Lisette didn't like doing homework alone-that's how we'd first become friends-but I knew she was perfectly capable of keeping her 4.0 without my help. She was just making sure that, however tired I was, I got the work done, too.
I sank deeper into the sofa and kicked off my shoes with a groan. I couldn't even think about getting up. I couldn't physically do it.
"Fine, I'll take the hint, but I'm not moving from this couch," I said, playing along. "If you want to go over the homework, you'll have to bring my work to me."
"Deal," Lisette said, disappearing into my bedroom.
Left alone, I looked at my aching, blistered finger and thought about what I had said about being locked up in a torture chamber. I had been joking at the time, but I realized that it was very possible with this man. But with him, I would tie myself up and apply the instruments of torture to my own flesh...and be glad.
I hugged myself, sick with horror at how very plausible that thought was, and even more sick at the thought that part of me, even now, would welcome such a fate.