Dream Lover

NINE

When Elle opened her eyes back in the strange dream world, she was feeling less than refreshed. She had felt much the same way when she woke up that morning in her own bed still short one much deserved s****l fantasy. Today had been her day to do the much harder work in the restaurants cramped offices she’d slogged through payroll and did inventory twice because she hadn’t remembered the suppliers were coming early this week. So when she found herself in bed alone with no sign of Byron, she took advantage of the situation, she buried her head under the quilt and moved to the middle of the bed hoping to get a few more hours of sleep alone and undisturbed. 

"Oh, no you don't" she heard him say and groaned inwardly she tried not move hoping he would let her sleep.

He didn't.

The covers went flying and Elle couldn't help but notice the cool breeze across her naked butt she jerked the shirt she was wearing down to cover herself turned over and glared at her soon to be ex-captor.

"Your home is nice and neat just like you wanted. The least you could do is let me sleep."

"You didn't eat yesterday."

Until recently, Elle thought she had a brain capable of processing information immediately after she woke up but it seemed her processing speed was still a bit slow here.  Besides the tedium of paperwork, all she did was taste bits of this or that. But she was beginning to remember that she hadn’t eaten the food here. She hadn’t because she’d read a few stories about girls eating food in worlds that weren’t there own and mostly she didn’t want any part in the death of mamma pig.

"I...I don't see how that has anything to do with me sleeping." 

"Why didn't you eat?" Byron pushed. Convinced her lack of nutrition was the reason she'd been so cold and the reason he'd spent the night enduring a special type of torture. One he didn't intend to relive ever again. 

"I don’t know," Elle lied. "It slipped my mind okay? Now can I just have thirty more minutes?" He didn't say anything, he just looked at her, and she felt like he could see through her clothes.

She had a moment to wish she was one of those brazen women who could just let him look but she wasn't so she got up crossed the room snatched up her panties and headed for the bathroom to empty her bladder and put them on. He blocked her path.

"You can at least let me use the bathroom." He didn't seem to agree so she tried to side step him. He countered. She tried again, and then another time. He countered each of them. "Alright,” Elle sighed. “Tell me what I have to do." 

"Eat something." 

"Fine. I promise I will after the bathroom." 

"Now" Elle huffed out a short breath and forced herself to stand her ground and think up another strategy. Standing in one spot for that short moment seemed to be enough for Byron’s stance to relax into a more set stance. She allowed a few more seconds for him to begin to relax more. Once he did, Elle took the opportunity to try to get around him again and again he countered her.

"How are you doing that?" She demanded frustrated. He grinned at her. She threw her hands up, stalked to the table, and made a show of pulling a large piece of from the roasted pig and putting it in her mouth.

The instant it hit her tongue she thought of how it had died and it all came rushing back. She spit it out again.

"I can't do it."

Byron narrowed his eyes at her and started for her. She'd seen that look before when she wouldn't leave the corner, when she didn't want to climb the tree, and when she wanted to pretend she hadn't tried to rob him. She saw it and she knew what was coming. She darted to her left so that the table was between them.

"Listen, I taste that, and all I can think about is how she had a family, and how those little piglets are defenseless, and about how they watched you murder their mother. I know it's stupid I’ve eaten meat my whole life but I’ve never seen it hunted down like that I can't eat this." 

“Alright" She hadn’t expected him to understand. 

"Really?"

"Sure, go to the bathroom." Elle was suspicious but unwilling to miss the opportunity if he was being genuine. She edged around the table watching for an ambush. When she made it into the bathroom without incident, she closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief.

Alone, she splashed water on her face, used the restroom, and then slipped into to her panties. On her way out, she was just a second too late. She noticed Byron standing too close to the door. Instinctively, she shrieked and tried to shut it again. He wasn’t having it. He forced the door open and crowed her into the bathroom. The space was clearly built to service one person at a time. Elle's retreat was sabotaged immediately by the sink. He didn't stop until his body bumped against hers. Then he used his weight to pin her there keeping his hands free to hold her nose and shove the meat in her mouth.

She tried spitting it out, but he wasn’t having that either. In the same instant he had one hand on the back of her head and another covering her mouth. 

"Chew it." Tears welled in her eyes and spilled on to her cheeks, still he didn't relent.

Elle chewed slowly. The meat was tender and delicious it only made her feel worse.

"Swallow." Elle did as she was told. When he was satisfied, he released her. She shoved him before squeezing past him and out of the bathroom.

In one fluid movement, she caught the edge of the quilt and climbed back into the bed. Then, because she was feeling particularly petulant, she rolled so she was wrapped up with a tight hold on either edge. When she was a teenager, this particular strategy got her a couple of hours reprieve from Saturday morning chores. She felt the bed sink as Byron eased down beside her. She felt the heat of his body as he leaned over her. She was expecting an apology or maybe a speech on nutrition and the circle of life. 

"You have a lot of laundry to do."

Elle didn't respond, she closed her eyes and tried to wish him away. "Come on" he gave her butt a firm pat and left the bed. "We've got to get started now if we're going to make it back before dark." It was much harder to ignore that, but she stayed quiet and she wished harder.

When he began to grumble and started looking for an end to pull so he could roll her out of the blanket, she couldn't help but to smirk to herself. She was pretty pleased with herself until she felt her legs being lifted. If he couldn't dump her out the side, he'd try to get her out another way. The man was too persistent.