Just a Bite

                                    

                                          
            
                          
Kine
                          
Seeing the sick look of satisfaction spread over Nigol's face made my stomach twist into knots. When he reached over and pressed his palm gently against my cheek, I knew something was wrong.
                          
"You want to be something to me?" he asked, making the knots in my belly tighten painfully as I nodded. Nagol leaned back on his heels, then pushed himself to his feet without saying a word. Having a feeling that he wanted me to do the same, I stood, trying my hardest to ignore the pain from my mostly healed foot and not worry my lip, even though I wanted to dig my teeth into it just to feel some sort of relief from the tightness in my chest as I waited.
                          
"You will be my personal worker until you have paid me back for everything I spent on you, then you'll disappear from my sight. If I ask you to do something, you'll do it without arguing. You will go to work with me tomorrow night and do as my boss tells you. Tonight, you'll clean the apartment until it's spotless."
                          
Biting down on my lips to keep them from shaking, I gave a sharp nod, blinking fast to keep myself from looking any more desperate. Of course he'd want me to pay him back before removing me from his life.
                          
"Good. Now I need to go, get busy."
                          
When Nagol turned and disappeared out the door, I waited one full minute to steady myself, then climbed carefully out of the shower and limped toward the kitchen. I noticed a pair of black shorts sitting on the counter and tugged them on, figuring they were for me to at least appear decent. I then turned my attention to the kitchen. It was surprisingly dirty, with dishes piled up in the sink and stuff overflowing onto the counters and stove. It honestly looked like he'd tried to cook each day but failed at least three times before managing something that might have been edible.
                          
The front door slammed shut a moment later, leaving me to get busy with the cleaning. And busy I was. For the next six and a half hours, I scrubbed the kitchen, often getting on my hands and knees to get to stains that had dripped down the lower cabinets and onto the tiled floor. When I finally had the room looking like it was brand new, my hands were blistered and burned by some of the strong chemicals I'd had to use, especially to get the stains up off the floor.
                          
                 Satisfaction ran through my tired body as I took one final look around from the entryway. It sparkled, making my dwindling pride receive a small but desperately needed boost. My excitement was short lived, however, when I heard heavy footsteps come up the stairs outside. Without really thinking, I threw myself onto the sofa and curled up, suddenly feeling far more exhausted than I thought I was. It weighed heavily on my mind, making me fight to keep conscious as the door opened and those same heavy footsteps I'd heard going up the stairs walked over to stop beside where I lay.
                          
I wanted him to say something. Anything. To notice how nice his kitchen now looked, or even notice the chemical burns on my fingers and realize that I had worked very hard on doing as he wished. Instead of speaking, his fingers were suddenly there, sifting through my dirty hair. It felt so unbelievably good. My body relaxed in an instant as a gigantic wave of relief washed over me. It was a sadistic idea, but if cleaning his home to the point where my hands ached and I was exhausted made Nagol stroke my hair just like he was doing at this very moment, then I would gladly belittle myself to such a thing.
                          
"Geez, Nagol! You couldn't even wait for me?"
                          
Resentment pulsed through my body as the lighter man's footsteps zipped up the stairs and stopped just inside the apartment.
                          
"What the hell? Why is that guy here?"
                          
The hatred was hard to miss in the ocelot shifter's voice, but I couldn't be upset about it. If I wasn't pretending to be asleep, my voice would have been twice as venomous at knowing that little twink was here. My attitude went even further south when Nagol's hand left my hair and he straightened up, then walked over to Tawny.