Page 23 of Take Me

I don’t obey, of course.

“C’mon. Beef stew. Is good.” He prods the spoon at my mouth, wetting my lips with the warm sauce, but I still don’t open.

With a sigh, he sets the bowl aside and grabs me by the arms, turning me to face him.

“Look at me.”

When I still don’t react, he grabs my chin, and I finally meet his eyes.

“Good girl,” he says with a slight glimmer in his expressive eyes. “Now, take a deepbreath.” Rounding his lips, he inhales deeply.

I take in a small suck of air that barely lifts my chest.

“You can do better.” He slaps my stomach gently. “Deep into the belly.”

He repeats the long inhale, and I find it’s easier to obey his easy-going manner than it is to disobey it. After all, this order involves no humiliation or pain. So I take in a long, but staggered breath that reaches all the way through my lungs and into my stomach.

“Out again, slowly,” he urges, and I push the air back out through rounded lips.

He has me repeating several times, and somewhere along the way, I start to regain my senses.

The moment I look away from Mikhail’s steady eyes, harrowing memories flood my mind, and I start to draw back in on myself.

“No, no. You look at me.” He immediately sees what happens, and when he takes my head between his hands and forces my attention back on him, the memories fade again. “Keep your eyes on me. Okay?”

I give a slow nod and let my attention linger on him.

Without breaking eye contact, he picks up the bowl and holds a spoonful to my lips. “Now eat.”

Somehow, he manages to get me to eat the full bowl, keeping the devastating thoughts at bay with the sheer power of his gaze.

I wince as I move my sore, swollen tongue, and it takes me a while to get through the whole portion as I chew carefully.

The food isn’t half bad. It’s almost like a hearty portion of comfort food, and I feel somewhat revitalized when he sets the bowl aside.

My eyes drift over the room as if I’ve just woken, and in a way, I guess I have.

But my surroundings are as bleak as before, making me long for sleep and ignorance.

“Do you need to pee?”

I take stock of my body and feel a pressure deep in my belly, so I nod.

Mikhail takes me by the waist, having the foresight to predict my weak legs as he helps me stand. A wave of dizziness hits me the moment I’m on my feet, and it takes me a minute to find my balance before I can move across the floor.

He helps me onto the toilet, then leans against the wall, looking bored as he waits for me to do my business.

I don’t prolong the humiliation by begging him to leave, knowing very well he won’t; I just look away and finish as quickly as I can. But the humiliations have no end today. When I reach for the toilet paper, I remember my immobile hands.

“I can’t...” I steel myself with a deep breath. “I can’t dry myself.”

“Just drip. Someone will hose you down before bedtime.”

I manage a few shakes before he hoists me back up on my feet and leads me back to the mattress.

Thinking he’s finally about to leave, I curl up with my back to him.

But instead of hearing the heavy iron door, I hear the rustling sound of clothes and shoes being removed.

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