Thieren lifted his head to stare at her with dark, sleepy eyes. His eyes shone in the dim light, but exuded the vulnerability of a child who had just woken up. The sharpness of his usual gaze had been softened by sleep.
Stacey patted the bed beside her without much thought. He looked tired and should lie down to sleep. She carefully shuffled over in the bed to give him some space.
Without a word, he shed his shoes, jacket and tie. Then he slid into the bed beside Stacey, taking up nearly all the space on the single bed with his large frame. He hugged Stacey's body to himself so that she wouldn't fall off the bed.
Stacey stiffened. It was only then that she remembered she was only wearing a thin hospital gown with nothing else on underneath. She could feel his hot and rough palm against the skin of her back where the hospital gown was open. One arm had hugged all the way around her, so that his fingers rested on the side of a breast. It tickled a bit.
She didn't dare move or protest. She was the one who had invited him without thinking after all. His prickly chin pressed against her face when he kissed her. Once he had found a comfortable position, he had hugged her tight and then fallen back asleep. Her face had been pressed into the shirt on his chest and she had become wrapped up, surrounded by his scent.
Frankly, it stank. Although his sweat wasn't as strong smelling as some other people, this close to him, the smell was still pretty strong.
Wriggling to find a better position, Thieren loosened his hold for a moment to allow her to move about and then tightened his grip again. Stacey turned over in order to be able to breathe. The heat of his body warmed her back.
"Be good," he whispered in her ear. "Stay still and let me sleep or I might not be able to control myself. I'm tired."
Stacey froze. Before long, he emitted long, slow, even breaths that blew into her ear. Stacey felt that she might not be able to sleep in this position. What had she done? It served her right for acting without thinking.
Stacey scolded herself for a long time. She didn't know when she fell asleep, but she had a wet dream. An embarrassing dream of her surrendering to Thieren while he played with her body and set it on fire with excitement.
Frightened, Stacey woke up fighting with whatever and whoever was holding her down. Strong hands caught hers and pressed her down to the bed so that she couldn't move.
"Don't fight. You're safe. It's alright," Thieren told her, his dark eyes looking deep into hers. "Be careful, don't fall off the bed."
Taking a few heaving breaths, Stacey managed to calm herself down, while Thieren continued to hold her eyes captive with his. He gradually loosened his hold on her as she woke up more fully.
"Awake now?" he asked.
Stacey nodded in a jerky manner.
"Sorry," she said.
"It's alright," he said, completely releasing her. "I'm going home to get ready for work. I'm sorry I tried to push you too quickly. I'll limit visitors and events for a bit longer."
Stacey nodded again and looked away. She didn't quite understand why her emotions were so mixed when it came to visitors and filming - and him. She only knew she still didn't want to see many people and definitely didn't want to do any filming.
"By the way," Thieren leaned over to whisper in her ear and brush her hair out of her face, "you taste so sweet."
Boom. Stacey felt her mind explode and her face completely colour up while he bounced out of the room with a grin.
The wet dream hadn't been completely a dream after all? She examined her body but didn't find anything unusual. Relieved, she stared up at the ceiling. Maybe he had only kissed her. Wait. Why was the bed wet? There were wet patches on the mattress and behind her back.
Letting him share her bed was too dangerous.
Never again.
Never again.
She was never, ever taking pity on this pretentious prick ever again. She was never inviting him into her bed again.
Stacey grumbled to herself in the shower, scrubbing herself hard enough to make her skin turn red.
"Don't rub so hard," the nurse told her. "You'll injure your skin."
Stacey didn't answer. She felt disgusted and uncomfortable. After Thieren had left, she had felt like the bed was wet, but it didn't smell like urine. Stacey didn't know exactly what that smell was, but she guessed. She was sure she hadn't wet the bed, but that jerk might have actually used her to... It had gotten all over her. That pervert had… ugh. Stacey didn't want to think about it. So disgusting.
It was only here in the shower that she could see the marks he had left on her. So embarrassing. The nurse could see and probably guess what her 'husband' had been up to.
Stacey wanted to dig a hole and bury herself in it to hide from the world. She didn't want or need that man's attention. She didn't like him and wished she didn't need him.
What had happened in the dream had felt kind of nice though…
No, no, no. Get your mind out of the gutter, girl. It wasn't nice. Not at all. He had crossed her boundaries and touched her without consent. And that was the crux of the matter. She felt like he didn't really respect her. Although he hadn't actually done the deed, he had still used her in a way.
That's right. She would just avoid letting him touch her again. There was no way she was going to ever let him find out that she had any feelings of enjoyment. Nope. No. Not going there. Not even going to think about it. It was too shameful and embarrassing.
Quick. Change topic. What about, hmm, therapy? Yes. She would focus on her therapy and exercises and getting better. Yes. That's what she'd do. This morning's memory could be thrown into a far corner of her mind and left to turn grey with dust and forgotten.
Stacey obediently participated in her therapy. When her therapists weren't there, she practiced her exercises, trying to keep calm and stay patient with herself. It was like when she was learning how to dance for the first time. Don't think about anything else. She just needed to keep practising.