Page 77 of Afflicted

“I used to draw on my bed. Lying on my stomach, it was always the most comfortable.”

His Adam’s apple races up and down his throat as he swallows. “Make yourself at home then.”

I lie down on his bed, flipping open the notepad in front of me and pulling a pencil out of the box. I gaze out the window at the trees that are waving in the wind that’s sprung up, at the leaves that are falling, and put the tip of the pencil to the paper.

Silas turns the armchair so it’s facing the bed, and sits down, throwing open the notepad on his knee. His pencil scratches across the paper, and he looks up at me sporadically, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head.

I sketch out the window frame, the drapes either side, and look over at him.

“Are you drawing me?” I ask after a while.

He smiles at his paper, his hand continuing to move. “What else would I draw?”

I lean up on my elbows as though trying to catch a glimpse. “Do I have clothes on?”

The corners of his mouth quirk. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

“Well you have seen me naked I guess.” I look out the window, analyzing the shape and curve of the branches on the trees. “It’s not a stretch for you to remember exactly what I look like.”

“A refresher couldn’t hurt,” he mutters, still suppressing a grin.

I laugh and look at him with raised eyebrows. “Oh really? Well I’m scheduled for a shower tonight, maybe you can talk one of your buddies into swapping shifts.”

“I might just have to do that.” He keeps drawing, every now and then sweeping a thumb over the paper.

I carefully sketch out the trees outside, then begin to trace raindrops on the window pane even though it’s covered by a roof and no raindrops are running down it. After a while he flips the notepad over towards me.

“What do you think?”

I stare at the picture. Not only is hegood, he’s drawn me. Lying in bed, face down. Hair trailing over my bare back, the barest hint of my ass peeking out over the sheets. There’s a hand on my lower back, the owner out of frame. It’s beautiful, so carefully done and the details so perfect, I can hardly believe he just threw that down on paper while I was lying here doodling trees.

I raise my eyes back to his.

“You’re really good.” My lips tremble a little as I smile. “Is that how you see me?”

He smiles, looking down at the picture. “I wish I could see you like this.” He shakes his head and goes back to drawing.

“I did mean it.”

He pauses his drawing and looks back up at me. “Mean what?”

“What I said in the truck. That I… You know, in the forest. I would have let you kiss me.”

“Is that right?”

I nod. “I just didn’t want you to get in trouble.”

Goddamn his gaze is so intense. The rain patters loudly against the roof, as we look at each other, and after a while I shiver.

“You cold?” He asks, rising to his feet.

I sit up on my knees and rub my arms. “Yeah, a little.”

He gets to his feet and turns to a set of drawers beside the bed, pulling out a black sweater.

“Here,” he says, watching as I pull it on over my head. “It’s probably gonna be enormous on you.”

It is, the sleeves hang way over my hands, and it sits well below my ass. But it’s warm, and it smells like him.

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