With his hips and free hand, he spread her legs. He ran a finger along the inside of her thigh to her pussy; she was wet in anticipation of his touch. Faith shuddered and expelled her breath in jagged increments as he found her clit and massaged it with his fingertip.
The lights of the room flickered as lightning cracked nearby. He pushed a finger inside her and watched in fascination as her clenching stomach muscles matched the constricting around his finger.
"Do you like that?" he asked when she gasped and writhed under his touch. She nodded, so he pushed a second finger inside and pressed his thumb against her clit. Her hips rocked against his hand and her insides tightly clamped around his fingers as he twisted them in and out.
Eric was fully erect now as he stretched to suck her earlobe into his mouth. Faith grabbed the sheet on either side of her and pulled it taught in her fists.
"Ah, yes, I… I'm coming!"
The contractions of her climax around his fingers kept time with her moans. Watching her come made him dizzy with his own need, but he couldn't get enough of the sight of her in ecstasy. He pressed her down to the bed with his open hand, then grabbed her hips and pulled her closer to the edge. With one hand on each of her thighs, he lifted and spread them wide. Saliva involuntarily flooded his mouth as her delicate folds opened before him. Her sex still throbbed from her orgasm when he pressed his tongue to her clit and returned his fingers into her depths.
Faith rose to her elbows and panted, "If we're keeping score, I don't think I can keep up."
"Fuck the score," he mumbled against her mound. She lay back down as the storm outside intensified and he worked his tongue over and around her engorged clitoris. The air was electric— he could feel it as her hips bucked and he sucked the little nub with more fervor, locking it between his teeth so it couldn't escape his tonguing. Faith whimpered as his fingers arched and twisted inside her and he sucked her hard, her thighs slammed shut around his head and her eyes rolled back, her cry silenced as she struggled for breath. Eric pulled his fingers away and spread her legs wide again to lap the juices streaming from her pulsating opening.
Crawling out of the pants around his ankles and onto the bed, he circled around behind her, and reached under her arms to pull her up. Once she was on her knees, Eric guided her over the mattress to the head of the bed. From behind, he grabbed her hands and splayed them against the wall. He held her weakened body upright with his own. His dick throbbed against the crack of her ass as he kissed a path along her shoulders. A shudder rippled across her skin as his lips reached the nape of her neck. He released his hold on her hands to take her by the hips, and she let them drop to the headboard. Briefly releasing her hips, he grabbed her wrists and slammed them back up against the wall. When he let her go again, she kept her hands in place. "Good girl," he said, as he began a journey with his tongue from her neck, creeping down her back.
Goosebumps covered her skin at the long, wet stroke down her spine.
He smoothed over the curves of her ass with his hands, wondering at the effect of her soft skin on his own body. The electricity in the air wasn't just from the storm raging outside, he knew. It was a power he could feel before he even touched her, like a magnetic force field pulling at him. The force pulled his lips to the delicate flesh, and he covered the swell of her cheeks with soft kisses.
Faith whimpered at his light touch as he eased his hands to her midriff, brushing up and over her peaked nipples while his tongue retraced its path up her back. He couldn't hold himself back any longer. Lightning crashed nearby, and the lights flickered and died as he eased his fingers back down to her wet slit. He swirled his finger around her clit as his free hand guided his throbbing cock to her opening. It was all he could do not to slam into her full force, but he knew he'd come too fast, so he eased in, one blissfully painful inch at a time. He felt her hands drop from the wall as she gasped. His own hands reached for the headboard to find hers, and when he had them, he lifted them back to the wall and held them there. The room flashed white light through the window intermittently as he inched inside, and back away. Her hips bucked against him to speed up the pace. He released his hold from one of her hands and slapped her ass.
"Stop," he whispered in her ear.
Her breath hitched, but she did stop, so he reached around between her legs to tease her as his dick slowly pistoned in and out. When he thought he had the control, he increased his velocity. Her moan turned to a low growl as he established a solid rhythm. The steady sound of rain became thunderous as hail began to hammer the roof. He could barely hear her gasps as he plunged into her, over, and over, harder and harder. In his fervor, he slipped out. He quickly repositioned and rammed back inside.
That's when he heard her scream over the deafening hail. The grip of her around him was suddenly much tighter. He'd missed the mark, yet he kept pumping even as she cried out. He couldn't stop. He was so close, it felt so good, his heart raced. He couldn't stop. One hand continued to jack her clit while he used the other to impale her with his fingers. The room flashed white and he saw she still desperately clung to the wall. A tear rolled down her cheek as his orgasm hit him hard.
"Oh, oh, f-u-c-k!" he cried out. He felt her flesh begin to spasm and her nectar soon coated his fingers. She'd come as hard as he had, but when the light flashed again, he saw her tears still fell. It hit him that he’d pretty much just raped her again. He fell back onto the bed, wracked with guilt, yet melting in pleasure.
Faith scrambled off the bed as quickly as she could and started searching around for her clothes in the pitch black of the room. He could barely hear her soft sobbing. "Faith, I'm so sorry," he pleaded. He heard a crash in the corner and the room lit briefly enough for him to see her perched on the floor under a table, holding her head. Blindly, he crawled to the spot where she had been, but found only air and the table.
"Faith, please, I'm sorry— I don't know what came over me." He didn't hear or see the door open, but he heard it slam shut. He stumbled to the door and opened it behind her. The eerie sky lit up once more and he saw her running through the hail, naked and grasping her clothes.
Eric closed the door and returned to his bed. He sat with his head in his hands and waited for the police.
***
The bath water cooled too quickly and the water heater couldn't keep up with her chills, or the bruises covering her body in need of the soothing heat. It was stupid, she knew, to run into the storm the way she did. Though the hailstones were only marble sized, they pounded her mercilessly as she ran to her car without protection. Her mind raced as she drove; part in prayer she wouldn't get pulled over or wreck in the deep hail, only to get busted driving naked, and part trying to piece together the blazing encounter she fled with such haste.
Reluctantly, she pulled the stop on the tub and grabbed a towel from the rack. Her skin protested against the soft fabric as she dried herself. Despite the warmth of the air after the storm’s passing, she wrapped herself in her comforter, and lay on her bed, hoping that sleep would soon take her and rescue her from her internal bafflement. Think of something else, anything else. Think of the rainbow you saw earlier. She thought of the rainbow, and Eric interrupted her scrutiny of the great arc to announce that he would get her camera for her; at least, that's how it played in her memory. Okay, something else, a happy thought from the days before he came along. In her mind, she was suddenly on her head as he feasted on her flesh.
No matter what memory she conjured, Eric forced his way into her thoughts, just as he had forced his way into her virginal ass. Why had her body betrayed her? Through the searing pain of his attack, she had come anyway, and come hard. Did she suddenly have a fetish for rough sex and pain, or did it have more to do with the man who took his pleasure by causing her pain? Stop it! It wasn't as if he meant to do it, at least, not at first. Maybe he didn't hear her protest over the noise of the storm. No, he knew, otherwise, why would he bother to apologize?
The only thing she knew for sure
was that he was not good for her; in fact, he was dangerous. I can't give into him anymore, no matter what. It was stupid to go there in the first place. She knew, however, she wouldn't change it, even if she could.
The sound of knocking woke her— someone at the door. It was early morning, judging by the light. Slowly, she rose from her bed. Every movement brought the sting of pain to her senses. She grabbed her robe from its hook on the door and stumbled into the living room, but stopped short when she saw her reflection in the mirror over the couch. There was no way she would answer the door; bruises covered her and dark circles rimmed her puffy eyes. The knocking didn't stop.
"Faith?" It was Eric. "Faith, I know you're in there. You don't have to let me in, I don't expect you to."
She tiptoed to the window just down from the door and gently eased the curtain back to get a view of him. The same dark circles dressed his eyes, and he appeared disheveled.
"I just…" from the window, Faith heard and saw his forehead hit the door, "I need you to know how sorry I am. I don't know why I did that; I can't even imagine myself doing that." He rested his hands against the door on either side of his head. The position brought back a memory and her pulse raced. He stood there without speaking, his breathing labored.
Finally, he pushed himself away from the door and bent to the ground. "I'm leaving. I set your cell phone here by the door." He stood up straight and added, "I think we should stay away from each other Faith, at least, as much as we can."
He turned to leave, but before he reached the steps, he stopped. Faith waited to see what he would do. His shoulders slumped forward, his head dropped, and he took a deep breath. "If you want to press charges…I wouldn't blame you. And I won't fight it." He ran up the steps and through the gate.
Press charges? Is he insane? The thought made her laugh out loud. Oh my God, he's completely lost it. She started to wonder; were there grounds for her to go to the police? Okay, let's see if you can get your story straight: you broke into the man's house, planted yourself in his bed, naked, passed yourself off as his wife to a guest in his home, seduced him, and then got pissy when things got a little rougher than you're accustomed to. Yeah, the cops would be all over that. She laughed again and went to the door to retrieve her phone.
The first thing she did was call Sarah. The call went to voicemail, and Faith remembered it was still early. She waited for the beep: "Hey, Sarah, I'm going to stay home today. I, uh, got caught in the storm last night and I think I might be coming down with something…anyway, I'll talk to you later."
The next thing she did was text Eric, "Ty." Maybe that will save him from his crazy paranoia. Then she went back to bed. Her mind was much clearer this morning, especially now she knew how the prior evening’s events affected him. Maybe it was clearer because she hadn't slammed her head against anything for the last few hours. Banging her head against the table with such force as she searched for her clothes made her drive home a dizzy one. She raised her hand to touch the soft, swollen lump left behind. It occurred to her Eric hadn't returned her panties with the phone; the other thing she missed in her blind search. They must be under his bed or something, or maybe he just threw them away, or maybe…The idea of him hanging on to them as a keepsake made her blush, but it also made her wish she'd chosen nicer ones; they were never meant to be seen in the first place. It didn't matter. She was done with him.
Chapter Six
Two days of paranoia and no sight of Faith or any law enforcement had Eric almost back to feeling normal. It should have been good studio time with the guys, but he couldn’t focus.
Couldn’t play, couldn’t listen to what they already had down, and couldn’t come up with any lyrics that didn’t involve raunchy sex and selfish fantasies— they all involved Faith.
“Alright, I’m ready to call it a day,” Tim said, turning off his amp and setting his guitar down. “Let’s go get a beer or something. Maybe tomorrow will be better.” Jose looked at his watch. “Sarah is meeting Faith at Bernie’s Grill at six. We could meet up with them.”
Everyone agreed and then looked to Eric for an argument. He had none. It was as good a time as any to face the enemy— get it over and done with. “Sounds good,” he said, turning away from the soundboard. “I’ll even buy the first round.”
“I would hope so,” Jose said. “You haven’t been good for much else lately.”
“Yeah, like you’ve never had an ‘off’ day or anything.”
“We’ve all had off days, but you’ve been in more of a tailspin these last few days than off. Is it that time of the month?” Jose turned to receive his knuckle pound from Daniel for the burn.
“Screw you. All of you,” Eric said, wagging his middle finger as he walked to the door.
***
Bernie’s was busy, but Sarah and Faith had secured a large booth. They all squeezed in.
Eric peeked over at her, but thankfully, Faith wasn’t looking in his direction. She was wearing make-up, something she didn’t normally do. Hoping to find some action, maybe? Something to take her mind off of their recent wet-dream-nightmare? He couldn’t blame her for trying, but if she was in the same shape he was, it wouldn’t work. No. She wouldn’t be in the same state of mind. While he was in hellish turmoil, she was probably angry with him and full of self-loathing for coming to him in the first place. Was she wearing it for him?
It didn’t take long to find out.
“You’re looking really nice tonight, Faith,” Daniel said. “I’ve never seen you wear make-up before. Got a hot date?”
Her face turned a deep shade of red, visible even through the heavy foundation she wore.
She shook her head and dropped her gaze to the table.
Sarah spoke for her. “She got caught in that hail storm the other night and got some bruises on her face. When people see women with bruises, they assume someone’s been beating on them.”
The shame for his part in her storm damage didn’t surprise him, but the relief she wasn’t out trying to get laid, did. He had to say something, something so the others wouldn’t be suspicious of their silence and something that didn’t make it sound like anything changed between them. Had it? He wasn’t sure where they stood with each other, but he wanted to find out.
“Who would ever want to beat on Faith?” He laced the comment with sarcasm, but when she looked up at him, he hoped his eyes conveyed a message of regret.
She grinned back. “Anyone who tried it would wind up a sorry puddle on the ground, so go ahead, give me your best shot. I dare you.”
Eric held up his hands in surrender. “I have no doubt you’d kick my ass in the end, but I would never even try to hurt a lady, or you.”
“Don’t you two even start that shit,” Sarah said, her brow creased in frustration as she slammed her beer mug on the table. “Can we just enjoy a few drinks in peace?”
“Alright, we’ll be good,” said Faith, looking into her beer, attempting to hide a coy smile.
Eric nodded and scooted out from his end spot. “I’ll grab us another pitcher.” Things were back to normal, maybe even better, and as he squeezed through the crowd to get to the bar, he couldn’t conceal the smile that spread from his heart to his face.
***
After that night, Eric’s muses returned with a full agenda. He couldn’t get the songs down quick enough, and the long hours spent in the studio flew by. No one complained.
“If a few off days can lead you to this, you have my permission to take as many as you need,” Jose said, his face glowing in exhilaration. He shook his head, “I think this is your best song yet. I can’t believe we got it down so quickly, just incredible.”
“Yep, definitely, this is the one that’s gonna put us on the map,” Tim said.
Eric thought it was too, but he was reluctant to take full credit. It didn’t even feel like he wrote it, more like something took him over and he was just the vessel used to transfer the message. “We’ll see.”
“Since we’re go
ing to be rich and famous, would it be okay to take a quick break and run over to the burger joint? The last thing I ate was a hardboiled egg this morning,” Jose said.
Although his stomach rumbled too, Eric was reluctant to leave and lose the newfound groove. “Yeah, go ahead. Bring me back a burger and fries.”
“You’re not coming?”
“No, I want to listen to the track a few times and see if there’s anything we need to add or lose.”
“Faith, you coming?” Daniel asked.
“No, thanks. I want to review the footage I got.”
Eric’s pulse raced. He hadn’t been alone with Faith since their encounter, and though she was never far from his mind, he’d been able to ignore the fact, throughout the week, she’d never been far from him physically. Maybe I should go with them. What if she wants to talk? What if she rips me a new one while we’re alone? No, we’re past that now— she’ll just act like I’m not here.
“Want us to bring you something? A burger?”
Faith was focused on her video screen. “Huh?”
“Do you want anything?” Daniel repeated.
“Sure. A cheeseburger,” she said, never taking her eyes off her video.
They left and Eric sat at the soundboard, donned the headphones, and started the song from the beginning. There wasn’t really anything he wanted to add or take away from the track.
It was great as it was; he just wanted to listen to it a few more times. Had they really recorded such an incredible song? Everything was there— all the right percussion, the harmonies were soulful, the guitar riffs were solid, and the little bit of piano added in just the right places, made it perfect. It had a heartfelt earnestness he never imagined they could achieve.
Fighting Faith Page 5