Figure 8 Ch. 04

"You're not even on the roster..."

"I'm Buddy's backup."

"B-but..." her mouth formed words but nothing came out.

Now that he was so close to her again, he didn't understand why he had gotten so angry in the first place. Maybe it was the recent orgasm that cleared his head so that his pent-up sexual frustration couldn't cloud his judgement. Whenever he was around her, he couldn't control himself... she was probably right. Rooming together was only a recipe for a volatile combustion, but damn every muscle in his body fought against separating him from her even more than necessary.

"I'm sorry," he blurted. A giant weight lifted off his shoulders. Sorry was just the tip of the iceberg for the things he wanted to get right with her. He was sorry for a million things - for everything. Over the weekend, the thought of another man touching her the way he had at the club boiled his insides before he realized what he had done. None of those thoughts dampened his lust for her though. He merely understood that the way he had gone about it was all wrong.

"Okay."

He exhaled, "What?"

"I said okay," she said so quietly he had to lean in to hear her.

Her eyes still wouldn't look at him, wouldn't acknowledge him. Her simple "okay" wasn't enough. It didn't mean anything to him if he couldn't see her eyes, see right through her and know that deep inside... he didn't scare her. He never meant to - not with his temporary anger or even his uncontrollable lust for her.

"You don't mean it."

Emma stared at her computer before moving to clean up her desk and pack to go home. "No. It's okay... you don't have to apologize." She paused, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply to get in control. "You and I jumped the gun. I made assumptions that you were... never mind."

"No," he moved to stop her from walking away again, "what assumptions?"

His breath caught as her eyes flickered up towards him. They were such a welcoming shade of hazel-brown.

"You assumed I was like everyone else who worked here, and I assumed you were like everyone who worked here," she replied, meaning to be cryptical, but to Sylar the words made perfect sense.

"You're right. And I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed."

"It's fine," she brushed him off before he could touch her. "I'll get over it."

She had to. It was the last thing she wanted to think about now that she had finally straightened things out with Adam. This job had to be temporary, with no ties, otherwise Adam would never forgive her for hiding it from him. A gut feeling told her that Adam would never look at her the same either. Emma wanted to stay strong for him, no matter how much the man before her intrigued her, offering to introduce her to a world she knew nothing about.

But that wasn't her deal with herself. It was work. Get in. Get out. Not bury herself so deep that she couldn't navigate without thinking about it on a daily basis.

"Wait," Sylar grabbed her again, pulling her so that she stood in front of him, and so he could effectively block her from running away again. For the first time, in a long time, he fumbled for the right words. "I - we... are going to be working together for a while," his eyes darkened at the rejection in her face, "so I don't want you to just get over it. It's really important to m... to everyone that we get along, cause I'm not going anywhere. Are you?"

Her cheeks flushed. Sylar suppressed a grin as she shook her head. He knew he would be spending the night editing this conversation in his head, filling the gaps with what he wanted to hear, using his words to manipulate her meaning in order to bring some closure to the gaping hole in his chest that appeared whenever he looked at her. She was unlike anyone he had ever met.

"I'm sorry I said I was going to sue you for sexual harassment." She tried not to look at him, as she continued, "I was just so scared and Ad- my friend said this was the only way... but then I read up on how insulting it was... especially for people in this industry to be automatically assumed as perverts."

"Well..." Sylar grinned, his fingers running along her wrist. They enclosed quickly when she moved to tug away, and he almost moved to bring her closer but she had that look on her face again, so he let go.

"And I realized I'm probably the odd one out. So I'm probably more to blame."

Sylar felt an overwhelming feeling of guilt swell as he heard her take the blame for his perversions. "Oh Emma, no. I was the one who threw a fucking temper tantrum last week. I've been feeling like shit all weekend because of it."

"You scared me pretty bad," she admitted.

He was positive that she had cried and something tugged at his conscience at the thought of him being responsible for making this beautiful girl cry. Or worse, him not being there to comfort her.

"Greg told me off afterwards, if that makes you feel better."

She smiled at the thought of Greg scolding Sylar.

"Yeah, it does."

"Good."

He flashed a grin back at her. His green eyes lightened up with a newfound relief, giving him a youthful look that Emma hadn't seen before. She couldn't stop smiling even as she recognized that he was shirtless, in fact quite naked save for the towel wrapped around his waist. In spite of it all, Emma started to trace the hem of his towel with her eyes. Whatever was hidden beneath didn't need her imagination. She knew exactly what it looked like, how it worked, but somehow the shape of it slowly appearing underneath his towel was more erotic than seeing it out in the open. Swallowing her breath, she tried her best to look inconspicuous, but Sylar had already caught her. And his body was responding despite the fuck fest he had endured earlier. God, what did she do to him?

Without thinking, he bent down to kiss her lips, when he suddenly froze. It wasn't her gasp, he only registered that after - it was her hand on his bare chest, a cold soft palm. He felt hyper-aware of each finger tip on his skin. And then... there it was again. The frightened look. The one look that unarmed him, reminding him that she was nothing like any girl he ever knew.

Sylar tore himself away, stalking harder than he wanted to. He prayed he didn't set them back to the beginning, but he wasn't going to stick around to find out. They would just have to pretend his attempt to kiss her had never happened. As Sylar walked back to the bathroom to change, he realized that if he wanted her, he'd have to work for her heart first, and the thought didn't scare him as much as it should've.

---

The day couldn't have gone more perfect if Emma wanted it to. The situation with Sylar had been diffused, she felt like even the crew was aware of it as they cheerily waved goodbye to her. With Adam now as a stabilized part of her life, she wished felt ready to share hardship with him as they came. The way she used to. It should've been easy, they had known each other for so long, but his sudden return, the absence, and the jump from friends to lovers didn't prepare her for this. Her work life was one thing she wasn't ready to share with him.

She was supposed to stay innocent, the good girl that waited for him. It really shouldn't have mattered, but she wanted to be the one thing in his life that stayed consistent. There wasn't a reason to let slip that things had changed after four years. After all, she was fundamentally the same person inside, right? Emma chewed her lip as Adam walked into the room from the shower.

He smiled crookedly at her, and she felt her insides combust. Her job didn't define her. And it was only temporary. This - what she had with Adam - was forever.

As they got ready for bed, Emma looked at his back, noticing scars that she had never seen before, at least not when he was in college. She wanted to go up to him, touch his back and asked where each scar came from, but before she could gather the courage, he had pulled a shirt over his head and covered his upper body. He turned around, smiling as if he had known she was staring this whole time.

She squealed when he lunged for her, dragging her to bed. In a swift movement, he rolled her on top of him, kissing her face as they went until they settled between the swarm of sheets and pillows. Adam kept his arms around her, exhausted from the rest of the day, but didn't stop his kissing until he found her mouth. "Open up," he begged as he felt her hands run up the sides of his face and into his hair.

The way she moved with such inexperience made him shiver. All that inexperience would be molded into what he liked - what he wanted. She would be his, just like she always had been. He drifted his hand down to her ass and grabbed it tightly, surging her body against his core.

Emma yelped, jerking out of his arms.

"Shit," he moved his hands back up, "I forgot you've never done this before."

The moment was gone like a splash of cold water upon them. Emma rolled off to the side, her back facing him so that he couldn't see the expression on her face. With a sign, Adam curled up beside her, pulling her up towards him so that he could whisper in her ear.

"It's okay, I can wait."

He felt Emma nod and he tightened his grip around her waist. He was used to girls throwing themselves at him, but for Emma, he could forget his aching hard on and wait. She had waited four years, for him. Stayed pure, wanting only him for four years. It was the least he could do, he thought. No matter how much he wanted it, it would've have been the same unless she was into it too.

Sleep couldn't claim Emma so easily. She stared at the blank wall in front of her, replaying the moments of the night in her mind. Kissing Adam had been beyond wonderful. His tongue darting in and out of her mouth, like an experienced lover, made her want to run her hands all over his body. It was obvious that whatever she was doing inspired him to do the same, but when his hand gripped her backside, coldness swept through her like icicles in her veins.

She didn't want to think about him. Didn't want to let him poison the only relationship she ever wanted in her life, but Sylar had already burned his way through her secrets by taking her first sexual experience, which amounted to being groped in a club, against her will, and humiliatingly in front of Adam. Shivers ran down her arms as she imagined what Adam would've done if he knew. Everything about sex was... foreign to her. She had never really wanted it, not explicitly, even with Adam and his kisses that she enjoyed so much.

Just the things that she had seen Sylar do... to all those girls... opened doors she didn't know existed. Doors with rooms she wasn't ready to explore until she was a hundred percent sure she was going to enjoy it. Her mind wandered to the time when she tried to get herself off, get rid of the fire between her legs, and how all that effort amounted to nothing. Yet when Sylar touched her, it burned and soothed all at the same time.

Emma felt terrible comparing her experiences between Adam and Sylar, but that didn't stop her thighs clenching at the mental image of Sylar behind her, knowing where to touch her, how to touch her. It was pure association, she argued in her head. Just because he was the first, doesn't mean he's special. But that argument made her feel worse, because that was exactly what held her off from kissing other guys after Adam.

Involuntarily, her hips started undulate. There was an extreme need growing inside of her, and every time she pushed back, she felt something harder prod against her.

"Emma... what are you doing?"

She tried to stop, but when she stopped moving, the desire overtook her lower body. Her inner thighs shook even like a manifested earthquake dwelling from within her. She closed her eyes, trying to associate the feelings with Adam, but the undesirable yet seductive lust plagued her mind with images of green eyes. Even in her mind she could hear the dozens of other women begging for release as the beholder of the emerald eyes whispered exactly what he wanted to do to them. How they were going to come for him.

"Sh," Adam whispered calmly as his hard body came closer around her. She whimpered as his hands traveled up and down her, brushing against the undersides of her breasts. "God, Emma."

"I-I don't, no" she shook, almost violently, when his finger traced the space underneath her navel. She didn't know how to voice what she wanted when his hands were so cruelly warm, exploring and massaging parts of her she didn't know were so soft. "Please..."

"Just trust me."

Emma's eyes were closed in oblivion as she bit her lip. She wanted to trust him, but what was he going to do? Her mind faded into a fantasy as she felt warm fingers playing with the band of her underwear. The cotton stretched to accommodate the large hand that swept in to stroke her curls, and she moaned as the other hand reached around to cup her breast, massaging them. Two fingers clasped around her nipple, rolling them as she bucked down into the hand that now cupped her mound and teased the top of her slit.

"Please," she begged to the fantasy in her mind. "I need..."

"I know, baby."

Did he? She wanted to laugh, and she would've if she weren't so damn focused on the way his fingers tapped over her opening, generating a wetness she couldn't believe belonged to her. Emma felt embarrassed as her hips pushed towards him. She tried to think of what to say, but whatever Adam was doing to her was rendering her speechless and confused. What was happening to her?

The finger slid down her slit and dipped inside of her, causing her to cry out in pain at the intrusion. She heard a rasp curse as the finger moved away. Then she felt three fingers at the top of her slit again, massaging it's way down until it found a little nub she was hardly aware of.

Emma rocked her hips, this time reveling the sensation of a hard body behind her, and moving in time to the movement of the fingers that dictated the amount of pleasure she felt. She cried out as the fingers started to move faster. A low hum reverberated in her ear as she felt the other hand squeeze her breast.

"Mm..."

Words floated in her ear, but she could hardly comprehend what they meant. It was the husky tone that had her pressing harder into the hand between her legs. She wanted to clamp down, but when she did, the hand moved less freely. So instead, she opened her legs wider, which caused a growl and hard press against her ass. But it didn't stop her from grinding against the hand as it flicked her clit before pressing hard down, rubbing in circular motions until she couldn't take it anymore.

A cry ripped from her throat and the pressure on her breast increased as Adam pinched her nipple with his free hand. Shock ran through her body as Emma dropped down, pushing back into the hand as if her lower body wanted to swallow it whole. Something indescribable flooded through out her, a feeling that caused her to lose her breath and scream with the quietest, "Ahhhh..." as she threw her head back.

There were a million things she wanted to feel now. She wanted to revel these physical emotions, the pleasure had been so intense there was a slight need to feel it again. To want his fingers digging inside of her, bringing her to the next climax. But that soon passed as Adam lifted her shirt over her head. Her body tensed and she clamped her arms down, covering her breasts from the cool air.

With the shirt gone, she felt helpless, but worst of all, completely at lost with what had just happened. The rapid beating in her ribcage must've been so loud as she felt Adam's warm hands reach between her arms to caress her breast. Without knowing, she began to whimper as a second oncoming rush of nerves filled her again.

"Sh, this is natural." He showered her in kisses and rubbing her body, warming every inch of her skin to his touch. "I'm not going to enter you. You're too small. I just want to hold you."

Adam held her reassuringly as she started crying and climaxing at the same time. She could feel her pussy clenching at the empty space, wanting something to grip onto. These feelings that she didn't understand were being probed with fingers. Adam gently teased her opening, letting her ride out her orgasm against him. As she sunk down from her high, Emma continued moving her hips until she was assured that there was nothing left.

As her mind cleared, the only feeling left coursing through her was horror. The way her body reacted, the way she moved against his hand - images from her work had flashed through her mind, Her climax was an addicting feeling, one she didn't know if she ever wanted to feel again. She felt like those girls from work, wanting more, needing more, but worst of all, she didn't understand why.

Suddenly Emma desperately wanted her shirt back.

"Hey, hey," Adam's voice was flowing with worry, "did I hurt you?"

He turned her head and took advantage of her vulnerability, sinking his tongue into her mouth before he tasted the tears. Then he let her slide down and bury her face into his chest.

A hot chill rushed over her body. Her stomach growled, and she wished it was hunger, but she knew the clenching of anxiety well enough by now. The temperature of her body and the room clashed. Her insides burned with arousal, but her skin felt cold as it melded against Adam's.

Adam had just assumed. Like Sylar had. They both assumed she wanted it - even though she couldn't deny that her release was one of the most addicting experiences ever, she wasn't sure what it meant. Why had she felt even more helpless when Adam brought her to new heights? Why had he been able to do it, when she had tried for hours on her own? She wanted to know why she felt this need for Adam to put his finger inside of her. It was the first time she had felt feelings in a place other than her chest and her stomach, a feeling that felt far removed from her heart and mind. Emma closed her eyes, trying to enjoy the feel of his hands over her body.

Why did kissing feel so different from this? When she kissed Adam, her heart soared. She understood everything a kiss said between her lips and his - but what did this moment between them say? She felt like she had just been shown a sliver of light among the dark, a moment of clarity before her cage was locked up again.

She had a million questions she wanted to ask Adam. A picture of all the others girls, the girls he had been with in college and girls she had never seen, flashed in her mind. Girls that had openly flirted with him, touched him with all intentions of seductions - these were girls that knew what they were doing and what they were getting into. They knew the why and how.

Even after finally getting together, was she still the odd one out?