Sequel: Beyond the Sun

The Bird and the Worm

twenty four - the finality

I didn’t really know what time it was when Gina and the guys left, but I knew it was late at night.

I opened up one of my numerous suitcases and dug through the clothes for some sort of nightgown while Brian was downstairs turning everything off, and minutes later I was relaxed on the bed with Breaking Dawn open on my lap as an attempt to distract myself from the thought that I was completely alone with Synyster Gates, in his house, waiting for him on his bed, with his blankets keeping my body warm. I was in a place that millions of girls would murder to even get a taste of, and it was barely sinking in.

It didn’t matter, anyway. I didn’t care that millions of girls were dreaming about this. I didn’t care that my mother wanted to pretty much crucify me for allowing myself to tie in so closely with someone like Brian. I didn’t care that Gina may or may not have gone home with Vengeance after dropping everyone else off.

I did care, however, when Brian finally came in with his chin newly shaved and his eyes clear of any and all eyeliner, his body covered by only a pair of boxer shorts, a smile on his unfairly smooth lips. I closed my book with a faint hint of a smile, patting the empty space beside me with a slightly raised eyebrow. He returned the smile, and as he slipped into bed beside me, he pulled me to his side, touched his fingertips to my chin, and gently pressed his lips to mine.

“Feel any different than those three nights on the bus?” I shook my head. “Really now.” The words were probably meant to be a question, but they came out as one of those sexy purrs that just about murders every girl’s ability to respond with a well-structured sentence. Knowing this, he gently kissed me again. “And why is that?”

“Because. I’m still sleeping beside you. The only difference is that I’m living with you now.”

“I knew you were a smart girl,” he said, smiling and brushing my hair from my face. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that my place suits you well.” I wrinkled my nose. “What’s wrong with it?”

I flashed a smile, winking at him as he laced his fingers into mine. “It doesn’t smell like peppermint.” I stroked his chin, where the stubble used to be. “But I like the shave job. You look way better without that grungy stuff.” He smiled and muttered something, but whatever he’d said was lost as I pulled him into the zillionth kiss of the night, tracing my other hand down his torso, my fingertips skimming along his abs. Subtle hints of muscles passed beneath my touch, and as he moved so that he was hovering above me, I smiled against his lips and shivered as his fingers graced my sides with their gentle presence.

My hands moved from his abs to his boxers, my fingers curling around the hem as his fingers pulled my panties down my legs. It was astonishing how quickly the two of us had become used to being together like this, just like the Sims as he ran a hand along my thigh and pulled his lips from mine so that he could kiss the side of my neck. I shivered at the contact, and biting my lip, I pulled his boxers down.
As his lips moved to the other side of my neck, he slid my nightgown up my body, groaning frustratedly as he realized he couldn’t get it past my neck. Realizing this as well, I held my arms above my head, shifting my legs a little in order to get my panties down to my ankles. I didn’t even make him struggle with his boxers. Those were all too easy to slide off, and they landed on the floor, right along with my nightgown. His flawless body was pressed to mine, and I placed my hands on both sides of his face as he pulled his lips from my neck and stared down at me with his endless chocolate eyes.

The smile on his lips was breathtaking, and there was a twinkle in his eye that I’d never seen up close before, and I ran my teeth along my bottom lip as we stared into each other’s eyes. I watched the way his smooth lips moved as he whispered that he loved me, smile still intact, and I returned the words, though in this state of mind, everything sounded like a whisper. In slow motion, his lips touched my cheeks, my forehead, my neck, and my collarbone before merely brushing across the skin right next to my lips. He smiled with each kiss, and my eyes closed as I soaked in the ecstasy.

“You were never like this before,” I breathed, my thumb stroking his skin, and he turned his head to kiss my wrist. This was his way of asking me what my point was. “How come?”

“It’s because I’m more in love with you now,” he gently kissed my chin, “than I was on that bus.” He smiled down at me. “And I mean that.”

“Come here, you freaking sap.”

He smiled. “I like the sound of that.” I rolled my eyes, and he was silenced by it. A smile quirked at his lips, and I pulled him down to me, using his lips as a way of muffling the soft groan I released when his body connected with mine.

For the third time since I’d met him, I gave Brian everything I had to offer.

((Brian’s POV))

This definitely was not our first time being together like this, and that was pretty obvious. Heather knew how I moved, had every touch and sensation memorized, and responded flawlessly to every caress. Each time she pulled me down into a kiss, I could feel myself being buried deeper and deeper in some of the best sensations I’d ever experienced. I loved that it didn’t matter to her that we weren’t married. I loved that she wasn’t pressuring me into marriage just because we thought we were perfect for each other and she had a golden band with glistening stones on her left hand. In this moment that we had together, she expected so little of me and raised the bar for herself.

Every sound Heather made was timed perfectly, and the way she moved with my body instead of against it gave me a certain sort of chills. The way she closed her eyes and moaned softly as I brushed a few sweat drops away with my lips made me want to make this experience go in slow motion, but because I couldn’t do that, I was as slow and sensual about this experience as she wanted me to be.

And the way she breathed, “I love you,” right before everything hit its climax only made everything we’d done on this bed that much more memorable. Her eyes were misted, her lips were parted, and her body arched against mine in a way that hadn’t been possible on the bus. “I love you,” she whispered again, and then a scintillating sound left her lips.

I didn’t know exactly how many minutes had elapsed from the moment we’d first started to the moment at which I pulled her to my side and let her kiss my lips, but I knew that in that space of time, Heather Byrd had managed to change everything I’d thought I’d known about love and the physical act of love.

“I can’t believe I let you go on tour for five months without me…”

I kissed her forehead, chuckling slightly. “And why is that?”

“I’d forgotten how amazing you are, for one thing. I mean, it’s one thing to stare at someone’s shirtless form on a webcam, but to be able to touch you, now that’s something I don’t know why I gave up.” She sighed, lost in thought for a moment, and then she said, “And it’s nice to know you’re actually happy for real instead of seeing you pretend to be happy just so that I won’t be sad.”

“You noticed, huh.”

“I did study body language for almost two years, mister. This,” she rested her hand on my abs, running her thumb along my skin, “doesn’t do too well at lying to me.” Her lips touched my jaw, and I pulled her closer, letting her draw me down into a gentle kiss. Certainly this was a much gentler moment than the one we’d just had together, regardless of how serene and sensual it had been. “There’s just something to the way you move when you smile and mean it.” I smiled down at her. “Like that.”

“I love you, Heather,” I said softly, and her lips lifted into a smile of their own. “And I love that you’re crazy enough to be with a guy like me.”

She laughed. “If I’m crazy, you must be psychotic.”

I chuckled slightly, kissing her forehead as her hand slid along my chest. “I don’t really care what people say, you know. As long as you want me at the end of the day, well, I don’t need much else.”

She flashed a smile and touched my face. “You know, for being an ultra-bad rock star, you can actually have your sweet moments.” She seemed amused by this, and she took my hand, twining our fingers together. “I’m glad I moved in with you, Brian.”

“Come here.”

I pulled her up to my lips, giving her the most intense kiss I could manage, and then we began again.