Page 109 of A Kiss From Death
I hear him shuffle closer, probably only humoring me to shut me up. I wait until he’s close enough that I can hear and smell his putrid breath. In the blink of an eye, I rear my arm back and throw it full speed at the sleep-stealing culprit’s face. I know I’ve made solid contact when I hear a crunching noise and a faintclinkof what I assume is a rouge tooth cascades across the floor.
Check mate!
“Fuck!” he bellows while letting out a few pained grunts through labored breaths.
“Well I could have itched my own ankle, but you had to go and turn everything invisible,” I say thoughtfully.
“You’re not invisible!” he hisses, sounding a bit lisp-y due to the missing tooth, courtesy of yours truly.
Atta girl!
“Tell that to my invisible hands!” I flail the missing things around wildly, making my point.
“You’re blindfolded,woman,” he says, thoroughly annoyed. Under his breath, more to himself than me, he mutters, “Shit, when he said you would be trouble, he wasn’t kidding.”
Blindfolded?Oh… Maybe I did overreact a bit with the whole magic accusation, but when someone startles you awake in the night with their body on top of yours—and not in the fun kind of way—wild accusations are the only correct response…right?
Right!
”Wait, who warned you?” Thinking about it for two seconds, I answer my own question. Hade, obviously, which brings me to my second question. “Scratch that. Why the hell am I blindfolded? This isn’t some kinky part of the Crucible I’m unaware of, is it? Because I wasn’t forewarned, and to be fair, I was so tired from reading late last night, I sort of skipped washing off, and let’s just say no one wants to get anywhere near me right now.”
I hear him choke on his own tongue, shocking him speechless, which is exactly what I was going for. Going for my killing blow, I add, “Unless maybe you’re into that sort of thing? Is that why you itched my ankle for me? To get closer? Are you trying to hit on me, sir? Whatever happened to wine and dine first? Now it’s assault them in their sleep, blindfold them, and itch smelly ankles to get a whiff?” I scoff to myself. “What is with men these days?”
“Can you please just stop talking!” he rushes out, but it’s shaky and unsure.
“Gladly,” I say with a smile. “As soon as you remove the bag from my head.”
“Not happening,” he responds solidly, leaving no room for argument.
Damn, he bounces back fast. “I guess I will have to acquaint you with my other fist, then, because she’s feeling rather left out at the moment.”
“You will do no such thing. We are already late, so you’re going to shut up and not put up a fight, or I will have to knock you out. Contrary to your belief, I don’t want to hurt you. I would like to keep my head attached to my body.”
Now that does bring a genuine smile to my face.
“Where are you taking me?” I resort to pouting again. “Can we rain check it until I at least get a couple more hours of sleep? Seeing as it’s still the middle of the night.”
I feel him grab my arm, dragging me up to stand. “It’s eight in the morning. You’ve had plenty of sleep.”
“Eight? Did you fail school or something? Since when is the night sky still out at eight in the morning?” This man has lost his marbles.
He sighs, clearly thoroughly over me. “It’s bright out; you just can’t see it due to the blindfold,” he replies in a clipped tone.
Oh, right…the blindfold.Whoopsies.
“Well…if you took the blindfold off, I wouldn’t be so confused about what time it is, would I? So why don’t you do us both a favor and just take it off…please.”
“No.”
“Brute!” I grumble.
Tugging me to follow him, I suddenly panic, realizing I have no idea who this man is and what he plans to do with me. Why the hell have I just been sitting here doing nothing about it? I chalk it up to tiredness, and honestly, I can smell the anxiety pouring off him, like he’s scared to touch a single hair on my head. If I were in true danger, I would sense it. So far, all the man has done is timidly acquaint me with the back of his hand, and I think it shocked him more than it did me.
Digging my heels into the floor, I do my best to slow us down. Even though I think I could take this man blindfolded and half-asleep, I still have an uneasy feeling about this.
“Stop that!”
“Tell me where we’re going, and maybe I’ll oblige. Do you even workout? It feels like I’m pulling against a child right now.” I gasp dramatically. “You’re elderly, I forgot. Brittle bones and all that. We wouldn’t want you to snap a femur trying to take another step out my door.”
