Beside

60 - bargain

"Fox, why do I get tired so fast when we play?"

"Your body's just saving energy for something big. Like growing wings."

"Really?!"

"Really."

"Like a butterfly!"

"Yeah. One day, you'll just flutter off. I'll have to find you."

"Promise you will?"

"Cross my heart, Jellybean."

ᖴO᙭

She pulls me into my room and closes the door. I'd been sitting on the balcony concrete, my bare back to the gritty wall, holding frozen carrots to my swollen eye. She'd slid the glass open, holding out a hand with a raised brow.

I knew. Of course I did. I knew it was detached—that look. But there she was, lit up by the blazing sunrise, utterly painful to look at, and who was I? No one to deny her anything she wants. No one at all.

So now she's locking my bedroom door.

It's dim, almost dark, but light filters through the curtain's cracks. And in that light, I see her pulling off her shirt, chest bare beneath. There are two beauty marks on the left side of her ribs. Jed once told me those marks are from past lives, places your soulmate kissed. It hurts to think about.

Chris takes my hand and pulls me to my bed, a condom wrapper in her other hand. She pushes me down and I let her.

She strips her shorts off, so I tug my sweatpants off. Then she's climbing over me, already breathless.

"You want to take control of this?" I ask, lips barely moving. She peeks at me, blushing prettily, her lip between her teeth. "It's okay, Chris."

"Are you sure?"

"I am." I nod, leaning in to feel her lips on mine, to taste her skin, her breath—

Chris looks down, tearing the packet with her fingers, explaining, "I had this faceless dream and woke up in a sweat. Whitney calls them Sexy Dreams. I've never... Anyway." She looks up, catches my eyes. Does she see it?

No.

No, because she's pressing me down by the chest until I'm on my back.

The room is stripped bare. I never noticed how bare it was in here. The walls are painted in washed-out grey, but her nails have pink polish chipped at the edges. I stare at her collarbones, sharp against her skin, disappearing into shadows. They shift as she breathes. I wonder if she'll notice me looking, if she'll feel me there.

My body responds to hers as it always has. Her fingers, delicate and deft, roll a condom on me. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asks, a note of hesitation breaking through.

"Do you want this?" My voice barely comes out.

"Yes," she says, eyes flicking down to meet mine for a second. It's a glance, just enough to see the heat there.

"Then I'm okay." My words come out soft, but they're what she wants to hear. I'd give her anything if it meant she could stay a little longer.

She straddles me, knees tight around my hips. I want to pull her in until we blur together. But my hands are loose on her thighs. She can take, I'll give.