The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was that I couldn’t see anything. The room was dark and quiet, and I seemed to be alone. The second thing I noticed was that I was lying on a soft bed with a pillow tucked under my head.
Where am I? How did I get here?
A wheezing cough overtook me, and I barely had the energy to lift my hand to my mouth. My body felt so tired, and my throat hurt, like it had been stripped raw.
What happened? Where’s Tor?
The questions kept coming as I struggled to remember. Tor and I had come back from lunch…we’d started fooling around…then…what? Images flashed through my mind, me on my knees looking up at him, Tor telling me to touch myself, Tor’s belt coming off…
With a gasp of air, I shot up in the bed, reaching up to my neck to pull away the belt I could still feel choking me. But there was nothing there, only a lingering ache, as I remembered what had happened before the world went black.
Shit. Did I pass out? The last thing I remembered was feeling out of my body as Tor tightened the strap around my neck, cutting off my air. I’d been about to come, and the lead-up to the explosion barreling down my spine was like nothing I’d ever felt before. But right before that blissed-out moment of ecstasy could happen, everything went dark, and the next thing I knew, I’d woken up in this bed.
I scanned the room, looking for the light, and as my eyes adjusted to the unlit room, I thought I saw something or someone in the corner.
“Tor?” I said, my throat burning and in need of water.
The figure moved, as if getting to its feet, and then it was walking toward me, and as it stopped by the bed, I could just make out Tor’s face. His expression was grave, his eyes haunted and the line of his jaw set.
“You need to leave,” he said, his voice rough and so low the words were barely audible.
I tried to swallow to coat my throat. “What?”
“Get out. You have to go.” I could hear the torment and restrained anger in his words, and I could feel the distress vibrating off his powerful body.
“But…what happened? Why?” I swung my legs off the bed toward him, and when I reached for him, he took a step back.
“I said go.” When I didn’t make a move to do as he said, the levee holding back his temper broke. “Get out! Leave! Now!”
I scrambled to my feet as he roared, my pants falling down my hips, and I quickly pulled them up and buttoned them with fumbling fingers.
“I don’t understand. Did I do something wr—”
Tor grabbed my arm harshly and yanked me across the room, through the door, and then down the hall. I squinted at the overhead light coming from over the kitchen, and that was when I saw we weren’t alone. I recognized Tor’s driver, the same one who’d picked us up in a limo for our date.
What’s happening? What did I do? Or what did he do to me? I took a quick inventory of my body, but nothing felt out of place or sore, other than the chafing at my neck. Even the fatigue I’d had when I woke up was gone, replaced by a burst of adrenaline at what had to still be a dream. Tor suddenly let his tight grip on my arm go, and I stumbled away from him.
“Get him out of here,” he said to the driver, snarling down at me as I stared at him in confusion.
“I don’t… Why are you doing this? Talk to me. Please.” I felt the sting of tears threatening, and as I swallowed, my throat burned again, and I brought my hand up to soothe it, but that was the wrong move, because Tor’s eyes dropped to my neck and his nostrils flared. With a growl, he turned on his heel and stormed down the hallway, and my heart thumped in time with his steps. A door slammed, making me jump, and I debated going after him, but the truth was, I was scared. I’d never seen him in such a rage, and though I didn’t understand what had set him off, I knew it had to do with me, and my presence would only make things worse.
Slowly, I turned toward the driver, who was standing by the front door with an impassive expression, like he hadn’t just witnessed anything out of the ordinary. My shoes were on the floor where I’d kicked them off earlier, and as I made my way over to put them on in the aftermath of Tor’s explosion, the silence was chilling.
I left Tor’s condo without speaking another word, and once I was in the back of a Town Car, I wrapped my arms around my waist and pressed my forehead to the glass. It was warm, and rivulets of water trailed down the pane, much like the tears that began to fall. It still didn’t seem real, the day moving from one extreme to another in the blink of an eye.