Belonging to Lust

Zaiyia woke up the next morning in her bedroom with the most gorgeous view this world had ever seen, Heath next to her. Sometime in the night her comforters and sheets had been booted down to the end of the bed at their feet, leaving them naked for the sun to heat their skin through her semi-sheer curtains. It was cozy to have such warmth on your bare flesh and not need to chase the morning chill with a blanket. It was enough to almost put a smile on Zaiyia’s face.

Almost.

Fully turning her head to Heath’s side, Zaiyia’s body froze at the sight of his green eyes open and wide awake. He was lying on his back, one knee bent and an arm tucked behind his head as he silently gazed up at her ceiling lost in his own thoughts. Absentmindedly with his other hand, he was lazily curling the end of a single braid of Zaiyia’s hair around his finger. Now this made Zaiyia smile as she resumed taking in the presence of him. And as always, Heath’s extraordinary good looks were almost the excellent distraction from last night’s war.

Almost.

As Heath’s harsh words the day before came back to Zaiyia in a faraway echo, her smile gradually dwindled in size, ‘someone else’s stupid daughter.’ He had said those precise words to her in a state of blind fury, according to him, when she had called him out on it on the way back home. To be honest, Zaiyia didn’t know if she believed that or not. Of course, her heart wholeheartedly believed every word he said. Her mind, however, wasn’t sure if he really thought of her that way, as ‘someone’s stupid daughter.’ If that was the case, what made her so stupid to him?

Was it the fact that Zaiyia wanted to assist Alan, the boy who was the motivation behind the bullying she’d experienced months ago?

Or was it the fact Zaiyia wanted to assist Alice too, the one who instigated the bullying and who was once her most renowned adversary?

Or perhaps it was the fact that Zaiyia was trying to get both Alice and Alan back together when really their relationship was none of her business and should stay none of her business…?

OR…was Zaiyia stupid to Heath because she sought out an underage relationship with her mother’s ex-boyfriend knowing damn well it was wrong?

Perhaps it could also be because, throughout their stormy relationship, Zaiyia fell in love with Heath along the way. No, that couldn’t possibly be it! According to the rest of Heath’s dialogue yesterday, he didn’t believe that children the likes of her and Alan could ever comprehend what the hell love even was.

Lord, if only Heath knew.

If the man had asked Zaiyia for the date she fell in love with him, she honestly wouldn’t remember it. It honestly felt like centuries at this point. Whenever she took the time to look back on it, it seemed archaic, like it had been going on since time first began. There hasn’t been anything unique and new about their love…well, her love. Never has Heath ever expressed any feelings of love he had for her. If he had, it would’ve likely felt like he loved her like the other people in his life, not as the person he was IN LOVE with like she was with him.

Zaiyia’s heart hurt at that fact. She was never one for self-loathing on a crucial mental level, but goddamnit she absolutely despised herself for being too young for Heath to ever see as anything serious. If she had only been older! Things would’ve certainly been different if she was only two insignificant years older.

Lost in her abysmal emotional spiral, Zaiyia didn’t detect when Heath turned his head to glance over at her. He instantly saw the distress on her beautiful face, and it stilled his finger twirling her lone braid around it. Unpleasantness seemed to ooze into the air, and it made him frown now that their blissful morning was in jeopardy. In a soft sleep-heavy voice, Heath strived to pull Zaiyia back to him and out of her dark place. “Hey. You okay, baby?”

Before Heath’s words even registered with Zaiyia, she was already nodding to him. Refocusing on the hunk in her bed, she flashed him an assuring smile then diverted her eyes to her ceiling like he’d done earlier. She didn’t trust that her internal tumult wouldn’t be easily glimpsed on the surface of her eyes, and so she wasn’t about to look at him any longer.

“You sure?” Heath whispered, arching a brow in suspicion.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Zaiyia promised with another nod, her eyes locked on her plain ceiling.

Heath didn’t believe that Zaiyia was ‘good’. In fact, he was getting worried that she might be reliving yesterday’s quarrel and realized she hadn’t excused him at all for his vicious words. Lifting his head slightly from the pillow beneath his head, Heath tentatively asked. “Are WE still good?”

Because Zaiyia didn’t want to lie to Heath, she was almost tempted to tell him they weren’t good. But instead, she clamped her mouth shut, not allowing a single word to be free. She couldn’t tell him the truth, if she did, it would only toss them back to yesterday’s battle again! So then what the hell was she supposed to say?

Was Zaiyia supposed to bare her little heart and soul out to Heath and let him know she was resentful that he thinks so little of her because she’s underage, or that she was incapable of knowing what true love is because she was cursed to be so damn young?

Yeah, right! There was no way Zaiyia was gonna open up those cans of worms not right after they got out of them!

Nodding for the third time, Zaiyia decided to suck up her bravery and turned her head to finally look at Heath. She smiles at him as she makes her pledge. “Yeah, we’re good.”

Smiling in relief, Heath turned onto his side to face her. “I’m glad we’re okay again. I missed us being okay, you know?”

“Yeah, me too.” Zaiyia agreed as she too turned her body onto its side so she could face him. The couple stared at each other for a long time in silence, relishing in each other’s company as the sun continued to keep them in a warm blanket under its rays.

“I don’t like fighting with you, Zai… especially when it’s about something or someone that has nothing to do with us. Looking back at it now, it all seems pretty pointless.” Heath conveyed quietly, his green eyes lowering as he briefly reviewed their major argument yesterday. It did all seem pretty dumb to him now. At least to a certain extent. But he wasn’t going to cover what those extents were as he reconnected their eyes. “If you and I have to argue about something I’d rather it be about you and me, not anyone else’s affairs. No one but us should have that kind of leverage on our relationship.”

Getting Heath’s meaning, Zaiyia had to agree with him there. But her mind was still replaying what he said over and over again. Still, she wouldn’t let him know that though. “I totally agree with you there.”

All of a sudden, a lightbulb went off in Heath’s head. Grinning at Zaiyia, he began to share with her his vision. “Hey, I got a great idea! How about we lay around all day and just be together?”

“With or without clothes?” Zaiyia questioned Heath while playfully rolling her eyes at him.

“If it was up to me? You already know I prefer you without clothes.” Heath answered innocently with a sexy grin. “But if you want to get dressed then that’s fine with me too.”

“I sense a ‘but’ coming along…” Zaiyia drawled, giving Heath a look of suspicion.

“BUT…” Heath chuckled, continuing on. “You’ll soon find that there isn’t really a point in wearing any clothes today because I’m just gonna strip every single material that comes between us right off of you.”

“I thought so!” Zaiyia heralded with a smile. “Sounds like you win this round, Sullivan. We’ll spend the day naked just so long as you provide all the food and drinks.”

“A day of takeout then!” Heath stated, lifting a finger. And that’s exactly how Zaiyia and Heath spent their day together. They lazed around the guest house in the nude with all the curtains drawn and the doors locked, watched horror movies together, talked the day away, ate to their heart’s content, and made love in as many areas as they could. Heath had even managed to persuade her to have sex with them on the back patio in the middle of the night while the whole neighborhood slept on.