Third person - Michael's POV
‼️ CONTAINS THEMES OF SEXUAL ASSUALT‼️
The room was dingy and full of smoke as he walked through it. Shadows of women dancing on the stage illuminated the walls.
There was an obvious tent in his pants as he made his way through the room and stared at the women moving their bodies against poles.
He caught the eye of a woman who walked to the front of the stage and bent down to him. He handed her a few bills, and she pocketed them before stepping off the stage and leading him to a chair.
He sat down and the blonde beauty straddled his thighs, running her hands along his neck, arms, and chest before gyrating her hips over him
Michael frequently patronized this gentleman's club, all before, during, and after Ansley. While prostitution was illegal, he knew this place was a bit lacking in ethics, and he knew there were rooms in the back.
Just before the lap dance ended, he handed her two 100-dollar bills - the sign telling the stripper that the man wanted to fuck her.
She pulled the bills she'd earned from the evening and handed them to a bouncer before telling Michael to follow her, which he happily obliged.
She led him to a room and immediately she started pulling his pants off. His erect dick sprang free from his jeans and she gripped it in his hands and bent her head. He groaned as she wrapped her mouth around him, and gripped the back of her head, holding her down to his dick.
After a few moments, he came into her mouth. She wiped her lips off and stood up, where she peeled his shirt off him, and then pulled her nipple pasties and thong off.
Michael grabbed her hips and pushed her down on the bed, so her ass was facing him.
"Condom," she said, pointing to the bowl on the side of the room.
"Do you have any STDs?" He asked, gripping her ass cheeks in his hand.
"No. I'm very hygienic, despite what my profession says about me. And I'd like to remain STD-free."
Michael gripped the back of her neck and pushed her head into the bed. "I don't like wearing condoms. My wife used to ask me to wear them too," he said, remembering the first time he'd hit her for asking such an insulting question. "Don't ask again."
He kept his hand locked around the back of her neck and slid his dick between her ass cheeks before pushing inside her vagina. She bucked her hips against him and tried to yell, but her voice was muffled because of the mattress. The music outside of the room was too loud for the bouncer standing in the hallway to hear her muffled screams.
With his free hand, he slid his fingers to her anal opening and pressed two inside her. Michael broke past the initial resistance and continued to take her with his fingers, despite her groans of displeasure.
After a few more thrusts of his hips, he squeezed his eyes and moaned loudly as he came inside the beautiful blonde woman in front of him.
He pulled out of her and removed his fingers from her ass, and she tried to scramble off the bed, but he caught her and clamped her mouth shut with his hand before she could scream.
"I paid for an hour, beautiful," he said as he rolled her nipple between his fingers.
****
He walked into his bedroom and collapsed into his bed, exhausted from the evening he had. After taking the girl several more times, he kissed her lips and left her in a pile on the bed, not before slipping her another few hundred dollars for her silence. He wanted to be a repeat customer inside her body, but if she alerted the club bouncers, he wouldn't ever be let back in.
He stretched his tired limbs and smiled. His alarm clock was set for 6 am. He'd go to the investors meeting in the morning and then he'd be on his way to his wife.
****
His chest tightened as he spotted his wife inside the bookstore. There were a few windows on the front wall, and she was standing almost directly in front of one.
Michael knew it was her, even though she was facing away from him. Her body was the same, beautiful and curvaceous, though maybe a bit too curvaceous. She hadn't lost the weight he'd been asking her to. Her hair was a bit longer than it was the last time he'd seen her.
Ansley pushed off the wall she was leaning against and walked further into the store. Michael couldn't see her anymore.
His fists clenched and relaxed in anticipation. He'd parked down the street so she wouldn't see his car. He didn't want her to know she was there and attempt to avoid him. She would be coming home with him. He rented a hotel room a few towns over for the night, and then they'd be on their way back home in the morning.
The bookstore closed in three minutes and hopefully, she didn't have any stocking or inventory to do. He wanted her to come out of the store now.
Michael waited in the shadows caused by the rapidly descending sun. It set half an hour ago, caring a beautiful dark golden gleam over the store.
He scanned the store, trying to get just a glimpse of his wife, but she remained hidden from him.
Three minutes later the lights went dark inside the store. Just a few moments after that, he saw movement next to the door and then it was being pushed open from the inside.
Ansley walked through the door, but her pregnant stomach came through the opening before the rest of her body.
His eyes widened when he saw her stomach. She was pregnant. They were having a baby. His chest clenched tighter, this time from the overwhelming joy of knowing his wife was carrying his child. He was going to be a father. Their home would be complete, once his wife was back in his bed and there was a baby down the hall.
Though, his thoughts soured when he recalled the letter he received in the mail. A final notice of their divorce.
He watched as she walked closer and closer to the only car in the parking lot, one he assumed was hers. Once she was close enough for him to grab in case she tried to run, he emerged from the shadows.
She jumped back, startled.
Ansley's POV
I locked the door for the evening and headed for my car. I was exhausted after the day. My back and feet ached and there was a headache growing in the back of my skull. I was ready to cuddle with Ermanno on the couch and maybe watch a movie before going to sleep.
I was a few feet away from my car when I saw a figure emerge from my peripheral vision. I jumped back on instinct, but the figure walked closer.
"Ansley," the man said.
Then his face was illuminated under the streetlight. My stomach twisted in fear. It was Michael.
I stared at him for a moment, rationalizing in the few seconds I had both how he found me and how I was going to get myself out of this situation.
Ermanno made sure that at least one of his men drove by a few times each day to check up on Dorothy and me from a distance. But I saw Enzo, the man on duty today, drive past fifteen minutes ago. He wasn't going to be coming back.
"Michael," the words left my mouth in a whisper. I could barely muster the will to speak as my personal demon stood before me.
He smiled at me, the same bone-chilling smile I'd grown all too familiar with.
"I found you, pet. I've finally found you." His voice was light and full of whimsy and surprise like he couldn't believe he'd finally tracked me down.
I didn't respond, completely unsure what to say. I felt as though I might faint.
I needed Ermanno.
My phone was set up to send him an emergency call and text message when I pressed to sleep button three times, but my phone was in my bag and I couldn't easily get it.
"And you're carrying our child."
My blood went cold in my veins. Michael was standing only a few feet away, but he was closer to me than I was to my car. I didn't think I'd be able to open my car door and shut it in time before he got to me.
I took a few steps back, hoping to create more distance between us, but he followed, and my creating distance upset him, as evident by the look on his face.
His smile dropped, revealing the angry and sadistic nature that he hid from the rest of society. He was like a demonic shapeshifter.
"Why are you trying to run from me, pet? You did it once and I found you. Why try again?"
I shook my head. "No, no, I wasn't walking away from you, I'm just surprised Michael. I never thought this would happen."
I think my only option here was appeasement. If I played the part of his loving wife who was willing to return home with him, maybe I'd be able to gain his trust enough and eventually make my escape. Be complaisant.
Though I was nervous. I'd employed this tactic many times before, and it wasn't always successful.
"We can turn the bedroom down the hall from ours into a nursery," he said, stepping closer.
I bit the inside of my cheek and forced a smile. My muscles were tense as I remained still, fighting against my urge to move away.
"Yeah, that would be nice." I lied. The words felt acidic in my mouth as I imagined raising Violet with this man. The thought made my body go cold I shivered.
Ermanno was her father. He loved her intensely. Just Michael's words alone felt like a betrayal to my husband.
"I've missed you so much, pet. Why did you leave me?" He asked.
I shook my head again, and put my hands in front of me, trying to appeal to the better parts of him. "I don't know, Michael. I thought that you wanted space from me. I thought maybe that would help our marriage. I want to come back. I've always planned on coming back, but I ran out of money and I haven't been able to make the trip back home."
He tilted his head and stared at me. "Why didn't you call me? I would've dropped anything to come get you."
"I was afraid," I said weakly. "That you'd be upset to come down here. I'm so sorry, Michael."
"You want to come home?" He asked.
I nodded. "Of course I do," I said, though the words were a bitter, bitter lie. I was simply trying to appease him, to buy time to get out of here, or to alert Ermanno that something was wrong.
"Why did I get a letter in the mail saying that our divorce was finalized? You're still my wife, Ansley, but according to the government, not legally."
Shit.
I wasn't sure how to lie my way out of this one.
"Have you married someone else, Ansley?" He asked, glancing at the ring on my finger that was most assuredly not the ring he'd given me on our wedding day years ago.
"You've been fucking another man?" He said, his voice loud and sinister. His face was pulled down into a sickening sneer and the fear that he caused in me every day I lived in his house resurfaced.
"Michael," I started, but he lunged at me.
He grabbed me by the hips and wrestled me to the ground. I knew what was going to happen once he had my body pinned down, and I felt myself drifting back into that dark mental state. Where I lay there and took his abuse while I imagined being anywhere else. It was the only way I survived my years with him - fantasizing about the better things while he assaulted my body.
Unfortunately, I decided to wear a dress to work that day. Though, it was long, touching the tops of my feet.
He gripped the fabric of my dress and began pulling it up my legs, as I lay there with my hands on his shoulders, weakly trying to push him off of me.
Though, when the cool air hit my thighs, something inside of me shifted.
I was strong enough to leave him, to begin a new life in an unfamiliar town with an unborn daughter. I provide us with a home and food. I was able to leave him, and through my efforts and Ermanno's love and support, I was not the same weak-minded and weak-willed woman Michael once curated.
I would no longer be complaisant, the good wife who obeyed.
I was not Michael's, and he would no longer behave like I was his property to be owned. If he was going to do this to me, I wouldn't let him do it easily.
His hands were on my thighs, and I felt physically ill. Only one man was allowed to touch me like this and Michael was not him.
Luckily, he was not laying on top of me but was hovering above me on his knees. Because of that, I was able to swing my elbow up and into his face. He bellowed in pain and grabbed his cheek, and I was able to slide away, but I wasn't able to stand up in time.
"You little bitch!" He yelled as he jumped on me again. This time his hand wrapped around my throat tightly. So tightly that I struggled to breathe. I attempted to kick at him with my feet, and I landed a few hits, but he moved his body close to mine which prevented me from getting any momentum to kick. I gripped his hand with both of mine, attempting to pry his fingers from my throat.
His free hand was back on my thigh, moving up my leg and to my waist where he gripped my underwear.
I was horrified by what Michael intended to do. He would take me here, harshly, on the asphalt parking lot, despite my screams if I didn't fight back.
My heart was beating rapidly and the pressure of my blood was increasing by the second. I could hear the movement of it in my ears. I was erratic, moving underneath him trying to free myself. I wouldn't let this happen to me. Not again.
I felt the cold evening air on my bare core and the anxiety I felt spread through my entire body like an acid working its way through my system. I wanted to vomit.
He took his hand off my leg and I heard the buckle of his belt and then the zipper on his jeans being pulled down.
My chest burned when I felt the hot, rubbery skin of his penis against my thigh. I dry heaved when the liquid from his penis dripped down my knee. He groaned and soon I felt a sploosh of hot liquid on my knee, dripping down my leg to my shin. I dry heaved again, though tasted vomit in the back of my throat.
I had given up trying to pry his hand off of me. He had too much leverage since he was above me pushing down.
I moved my hands along the asphalt, trying to find anything to hit him with. A rock, a piece of glass, anything. My fingers bumped into something and I wrapped my hand around it. It was a large chunk of asphalt that had broken off the side of the parking lot.
I reared my arm back and slammed the chunk of asphalt into the side of his head. He groaned in pain and released his hand from around my neck. Then I moved the asphalt into my other hand and slammed it back into his other temple.