Maybe she thinks I’m better than I am.
I focus on finishing my nightly routine, but I’m thoroughly distracted thinking about the girl with a mix of dread and lust. Dread, because I don’t want to fight her again, but my blood is so hot just thinking about touching her bare back, another struggle is probably inevitable. At her house I could keep her in hand with the threat of hurting her family, but I doubt that’ll work out here.
I clear my throat and adjust my pants. They’re getting too tight in the crotch. I look up at her right as she looks back at me to see if I was trying to get her attention.
I wasn’t, but some part of me thinks I should warn her. Don’t know what good it’ll do, I guess, but I don’t like the idea that she’s being nice because she thinks I’ve let her off the hook. That’ll only lead to her feeling betrayed when I haul her upstairs and prove her wrong.
I debate for a minute but end up letting her have these last few moments of peace, assuming she’s thinking I’ve changed my mind.
I bring Scout back in once he’s had enough time to do his business, then I grab the bag Alyssa put down and nod in the direction I want her to go.
Wordlessly, she follows me up the stairs.
The bedroom’s dark, but I don’t bother turning on the light. Pointing at the door leading to my bathroom, I tell her, “You can get ready for bed in there.”
“Is this your bedroom?” she asks, looking around the sparsely furnished room.
It has everything it needs, but nothing more. There’s a queen-sized bed with a nightstand on each side, even though I’m the only one who ever sleeps here. Scout has a dog bed beneath the window on the far side of the room, and right above it is an empty, wooden window seat with cabinets on either side for storage. The only other thing in the room is a pine storage chest wedged in the corner on Scout’s side.
Well, the girl’s side, while she’s here.
“It is.”
She glances at the bathroom door, taking a couple slow steps forward. “Am I…am I sleeping in here?”
“Yes,” I say, looking back at her.
She holds my gaze for a split second, long enough for her panic to register, then she puts her head down and quickly moves into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
I sigh once I’m alone in the room, putting her bag down along the wall by the bathroom door.
It hits me just how tired I am, and I wonder again how I’ll make sure she stays in my bed all night long. Exhausted as I am, what if I don’t hear her get up in the middle of the night? What if she tries to escape and I don’t fucking wake up, so she actually does?
It takes her so long in the bathroom, I start to worry she climbed out the window. My bedroom’s on the second floor so it would be quite a drop, but hell, maybe she’s desperate enough to risk a broken leg.
Rapping lightly on the door, I lean close to the wood and call out. “You all right in there?”
A beat later, she answers, “Yeah.”
Well, I guess she didn’t jump to her death. That’s good.
I’m already stripped down and ready for bed, but I need to brush my teeth. I’m sure she’s just trying to buy herself time, trying to come up with some way out of this, but she’s not only wasting her time, she’s wasting mine.
A little less patiently, I tell her through the door, “It’s time for bed.”
I stand there and wait a minute, but she doesn’t answer. Right when I’m about to break down the door and go get her little ass, the door finally cracks open. She peeks out at me then opens it wider and squeezes through, passing back into the bedroom.
Where the girl tried to take up as little space as possible passing from one room to the next, I shove the bathroom door all the way open so I can barge in.
“Take your nightgown off and get on the bed,” I tell her, no-nonsense, as I walk past her.
I hear her inhale sharply, but she doesn’t follow me into the bathroom to plead her case; she turns and makes her way over to my bed.
I brush my teeth quickly, worried she’ll try to run when there’s half a room between us and reality is closing in on her, but after I finish up and go to shut off the bathroom light, I see her silhouette sitting up in my bed. She’s fidgeting nervously with the sheet. As I move closer, I notice her bare skin beneath it.
She obeyed me, and now she’s naked in my bed.