Heartkiller

Chapter Seven: Razorblade Kiss

Only inside you, I'm free
I'm tired of waiting
You've got to let me dream
Inside you, baby
I'm not afraid to feel
I want you to love me
Cause you are the one

Tuesday February 13, 2007

The week of Valentine’s Day, Avery was swamped at work. As she had suspected, the abrupt assignments given to her during the holiday season had, in fact, been a final challenge orchestrated by the firm. After seeing her loyalty and commitment to her work, Sterling-Ellis had promoted her to junior partner position and she was ecstatic. She was glad to have finally reached her career goal of becoming an integral part of a law firm. When she told Ville, he was just as happy for her, knowing how much this meant to her. Avery had had a temporary assistant for the first week, but she managed to pull some strings so that her friend Paige took over instead. After Ville had finished his meetings in LA, he flew in to New York; as Avery was booked for meetings through the day, she sent Paige to pick him up from the airport.

By this point, Paige knew what he looked like after having seen a few pictures of Ville. She went to baggage claim and looked for the tall Finn looming over the others.

“Ville, right?” she asked when she approached him. He nodded. “I’m Paige, Avery’s assistant. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

They shook hands.

“She’s going to be in meetings until three, so she wanted me to pick you up.” she explained.

“That’s fine. Thank you for coming.” Ville said.

“Here, let me take your bag.” she offered and started to reach for it.

“It’s quite alright. I can carry it myself, darling.”

“Oh.” she was awed by his politeness. “Well, the car is right this way.”

Paige led the way to the private car waiting at the curb. Ville put his bags in the trunk and got in the car after Paige. The two sat in silence while the driver took them to the apartment. When they reached Avery’s place, they got the bag out of the car and went up to the 43rd floor. Paige had the keys, and, since it was Ville’s first time in here, she gave him a quick tour.

“This is the living room, obviously. Here’s the kitchen and the bedroom is down the hallway. This goes without saying, but I’m sure Avery would want you to treat this like your own home.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“I don’t think there’s anything prepared in the kitchen… She doesn’t cook very often. Do you want me to pick up some food for you? Pasta or something?”

“No, that’s okay. I’m probably just going to take a nap until she gets home. I’m really jetlagged.”

“Alright then. Just call the office if you need anything.” she said sweetly.

“Thank you for everything. You’ve been so helpful.”

“Hahha, that’s my job.” Paige replied. “I’ll see you around.”

She left, leaving Ville to get settled in. He explored the apartment for a few minutes to get familiar with the place. The living room had two tan couches sitting on top of a dark rectangular Persian rug. There was an entertainment center on the wall opposite the large windows and contained a huge flatscreen TV along with a varied collection of DVDs. Ville poked through the collection to see what kinds of movies she had. There were a few clever heist movies such as the Ocean’s Trilogy and The Italian Job, but there were also old school horror and kooky movies like Hellraiser, Clockwork Orange, and Blue Velvet. He was surprised by that last one; he wasn’t aware that she liked David Lynch.

Once satisfied with the DVD collection, Ville went to the bedroom for a nap. He had spent way too much time flying over the past week and was happy to finally have a minute to rejuvenate himself. Walking down the hallway, Ville saw three doors. The first on the right was the bathroom complete with a full bath. The next door was the bedroom, and the door opposite of it led to the study. Ville quickly peeked inside to see a bookshelf of thick volumes and a large mahogany desk. He found it strange that there were no windows there and that it was only illuminated by the recess lights in the ceiling. He closed the door and went to the bedroom next. Walking inside, he saw a Queen-sized bed covered in red sheets. He sighed and immediately fell on top of it, drifting off to sleep rather quickly.

He woke up hours later to the sound of the front door opening, a rather disruptive sound in the midst of the peaceful silence. Ville wandered down the hallway and saw Avery, dressed in a pantsuit, with a pile of files in her arm and the phone to her ear.

“I really appreciate that, but unfortunately I’m busy this evening. I have a meeting with a...” Avery made eye contact with Ville and smirked. “a Valo and Vuode, but I’ll be sure to call and schedule an appointment as soon as I can.”

At her reference to the Finnish word for ‘bed,’ Ville raised his eyebrows, and she only smiled devilishly at him.

“Alright, thank you... Bye.” she finished.

She hung up and put the files on the table by the door. Avery ran up to Ville and jumped into his open arms, burying her face in his neck and wrapping her legs around his waist.

“I’m so glad to see you!” she said and kissed him.

He smiled through the kiss. “I’m happy to see you too, Ave.”

She got down from his grasp but kept her arms around his neck. Because of how much taller he was, Ville had to bend slightly so she could meet his eyes.

“Vuode? I didn’t know you were learning Finnish.” he said.

She blushed and looked down. “It was supposed to be a surprise.”

“Color me surprised.” he said with a grin.

“How was my pronunciation?”

“Pretty good, darling. By the way, was that a reference to...” he let the sentence hang so that she could fill in the blanks herself in case he was wrong.

“Did I mean that we are about to have hot, sweaty, rough sex? Yes, I did. I took tomorrow off so that we can spend Valentine’s Day together properly. No calls, no meetings, nothing. I’m all yours.” she informed gleefully.

“In that case...”

Ville picked her up and threw her over his shoulders. She cackled all the way to the bedroom where he flung her onto the bed. He took off his shirt before clambering on top of her and kissing her giggles away. Avery pulled off the hairtie that held her ponytail in place. She cupped his face and held it close to her own; she didn’t want him exploring any other part of her body just yet. She missed his soft lips and kept her mouth on his, tugging at his bottom lip. Ville slipped his tongue inside her mouth and launched a heated makeout session. It was so heated that it could light a match. That is, if they stopped long enough to do so between the hands roaming through the other’s hair, heavy breathing, and, most importantly, the tongue wrestling. Ville couldn’t help himself from blurting the next line.

“Permission to remove your blouse, counselor.”

“Granted. Now, fuck me, baby.” she breathed.

He proceeded to strip her of her clothing. She reached over to the bedside table and pulled out the remote for the 5-CD stereo that was by the closet in her bedroom. Once she hit the power button, the apartment was filled with the sound of Razorblade Kiss from the last album that had been playing.

“I don’t want the neighbors to hear me.” she explained between kisses.

He continued his work but stole the remote from her hands and changed the CD. It was some sappy Britney Spears song, but he didn’t care. He threw the remote over his shoulder and returned to his work.

“I really can’t make love to the sound of my own voice, babe.” he said with his mouth against her neck.

"But Britney Spears--"

"I'll deal with it." He dismissed.

She burst into giggles, and Ville took this opportunity to make his way down south. Avery was topless, and she unbuttoned her suit pants and slipped them off. He kissed her bellybutton, and it tickled her. He continued his way, tugging her panties down. Avery pulled them down the rest of the way while Ville kissed the skin that was underneath. At his close proximity to her vagina, her back arched. Her breathing quickened. He smiled but made his way further; Avery tried not to let it bother her, but Ville’s goatee tickled her to no end and it completely ruined the mood. She didn’t tell him that, though, in fear of hurting his feelings.

“You know, this isn’t right. After all, you are the one who’s being welcomed home.” she said in a hushed tone.

Avery pulled him up back to her lips and kissed him. She dappled kisses across his jawline and worked her way down his neck. Turning them over so that he was on his back and she lay on top of him, she held his face and grinned down at him. She couldn’t possibly comprehend how handsome he was. His cheeks, flushed from the tension, were high and chiseled, practically qualifying him to be a Hugo Boss model solely by their existence. His hair was in perfect curls, although it was starting to get a little too long, causing him to have to constantly brush it out of his face. In the time he had been on tour, Ville had started to grow out his goatee, helping to further frame his face. The best part, if there was any feature that outranked the others, was his green piercing eyes. When he looked at her, Avery absolutely melted into a puddle, reducing her to a ball of putty in his hands. She mentally shook herself from her reverie and continued to kiss him.

He cupped her supple breasts and she whisked his hands away. This was her time to tease him. She could feel him growing beneath her and started kissing down his happy trail. When she reached the heartagram tattoo below his bellybutton, Avery traced it with her tongue. Once she was done, she softly blew over her work, causing chills to run down his spine. He was done with all this fooling around. Ville needed her now.

With one swift movement, Ville pulled her up to eye level and flipped them over. He pushed inside her and she faintly yelped. It was good pain. He rammed in and out while she held onto his hair. As he continued, she didn't want to pull his hair out and moved her hands onto his back to clutch him close to her. When she climaxed, her back arched and her toes curled with pleasure while she a moan escaped her lips.

The unsettling part was that all this was happening with Britney Spears singing "Crazy" in the background.

Once they finished, the couple lay side by side on the bed trying to catch their breaths. Avery’s forehead was damp with sweat and her lips were swollen from all the kissing. Nonetheless, she turned to Ville and smiled.

“Now that’s what I call a welcome home,” she said, pleased with herself.

“What a welcome it was.” he agreed.

“How are we spending our day tomorrow?” she asked.

Avery lay with her head perched on her right hand, which rested on the pillow at her elbow. She took her free hand and traced the tattoos on his torso, starting with the heartagram over his nipple. Ville hissed with pleasure and caught her hand. He used it to reel her in for a kiss and sighed.

“I’m content right here.” he answered. His face was centimeters away from hers and his hot breath hit her face when he spoke.

“No! We can’t just lay in bed all day. It’s Valentine’s Day.”

Ville continued kissing her cheek and made his way to her earlobe.

“Or sex things!” she added.

He settled back into bed reluctantly to think of a suitable answer. She lay back down as well and curled her body next to his, resting her arm over his torso. Ville wrapped his arm underneath her to catch her waist, and they stared up at the blank ceiling while she waited for his answer.

“Hmm, how about you handle dinner and I’ll think of something to do afterward?”

“Other than sex.” Avery deadpanned.

“Yes, other than sex.” he reassured and laughed. “Although, need I remind you that you promised to show me a proper ‘shimmy’ when I return home?”

She beamed. “Okay, I’ll handle that, too.”

She kissed him and played with his hair. It had gotten rather long, reaching a few inches past his shoulders. Avery liked it long, but it was getting a little out of control.

“I think you need a haircut, honey.” she mentioned.

“You do?”

“Yeah, just a trim though. You need to keep that rocker image, and I need something to hold onto when we’re being raunchy.” she said playfully.

“Who’s got sex on their mind now, Ave? Me or you?”

“It’s hard not to when you’ve got eyes like that looking at me like I’m...I-I don’t know...”

“Like you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met.” He finished.

“Yeah, like that. It’s hard not to smother you in kisses when you look at me like that.”

“I’d really prefer if you didn’t restrain yourself because I’m getting ready for round two.” Ville teased.

“Really?” she asked with an eyebrow cocked. He didn’t respond with words but rather locked her lips with his.

Wednesday February 14, 2007

Avery woke up the next morning to the smell of eggs scrambling on the stove. She pulled on an oversized shirt and followed the scent to the kitchen to find Ville cooking breakfast. He was turned away from her, washing something in the sink, and she snuck up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Good morning, sweetie," she greeted.

Her voice was heavy from having just woken up. Ville turned in her arms and kissed her.

"Good morning. I was hoping to bring you breakfast in bed." He said.

"We could still do that, just not on the bed. As amazing as last night was..." Ville grinned. "...my thighs are killing me and that bed would only serve to remind me. No, I'm sorry, but we're gonna have to make do with breakfast on the couch."

"Did I hurt you that badly, darling?" He asked. His eyes were coated with concern.

"Not enough to make me regret last night. Seriously. That's gonna be hard to beat, mister!" She exclaimed.

“Indeed.”

Ville let out a staggering cackle. She helped him finish up breakfast and served it on two plates. They took their food to the living room and sat on the same couch. Each leaned against one of the couch’s arms and let their feet get tangled in the middle. Avery used her knees to help hold the plate up and started digging in. He had made scrambled eggs and bacon with a glass of orange juice to wash it down.

“Where are you going to get a reservation for dinner this late?” Ville asked.

“Um, House of Wentworth.” She said matter-of-factly. “I’m gonna cook.”

Ville’s face contorted as he tried to think of the best way to say what was on his mind without hurting her feelings.

“Paige said that you don’t cook.” he finally said.

Avery glared. “She said that I don’t cook, not that I can’t cook. It’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

"Then I’ll go run errands later in the day.” Ville said. “I have a couple things in mind for our after-dinner activities so I have to go sort all that out. Get a haircut, too.”

“Dinner at six then?”

“Sure.”

Avery stood up to bus her dishes, and Ville called after her.

“I didn’t know you liked David Lynch.” he mentioned after spotting the DVDs again out of the corner of his eye.

“Of course! I never told you?” she asked as she walked back to the couch.

Ville shook his head. “Nope. I love his movies.”

“Me too. I watched Blue Velvet as part of my Creative Writing class years ago, and that’s when I got hooked. Do you wanna watch one of his movies today?”

“Yeah, that would be fun. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen anything.”

“Okay. Which one do you wanna start with?” she asked and walked over to the entertainment center to fiddle through the collection.

“Umm, I don’t know.” Ville answered as he walked to kitchen to put his dishes away. “I only saw Blue Velvet on your shelf; do you have others?”

“Sweetheart, I have every movie he’s ever made. The guy is a genius; I can’t just own one of his movies. Gotta catch ‘em all.”

Ville stared back blankly, clearly not understanding the reference.

“Nevermind.” she muttered with a smile. “The whole collection is here. We can watch whichever one you’d like.”

“Oh, you have Mulholland Drive? I haven’t seen that one yet.” he asked after seeing the DVD hidden amongst the rest.

“Then let’s watch it.” she said and popped the DVD into the player.

* * * * * *

The afternoon was spent on the couch, in each other’s arms watching horror movies with a pint of ice cream. They were supposed to be sharing said ice cream, but Ville was totally hogging it. Avery didn’t mind too much; she was content just to finally be beside him after five months of touring. She was relieved to have him home safe and sound. Around four o’clock, Ville left to run his errands while Avery set to work on dinner. She had her menu already planned: mashed potatoes, tomato soup, a filet mignon with tomatoes and roquefort, and chocolate eclairs for dessert. By the time Ville got home, dinner was almost ready. She had set the table with two candles and was dressed in a red strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline. The skirt of the dress reached a few inches above her knees. Her hair lay in soft waves and she had a French braid near her forehead to pin the front pieces out of her face.

“Mm, dinner smells amazing, dear.” Ville said as he walked through the door.

“Thank you! I’m almost done.” she said from the kitchen.

She stirred the pot of soup before turning around to see him. His left hand was over his shoulder carrying a hanger covered with an overcoat, which hid what was underneath. She greeted him with a kiss.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“It’s for tonight for our activity afterward.”

She played with his locks. They were much shorter now, reaching his an inch past his chin, and had many layers, the shortest of which lay just past his eyes.

“You trimmed your hair.”

“Mhmm. It won’t bother me so much anymore.” he replied.

He tried peeking over her shoulder to see what she was making, but she wouldn’t have it. She shooed his hands away.

“Not yet!” she warned.

Ville retreated to the bedroom and changed out of his pinstriped button-up and into the suit he had rented for the night. When he came back out, she had set the dinner on the dining table neatly.

“Ooh, a suit! You look so handsome!” she exclaimed. “Does that mean I need to change for our post-dinner festivities as well?”

“No, you look gorgeous just the way you are, darling.” he soothed.

He placed a soft peck on her lips before sitting down. She joined him at the table and they served themselves.

“So where are we going after dinner, Ville?” she asked him as she sipped her soup.

“I can’t tell you that; it’d ruin the surprise!”

“That’s not fair. You wouldn’t let me surprise you with dinner. You already knew I would be cooking.”

“That’s because I was... curious. And you never mentioned that it was going to be a surprise. It was a good one: the food is amazing.”

Avery twisted her mouth to hide a smile. She couldn’t be too upset, especially when he had such good intentions.

“Fine.”

“You’ll like it, I know you will.” he comforted.

“Uh huh.”

“We’re going to your parent’s house this weekend, right?”

“Yep. They’re really excited to meet you!” she exclaimed.

“And I them.”

“They wanted us to come out to the Hamptons to the beachhouse. It’s supposed to be really nice weather this weekend.”

“Oh really? That’d be fun.”

“Yeah, it will be.” She paused and returned to her earlier query. “Seriously, can I at least get a hint or something about what we’re doing?”

Ville burst into laughter. “You’ll just have to be patient, Ave.”

She stuck her tongue out in protest and pouted. They were sitting next to each other, and he reached over and placed a kiss upon her lips. She knew she wasn’t going to get her way, so she dropped the topic and decided to enjoy the dinner. It was nice to finally be in each other’s company face-to-face and to do things, and she didn’t want to ruin it by doing anything stupid, especially on Valentine’s Day.

“You made everything yourself? I couldn’t possibly have been gone that long.” Ville said as she brought out dessert.

“It was like two hours, and yes, I did…” she paused. “Okay, maybe the eclairs are store-bought, but everything else was me.” she conceded.

“Well, it was all amazing.” he complimented.

“Thanks, doll.”

They finished their dinner and made their way out the apartment building. Ville had a car waiting for them, knowing how hard it would have been to catch a cab tonight. The driver already had the address because Ville didn’t want Avery to overhear anything and guess where they were going. Once they got in the car, they made their way to the destination. They sat right next to each other and Ville had an arm sprawled behind her to hold her waist. She leaned into his shoulder and felt so content in that moment. She made no attempts to guess where they were going, even though it was getting under her skin that she didn’t know what the surprise was. Avery was a control-freak, and it was unnerving for her not to know something. When the car stopped, Ville clambered out and helped her. Closing the door behind her, Avery looked up to see the sign: it was a dance hall.

“What are we doing here? This place has reservations booked for weeks and weeks!” she said.

Ville clasped his hand with hers and led them inside, throwing a sneaky glance her way.

“You had this booked for that long? You already knew?” she continued.

“Did you really expect me not to have made plans for today, darling?” Ville asked slyly.

She shrugged her shoulders, fully surprised that he had pulled this off. The hall hosted a dance for couples on Valentine’s day every year, but it was reserved weeks prior and was usually completely booked by Christmas. At that point, the couple wasn’t even sure that they would be able to spend the day together, but here was Ville planning things anyway. Needless to say, she was astounded that he had calculated things so far ahead of time.

They walked inside and Ville presented their tickets, allowing their admittance. The hall was beautifully decorated for the occasion with lavish chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The walls were a deep tan color but looked gold due to the lighting. There were red sashes hanging by hooks on the wall and a string orchestra playing an exquisite arrangement. While the guests danced in the center of the hall, there were attendants serving hors d’oeuvres and champagne. Ville held out his hand and she took it, accepting his offer to dance.

“This is wonderful. Thank you.” she said as they joined the other couples on the dance floor.

“Surprised?”

“Pleasantly.” she answered and gave him a kiss.

They launched into a slow dance with the others, and Avery followed his steps gracefully with an arm around his shoulders and a hand intertwined with his. Ville’s other hand rested at her hip, and he gently bent her down for a dip. Once he lifted them back up, he continued to lead them around the hall.

“This doesn’t count as that shimmy you promised me, you know.” he whispered.

“I should hope not. I bought something just for the occasion.” she said.

He looked at her with an eyebrow cocked; it was his turn to be surprised. She didn’t say anything and simply gave him a kiss.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Avery Louise.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Valo.”

♠ ♠ ♠

So I wanted to take this moment to tell you a couple of things:

1) First and foremost, I wanted to give a big thank you to all my subscribers and to those who have commented/recommended. It means so much to me that I have your support. I really appreciate it. Keep it coming, hahha!

2) As you can see, there are a lot of flashbacks in this story, and the purpose of this is to provide snapshots into the relationship that Ville and Avery had. These glimpses help understand the two of them. It also provides some insight as to why Avery and Ville do the questionable things they do MUCH later in the story.

Let me know what you guys thought of this! :)