Zam the Hybrid

14. Mrs Hybrid

Zam awoke to pain. His arm was almost completely numb but his shoulder ached, causing him to wince. Not that it was a particularly strong pain, it was more of a mild discomfort but it was still aggravating nonetheless. Then again, that was fairly standard given that he'd dislocated his shoulder merely yesterday and the pain was bound to hang around for a while, even if he had just popped it back into place.

He opened his eyes to find the source of the pain. He was in his bed and had rolled onto one side, specifically onto the injured shoulder, and he had his arms around a clothed blonde that was presumably Taylor. Now he remembered: last night the two of them had made a most strange development in their relationship and instead of engaging in rigorous rounds of coitus had settled for clothed cuddling and sleeping. This abnormal change of routine had led to this unfortunate position and now his arm was completely stuck underneath the blonde.

Zam tried tugging his arm free but it was no good. All that achieved was more pain and disturbing Taylor just enough so that she pulled the duvet more over herself. So now he was stuck, in pain and slightly cold. It was time to resort to desperate measures. He'd need to use his ridiculously large amounts of natural charm to coax the woman into freeing his arm from captivity but it wasn't going to be easy. The first stage in his masterstroke of a plan was to cosy up to her and gently wake her up.

"Morning," he said as he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. Her eyes didn't open but a warm smile appeared on her peaceful face.

"Morning," she yawned before twisting her neck and returning the kiss. Excellent. Now she was completely under his spell and it was time for stage two.

"Hey Taylor," he began, speaking as softly as he could, "You're sort of on my arm and it's really hurting."

"Is it now?" she replied. A few seconds passed without her moving.

"Could you please get up?" This was preposterous! How could she have resisted his seductive powers?

"And whose fault is it?"

"Well, you because you're lying on top of it."

"And is that the original source of the pain?" Now she was just being plain mean. Zam was hit with a sudden realisation that Taylor was, in fact, holding his arm hostage! Had everything up until this point been an elaborate ruse just to get him in this situation? Was her name even Taylor? Zam really liked that arm. He couldn't just lose it like this. He'd need to try a different approach.

"Taylor," Zam said, if that was even her real name, "I dislocated my shoulder. That's why it's hurting."

"How did you do that?"

"Kicking arse and saving the day."

"Zam..." Now she was even raising her voice in a mother like fashion.

"It was when I grapple hooked onto that van yesterday," Zam said, half whimpering. "I think I reeled in too quickly and it dislocated. It was my fault. Next time I'll be more careful."

Taylor instantly sprang out of bed, a devious grin on her face. "That wasn't so hard was it?" She gave him a quick kiss on the lips before skipping out of the room, evidently happy with what she had managed to coax out of him.

Zam sat up and clutched his poor arm, gently stroking it. Being reunited with one of his favourite limbs filled him with joy. "I will never let harm fall upon you again."

He glanced over at his bedside cabinet and picked up his phone. According to a recent string of text messages, Emily had been tasked with a relatively interesting case as some kind of test to see if she was ready to take the step up and become a detective and she'd asked him to come along. He didn't even need to think about his response. With his activities for the day seemingly sorted, he grinned and got out of bed.