Page 184 of Glutton for Punishment

My eyelids peel apart slowly, revealing a blurred mix of muted colors. I try to lift my head from my chest with a groan, but the weight is too much.

My head throbs with a dull ache that pulses behind my eyes, and for several long seconds I sit there blinking at nothing, trying to remember where I am. It’s like my thoughts are trying to wade through deep water.

Who… who am I again?

I try to shift my weight and my shoulders pull back against something. My arms won’t follow. I glance down at my lap, where my hands should be, and they aren’t there. I try again, twisting at the waist, and coarse fibers scrape across the skin of my wrists.

Rope.

At least I think that’s the word for it?

My wrists feel bound tightly behind the chair. I look to my feet to find my ankles, also bound in rope and tied to the legs of the chair I’m sitting in.

Why am I not scared? This doesn’t seem like a normal situation… I just feel confused.

Why am I tied up? What happened?

I try to pull at fragmented memories, but every thought slips through my fingers like sand. A school, yes. There was a school. I think. There was... someone.

Someone I should remember.

The harder I push, the more my head hurts. I groan in pain and let my eyes wander around the room instead. For some reason, I’m tied up in a fancy-looking office.

It looks expensive, but I’m not sure how I know that. Sleek white furniture. Floor-to-ceiling windows. I’ve never been here before.

At least... I don’t think I have?

Why can’t I remember? I squeeze my eyes shut and try again. The click of a door opening captures my attention, and every concern disappears.

The entire world narrows to a single point.

It’s him.

The most beautiful man in the universe walks through the doorway, and the room seems smaller the moment he enters it. His presence fills every corner. Power rolls off him in invisible waves, demanding attention. Confidence clings to his gorgeous body covered in colorful tattoos.

Everyone should bow before him.

My chest aches with affection so intense it almost hurts. The love of my life…

My Vex.

Relief floods me. I can’t understand why I felt confused just a moment ago. There’s nothing to question. Nothing to search for. Everything I need is right here.

I stare at him, hoping he can see the absolute devotion I feel written across my face. My need for him. The absolute certainty that he is the most important thing that has ever existed.

“I’ve missed you, my love,” I say, and my voice comes out rough, like I haven’t used it in days. For a brief second, something twists uncomfortably inside me.

But then Vex steps farther into the room, and the discomfort disappears beneath the warmth that follows him everywhere. One corner of his mouth lifts.

“Did you?” The amusement in his voice makes me smile.

Of course I did. How could I not? Every moment without him is torture. Doesn’t he know that?

For a moment, his expression shifts—something like curiosity cutting through his amusement—but it disappears as he steps closer. My attention locks onto him, unable to drift anywhere else.

His fingers slide into my hair, gentle at first, and I lean into it without thinking. The touch sends a shiver through me. His hand moves, soft and affectionate, through my strands. Then his hand tightens on my scalp painfully, and he jerks my face back with enough force that my breath catches. The movement forces me to look up at him.

A flicker of confusion tries to rise in me at the edge of the pain.