Reclamation

Paige

I stared at Tom for a moment. With the air conditioner working at full blast and the faint scent of diesel hanging in the air, my mind spun back through time, to a different hotel room on the other side of the city. I’d tried all night to run from him then, and when he finally captured me to the point I couldn’t run anymore, I sat on the bed just like this until he put me on a plane and took me home. I’d regarded him with the worst suspicion and fear.

When he walked in the door now, I flung myself out of bed at him. He caught me with a small grunt. My breath raced. The diesel smell clung to his clothes, and I began pulling them off him before I could think twice.

“Paige?” he said. “What are you—”

“Help me,” I said.

As always when I said that, Tom listened. He worked the tiny buttons on his shirt while I grappled with his belt. Clothes scattered in every direction, and soon, he was naked before me.

“Do you want to go to bed now?” he asked.

I considered the question as I carted my