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Bee

I will not cry.

The flickering light in the corner of the cheap grungy motel room only added to my internal rage. All I want to do is pick up the lamp and smash it across Cage's face. That way I'd be rid of two problems at once.

The light wouldn't be flickering and the man I'd been fucking for the past few weeks wouldn't be standing here telling me that he was conviently done with our so called arrangement.

"You can't be serious right now? What the hell do you mean this is over? What happened?" I fist my hands at my side and glare at him.

"Don’t pretend like we didn’t have an expiration date on this thing between us." Cage shrugged.

"No, I'm not going to accept that. Something else is going on. Tell me what it is Cage. Did someone say something to you?" I take a step forward hoping to see even a slither of hope in the man's eyes. When he looks back up at me all I see is resignation and annoyance.

It stings.

My sister and I only recently escaped from the clutches of our captor. We'd been nothing more than prostitutes for him, nothing more than a commodity to be traded and sold. We were promised freedoms and a new life when we came to the states but it was all a lie.

We thought we'd have jobs as house cleaners or Au Pairs but the only job we had secured when we got here was one that involved us keeping our legs open and laying on our backs.

Escaping from that hell hole was the hardest thing I'd ever done or at least I thought it was until tonight. Now it feels like my heart is being ripped out of my chest all over again.

My sister told me not to get my hopes up. Told me that it was a dumb idea to get involved with Cage, but with just one look at him, I knew that he was different. Sure, we made a deal at the very beginning that what we had going on would be nothing serious. I promised him that I wouldn't get my feelings involved, that it was just sex, but that was before he reached into my soul and started pulling parts out of me that I'd thought were dead long ago.

He gave me a chance at a new life. At least that's what I thought was happening.

My eyes follow his hands as he fastens the buckle on his pants and reaches for his shirt. I lunge forward and grab it out of his reach before he can do that. There's no way I'm going to let him just walk out of here. Not without some form of explanation.

“I didn’t take you to be a tantrum thrower. You’re showing your age, Bee.”

My eyes go wide. Did he really think this was a game? I know he feels something for me, something more than what he's letting on right now.

"No, you're going to talk to me about this. What went wrong?" My voice breaks and I swallow down a frog that's lodged itself in my throat. I'm not going to cry. I promised myself the minute I was free that I wouldn't cry. I can't let Cage break me.

"Nothing."

"That's bullshit! Something happened? Stop fucking with me, Cage!" I yell at him no longer able to control my fury.

When he gives me that deadpan look I lose it. I raise my fist and hit him in the chest as hard as it can. He barely flinches. I pummel his chest and arms over and over determined to make him explain why he'd do this to me.

For the life of me I can't figure out why all I seem to be worth to anyone is someone to fuck and leave. What is so wrong with me that makes me so unlovable.

“Stop making this into something that isn’t.”

"You did this! You spend all this time with me. We go on dates and you take care of me and now all of sudden you want to just end it! What did you think was going to happen? You think I'm being crazy? Well I don't care, you drove me to this." My eyelids sting. I have to look up to keep the tears that are threatening to spill from falling down my face.

No crying.

“I’m sorry, Bee.”

"Sorry? You're breaking my heart Cage. There's more to us and you know it. Just tell me what I did wrong." Even I can't deny how defeated I am.

When I first met Cage at the Broken Brew bar I wasn't looking for anything. In fact, I was adamant that I never wanted to be with another man. Never wanted to give myself to someone that could hurt me. I'd done all that trusting the wrong person back in my home country. I wanted to be free and be safe.

Cage was the one who pursued me. He was the one he made me open up about my past and even seemed like he was angry enough to do something about it. My sister warned me against him but the more I spent time with Cage the more I knew he wasn't the same type of man either of us had grown used to.

Cage was different. He's a real stand up guy. Not to mention he's absolutely gorgeous and the sex was out of this world. Before I'd met him I'd never had a man give me an orgasm.

Cage made sure I could barely get out of my bed my legs had been so weak from all the loving he gave me. The great part about it was he didn't even have to be told. I didn't have to ask him to please me, it seemed like it was all he wanted to do.

I know I shouldn't have let my heart get mixed in to what we have going on but I couldn't stop myself. He was the type of man I thought I wanted. The type of man who was going to show me that not all guys were the same.

Turns out he's exactly like everyone else and I'm nothing more than just a stupid little girl.

"Just don't leave. Give us another day. That's all I'm asking for." My shoulders tremble as I cringe at the sound of me begging for him to stay. How did it come down to this.

"I can't. I just can't, Bee."

The desperation and want I feel inside me quickly turns into anger. Once again I'm up on my feet. If he won't even pretend to care about me I can treat him like an enemy. "You fucking coward." I screech as I lunge in his direction and start beating on him again. "I hate you! I hate everything about you!" I'm losing my shit and I know it but I can't stop myself. The emotions with being discarded once again have me going insane.

"Stop!"

Cage shoves me back off him and this time when my bottom hits the bed I roll backwards and grab for that damn flickering light. The small lamp is hurling through the air before I can stop myself. My aim is true but Cage's reflexes are better. He lifts his arm at the last second and lamp strikes his forearm instead of his head like I wanted it to.

The fact that I missed my target only makes me more incensed. Jumping up and over the bed like a banshee, I rush him but this time I can see the anger blooming on his face. Cage has had enough. Just as I get close enough to him to land another punch, he grabs me by my throat and pushes me back to the wall with a hard thud.

He slams his lips down on mine but I know this isn't to restart what he's already deemed over. This is just to calm me down. It works.

It's a lie. It has to be a lie. My heart squeezes inside my chest. I can't believe he's doing this to me. I'm broken and as hard as I try after hearing him say those words to me I can't stop the tears from falling. The stream down my face and he leans forward to kiss them away.

How can he be so tender and sweet and still leave me? How can he be everything I want in a man but at the same time the one who's broken me down like no other.

All the fight I had seeps out of my body. I quit. If he wants to go so be it. My body slowly slides down the wall until I'm sitting on the floor. I don't want to watch him leave me. I can't handle it.

Cage gathers the rest of his things and with one final look in my direction, he opens the door and walks out.

It's over.

Quickly I dry my tears and race over to the window. Maybe if I see another woman it'll make me feel better. It'll prove he was only ever a liar. I could accept him being a liar.

I pull the drapes back and am startled by what I'm seeing. Cage didn't even make it to his bike. He's surrounded in the parking lot by what looks like undercover police officers.

My first reaction is to run out and see what's going on but I stop myself. He told me we were done.

Almost as if he knew I'd be looking for him Cage turns his head slightly in my direction and locks eyes with me before he delibertly shakes his head no. He doesn't want my help.

That's good for him because I've got no help to give him. I've got nothing for him or for anyone else. I'm empty.

I cross my arms over my chest as I watch the cops say a few things to him before they cuff him and put him in the back of a police car. The second they drive off with him out of my life all the emotions that were bubbling up inside of me flutter away and I'm at peace with what's happened.

Cage might not have been the man I wanted him to be, but he definitely proved at least one thing. I'll never give my heart away again.

My body, sure. But my heart, that is locked away forever, and I'm going to burn the key to ash.