Page 26 of Dark Secret

“No, don’t be! You need help, and I’d be a troll not to help you.”

“Thanks.” He squeezed my hand, and before I knew it, he was asleep again.

Now, I had a light soup simmering for him, for when he woke up. He needed to eat something, or those pills would make him sick. They were prescription pain killers, not just a little dose of aspirin.

Whatever it was, it was something his doctor knew about. I’d seen a row of boxes in that medicine cabinet. I didn’t recognize most of the medicines, but I saw one was for neuropathy and another for muscle spasms. Maybe that would do him better, I thought, and got up to get one of those for him.

I put it on the tray I arranged for him once he’d woken up again. He started to binge watch a new show on Netflix by then, and I didn’t want to interrupt him, but he paused the show.

“I can’t believe this is how I’m spending my day, but I’m damn glad you’re here to help.”

“I’m glad I can be of help to you, sir.” I gave him a wink and smirk, and he cringed with a smile of his own.

“Oh, don’t get me started. I can barely stand up right now.”

“I can’t help it if having you helpless in bed is sexy.”

“Oh, here comes the dom streak! Are you going to tie me down and use me then, Miss?”

I felt my eyebrow lift and my lips twitched as I tried to hold back my amusement. He’d given me such a naughty schoolboy look!

“I will spank you, you know, sir?” I held my hand up as if in warning, and he rolled his eyes and shuddered.

“Oh no, please, miss! I’ll be a good boy.” He even had the nerve to put on an English accent. The bastard!

I laughed out loud and pecked him on the forehead. “You’re too feeble to spank right now anyway. Eat your soup and be a good boy.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he grumbled, and I kind of liked this pouty side of him.

As he’d said, I did feel a little dominant right now, and I was surprised to find I liked it. The role reversal wasn’t something I’d want to continue, but for now, it was fun.

I left him to eat, and when I went back a half hour later, I found his bowl empty, the show had moved on to the next episode, and he was fast asleep. The pain pill must be really strong. Of course, the muscle relaxer would probably make him sleepy too.

I ordered some groceries with a delivery service then made roasted garlic chicken and pasta alfredo, from scratch, with some sautéed asparagus to go with it for dinner. He was fed, at least, I thought, but he was soon asleep again.

He hadn’t had more medicine, and that made me wonder if this was more than just a back ache. Although, pain could make you sleep.

I thought about those other pills in the medicine cabinet and looked them up. One was for tremors; the other was for inflammation. Well, obviously, he had something going on. I just wasn’t sure what. He’d tell me if he wanted me to know, I decided. Or if it was something that would be a problem for me. Meaning, if it was something that I could catch, he’d have told me a long time ago.

It was his business, I concluded. Even if I didn’t like the secret. I had my own, though, so who was I to raise hell about one? No, it was better to leave it alone and just take care of him. It seemed he’d already been to a doctor about it, so there wasn’t anything more I could do. Unless he became worse.

I spent the rest of the evening in bed with him, watching a few movies I’d wanted to see. He slept through most of it, but he woke up once to go to the bathroom and again to ask for something to drink.

I changed his packs from hot to cold and kept him as comfortable as I could.

Sometime in the middle of the night, he woke me up. He was wrapped around me, and I didn’t think he’d quite realized that I wasn’t asleep. Or maybe he was still asleep, I didn’t know, but I held still.

“I’m nothing without you, Stephanie,” he said when I first woke up. His head was right behind mine, his arms tight around me. “Please, stay with me.”

It was a weak moment for him, and I didn’t want to say anything. I knew he thought I was asleep, otherwise he’d never admit to something like that. It made my heart race, though, and my skin went hot all over.

Maybe this could work out. One day, we might be past all of this. We’d have no more contracts, no more secrets, and we’d be at peace. Maybe, one day, we’d even have a family of our own, one that we both planned and wanted.

I’d go off my birth control, and we’d just make babies and raise our kids. I was kind of shocked I’d even considered it. I’d spent most of my adult life taking care of my brothers and then their children. I’d thought I hadn’t wanted a child of my own, but with Dylan snuggled up behind me, well, I kind of liked the idea.

I wasn’t really interested in marriage, but if I could spend the rest of my life with him? Well, that would be nice too. I felt him relax behind me, and before long, he’d started to snore again.

Through the night, he got up a few times, and by the time morning came, he was almost back to himself. I woke up and found him in the living room, the television on and coffee ready in the pot.