Hayden
Hurts Like Hell
Tommee Profitt and Fleurie
Morning light spills across the sheets as I wake.For a few disoriented seconds, all I register is warmth.Then I smile.Vanessa.She came back to my place last night, and now her soft skin is tangled against mine beneath expensive linen.
Her bare leg is draped across my thigh.Copper curls spread wildly across my pillow while snow continues to fall outside the massive windows overlooking the lake.And for the first time in a very long time, peace settles through me so completely it almost feels unfamiliar.
Last night had been perfect.Not just good.Not just beautiful.It was perfect.The ballet was more intimate than I had expected.Dinner afterward was delicious.And the way Vanessa looked at me during the second act like I’d handed her back something she thought she’d lost forever is something I’ll treasure.
And later, back here in my apartment… Christ.My hand slides up the curve of her bare waist beneath the sheets, fingertips brushing across warm skin.
Vanessa stirs beside me, a sleepy sound catching in her throat as she burrows closer without fully waking.Possessive satisfaction curls low in my chest in an instant.Mine.The thought comes every day now.
Her eyes blink open a second later, lashes still heavy with sleep when she looks up at me from where her cheek rests against my chest.“Why are you awake?”
I brush loose hair back from her face.“You steal blankets like a bear trying to hibernate for the winter.”
A small smile tugs briefly at her mouth.“Survival instinct.”
“Against what?”
“You.”
A low laugh rumbles out of me before I lean down to kiss her.It’s soft and gentle and unhurried.Nothing like the desperate way we tore into each other after getting home from the ballet last night.This feels quieter and much more dangerous somehow.
Somehow over the last several weeks, Vanessa stopped feeling like something temporary in my life.Now she feels woven into it.Maybe it should terrify me more than it does, but it doesn’t.
“You’re staring again,” she whispers against my mouth.
“You’re still beautiful.I can’t help it.”
Her cheeks blush a light pink even now after all these years.I don’t think she fully understands what she does to me yet.Maybe she never will.
She shifts beneath me, her fingers sliding through my hair before she tugs me back down for another kiss that turns deeper in an instant.
Heat sparks low in my stomach.God.I could spend entire days inside this bed with her and never once get bored.An hour later, we’re tangled in sheets and warmth and the lazy aftermath of sex.
Vanessa lies boneless against my chest.Her fingers move absently along my ribs while I trace slow circles against her bare thigh.Contentment settles heavy and warm through me.This, right here, this feels like the closest thing to complete happiness that I’ve ever known.
“Stay today,” I suggest, pressing a kiss into her hair.“We’ll order food.Watch terrible movies.We won’t leave the bed unless absolutely necessary.”
The request is made without thought.Wanting to be with her is becoming the most natural thing in the world to me.And maybe that’s why what happens next blindsides me so completely, because in an instant everything between us shifts.
Vanessa goes still against me, and worse, she gets quiet.Even her breathing seems to have changed.A strange feeling twists low in my stomach, my pulse quickening.I lift my head to look down into her eyes.“What?”
She doesn’t answer.Instead, she pushes herself upright, gathering the sheet against her chest as she swings her legs over the side of the bed.Cold air rushes across my skin as the warmth of her disappears.Confusion prickles beneath the surface.
“Nessa?What is it?”
Still no answer.She stands and reaches for her dress from the floor.And suddenly something feels very wrong.
“Hey.”I sit up straight now, watching her every move.“Talk to me.”
She exhales an even breath before slipping the dress over her head in one smooth motion.Not angry movements.Controlled ones.Which somehow feels worse.My chest tightens.“Did I say something wrong?”
Vanessa stills for a brief moment and then turns toward me.And Christ, the sadness in her expression hits harder than anger would have.
