“Tommy.” The deep voice is familiar. Young-gi. “Come on, it’s time to eat something.”
My gritty eyes finally squint open and I shakily roll over on his big bed, only to stare up at him, speechless. My mind feels like it’s three business days behind schedule, and I can’t fathom what he’s trying to tell me.
“Come on,” he says again, slipping his big hands under my arms and pulling me to a sitting position. “You need to eat. You’ve been sleeping all day.”
Sleeping all day?How did I get here? What–Then I wince, hissing a bit, as my weight settles on my sore ass, and I remember.
Shit. Right. He kidnapped me and spanked me and I nearly had an orgasm, like it was the most pornographic thing to ever happen to me, and not the premise of a Stockholm syndrome horror film.
I try to roll onto my stomach with a groan, but Young-gi’s hands don’t let me lay down, and instead I’m suddenly pulled up onto my feet. I stumble, but he catches me against his wide chest.
“Fuck,” I croak, scrubbing my palm across my face, rubbing my eyes until I see stars. “What time is it?”
My voice is so rough I barely recognize it.
“Nine at night. You slept hard, but you need to eat something. I don’t think you’ve had anything since yesterday around this time.”
“Ummm…” I trail off, trying to think, but my thoughts fade and my eyes slide shut. I’m falling asleep on my feet.
Young-gi sighs, and my eyes jolt open. With more care than I expect, he guides my tired, sore ass out of the bedroom, walks me down the hall, and brings me to the kitchen. The barstools are pulled out, and there is steaming hot food all plated up for us.
It’s so domestic and unexpected that I stop in my tracks. “Um, you know, I can eat by myself.”
“I need to see if you’re bruised,” Young-gi says, ignoring my remark. I’m stupidly tired so I just blink at him, uncomprehending. He gestures to the counter, and my slow, squinting eyes follow the motion until I see the familiar jar of bruise cream near the sink.
“Um… oh.” I can barely think. “Yeah, no, I mean, actually, my back is fine. Everything’s fading so it looks a little splotchy but it doesn’t really hurt anymore.”
“I wasn’t talking about your back.”
And I might be half asleep, but I’d have to be dead to miss the commanding, stern drop in his tone. My eyes, suddenly wide, fly to him; he’s staring at my pants like he can see through them, leaving no confusion about which bruises he wants to check.
“You–you want to put bruise cream on my ass?” I ask, high-pitched. “Because that’s fucking–fucking–I don’t know, weird.”
Young-gi saunters to the counter and picks up the jar. My whole body tenses to run, my brain waking up really fucking fast, but instead of coming at me all aggressive and demanding, he leans his hips against the counter and stares at me from across the room.
“Come here so I can treat your bruises,” he orders. “Then we can sit and eat dinner.”
“I-I-” I stutter, feeling ambushed, weirdly sweaty and scared. My heart pulls itself out of its drug-induced coma and starts to pump again, flooding me with nervous energy. Dissociation hovers at the edges of my memories.
“I can do it myself later.”
Young-gi pauses. Tilts his head, studies me. Stares at me. I shift on my feet and scowl at him. I don’t like being nervous. I don’t like feeling timid or scared.
“Will you actually do it?”
I bristle defensively. “Yeah, fuck, can we just eat? I don’t need you to play doctor with me, damn.”
“You’ve let me put cream on you before, what’s different now?”
“I’m just not in the mood.”
“You did seem a little distressed the first time,” he comments, trying to figure me out like a puzzle. “That day in the boxing ring. But the second time, you were in corner time, having a tantrum that might have eclipsed any other triggering reaction–”
“Dude, what the fuck, stop being such a freak about it,” I snap, not enjoying how easily he puts my pieces together.
“If you need to do this yourself, I’ll let you, but you need to actually take care of it.”
“I already said I would!” But I’m lying. And he must know it, because he gives me a disbelieving look. Maybe he knows I’m just a liar, and no one should trust a word I say.
