by Tia Siren
“I don’t just play Call of Duty.”
“That’s not what I mean,” she said. “Do you still play any instruments?”
I nodded. “I can still play guitar and piano. Haven’t played in a long time, though.”
“Why not?” she asked.
I shrugged again. “I have to focus on making money. I have to wake up and go to work five—sometimes six—days a week, and by the time I get home, I’m too tired to do anything. Music’s taken a backseat for me.”
“That makes me really sad.” She sighed.
I cleared my throat. “Well, come on, you’re the musician here. Obviously, it’s your life. Tell me about a typical day in the life of a celebrity.”
“I’m not a celebrity.”
“You will be soon, and you know it,” I told her. “Seriously, though. Tell me what you do on a normal day.”
“I’m usually either writing music at my apartment or messing around in the studio near my place,” she answered. “I’ve been doing things independently for years, but it looks like I might have a contract here soon.”
“That’s really spectacular.” I held up my hand and we high-fived each other.
“I might,” she stressed. “Not sure if I want to sign with this label or not. I’m feeling indecisive.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll make the right decision,” I said. “So, what do you do for fun when you’re not doing music?”
“Go out to parties, hang out, and chill,” she replied. “Leah’s become my Garrett. She’s glued to my hip. We do almost everything together.”
I chuckled. “And, she’s your manager? Y’all never get sick of each other?”
“No, you’d think that would’ve happened by now,” she said and laughed. “I guess it sounds kinda boring the way I say all that though. I’m trying to go back over the past few years, and I don’t really have that much to say about it. It’s almost sad.”
“You’ve been busy,” I said. “It’s hard to make work sound fun, even if it’s what you want to be doing.”
“I have to say, I figured you’d be married by now or on your way to it,” she said to me. “You’re such a catch. I thought some girl would’ve been smart and snatched you up.”
“There aren’t many girls that are my type,” I said. “I haven’t been all that interested in dating. But you, now. So many guys have been checking you out all night, and I know it’s gotta be heavier over in Memphis. How come you haven’t settled down? You want to be a free spirit or something?”
“I want to be in love,” she said while looking at me with her mesmerizing eyes. “Most guys either don’t want something serious, or they don’t know how to treat a woman. Honestly, for me it’s mostly that guys just want to use me—for my money or my body, it doesn’t matter. I guess I’m turned off to it, too.”
“That makes me really sad,” I said.
We got to the front of the line and ordered soup in a bread bowl. It was hot and creamy, warming up my entire body on the first bite.
“This is fucking awesome,” I said with a mouthful of soup.
“Try mine,” she said holding out her spoon.
She had broccoli-cheddar, and it was even better than my vegetable. We devoured our soup and our bowls like we were starving. We got in line for a truck that was serving Mexican food.
“I heard your new song on the radio recently,” I told her.
She blushed. “What’s the verdict?”
“It might be my favorite song you’ve ever put out,” I answered honestly. “If you don’t mind me asking, what inspired it?”
“A lot,” she rsaid. “Not one situation in particular.”
“Ah.” I nodded.
“Did you think I’d written it about a specific guy or relationship?” she asked with a knowing grin.
“Not really,” I lied. “Just curious.”
We continued our feasting and our light chatting well into the night. We headed to where I expected a movie to be played for the masses as usual.
Instead, on that night, there was a fireworks show going off in the sky. It was indescribably perfect. All of the lights downtown and by the trucks had been turned off, and the noise from the crowd had died down. There was only darkness, stars, and colorful streams of fireworks exploding above us.
Bailey and I were lying down in the grass, like many others. Many around us were filming the fireworks on their phones, but she and I remained entirely in the moment, wishing that the moment would never end.
But, all good things eventually conclude. As the show was hitting its grand finale, our eyes finally glanced away from the sky, and they met. We never blinked, and our mouths grew more agape the longer they didn’t become one.
We resisted temptation, and our torture ceased once we heard the silent crowd erupt in applause. We licked our lips, constantly looking down and then back to each other. I wanted to brush the hair out of her face and hold her so badly.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I said.
She held a pondering pose for several seconds before she said, without looking directly at me, “I don’t want to be alone tonight. I really don’t want to stay at my dad’s house again by myself.”
I couldn’t have been given a wider window if I’d asked for it.
“You could stay over at my house again if you’d like.”
She nodded, still not looking at me. “Okay.”
During the ride back to my house, I was in an internal debate about what to do. A major reason why I’d refrained from things the other night was because we were drunk. However, with us both sober, that was no longer a roadblock. I kept telling myself that if we messed around, our feelings had great potential to be hurt again. Yet, the more I glanced over at her in the passenger seat, the less I cared about what made sense or what was appropriate. I wanted her so badly, and the longer she stayed in Rome, the harder it was for me to restrain myself.
I parked the Focus in the driveway and turned the car off. We both sat there, unmoving. Our eyes were staring straight ahead, but we were both riding the same wave.
“I’m going to take the couch tonight,” said Bailey.
I looked over at her, silencing every voice yelling in my head and going with my gut. She looked at me, her lips inviting me.
“I know you’re a gentleman, but I really don’t mind,” she said. “It’s your house, and it’s silly to have you not sleep in—”
I reached over, grabbed her, and pulled her into me. I kissed her soft, tender lips, instantly remembering how succulent they were and how well they fit with mine. We held it for what felt like an entire minute, and then, we began to open our mouths and slowly become reacquainted with each other’s taste.
I felt her hand on the back of my head. At first, I thought she was going to stop me. Then, I felt her tugging lightly on my hair. I moaned into her perfect mouth.
Chapter 12
Bailey
I became so turned on hearing Darren’s moaning and tasting his hot breath.
The more I played with his hair, the braver he felt about playing with mine. He would grab a handful and lightly pull, drawing out subtle moans of my own.
He pulled away, leaving us both flustered and out of breath. I moved my hand over to his pants, gently massaging his thighs, remembering how excited and overwrought he’d become whenever any part of my body gravitated toward the sword he carried with him at all times.
“Bailey,” he said trying to catch his breath. “I’m not sure.”
“I’m sure,” I whispered. “Don’t over-think it.”
“I have to think about it when it’s you,” he said. “You’re not—”
“I’m not what?”
“You’re not just some regular girl,” he finished. “You’re—you were my closest friend. I still care about you.”
“Then, give yourself to me, Darren,” I begged. “I promise you’re not going to hurt me.”
“What if I get hurt?”
I never imagined th
at Darren could ever be hurt by anything that I could do to him. I knew he wasn’t just saying that, though. His eyes revealed genuine fear.
“How could you get hurt?” I asked. “We haven’t seen each other in six years. You didn’t want to come with me.”
“I wanted you to stay here,” he said. “Just because you left doesn’t mean I stopped loving you. I’ve thought of you every day since you left.”
In those few sentences, he’d managed to fling me into another dimension. I initially couldn’t believe any of the words he’d said, but his eyes still suggested honesty and pain. The pain came from the truth in what he’d professed. I believed him because I’d thought of him every day since I left, too. I tried to lie to myself that I didn’t. But I kept hoping for years that I would wake up one day and he would suddenly appear at my new home of Tennessee. So, if I wanted that so badly, I knew it wasn’t inconceivable for him to want the same thing in reverse.
But instantly, the words “Just because you left doesn’t mean I stopped loving you” were bouncing in my head frantically. I was nearly frozen in place. I warmed up immediately once I felt his hand stroking my cheek again. I was burning for him.
“I’m sorry if what I just said freaked you out,” said Darren. “I need you to understand the volume of my—”
“You can take me back to my house,” I blurted out. “Maybe that is for the best.”
His conflict was clear. He was trying to figure out what to listen to.
“Don’t think about it. Just say it,” I said. “What do you want?”
“I want you,” he said quickly.
“Then, have me.”
We flung our car doors open and hurried into his house. I could barely keep my hands off him. Even as he fumbled with his keys to fit the right ones in the proper holes, I found my own hands fumbling around, feeling around his body. I could feel his strong, broad shoulders and wondered how he looked without a shirt on. He felt like a machine, and I hoped that my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me.
He slammed the door behind us, and we began to kiss again. We wanted to run to the bed, but we also didn’t want to move from our spot. We didn’t want to put our intimacy on hold for even a second.
He pinned me against the door, holding me there with his love and his powerful body. Our hands wandered all the while, becoming reacquainted with each other. I’d forgotten how strong his arms were, how toned his back was, and how big the bulge in his lap would become whenever I teased it.
We didn’t cross the boundaries that our clothes presented, but it was clear that we wanted to rip them off each other. He was aggressively rubbing my chest, running his powerful hands down my body and then gently cupping my pussy.
“Take me to your bedroom,” I said as my desire for him overflowed.
“With pleasure,” he said.
He picked me up, carrying me the short distance from the front door to his bedroom. We continued our kissing and touching all the while, hopelessly trying to make up for the years of lost time in under a minute.
He closed the bedroom door, ensuring that his curious canine friend didn’t follow us. He ran his hands up my legs and under my dress, caressing my skin and body in a way that I’d missed dearly. He firmly squeezed my ass and held me close to him. I ran my hands up his back, running my fingers and nails up his skin, reminding myself just how good it felt to have him in my grasp.
He practically ripped my dress off, revealing the laced, sexy underwear that I’d put on just for him. I stood there, letting him admire me. Meanwhile, I continued wondering what waited for me underneath his clothes. I ran my hands up and down my body, anxiously waiting for my hands to be replaced by his. In my attempts to torture him, he was teasing me. He stood there, watching me. He was like a hungry predator, stalking, thinking up the best way to attack his prey.
He charged at me, lifting me up off the floor and tossing me onto the bed. In less time than it took for me to blink, I realized that Darren was now completely naked.
His body was indescribably awe-inspiring. It wasn’t as if I’d forgotten he was hot. But after a certain point, his perfection had faded away enough that I’d forgotten just how beautiful he actually was.
He was in amazing shape. His muscles were plentiful, and they were toned. It was the best shape I’d ever seen him in. He approached me.
Details had also faded away over time, but they came back to me quickly as soon as my hands felt his nude form. Every curvature, every bulge, every scar, every sexy inch of him. I had grown so wet already, and I hadn’t even guided his massive, throbbing cock into one of my hungry holes.
“I missed you,” said Darren.
I had wanted him to rip off the rest of what I was wearing. I wanted to feel his fingers rub into me and penetrate me as he removed my underwear, and I wanted to feel him grow harder once he fondled my naked breasts as he slid my bra off. But, my impatience won, crumbling my walls like a cannonball after hearing those words.
I got on my knees, looking at him with eyes I hadn’t used in a long time.
“I’ve missed you, too,” I stammered.
I threw off my bra, fondling my own breasts and pinching my nipples. This caused him to grab onto his dick and begin to stroke.
I moaned. “Bring me that dick. I’ve needed it.”
He did as I asked, prompting me to slide off my panties and spread my legs for him. I wasn’t sure how we were going to position ourselves, but I didn’t care. I needed him inside of me.
“How do you want it?” he asked me.
“Any way you want to give it to me.”
He grabbed onto my legs, scooting forward, making me think that he was going to plow into me and we were going to rough our way through an intense session of radical fucking.
Instead, he leaned in between my legs, the tip of his dick hovering near me. He moved his hands to my head, keeping a firm hold on both sides of my face, and leaned in to kiss me.
This wasn’t like the kissing we’d had before. This kissing was much slower. Sometimes, we held our lips together for so long I suspected we might not ever drift apart. This suspicion was given more validity once I could feel his fat tip grazing against my wet pussy.
After several minutes of slow kissing and him humping me with patient vibrations, I grabbed onto a chunk of his hair and roared like an animal.
“Just fucking put it inside me, Darren!”
He chuckled with delight, obliging me almost immediately.
I forgot to breathe upon feeling him plunge into me.
“You’re so fucking wet,” he said growling.
“It’s all for you, babe.”
Our speed remained easy, but his thrusts into me were always deep and managed to expand me further and further. It didn’t take long before I could feel the movement starting to make me cum, and he hadn’t even emptied his load a droplet.
I gripped onto his wrist as I felt myself begin to tighten around his shaft.
“Wow.” He laughed triumphantly. “Already?”
“Yes,” I said in satisfaction. “I hope you don’t plan on stopping.”
“I don’t.”
He was true to his word, and he entered me more times than I counted. Our positions varied, but our desire was constant. We were traveling in uncharted areas, and it was endlessly exciting. It had nothing to do with the journey itself, but about whom I was going on that journey with. Darren was, as he always had been, an exceptional lover who’d never been topped by anyone that had followed him.
After all of the sex, when we were both lying down like contorted acrobats on the bed, we had a large stretch of quiet time. I wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing with the silence, but I’d been contemplating and analyzing the situation like a machine.
I looked over at him, admiring his well-defined back in the moonlight.
“Are you awake?” I whispered.
“Mhm,” he mumbled.
He slowly turned over to face me, grinning as his eyes opened wider.
“Listen,” I said to him. “I feel like we have too much history between us for this to go any further. You know?”
“I ain’t going to propose or anything.” He chuckled.
“I mean maybe this should just be a one-time thing, you know?” I asked. “I don’t want to hurt you again, and I definitely don’t want to be hurt again.”
He leaned up on his elbow, smirking. “So, no more phenomenal sex?”
I laughed, biting my lip. “Yeah, do you agree?”
“Do I agree that we shouldn’t have sex again?” he said. “Hell no. I’m sorry, superstar. As long as you’re here in Rome, I’m going to try and be around you. And now that we both know sex is on each other’s minds, it’s always going to be there.”
He pulled me into him, wrapping me in his arms. I melted into them, feeling secure and full.
“I say let’s not make a big deal about it,” said Darren. “Let’s go with the flow. Be honest with each other, and decide how we feel whenever something comes up. Until then, let’s enjoy each other.”
I couldn’t tell whether his notion was captivating, or if I was just tired. Whatever the case was, I found myself falling asleep with him smiling wider than I had in a long time. I didn’t know what the next day was going to bring for Darren and me, and I was the most anxious I’d been in years because of it.
Chapter 13
Darren
I woke up that next morning expecting to see either a stunning woman or a happy dog. I sat up quickly once I saw that neither was there to greet me.
What I did wake up to was something that I hadn’t in quite some time: Music.
More specifically, I heard the keyboard in my living room being played. It was a melody that I’d never heard before, but I was quickly transported to another place and time as the piece on the keyboard continued.
I threw on a shirt and a pair of shorts, and I went into the living room to face the music.
If I hadn’t been afraid of being called a creep, I would have taken Bailey’s picture at that moment. She was wearing one of my T-shirts with no underwear on. The shirt was long enough that it went down to her knees, which were folded together. Her hair was curly and looked as though she’d worked on it that morning. Whether she had or not was irrelevant. What was important was the music being made on my instrument that I’d become uninterested in using after Bailey left me.
