Love Bites / / N.H

"I'm doing this because I love you."

My lover called, he was not in a sensible nor stable mood. "Why're you doing this to us?" He barely slurs, which is unbelievable because he had just downed about five beers. I mean, it would be unbelievable to someone who's never met him.

I hesitantly approach the dissatisfied caller. "I don't mean to, baby." I say without missing a beat, because if I do I'd be done for the night. And I do not want to be done for the night, it's only 4:30 pm and my classes begin at six.

His pale body adjusts in his old leathery recliner as he pulls out a crumpled paper. By the color and shape of it I can tell it's our rent which is over due. "Baby, I already got my last paycheck from my last job, I don't have money." I coo, to try and keep him calm.

He throws his head back in laughter at my words, my eyebrows twist in confusion, why is he laughing? He should've yelled at me, kicked me, yanked my hair, punched me... Not laughed.

I stand still, waiting for the punishment. But he just keeps laughing.

"You know what this means right?" He questions, cutting the laughter immediately and using a voice that I only hear in my night terrors. "You have to go out, get money. Shahid will take you and give you to the nicest men he knows." Oh no.

My night terrors are Shahid and his men. I can't go back there. He promised me I would never go back after he took me in. He promised no more strange men. My head is in a whirl and all I can do is cry. He hates it when I cry. That's when he's the meanest to me.

Next thing I know I'm on my knees in this dirty flat, trying to clear my eyes of this salty betrayal that's leaking from me. "Baby." I cry one last time before I feel a blow to my head and him say "I'm doing this because I love you."