Affliction

“Where are you going?” A ride on Sy’s bike? That’s hardly a chore.

“Babe, you don’t ask, you just ride.” He shakes his head like I’ve got no clue. I try not to let the word babe affect me, but for some stupid hormonal reason, the silly female tendencies in me see it as something else.

“Um, Sy?” I ask, unable to stop myself.

“Yeah?” he answers, still looking at the TV.

“What are we doing?” Shut up, Holly, my brain is screaming at me.

“Watching TV,” he answers.

“I can see that, but what’s happening here?” I ask carefully, unsure how to address it. I know we said we wouldn’t label it, but things are changing, and I need to know so I can keep up.

“Holly, what are you really asking?” He turns to face me.

“Well, you keep turning up, our di

“What do you need to know?” He smiles, freaking me out more.

“Well, one, why are you suddenly smiling? And two, what’s going on with us?”

“I’m smiling cause you’re acting all cute, and I didn’t realize how fucking adorable you could look in pajamas with your hair up like that,” he says, sitting back still staring. “And to answer your question, what’s happening? We’re just two friends hanging out on a Sunday morning, so relax,” he says, turning back to the television.

“Well, I’m glad we sorted that out,” I grumble. His response tells me nothing I don’t already know, and at the same time disappoints me.

“Me too, babe,” he agrees, still watching the TV screen. Seriously, this man is so strange that I don’t know what the hell to do with him.

“And I don’t look cute in these pajamas,” I add, a

“You’re right, you don’t look cute.” His comment confuses me, before I see the side of his mouth curve into one of his sexy smiles. “You look sexy as fuck.” He turns, giving me his eyes. “And if you keep giving me attitude, this friendship will get weird,” he adds and I have to physically work through the lump that’s formed in my throat. My mouth snaps closed, shocked he just threw that in there. I blink once, twice and still don’t know how to respond.

“Breathe, Holly,” he instructs, but who needs to breathe when one is having an out of body experience. I finally draw in a sharp breath at his command. “Jesus, girl., if I knew your blush ran that deep, I would have tried to embarrass you sooner,” he chuckles, shaking his head.

“What are you talking about?” I finally get past the small shock. I know I asked, but I wasn’t expecting that.

“Baby, you really want to talk about this today? You ready for it?”

“I don’t really know what it is,” I admit.

“It is this,” he says, reaching and slightly touching my hand.

The warmth of his skin against my hand sends tingles up my arm, like a jolt of lust ru

“That’s what we need to talk about. You ready for that?” he gently asks, while slowly drawing circles over my skin. I nod, not listening to my screaming heart yelling at me that it’s not ready. My stomach drops at that all-encompassing encounter of totally surrendering to the feeling, to an emotion, to this man.

“Holly, I’m going to kiss you now,” he murmurs, barely above a whisper. The words caress my skin like the heat of a fire on a chilly night, and my eyes close at the heaviness of what is about to happen. The emptiness of my heart is long forgotten as I balance on the edge of what this man can give me. It’s like he awakens something in me, and as my body hums in anticipation of feeling his lips, there’s no chance I can put it back to sleep.

“Hurry,” the word slips from my mouth just as the roughness of his lips touch mine. I’m expecting something more, something as urgent as what I’m feeling, but it’s a soft, yet deadly touch. My body moulds into his, like our simple co

“Holly,” he whispers against my lips, but I don’t stop. My body is disorientated from the feeling of something other than pain.

“Holly,” he tries again.

“Hmmmm,” I hum against him, but I don’t give him a chance to reply when my mouth takes over the kiss. The taste of this man is like a drug that I’ve been craving, a drug that will fix a little bit of the broken inside of me.

“Holly,” he rasps out, speaking more firmly this time. He pulls back and breaks the co

“Sweetheart,” he sweetly says, sitting back on his haunches.

“Oh, God, I’m so sorry,” I whisper, trying to push past him to run and hide my embarrassment.

“Holly, stop,” he growls. His tone doesn’t stop me, but his hold on my wrist does.

“I didn’t mean to do that,” I rush out, insecure at being pi

“Do what?”

“Kiss you like that. I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“I told you I was going to kiss you.”

“Well, yes, but then I completely lost control,” I admit. He smirks, like the idea of me losing control is fu

“Babe, that was you losing control?”

“Well, if you hadn’t stopped me, I would have probably started humping your leg or something.”

“Humping my leg?”

“Most definitely humping. I may have even started panting,” I joke, and for the first time in months, I laugh at myself. He doesn’t respond and I cringe internally as embarrassment fills me. Just shut up, Holly.

“Did you actually laugh?” he finally asks, taking my chin in his hand, forcing my face to look up at him.

“Umm, yeah?” I pull back, but his hold on my face doesn’t falter. “I’ve laughed before, Sy,” I comment, not understanding the issue.

“You may have laughed before, but Holly, not one of those pathetic half-assed laughs has been real. Haven't heard the real thing in a long fucking time,” he says as a small smile slowly breaks out over his handsome face.

“You missed my laugh?”

“I miss a lot of things, Holly. Some so significant I wouldn’t even know where to begin, but your laugh, the sound of your happiness is something that makes all those significant things hurt a little less.”

The fact this man could be as broken as I am makes our co

“You want to leave for that ride?” he asks, leaning back into my space, the smell of mint on his breath reminding me of his addictive taste.

“Not now,” I tell him, letting the pull of his scent drag me in closer.

“Good,” he says, crashing his lips to mine, this time harder. I whimper as his tongue demands entrance. Long gone is the gentleness from before. Now taking my mouth is the same man who took me hard and fast on the floor of my apartment months ago. We’re immersed in kissing, touching and heavy breathing, and it’s the most incredible feeling in the world.

“Holly,” Sy breathes, coming up for air as he lightly kisses along my jaw and down to my neck.

“Yeah?” I manage to say, reaching for his shirt as each co