Three Months Ago
Standing by the stove in the kitchen of her New York City apartment, Mackenzie frowned down at the pot of tomato sauce that bubbled away. She slowly stirred the sauce with the wooden spoon that was gripped tightly in her left hand. Glancing at the clock that was above the refrigerator, she sighed heavily. She heard the front door open and close before footsteps sauntered down the short hallway and into the main living room.
“Mac, I’m home.” Daniel Cohen called out as he made his way to the kitchen where he could smell food cooking.
He stopped inside the kitchen doorway, smiling at the sight of Mackenzie’s flushed cheeks from the hot stove.
“Lisa called.” Mackenzie spoke calmly of her boyfriend’s lover, keeping her eyes on the sauce as she continued to stir.
The smile slipped off of Daniel’s face, his easy posture automatically tensing up. Without even looking at him, Mackenzie could feel the guilt radiating off of her boyfriend. Daniel shoved his hands into the front pockets of his gray slacks as he fought with something to say.
“Mac, I told you that I’m no longer seeing her. It was a onetime mistake. Why can’t you trust me when I tell you that it is over between me and Lisa?” Daniel asked, his voice almost sad.
Mackenzie removed the wooden spoon from the sauce and set it on the paper towel she had laid out on the counter. Tilting her head slightly, she gave him the ‘look’ that was a cross between do-I-look-that-stupid-to-you and I-can-see-pass-you-filthy-lies-you-prick. Both of which Daniel hated being aimed his way. Daniel’s lips formed a firm line as he took Mackenzie’s look with one of his own. One of annoyance.
“What do you want me to say, Mac? You’ve clearly made up your mind already.” Daniel asked, his words hard with an undertone of amusement.
Mackenzie’s dark brown eyes narrowed at him.
“I want you to fess up to sleeping with Lisa. That you are still cheating on me with her. I want the truth to come out of your lips for once in your life. That is what I want, Daniel.” Mackenzie snapped, her hands moving in the air angrily as she spoke.
Daniel took a step towards Mackenzie, pulling his hands out of his pockets in the process.
“You want the truth? The truth is, is that you haven’t fucked me in five months, Mac. How do you expect me or any man for that matter, to go that long without a decent lay? Of course I’m screwing Lisa.”
With every word leaving Daniel’s mouth, he would take another step closer to Mackenzie until he had her backing up. When her lower back hit the counter beside the stove, Daniel moved in and trapped her against it with his arms barricading her. He sandwiched her between himself and the counter.
“I haven’t had sex with you for five mouths, because I caught you having sex with Lisa in our bed! Have you forgotten that or are you really that stupid.” Mackenzie hissed, having to lean her head back for her eyes to meet Daniel’s green orbs.
His right hand shot out quickly and grabbed a fistful of her long, wavy coffee brown hair and yanked her head back painfully. Mackenzie cried out in as much shock as there was pain, her eyes widening with it as he pulled harder. Daniel pressed himself up against her as she fought to get her hair loose from his grip.
“Let go of me.” Mackenzie demanded, but her voice broke when she spoke.
“I don’t think so. You need to realize something. You belong to me and with that responsibility comes serving my needs above your own. Now, I was patient before since I have Lisa, but you need to learn your place.” Daniel whispered in Mackenzie’s ear.
He did not need to yell the words to make the statement any clearer than whispering it had. Mackenzie clawed at the hand holding tightly to her hair as Daniel ran his other hand up her side to cup her breast. He gave a rough squeeze that had Mackenzie crying out again. Keeping his grip on her hair, Daniel nuzzled his face in the curve of her neck. He nibbled on her sensitive flesh with a force that brought anything but pleasure to her. Releasing her breast, Daniel trailed his left hand lower to the helm of her knee length light yellow dress.
Mackenzie gasped when Daniel’s erection rubbed the inside of her thighs. Daniel brought his head up just in time to see Mackenzie ready to scream. Letting her hair fall from his fingers, he wrapped his right arm around her waist and jerked her away from the counter only to let her go. Mackenzie tripped over her own bare feet as she tried to catch herself. Her left shoulder and hip slammed into the floor when she fell. Daniel was on top of Mackenzie before she could get the air back into her lungs. He forced her stomach against the cold tile of the kitchen floor.
“Please, don’t do this, Daniel.” Mackenzie pleaded as he looped a few of his fingers under the strap of her panties.
Bringing his free hand up, he quickly covered her mouth. She shook her head, trying to scream, but it came out muffled. Reaching behind her, Mackenzie clawed at any part of Daniel she could reach. She heard the tearing of fabric and felt her panties rip away before she was struck with a searing pain. Squeezing her eyes shut, she could not control the tears that poured down her face with every thrust coming from Daniel.
After he finished, Daniel let Mackenzie fall limply against the tile floor as he stood up. Fixing his belt and zipper back in place, he looked down at Mackenzie. Her eyes were glazed over, her body numb as it tried to block out what just happened to her. Kneeling down in front of her face, Daniel brushed a few strands of her hair behind her ear and wiped a wet streak off of her cheek.
“You’ll be fine, Mac. This is what you were created for.” Daniel whispered as he ran his thumb over her bottom lip.
She continued to stare at nothing, unable to grasp a single thought.
“Take a minute and then clean yourself up. I’ll be back home in the morning and yes, I am going to Lisa’s tonight.” Daniel said, standing up.
Straightening out his coat, he walked out of her line of vision. She could vaguely hear the front door open and close and the sound of his footsteps fade away.
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Present Time
Mackenzie could remember that day so vividly. She remembered how it had taken her hours to gather herself up from the floor and into the shower. The feeling of taking that blinding hot shower, trying to rid herself of the event. That night, Mackenzie had stepped out of the shower with a plan. Looking back at it now, she knew that she made the right decision to go to the police. Even though they did not believe her, saying that she was his girlfriend and that she could have been upset about a fight they had and wanted revenge on him, she still managed to get a restraining order against Daniel.
She left New York City that night with only the contents in her purse and with the set destination of her winter cabin in mind. For the first month in the cabin, she suffered from night terrors, thinking that Daniel would find her and hurt her again. Work seemed to do the trick with keeping her mind off of him. She would spend hours on end editing other people’s work, that soon enough Daniel was shoved to the back of her thoughts.
Tying the lace of her black snow boots over her dark blue jeans, Mackenzie gave her feet a nice solid stomp to ensure their proper fit before tugging on her white knit hat and scarf. Pulling her brown gloves over her hands, she glanced at her reflecting on the sliding glass doors. Under her long sleeve blue sweater was a black long sleeve thermal shirt. Seeing that she had not forgotten anything, she grabbed her bear parka from its hanger by the door and slipped her arms in. The fur that lined the inside instantly warmed her up and she opened her glass door. She then stepped out into the snow covered backyard. Trudging through the knee deep snow, Mackenzie made her way to the side of the cabin where a large wood stump with an ax piercing the center was. Taking hold of the ax, Mackenzie managed to chop wood for twenty minutes before the snow storm hit.
