AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And that’s why you needed my help?” I asked.
She nodded. “I knew you had the right genes,” she said, “but I had to bring out your full potential. I couldn’t tell you the truth until you were ready. Until I knew I could trust you.” She leaned toward me in her chair. “I’m sorry.” That was the first time she’d ever uttered those two words. And somehow, in that moment, I felt sorry forher. I reached over and put my hand on top of hers. I expected her to pull away, but she didn’t.
The effects of the mezcal had mostly worn off, but now there was something else. I felt like I’d stepped into a different time and place—a world where only one other person knew what was going on. Over the past six months, I’d been afraid of her, I’d hated her, I’d admired her. And now I was havingotherfeelings. Maybe stuff I’d been suppressing. I wondered if maybe she was feeling the same thing. Kira stood up.
“I think we need to release some tension,” she said.
Finally, it sounded like maybe we were on the same page.
CHAPTER 59
“STOP BEING SUCH a baby!”
I’d never been touched like this in my life. The pain was intense. But Kira said it was all for my own good.
I was lying on a massage table behind a set of linen curtains in a corner of the loft. My face was poking through an oval in the table cushion and all I could see through it were floorboards. I was naked except for a towel across my backside. That part didn’t bother me. I’d gotten over my self-consciousness around her a long time ago. But my body was definitely going through some new experiences. Kira’s elbow was buried in the muscles that ran along my spine. I could feel her leaning in with the full weight of her upper body. She slid her elbow up and down, from the base of my neck to the top of my sacrum. I flinched from the pressure.
“What are youdoingto me?” I asked.
“I told you,” she said. “Deep-tissue massage and myofascial release. Just breathe through it.”
“I’m trying.” More of a groan than actual words.
I felt her applying more warm oil to my back, spreading it in a diamond pattern, her palms moving across my shoulders, down my back, and over the top of my hips, then back up again. When she stood at the head of the table, I could see her black tights and bare feet through the opening. Then she was gone again, moving around to another part of my anatomy. Neck. Arms. Hips. Calves. Feet. She used her knuckles, thumbs, and knees. She pressed deep into my muscles and tendons, probing for every knot.
“Don’t fight me, Doctor,” she said. “Let go.”
Slowly, bit by bit, my body stopped resisting and gave in. At some point, I crossed the boundary between pain and relief. By the end of an hour, I felt warm and loose from head to toe. More relaxed than I’d felt in a very long time.Years,maybe. Maybe my whole damned life. I could hardly speak.
“Where the hell did you learnthat?” I mumbled.
“Like I said,” replied Kira, “I’ve been lots of people.”
Her last big move was a rolling motion with her forearms up and down my back. Like she was ironing me out. Then I saw her feet through the hole again. I felt her hands resting lightly on my head. She curled her fingers through my hair and massaged my scalp. I could feel the skin moving over my skull. It was heaven. After a minute of that, she gently lifted her hands away.
“We’re done, Doctor,” she said softly. “How do you feel?”
“Amazing,” I sighed.
I gripped the towel around my waist and slowly turned face up on the table. I raised myself up on my elbows. Kira was closing the top of her oil bottle and slipping back into her shoes. She looked down at the same instant I did—and saw my erection poking up under the towel. Kira put the oil bottle down on the side table.
“Autonomic reflex,” she said. “Totally normal.” Then she disappeared behind the curtain. I flopped back down onto the table. I felt flushed and embarrassed.
Autonomic reflex. It sounded so clinical. So scientific. Maybe that was all there was to it, I thought.
Maybe.
CHAPTER 60
THE NEXT MORNING, breakfast was a little awkward. One reason was the menu. I’d gotten used to Kira’s weird nutrition repertoire. Goji berries, chia seeds, flax, maca, and the rest of it. Some of it I’d learned to like. Some of it I’d learned to tolerate. Some of it I still had to choke down. But now I was staring at a plateful of wet green weeds.
“What in God’s name isthis?” I asked. “And don’t say ‘wrong question.’”
“It’s kelp. You’re low on antioxidants.”
Now that she said it, it looked exactly like stuff I’d seen in nature documentaries, waving around underwater. It was seaweed, pure and simple. I pushed the plate away.
“Thanks,” I said, “but I draw the line at algae.”
