Still Into You (Never Over You Book 2)

by Ryleigh Andrews

  “Harsh!” Luke exclaimed, his hand going to his heart.

  “Oh, whatever! I’m so much cooler than you.”

  He thought about it and nodded. “You got me there.”

  “Luke . . . why don’t you have a girlfriend?” Mia asked him. She’d never really thought about it before, but as she sat there and wondered, she found it a bit strange. “Do you not like girls anymore?”

  “I like girls just fine,” he said with a laugh before grabbing the back of his neck. “I, uh, pretty much just have one-night stands.”

  “Really?” Mia exclaimed, surprised at that confession. “Why?”

  “Uh, for the sex?” he replied.

  Ethan laughed knowingly. She raised her eyebrows in warning and shook her head at him. “That’s not what I mean and you know it.”

  “I just haven’t found the one, I guess,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. Mia could see in his perfectly chiseled face that there was more to that story.

  “Well, I’m going to work on that, and maybe Ethan could help, too.”

  “Uh, sweets, where do you think all these one-night stands are coming from?” he said, his eyes on Ethan.

  Her mouth opened in surprise.

  “Yeah, just some payback from over the years,” Ethan said.

  She hit Ethan on the arm, shocked that he had been doing that. “Start finding him the right girl,” she directed him.

  “They were . . . for what he wanted.”

  “Oh my God! You pigs!”

  “New topic!” Luke exclaimed. She laughed. Luke time was over.

  “I want you to have someone.”

  “I’ll find her someday, probably when I least expect it, like in an alley or at a concert or something like that. I’m not worried,” he said with a thoughtful smile before turning back to her. “I want to know why I wasn’t your date to any of these big award shows. I mean, fuck, Mia! The Oscars! You totally should have won. I never would have imagined my best friend the Oscar-nominated actress-slash-musician! I’m so damn proud of you!”

  Hearing those words meant the world to her. She would’ve loved to share that with him, but she didn’t want him in the limelight like that. She wanted to protect him. So even though it would’ve meant support for her, Mia opted to go with Josh and Austin.

  “Did you see the movie?” she asked them hesitantly.

  “Yeah, I dragged Ethan to go to it with me.”

  Mia looked from Luke to Ethan.

  “Fuck, dude!” Ethan cursed.

  “So . . . you saw it?” she said, a little unnerved. She had hoped he would’ve listened to her and wouldn’t see it, but now, she felt relieved that he had.

  They both nodded silently.

  “And? Honestly.”

  “I was surprised at all the nudity—and sex. Pretty graphic. I mean,” Luke paused, scratching the back of his head, his discomfort easy to spot. “I know we had talked about it, but I was still surprised by it, seeing you like that on a big screen.”

  “So is that good or bad?”

  “I’m a guy. What do you think? It was hard for me to think of you as your character at the beginning.”

  She looked over at Ethan who had been silent. Mia and Ethan had disagreed about her doing this movie and now that he’d seen it, she wanted to know what he thought.

  “Ethan?”

  He squeezed his eyes tight, rubbing at his forehead before he spoke. “Well, I felt guilty the entire time since you had asked me not to see it, but I had to for so many reasons. It was weird seeing you up on that screen, kissing another man, doing the drugs, but what stuck out for me was your appearance. You looked so young.”

  “Are you saying I look old now?”

  “No, definitely not, but it just really struck me how young you looked.”

  “And the other stuff?” she asked, running her hands nervously up and down her thighs.

  “I’ll be honest. It was hard to watch. It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that millions of people have gotten to see you naked. But, at the same time, I was proud—you did a great job. Like Luke, after a while, Mia disappeared and Sophia was there. I was watching all this happening to her.”

  At what point was that, she wondered? At what point did Ethan stop visualizing her having sex, doing drugs? When he thought of Mia doing the drugs, did he picture what he saw in the movie? During the sex scenes, what did he see? Did he imagine him with her like she had so many times?

  Mia looked over at Ethan who had been, for the most part, engaged with the conversation, yet she didn’t feel that he was completely all there. What was going through his mind? She lightly nudged him with her foot. He grabbed both her feet and pulled them onto his lap with his fingers caressing her ankle. He looked at her, a smile on his face, letting her know it was all right.

  Ethan may be fine now but things still needed to be talked about.

  “I love how both of you have totally ignored the drug scenes and have not said anything about them in general. Well, I don’t love it actually.”

  “Mia . . .” Ethan interjected.

  “I’m here, in front of you. Now’s the time. Whatever you say isn’t going to break me. I’m sure you both have things to say to me, ask of me. I rather it be out in the open. Hell, I need for it to be out there.” She paused for a breath. “I know you’re disappointed. No one was more disappointed than me. So this is your chance. Think of it as a post-intervention.”

  “Why don’t you start from the beginning? Why did you start?” Ethan suggested. She never really went into the reason why she started or why she continued.

  “My first time was my junior year in high school. Just pot. I didn’t need to use it all the time. I just used it to cope with my shitty life. It continued like that through college. I partied a lot. I hated having to stay at home with my dad. So I took any and every opportunity to get out of the house. When I finally graduated, I took the first opportunity to move out. I headed to Chicago—a new job, a new life. Then I met Luke and I didn’t need the drugs . . .”

  She sighed, a sad frown forming on her face. Nor had she ever told Luke how she coped after they broke up. “Life was so good—almost perfect and then one night, it was not. The life I had with Luke was changed in one instant, with the words that fell from Taylor’s mouth. I couldn’t find an equilibrium after that. I was all over the place. Then one day I went to a barbecue, and there it was, being passed around. I didn’t think twice. I took the joint from Marc and felt the pain go away.”

  “Marc?” Ethan asked, confused.

  “We all worked together at the paper. He’s a reporter,” Luke answered, his words clipped, his eyes not leaving Mia. “You did this with Marc?”

  She nodded and Luke’s eyes grew wide in surprise. “Seriously? Where was I? Why didn’t I see this?”

  “Because you weren’t there.” She knew her words hit him hard. His eyes closed in pain and when they opened again, they were watery. “I’m sorry, but what do you think happened after you were gone? I loved you and you left. I was broken. I did what I could to put me back together. I know I said to go. The most selfless thing I had ever done, but it still hurt like hell. Each and every time you left, it hurt.”

  “Mia,” Luke started.

  “No, it’s okay, Luke. Really. It happened. I can’t change that nor do I want to. If it didn’t happen, we wouldn’t have Kaitlyn in our lives and I wouldn’t have Ethan.”

  Ethan squeezed her leg and smiled and winked at her. “And I’m totally worth it.”

  She busted out laughing as did Luke. They needed that break from the heaviness. After the laughter died down, Ethan touched her knee, silently asking for her to continue. Mia really didn’t want to go further. She was nervous. She never discussed this with Ethan. Hell, she hadn’t discussed it with Luke either.

  “I’ll be honest, I’m a little scared to talk about the next part. This is the reason we’re even having this conversation and it freaks me out a bit.” Taking a deep breath, she con
tinued. “While on that second tour, I was so lonely. The first one, I really didn’t know what to expect. This one I knew I was going to miss Ethan. I had too much time alone to think, to get sucked into the negative and then everything seemed to work against me—the tour schedule, the UFL schedule, the freak blizzard keeping me in New York over Christmas. God, that Christmas I was so fucking high. And then touring started up again and the days just racked up, and then it was months since I had last seen you. Those eight hours just didn’t cut it. I needed you, Ethan, but I didn’t have you, so I was turning to the other things that made things okay—drugs and alcohol.” Mia cracked her neck and rubbed her eyes, trying to make the uncomfortable feeling go away. She had to get up. She couldn’t have his hands on her when she said the rest. Lifting her legs off his lap, she rose from the couch.

  “And when we did talk, it seemed like all we did was argue. All I wanted was you there with me. I needed to see you, begged you to visit me in New York. I . . .” she looked over at Ethan, then Luke. She couldn’t share the reason why Ethan didn’t come. “I was so beyond frustrated and then there was that last argument when I said we needed a break. I was so tired of everything. All I wanted was to feel good again. The next day I got pretty high and decided to go out to a club. Before I left I took some ecstasy and put another pill in my pocket. I took them and did some stuff I regret. All of this left me vulnerable, weak, and that’s when my past decided to attack. It was relentless, but I was just as relentless in trying to hide from it. The months after I broke off our engagement, I, uh, was like in a witness protection program with all the hiding and running I was doing. I was drunk basically the whole entire time. Until the night of my overdose . . . where I went further than ever before. And I paid the price.”

  She sat against the edge of the desk and dared to peek at Ethan. He wasn’t looking at her. He appeared deep in thought, probably reliving that day, just like she was—remembering her in the hospital, the short time at her house. When he finally looked over at her, the pain on his face had tears rushing to her eyes.

  “God, I really did fuck things up,” she shouted, running her hands through her hair, so frustrated with that fact. Yeah, there were reasons why, but in the end, she was the only one responsible.

  Me, myself and I, she thought.

  “My need to run almost cost me my life that night. It created more problems than solutions. I see that now. But running isn’t an option anymore.”

  Ethan left the couch and went to the fridge to grab another beer and on his way back, he took a hold of her hand and led her back to the couch. She sat down and he kissed her forehead before sitting down himself.

  “Even though that was hard to get through, I’m glad I finally got that all out.”

  Ethan wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. When he placed a lingering kiss on top of her head, she thought she heard him sigh.

  “I am so sorry,” Mia said quietly. Sorry for everything she had put him through, all the pain she inflicted upon him.

  Scooting closer to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck. They sat like that until Luke broke the silence.

  “This is my cue to leave,” Luke said, rising out of the chair.

  Mia untangled herself from Ethan and went to Luke. He wrapped her in an embrace, resting his head on hers. “I don’t know what to say to you right now except that I love you and will continue to do so. I will always be there for you. Got it?” he asked, lifting her chin so she looked him in the eyes.

  “I got it,” she said, her voice choked with emotion. Mia really did have the world’s bestest best friend. She stood on her tip toes and kissed him on the lips. “I love you.”

  “You do that again and Ethan might just kick my ass.”

  She laughed. “No, he won’t.”

  “I won’t?” Ethan piped in.

  “You won’t,” she said, smiling at him.

  He pointed at Luke. “You watch it.”

  Luke chuckled. “Bye, Ethan, take care of her. Or else.”

  Ethan nodded solemnly.

  Luke hugged her one more time and left her room, leaving her alone with Ethan.

  Mia stood at the door after she locked it up. What a night. Not what she expected, but glad it happened. She turned and rested against the door, observing Ethan. Because of her, he went through hell, and tonight, she made him relive it, along with learning new things. Mia still had things to tell him, but not tonight. She’d had enough soul exposure for one night. All she wanted to do was curl up beside him. She sighed and headed back to the couch.

  He finished off his beer and put the empty bottle on the table, his eyes fixed upon it. Standing in front of him, she waited for him to turn his attention to her. Please, look at me, she willed him from her mind, and when he didn’t, she knelt before him, moving her head so she could see his face. Ethan finally raised his head and the tears in his eyes scared her. That did not sit well with her.

  “I’m so sorry for ever hurting you . . .”

  “Shh,” he said, placing his finger on her lips.

  “But,” she started to speak, but he replaced his finger with his lips.

  Hot, fat tears fell from her eyes. The kiss was so sweet and tender. Mia placed her hands on his face and deepened the kiss for a moment before backing away, needing to speak.

  “I love you so much.”

  “I know. I love you too, and right now, I don’t want to talk anymore. I need to show you.”

  “You’re just horny,” she joked and thankfully he laughed.

  “Well, I do admit to that, but it is definitely more than that.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah,” he answered. He leaned back against the couch, looking up at her. “Now, come here.”

  She stood before him, between his legs and slipped the straps off her shoulders. The dress puddled around her feet, leaving her in her lilac satin bra and panties. Reaching behind her, Mia unfastened her bra and slowly slipped it off her arms, throwing it aside. She made quick work of pushing her panties off her hips and onto the floor with her dress. With his eyes on hers, she stood there before him.

  “You are so damn beautiful, suga,” he said, his eyes not leaving her face.

  Without further hesitation, Mia went to him and slipped a leg on either side of his lap, cradling him. His hands found a place on the small of her back, kneading her ass, while her hands slid between them and began to unbutton his shirt. Not stopping at his shirt, she made quick work of his slacks as well.

  She regarded him through her desire-filled eyes. With his gaze locked on hers, he moved his head to her chest, suckling on one breast then the other. Closing her eyes, her head fell back, her long hair pooling on his legs. Mia loved what he could do to her and had missed it so much over these past few years.

  His hands moved from her back to between her legs, cupping her, his thumb teasing her and making her cry out. Grabbing his face, she attacked him with kisses. Preoccupied with kissing him, he surprised her when he thrust a finger inside of her. Mia moaned long and loud and bit his neck when he inserted another finger. She only got louder as he expertly moved his fingers, bringing her to her orgasm.

  “Ethan, I need you . . .” she whimpered as she searched for him, her hand freeing him from his pants. “Now.”

  Circling the soft tip, Mia brought his cock fully out of his pants. She didn’t play around. Hovering above him, she slid him inside her, shivering in ecstasy as he completely filled her.

  “Damn, Mia!” he exclaimed as she moved upon him, setting a frenzied pace.

  She opened her eyes and stared up at him. “What?” she said breathlessly. “Don’t you like?”

  “I love it. It’s just that . . .”

  “Hmm?” she asked as she nipped his neck.

  Ethan took that pause as an opportunity to take charge. He flipped them over and he left her lying there as he stood up to finish disrobing. Returning to her, he fell upon her neck before thrusting inside of her again
.

  “Oh, God,” she exclaimed as he moved hard inside of her, his pace relentless. Her hips rose to meet his thrusts. She held him tight to her chest, gasping against his ear. With each thrust came a louder moan and then absolute silence. With her mouth opened wide, her fingers dug into his back as a powerful orgasm pushed her over the edge. He kept pumping just as hard, not giving her a break, making her go to another level until she felt another coming, and with that final release, Ethan came deep inside of her.

  As she held him tight to her, not wanting him to leave her, Mia felt him breathing heavily against her. She toyed with his damp hair as he tried to catch his breath.

  “Wow!” she exclaimed.

  “That good, huh?” he chuckled, leaving the warmth of her body and standing up.

  “That good!” she said, watching him, staring up at his beautiful abs and strong arms. “Where are you going?”

  He bent down and lifted her in his arms, a little yelp escaping her mouth. “Bed.”

  “Why? It was so cozy there.”

  “No room for what I want to do,” he said, carrying her to the bed.

  “And what is that exactly?”

  He smiled devilishly as he placed her in the center of the bed. “You’re about to find out,” he said, placing a kiss on the inside of her ankle.

  Mia awoke and immediately felt the lack of Ethan’s presence next to her. In a panic, she opened her eyes and found him out of bed, getting dressed.

  “Uh, where are you going?”

  “Practice. Big game this weekend.”

  “Oh yeah,” she said, not believing that she forgot about it. “Exciting!”

  “I’m not looking forward to playing their defense. Last time we played them, I got sacked four times and I can’t even tell you the number of times I got knocked down. So lots of preparations for me the next few days.”

  She frowned and he frowned back. “The season is almost over. Then I’ll be at your beck and call,” he said, trying to pacify her. “I want you to check out of here today.”

  “What? Why?” she stammered in shock.