*

"I can't seem to get comfortable," I said and he reached across and grabbed my arm and pulled me from the arm to lie down next to him on the couch, limbs entangled and bodies heated, pressed close. I dozed there for seconds, stayed curled and enjoyed the intimacy. The movie ended and the room grew dark, we stayed there breathing, his face buried in the back of my neck.

Pulling, pulling, teeth grazing skin, the smell of salty sweat in my nostrils, the craving for heat, for proximity, for violence, then resting.

I slipped out of the bathroom, he was fast asleep and I got dressed quietly and headed to the living room. I rolled a cigarette with the remnants of my tobacco, laid across the couch, solitary this time, drew long, burning breaths, my eyelids heavy, the cigarette slipping between my fingers. I woke up couple of hours later, he was standing above me.

"Why would you sleep here, don't you want to come inside?"
"I didn't want to disturb you."