"A Higher Domination"
June 23, 2008 Paige's Place 2230 hours He had followed her back to her apartment. Although it was only a 10 minute ride from the safehouse to her place, it was enough to give him time to think. Think about what he was going to do to her. Time to be angry. And not to disappoint, when he got out of his truck she could see the tension in every movement, every dark look her way. She wasn't sure what to expect out of him though she knew it would be something...something intense. He was never anything less. She also wondered what the other things would be and if he would even listen. As soon as she opened the door he pounced on her and slammed her against the wall, his eyes glowing with an anger she had never seen quite so fierce before. "Have a nice weekend?" he asked quietly. Then he grabbed her shoulders pulling her towards him for a moment before slamming her back into the wall. She groaned her disapproval, only furthering his anger. "Where were you Friday night?" he asked though he had no need for an explanation. Nor did he want one. Nor would he even listen if she tried to speak. His hand went to the back of her neck and he shoved her in front of him, towards the dining room, and pushed her into a chair. He stood behind her. She wasn't afraid. Not of what he could do to her. There was also no sense in fighting back, him having the clear physical advantage. His hand came to rest on her shoulder and she flinched. Ok, maybe she was little afraid. "Don't flinch," he warned. "And if you scream...I'll hurt you more." She knew he meant it. His hand dropped along her arm and to her hand, enclosing it in his. He pulled it up until her casted wrist was above the table. Without a word he slammed it down on to the table top. Paige bit her lip as the pain shot through her arm. "That's good," he smiled at her. "I bet that hurt, too." She merely glared at him and she could see the amusement in his eyes. He picked up her arm again holding it over the table. "You lied to me," he said and slammed her arm down again. She shuddered as another burst of pain went through her body. She wasn't quite sure exactly what he was talking about. She hadn't really lied to him. Not telling him something was not exactly the same as lying. She was quite sure though he was going to tell her. "You shouldn't have lied to me, Paige." He leaned down, his hands resting on his knees so he could get in her face. "You have the primers." She stared at him, so it was about that then. "But we'll talk about that tomorrow because tonight?" he smiled at her, a smile of sincere joy. "Tonight...you're gonna beg for your life." "Never," she whispered. And the words fell out of her mouth before she could stop them. She immediately tensed expecting him to lash out at her for speaking. "I don't think you want to challenge me, sweetness," he said the smile fading from his face. "This is a fight you won't win." She stared at him. His lips bared back in a wolfish grin, "I'm going to enjoy this a lot more than you," he said grabbing a handful of blonde hair dragging her to her feet. And so it began... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` June 24, 2008 Paige's Place Morning Joshua woke up to the stifled groans of Paige getting up from the bed. He watched her without saying a word, the way she moved tentatively, gingerly. He could see the tenseness in her shoulders as she tried to avoid any unnecessary movement. As she left the room he could see the noticeable limp from when he had twisted her knee. It hadn't been that bad but she had groaned in pain, only angering him more, and he had put even more pressure on it. She didn't utter a sound after that. And he didn't allow himself to feel guilty for it either. He had been unusually cruel with her. But he admired her, he had to admit, she had taken everything he had dished out, everything he had done physically and mentally to her, she had taken all of the abuse...and never asked him to stop. She had taken him to complete exhaustion until he could barely stand, barely think, and still the eyes cast on him were defiant. He didn't think most men could tolerate him when he was in a mood like he was last night. And she took everything with a passion that equaled his own. That's why he...he stopped himself. That's twice he almost said that. He conquered her physically, emotionally, taking down her walls and her will and her heart. But he could never conquer the one thing that could tip the scales completely in his favor...he couldn't conquer her mind. And she was beginning to realize that. Her mind was as much as an advantage over him as his physical size was over her. He got up, grimacing slightly at his own pain. Last night had taken a toll on him as well. He heard the shower going and contemplated joining her but only for a minute. They needed coffee more than he needed a shower at the moment. As he waited for it to brew he stood in the kitchen and she finally came out. She was wearing a black silk robe and rubbed her wet hair with a towel. "You really fucked up my knee," she said. He shrugged. What was he supposed to do about that now? She rolled her eyes in disgust and sat down at the dining room table putting the towel down and running a comb through her hair. She got up almost immediately and he smiled...she had finally noticed the fish. He heard a muttered curse and a moment later she limped by with the fish bowl in her hand. "Everything alright?" he asked evenly. "Fuck you," she muttered back. He had to grin at that. She obviously needed more sleep. He poured two mugs of coffee and put them on the table with creamer and sugar. She finally came back and took her mug without looking at him. She then stopped, went into the freezer for an ice pack and then moved into the living room and sat. She put her feet up and the ice pack on her knee. She took a long sip of her coffee, closed her eyes, and leaned her head back. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~' Paige's thoughts ran quietly through her mind unhindered pretty much, by anything, not even the hulking form that stood in front of her. He had let her alone for about an hour. Drank his coffee, took a shower, ate something. Now though...why did he look at her that way? Didn't he know that those sort of looks didn't have the same effect on her anymore? Didn't he know they didn't have to play these games now? Didn't he know that they had already went too far? "Where were you Friday night?" Why the formality, she wondered, he already knew these things. His question interrupted her thoughts for only a moment. There's something different about the way he asked. Oh, she thought, that's it then...no smirk. No smirk? He must really be on tilt, she thought, so she arched an eyebrow at him with a little smile. "Jaime's," she said simply. "Jaime's," he said cocking his head. "Something funny?" he asked growing agitated. "You are," she said playfully giving him her best 'fuck me' eyes. Not that they hadn't had enough of that last night, though a sane person would hardly call what they did 'fucking', and she had the bruises to prove it. "You weren't at Jaime's Friday night you fucking liar," he said quietly though the undercurrent in his tone was enough to wipe the smile off her face. "Not all of Friday night anyway." "What do you want, Joshua, huh?" she asked, the smile once again appearing on her face. This was fun, him being on the other side, the side she had so often occupied when engaging him. The side that she had spent a better part of the night on, under the cruelty of those hands. "I want to know where you were Friday night," Joshua said again, this time louder. Paige sighed looking at him thoughtfully, "I already told you, but still...you don't believe me. What's a girl to do?" she shrugged batting her eyes, provoking him. He moved quickly shoving her back a few steps, "where were you Friday night? Huh?" Paige narrowed her eyes, "You know these tiffs always end up with you fucking me so why don't we cut out the foreplay and get right to it. Unless of course, you've had enough." He snorted shaking his head, "you are way out of line." "Please, Joshua, there's no out of line between us..." she said as he looked at her with an almost confused expression on his face. "Hell, there's barely a right or wrong anymore." He clenched his jaw agitated from the cheap shot she took. "Just answer the question." Persistent bastard. She thought for sure the 'fucking' comment would put him over the edge and they could be done with this. Apparently not. Apparently Joshua was hell bent on getting what he wanted and what Joshua wanted...Joshua got. "You mean you don't know?" she smiled at him. Joshua clenched his fist. "The almighty and powerful Joshua doesn't know something? Surely, hell hath frozen over." "You tell me where you were Friday night..." "Or what?" she hissed at him and the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. "What are you going to do? Huh? Bully me? Hit me? Fuck me? What? What could you possibly to do me that you haven't already done except put a fucking bullet in my head," she smirked at him, "and we both know you can't do that." He looked at her, startled by her accusation and she could see the anger building in the vein in his forehead. "Why don't you ask me what's really on your mind?" her words were laced with anger. "Fine," he said nodding his head, "did you kill Pichalski Friday night?" Paige smirked at him, "that's your question? Really, Joshua, you disappoint me." "Did you?" "You already know the answer. Ask me something else. Ask me something important," she demanded from him. "How could you do that?" he said realizing he was losing control of the conversation. "Ask me how I found him," she said, her voice trembling in anger. "Do you know what you did?" he shouted at her. "Ask me how I tracked him down." "What kind of position that puts me in?" "Ask me what he said." "What kind of problems this causes?" "Ask me how I did it." "He's Greenlisted." "You ask me why, you sanctimonious, self righteous, son of a bitch - you fucking ask me WHY!" she screamed at him. They stood glaring at each other, each trembling in anger. Finally, Paige shook her head, "you can't," she said softly. "You can't ask me anything because you already know the answers. It scares you, I can see it." His eyes stayed on hers. "We're exactly alike, you said that. Over and over again, you said that. That's why you know all the answers. You know what Pichalski did to me. You know you gave me his location, knew I would eventually figure it out, knew I would hunt him down...knew I would kill him. But I wonder what scares you more, that you 'thought' I would do it...or that I did." "When did you figure out the real primers?" his voice was low. "When you gave me the fake ones," she shrugged. "I knew you lied," he narrowed his eyes at her, "how dare you use the Directory..." "You KNEW I would," she yelled at him. "You gave it to me!" "You methodically hunted him down knowing he was Greenlisted," Joshua said evenly. "The Greenlist doesn't mean anything to people like me...like you...not anymore," she said. "You killed him in cold blood." And the look on his face was so disbelieving it almost caught her off guard. She almost felt sorry for him. Almost. "You look surprised," she shook her head confused. "It's not like you...to do something like that," he said evenly. She snorted at him, "not like me? To kill someone in cold blood? To rectify a wrong that had been committed against me? To systematically dismantle my past so I don't have to look over my shoulder anymore? To practice a little self preservation? That's not me? You've said it a hundred times before...I'm all about self preservation." "That's not what I meant," he shook his head. "It's not?" she asked mockingly. "Is there any other way to interpret that because self preservation seems pretty self explanatory to me." "You know that's not what I meant." "You know, you're killing me," she scoffed at him. "Do you think I'm some sort of...tree hugging, silver lining kind of girl? Huh? That's me – embracing the sunshine – kissing the daylight," she laughed at him. "Are you fucking kidding me?" she looked at him incredulously. He just looked back at her blankly. "My god, Joshua," she shook her head, "you know me better than that." "Do I?" "You should," she said, "you made me this way." "Made you?" he shook his head, "is that what you think? Is that what's going on here?" "You made me," she said gently, stepping closer to him. "All those things you said about being exactly like you, the marks and the scars and the weight of the world on your shoulders, the pain, the darkness and the emptiness. I felt it. You told me not to be scared of it, so I wasn't. You told me that love wasn't real, that what we had was real, the passion, the burn, the ownership. You told me. And I believed you. It took me a little while, but I believe. You," she smiled gently at him, "you were born the way you are. But me? I'm made. You made me. You made me with all those words, all those times together, all the nights when you held me in your arms and did obscene things to my body..." "Paige," he said softly. "You showed me what I could be, made me consider things I'd never considered before. You showed me what I was deep inside where it counts. And maybe you still have a conscience somewhere in that mind of yours, but you've burnt mine from me over all those nights...like last night...when you'd go through hours like minutes and take me within an inch of my life." She gave him a minute to absorb her words, to hear what she was saying. He took a deep breath as he watched her carefully, but he was still very angry. "If you pull a stunt like that ever again..." "He deserved to die," she lashed out at him. "Do you even realize what you've done?" he shouted at her. "You and your little schemes." "My schemes?" he laughed at her. "You...and Michael..." That got his attention and he stopped laughing to stare at her. She stared back, "I know what you're up to." "You know nothing," he said quietly but clearly angry. "Don't I though? While you're sitting back putting the pieces on the board – do you really want to take that chance that I'm already playing?" He glared at her but said nothing. "For shame, Joshua, copying Red Cell tactics, taking out the leaders to recruit the men. These people will fight for anything if they think it's a cause. I wonder what you will tell them. You're so good with words. That's gonna be your job, right? Michael will do the dirty work? You'll do all the talking? Isn't that the plan?" She stared at him as he stared back. This, he was not expecting. "Sure, the little groups won't be so hard...but the big ones...like Red Cell? That will take some time, you'll have to chip away at them. Hell, they might even...fight back." She smirked. "Isn't that right?" "You don't know what you're talking about," he said flatly. "Oh, yeah, I do. And while you're sitting around with your dick in your hand," she tilted her head at him, "or other places," she said sarcastically, "Red Cell's out beating you to the punch. How's that for small potatoes?" He twitched and glared at her, she could see the anger in his eyes like she'd never seen before. That was enough to confirm all of her suspicions. "I did you a favor getting rid of Pichalski," she said contemptuously. "A favor?" he rumbled at her, "you started a FUCKING WAR!" She shook her head, glaring at him. "I didn't start the war Joshua the war's already here." She lowered her voice, "we just struck first." Return