded to his hug, just relieved that he had gotten enough of hitting her for the day. "Rip, all I can say is that I didn't tell anyone, especially Spindle. Honest. But please, can I sit down? Please?" she whispered weakly, feeling dizzy because of the blood that was seeping out of the cut on her head.
Still sobbing, letting his tears fall onto her damp curls, Rip led her to the ground, pulling her onto his lap. As she settled onto his lap, he felt all of her weight falling to his left side. Wiping his eyes so as not to look weak, preferring to keep his tough guy image in her eyes, Rip looked down to reply, only to see that she had passed out. As he felt tears of remorse spring back to his eyes, he held her close and sat with her as she slumbered.