Page 41 of Love is Strange
“Keyword—had. The bastard broke up with me a couple of nights ago,” she replies with a shrug. Suddenly, her eyes widen, and she looks from Silas back to me, “Hey, I’m not trying to get in the middle of you two if that’s what you’re thinking. I told you that Si is fun and when he asked me if I’d be willing to record the two of you, I thought that could be fucking hot, so I said yes. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“There’s nothing to get in between,” I reply quickly.
“Ouch,” Si says with a chuckle. “Way to kill my hard-on, Hair Metal.”
“See? That’s the other thing! How am I supposed to get serious about someone that’s constantly calling me shit like ‘Hair Metal’?”
Silas rolls his eyes at Vanessa and jerks his head at her. She nods and walks out of the room, leaving us alone together. He turns to glance over his shoulder and when the door closes quietly, he walks over to his bed and sits down.
“Come here,” he says, holding his hands out toward me. I shake my head as I shift my weight from one foot to the other and he drops his hands onto his knees.
“Axelle—I don’t understand why you think I’m going to hurt you or some shit, but I’m not. I’m actually really invested in getting to know you, but you’ve got this fucking brick wall up and no matter how hard I hit it with a sledgehammer, I’d say that it doesn’t seem like you’re willing to let it crumble for me. I don’t get it. Okay, granted the pill almost killed you—that’s one hell of a reason not to trust me, but that was my fuck up for not telling you that you shouldn’t have taken it until you were sobered up. I’m sorry. I’ve said it a hundred times and I’ll say it a thousand more if that’s what it takes. I just want tobewith you, so will you give me a fucking chance?”
A small smile creases my lips. His speech started out so heart-felt, then ended up in a raging spiral of desperation and I almost feel like I should try to let one of the bricks crumble. Just enough to take a peek to see what it is that he has to offer to someone as fucked up as me.
“Stop calling me Hair Metal,” I say, feeling myself starting to back down.
“Forever?” he asks, raising his eyebrows in disbelief.
“For the most part,” I reply, crossing my arms over my chest.
“I’ll try,” he agrees with a grin. Silas raises his hands out to me again and I grit my teeth. If his entire aura wasn’t as fucking charming as it is, I would have spun on my heel and walked out of here, leaving him to his own vices. Instead, I find myself taking baby steps toward him.
When I finally stop in the space between his legs, he puts his hands on my hips and looks up at me with his rebel eyes and shatters more than just one of the proverbial bricks he was talking about.
His hands slowly move up the sides of my body as he gets to his feet and pulls my trembling form against his. His grin gives way to a smoldering smile and I can feel his breath hot on my face. I can hear it, too, along with his heartbeat and it’s the most intoxicating thing I’ve ever experienced.
Silas slips his arms around me and clasps his hands on my back. He leans down and brushes his lips against my neck. The way he’s holding me—like he’d rather die than let go; the way his lips graze my skin—like its the first time he’s ever tasted the sweat of my body only makes me want him more than I did when I first got into the cab tonight knowing where it would probably lead.
“You have the most amazing fucking smell in the world, Axelle,” he breathes against my skin.
I close my eyes and grip the sides of his shirt, pulling him closer and taking a deep, shuddering breath when he brings one of his hands around and tilts my chin up with a finger.
“Look at me.”
I open my eyes, and do as he ask of me, finding myself staring into eyes that I’m not quite accustomed to. The ones he normally looks at me with have never held such a need before and I know that his want for me is reflected in mine.
“I promise I won’t hurt you,” he says quietly. Si slides his hand underneath my shirt, snakes it into my bra, and grabs my breast firmly in his hand before he leans down and kisses me passionately.
His hunger is undeniable and his want for me is prominent in the way his tongue flicks against mine. I match his intensity to the point that when we finally break apart, we’re breathing in heavy gasps and are both left trembling.
“Get on the fucking bed, please,” he whispers.
I bite my lip and smile at Si. He grins in return and runs a hand back through his hair, slapping my ass with the other when I brush passed him and pull my shirt over my head. I ball it up and toss it to the other side of the room before I crawl onto the bed and turn onto my back. Propping myself up by the elbows, I tilt my head at him and wait.
Si shakes his head with a low chuckle as he comes over to the side of the bed and looks down at me.
“I almost feel bad right now,” he says.
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to fuck you up.”
“Big talk for someone who hasn’t done much,” I tease.
He throws his head back and laughs as he pulls his shirt over his head, exposing the story of thousands of hours of colorful ink on his skin. It’s one of the things I find so beautiful about him—the need to tell a story with his body where words seemed to have failed him.
“Sit up and scoot over here,” he says, reaching down and grabbing his bulge.
