His Little Wife

With music filling the air, I lay across my bed, flicking through a text book in the middle of a daydream.

Lost in thought, I picture the guy that I’ve been crushing on since nine. I imagine him asking me out on a date where we’d walk along the beach down to the pier. There, we’d play arcade games until the late hours, eating pizza before he walked me home. The air would be cooler in the night, making me shiver. The gentleman that I imagine him to be, he offers me his jacket, making my heart swoon. He’d drape it over my shoulders where his touch would linger before he leans into me, placing a delicate kiss on my lips.

But my reverie is cut short when my bedroom door slams open, smashing into the wall.

Startled, I sit up in my bed, my dream of the blonde haired boy ripped away from me, replaced with confusion and fear.

“What—” I start to say, not sure how to finish that sentence as my dad is dragged into my room, cuts and bruises covering him.

The two thugs that dragged him in, throw him to the floor, moving to the side of the room as they make way for an even more menacing third guy to strut in behind them.

“Anna!” My dad exclaims before one of the thugs punches him in the face, silencing him.

My mouth opens and closes, at a loss for what’s happening as the third guy marches toward me.

Fearing for my life, I push myself back on the bed, pushing myself as far away from him as I can but when my back meets the wall, my escape is halted.

With no meaningful distance between me and the man, he reaches across the bed, grabbing hold of me. With my wrist trapped in his unyielding grasp, he yanks me from the bed so that I’m standing in front of him. Barely able to support myself on shaky legs, he releases his hold. My own hand moves to the place he was gripping, trying to light the bruising pain that lingered there.

Terrified, I look past the intruder to the only familiar face in the room.

“Dad?” I call to him, hoping, wishing for him to do something. “What’s happening?” I ask, feeling my body tremble.

My father struggles on his knees, unable to get up from his injuries. All he can do is hold on to his stomach and gasp in pain.

That’s when the man grasps my jaw, forcing me to turn back to him. Reluctantly, I look back at him, looking into his soulless, black eyes.

His gaze runs over me as he tilts my head side to side as if he were inspecting me. I try to look away, try to pull out of his grip but I’m not a match for him as he towers over me, holding me with ease.

“Open.” He orders, pinching my jaw, giving me no other choice than to obey him.

I let my mouth fall open, hoping if I give him what he wants he’ll leave me alone.

With my mouth open, his long, calloused fingers pull my bottom lip down as he examines my teeth. Then his finger presses into my mouth, feeling for god knows what. I fight the urge to bite down on him, knowing he could do a lot more damage to me than I’d ever be able to do to him. Although it pains me to just stand there and let him do whatever he wants, I do just that, staying perfectly silent and as still as my trembling frame would let me.

“Okay” He says, pulling his hand away from me. “Now strip.”

Horror flashes across my face, tears threatening to run from my eyes. I hope I misheard him as my heart starts to pound in my chest. I mean, he couldn’t possibly have told me to strip, to take my clothes off in front of him and two other strange men, as well as my own father. What was he going to do? What was happening? I couldn’t wrap my head around what was going on as I look back between him and my father.

“Did you not hear me?” He questions me, raising his voice, making my lip quiver.

I look over to my dad again to see him facing the other way. It’s then that I realise pretty quickly that he’s not going to be able to do anything to save me. The thought has tears sliding down my cheeks, refusing to stop.

“Don’t make me say it again.” The man growls.

My hands shake violently as I move them to the bottom of my top, pulling the material over my head, revealing my bra to the three strangers in the room. I’m quick to then drop the top to the floor, covering myself with my hands as best as I can.

“Jeans.” The man tells me next as he paces around me like some predator hunting its prey.

“Please—” I try to say, for it to come out in a strangled sob.

“Now!” He barks.

With the fear of what could happen next I don’t move. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Every muscle in my body was telling me that this was wrong, that if I did this then it wouldn’t end well for me. Standing there, I could only imagine what would happen next if I was only standing in my underwear.

I knew I’d have no chance of fighting off any advances the man made and even if I got lucky enough to stop him, there were two other men standing near the doorway, stopping me from being able to run away.

Cowering at his feet, I wonder if it would be better to just get it over and done with? At least I could remove my clothing without hurting myself. I couldn’t imagine him being gentle if he had to undress me. I didn’t want anyone touching me any longer than was necessary. Maybe if I did what he asked he wouldn’t be so angry, maybe he’d be more gentle. So with a shaky breath, I unbutton my jeans and drop them to the floor, stepping out of them, leaving a pile of my clothing on the floor by my feet.

“Rather pale, isn’t she?” He says to my father as if I’m not standing there in the room. “Is she ill or something?” He demands to know from my dad without taking his eyes off of me.

My father shakes his head, still looking to the side as I stand in my underwear, crying to myself.

“Is she still intact?” He asks my father next, a question that catches me off guard.

“I— I think so.” My father struggles to get out. Not meeting the scary man’s eyes.

“Girl?” The man asks me, finally acknowledging the fact that I’m actually in the room.

His booming voice has me jumping before my eyes flick up to him where he stands unmoving.

“Answer the question.” He orders through gritted teeth like this was vexing him.

“I— I don’t understand.” I tell him, confused by the whole interaction.

“Are you a virgin or not?” He almost shouts, venom clear in his tone.

‘Ye— yes.’ I utter back, not sure if the truth is the right thing for this situation.

“Hhmm, I suppose I could have some use for her.” He turns to speak to my father again, ignoring me.

While he looks the other way, I cover myself again, only catching him giving me one last glance over his shoulder.

“Pack up her things and have her sent to me by tomorrow.” He says, turning back to my father, leaving no room for argument as he walks out of my bedroom.

The two goons are quick to follow him, leaving just me and my father by ourselves. Once I hear the front door open and slam shut, I grab a blanket from my bed and wrap myself before I move to my dad, dropping to the floor next to him.

“Dad?” I ask, as he pushes himself up from the floor with bright red blood dripping from his crooked nose.

“Are you okay?” He asks, coughing up even more blood from other injuries I didn’t realise he had until now.

“I’m fine, I’m okay.” I tell him. “What did they do to you?” I ask.

“I’m so sorry, Anna. This is all my fault.” He apologises, ignoring my question.

“Who were they? Who was that man?” I question, fighting back even more tears as I try to help my father up from the cold, hard wooden floor.

“That’s Lucian” He tells me, pausing for a moment to catch his breath.

He struggles to stand as his hand grips his ribs, letting out a groan of pain.

“Who is he? What does he want?”

“He wants you, Anna. He wants you to become his wife.”