A/N: I know that I warned you in the last chapter that this one would take me a bit, but I didn't expect for it to be THIS long. I do apologize for the delay and thank you for your patience. Baby + tummy ache = No writing for mommy.
That being said, all of your comments from the last chapter simply left me gleeful and giddy. I love all of your kind words. Thanks for the favorites, alerts and most of all the reviews. They are chocolate for the soul and I eat them up greedily.
Warning: This chapter contains minor drug use. It's not a big part of the chapter but it sort of affects a few events. I just wanted to give you a fair warning.
Krismom beta's this ditty and she puts up with tons of crap from me, I love her lots.
Disclaimer: I don't own them, sadly.
SPOV
Senseless.
I was an idiot, a bloody blubbering idiot. I now understood the phrase, kissed senseless, because Eric had managed to do exactly that.
I felt like one of the characters in a cartoon after hitting their head on something, the birds flying around in annoying circles. I was definitely seeing all tweet-tweet.
Holy hell, I was aroused as fuck.
I made my way to the restroom a bit dazed. Well, maybe more than slightly dazed. Hell, I don't even remember taking the actual steps that led me to the bathroom, but that is where I ended up. The original plan was to go to my office, but I wound up hovering over the bathroom sink tossing handfuls of water over my face.
Not that it helped.
I could still feel the tingling sensation on my lips, they were still slightly puffy. My heart pounded relentlessly against my ribs and my entire body felt as if I would spontaneously combust at any moment. Can your blood boil from a kiss? Mine certainly felt like it was.
And not in a bad way.
I looked in the mirror and cringed at the sight before me. My white button up was soaked and you could see my bra clear as day through the damn thing. Grabbing a handful of towels, I dabbed at the fabric until it was dry enough to hide my nipples. My face was still flushed with color, but there was really nothing I could do about that.
I was angry at Eric for that kiss, not to mention, I was angry at myself for enjoying it as much as I did.
After Eric had gone all ballistic on me for what I had done this morning, I found myself getting even angrier for what had happened between us moments ago. Matter of fact, I was outright pissed.
Sure, I had kissed him for the wrong reasons, but he had just done the same. Of course, he did ask my permission, the first time, anyway. But I didn't kiss him like THAT. That kiss was a far cry from the chaste peck I had forced upon him that morning.
We were definitely going to have a discussion later.
I was still a little too stunned to have the talk now. Given the state I was in, I'd have been just as likely to kiss his face off rather than chew his ass out. I wasn't going to take that chance.
I glanced in the mirror once more before leaving the bathroom and heading to my office. I had never been more excited about doing payroll as I was right then. At least I would have that to distract me from that mind fuck of a kiss for a few hours.
I locked myself in the office and buried my nose in the computer and the task at hand. I would be lying if I said that I didn't think about the kiss the entire time, but there were a few moments when it wasn't the ONLY thing on my mind.
Eric was one hell of a kisser.
After about an hour of staring at the computer screen, I had finally finished with the payroll. I couldn't very well tell our employees that they weren't getting paid because Eric had kissed my brain into goo. I didn't think that would go over too well. I tidied up a few stacks of papers atop my desk and went to make sure things were going smoothly for the night.
Thursday's were karaoke night at The North House, (a creative collaboration of both Eric's and my name) and it was usually a bit rowdy. Eric and I both had visions of a classy kind of club where you could come in, relax and hang with friends, without all the bullshit that you found in other clubs.
But Thursday nights were a bit of a contradiction to that vision.
For the most part things stayed rather comfortable in the club. There were only a few occasions that we had to throw people out for not controlling themselves. Thank the gods, Tray had offered to come in and bounce for us on karaoke nights.
I waved to him as he made his rounds. He was always on crowd control. He was a big bastard and very intimidating, just having him walk through the crowd seemed to make people act with at least a little manners.
I was surprised when I didn't see Eric; he was normally perusing through the masses and offering his own form of intimidation, by this time. I shrugged not giving it much more thought and made my way behind the bar.
I often worked the bar on nights we were busier. It offered me a chance to get up close and personal with our patrons. I was a firm believer that you can't run a business behind the scenes, the owners needed to be visible and readily available at any given time. After all, how could you expect to have a successful business if you didn't put yourself out there and take chances?
Jason was surrounded by a group of girls, as per usual, who were completely clueless to the fact that they held absolutely nothing of interest for him. Lafayette was helping, as he often did a few nights a week when the salon wasn't busy. I laughed at the blatantly obvious way he would twirl around Jason, smacking his ass or blowing kisses in his ear. There was no denying the fact that Lafayette preferred 'outties' to 'innies'.
Were all girls' as completely blind as those?
I laughed again and shook those thoughts from my head making my way between the two of them and kissing them both on the cheek.
"How're my handsome men, tonight?" I asked grabbing two longnecks for the guy at the end of the bar.
Lafayette kissed his hand and then smacked his ass with it while Jason just rolled his eyes. Apparently Eric's bad mood from earlier had become an epidemic.
Sure, I wasn't in the best of spirits considering I had been assaulted by my best friend, and I kind of liked it, which was unsettling to say the least. But I wasn't going to take it out on anyone else.
It was time to get to the bottom of this.
"Where's Eric?" I asked, determined to take the bull by the horns, in every manner of speaking.
"Office." Jason and Lafayette both spoke in monotone.
Hell, this was going to be difficult, I could already tell.
I made another round through the club, to ascertain things were taken care of. The new girl, Hadley, was speaking with Amelia, but she seemed to be holding her own. Once I was sure things weren't going to catch fire during my absence, I made my way to Eric's office, surprised to find the door was shut and locked.
I knocked before retrieving my key and wiggling it into the slot. I opened the door slowly after I gave Eric a reasonable amount of time to answer and was surprised at the sight before me.
His face was smashed against the keyboard at an odd angle. His arms, having fallen slack to his sides, were dangling free behind the desk. I snickered aloud covering my mouth with my hand as I saw the puddle of drool oozing into his keyboard.
He was dead to the world.
"Eric," I half giggled and gave him a shake.
"Mmmkissookie," He mumbled against the keyboard.
I may have been flattered at the fact that he was dreaming about our kiss if he didn't look stoned as hell.
"Eric," I shook him harder. His head rolled to the side and landed with a thud on the top of the desk.
"Hotashit," So, maybe I was a little flattered that he seemed to be just as affected as I was, if not more so. I mean the bastard was in Lala land.
I left him in the office, closing the door softly behind me and made my way back to the bar. Someone, Lafayette likely, knew what had induced his comatose state. That was no regular sleep.
"What the hell happened to Eric?" I shouted over the idiot belting out Sweet Home Alabama. That song drove me insane. I used to like it, but every idiot in the south saw it as some sort of anthem. I heard it about a thousand times too many on Thursday nights, and we fucking lived in Louisiana.
"Whatcha mean shuga?" Lafayette purred, he knew something alright.
"I mean, he's in his office all Gilbert Grape and shit. What'd you give him Laf?"
He seemed to think about lying to me for a moment before he thought better of it. Good boy. "I gave him a few Vicodin. Boy was seeing stars after ya'll sucked face."
So he told Lafayette, not that I was too surprised. Those two gossip and gabbed like two giggling teenagers, it was just fucking weird.
"How many?" Lafayette held up two fingers painted with sparkly pink nail polish. "Did he take 'em both?"
"Pretty sure. What'd you do, Sook, sprinkle the poor boy with fairy dust?" He snickered, "Your boy needed something before he had a coronary."
I wanted to rip Lafayette a new one, but thought better of it. Eric wasn't going to be worth a shit for the rest of the night. Fucker could drink anyone under the table, but give him a little pill and he was out like a light.
Part of me was jealous because Eric didn't have to listen to the drunktard that sang Freebird, the other anthem of the south, like he was Lynyrd fucking Skynyrd. But mostly, I was angry because I wanted to chew his ass out for that kiss and he was fucking it up for me.
The rest of the night passed relatively smooth, thank fuck. Even with jolly the green giant back there snoring and drooling his ass off, leaving me to run the ship alone on my least favorite night of the week. Forgetting the fact that I was about two heartbeats away from asking Lafayette for a couple of those goofy pills, I survived.
Jason and Lafayette hung around as I finished the last of my paper work. I was going to need a few extra hands to get Eric's dopey ass in the car.
Just as I was about to call the boys from the bar, Eric came stumbling out of his office. His hair was in complete disarray and he had tiny red squares imprinted on the side of his face. He was unbelievably cute in that moment to me, if only for the look of complete confusion that skewed his features.
"What the hell, man?" Eric croaked as Lafayette came around the bar, Jason's finger looped through his belt loop. How those two ever left the bedroom was beyond me.
Lafayette held his hands up, "Don't look at me. I didn't tell you to take both them bitches." He put his hand in Jason's pocket and tugged him through the back door, waving over his shoulder. "Eric and Sookie, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g." He sang and I really wished I had something to throw at the back of his head.
I turned to look at Eric and he was rubbing his temples with more pressure than was probably healthy. Fucker, he looked pitiful. No matter how badly I wanted to bitch at him for his actions earlier, I couldn't, given how pathetic he looked.
I took a few steps towards him but he held a hand up stopping my progression.
"Please Sookie, not tonight. My head is fucking throbbing and I can hardly stand upright. I know what I did earlier was wrong, but the bastard was testing me. Can we please just forget it happened?"
Well, I wasn't sure that I could very well forget; much less if I even wanted to, but I nodded in agreement anyway.
"Thank you. Listen, I fucking hurt all over, can you drive?" He tossed me the keys, not really giving me the option and I saw him wince from the tiny movement.
I knew it. I fucking told him his ass would be sore. Though he'd probably never admit it, it was from the workout that morning. I bit my lips together hiding my smile. I wasn't so much hiding it from him because I truly felt bad for him. I shouldn't have been getting pleasure from his pain.
"You must be really out of your mind." I teased as I turned the lights off behind us. Eric was already walking towards the car. "I can't believe you're going to let me drive your baby." I locked the door behind me.
"Yeah well, don't expect it to happen again." Eric almost smiled.
"Let's roll then." I said as I cranked the car up and revved the engine up, simply for shits and giggles.
Eric glared at me from his seat as he buckled his belt. "Please be careful."
And there he was. I knew he wasn't completely dead. "So…How often are you planning on going all Limbaugh on me?"
"Ugh, please. I will never take anything from him again. I fucking lost my entire night, don't remember shit." He groaned.
"Was it that bad, kissing me?" My big mouth opened on its own. Fucking traitor.
"No! God, no." Eric exclaimed and I smiled. "I mean…" He cleared his throat unnecessarily, "I just…shit. I'm all sore and can hardly move without wanting to cry. And I don't fucking cry."
"So, you liked the kiss?" Apparently my brain/mouth filter had been switched to the 'off' position.
"Did you like the kiss?"
I changed the subject. "I guess you won't say my class is for pansies anymore, huh?" I chuckled nervously, hoping he wouldn't revert back to the whole 'kiss' conversation.
Eric shrugged and remained quiet for the remainder of the ride, leaving me to my thoughts, or him to his, I wasn't sure which.
I couldn't help but to think of the kiss and how I really felt about it. Sure, I was pissed about it. But what I couldn't figure out was if I was pissed because of why he did it, or because I had enjoyed the shit out of it, awkward as it was.
Hell, just thinking about it had me getting a little warm, not to mention my hoohaa that was practically singing at the thought. It was so bad and so wrong for me to be thinking of Eric that way, at least with him sitting right next to me. I mentally slapped my girly parts into submission and shook off that train of thought.
We pulled into the drive and I was surprised that Eric hadn't cried the entire way or at the very least complained about my driving the entire time. I heard him groan as he got out of the car. Poor baby really was miserably sore.
We made it into the house and Eric didn't even bother turning on the lights. He fell onto the couch with a thump and groaned again when he reached for the remote on the coffee table.
As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to take them back.
"Get comfortable and I'll give you a rub down." I tossed my jacket on the chair and Eric raised an eyebrow at me. "Puh-lease, don't go there."
"Seriously you don't have to."
I cut him off. The offer was already on the table, I wasn't going to chicken out because of any awkwardness I felt after our kiss. We had to get passed it somehow.
"It's fine. I'll get the oil, just get comfy. I'll be right back."
"Alright, but none of that girly shit." Eric shouted behind me.
I pulled on my flannels and my fuzzy slippers before grabbing the baby oil and heading back downstairs. I may have been hyperventilating a little at the idea of touching Eric after the day's events, but I had to get passed it.
I couldn't continue to feel awkward around him. He was my best friend. I didn't know how he felt about it and honestly I wasn't sure if I wanted to, but I knew I had to suck up my issues and get passed them. So with determined steps, I made my way to the living room.
Eric was sitting in the floor flipping through the channels at light speed in his cotton sleep pants and a white T-shirt. The same sleep pants that left very little to the imagination. I may or may not have groaned aloud. I often wondered if Eric ever wore underwear.
No, not going there.
Eric settled on a channel and I glanced up at Ben Stiller as Tugg Speedman in Tropic Thunder as I took a seat on the couch.
"Take off your shirt." I settled in behind Eric with one leg on either side of his shoulders as he removed his shirt. He grunted as he pulled it over his head and I forced myself to focus on anything other than the muscles twisting and folding and rippling in his arms and back. "Lean over." My voice sounded strangled even to me.
Eric did as I said and I warmed the baby oil in my hands before pressing them into his lower back. His skin was so hot against my hands and I forced my eyes to the TV rather than on the way his body was leaning back into my working palms.
Pressing my thumbs into the muscles supporting his spine, I kneaded my way up, down, and around with precise, calculated movements. Eric's tiny groans regulated the amount of pressure I used as I worked the knots from his lower back.
Once I was satisfied that his lower back was loose enough, I moved up and gradually began working his mid and upper back. Eric's groans got louder and more pronounced as his head lolled from side to side and sometimes back. I had to add a little more oil to my hands as I continued.
My eyes may have been focused on the TV, but it may as well have been off for the amount I was actually paying attention to it. My mind was reeling. The feel of his skin against mine and, the way his muscles tensed and relaxed beneath my fingertips, combined with his moans of pleasure, was enough to drive me insane.
I was practically panting by the time I made it to his shoulders. I warmed a little more oil in my hands and wrapped my fingers around his strong, broad shoulder. I felt dizzy as I tried to pay attention to the massage. My body swayed and my eyes closed, though not by any choice of my own.
Eric's skin was soft and hard, smooth and rough, hot and moist, and it was proving to be too much. But I couldn't stop. I leaned forward and relished the scent of the baby oil that surrounded him along with the subtle hint of his cologne and that distinct masculine smell that was simply Eric and simply intoxicating and delicious.
I moved my hands around the taut muscles of his shoulders and down his strong arms, which only brought my body closer to his. Eric groaned as I wrapped my fingers around his biceps, kneading them tenderly, and the sound was strangely warming.
My flannel PJ's were becoming uncomfortably hot and the room seemed to be closing in on me. And yet, I didn't remove my hands. I should have stopped there.
But I didn't.
Instead, I scooted closer to him, so that my legs were now grazing the sides of his arms. I pressed my thumbs into the back of his neck and wrapped my fingers gently around the front. Making my way down his shoulders, a sudden rampant idea moved my hands towards his front.
I only noticed Eric had stopped breathing because I did too, as I reached the top of his chest and smoothed my palms against the tiny hairs that graced the skin there.
My hands seemed to continue moving on there own as I released the air from my lungs. Eric shuddered as my breath fanned his neck, but otherwise remained completely silent and still, almost as if he were frozen. His chest rose and fell laboriously under my palms with his breath as I applied a slight amount of pressure against it.
I wasn't sure where this sudden bravery and forwardness was coming from but I was practically vibrating with the desire to explore every inch of his body.
Thinking about it was one thing but, actually acting on the thought was something I had never done. There was some kind of liberating power that I felt as my hands continued their downward trek and Eric did nothing to stop them.
The sensation was overwhelming as I moved closer. I could feel the lines of his muscles under my fingers, the heaving of his chest with his breath, my head spun, and my own breathing was coming out in gasps, as my fingers grazed over his nipples that were surprisingly stiff.
My girly parts were screaming for me to either jump him or run from the room so I could take care of her by other means. I had never in my life been so turned on as I was then. And all I had done was touch the guy.
Eric was basically giving me free reign over his body and just the idea of that was overwhelmingly enthralling and too enticing to resist.
I vaguely registered the fact that I was no longer massaging, but caressing as my hand moved to the taut muscles of his abdominals, tracing each and every peak and crevice as if it were newfound, uncharted territory.
My breast pressed into his shoulders as I continued my descent, causing my nipples to harden and my breath to falter. Some part of me was waiting on Eric to stop me, even if I didn't want him to, but the other part of me knew he was enjoying this just as much, if not more, as I was.
When my fingers raked across the hairs surrounding his naval, I tensed, suddenly nervous and wary about what the hell I was doing. But that didn't stop them from moving and they worked their way through the trail that ultimately led to his happy place, the Taj Mahal of uncharted territory.
I was on fire.
The throbbing and ache between my legs was becoming increasingly persistent and annoying. My legs twitched with the urge to create some sort of friction. I dropped my head forward and my hair fell to the tops of Eric's shoulders, before I quickly readjusted myself and sat back upright.
My fingers were shocked and I think my heart stopped when they came in to contact with the waistband of Eric's pants. But I didn't have much time to register my thoughts because Eric's had shot out and gripped my wrist with surprising strength and ceased my movements.
I noticed that he didn't push me away.
His panting seemed to move in sync with my own as my fingers twitched nervously, waiting for the ultimate humiliation of him laughing at me and making jokes about me sexually assaulting him.
But it didn't come.
Instead, I found myself face to face with a breathless Eric. In a move so fast I didn't see it coming, he had spun around, still gripping my wrist, and came to a rest on his knees between my legs.
I'm pretty sure I gasped aloud at the suddenness of his actions, or it could have been the fact that his hot breath was wafting across my face in such an enticing way that it seemed to move me closer to him.
His hand that didn't have a death grip on my wrist, moved to my thigh and I know I moaned at the contact, though it wasn't any where near where I was aching for it to be.
My eyes were locked with his and we both seemed to be asking the same unspoken question. My body was practically begging for him to close the distance between us.
But he didn't.
And I didn't.
We just sort of sat there in some sort of lust induced bubble, waiting for the tension to explode or evaporate. I inched forward and he matched my movement. I licked my lips and he did the same. I shifted my hips and he tightened his grip on my thigh, whether to stop me or encourage me, I wasn't sure.
"Eric?" I breathed, asking him a thousand questions with only his name.
"Sookie?" His voice held the same emotions and unspeakable doubts and questions as mine.
Whatever he found in my eyes, must have been what he was looking for, because suddenly there was nothing between us.
His body crashed into mine with a blinding force and I was powerless to stop him.
Nor did I want to.
A/N: Well, thoughts? I'd love to hear what you think. Poor Eric couldn't handle the pills. I have a feeling Sookie is determined to get her chance at retribution. We shall see. I hope that you enjoyed the extended version of the chapter. It was taking me so long I figured I'd give it to you as one rather than split it into two. Do you love me or hate me?
Please don't hate me!!
I did finally get my FML posted. The title is Chubster 2 point 0 if you're interested in reading. You can check out all the other entries in the C2, there are some fabulous stories prompted by real life FML moments. Voting will begin soon, so keep an eye out for that as well.
As always, I love your reviews. They seriously move me and inspire me. Press the little green button and tell me what you think.
MUAWWW!!!!
