“Listen to the room and the sounds around you,” Isabella said, her voice deep and sensual. “Listen to the cars passing on the highway and the birds in the trees calling it a day, and your breath filling your lungs with air and then exhaling it again.”
I did and was surprised when my muscles relaxed and unfurled.
I melted into the bed.
“I’m going to count backward from five and when I get to zero, you’re going to fall into a deep sleep. You’ll find yourself deep inside your subconscious. There, you’ll find your memories. They might be hidden from you right now. Don’t approach them. They will come to you when they’re good and ready.”
I must have been more tired than I thought, as Isabella’s voice faded slowly into the distance.
“Five…”
The cars whooshed in the distance, morphing into the gentle exhalation of a gentle ocean.
“Four…”
The birds hooted into the night, flapping their wings and taking flight.
“Three…”
I recorded every rise and fall of Isabella’s voice.
“Two…”
My lungs expelled every ounce of air before opening up again like a giant bellow.
“One…”
My head was so heavy I could barely even feel it.
“Zero.”
And I was gone.
Isabella
I was surprised he went under so fast—especially after he said there was no way he was going to succumb to it!
At first, I thought he was playing.
I crept up to the edge of the bed and said:
“Hey, Clint? Clint? Can you hear me? Clint?”
I clapped my hands and he still didn’t respond.
“Clint?”
I jabbed him in the ribs but again he didn’t reply.
“I guess you must really be under, huh?”
I turned away and immediately spun back toward him.
“Bwah!”
He didn’t react.
But I knew what would make him react…
I lay down on the bed beside him, bit my bottom lip, and ran my hands over my breasts.
“I feel so lonely. Can you keep me company?”
I took his hand and placed it up my skirt.
And he still didn’t respond.
He was genuinely under hypnosis, I realized.
Well, this was what I wanted, wasn’t it?
Yes and no.
I mean, it was good we were doing something different to help him remember his memories but I suddenly felt very alone.
I was in a drafty motel room in the middle of nowhere.
If someone were to come in right now…
I suddenly felt very scared.
I spooned up closer to Clint and wrapped my arm around his waist and rested my head on his shoulder.
I felt at his muscles.
For some reason, he’d taken his shirt off when he went in the bathroom.
I fingered each of his muscles that bulged beneath the skin’s surface.
He probably thought his luck was in.
There was little else to do in this room besides talk, watch TV, and…
Now I wished I’d given him his payment in advance of hypnotizing him.
At least then I could feel satiated.
Satiated.
The way fake-Liam wanted to satiate himself with me.
The horrific scene earlier in my bedroom didn’t seem real, but otherworldly.
It might have happened to someone else and their memory had been implanted in my head.
That was why I wasn’t too shaken up by it.
I never really believed it was going to happen.
And when Clint came in and saved me in the nick of time…
It somehow felt right, that it was supposed to happen that way.
Still, I preferred for him not to be inside his own head right now.
I needed a little… attention.
Ever since we first kissed, something had awoken inside me, something deep and visceral.
I wanted to kiss him all the time.
In fact, I wanted him inside me.
And every time, something prevented it from taking place.
If we were meant to be together, as we both believed, then why was the universe so keen to keep us apart?
It was as if everything had been perfectly calibrated to ensure we never consummated how we felt about each other.
But we would.
The moment he opened his eyes, no matter what kind of out-of-body experience he had, I would jump his bones.
It was hard to keep myself from doing it right now while he was under…
Maybe that could be how he woke up…
Looking down at me with his big fat cock in my mouth—
I sprung up from the bed and shook myself off.
Calm yourself, slut.
Now isn’t the time for that.
Oh, but it is…
No! It’s not.
I had to watch over Clint while he tried to remember what’d happened to him.
We were a team and I had to make sure nothing distracted him.
And that meant keeping watch.
I approached the tasteless orange curtains and fingered them open.
I noticed my shadow cast across them from the room’s dim light behind me.
I flicked the light switch off and returned to the curtains.
This time, I approached from the left-hand side, right next to the door.
I eased the curtain aside and peered out at the quiet country road.
It was very quiet out there.
You could almost believe everything was as it should be.
Almost.
I sure hoped Clint would wake up with some recollection of what was going on here.
Too much of it didn’t make any sense.
When Liam had left the farm, he’d been a beaten man.
A few hours later, he was the Terminator.
I’d seen Clint’s earlier immense strength and Liam had matched him.
How had he achieved that?
Had he injected himself with some kind of steroid that turned him into the Hulk?
And gave him the ability to shapeshift…?
I’d completely forgotten about that.
I must have repressed it.
He’d adopted my father’s form first, though some of the details were a little off.
Then he morphed back into Liam and tried to rape me.
And for the faintest of moments, there’d been a distinct flicker as the creature assumed Clint’s form.
What did that mean? I wondered. That he could take Clint’s form as well?
Or mine?
Or anyone we encountered?
And maybe—
Outside, someone cleared their throat.
I shifted position.
It came from a few doors down.
The man stood there with his hand tucked in his pocket as he smoked a cigarette.
He had a bushy mustache and was overweight.
He had thinning grey hair tucked beneath his stetson.
He stared into the night at the small copse of trees opposite.
If Liam was capable of morphing into anyone, couldn’t he have adopted
