Cherry Wine {lex luthor}

chapter four

"What?" I demanded.

Lex perched on the island, and put a hand on my shoulder. His fingers were twitching-another nervous tic of his.

"They worried that you might try and take them all at once. Survivor's guilt, you know. He reached up and stroked my hair. "I just want to be safe."

I closed my eyes, and tilted my head backwards, frustration and disbelief running through my veins.

"Is that why there's no razors in my bathroom?" I realized, and I looked closely around the kitchen. "And why you've taken all the kitchen knives?"

Lex cleared his throat awkwardly, and nodded. He looked guilty, and I instantly knew that he believed he had been doing the right thing.

"I'm fine, Lex, honestly." I said, trying to keep the tremor from my voice. "You don't need to worry about me."

Lex stood, and from my position on my chair, he towered above me. I ducked my head instinctively, pulling the sleeves of my cardigan down over my hands. Lex took my chin in his long fingers, and lifted, so I looked him in the eyes.

"You're not fine." He said in a low voice. "You're far from fine. You woke up screaming last night. You can't look out a window without dissolving completely. So forgive me for trying to protect you from yourself."

I pulled my head back and down, and wiped the tiny tears from the corners of my eyes. I understood all of a sudden how this empire of his bowed to him. He was not, as I had thought, the soft genius son of a lucky business man. No, he was a force of nature. Though he hadn't raised his voice in the slightest, I knew he meant business.

"Sorry. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." He ran a thumb over my cheek. "Don't apologize. Let me help you."

We stood in silence for a long second, until the loud chime of an alarm shattered the air.

"That's mine." Lex grabbed his phone from the counter, and shut off the sound.

"I have to go visit the labs. I'm going to leave you a phone-my number is in it already. Call if you need anything."
He handed me a sleek iPhone, and I pocketed it, smiling at the idea of being able to reconnect myself. "But before you get any ideas, it's internet disabled. And you can only make calls within this building."

I frowned, and thumbed the phone open. It was blank, except for a phone app, with a list of pre-approved numbers.

"Why?" I asked.

"Safety, mostly. I have a lot of enemies. And I don't want you to be able to get onto the news or anything." Lex patted my shoulder, and then pulled on his white lab coat.

I resisted the urge to either throw the phone across the room or smack Lex upside the head, or both.

"I don't need to be coddled!" I said to his back.

Lex turned, his lab coat flying out behind him. "Oh, I beg to differ. You cannot tell me you don't need to be coddled when you spent the night screaming for your parents. I stayed with you all night, Ruth. I know what you need right now."

"You stayed with me all night?" I whispered. Lex nodded.

"I couldn't just leave you like that. You were screaming. You tried to hit me more than once."

I covered my mouth in shock and in horror.

"Oh my god."

Lex shoved his hair away from his face, and surreptitiously checked his watch.

"Go!" I shooed him. The guilt of having him stay up all night was overwhelming, and the idea of making him even a minute later nearly sent me into spasms. "Please. I need some time to think. I'll call you if I need anything."

Lex hesitated at the door of the elevator.

"You'll call every hour." He corrected. "I'll be up around three to give you more meds."

He stepped backwards into the waiting elevator, and waved as the doors slid shut.

I was alone, consciously so. The codeine was seeping into my veins now, and the air felt heavy against my skin. It was like swimming through honey with every step, and I had to practically crawl onto the couch.

I was so tired, and the couch so soft, that when I closed my eyes, I immediately fell into the dark abyss of sleep.

****

I woke up some time later to Lex shaking my shoulder. He looked frantic, and I rubbed my eyes, dazed.

"You didn't call." He said. I shook my head, trying to clear the fuzz of drug-induced sleep from my ears. It was no use. With every movement, the room spun around me, and I clutched the front of Lex's shirt in panic.

Lex pressed a hand to my forehead, and then lifted my eyelid. I tried to back away from his hand, but my head lolled back, and I fell into the couch.

"I think you might be allergic to codeine." He mused. "Or at least you have a very low tolerance for it. I've never seen anyone react to it like this before."

Fear swelled in my chest, and dark spots clouded my vision. I tensed myself up, trying to stay awake, afraid of my dreams if I did fall asleep again.

"Don't go away." I begged Lex. "I'm afraid."

Lex shushed me, and he pulled out his phone with one hand, texting quickly.

"I'm not leaving you." He assured me. "I'm right here. Jesus, Ruth, why didn't you tell me codeine made you like this?"

"I....didn't know."I murmured, my head in a fog. Nothing seemed to make sense. I wanted to sleep for days and days-but I knew if I did, whatever it was in my head would attack me again.

"Alright, okay, let's get you upstairs." Lex said, pocketing his phone. "Can you stand?"

I tried to sit up, but the couch held me down like a ton of cement.

"Clearly not." Lex slid an arm behind my shoulder blades, and another beneath my knees. The room flew around me, and I lost purchase with the ground. I was barely aware of going up the stairs, but the closer we drew to my room, the more the fear consumed me. It wasn't until the threshold that I began to scream.

"No!" I clutched at my throat. "No! He'll get me!" I cried in a panic.

Lex stepped back from the door, staring down at me.

"Who will get you, Ruth? You're safe. You need to go to bed." He stepped forwards again, and I nearly passed out with the force of the scream that ripped itself out from inside me.

"NO!" I went limp.

Lex gasped, the exertion of my frail but frightened frame becoming too much.

"Okay, Ruth, okay, look, we're going into my room." He soothed. "It's alright, I won't make you go into your room."

He sat down on his disheveled bed, heaving a sigh of relief. I curled into myself, my mind coiled into impenetrable knots. Lex placed a hand on my hair, letting me cry myself out.

"Don't go." I whimpered weakly. "I'm afraid."

Lex hushed me, and grabbed a blanket from somewhere beyond my field of vision.

"I'm right here. I'm not leaving. You need to sleep this out of your system, darling."

I gathered the blanket to my chest, and grabbed Lex's hand. The darkness was closing over me, the tidal wave of sleep unstoppable in it's path.

"You're safe, baby." Lex was whispering, over and over. "Just go to sleep."