My Skin Needs Touch, Their Stomachs Turn novel Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Arthur’s voice stayed steady. Cold. “Why are you panicking? Did you forget what her condition does to her?”

“You mean ”

“Her touch starvation is so far gone she can’t make it twenty-four hours without contact. She can’t leave us.

Not physically.”

There was something in his tone I’d never heard before – not cruelty exactly, but a clinical kind of contempt. “She saw Chloe, got jealous, and now she’s staging this whole contract stunt to get a reaction. She wants us to chase her, and the second we do, she’s got us on a leash.”

“Freeze her out and let her sweat. She’ll figure out real fast who needs who – and she won’t pull this again.”

A pause. Then, quieter – “Besides, she still has our bill of sale. She hasn’t used it against us yet, but there’s no guarantee she won’t. If she wants to terminate the contract, we’re better off.”

Felix’s voice came back tighter. “What if she finds somebody else?”

“Who?” Arthur almost sounded amused. “We put the word out, and that’s it. Not a single therian in the empire will touch her. Once the symptoms get bad enough, she’ll come back on her own – crying and

begging.”

The comments burst across my vision.

[OH MY GOD, is she eavesdropping right now?? She must be EATING this up.]

[She probably thinks this means they can’t live without her. The delusion is unreal.]

[LOL, I’m dying – she doesn’t actually think they LIKE her, right? This is literally just habit and

possessiveness. Nothing more.]

[Exactly. Wait until they spend this whole mission with Chloe and see what a real S-class woman is like.

They’ll forget this woman exists.]

[Still… it makes me sick. What does some plain human side character have that Chloe doesn’t? Why does she

get to have them at all?]

I read that last line and smiled – thin and bitter. How could anyone watch this and think those two actually

wanted me?

If they cared at all, my condition would’ve hurt them too. They wouldn’t be sitting in that office right now, turning it into a weapon.

I waited until they left the building, slipped back inside for my documents, and went straight to the registry office. I signed everything.

Arthur was right about one thing. The flare-up hit less than twelve hours later.

It started as a low, gnawing anxiety that kept me staring at the ceiling all night, clutching my pillow,

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turning over and over until the sheets twisted into ropes.

Then my skin followed. Every inch of me felt like it was crawling with fire ants, and my temperature kept climbing no matter what I did.

I dragged myself to the nearest clinic on legs that barely worked. The doctor on duty saw my name on the intake form and backed away from me, hands up like I’d pulled a weapon.

“Miss Brooks, I’m really sorry – we don’t have anyone here who can treat your condition. You’ll need to go somewhere else.”

I held up the thermometer. 102. “I just need something to bring the fever down. That’s it.”

He kept shaking his head and wouldn’t let me past the lobby. Security escorted me out before I could say another word.

The comments told me where the twins were while I was burning up alone.

[Missions really are the ultimate bonding trip. The male leads finally realized the female lead is S-class, and

you can literally SEE the shift in how they look at her now.]

[AHHHH, the second Chloe got cold, both of them panicked and went full tiger just to keep her warm. I can’t

breathe.]

I thought of those two massive warm bodies – the furnace heat of white tiger therians – and every nerve in

me screamed for contact.

So I went to the beast slave market.

The merchants who used to fall all over themselves to greet me took one look at my face and turned their

backs on me.

“Out. We don’t serve you here.”

“Don’t block the door – you’re bad for business!”

The twins had made sure of it. Arthur’s warning had spread through every stall and back room, and not a

single therian in the market would come within ten feet of me.

Even the female beast slaves ducked their heads and gave me a wide berth the moment they saw me, terrified

even being seen near me would ruin them.

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