by T J Vertigo
The actress listened to the sounds coming from the bathroom, and slid down the door, heartbroken. Reece wasn't sick this time, she was crying. The muffled sobs brought a sick feeling to Faith's stomach. Reece was in terrible pain.
"Baby...?" The actress called out quietly. "Reece, it's ok. Please come out and let me hold you." Faith could feel her chest tighten. This was the most horrible feeling she'd ever experienced.
Reece grew angry. Faith was crying, and that hurt the club owner even more. The tall woman stood and stared at herself in the mirror. She remembered the first time she had stared at her self in this mirror. It was right after she broke free from Him. When Frankie came and rescued her.
God...look at me.
She ran her hands over her body, examining the scars, watching her reflection do the same. The first time she was here, doing this same thing, she was thinner.
Not to mention wilder, younger. She thought as she examined her face. Untamed. An animal. She bared her teeth.
The Animal.
A powerful surge of adrenaline forced Reece to exhale loudly. The club owner felt defeated. The weight of her past winning over her strength to forget it. It was so close to the surface, she couldn't fight it. No one could supress the will of The Animal. She was unbeatable. It was a proven fact.
Reece stood taller and flexed her arms, staring in wonder at her reflection. She realized that she had no idea who she was any more. She felt confused and alone.
It was too quiet in the bathroom and Faith became worried. Reece never did this before and she was afraid of what emotional state her lover would be in when she finally came out.
"Reece, stop it now! I won't allow you to go there, I love you baby, please let me help you." The actress blurted in fear.
The tall woman froze. Faith was frantic. Reece dropped her hands to her sides and stared into her own eyes. Listening to the frightened voice of the only person who loved her shook some sense into the club owner.
Shithead. Someone loves you. Faith loves you.
"Even if I'm The Animal?" she asked the door.
"Because you are." it answered.
Reece suddenly felt relieved and took a robe off the back of the door. She couldn't help but grin at that reply.
Faith sat on the bed and watched as Reece came out of the bathroom. She waited for the tall woman to do something, give her an idea as to what was going on inside her head. The last thing she expected was to see the cock-eyed smile she loved so much.
"Hey you." The actress smiled back.
Reece bent down to her knees in front of Faith. She stared into her green eyes with wonder.
"You ok?" Faith tried to smooth the dark hair down, but it had a mind of its own.
"Yeah, I think." the club owner nodded and looked away.
"Wanna talk?" Faith tried.
"Ok." Reece blew out a shaky breath.
The actress wasn't prepared for that and had no idea what to say. She was shocked and tried to organize the jumble of questions she had whirling around in her head.
"These dreams, they're not dreams," Reece started hesitantly, clearing Faith's head immediately.
"They're real." The tall woman winced at her confession.
"What do you mean, Reece?" Faith asked as her lover got up and started to pace.
"I go back...before Frankie, when I was, uh, fighting?" she looked to Faith. "You know..?" This was more difficult than she'd imagined.
"It's ok baby, I know about that. Go on." Faith smiled reassuringly.
"Well, that man, he was mean, and sometimes I relive those things." The tall woman stopped by the dresser and leaned on it, her back to Faith.
Faith got up and wrapped her arms around Reece, laying her head on her back, upset to feel her strong lover trembling.
"Shhh, it's ok, baby, it's over now. He can't do anything to you anymore."
"I killed him." she whispered, tears falling down her face in anticipation of losing Faith forever.
Faith's eyes shot open but to her credit, she didn't flinch.
"I beat him to death."
The actress tugged at the distraught woman until they were facing each other.
"This bothers me, Reece, I won't lie. It scares me that you have the ability to kill with your hands." Her look of shock confirming her words.
"He wasn't the first. I was trained to kill... for sport. For other people's amusement." The club owner stiffened visibly. "For money." she whispered.
"You had no choice." Faith cupped her lover's face in her hands. "Reece, the idea frightens me. It frightens me to death, but you don't frighten me." The actress was shaken, but she knew Reece would never hurt her.
"How can you stand there and be so kind to a killer?" She wondered, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Because I'm positive that isn't you anymore. That part of your life is gone. The Reece Corbett I'm here with now isn't a killer."
"I was just before. It was so real." she shivered.
"God, if he weren't dead, I'd kill him. What did he do to you?" Faith stroked Reece's face softly.
"He owned me. I was his pet, an attack dog." Reece sneered as she spoke.
"Did he hurt you? Did he rape you?" Faith felt her heart beat speed up in fear.
"He hurt me alright, but he never touched me sexually. He wouldn't dare." The tall woman turned and sat on the bed.
Relieved, the actress sat on her lap and lay her head on Reece's chest. She shook her head at the pounding beneath her ear.
"I'm not going to tell you I'm ok with all this, its a lot to digest right now. What you said is terrifying, and I can't imagine what it must have been like for you. To live through it, live with it, and confess it. Just know this, I'm not going anywhere. I love you, Reece, and you can't scare me off so easily." Faith tightened the grip she had on the strong body.
"How can you love me?" Reece asked wide eyed, completely blown away by Faith's speech.
"How can I not?" Faith's eyes sparkled. She leaned over and kissed her lover tenderly.
"I don't understand you Faith." Reece wrapped her arms around Faith and buried her face in her neck.
"Reece, I don't care what happened in your past. No wait, I do care, but it doesn't change anything. I didn't ask to love you...hell, I have no idea how it happened, but it happened. Now I can't imagine my life without you." Faith kissed her lover's messy hair and chuckled.
"You're something else, you know that?" Reece pulled back to look at the actress and a tear fell from her eye. Faith kissed it. Reece looked away and huffed in frustration.
"Oh Honey, it's ok to cry, sometimes it's the only way. It doesn't make you any less of who you are to me."
"But I feel like a baby...weak." Reece lowered her head.
Faith took Reece's hand and pulled her up on the bed, laying the dark head down on her chest so she could do "scratchies".
"Well sometimes we all have to be babied. I'd cradle you if you weren't so goddamned big." Faith grinned.
Reece moved her head and wrapped her lips around a nipple, startling her lover.
"Reece!"
"Baby's hungry."
"Ok, I'll buy that," she laughed, "But how do you explain this?" She covered Reece's hand, which was grasping her other breast and tweaking that nipple.
The strong shoulders shrugged. "Didn't want it to feel left out?"
* * *
They awoke in the morning, in the same position. Faith smiled down at her lover's head, then kissed it.
"Mmmm." Reece slipped her arm out from under Faith's body and turned over. "Morning, babe."
"Morning yourself, sexy." Faith narrowed her eyes at the half-open robe that left one of her lover's breasts exposed.
Reece sat up took off the robe and stretched, much to Faith's delight, and then settled back down with her chin resting in her hand.
"You're the one who's sexy. Sexy."
Faith grinned. "How are you feeling?"
"Good. Hungry though, those things need a refi
ll." she poked Faith's nipples.
"I beg your pardon. They were never filled in the first place." She sat up, covered her nipples and gave Reece a haughty expression.
Reece laughed, and kissed Faith's thigh with an open mouth, letting her tongue caress the skin briefly.
"Ohh, that's not fair. I can feel my own nipples getting hard." Faith narrowed her eyes at her unusually playful lover.
"Lemme feel!" Reece grabbed at her hands, but was slapped away.
"Nope." she smirked. "I thought you were hungry?" she stood up and headed for the door.
"My point exactly." Reece smirked and flopped down on the bed, watching her lover's shapely ass sway out of sight.
Reece felt renewed, energized. She felt a new sense of peace with her lover, and her life. She got up and poked her head into the kitchen, spying on Faith as she started the coffeepot. The club owner felt proud to be in love with her.
Reece snuck up and pressed herself against Faith's back, wrapped her arms around her and lifted her off the floor, nuzzling her neck as she did.
Faith squealed and laughed.
"Animal." She giggled.
Reece growled and bit.
"Reece!"
"I'm your animal." She said as she put her lover down and headed to the bedroom.
"Every wild inch of you..." Faith called out from the kitchen.
"Hey what are you doing after work, Faith?" Reece asked from the top of the stairs.
"Nothing, what do you have in mind?" The actress followed and met her lover in the bedroom.
"I want you to come and meet Frankie."
Faith smiled at Reece's naked body as it waltzed into the bathroom.
"Just like this?" She questioned.
"Yeah, just like that." Reece answered as she filled the huge tub. Easing herself into the water she added, "He once told me that he would see to it that no one would ever own me again."
Faith slid into the tub alongside her lover and groaned with pleasure. "Well I'm glad he was there to see to it."
"No, that's just the point, I want to rub you in his face."
"Oh Reece, I don't own you." Faith got choked up.
"Yes you do, and I wouldn't have it any other way."
* * *
Cori sat fiddling restlessly with the sugar shaker. Faith had called her at the crack of dawn, practically foaming at the mouth she was so excited. The dancer couldn't get a word in edgewise as her friend babbled on about having to talk to her immediately. So, here she was at their favorite coffee shop, waiting not so patiently on Faith's arrival.
The waitress appeared again, and as she did the times before, Cori blushed in embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, I haven't decided what I want yet."
"Maybe if you opened the menu, it'll come to you." The woman teased, refilling Cori's coffee cup with a wink.
Come on Faith...where the hell are you!?
* * *
The actress had every intention of meeting her friend on time, but as the cab stopped at the light in front of the gym, Faith's plans changed.
I'd know that ass anywhere!
"Hey, stop here...I'm getting out." The actress stuffed the fare through the little hole and practically ran towards the window.
Reece had her back to the street as she concentrated, focusing all her energy into feeling the burn as she lifted the heavy dumbbells out at her sides, then up over her head.
I've never seen flys look so hot...
Faith was drawn to the sight. She was standing in the street looking up. Quite a few people stopped to see what she was staring at, and when they would linger too long, Faith found that she actually knew how to growl, given a good enough reason.
Reece did her final rep and put the dumbbells down, bending at the waist and stretching her lower back. She had no idea that she had an audience as she twisted this way and that. The tall woman wiped her face on a towel and shook out her arms.
Faith was inside the gym now, partially hidden by some machines. She watched with an open mouth as her lover lay down on a bench and began to do leg lifts.
Oh god! she drooled. Those thighs, oh baby...what a beautiful display!
Faith watched intently as her lover's pumped legs raised and lowered the weight. Reece lifted her arms from her sides and gripped the bench behind her. Green eyes followed the movement and were now visually stroking the slick flexed biceps. The actress caught her tongue poking out and moving in conjunction with her eyes. She had to close her eyes to compose herself. She was startled at the intensity with which she was attracted to Reece's muscular form. Faith was never turned on by brawn, and while Reece wasn't huge muscularly, she was definitely built.
Perfect. Not too big, not too veiny...but simply delicious.
Faith always cringed at those women's bodybuilding shows on TV. The way those women's veins stood out made her squeamish. However, now she often had the urge to trace the veins in Reece's hands with her tongue. Green eyes focused on those hands now. Faith stuck her finger in her mouth to chew on a nail, suddenly needing something to distract her tongue.
Her eyes traced the tall sweating woman's arms, beginning at her hands and ending at her shoulders. Faith had to control herself or she'd make a scene.
Ha! Like it would be the first time some crazed woman jumped on her in the gym...couldn't really blame them. She smiled proudly, possessively.
She's all mine, she gloated.
The exertion Reece was putting out made every muscle visible and defined. Faith was breathing with effort.
How hot is it in here? she wondered as the sweat trickled down between her breasts. Yeah right, like the lycra-covered goddess you're devouring with your eyes has nothing to do with your condition. She shook her head in astonishment at just how hungrily she was staring.
Reece turned over on to her stomach to do leg curls. Faith whimpered and shifted her position at the dampness between the legs as she watched Reece's butt flex rhythmically. She immediately pictured herself underneath her drenched lover and had to bite her lip to keep from groaning. The actress had seen enough and ran out of that gym as fast as she could.
Oh boy! That was not a good thing! she hailed another cab and jumped in. I am so horny I could scream!
* * *
Cori tried Faith's cell phone again with the same results. Faith never changed her message and although it was funny the first time, Reece crooning "Talk to me baby" a la Barry White was really annoying the dancer now.
"Easy now, what did that poor defenseless phone ever do to you?" Faith teased as her friend pounded the pay phone against the wall.
"Oh I don't know... but I'll tell you what it didn't do." Cori narrowed her eyes and folded her arms over her chest.
"Oh yeah?" Faith smiled at the waitress who seemed oddly relieved to see her.
Cori follwed her to the table. "Well, for starters, it didn't wake me out of a coma after a whopping 3 hours of quality sleep to prattle on about needing to talk to me before I opened my eyes, and then leave me here waiting for an hour while my G.G. lies naked in our bed." Cori breathed and drank some coffee. "Thanks a pantload, friend."
Faith chuckled. "G.G.?"
"Yeah. Gorgeous Girlfriend." She smirked and blushed.
Faith raised her eyebrow. Cori countered the move with her own arched eyebrow.
"Gorgeous girlfriend?" Faith giggled.
"Yeah, got a problem with that?" Cori mock threatened.
"Not at all. If it were anyone other than Reece, I'd probably come up with a few pet names myself." Faith grinned as she mentally went down a list of pet names.
"I hear ya. I bet there isn't one that's good for mixed company." The dancer teased.
"Speaking of gorgeous girlfriends.. I'm sorry I was late." Faith tried her best puppy dog face.
"You can just put that face away, woman. I wanna know what was so important that you interrupted my beauty sleep. And where is your cell phone?"
"I left it home. Aren't you sweet?" Faith thanked the
waitress who placed her usual breakfast in front of her, and began to eat.
"Well?!?" asked the exasperated dancer. "Spill it, shorty."
Faith attempted an intimidating look that Cori waved away impatiently.
"Ok. So two nights ago, Reece has another nightmare." She paused to swallow some eggs. Cori rolled her eyes.
"Well this time she told me what was going on. She relives the past. That guy, the one who made her fight, well, now we know what happened to him." Faith sipped her coffee, to her friend's dismay.
"Faith! What happened to him?" Cori drummed her fingers on the table.
Faith leaned across the table and whispered. "She killed him."
Cori's eyes opened wide. "No!"
"Shhh! Yes...she told me! And what's even worse, Cori, she beat him to death!" Faith stopped eating and stared out the window.
"She just told you?" The dancer snagged a piece of Faith's toast.
"Yeah. You know, at first she scared me, she was awake, but not really...you should have seen the rage in her eyes. It was horrible."
"Did she hurt you?" Cori sat up and stopped chewing.
"No." she lied. She didn't mean to anyway. "She woke up completely panicked, and as usual ran away. She explained some of it right then, but on the way to see Frankie, she told me all sorts of..."
"Whoa! Wait a minute...she took you to see Frankie!? Holy shit!"
"Yeah." Faith smiled warmly at the memory. "She wanted him to meet me."
Cori reached over and held her friend's hand.
"That is so beautiful Faith. It's like taking you home to meet the parents. That is so sweet."
Faith nodded in agreement. "She was so nervous, like he was still alive. It's very apparent how much his opinion meant to her." The actress paused at the image of a nervous fidgety Reece at the gravesite. "I only wish I was there when he died. It must have been so devastating for her." Faith's eyes watered at the very idea of Reece's loss.
"Oh devastated is an understatement. She was horrified." Cori looked off in the distance with the picture of Reece's anguished face in her head. She had to shake the disturbing image away. "First she disappeared for days, then she went on a drinking binge, then a women binge, then a violence binge, then she went cold as ice."