“Yeah,” she says, a little sadly. "I have to relieve the nurse. It's not her night."
She pushes herself back into her own seat, her face a mess of lipstick I ruined. Her hair is a tangled mess. Her eyes are bright and dazed as she fixes her dress back into place.
She looks wrecked.
She looks beautiful.
I want her more than I've ever wanted anything or anyone before.
I kiss her again, a quick, hard kiss that’s meant to say everything I can’t. She holds on for an extra second.
“I can be in your room,” I say, voice low and dark. “Waiting when you get up there.”
Her laugh is weak and breathy, and she bites it back by kissing me again, but I feel it anyway—through her mouth, through the way her shoulders shake once.
“I can’t,” she says.
“Why not?” I ask.
She swallows.
“Because my dad’s had trouble sleeping,” she says quietly. “And we’re not exactly… quiet.”
That makes my mouth twitch. I lean in and brush my lips against hers, barely anything.
“I know how to keep you quiet,” I murmur.
Her whole body reacts like I touched a livewire running through her. Her breath hitches, and her eyes flutter shut for a second like she’s trying to steady herself.
When she opens them again, she looks wrecked. It’s a small, vicious satisfaction, and I don’t even bother trying to pretend it isn’t.
“Don’t,” she whispers, like it’s a warning. “I really, really have to go. I have to go right now before I do something stupid.”
“Too late,” I murmur.
She swats at my shoulder, weak.
I catch her wrist and kiss the inside of it.
“Go,” I tell her.
She pushes the door open and steps out—and her legs actually wobble.
That pulls a low laugh out of me before I can stop it.
She glares at me over the top of the car door, cheeks burning.
“Shut up,” she mouths.
I lift a hand in surrender, still smiling.
She shuts the door and turns toward the house. I watch her walk up the path, unlock the door, and slip inside.
Only when the door closes behind her do I finally exhale.
Time to go back to my father’s house for a meeting about the warehouse. We’ve all been putting it off because I was bruised and swollen, but we can’t anymore.
I think about Erica again, on these nights when she goes back to her father’s house, and I’m left feeling the echo of her body against mine.
