Heartbeat [Alec Volturi]

Cleopatra

Kissing Alec was like silence.

The kind of quiet that stirs a drumroll in your soul.

We were the silence of the battlefield, the empty space before the clang of armour and the stillness in the middle of a city just before the dawn. It was New Years Eve, the buzz in the air at the start of the countdown and the first breath you take before the calendar marked a new start. Our silence was hanging upside down on the monkey bars and just closing your eyes...it was freedom.

Mentally, I urged myself to push him away, still upset with him but I found that anger eagerly delving into the kiss. Even if our lives depended on it, I would not have been able to deny his touch, so I surrendered to the feeling. His touch, like the petals of a freshly picked flower tickling my skin. Everywhere his fingers landed — my jaw, my elbow, my waist — sparked an electric shock that exploded from my chest like a firework. It left a lightness in my stomach, heavy as a breath of air.

I was completely and utterly lost in him, his taste, his lips.

Weeks of lingering touches and scattered glances hid within our friendship. Raised voices and slamming doors, contentment in the anger and desire in the loneliness. I caught myself staring at the doors just waiting for him to appear. At night, he was a whisper in my dreams and when I woke, I couldn't not think of him. Not of what he was doing or thinking or wearing — just him. As if I were contemplating his existence in the world we both inhabited. I was consumed by him. I couldn't breathe without —

"Oh my god." I was breathing heavily and though I was more desperate for air than him, Alec's chest was rising and falling in sync with mine. My hands were on his chest, steadying myself as my thoughts zipped back and forth trying to process the moment. Until finally, "oh my god!" I pushed back against his chest and out of his arms. He seemed surprised - either with my sudden retreat or his own actions I couldn't tell, but he obeyed and his hands disappeared from my body. His eyes quickly scanned my body, as if worried he'd hurt me with a kiss. A kiss.

"You kissed me."

A small smirk, on its own accord, replaced the concern and confirmed, "I did."

I smacked his shoulder. "Wh — Why!"

"You didn't like it?" He raised an eyebrow with a teasing tone, as if daring me to deny it.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to maintain the same calm and regal attitude as I struggled to find a comeback. "What? I didn't — that's not..." I pointed a finger at him, trying to collect myself. "You can't just go around kissing people."

"I'm sorry." The apology was oddly genuine as he continued, "I'll take it back."

"Huh?"

He took two fingers and brushed them over my lips quickly before tapping them on his own. "There. I took it back."

My hand replaced his at my own mouth, and though it was impossible, it did feel as if the ghost of his kiss lingered on my lips. "You can't just take it back."

"Yes, I can."

"No, you can't."

"I just did," he laughed at me. "It's mine, again."

"No." I huffed, wrapping my hands around the soft silk tie that was tucked into his vest and pulling him back down to my mouth.

I lingered. I did. I'll admit it. And the millisecond that I did caused Alec to automatically take hold of my hips so when I pulled away, the shocked expression on his face was only inches from mine. He began toying with the loops on the sides of my jeans, twisting them around his fingers in a secure grip. Our eyes locked and the glow of red in his were growing darker. Only this time, I wasn't so naive to attribute it purely to hunger.