(TW: Abusive nature, Sexual/ Mature scenes. 18+ Chapter. Do not read if under 18. Discretion Is Advised.)

Arlan's Point Of View

"Oh good, you stopped crying."

I cupped the soft exterior of Aurora's cheek as she lay sleeping in our bed and her face creased, her head rolling slightly. Her little brows drew together.

Hesitantly, those gray eyes peeled open, waking up slowly. She took in my appearance sitting next to her, then through the denseness of her wet lashes, her eyes glanced down to notice she had been sobbing in her sleep. Her plump lips pulled into a melancholy frown before she peered back to me.

I rose my cigarette to my lips, exuding equanimity as the cynosure of her pearly tears captured my focus. I was fully dressed in my silk black button down and slacks, long curls slouching at my shoulders. Aurora's eyes held a recognizable paralyzed fear, an air of uncomfortableness in her creased face. I exhaled slowly through my teeth, the white airy flames dancing into the air.

"Look at you, all battered and beaten up," I mumbled in a low scoff, moving her chin to the left and right to see her neck bruised from all the choking. I released her face and watched her struggle to swallow. Her eyes peered up at mine, intimidation clear as crystals in them.

"Isn't that what you wanted?" She muttered.

"No," I scowled, facing dropping to a grimace Aurora shivered a bit under my hard, unrelenting gaze. "I want you to swallow your pride and show some appreciation to me."

"You sure showed that you care about me," She murmured dryly under her breath.

I grabbed her chin tightly.

"I show you every day," I coldly hiss, infuriated.

"You don't care about me, you want complete domination over me," She boldly met my eyes and weakly said. Bored by her words, I stood and crossed over my vanity, her words behind me "There's a difference, don't get the two confused," Aurora leaned up, only to hear a metal clinking and crease her face even more in confusion. She twisted behind herself to find her left hand handcuffed to the bed. She yanked a little, then a little more, before she was vigorously pulling at her handcuff and whimpering.

"Uh, the whole point of a handcuff is it keeps you locked in place; All that tugging isn't going to make that magically stop," I called from in front of her, arranging my gold rings on my tattooed fingers with my cig between my teeth. I turned back towards Aurora, taking in her state of complete paralyzed fear and bewilderment.

"Arlan, my exam is today!" She cried, those crimson-red lined eyes filling with fresh tears once again. My little Dove tugged her arm repeatedly. "Where's Nate?"

"He left, I told him you were sick."

She gasped in disbelief.

"Arlan!"

"Tell you what, " I reasoned coolly, sauntering forward and approaching the bed as she kept vigorously tugging the chain. Once I sat myself on the royal blue blanket, she froze and immediately sunk away from me.

"I'll be happy to take you to your exam, Dove," Her face momentarily relaxed, "If you submit completely and admit you need me," I exhaled a small remainder of smoke in front of her face.

Aurora's gray orbs watered as she pursed her lips hard, cringing away from the nicotine.

"No."

"Fine, then I guess you'll be alone in here all day," I stood and went to cross for the door when her tiny, soft fingers caught my rough wrist.

"Arlan, wait!" I looked down at her pathetic state. I ravished in the sight of her below me, eyes wide, begging. I willed myself to control my cock. "I-I studied for weeks on this exam, I poured all my energy and even got a tutor, haven't you ever worked so hard to achieve something? This isn't fair!" She bemoaned in desperation.

"Sometimes life's unfair, Aurora."

Her face broke into helpless distraught state and her mouth flew open, but I beat her to speaking.

"You just said I don't care about you. So if I'm just a cold heartless, uncaring person, why don't I act like it? You haven't acknowledged that I've done you any favors, so I'm just living up to what you claim," I go to walk away when she grips my wrist again. Her grip is so weak it's comical, I'm only pretending it's working to stay by her side and hear her beg.

"Please! My academics are very important to me," She shamelessly begged with urgency.

I scoffed and tossed her hand away from my wrist.

I never cared for school, why did she care so much? Teachers and professors or whoever, they don't actually care about my wellbeing or mental state. They're there to get paid by the state and pass out papers and then sit at their stupid desk. How am I supposed to focus on my work while idiot, pre-pubescent other kids are writing on their papers? It's annoying, it's anxiety-inducing. I have too much adrenaline and anger to merely sit behind a desk and write an essay or listen about a subject I could give two less of a shit about.

"School isn't important for anyone," Was my retort.

Aurora's teeth clenched in aggravation and sheer frustration.

"Maybe it's not for you, b-but it is for me!" Aurora urged. "I don't want to go into the mafia or something, I w-want a degree and career."

"I make enough money for the both of us," I sneer flatly, offended she would want to venture off and make her own independent money.

She would rely on me financially always. Yes, I was in a two million dollar debt and things were looking troubling at work right now, but that would quickly be turned around, I was sure of it.

"I have my own dreams and aspirations too, you know! I-I won't let you reduce me to some docile little house pet!" She yelled, livid.

"Oh, babygirl's so brave now, hm? Don't forget you've been crying for fourteen hours straight due to the pain I inflicted on you," I sneer as my dark brows arch threateningly.

She gulps under the heat of my menacing glare but tries to look just as intimidating. Really, it's just a giant pout on her face and her brows scrunched together ridiculously.

"And you don't even feel bad," She bit out under her breath.

"Like I feel bad about teaching you a lesson," I retorted, rolling my eyes, "I kill people, Aurora, remember? And you think I feel bad about some BDSM punishments. You humor me, Dove."

Her brows drew together, she clearly had not heard of BDSM. She wiped the confusion off her face and attempted to look strong again.

"You can't keep me here, you know it's wrong. I have the cuts on my bottom..." She trailed off, humilitated. "And the burns on my stomach. I have every reminder of the pain you inflicted, so even if I take my exam, I'll still be reminded of the...'punishment'," She whispered the last word.

I scoffed a laugh of slight amusement, crossing my arms.

"Are you trying to manipulate me into executing an ulterior agenda, Dove?"

"No, I'm trying to get you to be a rational human being!"

"And who said I'm rational?"

"You might be," She mindlessly responded, grappling at straws.

"Well I'll tell you, I'm usually not."

She whined petulantly, growing exasperated.

"Please, Arlan!"

My anger flared and I came forward and tugged the silver Dove of her necklace, bringing her forward and outstretching her handcuffed hand, making her crane her neck to meet my smoky gaze.

"Then say it, Dove," I hissed. "It's so God damn simple! Say it, and I'll drive you to school."

Fat tears rolled down quickly as her eyes burned and stung with the new tears. She blinked at me, gray eyes against jade. And gradually, she bowed her head in frustration. It didn't look like she was making any attempt to say anything. It was so infuriating! She couldn't admit a simple 'thank you', at the very least, let alone admit her love and care for me when I so openly express it to her every day! I grabbed her cheeks and squished them, forcing her to look at me. Her bottom lip jutted out.

I huffed and tossed her face away.

"I'm going to work, lie there pathetically if that's what you want," I bitterly fired at her, throwing her hand away and turning from her.

"Please!" Aurora sat up quickly and pleaded, ferociously tugging on her handcuffed arm.

"Why are you tiring yourself out, Dove," I sighed at her, grabbing my keys. "Just accept your fate. You know what you have to do to change it, and you're refusing to."

She shook her head, body trembling.

"Please," She whispered, her voice so small and eyes so devastated as she sniffled. "I worked so hard. It's my first ever college exam, I want to prove myself. I-I want to be smart."

I narrowed my eyes at my girlfriend. She really thought she could make something of herself at this stupid little community college? Doesn't she know she's not cut out for even that? She was much too foolish, skittish, naiive, dumbfounded, and anxious for any sort of participation in the real world. Although, I did admire her for trying. She had academic confidence in herself that I never had in myself. I had to diminish that.

"You're not a smart girl, Aurora. You never will be. Your intelligent runs as far as a piece of cardboard."

Newfound heartbreak swam into her eyes as her collarbone tightened, drawing in a breath of shock. I challenged her gaze by relentlessly staring, watching new tears roll down her face. Hurt shadowed her eyes and I was deeply satisfied. And then, I carelessly turned from her, grabbing my keys and slamming the door.

Aurora's Point Of View

And just like that, the weeks I spent preparing for this exam were for nothing. I had built up so much confidence in myself and was so proud of how mature I felt, studying for my college exam. All. For. Nothing.

I couldn't decide which emotion to focus my energy on. Resentment, mourning, frustration, sheer anger, hurt, fear?

He made me feel it all at once. My eyes welling up instinctually told me exactly what I was going to focus on first: Hurt.

Not only did he deny me of completing my exam, leaving me here chained up like some dehumanized object, but he told me 'well, you might as well not even take the test anyway, 'cause you're stupid!'

I tried not to take his words too much to heart because I know my captor is a low-life psychopathic loser worth nothing, and his words don't deserve weighted value. He's insecure, he should be the one hurting, not me.

But fuck, I wanted to show my professor so badly that I cared about school, that I was a driven student worthy of good grades. I had such bad social anxiety and insecurity about facets of myself as it is that I just wanted to do good on this test to prove I was good at something, school. I wanted to grow and prove this to myself, to my teachers, to my tutor. And Arlan was denying me the opportunity.

'There will be other exams', I tried to repeatedly tell myself, to comfort myself. I'm only a freshman, one exam won't hurt.

It still felt so heartbreaking. My work ethic had been impeccable. I studied constantly, read the textbook from the table of contents to the glossary for days and days, I highlighted, I made flash cards, I focused on nothing else. This exam consumed my mind. And now, after promising my professor that I would take this seriously, and after getting a tutor, it looks like I'm just fluking out. Like I don't actually care. Like I've wasted people's times. And it could all be fixed if I simply spewed a few lies to Arlan that I cared about him, but I couldn't. Cause then what comes next? Would I have to kiss him to prove it? Or do something even more sexually intense to prove it? Would I have to drop my new friends to prove it, what if it drove him to crave to cease even more control over me, and he has me drop out of college altogether?

My stomach still burns, my ass hurts horrifically, I'm lying here naked, angry, torn with emotion, devastated. All I wanted, shockingly enough, is for Arlan to come home, so I can attempt to persuade him one more time to let me go to my exam. How ironic that as I'm naked, abused, and chained up in my captor's bed, I'm staring at the door hoping any moment he enters.

What would Santiago think of me? This was fucking embarrassing. He spent so much of his personal time helping me, only for me to not show up. What does that say about my character? It says: 'I don't care about you, or school, or anyone. Sorry!' When in reality, that's the last message I'd want to convey to him. He's been so kind, so understanding and patient, even trying to soothe my anxiety by acknowledging it. I was terrified to get a tutor, having never needed one, and he was the best I could ask for. Now he'll probably find out I didn't show and think so little of me, be so disappointed of me.

My mind was rambling on, what time was it? My arm ached. I'm hungry. The sun's out, it's still afternoon. Is it lunch time?

I look up at the chain in bitterness.

My arm is achy as hell, its agonizing.

"I'll never hurt you," Arlan had told me months ago.

The sound of his belt cutting me, the wax sizzling as it burned my skin, and his insults of "your intelligence being like cardboard" all flooded in at once. I was irritated, enraged, and again furiously tried to shake my hand off from the handcuff. I wanted to yell for help. I wanted to yell for help so bad. But everyone here worked for Arlan. Everyone here worked for 'the boss'. No one would come to help me. Well, I yelled anyway. Not anyone's name, not for help, not even a word. I just screeched as much as the capacity in my lungs and throat allowed for, a shrill, unkind-to-the-ears, painstakingly raw screech until my ears and back of my head and forehead felt hot. And then I heaved in heavy breaths, panting, my chest desperately yo-yoing up and down as I caught my breath. It brought some relief to my body, and now I just coiled up and waited. I brought my lamb to me and succumbed to exhaustion, drifting to sleep.

In my dream, Beck and I are at the mall. We're looking at the large fountain on the first floor, the water sprouting beautifully as passer byers carry shopping bags and sip slurpees. And he takes coins out of his jacket, handing me a handful.

'Toss one in, A, make a wish' he winks at me, taking hold of my hand securely.

Are we dating in this dream?

I stare down at the glimmering, silver quarters in my hand and back at the sprouting fountain which holds pennies and coins on its floor. I softly under hand throw one quarter up in the air, and it spins and flips in the air before softly plopping into the fountain, sinking to the bottom. I close my eyes, and I don't know exactly what I wish for. It is a dream, after all, the information is kind of foggy. I look over to Beck, he's squinting and zeroing his eyes in on the fountain, practicing his aim carefully as I chuckle and roll my eyes.

"It's a quarter, not a football."

"Yeah, yeah, Mulven. It's an art," He jokes, before finally throwing his in. It flies through the air and then lands pefectly in the middle, making an even more epic splash than mine. I smirk, looking to him as he holds a smug grin and shrugs.

I look back at my balled up hand and uncurl it to find several more quarters. I have so many more things to wish for, staring at the array of coins with wishful thinking. Will my wishes actually come true? I throw one quarter in, then another, then another, and another, and I'm suddenly so infuriated and I know that nobody will notice, so I reach for my necklace, tear off the Dove charm and lunge my arm back, and chuck it into the fountain, my chest heaving. Now, only a plain silver chain adorns my neck. The Dove charms sinks to the bottom of the fountain, I feel liberated. It's gone. It's off my neck. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free.

My eyes peel open groggily, awaking, and the metal chain of my handcuff clinks slightly. Dread pools in my stomach. My necklace is still on my skin, fully in tact. The Dove rests near my beating heart. I am not free.

I rub my eyes gently, adjusting to being out of my dream headspace and shifting up in bed. I'm still naked, I feel so vulnerable, I wish I had at least a T-shirt on. It's kind of cold too. The doorknob shifts and my head snaps up, my heart pumping loudly in my ear drums. The door widens and there stands the Devil himself.

"You cut your hair," I say on instinct, shocked that his unruly, shoulder length locks are now trimmed to a textured crew cut, a cowlick of hair above his eyebrows. His neck and shoulders are revealed fully. He looked so cleaned up.

"I did. You like it?" He mused, smirk tugging his face shamelessly.

I knew he did it just grab my attention. My mouth gaped as I cursed myself for acknowledging the hair cut.

"I was just noticing it.."

He smirked, his tattooed neck and shoulders on full display now.

"I think you like it. Why don't we get a little intimate, hm, shy baby?" He preyed towards me, sliding his hand under the covers to rub my thigh up and down. "You don't have to tell me with words, show me otherwise..." He started tugging the covers down from my shoulders.

I snarl in disgust inwardly and grip the covers tightly, stopping him, twisting away from his touch.

"No thanks," I whisper. "What...what time is it?" I asked, holding onto hope that it may be earlier than two PM, which is when my exam is.

"It's 12:30 babe, I'm here for my lunch break."

I'm sure hope must have lit up my eyes because he gave me a warning look, as if telling me not to ask again. But I didn't care.

"Arlan...I've sat here, like a good girl," I used phrasing to his usual liking, hoping it would work in my favor. "I've really learned my lesson, can I please...go to my exam?" I bit my lip.

He studied my expressions calculatedly, the viridian green of his eyes like a smoky forest. His smoldering gaze held me as he rubbed a thumb tenatively against his plump bottom lip.

"And what lesson have you learned, Dove?" He tested, resting his hands under the cover on the thigh again.

I opened my mouth and gaped a bit like a fish, muttering incoherently. He squeezed my thigh, prompting me for an answer.

"Well," I finally said English words, licking my dry lips. Then, I changed my direction, just blurting out on the spot, "Okay, can we have an open and transparent conversation before I say anything?"

I deemed it only fair that we talk about this in a real, honest sense. Then maybe Arlan would understand why I can't care and love for him, because he doesn't truly love and care for me. I had to bring him out of his delusion, his oblivion. He moved his hand from my thigh and straightened up.

"Sure," Arlan agreed, loosening his tie a bit and sitting near by legs on the bed.

I licked my dry lips once more, heart pumping erratically. I gained all my confidence and drew in a large breath, exhaling softly. I met his eyes.

"Are you familiar with the word consent?" I asked.

He looked caught off guard, brows drawing together as his head drew to the side.

"Yes," he said.

"Well, there have been many times between us where I was not able to consent. I acknowledge in your head you think taking me from foster care was saving me, but you never even asked if I was okay with it. And you did so with lying, kidnapping, coercion, and other illegal things."