You Own Me (Owned 1)

“I'm completely serious.”

I shook my head before I realized what a terrible mistake I made. “Ow, fuck!” I stopped shaking my head and looked at him. I tried to make my eyes as scary as possible, but that was impossible considering they were watering from the pain. And I was wincing. “That's not going to happen. Ever,” I mumbled.

Raising an eyebrow, he folded his arms, muscles bulging like they were mutinous beneath his skin. “What do you propose, Lennox?”

I stared at him like he was an alien.

“Duh. Going to the bathroom like a normal person? Like, in the bathroom.”

He smirked. “Don't you remember the last time I left you alone in the bathroom?” Vic asked.

If I wasn't bed bound and completely infirmed, I would be so livid right now. Of course, how could I forget? Well, actually, the head injury is how I could forget, but I hadn’t forgotten. A little bad luck in the shower wasn't going to keep me from going to the bathroom alone forever. I told him as much.

Vic didn’t bat an eye. “I'm not letting you go by yourself in your state, Lenny.”

“Is this because the good doctor gave you a tongue-lashing?” I pressed, knowing I was pushing his buttons. I couldn't help myself. It was like playing with fire. Beautiful. Hot. Completely dangerous. Vic's smirk turned into a deep glare and I found myself smiling smugly in return.

“I'm going to get you dinner.” Vic turned and walked out the door, leaving my question unanswered.

Depending on what he was getting me, I had a couple of minutes to a couple of hours to myself. If I wanted any privacy in the bathroom, I needed to go now.

Silently, so as not to alert my overbearing, but hot-as-hell, watcher, I slid out from beneath the covers and onto the hardwood floor. It was cold beneath my feet.

“Woah.” I was getting dizzy. I could either get back in bed and concede defeat, or call Vic and concede defeat. Or . . . I dropped to my knees and began crawling to the restroom. “Don't let them see weakness, Moore!” I whisper-yelled to myself. Sure, I might be so weary that I'm literally crawling to the bathroom, but I'm doing it on my own. No help, whatsoever. That's right, I'm a badass.

When I reached the bathroom I pulled myself up onto the toilet and finished in record time. I crawled back to the bed just as Vic returned.

“Where were you?” he asked, eyeing the disheveled comforter.

“Nowhere.” I gave him my most indignant look. “I am hurt and infirmed. I can barely move my head, where could I possibly have gone?”

Vic looked at the bathroom. He cocked his head, clearly listening to the running water as the toilet tank refilled. “Nowhere?”

“Nowhere.”

He squinted at me. “I brought you soup.”

“Yummy. What are you eating?”

“Nothing,” Vic replied. He was so good at laconic one-liners that I was starting to wonder if he descended from Sparta. Or a hybrid Japan-Sparta that was lost to history. That makes sense, sort of. I mean, he has the build for it.

“Nothing?” I pressed. He shook his head. I folded my arms and said, “I'm not eating if you're not.”

Vic sighed. “I'm not hungry, Lennox. Please eat.”

I was prepared to argue, but the pleading look in Vic's eyes stopped me. He wasn't the kind of man to plead. He was the kind to force feed you until your teeth broke and your mouth was bloody. Plus, I was hungry. Starved, in fact. My stomach had surpassed the growling stage and had moved on to eating itself.

I shrugged. “Okay.”

He visibly sagged in relief and brought the food to me. It was on a wooden tray with a mosaic pattern on the inside. It was quite fancy for a TV tray. It was one of those items that I had considered buying, but often bought something else instead. Like expensive shampoo. Who needs a nice TV tray when you can have great smelling hair?

I took a sip of the soup and then smiled. It was so tasty! “This is really good!” I took another sip.

“It's miso soup. My mom's recipe. Before my dad went... well, before, they tried to incorporate my culture as much as they could. Her miso was the fucking tits.” Vic looked away, his eyes unfocused.

“I think I've had this before,” I mumbled, gulping down the soup. It was super ladylike, but whatever, I was hungry.

“Not like this, you haven't.”