I Can't Stay Away

By: Lori Titus
September 10, 2008

Lisa knew it was going to be a bad night .

It had been a month since Kyle left home, and she was hoping that this time he would not come back. She had long since thrown out his things.

But he paid no mind to that.

Standing in the doorway of her bedroom, he nodded to her in acknowledgment. She could not see his dark eyes in the shadows, but she knew well the gleam that was in them.

Sometimes his eyes reminded her of a wolf, expectant and confident that he had his prey where he wanted her. He came and lay down on the bed beside her. She wrapped her arms around him and let him pull her tight against his chest. This was weakness on her part, she knew. This man was bad for her, always had been.

Resisting him had always been a problem, and tonight would probably be no different. He smelled sweet, like spring grass. His lips were dry but smooth, his kiss gentler than she remembered.


She put up with his behavior because she loved him, because he made her feel a way that no one else did. She ignored his indiscretions. He told her once: “ I always come back to you, no matter what. I love you and I can’t stay away.”


“There is only so much that I can take,” she’d told him one night over dinner. That was the last night she remembered spending with him, before he went away. “ There’s only so much time you can go on like this.” He’d looked up from his plate, still holding his steak knife firmly in his left hand. And he grinned, a crooked smile that made her blood boil.

It was like he was sneering at her…. I’ll do whatever the hell I want. And you’ll let me.