"How long does it last?"
"I don't know."She was honest.If she even knew what they gave her, she would’ve found a way to counter it.But drugs like these were sold like market sweets; with so many different strains, they were hard to guard against.
He was quiet.She could feel him looking at her; she tried not to writhe under his gaze, no matter how uncomfortable.
"Your neck," he said.
"What about it?"
"There are marks.Along the hairline… Small ones."
Her hand moved instinctively, slowly.She pressed her fingers to the back of her neck and felt a few tiny raised points.She hadn’t noticed them, but now that she had touched them, they were tender.
"How many?"Her words shook.
She felt him lean closer.Close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating off him, which she didn't need on top of everything else.
"A few."
She closed her eyes.Needles, beneath the cloak's collar, pressed against her skin while the Ugoeze draped it over her shoulders.
"They need to come out," he said."If they're still in, it’ll only get worse."
"I know."She opened her eyes.Looked at the ceiling."Fine."
"It will hurt."
"...Will it?"The moment her words left her lips, she paused.Was she afraid of pain?Since when?
He seemed to calculate his next move and, after a while, sat at the edge of her bed and slid his arms under to sit her up.He let her rest her head on his shoulder as he shifted her hair out of the way.
"You can bite down on me if it hurts that much."
She let her chin rest on his shoulder, her eyes closing as she braced herself, unwilling to do as he suggested.His fingers were cool against her skin, each touch sending a bolt of electricity down her spine.
It hurts, but it feels…good.
She bit down on the inside of her cheek when she felt him freeze.
He pulled.
Pain wracked through her body, nerves irritated at the removal; she nearly screamed, but she bit down on her tongue, letting that pain, the more mechanical one, ground her.Sweat beaded at her temple as she sat, trying her best to keep sane as he pulled out the needles, one after the other; he found twelve in total.
When the last one came free, she let out a shameful cry before biting back down harder on her bruised tongue.When he was done, he let her back down on her bed.
"Thank you," she said, because it cost her nothing.
He grunted.
As she waited for the symptoms to pass, she realised the heat wasn’t receding.She'd hoped removing the needles would help, but whatever had already entered her blood was still moving through it.Her heartbeat was loud in her ears and her skin felt too tight and she was not going to think about the man sitting on the edge of her bed.He hadn’t left.
She was not going to think about it.
She thought about it.
His hands.
Inconvenient.
