The Sway and Slide of Love

Hendrix quickly finished smoking the first cigarette. After taking a deep breath, he lit a second one. But he only grew more agitated.

Seeing that Noelle was still taking her time in the shower, he impatiently stubbed out the cigarette and strode forward.noveldrama

His knuckles rapped sharply against the door. "I'll give you five more minutes, then you'd better get out." After speaking, Hendrix sat down on the bed, his eyes fixed on the bathroom door.

The sound of running water finally stopped. It was as if Noelle had been timing herself with a stopwatch. With just a few seconds left before the five-minute mark, she opened the door.

When Hendrix saw her tightly wrapped in a bathrobe, he couldn't help but laugh. "Is that necessary? There's not a single part of you I haven't seen before."

Noelle kept her head down, her eyes lowered. Her fingers, clutching the bathrobe, had turned pale from the pressure.

At that moment, Hendrix almost wished she would lash out or throw something at him, yell at him, even bite him-anything would be better than this.

But she did none of those. Instead, she simply adjusted her bathrobe and asked, "Can we turn off the lights?"

"What?"

"I want the lights off." Noelle's voice was barely a whisper, and it was trembling slightly.

Hendrix didn't respond. Instead, he reached out and pulled her toward him expressionlessly.

Before Noelle could react, she was already pinned beneath the bed. The soft mattress sank under their weight, and above her was Hendrix's dark, stormy expression.

Leaning over her, he looked down at her. His slightly too-long bangs brushed against her cheek, sending shivers through her body.

"Oh, you can drop your innocent act," Hendrix said with a cold smirk. "You've already had my child. What's the point of turning off the lights now?"

Noelle didn't answer. After a moment of staring into his eyes, she turned her head away.

Hendrix gritted his teeth, his hand gripping her chin and forcing her to look at him.

The pain made Noelle frown slightly. Then, she finally said, "I'm afraid you won't have the stomach to go through with it if we don't turn off the lights."

Hendrix had no idea what she was talking about. And at that moment, he didn't care to figure it out. He simply leaned down and kissed her on the lips.

The taste of mint from the hotel toothpaste lingered in both of their mouths. But Hendrix's temperature was noticeably higher than hers. He didn't give her a chance to catch her breath or hesitate as he pushed his tongue inside her mouth, stealing her breath in greedy gulps. Noelle instantly felt suffocated, her brows furrowing tighter as she pressed her hands against his chest. But Hendrix didn't care. Finding her hands in the way, he pinned them above her head with one hand, while the other yanked open her ridiculous bathrobe.

It was only then that he understood what Noelle had meant by "wouldn't have the stomach to go through with it".

She had undergone a C-section, and

it had been a emergency procedure. With no time to spare, the incision wasn't particularly neat. Now, a scar over four inches long marred her lower abdomen. Against her pale skin, it stood out starkly and grotesquely.

Noelle didn't mind the scar. Sometimes, she even showed it to Rosie, telling her that this was where she had once lived inside her.

But in front of Hendrix, she felt none of that confidence.