¬â„¢t started questioning her about why Sasha hadn’t been where he was supposed to be that morning.  She had fallen into a carefully constructed routine designed with the intent to numb her brain, and she was walking around in a daze for the most part.

It had been ten weeks, but Sasha was still preying on Suzanne’s mind.  She was sure he was going to come after her, and a part of her was dreading that and what he would do.  However, another small part of her ached at the thought that maybe he wouldn’t bother coming to find her.  She felt utterly confused whenever she thought about him; it made her flinch at the memory of her bruises but also ache with longing.  She dreamt about him while she slept and spent her days trying to push him out of her mind, with little success.  She often found herself daydreaming, her body burning at the memory of his hands and mouth moving over her skin.

The torture didn’t last much longer.  Suzanne returned home tired after a day spent aimlessly wandering through the local shopping centre.  She dropped her bags in the hallway and traipsed up the stairs and into her bedroom, not bothering to close the door behind her.  She pulled her hair out of its pony tail and began unbuttoning her shirt, then froze as she heard the bedroom door close behind her.

Sasha stood leaning against the bedroom door, his arms casually folded and that characteristic look of brutal determination on his face.  He looked a little tidier than usual, although he still wasn’t clean shaven.  The look in his eyes was difficult to pin down completely, but Suzanne didn’t miss the smouldering anger within them.  She felt her nether regions stir treacherously at the sight of him and took an involuntary step backwards, eyes darting about in search of any available weapons but finding nothing.

“Hello Sasha,” she whispered softly, standing awkwardly still as she tried to figure out what he was going to do.  He didn’t reply.  “What do you want?” she asked, suddenly conscious of the fact that her breasts were poking out of her half unbuttoned shirt.

Sasha snorted derisively as he pushed himself away from the door and walked towards Suzanne slowly.  She raised her chin in defiance and refused to back away.  He stopped in front of her, so close that his chest almost brushed against her breasts.

“You know why I’m here, my little slut,” he growled softly in Bosnian.  He slid his hand to her cheek and gripped painfully.  “You lied to me, and you set me up.  And you’re going to die.”  Suzanne slapped his hand away from her cheek, then landed another blow to his left eye.  He caught her left wrist before she could hit the other side of his face and bent it behind her back painfully.  She whimpered, then kneed Sasha in the balls in an attempt to escape.  He grunted, his grip relaxing on her arm as he bent over in pain.

“Let’s get a couple of things straight Sasha,” Suzanne said, kicking him again as it looked as if he might straighten up.  “Yes, I lied to you.  It was my job.  As for setting you up?  I did that too.  But if I hadn’t done things the way that I did, you would be dead right now, and you know it.”

Sasha straightened slowly, then shoved Suzanne against the wall, pinning her down.  “Am I supposed to be grateful?” he growled, his hand holding her jaw still.

“That I risked my own life to save yours?” Suzanne replied.  Sasha raised an eyebrow at that, unimpressed.  “Yes, you should be.  You were supposed to turn up to do your job and get slaughtered with the rest of them, but I stopped you from going.  My employers are not exactly forgiving, Sasha.  If they find out what I did, they’ll kill me.”

Sasha was silent for a moment.  He hadn’t dared let himself think that perhaps Suzanne hadn’t wanted him to get hurt.  The thought niggled at him, but he pushed it aside coldly.  “Don’t worry,” he replied, sliding his hand to her throat and squeezing gently.  I’ll save them the trouble.”

“I understand that you’re angry Sasha,” Suzanne said softly.  “That you feel as if I used you.  But we didn’t exactly have a traditional honest and loving relationship going on.  I still didn’t want them to hurt you, though.  I need you to understand that I did what I did because it was the only way I could stop them from killing you.  And that was all that was important to me.”

He didn’t believe her, he couldn’t.  He’d spent too long being as angry as hell over her making a fool of him, and he wasn’t about to let her do it again.  So he ignored the look of pain on her face and chose to think only about the fact that everything else she’d ever said to him had been a lie.  He tightened his grip on her neck slowly until she started to squirm desperately.

Suzanne wasn’t going to accept Sasha’s punishment without a fight.  She punched him in the stomach and he grunted softly, his grip loosening on her throat enough so that she could push him away from her.  She hit him again in the jaw, but he grabbed her arm and held her still, a backhander to her right cheek causing her to stagger in pain. 

Sasha was slightly surprised by Suzanne’s return to her original more aggressive self.  He wondered how much of her submissive behaviour had been an act to make him feel secure enough to trust her.  It had certainly worked.  He pulled her against him and slid his mouth to her ear.

“All that time you spent screaming for me,” he whispered.  “All the times you writhed around underneath me and moaned my name.  Was doing your job really worth being a whore for me?”  Suzanne frowned at Sasha’s hard description of past events.

“That wasn’t a part of my job,” she whispered, and Sasha sneered.  He didn’t believe her.  He wouldn’t.

“Was doing your job really worth leaving?” he growled.  Suzanne’s breath caught in her throat.  How was she supposed to answer that?

“I…” she started, taking a shaky breath.  “I didn’t want to leave like that.  But I couldn’t have stayed, Sasha.  I mean, you couldn’t have expected me to be happy sitting naked in a house all day just waiting for you to come home so that you could screw me?”

Sasha growled again in disgust, shoved Suzanne away from him and turned away.  She staggered for a moment, but regained her balance without falling over.  He still looked angry, but now there was something else there as well.  He brought his hand up and rubbed his face, then raked it through his hair angrily before turning to face her again.

“I should have killed you when Cavoski told me to,” he said quietly, his right hand sliding to his back.  He produced his handgun, removed the safety and held it pointed at the floor beside him.

“You don’t mean that,” Suzanne replied, her voice even.  “And you know it.”  He was not going to kill her.  Sasha snorted, walked towards her slowly.

“You think so?” he asked, raising the gun to her eye level.  “Do you really think I’m not going to kill you, baby?”

Suzanne hoped not, but she wasn’t prepared to take any chances.  She grabbed his wrist with one hand and slammed her elbow down on to his forearm.  He growled in pain, and she brought her elbow back up and slammed it into the side of his face.  He dropped the gun, but it wasn’t going to be enough for her to escape.  He was still as tough as nails and he recovered in a split second.

The girl used the second that Sasha was recovering to make a run for the door.  She managed to claw it open before he grabbed her by her shirt collar and shoved her forwards, slamming the door shut and her on top of it.  He yanked her around to face him and slid his hand into her hair, pulling viciously.

“You’re not getting away from me ever again,” he growled, slapping her in the face as she continued to struggle.  “I told you that you were mine, and I meant it!”  Suzanne refused to stay still, kicking, hitting and scratching with every last remaining ounce of strength in her limbs.

“I do not belong to you!” she screamed.  “You don’t own me, Sasha!  And you can’t just make me do what you want!”

Sasha smiled nastily, slid his free hand to Suzanne’s chin and held her eyes level with his.  “Who are you trying to convince?” he asked softly, which renewed Suzanne’s anger.  She lashed out at him again, and they fought for several minutes.  Sasha eventually slammed Suzanne back against the wall, his hips grinding into hers.  He held her head tightly in his hands and kept her still as he kissed her, hard.  There was absolutely nothing gentle in his actions; he was vicious and brutal, and Suzanne repaid him in kind.  She continued to hit and scratch at him, and bit his lower lip until she tasted his blood filling her mouth.  He grunted in pain, lifted his head away from her and punched her in the left eye, hard.

Suzanne was stunned for a moment from the force of Sasha’s blow to her face, and she couldn’t stop him as he pulled her away from the wall and threw her on to her bed.  He followed immediately, straddling her legs and holding her arms above her head.  He ripped open her shirt the rest of the way and yanked her bra aside, grabbed one of her breasts and squeezed harshly.  Suzanne hissed in pain and started to struggle, but he had his weight on top of her and she couldn’t get any leverage.  Sasha was not impressed by her continued struggling, and bent down to catch her other nipple in his teeth.  She groaned softly, arched against him as her body tried to decide whether it wanted him dead, or inside her.

He leaned to the side for a moment so that he could unzip Suzanne’s trousers and drag them off her legs, but she was having none of it.  She kicked at him, then wriggled away as best she could.  She got one arm free and hit him in the face, then shoved at his chest, trying to get him off her completely.  No chance.  She was strong, but he was heavier.  And he was far more used to this sort of thing than she was. 

Suzanne was panicking.  If she let him touch her she would melt, and she knew it.  But she couldn’t get him off her, no matter how much she hurt him.  He was determined to do what he wanted to do, even though he didn’t seem sure yet if that was to kill her or rape her.  He succeeded in getting rid of her trousers – and her underwear – and slid back on top of her, forcing his legs between hers.

They continued their fight, Sasha alternating randomly between stroking her and hitting, kissing and biting.  Suzanne fought him tooth and nail for as long as she could, but found herself kissing him back on some occasions, no less brutally than him.  She groaned in anger as she felt his hand slide over her stomach and down into her pubic hair.  He slid his fingers inside her, and found her wet.

“You see?” he growled softly, bringing his hand up to Suzanne’s face and wiping the moisture onto her mouth.  “You always did enjoy me being in charge.  What’s the point of being alone with no one around to fuck you until you scream?  You’ll always be my little whore.  Won’t you?”

Suzanne closed her eyes, angry hot tears falling down her cheeks.  She relaxed her body for a moment, trying to regain some of her strength.  If he wanted an answer then it would be a long time coming.

Sasha didn’t care.  He took advantage of Suzanne’s stillness and settled his body over hers, pushed inside her slowly.  Suzanne arched against him, hissing in response but not knowing if it was pleasure or pain.  He let go of her arms, and she slid them around his back, scratching with enough pressure to draw blood even through his clothes.  Her treacherous body reacted instantly to the familiar feeling of him being inside her, and her legs locked around his waist, pulling him deeper inside her.  Sasha moaned in response, gentled his movements inside her until Suzanne whined in pleasure.

Sasha slid on to his back beside Suzanne after they had finished, and she didn’t miss the careful way in which he moved, settling himself onto his back with a wince.  Dried blood was caked onto his lip and his nose from where she’d hit and bitten him.  She felt similarly battered.

“This is ridiculous,” Suzanne said softly, looking over at Sasha.

“Mmm,” he agreed, wincing again as he looked towards her.  Her face was similarly battered, he leaned over and stroked some hair out of her eyes. 

“I’m sorry Sasha,” Suzanne whispered.  “For leaving.  I really am.”

He sighed.  Closed his eyes and leaned back again.  “I’m sorry I was going to kill you.”

“You weren’t going to though,” she replied.  “Were you?”

Sasha looked back towards Suzanne, a look of seriousness on his face that told her that yes, he had intended to kill her.  She bit her lip and looked away.

“So what do we do now?” she asked softly.

“Stay with me,” he said quietly, and Suzanne’s heart leapt into her throat.

“Where?” she asked, her mind suddenly racing with the thought that Sasha wanted her with him again. 

“I don’t care,” he replied, sliding his palm over her breasts gently.  Suzanne moaned in response, her back arching automatically until she noticed the pain that the move caused.  He groaned in pain as he dragged himself upwards so that he could slide a nipple into his mouth and suck gently.  Suzanne slid her hands to his shoulders and proceeded to remove Sasha’s clothes as quickly as their aching muscles would allow.  He turned around and parted Suzanne’s thighs gently, slid his tongue down onto her clitoris and started to suck. 

Suzanne nudged Sasha until he straddled her head and she could return the favour.  He moaned softly as he felt her mouth envelope him, warm and wet and incredible.  He slid two fingers inside her gently as he sucked, stroked them in circles inside her until she whined in pleasure, the vibrations in her mouth causing him to shudder in response.  Shaking, he turned around again, slid her legs against her chest and pushed against her opening gently.

“Tell me what you want,” he whispered, his voice hoarse from arousal, the way that made her shudder in pleasure.

Suzanne wanted answers for herself first.  “Do you love me, Sasha?” she asked, her hands stroking his hair gently.  He frowned, and Suzanne didn’t think he would answer.

“You wouldn’t still be alive if I didn’t,” he replied.  Suzanne sighed in relief, but she wanted to hear him say it for himself.

“Then tell me,” she whispered, holding his eyes level with hers.

An eternity passed by.  They stared at each other for several moments, then Sasha nodded slowly.  “I love you,” he murmured, and Suzanne smiled in relief.  “Now tell me to fuck you!” he growled, and she did, with pleasure.  Sasha slid inside her hard, causing her to gasp in pain-laced satisfaction. 

“Don’t stop,” Suzanne whispered softly against Sasha’s ear.  “Don’t ever stop.”  Sasha moaned softly, slid his mouth down to cover one of her breasts again and sucked hungrily until Suzanne came, her body jerking against him erratically.  He followed shortly afterwards, collapsing on top of her as his worn out body refused to hold itself up any longer.  They slept, Sasha still inside Suzanne and his weight half crushing her, but she didn’t care.  They could decide what the hell they were going to do later.