"You little bitch!" the man screamed, and she winced at the sharpness of his voice.  It actually frightened her far worse when he would call her names or threaten her in softer tones.  A few weeks earlier, he'd whispered something in her ear that had so terrified her that she'd been shaking the entire rest of that night.

"I...I-I didn't do anything!" she cried.

"Liar!"  He quickly followed that single word with a strong backhand, catching her in the left underside of her jaw.  Her teeth clacked together noisily, and she was fortunate to have not bitten her tongue.

She raised a hand to her face, feeling the way the tender flesh was quickly swelling as she stared up at him with tear-filled hazel eyes, her lips and chin quivering.

"I-I didn't..."

"Shut up!" the man shouted.  "I don't want to hear any of your bullshit excuses!  I saw you with my own two eyes!  I saw how chummy you were acting with those two - you fucking whore!"

"We're only friends!" she insisted, cringing as she recalled the look in his eyes when he'd stepped into the Hardy Boyz's locker room and seen her there with them.  Since she was a part of Team Xtreme, and because Matt and Jeff were her best friends, she'd been visiting with them for awhile - rather than immediately returning to the women's locker room after their match.  The man tormenting her - her boyfriend - had entered the room without so much as a knock, and he'd caught her laughing it up with the two North Carolinians, an arm thrown around each brother.  It had all been very innocent, but he didn't care and had his own ideas...

"'Only friends,' huh?" he taunted.  "Yeah, sure...How many years have you known them now?  Seven, eight?  I'll bet you've spread your legs for the both of them too many times to count!  I'll bet you've given both of them a lot of good rides, haven't you??  You slut!"

"No!  W-Why do you have to do this?  Why do you have to be so...cruel to me?" she begged, raising her head a bit as she dared to meet his hard, cold crystal-blue eyes.

"Someone has to keep you in line!" he spat, one corner of his mouth arching up into a nasty sneer.  "And I do so enjoy having that honor..."

The young woman bowed her head so that her long red hair brushed against her knees, which were drawn tightly up to her chest.

"So, what were you thinking about when you were acting so chummy with the Hardys?" the man demanded, his voice taking on an even sharper tone.

She shut her eyes tightly at his obvious anger.  Usually, this man displayed only one side of himself to the rest of the world - he cleverly hid behind a humorous facade, as though he took everything in life lightly and with stride, but that was only the side of him that he wanted the public to behold.  In reality, he was cold, calculating, sadistic, and thorougly enjoyed tormenting and humiliating her.

The redhead bit back the comeback that suddenly popped into her head at his last question.  She knew that if she spoke it aloud to him, his reaction would be anything but in her favor - and she knew exactly what he would do to punish her for it.  She'd learned the hard way - a few times in the beginning, when he'd first started showing her this ugly, abusive side of himself, she'd hurled plenty of comebacks at him, and he'd beaten her so severely that she'd been unable to sit properly the following day.  She quickly learned that it wasn't worth shouting back at him, because the repercussions were far worse when she did...

"Answer me, God damn it!  Don't just sit there pretending not to hear or see me - answer me, you little slut!"

She looked up, her eyes widening with fright as he suddenly approached where she sat on the bed.  Instinctively, she rose both hands to protect her face as he made a move for her.  She expected him to hit her immediately, but he didn't, instead grabbing a handful of her T-shirt and hefting her up out of the bed and onto her feet before him.

"P-please!" she pleaded, her head slightly down as her hazel eyes remained fixed to his angry face.  "D-don't hit me anymore...I can't take anymore!"

"Tough shit, baby..."  He shook her roughly by her shirt, as his hands were still clutching at it, before shoving her into the desk chair beside the bed.  She let out a tiny yelp of pain as she lost her balance and began to fall, for her head connected with the wooden furniture, and she knew she was going to develop a bump because of it.

Before she had a chance to get to her feet, his hands were roughly on her again, yanking her up and shoving at her, and she backed away in fear until her back was touching the closed bathroom door.

"Think you're real cute, don't ya?!" he shouted, his teeth clenched and his right hand balled into a fist.  "Well, if you refuse to answer my question, you're gonna have to answer to something else..."

The woman's eyes widened.  Oh, God... She was terrified he was going to force himself on her.  He'd done that a few times before, too.  Oh, no... He was undoing his belt.  Oh, God... He was going to rape her...

She realized she'd been wrong in her assessment when her boyfriend suddenly swung the thick leather strap at her.  She ducked her head, her arms going up and around her face to protect it, and his laughter was sickening as he lashed out at her a second, then third time.

She began to scream, but he reached out and punched her in the head, cutting off her voice.  She felt momentarily dizzy for a few seconds before she felt the sting of the makeshift whip again.  Oh, God... The pain was so great she felt as though she might pass out if she didn't get away from him.

The young woman frantically turned her back, and she knew she was opening herself up to being beaten on her back and buttocks, but she had no other choice.  A short cry escaped her as she felt the metal buckle of the belt bite painfully into the right side of the middle of her torso, near her waist.

Momentarily ignoring her myriad of pains, including this new, worst one, she quickly reached down for the knob on the door of the lavatory, yanking it open.  She ran inside, the tears still streaming down her face in droves as she shoved it into his face.  The bastard... He was pushing on the door, shoving his right hand through it.  She had to stop him from getting in there.  She knew she would never be able to match him in physical strength, so she had to rely on other things...

Reacting instinctively, the redhead dared to move her face closer to the door, to his hand, and she bit down on it as hard as she could manage.  He pulled back, letting out a bellow of pain and anger, and for a split second, she felt a tiny measure of relief.  However, there were more important things than this tiny victory to concentrate on right now.  She shoved the bathroom door shut, her hands instantly lowering to the lock, which she clicked into place.

As she heard her boyfriend yelling and cursing in the other room, then banging hard on the door, she backed away from it until her back touched the shower door.  Her tears were still coming fast, and she whimpered as she stared at the closed door.

"Oh, God...Oh, God..."  She couldn't stop shaking... But for now, she was safe.  And she would stay locked in the sanctuary that was this bathroom all night if she had to...