Page 49 of Living Hell

I was peeling off my shirt when I heard her say, “That’s it, baby. Strip for me.”

Chuckling, I threw the shirt onto the floor. “You want a striptease?”

She scooted up and sat crisscross, clapping her hands. “Yes. Please, do it for me.”

“There’s no music.”

“I’ll do the music,” Iona said, and I thought she would go grab her phone to bring up a song, but instead, she produced sounds from her mouth that might be considered music in some ancient culture.

I swiveled my hips and popped the button from my jeans. “Why does this feel like a ritual dance? Like I’m about to be sacrificed or something.”

“Because you are. I’ll sacrifice you so hard you’ll think you’ve entered Valhalla after I’m done.”

Lowering my zipper, I had no idea how to take off my jeans in a sexy way. I thought of how I’d seen women do it in movies and remembered they kept their legs straight as they pulled their pants down, showing their ass.

I decided to do that. Turning, I pulled the jeans and bent forward. My balance began to waver, and I took a step to regain it, but my jeans were around my ankles at that point. I tripped and fell face forward onto the floor. Thankfully, I reached forward in time to lessen the impact with my hand.

“Oh, damn. Did that hurt? It looked like it hurt.” Iona scrambled out of bed and lowered herself to my side.

I lay, half-naked in a ball on the floor, and I mumbled, “A little. I’m okay.” But I didn’t move.

“Can you roll over?”

She pushed at my back in an attempt to help. I winced as I moved but got onto my back. Gazing up at her, I worried. She wasn’t smiling exactly. Her eyes darted over my face and it seemed like she was forcing herself to look happy. Either that or she was holding in a fart.

“How bad do I look?”

“It’s just your face, so that’s good.”

That’s the thing everyone sees. How could that be good?

“Just tell me.”

“Half your face is super red and a little puffy. And I think that’s a cut on your cheek. Is it painful?”

“No. I feel a little throbbing by my eye but that’s it.”

Her eyes slid down my body, stopping about halfway. Even lying here hurt she couldn’t stop thinking of sex. The woman had a super activated sex drive. Even when we got home last night, she wanted to do it again. But I was beat from the day, and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out.

“Stop staring at it.”

“But it’s so handsome.”

That made me smile, which caused a bolt of pain to slice up the side of my face. “Ow. Don’t make me laugh or smile or anything that might move my face in any way.”

“Oh, my poor little man.” She reached over and cradled my head, careful to avoid the left side of my face. “I need to get you to bed.”

She took my hand and helped me up. I was light-headed but the feeling soon disappeared. Guiding me over, she pulled back the covers and helped me into bed as if I couldn’t do it myself.

I let her because I liked the doting side of Iona. She was usually so crass and silly, but this was her gentle side—willing to do anything to help someone in need, just like her mother.

“I’ll be right back.”

Iona left the room. It wasn’t long before I heard the front door open and close, and I wondered if she had left. But then she blew through the bedroom door and riffled through her section of the closet.

“I sent Jake to get some Aleve at the drug store. He should be gone for a while.” She winked with a pile of clothes and a black bag.

“Okay. Sounds good.”

She shuffled into the bathroom and shut the door. After a minute, I considered getting up and going downstairs to start dinner but before I could get up, the bathroom door opened.

Iona stood there in a perfectly fitted nurse’s costume, complete with the little fantasy hat. She held a black medical bag in her hands and sashayed over.

“Now, it’s time to check on my patient.”

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