Chapter 48

Mark shook Kristen gently, but she didn't open her eyes. He could see that she was quite low on energy ... not to the point of starvation, as he'd seen once before, but not too far from it either. He shook her again. "Wake up, love."

She shivered, and her eyes opened for just a second, then fluttered closed again.

He kissed her forehead. "Come on, love." She turned her face against his chest and didn't respond, so he tilted her head back and kissed her lips. "Please, Kris..."

She whimpered, her forehead wrinkled in pain. "Mark?" her voice was very weak, as if it hurt to talk."

He stroked her hair. "I'm here, love. Wake up for me, now."

She moaned again, and opened her eyes finally, blinking up at him in confusion. "What happened?"

"I'm ... not a hundred percent sure," he said. "But you need some more energy."

"But ... this weekend ... I mean, I had to hide it under the sweater today!" she protested.

He nodded. "Yeah, I know, baby. But I think there was ... something like a short-circuit. Or something."

"I feel like I'm burned or something," she said. "Everything hurts. Every single bit of me."

He lay his cheek against her hair, holding her tightly. "I'm not certain what happened. But I don't really want to discus it until you've got more energy, love." He didn't want to push her, but ... there was no way she could make it through the day. She looked far worse, already, than she had the day she passed out at school. "Kristen, you have to have more energy. You'll pass out."

She swallowed hard. "Okay," she whispered. "But it ... it will hurt. You're right, though. What do you want me to do?"

"What would you like to do?" he asked.

"Curl up and die?"

He caressed her cheek. "Not an option, sorry."

"Then ... something gentle," she said. "I really feel awful. I mean, I think my veins hurt. Like someone ran acid in them instead of blood."

"I'm sorry, love," he said. "Maybe a blow-job?"

She smiled up at him. "Okay. I think I can do that." She looked around at the office. "Here? She left?"

He reached over and locked the office door. "She left," he confirmed. "So here is probably the safest place."

She bit her lip nervously, but nodded. "Okay," she said, and slid off of his lap into the floor between his knees. She gasped, clutching at his legs and laying her forehead on his thighs.

"Love?" He reached out to steady her.

"Hurts!"

Feeling anything but turned on, Mark stroked her hair. "Maybe the energy will help."

She nodded tiredly as he unzipped his pants. When she nuzzled him, her lips were cool, almost cold.

He caressed the side of her face, and for the first time since he'd stopped fighting his attraction, he wasn't willing and eager for her to touch him. Something just felt wrong about it, sick. But she needed the energy.

She closed her eyes and sighed, then slid her mouth around the head of his cock. Even the inside of her mouth wasn't really any warmer than room temperature. She was slow, too, much slower than usual, and somewhat clumsy. If he hadn't been looking at her, he would never have known it was her, and the difference was great enough, and disturbing enough, that he was having a really hard time getting and staying aroused.

He closed his eyes, letting his mind wander back to the previous weekend, and the delicious, delightful things they'd shared. He remembered her laying between Kayla's legs, licking the cum out of the girl's cunt while he slid into her from behind, and his cock hardened, his breath coming faster. As soon as he started to enjoy the feel of her lips around his cock, she seemed to recover a bit, moving more smoothly and wrapping her arms around his hips. She slid her mouth up and down, her tongue still moving slowly, but caressingly, as she let him slip down her throat. She maintained her slow, steady rhythm until he stiffened, shooting cum down her throat.

Then she pulled away and fell onto her side, wrapping her arms around herself and curling up, whimpering.

He slid to his knees and gathered her up in his arms. "Are you okay?"

She writhed against him, whimpering with pain. "It burns!"

Closing his eyes, he checked her aura. Her energy levels were higher. High enough to last her at least until lunch, but he couldn't tell what was hurting her. "What burns?"

"Everything, all over!" But she'd stopped writhing, and was just tense and stiff in his arms. "Like I was full of fire!"

He held her, stroking her hair. "Are you going to be all right?"

She shuddered, taking a deep breath. "I think so. It's fading some."

"I'm sorry," he said. "I love you."

"I ... I'll be okay. Mark, what happened?"

He kissed her, then stood up. He fixed his clothes and offered her a hand up. "I've got a suspicion, love, but I really don't want to talk about it yet. I've got a bad feeling that doing so could possibly make it happen again. Please ... try not to even think about it much."

She frowned. "When do you think it'll stop?"

"I think it will fade pretty fast," he said.

She sighed. "I hope so. If it kept hurting to touch you, I think I'd just die."

"Yeah." He hugged her tightly. "Ready to face the world?"

She looked at the clock that hung over the closed door. "God. All this and school hasn't even started yet. This is going to be one hell of a day." She gave him one last, tight hug. "I don't think I'll ever be ready, but we'd better go out anyway."

He bent and kissed her lingeringly. "Good girl. Let's go."

It was close to time for first period when they stepped out into the hall. Most of the buses had arrived, and the halls were thick with students and teachers. The crowd went dead quiet when they caught sight of Mark and Kristen, a wave of silence spreading out from them to fill the hallway.

She trembled, clinging to his hand as if it were the only thing keeping her from running away. He squeezed her hand comfortingly. "Love you," he whispered, and she gave him a weak smile.