Chapter 7

Her pillow was hard. She tried to pummel it to get it to conform. She stopped when there was a rumble beneath her cheek.

“What…?”

There was another rumbling chuckle.

“I trust you slept well then?”

The amused question rumbled beneath her cheek. At the same instant she remembered she had gone to sleep on him, her arms locked around his neck. The comfort from last night was replaced by an awareness of her body lying flush against his.

Her skin was sensitized wherever it touched his. Goosebumps sprang up all over her arms.

The temperature in the room rose.

Her temperature rose.

The intensity of her sudden arousal left her breathless.

She breathed through her nose. If her skin had been fair, her face would have been flushed red with arousal. Hastily, hiding her face, she tried to roll off him. Brett was having none of it. With no effort he captured her in place.

“Hold it. You used me for your bed and pillow. Now you want to run off? Without thanking me?”

He whispered, his voice suggestive.

‘Oh Lord, my hair must look like a bush.’

She giggled at the silly thought.

She was amused at the picture he painted. He was far from a bed for her. Her thoughts of him were far more graphic. More of the sexy kind.

“Oh, she found that funny. Now let’s see who laughs last.”

He began tickling under her rib cage. She squealed at the sudden attack on that ticklish spot. She tried to get away, but he was like an octopus.

His hands were everywhere. She couldn’t move to save her life.

He held her in place with ease.

“Stop!” Nina couldn’t stop the involuntary giggles.

He was killing her.

With all her wriggling, whether by design or not, she found herself under him as he held her tight to stop her squirming away from him.

He stilled when she brushed up against his crotch.

She stilled.

Everything stilled.

She was aware of every sound.

The air around them was charged with something unspoken.

Her chest hurt.

After a moment, she took a deep breath to stop the burning in her lungs. She needed to breathe. Taking a deep gulp of air, she waited.

His chest heaved.

He had been holding his breath too.

Without looking at him, she scrambled off his lap, without any resistance this time.

‘That was close.’

The sane thought eased the tension in her body. Shrugging off what had almost happened, she ran into the kitchen. She changed course when she realized she needed to wash up. As she spun to get to the bathroom, she slammed into him. His hands came up to grip her shoulders, stopping her headlong dash.

‘Oh boy, I’m like a headless chicken.’

The image of that amused her.

She stepped back from him, forcing him to let her go.

“Sorry. I’m not all awake just yet.” She tried to explain.

He laughed out loud.

“I’ll say.”

His lighthearted laughter dispersed the tension. The stark hunger that had been in his eyes faded.

The tension in the air was dispersed. They were now back on their old footing. She was glad, but sorry it had ended.

Being friend-zoned sucked.

‘Oh boy, I got it real bad.’

“What do you want for breakfast?” He called after her as she began to close the bathroom door. Not able to hide the surprise in her voice, she held the door slightly open to answer.

“That’s okay. I will just have cereal for breakfast, thanks.”

“Cereal is not enough after what happened last night. I’m going to make you a full breakfast. But without the eggs, right?”

He grinned at her through the crack in the door. He had come to stand in the bedroom when she had declined his offer. It looked like he wasn’t going to allow her to say no.

‘Bossy ass…’

He laughed.

She cringed.

Had he heard her thoughts?

Seriously?

He must have by the look on his face. As the realization hit, she slammed the door shut, hearing his laugh even through the wood separating them.

He had tuned into her thoughts, just as she had tuned into their conversations.

That bothered her.

‘Oh no. All the dirty thoughts I’ve been having about him. Oh fuck.’

Sitting down on the toilet seat, she face-palmed, so embarrassed she wished she could sink into the floor and disappear, forever.

Never have to face him again.

He hadn’t moved from outside the door. His voice came through it quite clearly.

“You can always shield your thoughts, sweetheart.” She thought he was still kidding because amusement still laced his voice.

‘Yeah right.’

She could hear his chuckle in her mind.

He spoke again.

‘Seriously. You can.”

His voice had sobered. It sounded quite serious.

‘Just think of it as like closing a door to threats from outside.’

‘Really? Is it that easy?’

She was skeptical.

‘It takes practice, but, yeah, it can be done.’

‘Hmm. Okay.’

Turning to take off her clothes to get into the shower, the realization hit her.

‘Holy moly.’

Then she exclaimed aloud, “Oh boy, that was fucking awesome.”

She heard him laugh.

Apparently, he was still standing outside her door, the pervert.

“Okay, no more perving.” He joked aloud. “I’m going to get your breakfast. You should call in sick when you get out of the shower. I don’t think you should go in to work. Especially when your nerves are still out of whack.” He cautioned her.

Then she heard him moving away at last.

“Don’t you think I am the better judge of that’ She sent the thought to him.

‘Nope. I don’t think you are. Not after I saw how you were last night.’ He replied.

‘Humph.’ was her reply.

“Look,” He continued when she was dressed to go to work. She was seated at the dinette, eating the breakfast he had cooked. He hovered over her, trying to convince her to see his point.

“Missing one day won’t make you lose your job.”

“But it will make me lose one day’s pay, which I will miss very much.” She retaliated.

“Hmm.” He looked thoughtful.

“There’s that. But isn’t your health more important than money?”

There was a wicked twinkle in his eye.

She knew he was trying to get her to admit he was right. While she, on the other hand, was intent on doing just the opposite, on pain of death.

“Well, it’s your funeral.” He grinned. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe going to work will do you good.”

Now she wanted to do the very opposite. She realized much later he had used reverse psychology on her.

“Oh, maybe you’re right. I think I’ll call in sick.”

Grabbing her phone, she stormed out of the kitchenette.

“That’s fine, love.”

Mariam sounded understanding, as she assured Nina.

“You’ve been looking a bit peaky these past few days. Take two days off. I’ll change the roster and email you an update. Take care. Get well. And I’ll see you back here in two days’ time.”

“Thank you so much, Mariam.” She breathed out. “I’ll see you then. Bye.”

Brett wasn’t where she had left him when she came back into the lounge/kitchen. In fact, he wasn’t anywhere in the flat. She could feel the emptiness now, whenever he wasn’t around. It was like there was a vacuum where there was something tangible before, ‘Maybe he has blocked me from his thoughts, like he said he was going to teach me.’

That thought displeased her.

“I hate to be left out of the loop.”

She hated being left out of anything.

‘Hmm, now, that’s interesting.’

She jumped when she heard his voice in her head.

“What is?” She said aloud, forgetting he was speaking to her in her head.

He laughed.

‘That you hate being left out of the loop.’ He teased.

‘Shit, you hear me when I’m speaking out loud, as well as hear the thoughts in my head? There’s no privacy at all for me?’

She hmphed, disgruntled.

He chuckled, then his voice sobered.

‘You can have privacy when you learn to block your thoughts. I will teach you to do that as I promised. If you let me?’

‘Okay. I want that.’

‘It’s a deal.’ He promised, his voice solemn.

‘Where are you?’

‘Going on some angelic duties.’

‘Come on. Stop nattering.’

Sasha’s voice sounded in her head next. Nina had the feeling she hated Brett having thoughts of her. But then, she had never liked her from the beginning.

So, what was new?

‘Okay. Gotta go. Call me if you need me.’

His voice was urgent. Then there was static silence.

It was like he had switched off a radio.

‘Hmm. Interesting! Maybe I can think of it like switching off a phone. In my head.’

She spent that day doing some chores, then went out to Woolies to stock up on groceries. She bought a whole grilled chicken and chips from Oporto on her way home. There was no sign of Brett when she got back. Not even a peep from him in her head. After storing her groceries away, she had some of the chicken and chips with salad, showered, then sat down to watch a movie.

As she watched a particular interesting part, her mind wholly taken up with the intriguing twists of the drama unfolding, there was a sudden buzzing sound. Not taking any notice at first, trying to decide who the killer was in the movie, the insistent buzzing grew too loud to be ignored. Looking around she tried to pinpoint where it was coming from.

‘Nope it wasn’t coming from the TV. I wonder what that is.’

She was sure now it wasn’t the TV; the noise was so loud in her head, she couldn’t think.

‘Shit. What the eff is happening?’

It was in her head!

“Oh God, is he coming back when Brett isn’t around?”

All she could think of then was wish Brett was there. She couldn’t fight this thing alone.

Where the eff was he?

As soon as she thought of him, she opened up her mind to try to call him for help.

‘What the hell is happening?’

He sounded frantic. It was like he had felt her churning frantic emotions.

‘I don’t know. There was a buzzing sound in my head which was driving me crazy. But it’s stopped now.’

There was a resounding silence on his end for a few seconds.

It prompted her to keep talking.

‘Are you there?’

His voice had calmed.

There was a touch of amusement underlying it now when he finally answered.

‘Yes. I’m here. It sounds like you have found the key to closing your thoughts off to me. How did you do that?’

‘Huh?

‘Yes, you did something that closed your mind off from this channel. What was it?’

His voice had become insistent.

‘Try to remember what you did or thought.’

‘I didn’t. All I thought after we spoke, that when you tuned me out, was that it felt like you were ending a phone call with the end button. I thought the line was like switching off a phone in my head. So, I thought of switching off the red button on my phone. That was all.’

‘Hmm. Well. That was all it took, sweetheart. You did it yourself. Congratulations!’

He sounded proud of her. Wow!

‘Seriously?’

‘Yep. Let’s test that theory again.’

‘Okay.’

She thought of a phone in her head and switched it off.

There was silence.

For about five seconds. Then the buzzing started up in her head. Thinking of a phone being switched on, she imagined switching it on.

A second later, she heard his voice. But she didn’t understand. The words were scrambled.

‘What?’ She sent the thought.

‘Did you hear what I said?’ He asked.

‘Yes. now. Not the sentence before that.’

‘Doesn’t matter. You’ve done it. You’ve successfully found the key to blocking your thoughts.’

She had, hadn’t she?

‘Yay! I’m a genius.’

She smiled to herself.

‘Blowing our own trumpet, are we?’

‘Shut up.’ She laughed out loud, then switched the phone in her head off, cutting off his answering laughter.

“Ha, that’ll teach him” she said aloud.

She jerked when his voice sounded from right behind her.

“Yep. It did.”

He laughed at the look of chagrin she gave him.

“Eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves.” She jeered.

“I know.” He stressed that with a grin.

Nina found that grin of his endearing. It pulled at her heartstrings when it was in evidence. It made him look like a mischievous little boy. And it made her want to kiss him senseless on the few occasions he was in this teasing mode.

Her contemplation was interrupted when he cocked an eyebrow at her silence. She had been staring at him with hunger.

His face changed.

All humor disappeared in a split second. There was tension now in the air. His eyes darkened to the storminess of a deep dark ocean.

She held her breath.

As they stared at each other, all sound ceased.

Then he blinked, breaking eye contact.

She sagged.

The spell was broken.

“What’s for dinner?”

His voice was courteous. It brought normalcy back. His eyes were hooded. That inscrutable look that they got sometimes was back. Especially when that something unamenable was in the air between them.

She was unceremoniously jolted out of her amorous thoughts at the mundane question.

“Oh, I bought a chicken with chips and salad from Oporto.”

She tried to cover up the fact she had been hungering to kiss him.

“I’ll heat some up for you.”

She offered awkwardly in a subdued voice. She pretended nothing was amiss.

“Ooo nice. I love their chicken.”

He followed her lead.

“And no, you don’t have to do that.”

He prevented her from going into the kitchen, by simply not moving from the doorway.

“I’ll have it cold. Like it better that way.”

That grin of his, with the accompanying dimple in his cheek came out.

The sunshine came out.

The dark, wild, and unknown atmosphere was pushed back.

Her spirits lightened. They were back to being friends again.

She nodded.

“Okay. You know where everything is.”

She turned back to her movie. He didn’t need her chattering while he was getting his dinner. Besides, she was missing all the main important parts.

Brett was an angel and quite capable, wasn’t he?