YOU ARE MY PROPERTY

ALYSSA

My name is Alyssa Powell. I am 20 years old, and I am a brilliant student at the Arts University.

This has been my only dream since childhood. And now it has become more than a dream; it has become reality.

I met Duncan at a fraternity party. It was also at a party like this that my entire world fell apart. The very world of promises he created for me.

***

“Duncan, what does this mean? I thought you... loved me…” I said as my fiancée was making out with my best friend. Or at least I thought she was my best friend. He had his tongue deep in her throat, and she had her legs wide open like a whore to him. I should have known that the most popular girl in school couldn’t be my friend. 

For a split second, my brain refused to process what I was seeing. It was as if the image before me belonged to someone else, to another life, to another nightmare. The man with whom I had imagined a home, children, lazy mornings, and evenings spent on the couch, was right there, cheating on me.

Maybe if I hadn't moved...maybe if I had closed my eyes...

My soul wept inconsolably, and I felt as if the air could no longer reach my lungs. My own body ached when I saw his hands, which, until just yesterday, had been caressing me, and were now all over Ana’s body. I wish the earth beneath me would open up and swallow me whole, and I wouldn't regret a thing.

And when he suddenly stopped and turned towards me, his steps were heavy and his gaze threatening. I had never seen that look in his eyes before. I didn’t recognize this Duncan. I was afraid of him. 

“Love you? Are you for real, right now?” he asked, taking small steps in my direction.

“Duncan...”  I simply couldn't breathe anymore. My chest felt as if it were being squeezed and my heart was pounding so violently that I felt as if it was going to shatter my ribs.

“How can I love someone like you? So dull and insignificant. Have you looked in the mirror lately? Do you really think you’re my type?” he continued, not caring how much he was hurting me.

“How can you say that?” I spoke back, feeling my tears streaming from my eyes. I had my heart torn apart but he didn’t care. “I still love you…” I felt like I was suffocating. It was as if someone were wrenching the air from my lungs and crushing my heart with their bare hands. All my plans were crumbling before my eyes.

But saying that was my mistake. My friend Anna made her way to me and slapped me across the face. It hurt. Not physically.

“Stay away from Duncan, you slut!” she shouted. “You think I don’t know what you were doing with Alan behind Duncan’s back? And you say you love him? Some love you show!” she shouted so loud that all present at the party came around us.

“What do you mean? Who is Alan?” I asked in disbelief. She was trying to put me in a bad light, and I felt like the ground was slipping away from beneath my feet.

Somehow, in the commotion that was created, we all ended up outside by the pool.

“Don’t pretend you don’t understand!” Duncan intervened.

Every word he said hurt me even more. Right then and there, he took out his phone and with a simple click, a photo of me and Alan was sent to everyone’s phones.

I could hear murmurs coming from all directions.

“Oh my God, what a slut! And she said she loved poor Duncan,” said one girl.

“No wonder Duncan found comfort in Anna’s arms,” said another.

“What do you have to say about that?” Duncan asked, placing his phone in front of my eyes.

There was a pic with me and Alan…kissing? No, this had to be a mistake.

“What is the meaning of all this?” I asked, trying to hold back my tears.

“You tell us, you slut!” Anna said menacingly. “Duncan didn’t deserve that. You’ll pay for this!” she shouted, coming at me again.

“Anna, please. That photo is a fake, and you know it! But what you and Duncan did…” I didn’t get to finish the sentence before another slap landed on my cheek.

“Stop playing the victim! You’re nobody, and now the whole university knows it!”

For a few seconds, I couldn’t hear anyone around me. Only my own frantic heartbeat. I couldn’t believe I was going through such humiliation. I was at the top of my class. How could they do this to me?

“Punish the sinner!” I heard one girl yelling from the crowd. And the other voices were asking the same thing. “Punish the sinner!” I kept hearing.

It was then that I saw Anna coming towards me, and in one quick move she pushed me into the pool. I panicked as I couldn’t swim. I could feel the water filling my lungs. The more I struggled, the worse it was. All I could hear as I emerged desperately from the water every few seconds, gasping for air, was everyone’s laughter. It was so damn hard to stay afloat and breathing. This was my ending, and nobody at the party was trying to save me. Was I that hated?

And just when I gave up fighting, a pair of powerful arms pulled me out of the water. I felt so safe in this stranger’s arms…

“What the fuck are you all doing on my property?” he roared, still holding me. I was just mesmerized by his perfect…everything.

It all went quiet. The voices that had recently blamed and condemned me were now silent, and fear could be seen in their eyes.

I looked again at the stranger, who was still holding me tightly in his arms, as if he didn’t want to lose me or hurt myself if he put me down. Drops of water were running down his black hair onto his perfect, fierce face. He was so sexy and yet so... dangerous.

Eventually he placed me near him, and all this time he was holding my hand.

“I said, what the fuck are you all doing on my property?” he roared again, and for a second I could hear some kind of a…growl? Did his eyes just turn red all of a sudden? No, this was just my rich imagination.

Nobody had the guts to answer him. Or even look at him. I was the only one gazing like a stupid teenager in love.

At that moment, he pulled out a gun and fired into the air. And without warning, he shot into Duncan’s foot. He let out a frantic scream of pain.

“Awww…what the hell?” he cried, collapsing on the ground. “Why the fuck did you do that? I’ll turn you over to the police…”

The stranger started laughing like a crazy man, and then he got all serious and dark.

“Go ahead, you worthless fuck! You were trespassing; I was just defending my property!”

As if responding to an invisible signal from the mysterious man, more men in suits entered the property, armed to the teeth. I gasped in fear and tried to pull back, but his hand just squeezed mine harder.

Not only did everyone’s faces show uncontrollable fear, but each and every one of them backed away in terror, trying to find a way out of this man’s house.

I wanted to do the same…

“Not you, little one!” he said in his deep voice, staring at me hungrily.

That was the first time in my life I had felt fear. I was afraid of him. The very man who saved my life seemed to want to end it now?

As soon as the mansion was empty, he dragged me into the living room and dropped me onto the sofa. It felt soft, but the fall was hard.

I watched him with fear as he went to the bar and poured himself a glass of whiskey.

“Want some?” he asked with a smile on his lips. Those few seconds of smiling immediately softened his face and transformed him into something so seductive.

“No…” I half-mounted.

“Why are you shaking like that? I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, and only then did I realize I was indeed shaking. I didn’t know if it was from fear or from the cold, as I was soaked to the bone. I decided to go with the second option, though.

“I’m a little cold. You pulled me out of the pool, remember?” I said a little more relaxed.

What gentleman doesn’t offer a woman his jacket when she’s cold? Apparently this man.

“I am sorry I cannot fix this. I am soaked too. Give me a sec though…” he said and disappeared for a few moments. He returned with a blanket.

“Thank you…” I babbled. “Look, I am sorry for…this. My friends…” I continued moving my hand so that I covered the entire property.

“Don’t be stupid! Those are not your friends! Friends don’t do what they did,” he explained, pouring himself another glass of whiskey, this time on the rocks.

He was so right that it hurt. Duncan’s betrayal came back into my mind. But I didn’t have time to dwell on my thoughts because the stranger came dangerously close to me. Instinctively, I got up from the sofa and held him at arm’s length. His scent of tobacco and vanilla was driving me crazy. I expected not to be able to hold his gaze, but something drew me to him like a magnet. I was still shaking.

“I…”

“And that stupid boyfriend of yours…” he cut me off. “So fucking fool for not appreciating such a beauty…” he concluded as he glided his large hand over my cheek. An electric shock went through my body. They say men with large hands also have big…

My thoughts stopped, and my eyes traveled down from his bulge to his wet pants. The wet fabric took the shape of his dick. I swallowed hard.

“You like what you see, little one?”

I felt my cheeks burning.

“I didn’t mean to…I…”

Let’s see how you get out of this one, Alyssa! You just had no other place to look with such hunger except at…

“You are shivering like a leaf. If you are afraid of me, then stop! If I wanted to hurt you, I would have done it already,” he said, and his voice again went low.

I knew that this man could easily hurt anyone. But I was the one locked alone with him in his house, in his living room. I was the one enduring the fear. Nevertheless, I did not lower my gaze.

“I’m not worried about that!” I said without hesitation.

“Then what are you worried about?” he asked curiously.

“It’s past midnight, and I have no way of getting home.”

Suddenly, he let out a frenzied laugh.

“Who said you could go home?”

“So, you do want to hurt me...” I said and started backing away until my back touched the cold wall of the room. The stranger came so close that I could feel his hot minty breath. It was so fresh. His lips were so close and full. When he licked them with his tongue my mind went bonkers. Wondering what he could do with that tongue, had me in an erotic dream. My panties went wet, and at this point I could tell it was not the water from the pool. It was my own juices.

“You were on my property…now you are my property!”