“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Silas said from the corner.
“Why not? I get away from the city where myotherelusive stalker is wandering, with witnesses and an overbearing friend to keep an eye on me. What more could you want?”
“You’re not leaving my sight.”
“You’re not going to stop me,” I countered. “You know, you make many empty threats. While you have given me a concussion and an interesting collection of bruises from our encounters, you never deliver on your ferocious little fits where you threaten to eat me.” I laughed. “What a poor predator you are.”
“Is this your own suicidal way of telling me that you want meto hurt you?” His brow raised. “I knew that you were insane when I decided to pursue you. I never pegged you for being that kind of maniac.”
“It wasn’t a challenge, but it brings me to my point that you can’t stop me, you won’t stop me, but I trust that you will be in the shadows whether I ask you to leave me alone or not.” I threw him a sarcastic smile before it dropped. My head still pounded like it had been the past few weeks, but it was dimming. I closed my eyes and rubbed my face, turning on my heel to walk away.
“Where are you going?” He tried to move in front of me, but I pushed past him.
“Medicine” was all I muttered, stalking over to the kitchen. “I know that you have some separation anxiety, but you don’t have to follow me everywhere.”
“Clearly I do,my love.” He tossed my words back at me, a toxic edge to his tone.
My shoulders tensed in embarrassment. I did not need reminders.
Clearly, he was amused by my reaction.
Even though it was nighttime again, the town house was brighter than ever. Silas had turned on every gas lamp to leave no corner dark. I thought it was for his own peace of mind rather than mine.
In the kitchen, I rummaged through the cabinet, pulling out a jar of ghost pipe tincture. They looked like little white flowers despite being a type of mushroom. They had extremely powerful pain-killing qualities. I usually made a liquid from them every few years. To my dismay, there was not even enough to numb a mouse.
Leaning against the counter, I pushed my palms gently into my eye sockets.
Silas came up next to me. “What is it now?”
“Out of medicine.” I sighed, defeated. At this rate, I would never get rid of this perpetual slump. The most ironic part of this was that I hadn’t even consumed a drop of liquor these past few weeks, because of the pain. How unfair.
“Why don’t we try something?” He traced a finger over my shoulder.
“No amount of fondling will cure a migraine,” I said flatly, keeping the pressure on my eyes.
“You’ll never know if you don’t try.” He shrugged. “I meant something else, but maybe we should try that too, to be thorough.”
I pulled my hands from my head to stare at him, raising my brow to ask him to elaborate. He was being obnoxious, but my current state did not allow me the privilege of being picky about remedies.
He touched my chin and lifted it, his lips hovering above mine.
My body flinched at his touch. No matter our history, I could never anticipate whether he would be rough or gentle with me. It was like a changing wind, unpredictable. While he might not kill me, I would not put it past him to hurt me if I upset him enough. The more I learned about what he was willing to do, the more I feared him. As the fear festered, so did my desire to push him to his limits. Not my wisest instinct, I must admit. His intentions were something I needed to figure out if I were to manipulate the situation in my favor.
His tongue snaked out of his mouth, and instinctively I pulled away. His grip on my face tightened. “You have a headache, yes? Let me gamble on it.” He smirked, the two split ends of his tongue twitching readily.
Considering his offer would not be the craziest thing I had done thus far. If anything, it would not hurt to try, though itwould leave a bit of a bruise on my ego to give in to such a request. It was not outlandish to think if he could stop me from poisoning myself, he could also cure a phantom migraine. I reluctantly leaned into him.
“Open your mouth for me.” He used his thumb to pull down on my lip.
I hesitantly gave in.
He locked his lips with mine. His hand moved to the back of my head to support it, and he ran his wet tongue over my lips, politely asking for entrance.
I grimaced at the moisture and wiped it off.
“Suck on it.” He tilted his head at me.
“Excuse me?”
