Cruel Enforcer by Maggie Cole

28

Sergey

"You need to eat something,my lapa." I push a plate of Russian food she usually loves in front of her. We got back from the double funeral and wake a few hours ago. Things were tense between Kora and her extended family. I hovered over her, making sure no one got near to hurt her more. The few times I had to step away, my brothers took over.

"I'm not hungry." Her eyes have dark circles under them, and red rings the hazel. She's not slept much in the last few days since we got home from the hospital. The girls came over each day, but she sat like a zombie, barely talking. I planned the funeral with their help, since Kora kept breaking down and crying.

"You haven't eaten in days."

She turns and looks away. Her hand trembles.

I spread some jam on a blini and hold it to her mouth. "Humor me and take a bite."

She crosses her arms and snaps, "I said I wasn't hungry." Her eyes are empty of her usual warmth. Pain and grief fill them.

It cuts my soul to see her hurting. I want to take it away, but I'm unsure how. I quietly but firmly respond, "Take a bite."

She rises. "I can't do this anymore."

I put the blini down. Blood pounds between my ears. "Do what?"

Her lip quivers. She motions between us. "This."

I stand and fist her hair so her head tilts up. She inhales sharply. For a brief moment, I see the fire in her eyes return, but then it dies. Her emptiness reappears. "I know you're hurting, but I won't let you do this."

"Do what?" she seethes.

"You're not throwing us away."

"Maybe there's nothing to throw away." She defiantly glares at me, as if I'm her enemy and she's ready to take me down.

"You're not thinking clearly."

"Yes, I am."

So she's at the pissed-off stage. It happened faster than I thought it would.

"Running from me isn't going to get rid of your anger."

She pushes against my chest. "Let go of me."

I wrap her hair another time around my fist. "No. You're mine, Kora. No matter what, you're mine, and I'm not letting you go."

"I hate you," she seethes.

It's a stab to my heart, but I ignore it. She's got years of pent-up rage to get out, and if I need to be her punching bag, I will. "No, you don't."

Her lip quivers, and her nostrils flare. "I do."

"Yeah? Why do you hate me?"

"Let me go," she says and pushes my chest again.

I release her, and she spins. She practically runs into the bedroom and goes straight into the closet. She removed the overnight bag she uses to take things back and forth. She pulls random items off the hangers and throws them in the bag while red anger builds in her face.

I quietly say, "I love you, Kora. This isn't going to make you feel better."

She spins and jabs me in the chest. "You don't love me."

"I do. You know I do."

"No, you don't." The quivering in her lip grows.

"Yes, I do."

"You can't," she says and opens a drawer then tosses underwear on top of her clothes.

"Why can't I? Hmm? Tell me why."

She refuses to answer me and bends over and picks up several pairs of shoes. "I'm going home. Get out of my way."

"You're not going home. You are home. This is your home. I am your home. And I won't get out of your way. So whatever is running through your head right now, say it."

"Move!"

I block the doorway more. "No. Tell me why I can't love you."

She squeezes her eyes shut. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I love you."

She opens her fury-filled eyes. "Stop saying that."

"No. I'm going to say it every day for the rest of our lives, so get used to it. Now tell me why I can't love you." I'm pushing her to say what I know is going through her head. She muttered it the first night we got back from the hospital. She was still in shock and kept saying it while crying. It broke my heart, and somehow, I need to find a way to make her see it's not true.

"Well, I don't love you. Now move!" she screams as tears well in her eyes.

That's it.

I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder.

She pounds on my ass. "Sergey, let me go!"

I don't say anything and march down the hall into the dungeon. I put her down on her knees in front of the spanking bench and clasp her wrists and ankles quickly.

"Get these off me," she screams wildly.

I grab my pocketknife and slice the back of her dress off.

"What are you doing? Release me now!"

"Tell me why I can't love you."

"No!"

I unclasp her bra then cut the straps and tear her panties off her with my hands.

"Sergey! What the fuck!"

"Tell me," I growl.

"Release me!"

I scan the wall, debating between a paddle and a flogger. I finally decide on a new flogger I just bought. It's black, with a silver handle with hot-pink beads. It's a more intense flogger than I've used on her in the past. But something tells me she needs the physical pain to mix with her internal pain right now.

"Sergey! Let me go," she belts out like an animal and tries to move off the bench but can't.

I crouch behind her. I kiss her cheek, and she turns her head away. "You're going to tell me why I can't love you."

She turns and looks in my eyes then snarls, "Go to hell."

I sniff hard then rise. "Let it out, Kora. When we finish, I'm taking you to bed and fucking you senseless all night."

"I'm never fucking you again."

I adjust the bench so it pops out, and her entire torso is on top of it. I run the flogger down her spine then kiss her ass cheeks.

"Don't touch me!"

"You know the safe word," I taunt her, taking a guess she isn't going to say it since she needs this. Deep down, she knows it.

"Tell me why I can't love you, Kora."

"No!"

"Wrong answer." I take the flogger and slap her back in an X mark three times. It's not hard, but it's something she hasn't felt before due to the beads on the end of the leather straps.

"Sergey!"

"Tell me why I can't love you, Kora," I repeat.

"No!"

Over and over, I ask her to tell me why, and she refuses. Each time, I mark her. Between the hits, I rub and kiss her skin and tell her how much I love her.

Her skin grows red, and tears stream down her face. She's so close to breaking and telling me what I already know.

"Tell me why I can't love you, Kora," I growl while marking the back of her thighs.

"I'm not lovable," she cries out.

"That's bullshit, Kora," I growl and smack the flogger on her ass.

She shakes her head and arches her back.

"Why are you lying to me, Kora?" I smack the other cheek.

"My own mother hated me," she screams then her body breaks into uncontrollable sobs.

I toss the flogger and rub my hands over the red marks and cage my body around hers. "Your mother was a lousy mother. She had you and never appreciated the gift she had in front of her. She had the problem, not you. You are not unlovable. I love you. Your friends love you. I'm sorry your mother is dead, but I will not let you believe this any longer. So help me God, Kora, if I have to drill this into your head every day, I will. You are mine. I am yours. There is no one I love more than you, and you will not disregard me or my love for you."

She sobs harder, and I release the cuffs and pick her up and carry her to my bedroom. I turn on the tub and stroke her hair as she continues to cry.

Her voice breaks. "Why did those have to be her last words to me?"

"I don't know, my lapa. But listen to me." I pull her chin up. The pain in her eyes just about kills me. I put my hand over her heart. "This hurt you have, it's based on cruel lies. There's no one more deserving of love than you. I know what's in here and who you are. If you forget it, I will remind you."

More tears fall. "Sergey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean—"

I stick my tongue in her mouth, flicking it in and out and taking every part of her I can. When she finally moans into my mouth, I retreat and palm her head. I hold it near my face. "I know. And I've self-destructed before. I won't let it ever happen to you or us."

She nods and sniffles.

I put her in the water, remove my clothes, and get in behind her. I gently wash her back then wrap my arms around her.

She sinks into me, and I tuck her hair behind her ear. I murmur, "You're my life, my lapa. There's nothing I won't do for you."

She turns her head. "I love you, too. I'm sorry. I—"

I kiss her. "Shhh. I know you do. You're in pain. Just relax." I kiss her forehead and slide lower in the tub.

We stay in the tub for an hour. When we get out, I dry her off, then have her lie facedown on the bed. I put lotion on her skin to help with the red marks. When it's dry, I flip her over and hover over her on my forearms. I pin my gaze on her. "I need you to come back to me, my lapa. You need us, and I need us."

She nods and cries out, "I know. I need you so much."

I kiss her, and the rest of the night, I do what I warned her I would do. I fuck her senseless, wearing her out, so she has no other option but to sleep. When she stirs, I start all over. And all night, I remind her how much I love her.