102: It's a Kind of Magic

Erin

     My hands cover my face. I'd been pacing in the kitchen, worried and wondering if I should call Jesse and Marie to help me find where Bryce went, when Bryce opened the sliding glass door. Now, I have to work at calming down. Bryce is fine; he's upstairs apologizing to Adele like I asked him to.
     Instead of calming down like I'd like, other worries come in and take the place of the previous ones: the lawsuit, the bar, Bryce's sanity through all this.

     I should sell my house.

     I have no idea how much Bryce will have to pay Simon if he loses. Simon is suing for three months' salary and 100k for "emotional distress." I think it's ridiculous, but I'm scared Bryce will lose. If I sold my house, that would put a big dent in that amount.

     No. Don't be crazy, Erin. You need that house. Lately, you and Bryce fight just as often as you don't. It's not like I didn't expect to fight, but I didn't expect it to be this often. And it's not your responsibility to financially support him.

     But I don't want him to lose his house or bar.

     He can get a loan.

     But if I can help… I debate whether or not I'm acting selfish.

     Bryce walks in the kitchen, goes to the fridge, gets a bottle of water, glances at me with an expressionless look, and walks back out before heading back upstairs, his shorts still dripping water on the floor. I stand here mutely the entire time.

     I listen as he leaves Adele's room a few minutes later, and he crosses the hallway to his bedroom, probably to change clothes. My guess turns out to be correct, I notice, when he walks into the kitchen in nothing but that pair of jeans, those old, worn-out jeans that fit him perfectly, especially where it counts.

     "I dried off," he tells me and runs his hand through his hair.

     Shit. He looks so fucking hot. Even though he says he's dried off, a small amount of water still sticks to the hair on his chest, and the hair on his head is still very damp. All the physical labor he's had to do to help build the new bar has really toned him up… not that he wasn't built before. I look down at his bare feet and have a very bizarre, sudden fantasy about where I'd like to stick his toes.

     I close my eyes and work at bringing myself back to reality. 'Kinky-as-shit person,' as Bryce said.

     He walks up and wraps his arms around me before saying, "I apologized to Adele. Am I allowed to apologize to you now?"

     I sigh. I'd exploded at him earlier, which was probably the last thing he needed. "I guess you don't really have to. You're under a lot of stress lately, and I understand."

     "That's no excuse. I still should've given you some indication of where I was going instead of just disappearing like I did. I'm sorry I didn't. I told Jesse and Marie, but I guess they only thought about their own problems." His warm hand rubs up and down my back, giving me that 'love touch' feeling again.

     "Bryce…" He's unconsciously using it as a tool to keep me from flipping out. A strange noise escapes me as I fight to remain lucid.

     "Yes?" he asks, and his voice has taken on that hypnotic timbre again.

     I wish I could say what I'm thinking in a way that makes more sense, but all I can get out is, "You're not a freak."

     He chuckles. "You sure about that?"

     Focus, Erin. "You have no idea… Do you?... What you're doing."

     He sounds surprised. I imagine his eyebrows raised, but I can't keep my eyes open long enough to see for sure, when he says, "I think I've proven the exact opposite is true."

     He thinks I just mean sex. "Magic." I take a deep breath. "You're not a freak."

     His hand stops. "What are you talking about?"

     I work at catching my breath while resting my forehead against his chest. "In a long line, like you said to me. I don't think that's true."

     He sighs. "Erin, it is, and I'm okay with that."

     "No, Bryce. Your hands have some sort of hypnotic 'love touch.'" I wish I could've said it better.

     He laughs. "Have you ever seen that movie Earth Girls Are Easy? That's what it sounds like you're telling me."

     "That's exactly where I'm getting it from." Preposition. … Fuck it; it doesn't matter.

     He pauses. "So, you're telling me I'm like Jeff Goldblum's character?"

     "Is it really that hard to believe? And yes, that's what I'm saying. And lately, it's gotten stronger. Even before, I always noticed your hands being warmer than most, and now that I look back on it, every time you would hold my hand or lead me somewhere, it would calm me down even if only a little and make me relaxed. I even remember thinking that during that time when I first showed up to that party at The Flamingo."

     "You're really serious about this?" he asks, sounding like he doesn't believe me still.

     "Completely serious. Like just a minute ago, you were doing it."

     "How?" he asks and lightly rubs my back.

     "That's not it."

     "It's not? Yeah, Erin. I don't think it's possible."

     "Try to, um, emotionally get into it or something. That's when it happens." I take a deep breath and mentally prepare myself should he figure it out and do it consciously.

     He continues to rub my back, but it feels normal. Wanting to prove it to him, I tilt my head up and kiss him, a slow, deliberate kiss, my tongue dancing with his. His breathing changes, and he moves with me. His hands heat up, almost too hot, as they move up and down my back.

     Holy shit! I stop kissing him and feel my head fall backwards as I let out a high-pitched sound. Bryce supports my weight when my knees give out, and he rests the top half of me on the counter top. Meanwhile, his hand doesn't stop as it journeys to my collarbone and neck.

     "Holy shit," I hear Bryce say through the psychedelic whirlwind he's transported me to. He lets his hand travel down my side and up my stomach. "Erin?" His hand covers my breast and massages it, and I vanish from this plane of existence. My entire being hums as pleasure wraps me in its electric embrace. Pulses of light stream past me in repeating shock waves, finally dissipating on the distant, infinite horizon.

     I hear my own breathing. The world is a concrete place again, and I realize I must be lying down on a soft, flat surface. I'm totally comfortable but curious as to where I actually am.

     "I think… you're right," I hear Bryce say from somewhere above me. After a second or two, he asks, "Are you awake yet?"

     "Hm," I let out like a purring cat.

     "That was crazy, Erin! How did I do that? It felt like, like I could do anything to you." He pauses. "You think I've always been able to do this?"

     "Not…that…powerful, but yes."

     "Well, shit, obviously. If I'd been able to do it like I did a little while ago, I'd've noticed that. My hands felt like they had a surging power in them to where I could, I don't know, mold you."

     "And it's irresistible," I manage to say.

     "That was amazing to watch you go completely unhinged. You had absolutely no control over yourself, did you?"

     "None," I agree, and I can finally open my eyes. Bryce looks down at me with a look of childish wonder on his face. He's adorable.

     "How? Why only now have it this powerful?"

     "I don't know." I shrug.

     A wicked grin spreads across his face as he looks down at me and asks, "Want to go again?"

     "Shit, Bryce, I don't think I can take it."

     "I need it. I'll try not to be overpowering again." He undoes my pants and starts pulling them down. I don't have enough control over my limbs to stop him. Reading my look, he says, "For once, I feel like something is going right. This is wonderful! I'm not a freak. Please, Erin. Again. Only this time, I want to be making love to you as I do it."

     "Like Christmas morning," I say dreamily as he removes his pants.

     He smiles. "Is that why you couldn't stand up?"

     "Mhm," I say and nod my head slightly.

     Sitting on his feet, he grabs my hips and gently pulls me up to him. "Come here, baby," he says lovingly as he lifts me to where I'm straddling him on his lap. I try to help as much as I can to join our bodies, and he moans when he finally gets me like he wants. With a deep breath in, he wraps his arms around me and starts moving.

     His mouth finds my nipple while one arm unwraps itself so that he can rest his hand on my hip. Then, it starts again. My hips feel like they're buzzing, and Bryce groans in pleasure. "So damn good," he says quietly into my chest. "Mmmm. More."

     "Bryce!" I gasp as I fight to hang onto the here and now.

     "Come with me, Erin," he begs as his hands take over my body.

     I disappear again, but this time, Bryce is here with me, breathing with me, sharing in the ecstasy of the moment. His face looms before me, and I feel like I actually fall into his warm brown eyes. A constant pulse surrounds me while I bathe in Bryce's soul. So much pain. So much sorrow and loss. So much love for Adele and me. I want to cry with the clarity with which I see him. This is Bryce! This is the man I love! Every fault the world sees is merely a cover-up for each pain he's had to endure. I wish I could take away all the pain he's ever felt, but I know I sadly can't. Instead, I'll spend every available moment loving him for the wonderful man he is.

     An explosion rips the fabric of our universe, and I dimly realize it's actually our shared orgasm.

     Clarity returns with shocking speed, and I find myself on our bed with Bryce above me, looking into my eyes.

     "I love you. I want to be there for you like no one else has. I want to put you first in everything I do. I want nothing more than to spend every available moment loving you for you."

     At first, I thought I said the words, but slowly, it occurs to me that I wasn't the one to say them. Tears fill my eyes when I suddenly see all of my pain: my father abandoning us when I was seven, all the mean things Meredith would do to me, all the teasing about being 'shy,' Sean cheating on me.

     Bryce leans down to kiss me, wordlessly begging me to stop crying.

     Everything I saw in him, he saw in me, and he loves me more for it.

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