Breaking Me Softly (English Edition) (Fighting Hearts Book 1)

by Melody Adams

  Fay

  The pain that I felt when I woke up made me wish I could drift back into unconsciousness. I heard a moan and registered that it came from me. The physical pain was all I could feel at that moment. It was so bad that I did not even want to think about how I looked. My current condition would not allow me to go to the bathroom by myself anyways. Martin was a master in hitting me so that it would not leave any lasting scars. But I knew from experience that I was all bruised up.

  The thought of my torturer brought up another thought. Viper! The pain I felt about what I had lost was much bigger than the physical pain. Tears were burning my eyes and I rolled over into a fetal position.

  “Viper” I whispered as the tears ran down my face. “Oh Viper.”

  I was hoping that he was handling it better than me. I wanted him to be happy. All the terrible lies that I had written him, weighed heavy on my conscience, even though I knew it had been necessary to get him to forget about me. A small, egotistical part of me did not want him to forget me. I wanted what had happened between us to mean as much to him as it did to me. It was not right of me to think this. I should hope that he could have a life without me.

  I heard footsteps in the hallway and my heart started racing. I was hoping he was not coming here. I hoped he would be turned off by my beaten body. But I knew better. I knew him too well. The footsteps stopped in front of my door, and then I saw the door knob being pushed down. I turned to face the wall. Sweat was forming on my forehead and I whimpered quietly in anticipation of what was to come.

  The door opened. I heard him enter and the door closing. For a while he just stood there. I could feel his eyes on my back. Then I heard the noise that I hated more than anything in the world. The noise the zipper of his pants made when he opened it. I screamed inside, but no sound came over my lips. It was something I had learned years ago. It would be much worse if I screamed. It was better to be quiet. He would be done in a few minutes and I would get a break until the next day. But woe to me if I screamed. He would take his time and do it over and over, until I ran out of energy to cry. Nobody would help me. The next door neighbors were too far away and my mother had learned to not hear anything. She was probably asleep. Like always. She had lost all interest in the world. Lost interest in her daughter!

  Viper

  “Are you going to be okay on your own?” Brian asked me and looked at me concerned.

  I sat down on a kitchen chair and nodded without looking up. I spend two month in a psych ward and had just been released today. Losing Fay had opened up all my old wounds and I had fallen into a black hole. I was going back and forth between rage and depression, but now I had everything under control. At least that’s what I was hoping. I had to go back to my training and concentrate on my life. A life without Fay. I clenched my fists and bit down on my teeth until they crunched. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. Somehow I had to get my shitty life back under control.

  “You call, if you need me, okay?”

  “Thanks” I said roughly. My own voice sounded strange to me. I looked at my friend and partner. “Did the media find out where I spend the last two month?”

  Brian shook his head.

  “No, they don’t know about it. We started a rumor that you got hurt during sparring and had to cancel all fights due to it.”

  I was relieved and nodded. That was the last thing I wanted – Fay to find out what her betrayal had done to me. She should never find out how much it affected me. She did not know my past. I was that tough fighter for her, the MMA fighter and womanizer. She did not know my broken soul– My weakness. I hated myself for this weakness and was determined to never show it again. I would never make the mistake of letting a woman enter the ruins of my agonizing heart, ever again.

  Chapter 6

  Fay

  I was locked in this damn room for four months. Four month filled with pain, humiliation and hopelessness. Martin had not even allowed me to see my doctor to get another pregnancy prevention shot. The unavoidable had happened. I was five weeks overdue and the possibility that Martin had gotten me pregnant was pretty high. It could also be stress, but my body was used to it for years. Besides, I had morning sickness in the past couple of days. It seemed to be the baby. The child of my rapist, my stepfather! I wanted to hate it because I hated that it was there, but I knew it was not the baby’s fault how it was conceived. The thought that it would be born into the misery that was my life scared me. This is not what I wanted for my child. I knew that I would probably never leave this room alive. I had heard about cases like this in the news– Women that were held in captivity by their tormentors for twenty, thirty years or more. Nobody would save me. Viper probably had long forgotten about me, my lies had made sure of it. He would not be my knight in shining armor to come and rescue me. There was no one besides him that I ever mattered to. My mother was the last person on earth that would help me. And now I was about to give birth in captivity. What if it was a girl? Would her father abuse her as well? That thought caused me to panic. I had to leave. I shouldn’t … I couldn’t have the baby here. Martin would never see this baby. He could not even know that it existed.

  Viper

  Today was my first fight since my meltdown five months ago. I had worked out like a maniac for three months to make up for the two months I had lost wasting away in the psychiatric hospital. Boris leaned down to me and had his hands on my shoulders to give me some last advice. I was totally focused looking at my bandaged hands on my lap.

  “You will not take any chances”, Boris said forcefully. “Maverick‘s techniques are not as good as yours, but he is in excellent shape and he is good on the ground, so don’t get on the planks with him. So far he always won with his special handhold. You have to prevent him from getting you into that grip. Got it?”

  I nodded.

  “I am focused, coach. I’ll break the fuckers neck” I promised.

  Boris tapped my shoulders.

  “Get up … Move around a bit until it’s your turn. It should be only a few minutes.”

  He stepped back and I got up to jog in place and do some shadow boxing. Brian stood next to the door, leaning against the wall and was watching me. He had been by my side over the course of the past few months like no other. I was in a shape like never before and more aggressive than ever.

  A knock on the door signaled that it was time. Brian opened the door and the music for my entrance was echoing loudly in my locker room. Boris helped me put on my robe. We left the locker room and walked down the hallway leading to the arena. It was packed to the rim as always and the fans were calling out my name. I felt the adrenaline rushing through my system.

  “And here is the man we all have waited for tonight” the voice of the ring announcer shouted out. “Here he is … the unmatched … the unique … Vincent Viiiiiper Mahooooooneeeyyyyyyy!”

  The crowd exploded into a thunderous cheer and I raised my arms to greet my fans. It felt good to be back … to be in the octagon and to feel the excitement of my fans. Tonight I would give them a fight they would never forget. I would wipe the floor with Maverick.

  The music of my opponent started to play and I could see him walk down the corridor towards the octagon. A few of his fans called out his name, but the whistling and booing of my fans drowned them out.

  “And here is the contender. Here he is … Leon Maaacerick Fulleeeer!”

  We took of our robes and faced each other. Maverick was almost half a head smaller than me, but he was a fighting machine. Boris had not exaggerated. My opponent was in top shape. We stared each other down and with the referees signal we touched knuckles and the fight started. Maverick was not a man to waste any time. He started off with a hard right, which I blocked and he followed with a left upper cut to my chin. I welcomed the pain and taste of blood in my mouth, and gave him a grin as I counter attacked. My fist found his temple and I pulled his head to his side. The crowd was yelling my name as I bombarded him with punches to the body. He tried t
o push me away so he could walk towards me but I anticipated this and planted my legs firmly on the ground. We started clinching and I felt a hit on my kidney but I ignored the pain and sent my knee into his stomach.

  Maverick made several attempts to get me to the ground. I had Boris’ warning in my ear and was determined not to give him the advantage. The fight seemed relatively balanced and the fans cheered me on, calling out for me to finish Maverick. A woman called my name and her voice sounded like Fay’s voice. For a moment I forgot where I was and what I did. I looked around wanting to know if Fay was in the audience. A hard blow shook me. I swore under my breath. How could this have happened? I fell against the cage as Maverick jumped at me. I try to brace myself but I went down on my knee. Maverick got me in his special grip and I felt how my air was cut off. Again and again I rammed my elbow with all my power into his side. I had made a serious mistake. Fighting on the ground was my weakness. My punches were my strength and I could not use them. I stemmed my feet against the ground and lifted my pelvis, while my arms slid around his shoulders. I threw it to the side with all the power I could muster, but he did not loosen his grip. He just changed his position a bit because I was now on my knees. My fans cheered me on. Wherever my fists could hit him, I hit him hard … but my position was extremely unfavorable. The blows were not effective enough to weaken him. A plan formed in my head. If he was stupid enough to fall for it, he would be going home by ambulance tonight. I stopped my defense and pretended that I was too exhausted to keep up my fight against him. He would have to change his position again to take me to the ground. Encouraged by my lack of defense, he did just that, meaning he had to loosen his grip for just a bit. I anticipated that move and reached above my head and grabbed his. I was swinging forward with force and rammed his skull onto the floor. One, two, three times until he collapsed in my hands. A puddle of blood formed under him. The referee stopped the fight and paramedics came running into the octagon to take care of Maverick, while my win was announced. The crowed had risen from their seats and went wild.

  “Viper! Viper! Viper!” they yelled with one voice.

  “Viper, take me!” a woman screamed. Another one called out “I want a baby from you, Viper!”

  I laughed at the crowd and let them celebrate me. Boris padded my shoulder excitedly and Brian gave me a few friendly punches. We left the arena under thunderous applause. I could still hear the enthusiastic shouts in the locker room. It felt fantastic. I was back!

  The after party of the fight took place at the same place like before and I had to think of the last party we had there, where I had kissed Fay on the dance floor, took her home to make love to her for the first time. My heart ached and I clenched my fists. I had to get over this. I had not been with a woman since Fay left. It was about time to change that. My eyes fell on Lioness, who was giving it her all on the dance floor. I downed my drink and ordered another. I downed that one too, got off my barstool and slowly walked onto the dance floor. I wrapped my hands around Lionesses’ waist and she turned her head to see who had touched her so brazenly. She smiled as she recognized me and started to rub against me. For a while we danced in a provocative and erotic manner. My cock was awakened to new life and I suppressed all thoughts of Fay. At some point Lioness turned around and we danced facing each other. Our groins moved in a specific rhythm. I put my hand on her buttocks and pushed her privates against my erection.

  “Let’s go” I said.

  She nodded and I pulled away from her taking her hand. She willingly followed me out of the gym and we took a car to my house. My thoughts were racing. I wanted to delete Fay from my thoughts but she was all I could think of. She did not deserve this. She had only used me. There was no reason why I should feel this bad about sleeping with another woman. Dammit! I decided to not back out this time. I would sleep with Lioness. I would delete any thought of Fay from my head. From my heart and my soul.

  Fay

  I had made my decision. Tonight I would try to escape. My pregnancy would become noticeable soon and I was not sure how Martin would react to it. I was in my third month. I wanted the child, but did not want it to be in this house. Not under one roof with Martin. My mother was not doing well for a few days now and I knew Martin was busy with her. The opportunity was favorable. He had slept for the past few days. I would be far away by the time he discovered I was gone. I knew where he kept his credit card and knew his PIN. I would take the money from his account to get a new start for myself and the child. This time I had no qualms about it. He had tormented and abused me for years. I would not feel guilty about stealing money from him.

  I waited until the house was quiet, then waited another hour just to make sure. I finally opened the window and climbed out. The canopy was not far but I had no idea how loud my landing on it would be. I prayed that Martin would not wake up. I landed safely on my feet, but the sound of the impact seemed incredibly loud in the night to me. My heart was beating hard as I expected Martin’s bedroom light to come on, but nothing happened. I slowly went to the edge of the roof and let my legs dangle off it. I let myself slide down slowly until I felt the rim of the trash can. I felt a triumphant feeling as I climbed off the bin. Now I just had to get the credit card. I was stuck without money. I still had my house keys which Martin had forgotten to take from me. Since he had locked me in my room, he probably thought I would not need it. I smiled grimly.

  You won’t believe your eyes in the morning, you son of a bitch, I thought with satisfaction as I went to the front door to open it. The house was quiet. I did not dare turn on the light but found my way in the dark. I did not have to go far. Martin’s wallet was laying on a sideboard in the living room. I took it and opened it. I took out his credit card, my heart was beating wildly and I put it into my back pocket. I put the wallet back in its place. I cautiously crept across the room towards the door, when suddenly the lights came on.

  “I knew I had heard something!” I heard Martin’s voice coming from the other door, which was behind me, leading into the hallway.

  I screamed in horror and ran away in a panic. I heard Martin curse behind me. I knew that he was coming after me. I ran for the front door, screaming. Just as I was about to grab the door knob, my hair was pulled back hard and I was thrown against the chest of my tormentor. His arms grabbed my middle like a steel band. I screamed and frantically tried to break free. I squirmed in his hold, kicked him but he was too strong for me. Without mercy he dragged me back into the living room. He flung me against the couch and I tripped falling between the couch and coffee table, hitting my right shoulder and hip. I landed screaming on my back and I tried to get up again. My heart was racing. I managed to get up and tried to hide behind the couch but Martin was faster. He grabbed my jacked and pulled back his fist. The blow caught me on the chin and I tasted blood as the pain took away my breath. Another blow crushed my nose. I was not sure I would survive this time. I had never seen Martin outraged like this. I thought of my unborn child and tears were running down my cheeks.

  “Please … please don’t hurt me,” I sobbed in a panic. “I am pregnant. Please!”

  Disbelief began to spread on his face.

  “What? What did you say?”, he screamed. “You damn whore! You want to push a bastard on me? You can forget about that, you fucking bitch!”

  He punched me in the stomach with an incredible force and I collapsed.

  “No! No!” I whimpered. I rolled over and tried desperately to protect the baby from the kicks that Martin gave me. All of a sudden I heard my mother scream. Apparently she had finally managed to get out of bed. I was about to lose consciousness. Everything hurt and I was unable to see. I only heard my mother’s screams and Martin’s angry voice. Then all went black around me.

  I woke up with pain all over my body. I was sitting in a car. I saw the dimly lit street through the windshield, the lights of cars passing here and there. I groaned. Everything hurt so much. I remembered faintly what had happened. My baby! What was with my
baby? I looked around but could not see anything. It was dark and my vision was blurry, but I felt moisture soaking my pants. Was it blood? Was I losing the baby? I whimpered softly. I was not capable of more.

  “You are awake! Good!” came Martin’s voice. “I will take you to the hospital. You will tell them that you were assaulted and beaten by strangers somewhere. Or better yet, leave the talking up to me and you just confirm what I say. One wrong word from you and I will make sure you die a painful death. You think you can take me to jail? That you will get rid of me like this? Wrong, princess! I have enough friends that I can reach from jail. First I have them kill your mom, your fucking boyfriend and finally you, if you say anything. Do you understand?

  I nodded weakly. I knew he was right. He would manage to hurt me even from jail. I was filled with hopelessness and anger. Grief for the loss of my child added to it. I was sure I was losing it. My abdomen hurt badly and I doubled over in my seat.

  “We are here”, said Martin and stopped the car. “You are going to play along nicely.”

  He got out and I could hear him call out “Help! I need help! My daughter! She has been assaulted and I think she is losing her baby!”

  What a phony! He seriously sounded like a concerned father. What a miserable bastard! Murderer! I hated him, but I if I did not cooperate he would have my mom, Viper and myself killed.

  The passenger door opened and somebody lifted me out of the car and put me in a wheel chair. My abdominal cramps were getting worse. I moaned and whimpered. Everything rushed by as I was quickly taken to the ER. I could overhear Martin telling his lies and doctors and nurses telling him they would do all they could to help me. Aside from the pain I felt total apathy. I was hoping for them to just let me die. I did not want to live without my child and I certainly did not want to go back to a life with Martin.