Part 10
I started to wake up from my dreamless sleep. And the site of where I was sickened me. I had just hoped that it would all have been a bad dream. That I would have woken up in our hotel room, or in rush valley. Or even back in Xing. Just as long as Ling… was Ling.
For many minutes, all I did was listen. Listen to the silence. Thank goodness that was all I could listen to; if there was anything else for me to hear – another person's breathing, movement, anything – would have made me break down.
Suddenly, my eyes finally began to process. There was something different about the room.
I looked straight at the door.
And there, handing from a metal hook, was a red silk dress, much like ones that were worn in Xing. But no honorable woman in Xing would wear this particular type of dress; if I had worn the dress I would've had a bare back. A good amount of my cleavage would have been visible because of the diamond shaped hole in the chest. The slit in the dress would have gone all the way to my hip.
Pinned to the dress was a little piece of paper that was written in a type writer. "As you requested."
Greed had requested this dress for me so that I could be his little toy. Well, I wasn't having it.
I slid my hands into the little hole in the chest and pulled it apart, ripping the dress right down the middle. Then, I ripped the slit in the dress all the way up to the shoulder.
Once the dress was in a stomped-down pile on the floor, I took deep breaths, calming myself down.
Suddenly, a smell filled my nose. A sweet, fragrant smell. Coming from the bathroom.
I, cautiously, approached the half closed door and slowly pulled it open.
It was dimly lit in the room, but even I could see that the bath tub was full of steaming water. The steam itself smelled of some flower that I didn't recognize. Bottle of cleaning soaps were surrounding the bathtub.
I knew that it was probably something else Greed had requested for me. Some excuse to get me unclothed and vulnerable if the dress didn't work. The last thing I wanted to do was give a chance to take advantage of me.
However, it had been as least two days since I had bathed or even changed clothes. And I was so sore and exhausted from all the fighting and running I had done. And the water looked so inviting.
'… If I'm in, out and dressed before he gets back, he won't have a chance…'
That was all I needed to convince me.
I stripped down and slipped into the water, feeling immediate relief. I just sat in the water for a while, just enjoying it as it was before I began washing all the dirt and sweat out of my hair and off of my body.
By the time I got out, I felt a little better than I had when I had woken up.
I still felt alone and cold.
I wrapped myself in a towel and looked at my clothes. My under garments were fine but my main clothes were still damp with sweat and cake in dirt and blood.
'… I guess I could wet them up and let them dry a little bit.'
I ducked my clothes in the tub before draining it. I wringed all the water I would out of them an huge them up right under the ventilation system.
But that left me in my underwear and a towel, hoping that he wouldn't come back before my clothes were done drying.
The weren't a whole lot of places for me to sit down, so I had to give into the kings size bed that was, unfortunately very comfortable and extremely inviting.
'… Let me just close my eyes for moment. What can happen in a moment?'
I didn't even bother with the blackest. I just fell onto the pillows and closed my eyes, breathing heavily and relaxing as best as I could.
…
Water.
Rushing water.
Coming from the bathroom.
I snapped my eyes open.
I sat up. My towel come completely undone so I rushed to re-do it.
From the sound of the water, Greed was taking a show.
Good, that gave me a chance to grab my clothes.
I jumped of the bed and made a beeline for the bath room door.
The door was locked. I tugged and jiggled at the knob as hard as could but it didn't give.
'Now what do I do? The ripped dress is even gone, and that would be better than nothing. Think. Think. What can I do?'
Once I got an idea, I ran over to the bed, throwing the blankets back and setting up the pillows to look like a human body. Once I had accomplished that, I threw my towel right on top of them and had it poke out from under the blankets, which I threw right onto p of the towel.
The water was just stopping. Good timing.
I hurried over to the door and pressed myself up against the wall on the hinged side of the door.
I took a couple deep, quiet breaths to calm my nerves and to prepare myself.
I heard the lock of the door click.
'Please, let this work.'
The, slowly, creaked open, almost to the point of squishing me.
I heard hit wet, bare feet hit the cold floor as he, slowly, walked out of the bathroom.
I heard him stop for a moment, just a few feet away from the door. This made me hold my breath.
He resumed walking, making his way around the foot of the bed.
'Now's may chance.'
I rushed around the door and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me and locking it.
I turned around… and found that my clothes had been ripped to shreds. Nothing was at all usable.
'… Maybe I can refuse to unlock the door until he gets me some proper clothes.'
I heard the locked click of, much to my shock and panic.
I whipped around just as the door opened.
He stood there, his hair out of its ponytail and dripping wet. A small towel was, thankfully, wrapped around his waist. And he was smirking like he was the most brilliant thing in the world.
I lifted his hand, jingling a set of keys. One of which opened the lock on the bathroom door.
"Picture, if you will, my amused surprise, when I found an attractive woman, sleeping soundly on my bed, in nothing but a towel and her underwear."
I started backing away from him as he stepped closure.
"And the irony in this is that, if you hadn't ripped up that dress I got for you, you would have had something to put on."
I hit the wall, pressing myself up against it as much as I could. But that just made his smirk grow wider.
"To think that it would be this ease to get a feisty little thing like you into a vulnerable place."
By now, he was right in front of me. He rested his bent arm on the wall right above me. He pressed his other arm against the wall, entrapping me in between his arms. He towered over me, his face, inches from mine, his hot breathe right on my face.
I clenched my eyes shut tightly, knowing that he had me beat.
He chuckled, "But, you know what? It was all just too easy for my taste."
I snapped my eyes open, wondering what he meant by that.
He smirked down at me and said, "You know what I'm thinking? I'm thinking that I want to see just how far I can push you. Let me see how much it takes to get you angry. After all, I did say that your anger is sexy."
I was done being afraid at that point. I glared up at him with my teeth bared.
He purred, "Well, it seems we're off to a good start. Now, give me a moment to get some pants and then, how bout you give me a back rub."
Right as he was starting to pull away, I challenged him; "What if I don't?"
He looked at me like I was joking for a moment. Then, with incredible speed, a reached his hand behind my back and, single handedly, undid my brazier.
I crossed my arms over my chest to keep myself from falling out.
He leaned in and whispered it my ear, "That's what."
With that he, left the bath room.
As I heard him rummage around a bit, I cursed myself; the one thing that I hated being was helpless. And I let myself get into a helpless situation.
'What am I gonna do?'
"Oh, massage girl? I'm ready."
I took a deep breath, snapped my bra back on and marched out of the bathroom.
Greed was lying face down on the bed in nothing but pants. He smirked at me and patted his rear end, saying, "Take a seat."
I took another deep breath, trying to restrain my anger before I did as he asked and sat on his butt.
I shoved his long, wet hair aside, revealing Greed's broad shoulders.
No. Those were Ling's. They would always be Ling's.
I started rubbing his back with all my might, trying to hurt him in any way I could. But he either had an incredible resistance or my attempts at pain were futile.
Time went on and as we stayed in silence, I almost forgot that he wasn't Ling anymore. In my mind, I was messaging Ling.
But, then, I'd hear his wretched voice – he'd moan or tell me where to rub - and I'd remember that it's Greed. And I start trying to hurt him again.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, he said, "Grab the lotion from the bathroom, toots. This message is missing something important."
I took a deep breath and restrained myself from trying to strangle the bastard. I pushed myself off and marched into the bathroom. I grabbed the lotion, took some more deep breaths, and walked back out.
But, the moment I saw him, I stopped.
He was, now, in the middle of the bed, on his back with his head at the foot of the bed.
He noticed that I had stopped and this made him smirk. He propped himself onto his elbows and started rubbing Ling's carved torso. "See something you like?"
I glared at him like there was no tomorrow. But he just laughed and said, "You can come over here and rub lotion on it… as much as you want."
Translation: "Rub my chest or I'll take advantage of you."
I swallowed my anger and climbed onto the bed, sitting right next to him.
Just when I was going to squirt lotion into my hands, he spoke up again. "You know, sitting on my hips will give you a better angle."
I ground my teeth together before I swung my leg over and straddled his hips.
His smirked was wider than all hell by now. "Don't forget to rub my hands, toots."
I, angrily, squirted lotion into my hands, rubbed them together and slapped them down on his chest.
His pecks.
The crevasses in his six-pack.
The creases in his arms.
I rubbed every inch of his chest.
I remembered the first time I saw that chest. It was the day that Ling and I first really met. Who would've guessed that this was how things were going to end up?
I was rubbing his hands, as he had requested, lacing and unlacing my lotion-covered hands with his rough ones.
At that moment, he took things too far.
He took hold of my wrists and pushed me back. I fought him the whole way but he had the advantage over me.
He pushed me so that my back was against the headboard with my hands pinned above my head. His entire weight pushed down on me, forcing my legs apart, much to his enjoyment.
If what he said was true and I was sexy when I was angry, then, at that point, I was drop-dead-sexy.
I wriggled underneath him, baring my teeth and growling at him.
And he was just basking in the anger. "Oh, stop it. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're trying to turn me on."
"GET. OFF. ME."
He just purred at me before slamming his head into my neck and beginning to devour it.
I thrashed my head around, trying to stop him in any way I could but, I think, it made him even more interested.
"Mm. I could just eat you up, little goddess."
I froze.
"… What did you just call me?"
"Sh. Sh. Not a word."
"You called me 'little goddess'."
"Shut up, toots."
"Ling's the only one who calls me that."
It was his turn to freeze.
He slowly pulled away from me, an irritated scowl on his face. "I told you; he's gone. Let him go and embrace the new."
"It's just you in his body. In the end, he's the one who's putting the moves on me. Not you."
The next thing I knew, I was on the floor, my cheek throbbing with pain. And a tugging pain was coming from the top of my head.
His sour breathe was hissing right in my face as he said, "If you remember nothing else, remember these four things. He's gone. I'm here. This is my body. And you are mine."
Threw me back onto the ground.
I heard him march across the floor and out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.
That left me. On the ground. In a ball. Crying.
