Human Bait

Chapter 10: Too Skinny

I spent the next morning—and a good part of the afternoon—on the couch. Initially, a splitting headache confined me to a horizontal position. But by afternoon, nervousness returned. Rekkan must have entered the room at some point when I was sleeping because a giant jug of water and a packet of crackers appeared on the freshly-cleaned table beside the couch, but I had not seen him since we shared the whiskey.

Today marked two weeks. Had Rekkan really intended to ask me to stay the night before? And did he regret that offer now?

The sunlight through the window had already faded to an orange glow by the time a knock came on the door.

I stared at the door. When it failed to produce any more noise, I sat up and cleared my throat. "Uh... come in, I guess?"

The door slid open, and Rekkan shuffled into the room, eyes fastened to the plate of food in his hands. His posture was stiff and expression stiffer.

My gut squeezed. Was he so embarrassed by his accidental offer that he couldn't even look at me?

"You don't have to knock," I said, forcing a light tone. "This is your living room."

"Yeah, but it's also your bedroom. Or... couch-room." His grip on the plate tightened, and his eyes dropped even lower. "I should put a bed in here, if you... if you actually..."

I waited for him to finish his sentence. Instead, he strode forward and set the plate of food down on the table. He still didn't look at me, instead squinting at the darkening window.

"You must be hungry by now," he said.

The hint of disapproval in his tone made me inch back a little and curl in on myself. Was that the 'I can't afford to feed you' warning?

"I'm fine." I gestured to the crumbs left on the plate. "You brought me enough food already."

"You mean that packet of stale crackers? I bet you ate better than that before you came to my fortress."

I huffed a disparaging laugh. "Oh yes, when I was sleeping in my five-star tree, I ate a three-course breakfast every morning."

He rolled his eyes. "But would you survive a whole day on a dozen crackers?"

"When I was lucky."

His eyes finally met mine, and he furrowed his brows. "No wonder you're too skinny."

"Hey," I said, a bit defensively, "I'll have you know, some guys like the way I look."

When the crease between his eyebrows grew deeper, I remembered that I had told him about what I did with those men who liked the way I looked. Shame heated my face. Strangely, I felt more exposed under his perplexed gaze than I had with the cold wind biting my naked ass. My tongue twisted around a change of topic, but my brain failed to produce one.

Rekkan drew a breath. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you about last night."

I winced. "You mean when I tried to kiss you? I promise that won't happen again." Stupid promise, Zaf. Why would you promise that? "I mean, unless you... but I know I'm too skinny, so..." Worse. Abort the mission.

He stared at me for five unnerving seconds before finding his voice. "I wasn't talking about... that part. I meant the part about liking plants. Because I know you were a little drunk, so if you said something you didn't mean to say... well, I'm happy to live alone."

My eyes fell to my fingers, which dug into my too-skinny thighs. "Are you saying you want me to leave?"

"No, I just don't want you to stay." When my face pinched, he clucked his tongue and tugged a hand through his hair. "Fuck, I'm not saying this right. I just mean, don't pretend you want to stay with me when you don't, because I'd rather not go through that again."