Villainess (14 page)

Leila grinned up at me. “Good.”

“So what happens now?” Leila asked as she watched me stuff my cock into my pants.

“What do you mean?”

“I think you know exactly what I mean.”

I stared at Leila, her body curled up on the couch like a satisfied kitten. Her face was flushed, her hair a mess, and her eyes were wide and guileless. She was looking at me like I had all the answers, and I supposed I should.
Too bad I don’t
. “I don’t know, Leila. This can’t happen again. We’ll get caught.” I dropped down beside her, cupping her face. “You need to let me help you.”

She nuzzled my palm, her gaze never wavering from mine. “Maybe I’ll play ball—if you keep fucking me like you did tonight.” She nipped at my fingers. “Because I have to say, Doc, you just might be the best I ever had.”

I couldn’t seem to hold back the wave of unadulterated pride that washed over me because of her words. “Maybe Matt is just that bad,” I joked. Despite the seriousness of our situation, I couldn’t help my buoyant mood after all our carnal activities.
Funny how fucking Ella never makes me feel this way
.

“Nope. He was actually pretty good. I almost feel bad that you’re going to have to fire him.”

“I’m firing him now, am I? Why is that?” I’d already decided I was. Even if I wasn’t planning on being with Leila again, the thought of her taking back up with Matt twisted jealously in every part of me.

“Please, don’t play that with me.” Leila leaned up, pressing her lips briefly to mine. “And I know you don’t really mean that this is never happening between us again.” She laughed. “Okay, I know you probably mean it, but we both know that isn’t going to happen. Was it one or two sessions ago that you told me you didn’t want to fuck me at all?” She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows.

I stood abruptly, scowling at her. “Let me hypnotize you.”

“What?”

“I want to hypnotize you.”

Her face scrunched up with confusion. “Why?”

“I think it’ll be easier for me to delve into some of your emotions and possibly repressed memories through hypnosis. It’s had a high rate of success with many patients that—”

Leila burst out laughing. “Oh, Doc.” She brushed her fingertips down my chest, her eyes dancing with mirth. “You think I have some kind of repressed memories of abuse or something?”

I ground my teeth together. I just wanted to help her and she was mocking me. She had more going on in her subconscious than she was aware of, I was sure of it. “If you’re not worried about what I could find, then play along.” I snaked my arm around her waist, yanking her against my chest. “I’ll make it worth your while,” I whispered in her ear, causing her to shiver.

Leila’s body molded to mine, her hands wrapping around the back of my neck. “Careful, Doc. Matt will be back for me soon. You don’t want him to wonder what’s going on in here.”

I extradited myself from Leila, going to my desk to pull out a metronome. “I’m going to hypnotize you, Leila.” I located my digital recorder and set it on my desk as well. “It might actually be good to have Matt in here with us for this—it will make everything seem more legitimate to him.”

“All right. Fine.” She went over to the couch and sprawled out languidly on it.

I unlocked my office door and peeked out into the hallway. Matt was leaning against the opposite wall, arms crossed. “Good.” I forced a smile onto my face. “I’m going to need you to come into my office.”

Matt pushed off the wall, his brow furrowed. “Something happen?”

“No.” I waved him off. “Nothing like that. I’m going to hypnotize, Leila. And although I will be recording the session, I would like a witness for this.” I dropped my voice. “I also want to take any precautions in case I trigger a violent spell of some sort. It’s rare but…” I raised my eyebrows at Matt.

“Yeah, okay. No problem.” He followed me into my office, shutting the door behind him.

Leila was on the couch still, her eyes now closed. “So are we going to do this or what?”

“Yes, now that Matt is here.” I motioned for him to take a seat in the spare chair by my desk. Once he was situated I turned on the metronome. I adjusted the settings so the beat was slow and steady, just the perfect rate to lull Leila into a state of relaxation. I clicked the recorder on so I wouldn’t miss anything she said while under.

“Everyone ready?” Matt nodded and Leila made a grunt, which I would take as a yes.

“Good. Now, Leila, listen to the sound of my voice…”

Leila

The steady ticking was a tad annoying at first. I tried focusing in on Jonah’s voice—his deep rumbling sexy voice, to tune it out. Soon though, everything faded into the background except for the steady cadence of the metronome.
Tick-tick-tick-tick…

It felt like I was in a dream. Things were fuzzy and I had no real control over my thoughts. It was like I was being steered towards some unknown destination, one that scared the shit out of me.

Tick-tick-tick-tick…

I saw a flash of something. A large head, grey skin, bug eyes. I tried not to scream. My chest tightened as I struggled to breath.

Tick-tick-tick-tick…

I was strapped down to a table. I struggled but couldn’t budge the restraints. Someone was watching. Someone was always watching.

Tick-tick-tick-tick…

“Leila, tell us what you saw.”

“No! My mommy and daddy said it’s all in my imagination.”

Tick-tick-tick-tick…

“She’s too weak. We can’t use her.”

Tick-tick-tick-tick…

I was on a table, my eyes open but I couldn’t move. One of those creatures stood over me, holding a scalpel.

“Maybe we can make her stronger.”

I wanted to scream but I couldn’t open my mouth. Tears trickled out of my eyes and down my temples.

I want my mommy.

Tick-tick-tick-tick…

I jolted up on Jonah’s couch, a scream fighting its way from my lungs. My whole body was shaking, my teeth chattering. Matt and Jonah were both by my side within the blink of an eye.

“What the hell was that?” I demanded. “What the fuck did you do to me?” I ran my hands through my sweaty hair.

Matt glared up at Jonah, his hands fisted as he so clearly resisted the urge to take me in his arms. Of course he didn’t notice Jonah was in the same predicament. “What did you do to her? What she saw couldn’t have been real.”

Jonah’s dark gaze met mine. “No, of course not. But often times, a child’s mind supplies some kind of monster when it can’t deal with the reality of a situation. Leila is remembering aliens because her mind, as a child, couldn’t handle what really happened. It’s actually very common.”

I swallowed repeatedly trying to return some moisture to my throat. “So what you’re saying—is that what I saw in my mind just now—”

“Yeah, it was real—except for the aliens part.”

I laughed despite the situation. “Well, it’s good to know that my repressed memories didn’t in fact just reveal the presence of aliens among us.” But what did the rest mean? Jonah kept pushing to try and help me because he thought more was going on with me, something that I wasn’t even aware of. I’d only let him hypnotize me to patronize him. I hadn’t actually expected him to find anything. Even knowing that the aliens weren’t real—fuck. I was terrified on some base level that I couldn’t begin to wrap my mind around.

“I’m—I’m scared.” The words tumbled from my mouth before I could stop them. I was still shaking and I wanted nothing more than to let Jonah or Matt take me in their arms, in that moment, I didn’t care which one. I just wanted to feel safe. It was as if someone had reached into me and shaken loose all sense of self. From the time it took me to go under to when I woke up—everything had changed.
What if my own memories aren’t even true? How can I trust anything if I can’t even trust my own mind? What if Jonah’s been right this whole time?

“Go get her a blanket, Matt,” Jonah commanded.

Matt hustled to comply and as soon as he was out of the room, Jonah wrapped his arms around me. “Fuck, Leila. I’m sorry. We’re going to have to go back in. We need to find out what happened.”

“Maybe I don’t want to know.” And I didn’t. At least not now. But I knew that would change. As soon as I had a chance to calm down and think about things, I’d want answers.

Ignoring my comment, Jonah leaned into me, whispering in my ear, “I’m going to help you, Leila. Now that I know there’s something really wrong—more so than I thought—I’m going to help you figure it all out. I promise.”

I inhaled deeply, taking Jonah’s spicy scent into my lungs. I wished I could fall asleep in his arms. I wasn’t usually so needy, but after what I’d just seen… I shook my head to dislodge the image of the bug-eyed creatures. I knew intellectually that they weren’t real, but… “I don’t want to be alone.” My teeth chattered harder than they had a moment ago.

“I have the blanket.” Accusation laced every note in Matt’s voice. I could feel Jonah’s muscles tense, and how he forced himself to let me go slowly as not to look like we were doing anything wrong. Sure it was unusual to hold a patient, but I was crying—and shaking. Maybe he was just trying to keep me warm.

When Jonah finally let me go, I met Matt’s angry blue eyes. I could tell he was now suspicious. Jonah and I were going to have to tread carefully. The last thing I needed was a jealous Matt throwing sticks in the cogs of everything. “Please—I’m so cold.” I reached out for the blanket, watching as Matt’s features softened a bit. He dipped down to swaddle me in the thick blanket. “Thank you.”

“It’s shock. She’s so cold because her body is having a hard time dealing with what she saw,” Jonah said to Matt. “We need to get her warmed up.” He went to his desk and pulled out a box of tea packets. He tilted his head in my direction. “Do you have a preference, Leila?” I shook my head, my teeth clenched tightly so my teeth wouldn’t chatter anymore.

“Will you take care of this, Matt?” Jonah handed one of the packets to Matt as he nodded in my direction. “Take her back to her room and get her warmed up. Don’t leave her alone until she stops shaking, you got that?”

No! I don’t want to go with Matt! I want to stay with you!
I mentally screamed. But I knew it was best for appearances to do what Jonah thought best. I kept my gaze averted so no one would be able to read my emotions.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of her,” Matt said, his earlier jealousy no longer evident in his tone.

Matt helped me to my feet while I clutched the blanket tightly around me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder, obviously emboldened because he felt as if Jonah had done the same thing. He led me out of the room tucked securely into his side. I kept my gaze fixated in front of me, not wanting to see Jonah. If I saw him in this state, I might have been tempted to go to him.

Huh. I guess I do trust Jonah now.
Weird how quickly something like that can happen. Or maybe he was just that good at sex. After all, I am a woman. Sometimes my gender can’t help but follow their body with their heart. And if that was true…
I’m fucked.
Of course, I was a bit out of sorts at the moment.
I’m sure once I calm down I won’t feel the same anymore. Riiiight.