Page 33 of Exchange of Heart

‘I can’t believe you,’ I growled.

‘You can’t seriously expect me to ignore its existence. Besides, right now this is technically my body. You shouldn’t torture yourself by neglecting my dick. As long as you’re respectful, you’re doing nothing wrong. That body is yours right now, so treat it nicely. I mean, come on, Nora. What did you do when you woke up this morning? And don’t tell me you haven’t been rock hard in the last two days.’

‘I ignore it.’ I didn’t mention I’d tried to soak it in a bath of Epson salt to calm the throbbing pulse.

‘Well, don’t ignore it too long. Besides, how often does an opportunity like this come up?’

I didn’t want to offer him the satisfaction of being right, so I tightened my lips as tight as his ball sack got from this conversation.

‘Nora?’ his voice softened, ‘I’m sorry. If you tell me not to touch there again, I won’t. I’ll suffer through blue balls – or blue clit – until we get our bodies back. Even if that’s in twenty years.’

‘No, you’re right. It’s weird, but it’s true. It’s your body right now, and as long as you treat it with respect, knock your socks off. Also, why is the floor spinning?’ I squinted as though that would stop everything from moving.

‘You gotta spin with it.’ Corey’s head rocked back and forth. ‘Where should we search tomorrow?’

‘I don’t know whether to call an ambulance, police, or an asylum.’ The bartender gazed down at us.

‘Neither of the above, we know what we’re doing,’ Corey slurred.

‘I’m closing up in ten, you two should go get some food into you.’ She left to finish counting the till.

‘Shit. We’ve got work tomorrow.’ I sat up, clutching my spinning head as though it would make any difference. ‘Let’s get some sleep. I gotta make sure I give off the perfect Corey vibes by throwing money around the office for the poor then snatching it back before they touch it.’

Corey chuckled. ‘And I need to charge my positivity so I can spend all day pleasing everyone to make them notice me.’ He lifted my lips until they resembled his trademark smirk.

The little piece of Corey that managed to make its way onto my face mixed with his humour that could almost be described as charm sent wild butterflies through my body. I clutched my stomach and frowned.

Hayley would dissect these feelings with a gleeful look of ‘I told you so’, but I’m ninety-nine per cent sure it was just the alcohol swirling around.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Nora

Corey arrived before the sun. Terrible symbolism.

I sat up in yesterday’s clothes, hand pressed to my forehead. Today I’ll have been Corey for three days longer than expected, and I had one hell of a headache to go with an already disappointing day considering we had no idea how to switch back. He yelled through the door, probably pissing off my chain-smoking neighbour. I jumped out of bed with a churning stomach and startled Lucky who’d finally accepted the new me and tucked himself into the groove of my leg last night. The sound of me removing the chain lock was all it took for Corey to twist the handle and barge in.

‘This isn’t working,’ he huffed, hand also pressed to his forehead.

Matching headaches. How cute of us.

‘No shit. That’s why I don’t normally go around jumping into other people’s bodies.’

‘No, I mean this living situation. I don’t want to drop off clothes for you, then worry about whether you’ve tied the tie properly, or gone rogue and dressed in your own special Nora way.’

‘You think I dress in my own special Nora way?’

Corey paused to stare at me. ‘Well, yeah. Your style is so… you.’ He shrugged.

For a moment, I didn’t move. I didn’t speak, didn’t blink, didn’t even breathe. I just existed. I existed as Nora, with her own special Nora way, moonlighting as Corey… who thought there was something special about me.

When I dared to ruin the moment, I did it with every bit of embarrassment the world wanted me to experience, because, although I had frozen, my bodily functions hadn’t. Saliva dripped down my throat, gagging and choking me like the giant dick I currently babysat.

‘Are you okay?’ Corey’s face scrunched into disgust or concern; I couldn’t tell.

I bent over and hacked up phlegm like an eighty-year-old man, then straightened my posture as though nothing had happened.

‘So, anyway, what do you propose we do?’