I wake up to a spider delicately walking across my cheek .  Usually it's the  sound of the upstair's neighbor screaming at her kids.  I brush the arachnid from my face and sit up, regarding my surroundings.

This place is a dump, but it's all I can afford.  There are three dead bolts on the door and bars across the windows.  Sometimes as I drift off to sleep I hear scurrying across the bare floors.  I never check to look, merely pull the covers up over my head.  Maybe I should look into getting a cat.

I grimace at the body next to me.  He should have had the decency to leave before dawn.  I'm not in the mood for any playful , post-coital banter.    I start to get out of bed when his arm reaches across my waist, pulling me onto my back.

"Morning Baby" he mumbles into my neck.

I attempt to release myself from this unwanted sign of affection.

"I thought you left."

He holds me tighter, planting soft kisses onto my shoulder, his hand gripping at my breast.  His touch is possessive, not affectionate.

"A gentleman doesn't sneak out in the middle of the night, he always stays to say good bye."

I  break free and make my way across the cold floor towards the bathroom.  "You weren't invited here because you're a gentleman."   I hope he picks up on the element of sarcasm in my voice as I slam the door behind me.

 I flush the toilet and regard myself  in the mirror over the sink.  Dark, purple bruises appear on my wrists and upper arms.  My lip is split, my eye black and swollen.  I gently pull back my lips and am relieved to see I still have all my teeth.  I slurp some water and spit; blood swirls into the sink.  I open the door and head towards the kitchen, pulling a bottle of Jack Daniels out of the fridge. Taking a swig I wander back towards the bed.   He's still here.  I take another swig and start to look for my cigarettes, calling over my shoulder.

"Don't stay on my account.  I have plans for this morning."

A sleepy, cynical smile appears on his face. He places his hands behind his head and settles into the pillow.

"Really?  Meeting some girlfriends for brunch?   Running out to get some groceries?  From the look of this dump, you don't bring a lot of money in.  Then of course, there's your face. How're you going to explain that?"

He's starting to piss me off and I try to remember why I brought him home.  I smile sweetly as I light up and take a deep drag.

"No sweetie, I'm meeting my granny for church.  She likes to go to early mass and needs someone to take her.  It's a minor duty, but I am responsible for her.  I'll just tell her I was mugged.  Again.  This is a rough neighborhood.  It wouldn't be the first time I showed up to church bruised."

He laughs and throws the covers off  him.  He looks good naked, and he knows it.  He grabs himself, wiggling it towards me, a lure to a greedy fish.

" I think you're lying.  I don't think you have a grandma.   I think if  you set foot in a church you'd spontaneously burst into flames."

I take another gulp of bourbon, trying to ignore the aching in my body.  I place the bottle on the nightstand, then get on the bed and  plant myself across his groin.   His hips begin to move rythymically beneath me as his hands move up and clutch at my breasts.  Still possessive and slightly mean.  I feel an overwhelming urge to hurt him.  I take another drag off my cigarette, blowing smoke into his face, then begin to press the tip into his flesh.   He moans and that cynical grin appears once again as he begins to pinch my nipples.

"You give as good as you get, don't you baby?"

He cracks me across the face as he plunges deep inside me.  I remember why I brought him home as the blood begins to drip down my face.