were it not for the purr of the engine and the low throb of jimi hendrix on the stereo, the car would've been completely silent. Damon and Elena were both lost in contemplation, thinking private thoughts, dreaming private dreams.
the sun had set several hours ago; they'd crossed the colorado border several miles back, and by mid afternoon the next day Elena would be breaking unwelcome news to her brother. but instead of worrying about and preparing for what would certainly be an unpleasant conversation, she couldn't stop hearing her own voice repeat three lethal words.
i am bendy.
she knew why she'd said it - she'd wanted to give Damon a taste of his own medicine, rile him up a bit to get back at him for screwing with her.
but she'd also said it with a sort of wistful twist in her belly. his description of the night before had been so vivid. so... promising. "the things i did - you did... we did... i had no idea you were so... bendy."
and suddenly she'd felt compelled to tell him she was. suddenly she'd wanted him to know just what her body could do.
suddenly she'd wanted to know what their bodies could do together.
damn it, she still did.
while Elena's curiosity had a faint blush rising in her cheeks, Damon's imagination was making something else rise entirely. if she hadn't been lost in her own world, Elena would've noticed that Damon was awfully... wriggly. he constantly shifted in his seat as he cursed Elena for her very physical effect on him. really, a guy could only last so long when his dick was straining against the denim of his jeans, rock hard and ready.
god, he could still feel the softness of her bare breasts against his bare chest, could still taste that avid, playful tongue. it had been a good twelve hours since he'd held her in his arms, but it seemed that the lust-fueled fire inside him was only burning brighter and brighter.
i am bendy, she'd said.
he could only imagine - and imagine he did.
in the passenger seat, Elena was growing restless as well. the interior of the car felt so... small. so intimate. with the slightest movement of her arm she'd be able to feel the fine hairs, the solid muscle, of his naked bicep. she'd be able to feel him.
god she wanted to feel him, wanted to crawl into his lap, to capture his mouth to -
"I'm pretty tired." Damon's voice broke into Elena's thoughts and made her jump in response. he added a fake yawn for emphasis and continued. "would you mind crashing for a few hours at a hotel or something? not for the night, i just need to recharge. maybe take a shower, wake up a bit."
a very cold shower, he thought dryly.
Elena swallowed. would she survive the living arrangements that had gotten her into so much trouble less than twenty-four hours earlier? could she possibly stay away from him when they were sharing such close quarters?
"I'm not," she said finally. she thought she'd be able to resist him, to stay away... but everything she did around Damon seemed to defy her usual logic. "tired. i can drive."
Damon shot her an amused look. "how cute. you actually thought i'd let you drive my car.
she sent him a glare in return. "is this a guy thing? you're the only one who gets to drive your precious car?"
"it's a penis thing," he said, grinning for the first time in hours. "women can't drive. I'm pretty sure that's a statistical fact."
Elena snorted. "you're hilarious. you know that by being sexist you're just sabotaging this trip. if you let me drive we wouldn't lose time."
"i've got eternity," he reminded her, pulling off the highway when he spotted a sign for a comfort inn.
"i don't."
"easy to fix that. want me to?"
she blinked at the question. after a moment she managed a light answer. "depends. do i have to spend that eternity with you?"
he only laughed. Elena didn't. her mind began to race. easy to fix that. want me to?
he could legitimately give her eternity.
he could, but no, she didn't want him to.
except... except sometimes she wondered if it didn't matter what she wanted. that it only mattered what she needed. which wasn't eternity, but what came with it: protection, safety, maybe even the illusion of stability for her and jeremy. no more dealing with this far-reaching obsession over the blood pumping in her veins. no more doppelgänger curse. no more klaus. no more fear.
when Damon dodged a pothole and pulled into the gravel lot of the motel Elena yanked herself from her dark thoughts. the idea of it - of accepting eternity - was one that seemed to pop up more and more frequently in the back of her mind. determinedly she pushed it aside.
"back in a sec," Damon said, climbing out of the driver's seat and heading for the check-in office. she wondered if he'd be getting adjoining rooms again - did motels even offer adjoining rooms? - or if he'd go with separate ones all together.
it would be safer, smarter, having a wall between them. but sometimes, just sometimes, it was more satisfying to say 'the hell with it' - to give in to temptation.
Damon interrupted her dangerous thoughts again when he slipped behind the wheel again, still infuriatingly aware of his persistent hard-on. he was getting desperate for that ice cold shower.
"we're around back," he said unnecessarily, rounding the parking lot and taking one of the many empty spaces.
the lack of other cars made Elena edgy. knowing they were essentially alone made the intimacy of it so much more intense.
she kept remembering the moment when he'd dragged her from an underwater grave, the moment when he'd brought her back from the night that flipped her world upside down. to the moment when her eyes met his through a blur of tears. she remembered so little else of the night, but the feel of his arms around her was embedded in her brain.
he could make her feel guarded, protected, and entirely exposed all at once.
he could make her feel so many overwhelming things.
turning off the ignition, Damon twirled a single key ring around his finger and opened the driver's side door. habit had him skirting the hood of the car and opening her door as well.
"they don't have any adjoining rooms," he said, "and if memory serves, leaving you to your own nefarious devices is a bad idea."
"nefarious?" she asked, amused.
"nefarious," he confirmed, opening the motel room door as he spoke.
what greeted them was a little round table accompanied by two chairs and a small dresser. mass-printed watercolors were mounted on one wall; on the opposite was an outdated tv. there was hotel stationery on the table, a carafe for coffee on the dresser, the standard bible on the nightstand.
and in the middle of it all, a single king-sized bed.
"fuck," Damon muttered. "i asked for two twins. I'm pretty sure the guy up front was stoned out of his mind."
he sighed. "gimme a minute, i'll go sort this out." as he went to do just that, he considered compelling the man at the desk to share his stash. he'd welcome the disconnected high of pot if it meant he could distance himself from this situation, from this woman.
thinking and paying little attention, Damon turned and took a step forward only to slam right into her. he jumped back as though her touch burned him. maybe, he thought ruefully, it did. "sorry."
she didn't answer. she only stood there, ponytail swinging as she recovered her balance, head tilted back as she looked up at him, eyes big, brown and devastating.
"you don't have to," she said after a long, pulsing moment.
"huh?" trapped in the chocolate depths of her eyes, Damon had to snap himself back to the present.
"get another room."
he forced a laugh. "are you drunk again?" damn it, she was unnerving him with that steady gaze. unnerving him while a flicker of something danced in her eyes, something he couldn't quite name. something that made him nervous and antsy and intrigued.
"not a bit."
"you sure? i really don't feel like babysitting you again. you're such a lush."
"occasionally. but right now, I'm one hundred percent sober," she answered softly.
Damon swallowed, closed his eyes for a moment before meeting hers again. "i think you should tell me what's going on in that head of yours, Elena."
"I'm not sure," she said honestly, turning away. she walked to the far side of the room and dropped her duffle on the bed, flicking a light on as she went. her steps were somehow purposeful and hesitant all at once.
watching her from across the room, Damon unbuttoned his shirt in a calculated move - the sight of his muscled torso was a weapon he enjoyed having in his sexual arsenal. and he suddenly wanted very badly to share that arsenal with her. because something was happening here, something was crackling around them, between them. when she looked back over at him he watched with satisfaction as her brown eyes lowered from his blue ones down the length of his upper body.
jesus, he wanted to see those eyes go black. go blind.
Elena's continued to watch Damon as she pulled a t-shirt off of the top of her pile of clothes, knowing by its threadbare softness that it was the minnie mouse tee she loved to sleep in. she sent Damon a little half-smile. "no peeking," she told him, turning to face the wall.
with sinuous movements she caught the hem of her shirt and peeled it off over her head. dropped it and reached back for the clasp of her pale pink bra.
"i could help you with that," Damon offered in a hoarse voice.
she looked over her shoulder, that little smile still in place. with an easy flick of her fingers she unhooked the bra. continued to hold his gaze as she let the lacy pink confection fall to the floor.
"no need," she murmured in response.
"okay, Elena. i think now would be a good time to stop it."
"stop what?"
"whatever you're doing - whatever you're playing at. you're getting really close to the point of no return, because if you think I'm gonna walk away from you again you're dead wrong. not after what you put me through last night."
"sorry about that," she answered, not sounding sorry in the least. she could feel Damon's eyes stroking the skin of her back, her shoulders, her neck. imagined his hands tracing the same curves. "it's just that - well, you know full well that you're sexy. and i was drunk. plus, it's been a long time for me." she looked back at him again. her body was angled in such a way that he could just see the curve of her breast. he wondered if there was some point when a man became so overcome by lust that his heart simply stopped and he dropped dead.
he seemed to be in a position to find out.
"so, you know. drunk girl, hot guy, hormones. dangerous mix."
"this time you're not a drunk girl, Elena."
she made a hum of acknowledgment, neither denying nor confirming his statement. "turn around, would you?"
after a moment of hesitation he did as she asked, but his sharp ears still caught the erotic sound of her zipper dragging lower, of rough denim against soft flesh as she slid her jeans down her long legs.
"Elena, you're getting in way over your head."
"i haven't done that in a long time - not purposely," she told him. his hands were clenched in tight fists as he fought wave after wave of heat. "but right now... i want to look beneath the surface."
"you don't know what you want."
"i think..." she licked her lips slowly. "i do know."
Damon didn't dare breathe. every muscle in his body was coiled, tense, ready to spring. the animal inside him strained wildly against its tether.
"you can turn around now," she said softly.
his heart thudded in his chest as he faced her.
Elena stood at the foot of the bed. the pink panties she was still wearing matched the bra she'd already discarded. her body, ripe, warm, ready, seemed to glow. every inch of her was stunning in its sensual beauty. her perky breasts were tipped with hard, pebbled nipples.
"you don't know what - "
"I'm doing?"
"no," Damon said, voice sounding strangled. "you don't know what i can do. what i will do if you don't walk away right now."
she took a step closer. "i want to know. i want you to do the things you said we did last night. i want you to use me. i want to use you. I'm tired of over-thinking this. you. me. i have no idea what any of this means," she continued, and her tone grew serious. "i don't know what it could lead to, if anything. all i know is..."
she swallowed and took another step toward him.
"i want you to touch me, Damon."
"i won't touch," he warned, fighting the magnetic force between them, fighting to keep calm. "i'll bruise. i'll take. i'll make you scream, Elena. i'll make you feel things you didn't know you could feel. make you do things you'd be ashamed of in daylight. think really goddamn hard. because if i let go, there's no turning back. not until i've had every single taste, every single touch. not until you're mine."
he could hear the rapid beat of her heart, could see the faint throb of the pulse point in her neck. he could see the fear and excitement in her eyes, the nerves and the desire. she inhaled slowly, very slowly, then let her breath out in a rush.
"well, Elena? you've got ten seconds to decide. is this what you really want?"
all she could see was his face, dotted by the brilliant blue of his eyes. those eyes capable of such staggering emotion, those eyes that could soothe her as easily as they set her on fire.
and she nodded slowly.
"this is what i want."
the tether snapped. the beast roared. the man pounced.
he was going to show her exactly what it meant to be his.