soeffinhappy

"Are you OK?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." I say and take a long drag off the cigarette. It helps to calm my nerves, ease the shaking.
"Are you sure? I mean, your face.."
"I said I'm fine!" I snap at him.
I can tell by the way he winces that I came at him too hard. Another nice guy. Here we go again.
"Look, I'm really OK, can you just hand me that towel." I try to speak softly, keep the bite out of my voice.
Before I can even take another drag off my smoke he has the towel shoved in front of me. These nice guys. They love to act like they've never seen blood before, like they didn't know that shit like this didn't happen. They love to act shocked when they see something that doesn't exist in their perfect little Brady worlds.
"What's your name?" I ask
"Jason."
"It's just a little blood Jason, it's nothing to worry about. The worst that will happen is I'll have a black eye tomorrow." It's a lie but he eats it, although his eyes still can't find a place to rest when I catch him staring at my face.
The wet towel stings my lips where they're cut but that's nothing compared to the pain of when I wipe my nose. Yeah, it's definitely a little worse than a black eye and some cuts.
"Do you need a ride to the hospital?" he asks.
"What?"
"Well, I'm heading that way anyway, and I figured I could drop you off...."
I start to laugh, despite the pain. He was actually going to wait. Very touching. Jason's face looks shocked when I laugh and I can feel that it's not an act either. Yeah, a nice guy alright.
"Don't you worry about it honey." I grab his hand and pull him down onto the bed. "You just make sure to be gentle."
He was. Compared to most of the clients I've been seeing lately, Jason is a breath of fresh air. I'm not his sister, or the eight year old next door or anything sick like that, I'm just the ex-girlfriend that he still loves and he makes gentle but passionate love to me. I go deep and the sickest fantasy I can find is a simple handcuffing and blindfolding. Whoever this Laira is, she's a fool for giving up a guy like this. He even takes the extra few minutes to cuddle with her afterwards.
It was a long night but a good ending. I'm even starting to enjoy the feeling of Jason's fingers gently stroking my cheeks and hair.
"This is so amazing." he whispers, his eyes never leaving mine.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to forget. Trying to forget the throbbing pain in my nose and lips, the number of men who had been in my room tonight, the burden of my gift and most of the fact that Jason isn't seeing me. For a split second, I can imagine it all away. For a split second, Jason is seeing MY eyes and not the pale green of Laira's. For a split second it's MY hair he's stroking, not the dark hair of the woman who spurned him. For a split second, I'm the one who is being loved for once. I let the breath out and reality falls back onto me. I reach out to Jasons mind and start to pull him down, ease him into sleep so that the transition doesn't disorient him. As his eyes start to droop and his breathing evens he lets out a few final words.
"Goodnight Laira, my love."
"Goodnight Jason." I kiss his forehead as he drifts off into sleep.


"Was it all a dream?" he asks, his eyes still heavy with sleep.
I smile.
"Not exactly. Everything you did was real, but it was me, not her. I was just using your memories and fantasys of her to make you think it was her."
He ran his finger down my arm, his eyebrows drawn together in concentration, as if he was trying to make sure I was real.
"You can do this with anyone?"
I nod.
"Well then how did this happen?" He points to indicate my swollen lip and broken nose. I can feel my face color.
"Not everyone has the same kind of fantasies. Some people's are a little....rougher than yours."
He looked away for a second.
"Why do you agree to see people like that?"
I flush again. How do I explain it to him?
"Well most of the time I don't. I can usually only get surface things over long distances, I can't see their deeper thoughts til they're here. Sometimes there are people with power like mine and they keep me from seeing what it is they want. They would never be able to do any serious damage or kill me, I'd be able to stop them, but they can still rough me up a little."
"I'm sorry." his eyes found the floor.
The sincerity in his voice and his thoughts nearly made me cry. Despite his devotion to Laira, his anger and sorrow over what happened to me was coming off him in waves. I closed my eyes and tried to forget again. Tried to forget that I was a Reader, and that I would never have the chance to be with Jason.