Page 60 of Graves

Koh sets the bottle on the kitchen island and scrutinizes me. “What do you need them for?”

I eye him warily. “For my headaches,” I say. “Liam gave them to me because I didn’t have anything here.”

“You have headaches?”

“Yeah, but… I don’t know why you care.”

“These pills aren’t for headaches.”

I roll my eyes. “They’re not real headaches anyway. More like ear pain.”

That’s not even a lie. The pain shoots from my temples like a thorn into my skull.

“Let me see,” he says, coming around the island.

I instinctively step back. “What do you want to see?”

Koh rests both hands on my neck.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking your lymph nodes.”

He feels under my jaw on both sides with light pressure, moving toward my ears. He turns my head to the right and kneads my neck.

“That’s the neck muscle. Does that hurt?”

“No.”

Koh turns my head the other way and switches sides. “And this?”

“A little uncomfortable.”

Unexpectedly, he slips his thumb inside my mouth and massages my cheek with his index and middle finger. A sharp pain shoots through my jaw and I yelp.

“Ow! Fuck! What are you doing?”

“That’s the masseter—your chewing muscle.”

He switches sides again, slips the other thumb in, and massages my left cheek.

“It’s a bit softer on this side. Does that hurt?”

I yelp again and jerk back.

“Everything’s really tense. Have you had these headaches long?”

“Off and on for the last few years, but never as constant as now.”

“Open your mouth.”

I do as he says. He takes out his phone and shines the light inside.

“Looks like you’re grinding your teeth at night. Or you’re concentrating so hard you don’t notice you’re clenching. You should massage the muscle. Warm it up first, then massage. Morning and evening.”

“Sure, Doc.”

Like I have time for that.