Prologue

Thoughts race through my mind as I hear the door slam.  Is he serious?  Is he really mad?  It was totally a joke.  He knows that right?  He's just playing along right?


I turn to face him expecting to see the corners of his lips turning up that cocky smirk he always has when he's flirting, but instead I see the eyes of stranger burning back at me.  I open my mouth to speak only to feel his hands around my shoulders throwing me back against the wall, knocking the wind out of me. 


As I struggle to breath, confusion surges through me.  What is going on? Who is this man in front of me?  This isn't the Justin I know.  I try to speak to make him know I was just joking, but my lungs burn and I still can't seem to find the air to refill them.


"What the fuck is wrong with you?!  Do you think it's funny to make me look stupid in front of my friends?!" he screams at me.


I implore him with my eyes, still unable to speak.  That's not who I am, he knows this.  I still don't understand what's going on here.


Before I can get any words in edgewise he reaches up and slaps my cheek so hard that if I were able to breath I wouldn't be able to now out of shock.  My hand reaches instinctively to my cheek to try and sooth the stinging pain emanating from the spot his hand landed.  Tears start to stream down my face. This is wrong, so terribly wrong.  I don't know what to say or do and glance towards my feet begging my brain to process this unfamiliar information.


I feel the tear rolling down my left cheek.  It's just about to reach my hand when his assault begins again.  He grabs both of my shoulders, pulling me away from the wall.  For a brief moment I think he's going to embrace me, but then he shoves me towards the bed and throws me face down on the stark gray comforter.


In shock and horror I hear the click of his belt sliding out of the loops.  "I'll teach you a lesson.  This will be the last time you ever talk about me in front of anyone again you bitch" I hear him sneer.  I'm too frozen in fear and still barely able to breathe as his assault continues.