BRAINSTORM

Chapter Thirty-three - Bowing to cruelty.

"Hold on, Ellen."

Ellen startled at Scott's voice, then silently cursed herself for her skittishness. She was being silly. Scott had obviously seen her on one of his monitors as she stood in the hallway in front of his apartment.

He opened the door just as she was bringing her face and body back to an expression and posture corresponding with the evening of seduction she'd planned for him.

Scott leered at her. "I surprised you?" It was less a question than an accusation.

"No, no, of course not." She smiled from beneath her darkened lashes. "I'm sorry." 

Scott thrust out his chest. "Oh, don't worry. You'll make it up to me." He reached for her hand and yanked it hard, pulling her into the room with a strength she'd never felt from him. She had to shift her balance quickly to keep from tripping on her high heels. Biting her lip hard, she tasted lip gloss. Thankfully, no blood. Scott's aggressiveness was unexpected and a little unnerving.

"Stand up straight, Ellen."

Ellen stood up, starting to smooth out her dress.

"Stay still." 

She let her hands drop to her sides.

He walked behind her with purposeful strides and slammed the door shut as she stood firm, uncertain what game he was about to play. It scared her that he already had the upper hand. Often she was able to manipulate him while offering the semblance of control. So far tonight, it was Scott who was in charge.

He stalked back toward her. "I'm going to teach you a lesson tonight, Ellen." His eyes gleamed with excitement and vindictiveness.

Ellen felt like prey. Her mind grasped for a way to shift the power balance between them.

Scott shoved her on the shoulder. "Get on your knees." 

Good, she knew what he wanted. Ellen nearly sighed with relief. This was predictable, at least. She instantly felt safer, reaching up to unzip his pants.

"No!" he slapped her hand away viciously. "You will do what I ask as I ask it and not before. I told you I need to teach you a lesson. You do nothing without my command."

Sometimes Scott liked to pretend he was the master and she the slave. Something was different this time, though. His tone had true brutishness in it. There was an edge to him that he hadn't shown her before. Maybe he had spied on her while she was with Jack and was jealous. Ellen had to redirect him. "Of course," she stated emphatically. She paused and added, "Master."

"That's right." Scott glowered. "I am your master. Now I want you to crawl on your knees until I tell you it's okay to stop." He put his hands on his hips and jerked his chin forward as a signal for her to crawl. Reluctantly she obeyed, crawling toward a corner of the room. Then she turned and crawled back toward him. Her movement was liquid and seductive over the unyielding surface. She gave him her best smoldering look with her heavily-lined eyes.

"Not like that. Go faster! And don't wave your ass so much! I will have you when and if I want to. I won't have you trying to convince me otherwise." He kicked her hard in the rear to emphasize his point. Ellen fell down brutally onto her elbows. She propped herself back up, afraid to disobey him.

She did as he asked, shortening her pace and moving with quick strides on her knees. The marble beneath them was cold and unyielding. Before long, they began to hurt. Her pride and self-preservation pulled at her, straining her emotions to their snapping point.

Her discomfort must have begun to show on her face, because Scott barked, "Oh, it hurts, does it? Well, go faster, then!" He hit her across her back, and it stung. She pressed her lips together tightly to hold back a scream. Scott was enjoying hurting her more than he ever had let on before. She was certain he knew about her and Jack. She had to appease him before he took this any further.

Ellen harnessed her fear and pain by concentrating on the patterns she made as she crawled. She traced large triangles across the surface, then moved to circles, then squares, then a star shape and back to triangles. Having something to focus on providing just enough of a distraction to give her the strength to continue.

When her knees hurt so much she was sure they would begin to bleed, she counted her steps in sets of twenty-five. As Ellen sustained her demeaning march about the room, Scott stopped watching. In her peripheral vision, she saw him sit down in a chair in the corner, pick up a nearby book, and flip through it in the most desultory manner. He didn't give her another glance.

Ellen thought about asking him if she could stop, but he might take that as an opportunity to hurt her more. What was he after? She scrambled for a way to sidetrack him. Maybe now would be a good time to try to get him sexually interested. He might be turned on after seeing her so humiliated.

Ellen wrinkled her brow. Something in Scott's manner suggested that wasn't what he was after. So what was it? She thought hard but couldn't find an answer.

Her body pulsed with pain. It was getting harder and harder to ignore. She looked over at Scott, her knees screaming for mercy. He had put the book on his lap face down and closed his eyes. Maybe he was becoming uninterested. Ellen took a chance and stopped crawling. She rested back on her haunches and lifted her knees off the marble.

Scott's voice thundered through her. "Who said you could stop? I'm not a fool. I may not be able to see you while my eyes are closed, but I can hear you. You are an idiot, Ellen. Move."

She brought one knee forward to meet the hard floor and squeezed her eyes tightly to keep from crying. She made several more patterns across the room until her knees simply would not allow her to continue to place one after another.

She looked down at them. Thin streams of blood trickled down her pale flesh and smeared the white marble with streaks of red. She couldn't tolerate the pain anymore. She decided to deal with whatever consequences came and stood up, gasping from the flash of pain that came from straightening her knees after they had been bent for so long. She ran her hand along her smooth hair and swallowed. "I'm leaving." Her voice sounded tired but clear.

Scott bounded from his chair, letting the book slide to the floor. "No. You. Are. Not. Ellen, get back down on your knees. I don't know why you came here, but you are not going to get what you wanted out of me. But rest assured, I will get what I desire out of you. And right now, I need you to kneel." He gritted his teeth as he spat out the words.

Staying resolute, she straightened her back and lengthened her neck, literally rising to his challenge. "I'm not playing your stupid little games anymore, Scott. I'm going." The hem of her dress swished around her ankles as she turned her back to him.

Ellen heard a drawer open, followed by odd rustling sounds, like something being unwrapped from cloth. Ellen hesitated momentarily, caught off guard. She didn't want to wait to find out what he had taken out of that drawer. She ran.

Scott's voice sounded like talons scraping through the air. "Turn around."

The menace in his tone forced her feet into a sprint. She took several desperate steps before his next words turned her legs to stone.