𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟-𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑

3 a.m. pain

Abby's POV

"Abby, I told you what would happen if you embarrassed me like that in front of my friends again. You brought this on yourself," Kai says, stalking towards me.

A small laugh escapes my lips. "Kai, come on. I was just joking. You know that." A part of me thinks he is joking, but the way he is looking at me frightens me. "Kai?"

He walks forward, toward me, and I back up slowly. I keep backing up until I feel myself hit a wall. "If only you had listened," he sighs. He looks down, his eyebrows furrowing before I feel him grip my neck with his ice-cold hands. He's choked me before erotically, and sometimes I couldn't even breathe but it was consensual. This is... something else.

"Kai!" I choke, putting my hands on his hand. He lifts me off the ground with his hand before throwing me onto the floor. "Kai, what the hell!" I yell. "I love you," he sighs. As I open my mouth to speak, it falls open once I feel a sharp pain in my side. "Stop!" I yell. He cocks his leg back again before sending it forward, kicking me in the gut. I fall over, my back now laying on the floor. "Kai," I wheeze. "Please."

"I don't like doing this to you, Abby, but you have made me do this with your defiance," he sighs, kicking me once more in my gut. "Please stop!" I yell, tears streaming from my eyes. He delivers another blow to my stomach, the hardest of all before backing up. It takes me over a minute before I can get air into my lungs.

A moment later, I feel cold hands cupping my face, wiping the tears from my cheeks. "You took your punishment so well, baby." I cry harder as I look at him. He sees this and pulls me into his chest. "Shhh. It's over, baby. It's over. You took it so well." He strokes my hair and whispers sweet nothings in my ear.

I pull forward away from him. "I thought you loved me." He cups my face once more, looking into my eyes. His black eyes make goosebumps cover my skin. "I did that because I love you, Abby. You have to learn not to do things like that." He strokes my cheek with the pad of his thumb. "As long as you don't do that again and you behave, I'll never have to punish you like that again."

I jolt awake as I hear my door slam open. "What the fuck!" I yell, turning on my lamp. A breath of relief escapes my lips as I see who it is. "Rafe, what the fuck are you doing in here?"

I look at the clock on my nightstand and roll my eyes. "It's three in the fucking morning. Why the fuck are you in my room?" I let him stay the night in the guest room to make sure he didn't go get some coke. I did not give him permission to barge in my room unannounced and in the middle of the night.

As I look at him, I see him hyperventilating. Sweat sticks to his skin and shallow, choppy breaths escape his mouth. He's having a panic attack. I quickly get out of bed and walk over to him, placing my hand on his bare back. He falls to his knees, and I go down with him, keeping my hand on his back. "Breathe, Rafe." I slowly move my hand up and down his back, trying to soothe him. I continue to do this for about a minute and eventually, his breathing becomes less irregular, and he is able to breathe normally. "Tell me what happened," I request.

"I s-saw Sheriff P-Peterkin," he stutters, his breaths becoming irregular again. "What do you mean you saw her?" I ask, continuing to move my hand up and down on his back.

"S-she was in my dream. I s-saw her on the ground. There was so much b-blood," he answers, starting to hyperventilate again. I see his bare chest exhale and inhale very short, choppy breaths. "Shh," I whisper. He looks over to me, his eyes softening. After a few moments, his breathing begins to slow enough for him to form words. "I'm a monster," he whispers, looking away from me and down at his lap.