Chapter Eight:

"You're kidding."

Launch shrugged. "To be honest, I'm going to enjoy the silence around here," she joked. Maron threw her a glare.

"It wasn't even my choice. I was just told to swap jobs because some girl decided that she didn't want to work in the kitchens anymore. How unfair is that?"

"Apparently, Chichi is happy about the change. And I talked to the girl only once and I could barely stand the sound of her voice, if I'm being honest," Bulma said flatly. "Plus, I'm sure Chichi would love to have you around. She doesn't really talk to anyone because she works alone, or at least with people that aren't much for conversation." She turned back to Launch. "But I am sorry. I know this job is hard, even for two of you. Maybe they'll put someone new in here, too."

"I'm not getting my hopes up," Launch pouted.

"Listen, Bulma," Maron said with a frown, "I know that black-haired girl in the kitchen is your friend, but I don't think we're going to get along very well. She's just so… bland. I've tried getting along with her, but she's not... interesting. And I'm not trying to be mean, but it's the truth."

Bulma just sighed. She felt more bad for Chichi than Maron. Out with one drama queen, and in with another… Although, Maron could get a little snotty when she didn't get what she wanted. Hopefully everything would work out okay…

"Bulma, if you ever have free time, I would really appreciate some help with the laundry now that I'm on my own," Launch said, and Bulma nodded at her friend.

"I'll try."

"No, you won't," Maron snorted. "Any free time you have is probably going to be spent with the prince… in his bed."

Bulma flushed. "Wha… What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, Bulma Briefs. I had to go down to the kitchens earlier for a tour and I saw Chichi. That silly chatterbox wouldn't shut up about her new Saiyan boy-toy… Or how you've been sleeping in the prince's bed recently. All I have to do is pretend to like her and she just won't keep her mouth shut. It's a curse and blessing for me, really."

Bulma still flushed, but she was glad Chichi didn't tell Maron about what had happened a few nights ago. But still, she wasn't expecting Maron to be such a gossiper.

"You know, I'm your friend, too. Would it kill you to be a little sympathetic?" she asked slowly.

"Sympathetic?" Maron gawked. "I don't think sympathy is the right reaction if your friend is going at it with the prince of this planet. I would say I'm a little jealous, but I'm happy for you." She paused. "But if you're my friend, too, would it kill you to tell me what's going on every once in a while? It kind of sucks that I had to get the story from Chichi, don't you think?"

Bulma rolled her eyes. "I haven't even seen you since last week. And the prince and I are not 'going at it.' And yes, I would actually like a little sympathy, to be honest. He's been forcing me to…" She trailed off. "He's been being especially cruel, and it's really not something to be jealous over."

"Chichi says you like him," she smirked.

"Well, Chichi is wrong. And she should really know when not to say certain things, but I guess I'll just have to talk to her about it next time I see her." She crossed her arms. Maron was probably the worst person for Chichi to have to talk to now, considering that was her go-to friend for advice. Was Maron going to be in the kitchens all the time now? Would she be there to listen to every story? God, she hoped not.

"Here you go," Launch said, suddenly handing Bulma the usual pile of red and white sheets for the prince's bed. "Don't be late," she smirked, and Bulma's eyes went wide. She wasted too much time here already. Why did this always happen?

"Sorry, gotta run," she said, taking the sheets and racing out the door.

Her run turned into a light jog once she neared the prince's chambers and she calmed her breath. She took out her keys and opened the door with one hand, balancing the neatly-folded sheets in the other. She peered inside and heard the prince running water in the bathroom. She quickly shut the door behind her and jogged up the step to his bed. She finished putting the sheets on the bed in a couple minutes and flattened everything out. When she turned, the prince was standing near the table in the center of the main room, shirtless, wiping his hands with a towel and staring right at her.

"Is there anything else I can do for you today, sir?" she asked quickly, not looking directly at him. At some point after their last incident, she'd gone back to referring to him with the usual formalities, even in private. And to her surprise, he never corrected her about it. He hadn't made her sleep in his room the past couple of nights, either. And Bulma was hoping that meant that their relationship was back to normal. All she wanted was to be ignored, anyway.

A knock came from the door and Bulma hoped that the prince would just let her go for the day. She walked down the step and opened the door. He was still drying his hands with that towel.

"Prince Vegeta," a soldier quickly said. "The king has ordered me to tell you that there will be a meeting held in the throne room shortly, and you are welcome to attend."

"A meeting for what?" the prince scowled.

"Entertainment, my Lord. The king has ordered for an Earthling mating."

Bulma's eyes went wide and her legs went so weak that she almost collapsed in front of the soldier. She hardly noticed when Vegeta was standing between her and the Saiyan man at the door.

"And which female has my father chosen?" he asked slowly.

"Some wench from the kitchens," the soldier replied, and Bulma's body control instantly came back to her.

"What?" she said, staring at the soldier. "Who? Who is it?"

"Shut up," he smirked, but Vegeta grabbed the man by his throat and lifted him off the ground.

"Don't mistake your little messenger title for authority. When you come to my door, you will bow to your prince. And when you speak to me, you will look at the ground. Is that understood?" He dropped the man, but before he could respond to the prince, Vegeta turned. "Come, woman. We're going."

"Yes," she replied, quickly following him as he grabbed a new shirt from his dresser, threw it on over his head and walked out the door.

It took less than a few minutes to reach the throne room, and Vegeta threw open the doors so forcefully that they slammed against the walls and bounced right back. Bulma quickly slipped inside behind him before they struck her, slightly relieved that he wasn't paying any attention to her. But all her thoughts went blank when she saw what was right in front of her. The room was full of people, and not even the prince's loud entrance distracted anyone. The king sat on the throne in the far center of the large room, as always. But beneath him was a man that Bulma hadn't seen in a very long time.

It was Yamcha, naked, strapped to a tall wooden plank with metal chains and leather cuffs. He had bruises and dried blood all over his body. His eyes were darting around the room and his tongue hung out of his dry mouth like he was some kind of animal.

Bulma looked up and noticed that she wasn't behind Vegeta anymore. She looked around to find him, but he wasn't ahead of her.

"Are you the lucky lady?" a voice asked from behind her, and Bulma turned to find a hairy man in Saiyan traditional armor, eyeing her up and down, licking his lips. She gulped.

"Woman!" Vegeta called, and Bulma turned around again to find the prince, a little past a crowd of chattering females with purple skin. She wondered what planet they were from as she hurried past them. They didn't look very familiar.

She caught up to him and he scowled at her, probably for falling behind. But he stood in place now, his arms folded tightly over his chest and his eyes facing forward. She wondered why he wasn't trying to find a place closer to the king and the throne, where she would assume the prince should be during a gathering like this. Maybe he didn't want to stand out?

But Bulma had more concerning matters to attend to. Now, there were two of her friends working in the kitchen, and as far as she knew, they were the only Earthlings that worked in that area. She was holding her breath. This couldn't be happening…

"We haven't had a mating in years," she heard someone beside her say enthusiastically. She didn't want to look up to see, but she listened. "I wonder why the king decided to have one now."

"Maybe the Earthlings are dying off. I wouldn't be surprised if they were almost all dead by now, even after he brought some to the castle a few years back. Who knows? Maybe the ones around here are the last ones left."

"Hmm, that might be true. And if it is, then we need more of them now more than ever. If only we'd known their compatibility with Saiyans when they first arrived on Planet Vegeta. Maybe then we wouldn't have killed them all," a man laughed.

"Well, we did have our fun," another man cackled. "It's not our fault that their puny bodies couldn't handle us. We were just trying to keep their race alive, but they had to go and die in the middle of it."

"Maybe they died because it felt so good," another man joked.

"Yea, it couldn't have been the fact that they were bleeding to death while we were trying to show them a good time or anything."

A number of male voices erupted with laughed and Bulma could feel tears sting the back of her eyes. She kept begging in her head. Over and over. Please…

The king stood, and immediately the room got quiet, except for the rustle of metal chains while Yamcha struggled beneath the king. Bulma could almost hear his breathing, too.

"Thank you all for coming," the king said with a smirk that made Bulma's breath stop short in her throat. "There was an unfortunate accident in our primary military facility last night." Bulma forced herself to breathe. "An unknown person, presumably a Saiyan male, murdered forty-nine people. Forty of them were Saiyans. Nine were Earthlings—seven Earthling females and two males." A ripple of chatter went through the room for about five seconds before dying down again. "As I'm sure many of you are aware, our primary military camp is home to some of the last Earthling females in the universe. That being said, there were ten females in that camp, up until last night. Three remain, and a few others, scattered around the planet as necessary. Unfortunately, we have not been able to keep track of our Earthling males, and the two that were killed were part of the three that have been monitored over the years."

All eyes turned to Yamcha now. Bulma noticed that even Vegeta was eyeing him carefully. She forced herself to watch him, too… She remembered how she thought he was actually handsome when they all arrived in the royal castle for the first time together. She always knew that she would end up having to be with him, but now he looked terrifying. He looked sick… and rabid.

"The first order of business," the king continued, and all eyes went back to him. "The man who murdered these Earthlings has yet to be found. He was not a member of the military camp that was attacked, but to be able to kill that many other Saiyans—he either fights like a coward, or he is an elite warrior. Either way, he must be found and brought to me. Unfortunately, we have no leads. No one saw him. All we have is some hair and blood he left behind. And thanks to the technology of King Cold," he shouted, waving a hand towards the left side of the room, where Bulma noticed some members of the Cold race gathered together. "We were able to determine that the man's DNA was, in fact, Saiyan. This man must be brought to me for proper punishment and death. If anyone has any information on this, please step forward now."

The room went dead silent. Bulma couldn't even hear a footstep or a breath. She could have sworn she heard her own heartbeat, but everything was motionless anyway. And it stayed that way for over a minute. She felt like she was going to suffocate.

"Now," the king bellowed, and the room lost its tension. "This Earthling male may very well be the last of his kind. He has been kept in the dungeons and he has been prepared for his duty." Another man stepped out of the crowd and started heading towards the throne. Bulma noticed that it was a male Cold. He wore all white and carried something in his hand. The king just nodded at the small man as he approached Yamcha. "Also thanks to the generosity of King Cold," he said proudly, "We have combined our resources to be able to come up with a special serum." Bulma gulped when she saw that the thing the man was holding was a needle. "This serum makes it three times more likely that a male, of any species, can impregnate an Earthling female. We are grateful to King Cold for his favors, as this new invention will also be used to create more Saiyan-Earthling hybrids in the near future!."

The room erupted in applause, and while Bulma looked around, she noticed that the prince was scowling, his arms still crossed over his chest. Everyone but him and her were clapping and shouting. The small group of Colds across the room were standing, unwavering, still staring at the king.

When the noise died down again, Bulma watched with horror as the man stuck Yamcha with the needle and slowly injected him with whatever was inside. Yamcha screamed and struggled, and Bulma cupped her hand over her mouth, trying not to cry. Some people even clapped and hollered their enthusiasm.

"We're leaving," Vegeta suddenly said, grabbing her arm and dragging her through the crowd, back towards the large double doors. She was so focused on not tripping at the speed he was pulling her that she never had enough time to look back. But right as they stood a few feet from the double doors, they swung open, just as fast and hard as Vegeta had done, and a large man in blue spandex stormed through them. His footfalls were almost as loud as Yamcha's screams. But what came behind the man made Bulma scream louder than all of them.

"Noooooo!" she cried, violently trying to tear herself from the prince's grasp, she felt something snap in her arm, but she was too blinded to care. Everything was turning gray and all she could see was her best friend, muzzled, kicking, being dragged along the shiny, tile floor.

It was Chichi.

Bulma struggled harder than if her life depended on her escape, but she felt the prince grab her with his other arm and yank her backwards. She fell into him and whirled, throwing out her hands and scratching at whatever she could come in contact with. But he managed to pin her arms with one hand, and he clamped his other hand over her mouth. She struggled until she was free enough to bite one of his fingers until she tasted blood, and she kept biting, harder. She wanted to snap bone and rip and tear until she could get to her friend.

But then she was lifted up into the air and whirled around until her back slammed into a wall. She opened her mouth to gasp, releasing the finger between her teeth. Her eyes opened and for the first time in a few moments, she could actually see. The prince was over her, but he looked strangely calm. How could he possibly be calm at a time like this?

"Let go of me!" she shouted, but he didn't budge and she couldn't move, either. "Vegeta, let go of me!" She moved to kick him, and she landed a solid hit, but she was pretty sure it hurt her more than it hurt him. She screamed again, but she noticed that she could barely hear herself over the cheering of everyone else in the room. Was it happening? Was it happening right now? She had to get away from the prince. She had to get to her friend. She had to help Chichi.

"There's nothing you can do," he said, narrowing his eyes, and she tried struggling against him again. There was no way she could believe him. There had to be something she could do.

"I can take her place!" she screamed, spitting in his face, and suddenly his eyes lit up with rage.

"No, you will not." He pushed her harder against the wall and she yelped. Something in her arm was throbbing, and pain was showing up in places she didn't remember getting hit. She winced. "That's what you get for defying me," Vegeta hissed, but she noticed that his hand was bleeding down his arm, and there were scratch marks on his neck… She did that, too?

"Vegeta," she suddenly whimpered, "Please… She's my friend."

"There's nothing you can do," he seethed again. "We're going back."

"Release the male!" the king suddenly bellowed, followed by continuous cheering.

Bulma heard Chichi's scream through it all and her tears suddenly overflowed and she screamed in reply. She went back to fighting the prince, who just held her steady against the wall. She tried kicking him again, over and over, knowing that she was hurting only herself. She threw her head forward, her forehead colliding with his shoulder. She tried biting him there but he relaxed just enough to throw her back against the wall yet again. Bulma felt all the oxygen leave her lungs from the pressure and coughed. She spit at his face again and he growled.

"Enough," he threatened quietly, but she barely heard him. She couldn't stop crying. Chichi screamed again.

"Vegeta!" Bulma cried in echo, futilely trying to squirm away from him again. "Please! Do something! Anything!"

"She's not in danger," he grumbled. "The last thing my father wants is for any other Earthlings to die. She'll be taken care of."

"Yea, after they force Yamcha to rape her!" Vegeta stayed quiet. "Let me go!" He wouldn't budge and she was running out of options. She was going to have to stand idly by while this happened and she couldn't handle it. She took a deep inhale and screamed as loud as she'd ever done in her life. "I'll take her place! I'll take her place! I'll—"

Vegeta slammed his hand over her mouth again, nearly snapping her jaw, but definitely snapping something else. She tasted blood in her mouth again, but she couldn't even register the pain throughout her body. All she could focus on were Chichi's growing screams and the whistles and hollers of the disgusting pigs surrounding her. She somehow found her one arm loose and tore it away. She threw futile punches at the prince's chest. He didn't even bother trying to stop her.

"You're hurting yourself," he said, gently grabbing her arm and placing it at her side. Bulma felt exhausted, and before she knew it she was leaning forward, grabbing onto his shirt and crying into his chest. He didn't budge, but his hold on her loosened just enough for her to know exactly where she was going to bruise by tomorrow.

"There has to be something…" she cried.

"We're leaving."

"I can't!" she said, looking up at him desperately, "Vegeta, I can't leave her!"

But he just glowered down at her like she was a misbehaving child. How could he…

"Are you done?" he asked, his voice terse.

"You call yourself the prince of this horrible planet," Bulma spat, "But the truth is, you could never be in charge. You couldn't stop this from happening even if your life depended on it. You're just another one of the king's puppets, tricked into believing that you have some kind of power. But if it came down to you and the king, you would never get what you wanted unless he wanted it, too."

Bulma expected some kind of a reaction from Vegeta, maybe something to make him take action… or do anything that could help her friend. Or even to buy her a little time to figure out what she could do. But instead, he barely reacted, save for his eyes narrowing a bit at her. He just stood back, one hand still gripping her arm in case she tried to bolt again.

But then the double doors slammed open once more, and another man barged into the throne room. The doors slammed against the walls harder and louder than Vegeta's explosive entrance. Bulma's head turned up, and for a small moment, Vegeta was distracted. He turned to look towards the loud booming noise and his grip on her loosened. Bulma tore herself free in one painful motion and rushed through the crowd in front of her, knocking into people and nearly falling over herself. She could almost see the opening. She could almost get to her friend…

"I claim her!" A voice suddenly shouted, and Bulma froze right at the edge of the crowd. Her eyes widened at her best friend, sobbing on the ground, with her clothes torn and her hair disheveled. Yamcha was over her, naked and still rabid. Bulma tried not to look at him, but his body looked terrible. He was covered in scratches and marks and his skin was almost green in certain places, like he was growing something under his skin. She couldn't help but notice his erection, dark brown and red like he had some kind of disease. She wondered if the serum had done that…

But Yamcha was frozen, and so was everyone else in the room. They were all looking at the Saiyan that had just barged in unannounced, panting, but obviously angry and on a short fuse. Even the king was frozen for a moment. But Bulma almost cried with happiness.

It was Goku.

"What?" the king suddenly barked, and whispers went around the room like a wildfire.

"I said I claim her!" Goku shouted, turning to face everyone in the room. "The rules of Earthling mating rituals state that if a female already belongs to a Saiyan male, she can't be used! Well, this Earthling is mine! You cannot use her for this mating!"

"And why didn't you step forward earlier?" the king asked slowly, and Bulma could hear the danger in his tone. She hated everything about the king, but his voice never failed to scare her. And the tone he used now made her knees tremble.

"I had no idea what was going on—"

"And how do I know that she's truly yours? You have no proof."

"She's been mine, for a while now," Goku said slowly. "And we've mated. So, if you use her in this mating and she becomes pregnant, you won't know whose child it is until it's born."

"That is incorrect," a Cold woman suddenly intervened with a strange smirk. She stepped forward and no one objected. "My Lord, King Cold, has recently created a machine that can allow us to check the statistics of an unborn child, merely a couple weeks into a pregnancy. It was made for our own species, but it can easily be modified to be used on Earthlings and Saiyans. It could tell you who the father is without fault."

"Once again, another tremendous accomplishment by our allies, the Colds!" the king suddenly said, standing and leading another round of applause.

"But she is my female!" Goku shouted over everyone. "You can't take her from me!"

"Those are the old rules," the king suddenly said, "We have less than ten Earthling females on our planet, three of which are unaccounted for. We must abandon the old rules in order to further progress on our planet and increase our strength and our numbers. We will need more hybrids in the future, and this is the only way to accomplish that necessary goal. If I allowed—"

Bulma jumped when she saw Vegeta walking up the steps to the throne from the side. The king paused, and the room went silent. Even Yamcha stopped rattling his metal chains for a moment. Chichi was staring wide-eyed at Goku, who kept giving her reassuring glances. Bulma's eyes focused on the throne now, as dis everyone else's.

The king lifted an eyebrow and everyone paused as Vegeta said something inaudible close to the king's ear. And after a moment, the king leaned back, snorted, frowned, and quickly motioned for Vegeta to get out of his sight. Bulma watched as Vegeta immediately left the throne and walked along the outside of the room. She jumped when he appeared behind her and grabbed her arm again.

"We're leaving," he said, tugging her hard. Bulma winced, but she knew he meant it this time. All eyes were on him now, but only until the king spoke up again.

"Your prince," the king bellowed, "Has brought up a very good point. Rules should not just be changed without word or warning, or else there will be chaos." Bulma looked up at Vegeta, almost feeling like giving him a big hug. He actually went up there to save her best friend? She was so happy, she couldn't even control the smile spreading on her face. But he was looking straight ahead. Something was wrong… However, this will be the last case of claiming an Earthling female. We need to create as many as possible, and for that reason, we will be holding monthly matings in the throne room, until every Earthling female is impregnated. And when they have more females, we will do it all over again until they are unable to reproduce, or they are dead. And so, with the exception of this black-haired Earthling—"

"Move!" Vegeta shouted at Bulma, yanking her arm again. Bulma winced.

"—we will begin these matings next month with the Earthling females within the castle!"

Everything in Bulma's world went dim. She stopped listening to the noises around her, and the prince dragging her towards the exit felt like she was drifting on clouds. The king's words stuck, but she wished so badly that she hadn't heard him correctly that her mind went numb. Everything was blank. The king was mentioning something about Yamcha's constant protection and supervision, but she couldn't focus. What he said couldn't be right… When she came to the castle, she was promised protection, and when it was time for her to have a child, which she always knew was going to be expected of her… it was going to be with Yamcha… in a big bed, in a nice open room, where she would be comfortable and sleep until the morning light caressed her face and she woke up to a hot breakfast… Not a rape on a cold floor in front of the king and countless others. And not with that Yamcha… She'd never expected him to change that much… Or maybe she just thought of him in her head the way she wished he would be when the time finally came. But even so… this was never what she had in mind.

She focused on the fact that Chichi was safe. Goku and Vegeta had come to her rescue, but she hadn't been able to do a single thing to help her friend. All she did was struggle and shout, and now that she was calming down, the pain throughout her body was hitting her like a cement truck. Her arms and legs were in pain. Her ribs hurt from how she twisted her body trying to get away from Vegeta. Her throat stung from shouting and her head throbbed from crying. She just wanted to lay down and sleep and never wake up again. Or at least wake up and find that this whole day was a dream. Or a joke. It had to be a joke… Her life, up until now… It was all just a ruse, wasn't it? She was never truly safe here. She was always bound to have this fate and she just ignored it and hoped it would go away… How foolish…

"—everything inside and bring it here. Then bar over the door," Vegeta said, and Bulma looked up to find that he was talking to a guard in the hallway. They were already standing outside the prince's chambers and she hadn't even noticed. She hadn't noticed that he'd released her arm, either.

"Yessir," the guard replied, bowing extra low and hurrying off down the hall.

The prince opened the door and Bulma followed him inside. It took her a moment, but when she looked up, he was pointing to his bedchambers.

"Sleep," he said, "You look terrible and that reflects badly on me."

"How?" she muttered. "I'm just a slave. I'm not your equal. I should always look like I belong in the dirt at your feet anyway. You have nothing to complain about." Her voice sounded dead and she knew it.

The prince pulled a chair out from the table and sat down, crossing his arms and staring at her with a horribly aggravated expression.

"What? No fight left in you anymore?" he asked. "You used it all up hopelessly defying me before?"

Bulma wanted to fight. She hated his mocking tone and his anger and annoyance. What did he even have to be annoyed about? But he was right—her fight was gone. Everything felt… gone.

"Thank you for saving Chichi," she mumbled, staring at the ground, but suddenly the chair slammed backwards onto the floor and the prince was in front of her.

"I said sleep," he commanded, his tone harsh, but Bulma could still barely concentrate. She barely heard him. But he was a few inches from her, and he hadn't been that close since… She didn't move, but instead squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them, tears spilled over and she couldn't stop herself from dropping to her knees.

Within a few seconds, the prince lifted her into his arms, walked over to the side of his bed and gently placed her at the edge. And then his presence was gone, and she found herself getting a little cold… She didn't want to be left alone. But another few seconds went by and she felt him lie down on the other side. Without warning, and without thinking, she forced her body to move over to where he was and she reached out her arm and grabbed the first thing she could reach.

"Please…," she whispered in the dimly lit room. She could only see his shadow and his silhouette. "Don't leave me alone."

She felt him freeze for a second before he moved, and she realized that she'd latched onto his wrist. He lifted his arm above her reach, forcing her to let go, and she felt more tears about to overflow, but then his warmth was beside her again and her body instantly and unconsciously calmed. He wasn't touching her, but she could feel his body heat beside her, and she knew if she moved over an inch, they would touch. But she didn't dare move.

What was with him? Acting arrogant and cruel one minute, and then turning around and saving her best friend in the next. But at the same time, he couldn't care less what happened to her, right? Because now she was doomed. Would she be chosen next month for a mating? She was made to suffer the same fate that Chichi just barely escaped from today… And now there was no way for anyone to save her from it, either. It wasn't like she could magically find a Saiyan that would be willing to "claim her" anyway. Chichi got really lucky with Goku. But still… that would have been hope, at least. Maybe if Yamcha hadn't looked like he'd been tortured into being a wild animal, she wouldn't be so scared. But seeing him before had been terrifying. He'd been looking at Chichi like she was a piece of meat… He wasn't the same person she used to fantasize about with her friends when they first arrived in the castle three years ago.

Now, she had to do something. She had to find a way to save herself. And having a child… it wasn't something shed even had time to consider or think about in the past. She always thought it was going to be something she would have years to ponder over. But instead, here she was… A month was really all she could have…

And even then, she was bound to spend it here, cleaning up after the pompous, arrogant prince. It was true he had his moments, where she thought that maybe he wasn't as bad as everyone believed. But then he would just end up doing something to let her down again. She was done waiting for him to turn into the good guy for her. It wasn't like it was ever even an option, but sometimes she caught herself wishing that she could forget all the horrible things he'd done—to her and to others.

She wished he could actually care about something other than himself. And as she flipped over and gently touched his arm for comfort, she forced herself to believe that maybe he cared a little about what happened to her.

Even if it was just a lie to help her fall asleep...