I Break For No Man

"You are not leaving. I didn't tell you that you could leave!" Frank said with menace dripping from his voice.

"Who the hell asked you?" Areisa spared a glance over her shoulder at him as she answered flippantly.

He clinched his fists open and closed as he advanced step by step towards her. "If you attempt to leave..." he said quietly with barely controlled rage, "I will make you sorry. You will obey me!"

Muttering to herself, "Fucking asshole", Areisa picked up her jacket and purse and headed for the door. "Order me around like I'm a fucking dog." That's about as far as she got before she slammed into the wall of his chest as he blocked her exit. She raised her head with her hands on her hips, "Just who in the hell..."

She saw it coming, his hand already reared back, palm flat, fingers spread and a look of pure rage so alien to his features she didn't recognize him. Her head twisted sharply to the right as his hand connected with her face and she staggered as she struggled to stay standing on sudden unsure wobbly legs. Pain exploded in her skull as blood rolled down her busted lip. She felt her face swelling, sure that his hand had left an indelible imprint on her face. Gravity seemed to have employed a magnet as she lost the battle to stay upright when her legs gave out from under her. Realization began to dawn on her as she sat bent over the hardwood floor of the foyer, she was in trouble here. She could tell by the way he kneeled down on one knee and leaned in to her, yanking her head back with a handful of hair, he was far from done.

"You will leave when I am done with you and not one minute before" he sneered at her. "You will be my bitch, my whore, my dog, whatever the fuck I want. You wanted to play these little dominant, submissive games remember. I will show you what it truly means to submit to me."

He led her by her hair down into the basement. Tears escaped down her cheeks as she tried to reign in her fear. Areisa thought that she would get through this, that this would be rough but it wouldn't last; he would let her go. She expected that even though she wasn't into it, she could expect a beating, maybe a few lashes...something to make sure he got off on feeling dominant and in control.

When he reached the bottom of the staircase, he flipped the light switch and she knew it was going to be far worse than she could have imagined.

Chapter 1

"You're not leaving are you?" Shana asked.

Still caught up in past memories, Sydney blinked at her several times before she came into focus. Shana reached out and grasped Syndey's arm and shook her a little. "Sydney, you're not leaving are you? You just got here!"

Sydney shrugged her arm away from Shana's hand; she didn't like being touched, not anymore. She always tried not to be so noticeable about it but Shana glanced at her as she closed her hand and lowered her arm back down to the table. Shana looked up at her with an oh expression on her face as though she had forgotten. Sydney waived her hand in the air as if to say it was no big deal; neither us openly acknowledging the unspoken faux paus.

"If me just getting here means that I have passed the last hour with you then yes, I'm leaving. I'm a busy girl. I gots things to do!" Sydney said with as much girlfriend from the neighborhood sass that she could muster.

"Bullshit!" Shana said masking it behind a fake sneeze. Sydney smiled and grabbed her billfold and laid a couple of bills on the table and grabbed her keys.

"So you're coming right? Tonight?", Shana asked.

"Going where? Me?" Sydney asked pointing to herself with exaggerated ignorance.

"Yes, you!" she said pointing to me. "You are coming out tonight with me and the girls. You make up some excuse every time about work, or a class, or being tired but you promised and I'm holding you to it." she said jabbing her finger at me.

Sydney pointed her finger back at Shana and stuck her tongue out mimicking her the whole time.

"Keep it up and you're gonna start sounding like the teacher from Charlie Brown.", she warned. "I can never decide on who my favorite character is, Snoopy, Garfield, or Stewey", she said with a sigh.

Shana thought about it for a second with furrowed brows and then burst out with a smile, "Stewey, definitely Stewey!"

Sydney shook her head and smiled. She knew Shana was going to say that. "Yeah, I think I can see the sarcastic resemblance."

Arm and arm together they left the restaurant. Shana turned, pointing to me again with eyebrows raised. "So...?", she prompted.

Sydney rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes I'm coming. But no trying to fix me up like you did with that one guy."

Shana started giggling before Sydney could even finish reminding her. It had been horrific. Shana had touted him to be so great and that Sydney would love him. That lovable guy had stained teeth, rank breath, body odor, and had nerve enough to be cheap. After putting up with him for the afternoon, when he asked her at dinner, "So we're going Dutch right?' that had been beyond the last straw.

"That was so not my fault! It was a recommendation from a friend of a friend" Shana exclaimed.

"I don't care. There is just no coming back from that. Stop trying to play matchmaker, please! Phhllease!" Sydney said melodramatically.

Shana laughed and said, "I'll meet you at the club at 10pm. If you're not there at 10, do not think, for one second that I won't come drag you out of the house!"

"Fine, fine! I'll see you there." She waived goodbye as she walked down the street with a shadow of a smile on her lips. Shana was a great friend, her best friend but there were things about Sydney that Shana didn't even know, that she could never know...like how Sydney was not her given name. Sydney had never invited anyone, not even her best friend to her house. The name of the game was to stay safe and she had managed to do that for the last five years.

As she reached her gray late modeled Honda accord, she slipped on her shades. She pretended to look for her keys while using the cars reflective windows and surfaces to check her surroundings. She opened the door and scanned the street to make sure no one was watching her and got behind the wheel of the car.

Ariesa thought back to that night five years ago when she had experienced hell on earth. When she had managed to escape with her life, she had vowed she would never be a victim again and had learned that freedom came with a price. She knew that it might not be today, maybe not tomorrow but Frank Marino would come for her...if only just to see her beg.