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 O'Connor's

Jess was biting her nails in anticipation, she was so nervous. All day long Mrs. O'Connor and Grace had been constantly peeking their head into her room to make sure she was fine. Though she kept repeating stubbornly that she was fine and all she wanted to do was take a walk and get fresh air, neither would allow her to get up.

If she wanted to make sure that she was waiting in the alley before Rip got there, she needed to leave the O'Connor's real soon. And as much as she never wanted to see Rip again, never wanted to feel the weight of his body on hers, never wanted to hear him say his "I-love-you", she knew that if she never wanted to have a beating like that again then she had to be there for their daily routine or else.

The consequences for that "or else" were so bad that Jess gave an involuntary shudder at the general mention of them as it ran through her mind.

Luckily for Jess the perfect opportunity for her "escape" came as soon as it was needed. Jess hurriedly shut her eyes and pretended to be resting when she heard someone approach her room.

Mere seconds after Jess heard someone walking towards her, Mrs. O'Connor peeked her head in the doorway of Jess's room. "Jess, dear, are you awake?" she asked and continued when Jess opened her eyes half-way, "I just wanted to tell you that Grace and I are going to go to market. Is there anything you need?"

"No thank you, Mrs. O'Connor. I'm just going to sit here and relax like a good little girl," she said with a little giggle. Mrs. O'Connor didn't know how easy she was making this for her.

"O.K., just remember. No leaving this apartment, right?" badgered Mrs. O'Connor, letting Jess know that she was not ignoring the fact that all she had complained about all day was going outside and she was not to take the opportunity and do it.

"Whatever you say, Mrs. O'Connor," she said with an angelic smile. The effect was kind of thrown off considering the angel had a split lip and a black eye, but Mrs. O'Connor grinned, nodded and left, taking Grace with her.

Minutes after Mrs. O'Connor and Grace left through the front door of the apartment, Jess gingerly stepped out of her bed and began to change. "I'm sure that Rip would just love it if I showed up in me nightdress," she moaned as she stiffly lifted her arms over her head to undress. She buttoned up a fresh, blood-free white blouse and pulled on a long brown skirt. "I guess this is good enough," she whispered to herself as she glanced at her reflection in the mirror for a second before turning her head away in disgust.

Jess couldn't even stand to look at herself and it wasn't because she despised the bruises on her face. She hated herself for letting Rip have this kind of control over her. There she was, disobeying the O'Connor's wishes and sneaking out just to make him happy. But she knew that she had to keep him happy. "It's either I go now or I pay for it later. I rather just get it over with, ya know," she murmured as she took the cloth off of her head. Checking to see if her wound had finally clotted, and sighing in relief when she noticed that it had, she discarded the cloth and slipped on her shoes. "All I can do now is pray that he ain't mad that I left him yesterday."

Walking slowly, Jess exited the apartment and began to make her way towards the alley where she had met Rip everyday for the past three weeks. Her head pounding in exact rhythm to the beating of her heart, she nervously dreaded arriving at the alley and seeing Rip. For all she knew he would be angry at her and probably beat her. "But he might forgive me cause I made me way down here tonight, right?" she asked herself out loud, trying to convince herself that she was doing the smart thing by returning to the scene of her most recent attack.

She reached the alley in no time considering that she was still walking as slowly as possible to prevent aggravating her injuries any further. "At least I got here before Rip did," she thought as she sat down to wait for him. Usually he was there first, prepared for their time together. "Unless he already was here and didn't see me," she added as she paled. That would be really bad; It would probably send Rip's temper soaring if he had arrived and she wasn't there.

Sitting on the cold ground of the dark alley, Jess leaned against one of the brick walls, gently rubbing her swollen cheek. "When did my life turn into this mess? What did I do to deserve this?" she whispered to herself as she winced slightly at the pressure on her bruised face.

"So you did come to see me? I feel so loved, me dear," came a husky voice as a tall, dark and handsome figured swaggered into the alley and stood directly in front of Jess. He held his hand out to help her up and let out a tiny laugh when she flinched at his sudden motion towards her.

Jess flushed nervously as she let Rip help her to her feet. "This guy here just amazes me. I just can't believe that he can be so cruel and rough to me one day and so sweet and nice another day. I can never know if it's me fault or not when he's hitting me," she thought to herself, bracing herself for any sudden mood swings he might have.

Rip always had mood swings. That is why she was in the state she was in.

He brought his fingers to Jess's face and caressed the bruises he had inflicted on her during his flash of anger the day before. "Let me just say that I'm so glad that you came today. You had me worried that you didn't love me no more," he said sweetly, looking directly in her eyes.

Jess, too afraid to turn away in case it offended Rip, stared back in to his cold blue eyes. "How could you ever think that, Rip? I... I...I love you," she stammered out. Those three words always succeeding in keeping Rip happy.

Like ever other time she told him that she loved him, Rip began to glow with pride. "She's still me li'l Miss, even after what I did to her yesterday," he thought happily as he kissed her gently on her forehead. Though he was sorry for his actions from the morning before, he didn't regret anything that he did; instead he was all the more pleased because he liked the way that he had had her trained to return to him no matter what.

"I love you too, Miss Jess," he said before tilting her back and kissing her passionately.

Jess was taken aback when Rip leaned her head back and began to press his lips on hers. Fighting back the initial reflex to gag, she began to kiss him back in order to keep him in good spirits. "It'll all be over with before I know it and I can get home before the O'Connor's and Grace realize that I was gone," she thought trying to keep her mind off of Rip's traveling hands.

As it turned out, Jess had something else to take her mind off of Rip's hands. Unbeknownst to them, someone had followed Rip into the alley and had arrived just in time to hear what Rip had said to Jess.

"You're in love with that... that...that girl?" screeched an all too familiar voice as Jess's blood ran cold.

"Uh-oh, I think that I'm in trouble."