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I pull ainst Silas I feel Stella watching o a step further and pull his arm up and around ht not be fine with that until he tenses up Maybe he doesn’t want his friends to know about whatever this thing is Maybe this thing is all inabout sex or whatever

He leans forward, and I’ to stand up and move somewhere else, but he just picks up my plate and balances it on h He settles his ar for this guy or I’ve got a really good idea why so ood I actually moan out loud And I don’t even care that a few of his friends laugh It’s that good Silas’s hand tightens onand when I’

Silas puts the plate down on the coffee table, and when he sits back, I push ainst his chest I lay one arm across his stomach, and I feel his muscles contract and then release under my forear outimportant must occur on the screen because there’s a cheer or , but h that I can’t understand what they’re saying I drag one finger through the grooves on his abdomen, across one side and over to the other Then I ain Onit down into his stoainst my ear and he says, "You’re not allowed to do that unless I can return the favor"

I wiggle my hand out froh?"

I shrug ainst the couch with a groan I ignore that and go back to my exploration, this time low on his belly and just a few inches above his waistband I don’t even get halfway across before he’s plucked ers with his because it see to do in my head, and he holds our entwined hands up in the air for a few long seconds, like he’s never held soainst his chest, he lets our hands drop into his lap and stay there

I feel soraze my forehead, and electricity skips up my spine With his arm around my shoulders, my head on his chest, and my hand in his it feels like all roads lead to Silas And all the restless energy floating through , like we’re this closed circuit, and the longer we stay linked, the more powerful the pull between us becomes

There’s a frenzy to it, a need that re and it feels just a breath beyond rasp It builds in ht burst

Even so, as time passes, my head feels heavier and heavier, and it blankets the need, buries it Even though I’ainst Silas, there’s this tickle at the very top ofeverything together, and it’s about to snap I shift and shift, suddenly exhausted, but unable to get cohs and s stretched out It leaves s draped over his lap, and when I settle back down, I’ainst his chest, but my whole upper body The arm he’d had across my shoulders drops to curl aroundin tiers down hts are that I think the pot is wearing off, but the lightness it gavearound Unless it isn’t the pot that’s iddy after all

MY HAIR TICKLES my face as someone pushes it off ainst so even warmer Breath skates over the back ofaway some of the heaviness inroom is dark, the television is off, and the crowd of people that had been here during h, is still underneath me, and I’ve shifted so that I’rated down to his stoot my arms wrapped around his middle

I push ainst the gravity of sleep

"Sorry," Silas says "I should have woken you up when everyone left, but I" He trails off, but instead of finishing his first sentence says, "How do you feel?"

"Tired" My voice is deeper than usual, husky almost

"Yeah, that happens"

I remember then, why exactly I’ to unfurl in ret It doesn’t come, so I brace for panic, for fear, but there’s none of that, either

Instead, I remember Silas’s face as he made me tell him exactly howto be a complete failure if he put tooup a hand to rub at my eyes

"Who?"

"I don’t know Whichever teahs "They did In fact, they had an incredible last inning that you slept right through" I wipefor drool, and thankfully coood Sorry I missed it"

I should sit up, now that I’, but all I really want to do is lay ainst hi the last inning?"

He sits up then, giving me no choice but to do the same

"About the pot I swear to God, I never would have let that happen if I were down here, and I proain That should never have happened, not in my house, not around my friends, and ifif you don’t want to coet that I just--"