The aroma of alcohol engulfed my senses as Zach closed in.

His normally bright, intimidating sapphire eyes were now hazed over, diluted by the beer and whatever else he had drank while I was at rehearsal. As he strolled towards me wearing that lazy smile of his that instilled nothing but dread and fear to pump through my veins, I suddenly wished to be back with Kaleb.

I didn't want to have sex. Not after the wonderful day I just had with Kaleb and the confusing change I could feel swirling within me mounted on top of my mind.

I simply wasn't in the mood, and Zach would just have to understand.

"I missed you, baby," Zach slurred as he approached me. Every muscle in my body tensed immediately as Zach took those final steps into me and wrapped his arms around my waist, tugging me into his chest.

"Did you miss me?" he asked as he nuzzled his head into my neck, nerves prickling along whatever patch of skin he came in contact with.

"Of course," I lied through my teeth as I tried my hardest to wiggle my way out of Zach's grip without annoying him.

"Mmm, I know you did," Zach hummed seductively in a sickening tone. "So how about we move into the bedroom and you can show me just how much you missed me?"

"I just got home, Zach," I answered with a pathetic excuse for a laugh as I tried to maneuver Zach's tight grip on my waist off of me.

"And your point is?"

"My point is that I just got home after a long rehearsal and I'm a bit tired," I tried to reason in a light voice.

Zach pinned his eyes on mine, a daunting, challenging look mixing through his stare.

"And my point is that I've been sitting here all day long doing nothing but watching T.V., drinking, and picturing exactly what I planned on doing to this body of yours the second you walked through the door."

A yelp tore past my lips as I felt a hard slap against my backside and then strong fingers gripping into my flesh greedily. Zach's eyes darkened hungrily as he kept his stare fixed on mine as he spoke.

"And I plan on keeping true to my plans."

I felt my lips part in astonishment. My mind began to spin as I tried to steady my thoughts just enough to form a single, fluid thought or conclusion.

He planned on having sex even if I didn't want to?

That goes against everything he said all those weeks back about never hurting me again, always putting my needs first, and overall just changing how he acted with me.

He promised me he would be different, that he would be better for me and I trusted him.

It's just the alcohol talking, Lee. This isn't the real Zach.

Shaking my head, I placed my hands over his that was still on my waist, attempting to pry it off gently as I tried to talk him down.

"Zach, I'm really tired and I'm just not in the mood, okay?"

"Oh, I bet I can get you in the mood real quick," Zach mumbled against my neck as he continued to try assault my skin with his lips as he placed kiss after chaste kiss on my neck.

"But what if I don't want to?" I inquired as I once again tried to detach Zach's hands from around my waist where they were beginning to tighten to an unbearable point and fill my mind with a foreboding sensation of pure dread.

"You want to, I promise you you do," Zach said, his voice husky and etched in confidence as he swatted my own hands away from his.

"Zach, I don't-"

"For fucks sake, Leah!" Zach exploded causing my entire body to flinch. "Just shut the fuck up for once and let me do what I want!" Zach yelled in my face, his wild eyes boring into mine as his fingers dug into my slim waist, forcing me to bite back the whimper of pain.

In that very second, I saw him.

I saw the Zach that I had lived with for the past two years come out of hiding, proving that he had never really left in the first place.

Standing in front of me was not the man that promised me he would never hurt me ever again. No, this was a man that was hurting me and planned on doing so much more if I wanted to or not.

This was the man Kaleb had warned me about.

A tidal wave of panic washed through my body, claiming it in a stiff stance as I realized what I had to do.

"Okay." I forced my lips to tilt into a smile. "Just let me go freshen up, okay?"

The smile that was planted on Zach's face when I initially walked in appeared once again, his eyes doubling over in desire. I stifled a grateful sigh as Zach's tight hold on my waist lessened until he had let me go completely.

"Now, that's more like it," Zach said with a smirk as he backed up a couple feet, letting me skirt around him and with a playful wink sent his way to sate him for a bit longer, I made my way into the bedroom and shut the door behind me.

I wasted no time in fishing my hand through my purse until my fingers wrapped around the familiar shape of my phone.

I hadn't thought I would actually heed his advice or take him up on his offer so soon or at all. Yet, everything changed the moment I realized just how far Zach would go and just how little he had actually changed.

My thumb scrolled over the screen of my phone anxiously until I found the name I wanted.

Kasey.

My stomach rolled with nerves so powerful that I nearly felt sick as my thumb hovered above his name. Without wasting another second, I pressed 'call'.

A few, tumultuous seconds drifted by until a familiar voice rang out on the other side of the phone.

"Hello?"

At the sound of his deep, rich voice, I suddenly found my words were at a loss. A large lump of sorrow lodged in my throat, preventing any words from making their way out.

"Hello?" his voice called out once more. For some reason, the mere sound of the comforting voice sent my heart into a wild panic filled with desperate need; a need for him.

I needed Kaleb.

With the realization, a strangled whimper fell from my lips as an abrupt rush of tears burned in my eyes.

"Leah? Leah, is that you?" Kaleb asked in a haste voice filled with sudden concern.

My heart lurched as he spoke my name and terror filled tears spilled over my eye lids. My lips quivered as I spoke up.

"Kaleb..."

"Leah, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

I pressed my knuckles over my trembling lips to keep in the sobs that tried to escape. My hand was curled tightly into a fist, clenched so tightly together that my nails pinched into the soft skin of my palm.

The wetness of my tears dripped down my fingers and I choked back a small sob to respond.

"Um, yes... I just-" I dropped my head into my palm, bringing my hand away from my mouth as the tears began to flow endlessly, silent cries slipping past my lips as I cried to Kaleb in the darkness of my bedroom.

"Leah, did something happen? Where are you?" Kaleb asked, his voice filled with worry and protection. My chest heaved and constricted painfully with the emotional depth of his tone, making it only that much harder to speak.

"I'm- I'm at home," I managed to sniffle out.

"Are you alone?"

My lips automatically began to quiver as rivers of tears slipped down my cheeks and drenched my neck in the process.

"No," I cried, my voice as broken as it could get, shaking and laced with so much terrible sorrow.

"Are you hurt?"

Taking in a shaking breath, I swallowed past the painful lump in my throat to answer.

"Not yet."

I heard Kaleb curse under his breath and then movement from the other end of the phone.

"I'm coming to get you," Kaleb stated in a fiercely protective voice.

An excruciatingly grateful sob ripped through my throat and sounded through the silent bedroom. My hand slapped over my mouth to keep in the rest of my cried as my legs wobbled, threatening to give out from beneath me.

This was it.

"Please hurry," I pleaded in a soft voice.

"I'm getting my keys now. Hold on, Peaches," Kaleb soothed as I listened to him tear through his apartment getting ready to leave.

"I'm scared, Kaleb," I confessed through a strangled whisper, water petals falling down my face in pathetic drops.

"Shit, I'm coming, Peaches, I swear I'll be there in less than ten minutes. Lock yourself in the bathroom, do whatever you have to do until I get there," Kaleb spoke hurriedly, his voice etched with determination and an ever present sliver of alarm that I couldn't help but take notice to.

"I'm getting in my truck now. What's your address?"

A relieved cry fell from my mouth as my lips fought back a thankful smile.

"It's-"

A panic like no other slashed through my mind as I felt a strong hand suddenly slap my phone from my hands, sending it crashing onto the wooden floor.

"No!" I screamed as the same hand twisted through my hair and tugged my head backwards, pain slicing through my skull and fear igniting within my stomach as I met a pair of livid eyes.

"Who the fuck were you talking to?!"

"My friend Kasey! Zach please, you're hurting me," I begged him as his grip only tightened in my hair, his knuckles tearing into the back of my head with the force of his fist pressing against my skull.

"Hurting you?" he mocked, his voice dripping with disdain and even a slight bit of horrifying arousal.

"Don't pretend like you don't like it." His voice was no longer his own. Zach had disappeared from the room and in his place, a monster with intentions so cruel they sent my fight or flight mode into hyper-drive.

"I don't," I bit out as I daringly grabbed for Zach's arm and tugged on it with all of my might, attempting to get him to let go.

He didn't budge.

In fact, he added his other hand to the battle; around my throat.

Alarm spiked in my mind as I felt his fingers wrap tauntingly around my thin neck, his grip tight but not tight enough to crush my windpipe.

His eyes met mine as he towered above me, his eyes sparkling with devious, malicious intent.

"Oh, I think you do. I think you love getting hurt like any good whore does." Zach cocked his head to the side, his lips quirking up into a smug smirk. "I bet you would like it if I tightened my hand around your throat, wouldn't you?"

I shook my head frantically, but that did little to stunt his fingers actions as they began to close in, clenching around my neck and slowly but surely taking away my air supply. Fear widened my eyes as an uncontrollable panic seized my mind and I thrashed about as much I could, my lungs beginning to burn with the need for air

Zach watched me as I flailed, his stare glowing with delight as tears leaked down the side of my face and my entire head felt like it was going to explode, compounded with the dire need for a release.

And then his hand was gone.

I sucked in a breath of air like never before, taking in as much as feasibly possible and choking on the sweet oxygen as it invaded my lungs.

As I coughed, Zach kept me in the exact same position. My throat was painfully raw and ached by the time I was done choking down all of the air I could until my lungs were sated.

My head lulled back in defeat as my breathing came back to normal, being held up by Zach's hand that was still intertwined within my hair. Zach's fingers loosened their hold and almost tenderly so, pushed my head upwards to meet his gaze head on.

"See? That was thrilling, wasn't it?" he asked with an impish gleam in his stare.

I didn't respond.

Zach's head ticked to the side once more, his brows arching in question.

"Someone's feeling disobedient today," he mused in a peculiar voice.

"And I'm sure you know happens to disobedient girlfriends," Zach drew out his words as his face descended next to mine, his lips brushing across my ear as he spoke.

"They get punished."

With that, I was flipped over. It all happened in a manner of seconds. I was standing and then I wasn't. My stomach was now flat against the soft surface of the bed, my feet dangling and looking for the ground.

A short scream ripped through my throat as two hands grabbed at my hips and roughly pulled me back on the bed until my feet eventually did touch the ground and my butt hit back into a pair of hips and a very excited erection.

Dread stabbed through my mind at the feeling of Zach's erection pressing against my backside. I brought up arms up onto the bed and pushed my chest up in an attempt to scramble my way up farther onto the bed and away from Zach.

Unfortunately, Zach was one step ahead of me and alas, far stronger.

His hands anchored themselves to my thighs so tightly I feared they might bruise in the morning. His hands crushed so hard into my poor thighs that I gave up my fight within seconds of starting it, falling limply back down onto the bed.

"Damn, Lee you are really testing me today," Zach muttered out as I felt one of his hands roam around my backside slowly, caressing the fabric of my shorts lightly.

"Ah!" I screamed out as I felt Zach's powerful hand come down and swiftly smack my backside followed by a searing pain radiating out through my body.

"You spoke out."

Another smack.

I bit my lip to keep in the cries that tried to seep past my lips as my tears continued to fall, soaking spots on the bed around my face.

"You tried my patience."

Smack.

My backside burned and cried out in miserable pain as Zach hand continued its malicious assault, slapping my sensitive flesh as hard as he possibly could over and over again. The pain was unbearable and each slap hammered away at the foundation I'd built my life on over the last three years. My cries had become so overpowering, the embarrassment and shame so potent that my sobs had fallen mute; all sound stolen away by the deafening betrayal in the room.

"And now you'll get exactly what you wanted," I heard Zach say. Horror burned throughout my chest, leaving mebreathless and desperate as I heard the definite sound of a buckle being undoneand seconds later, the bustle of pants falling to the floor

"Zach, no," I pleaded as I tried to once again pull my legs up onto the bed in order to scurry away further onto the bed.

He ignored me and I felt his hands grab at the material of my shorts, attempting to pull them down.

I squeezed my legs together as tightly as I could and tried to roll myself over on the bed, swatting my hands at him blindly.

Somehow, through sheer terrible luck, Zach managed to get a hold of both of my hands; holding them hostage behind my back with one hand and pressing me face first down into the mattress. With the other hand he continued to pull at my shorts.

"Zach, stop!" I struggled harder beneath him.

"Don't pretend like you don't fucking want it. I bet you're wet just thinking about me fucking you like this." Zach had now managed to get my shorts over my hips, now struggling with getting them past my clenched thighs.

"Zach! Please stop!" I yelled out. "I'm serious! I don't want this!"

"Every whore wants it," Zach snapped at me as he bit his words out through gritted teeth.

"And you're my whore, Leah," Zach murmured as he became furious with my shorts, tugging at them ferociously.

"Open your fucking legs, Leah!" Zach screamed as he pulled up on my hands, twisting my arms to an unbearably painful angle, causing a cry of agony to break past my lips as I immediately complied with his wishes.

I felt the barricade of my shorts drop down my legs. Zach's hands went directly to my underwear, pulling my last shred of dignity off slowly until I was left completely bare to him, emotionally and physically.

"So fucking sweet," Zach grumbled out and I flinched as I felt his hand run gently over my sore backside, like he was reveling in his violent artwork.

My body was not my own. My emotions, my thoughts, my flesh... they were not mine in that moment. And as I felt Zach's erection poke at my entrance, I knew I would never fully belong to myself again.

As I felt Zach rip through my body and sink fully into me, I knew from that moment forward, I would be broken.

With every thrust of himself into me, every primal grunt he would release, a part of my soul chipped away with it. I would never be whole again. I would never be the girl I once was ever again in this lifetime.

I was weak. I was pathetic. I was Zach's property.

As Zach finished up with one quick set of final thrusts inside of me before he released himself into my womb, I just laid there.

That's all I did was lay there the entire time; flat on my stomach, as silent, endless tears soaked my face and drenched the comforter beneath me.

Without a word, he pulled himself out of me and walked off, the bathroom door shutting seconds later. That's how he left me. Used, beaten, and leaking of his excretions.

My mind was thoughtless and my heart stagnant of any feeling.

Zach had finally done it.

I was broken... numb.

All except for the one emotion that was slowly working its way through me as I lay there; an emotion I wasn't very familiar with at all but suddenly felt myself clinging to with everything left inside of me.

That emotion was hate.