Kate was awoken by Ryder entering the room again, she had no idea how long it had been since he left, her dreams had been both frightening and vivid.  Kate licked her lips and watched him walk toward her realising that only one of her eyes was open.

“How are we today then?” he said as he switched on the light.  “Feeling a little sorry for ourselves?”  he said, his face beaming as he sat on the bed beside Kate.

“Oh, look at my Kate, baby.  I’m so sorry but you know you brought this on yourself?” Ryder kissed her swollen eye and then gently touched her lips, she winced, realising they too were swollen and split.

He stroked the side of her face before running his fingers along her naked body resting his hand on all the red, swollen areas from the morning beating. Kate tried hard not to wince or squirm in pain.

“I don’t think anything’s broken.  Tough old chook you are! I didn’t mean to kick you so many times, but I just lost it!” Ryder smiled again, his hand rested on her stomach.  “I was careful not to kick here, this is where we are going to make our family!” he ran his finger along the scar again, “Just like when I slashed you, I made sure it wasn’t deep enough to damage anything important, just wanted to slow you down a bit.”

He snorted, “But you don’t slow down easy, do you?  How are your cravings? If you’re a good girl I’ll get your ‘forget me juice’, ok?”

Kate nodded, her skin was crawling, it felt like cockroaches squirming along her veins.  She needed to get rid of the cravings and she needed to survive, she was not going to get out alive otherwise.  She tried to smile but her lips stung and refused to move.

“Oh, Katie, look you’ve made your lip bleed!” Ryder took a hanky from his pocket and dabbed gently.

“Do you know this is nothing, nothing to what I was brought up with.  But look where I am, a successful stock broker.  You know I own this place and the unit next door, they pay me to live there.  I have a Porsche and a Range Rover, our kids will go to the best schools.  But you know it was my father and my mother who showed me that you have to be tough to survive in this world, no amount of beatings can prepare you for what it’s like out there!  Many a night I went to bed bleeding and broken, look,” Ryder held up his left hand, a crooked pinky finger wiggled in front of her face.

“My father told me this was the most useless bone in the body and the one he chose to teach me lessons, his favoured bone to break, can’t do a thing with it now.  Mind I could probably afford to have it fixed, but it’s a reminder of where I came from and how hard it was.” He smiled, his eyes bright.

“It doesn’t have to be that hard for you, Kate.  I don’t understand why you can’t see how much I love you.  No one else moves me like you do.  That first time we met in the Ivy and we snuck into the toilets, you really did it for me.  Usually I don’t get excited by the tarts I meet out there, a bit of fun but you got me hard, I went all night.  I could do you all night now but I don’t thinks it’s fair, while you’re not well.  We need to get you off that stuff so you’re well, then you’ll see sense, we can have our babies.  You know we can have a place in the country if you like,” he laughed, “any country!”

Kate watched him, trying to make sense of what he was saying over her cravings and her growing inability to pay attention.  She needed her fix.

“Look Kate, I can see you need your juice.  How about we kiss and make up?” Ryder offered. “I’ll take off your straps, and if you’re good you won’t need them tonight.”

He stroked the skin around the nylon strap on her wrist, “look your bleeding, can’t you see it’s silly having to wear these.  You just need to do as you’re told, ok?”

Kate nodded again, trying to smile.

“Oh, Katie, don’t smile, you’re getting blood all over my hanky!” he said as he produced the blood stained hanky and dabbed at her lips again.

“We’ll just be gentle tonight, ok?”

Kate nodded.

“Good girl, well let’s take these off.”  He bent down to her ankles and undid the blood stained straps, and then her wrists.

“Now off you go, I bet you need to use the toilet and then you can clean up the mess from this morning.” Ryder stood allowing Kate to stand up.

Kate slowly swung her feet over the edge of the bed, wincing in pain and holding her right side.  She slowly stood up and shuffled to the ensuite.

Ryder switched the light on to reveal the mess from earlier that day.  Blood smeared the sink, the walls of the shower and had sprayed onto the bathroom cabinet where the mirror had shattered and fallen off.  He handed her a spray bottle and some paper towels.

“Ok, well off you go and when you’re finished, have a shower.  I’ll be back to pick out your negligee for tonight.  It’s a special occasion, I have ordered dinner so I’m going to wait for the delivery.”

He reached over and pulled her face to his, Kate did all she could  to stop herself from pulling away or wincing.

He pecked her swollen lips, “We won’t be using these tonight!” he laughed before leaving.