Paper & Asphalt

Paper and Asphalt (Part 1)

You were already waiting. Back corner table. A book open in your hands, one leg crossed too neatly, the other locked beneath like restraint. But your eyes hadn’t moved in...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 2)

The second message came almost the same as the first. Precise. Unforgiving. A date. A time. The same cafe. No flourish. No hook. No explanation. And you showed up. Not...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 3)

You were shaking. Not violently. Not enough for the world to see. But I felt it. Through denim. Through skin. Your thighs strained against my grip, tight, trembling, betraying you...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 4)

You didn’t see me first. You heard me. The engine’s growl tore through the quiet alley like a threat- low, feral, full of promise. It wasn’t just sound. It was...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 5)

It had been six days. Six days of silence. Six days of pretending your skin didn’t still hum where my hands had held you down. Nearly a week of trying...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 6)

The confusion in your eyes was a flicker, like a candle threatened by a draft. A part of you knew exactly what this was. Another part still clung to the...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 7)

You didn’t hear me come in. The water masked everything-  a torrential hum pouring down from the ceiling.  The steam was thicker than smoke, curling through the air like it...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 8)

You tried to focus. Really, you did. But your fingers betrayed you- tapping the desk, again and again, like they were drumming out a name your mouth wasn’t brave enough...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 9)

The end of the week clung to you like heat. Long hours, too many faces, the weight of everything you had held together pressed into your shoulders as you finally...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 10)

8:43am.You were already late. Your coffee sat cold on the counter, half-drunk, lipstick smudged on the rim like evidence. One heel click echoed sharp across the tile, the other followed...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 11)

Tuesday night. The world outside was asleep, but you were not. Could not. The sheets wrapped around your legs like a noose. The pillow beneath your cheek was damp with...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 12)

You were already tense when you got to my garage. You tried to hide it- spine too straight, hands too still, like the nerves didn’t bleed through the silk of...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 13)

The sheets were too soft to hold a memory like last night. And yet they did. Sunlight spilled across the bed in clean, deliberate slants- bright enough to kiss the...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 14)

You made your way up the elevator, and stood before my door. It was Friday again. Finally, it was Friday again. I opened the door slowly. Your eyes lifted to...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 15)

I offered you my hands, steady and sure, as you rose from the bath. Water slid down your skin in languid trails, clinging to the curve of your hip before...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 16)

The stillness of the basement hit you. It seeped from the cement floor, climbing up through bare feet, through bone, until even your breath felt frozen in your chest. The...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 17)

You surfaced slowly. Not all at once. Not like breath after drowning, but more like fog lifting in pieces- revealing edges you didn’t recognize and air that didn’t belong to...

Paper and Asphalt (Part 18)

You woke in my bed again. Less shattered this time. Pain dialed down to a hum instead of a scream. The kind of ache that sat under the skin and...