Apartment 2B (8 page)

My hand that’s resting on my side inches its way down between my legs, tentatively
touching the patch of hair on my pubic bone. Rolling onto my back but keeping him
in my vision, I slide a finger between my folds. The swollen part of me that seems
to be throbbing with need begs me to touch it. Experimentally, I swipe over it and
gasp at the thrill that shoots through my body.

Feeling braver, I press at it a little harder this time and allow myself to enjoy
the foreign sensation that burns through me. From the romance books, I know that this
is my clit and that it’s the ticket to an orgasm. Until now, I’ve been too afraid
to test it out. Now I know I was stupid not to.

Glancing over at Liam’s face, I am relieved to see that he’s breathing in a rhythmic
cadence, indicating sleep. I want to see myself, so I pull the sheet away and gaze
down at my sex. Finding my opening, I dip my finger inside and am shocked to realize
that it’s wet inside. Dragging it out and back over my clit, I bite back a moan from
the sheer pleasure of the feeling. As I repeat the gesture, my breaths quicken, as
does my heart rate.

This time, I do it quicker and spend more time massaging the swollen flesh that throbs.
My eyes roll back into my head as I feel tension gather in my pelvic region. A few
more swipes and I am close to the edge. The edge of what? When cold, familiar breath
blows over my bare breast, I crash over that edge.

Shuddering wildly, I moan out loud as bursts of electricity shoot through my body.
I’m amazed at how exhilarating it feels. Jolts ensue sporadically and I sigh between
each one, satisfied. More cold breath blows on my breast, and I jerk my eyes open.

Liam is blowing on me while he looks up at me with the hottest look I’ve ever seen
on anyone. He looks like he might devour me at any second. And I think I want him
to.

“That was the sexiest fucking thing I have ever seen in my entire life,” he growls,
wafting chilly breath on my breasts again. I shudder and suppress a grin as I feel
another throb that begs for me to touch myself again.

“You watched me?” I question in a whisper.

“I helped you.”

I bite my lip and close my eyes. His breath did actually send me over the edge. A
smile pulls at the corner of my mouth.

“You are so beautiful. I wish it were my finger instead of yours. It would feel so
much better, you know.”

I whimper at his words and imagine his long finger touching me. What would it feel
like to have him dip it inside me and drag my wetness across my sensitive clit? A
moan escapes my lips at the mere thought of it.

“I can see that you’re imagining it. Sidney, one day you’ll warm up to me, and when
you do, I’m going to make you feel so good.”

My body shivers, because one day, I hope it will be true. When I bite my lip and look
up at him, he groans and rolls over to his back.

“What’s wrong?” I ask as I drag the sheet back across my body.

“You’re too much. It takes every ounce of self-control for me not to pounce on you.
But you aren’t ready and I’m not going to push you. Right now, I’ll take what I can
get.”

He closes his eyes again, and this time, I do too. I feel deliciously sated and quickly
fall into a slumber.

My skin is burning, which is only adding to the irritation from yesterday’s bleach
bath. I can feel the bile rising in my throat, and no matter how hard I try to keep
it down, it makes its way out. The vomit shoots all over my bed before I can stop
it. Instantly, I am crying, not because I got sick but because I know what’s coming.

The door bursts open and I shriek in surprise. “You’re sick,” she says in a tone that
tells me Nurse Momma is here. The sobs continue to rack my body as she begins pulling
the sheets from my bed. I scramble up and out of the bed, attempting to stay out of
her way. It feels like I may get sick again, so I hurry to the bathroom, where I hug
the toilet seat. The cool tile helps to refresh me.

I can’t believe I’ve let this happen. Nurse Momma hardly comes around
—
thank goodness
—
but when she does, it scares me to death. I lose time from my life, and I don’t understand
what happens. Not just hours but days, even weeks. It’s all a confusing fog after
Nurse Momma gets ahold of me.

The bathroom door creaks open, and I whimper. “Please, Momma. I won’t get sick anymore.”

When she comes into view and I see the latex gloves, I vomit uncontrollably in the
toilet again. Her voice sends shudders through my body when she says, “There, there,
child. Momma’s here to take care of you.”

I’m still curved over the toilet when she yanks my arm to her. I wince even before
the sting of the needle hits my arm. Nurse Momma always injects me with something
that makes me lose all sense of myself. That’s my last thought before I slip into
oblivion.

“Sidney, wake up!” a deep voice bellows, successfully ripping me from my nightmares
from the past.

I blink and take in the dark room. The sheets are tangled all around me and I’m sweating
profusely. Even though I can’t see Liam, I can smell him and feel his cool breaths
from close beside me.

“Are you okay?” he asks softly this time. My chest is still heaving as I try to force
the nightmare back into the catacombs of my mind.

“I need a shower,” I croak at him and untangle myself from the bed. But first I need
air.

All but running, I make it to the window in the living room and voraciously inhale
air into my lungs once I manage to get it open. I’m a little calmer, but I still need
the cold shower to bring me back down to earth. When I go to take my shower, I see
Liam’s beautiful face, the moonlight reflecting on it. He’s leaning against the arm
of the sofa, his arms folded as he scrutinizes me.

“Are you okay?” he tries again.

I nod unconvincingly as I breeze past him to the bathroom. After a long cold shower,
once I’ve dried off, I locate a nightgown from the drawer and slip it on. It must
be in the middle of the night, but I’m starved from sleeping through dinner, so I
make my way into the kitchen to look for food.

“Are you hungry?” I ask, not looking up at him when I sense that he’s entered the
kitchen behind me.

“No, I’m fine.”

I find a can of chicken noodle soup, which seems fitting with my mood, and heat it
up on the stove. He doesn’t say anything more, so after a while, I decide to peek
over at him. The man is absolutely gorgeous as he stands in the entryway to the kitchen,
his arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe. His eyes bore into mine. They silently
ask for answers, but I deny him as I turn back to my soup.

Once it’s done and I’ve poured it into a bowl, I sit down at the table, where he immediately
follows suit.

“Tell me what’s wrong, Sid. I won’t leave you alone until you do.”

I blow on the spoon, which is just inches from my face, and sip it before answering
him.

“I had a nightmare.”

“Yeah, I gathered that. About what?” He’s intense and serious, which means I won’t
get away from this battle easily. I just really don’t want to think about it.

Sipping another spoonful of the soup, I delay a few moments more. Finally, I sigh
before giving him his answer.

“I had a nightmare about Nurse Momma.”

I know that answer isn’t sufficient and will only put more questions in his head,
but that’s what comes out first. When I glance over at him, he’s glaring furiously.

Stammering, I continue. “It was more of a memory than a dream. When she was Nurse
Momma, things were at their worst for me. I have a hard time thinking about it, much
less talking about it.”

His eyes hold so much hate and anger that I cower down in my chair. I don’t understand
why he’s so upset with me. When he sees my reaction, something inside him snaps and
he softens.

“Hon, I’m not mad at you if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m fucking pissed off that
your mother abused you so badly. Why do bad things happen to good people?” he asks
mostly to himself as he regards me.

I shrug my shoulders, fighting tears as I eat a little more soup before I lose my
appetite altogether.

“If I ever so much as coughed, or especially if I vomited, she would instantly put
on her latex gloves and become Nurse Momma. What’s so terrifying is that I don’t remember
much of went on during those times. All I had to go off of were some sketchy memories
during the ‘black time’ and weird injuries to my body. It was terrifying when she
would come towards me with the injection.” A shudder passes through my body at the
thought, and I no longer want the soup.

“What do you mean injection?” he asks, and when I look over at him, his eyes are incredulous.

“Well, that’s the problem. I don’t know exactly what it was. All I know is that, once
she injected me, I went down fast and hard. For an unknown period of time, I would
be in a dreamy trance only coming to long enough for another injection. Once she would
deem me healthy, she’d back off on the injections and I would eventually become lucid
again. The bruising and burning all over my body scared me. Not knowing what’s happening
to you while you are unconscious is a horrifying. I didn’t dare ask her—ever.”

“I’m so sorry,” he says simply.

I shrug away his words as if it’s no big deal. The fact is, though, it’s a really
big deal. I’ll never know what happened during those dark times, and it plagues my
mind with terrible what-ifs.

“Liam, what makes you so sad? You zone out a lot and go somewhere. If we’re being
honest and open here, what’s your story?”

His eyes go from concerned to dark and angry. Nearly knocking over the chair, he stands
quickly and strides over to the front door. I jump when the door slams shut after
him. What the hell is his problem? Annoyed at his overreaction, I storm into my bedroom,
turning off lights along the way. Then I yank off my night gown and crawl into bed.

I can hear things slamming around next door. It would appear that Liam is having some
sort of tantrum on the other side of my bedroom wall. Clearly, something in his past
bothers him terribly, but if he can’t share it with me, I can’t help him. Feeling
defeated, I roll over and fall asleep.

The sound of a phone ringing pulls me from my slumber. Annoyed, I reach over to my
bedside table and answer it.

“Hello?” I groan into the phone, not bothering to look at the caller ID.

“Sidney! What’s up, girl?” Tina chirps on the other line. I roll my eyes and pull
the pillow over my face to block the sunlight streaming in.

“Well, I was trying to sleep,” I grumble.

Her voice tinkles with laughter at my response. “Too bad, we’re going to the store
today. You need groceries, right?”

My heart starts thumping at the idea of going out today. After the day I had yesterday,
I don’t feel like it at all. All I want to do is cocoon myself in my sheet and sleep
the day away.

“I don’t feel like it today. There’s probably enough stuff in there to get by.”

The silence on the other line lets me know that she doesn’t like my answer. Finally,
she sighs loudly into my ear, further indicating her exasperation.

“Fine. If you won’t come out with me, I’ll come to you. I’ll pick up some stuff for
you and bring the movies you asked for. I’m not sure what this whole mood is about,
but clearly we should chat about it. See you after a while, babe.” And in true Tina
fashion, she hangs up on me.

Knowing that she’ll be true to her word, I finally drag myself out of bed. It doesn’t
take me long to get ready, so I decide to clean. After a couple of hours, a knock
on the door lets me know that Tina is here. Tossing my gloves and bottle of Windex
on the kitchen counter, I hurry to the door. When I open it, I’m surprised to see
Liam standing there.

As usual, he looks hot as hell in his tight black T-shirt, low-riding jeans, and messy
hair. The more I look at him, the more I decide that maybe one day I will get past
my touching issues because there is nothing more I’d like to have than someone that
good-looking touch me. My face blushes when I think of where I’d like him to do the
touching.