by Vivian Wood
“I’m okay, Rhys. Really, I don’t remember a time that I’ve been better. That was…” She tried to find the words, but came up empty. She finally reached the only word that came to mind. “Incredible, Rhys. That was incredible.” She cradled his face in her hand. “I’ve never felt that before, never come apart like that. The things you do to me…”
“You’ve never cum before?” he asked incredulously, eyes blazing.
She cut him off before he jumped to conclusions about last night. “Well, there was last night and by myself, but never anything like that.”
He stroked her hair and kissed her again. When they came up for air, his eyes glinted mischievously. “I’ve wanted to do this almost from the first day I met you, you know? The things I’ve thought about doing to you…” He chuckled softly.
“Really? I’ve wanted it, too. But I never thought you did.”
He kissed her gently, tracing her neck and kissing her collarbone. “How could I not want to? You’re the most beautiful, real girl I’ve ever seen,” he murmured in her ear.
“So that’s what you meant in the limo, huh? When you said ‘not like this’? I thought you meant because you didn’t want me like this.” He stared straight into her soul again.
“Yeah, I wanted to tell you. I just didn’t know how to.” Her voice was small, but she could feel him stirring in her again, clearly as excited by the memory of them in that limo as her.
“Fuck, Serena. I wish you’d told me. I’m a fucking asshole for not letting you explain. But I thought if I let you, you’d tell me how what an asshole I was and leave ‘cause it’s not part of the arrangement. You made it so clear from the start that that wouldn’t be okay with you. And I was selfish and I didn’t want you to leave… I’m an asshole. I should’ve put more faith in you.”
“It’s okay, Rhys. It led us to where we are right now. And where we are right now is pretty fucking amazing.”
He grinned down at her. “Truth. You up for another round, or are you too sore?”
“Are you kidding me, I’ve wanted this for weeks, bring on round two!” she squealed as he brought his mouth onto her nipple again and started moving his hips in slow, delicious circles.
Too soon, he was building up that pressure in her again, tying her body up in knots only he could release, but just as she’d known he would, he delivered on all the promises he’d made her body and her muscles clenched around him and she moaned in perfect bliss.
Chapter Nineteen
They spent the next couple of days in bed, on the couch, in the pool, the screening room and even on the kitchen counter. They ignored their phones and even though he told her that the whole band had remote controls to get onto one another’s properties, no one showed up.
Rhys was more attentive and loving than she ever could have imagined. Always making sure that she was okay before, during and after anything happened. Drawing her hot baths to soothe her aching muscles, only to slip in to the bath with her to make them ache some more.
Rhys insisted that they stay mostly naked. Only allowing for underwear at most, and discarding of them shortly after anyway. The man was insatiable. But then again, as soon as he touched her, so was she. He’d called Marco and the housekeeper that first morning and told them to take some time off.
Marco had objected, until Rhys had squeezed her ass when she'd gotten back to the living room after a shower and she'd squealed. She could hear Marco laugh through the phone as he acceded and said, “Okay, I hear you’re getting your exercise elsewhere for now.”
In her head, she referred to these as their lost days. They were completely wrapped up in one another and the outside world had all but disappeared.
She dropped to her knees in front of him now, water from his double shower heads bearing down on them. He had just made her cum again, standing in the shower and looking at her through hooded eyes.
She hadn't done this yet and she was dying to get a taste of him. Over the last two days, he had insisted that this be about her, about learning what she liked and experiencing it all with him. Now, his cock was rock hard and she couldn't wait to taste it.
She had tried giving Bryan a blowjob once, but he’d looked disgusted and her lips had sooner closed around his cock than he’d jerked away and told her to stop acting like a whore.
Rhys, on the other hand, was staring down at her with barely disguised need and desperation. His breathing was heavy and he was staring down at her like she was about to hand him some kind of award. She licked his tip carefully, swirling her tongue around his head like it was an ice cream cone. He seemed to like it, though, and pushed his cock slightly forward. She took his head into her mouth, and he exhaled in relief. She worked him slowly into her mouth, using her hand as an extension of her mouth when he wouldn't go any further in. The man was huge.
He groaned as his cock hit the back of her throat, his hands in her hair. Not guiding or pushing, just holding her in position, fingers massaging her scalp. She licked and sucked and moved her hand in conjunction with her mouth until he was moaning and his hips were grinding. “Christ, Serena, I’m going to cum. You might wanna…” he trailed off, but there was no way she was moving her lips off of him, she wanted to feel every drop of his cum in her mouth, down her throat.
One final lick along the underside of his cock that she had quickly learned he loved and he was groaning, shooting his thick, hot cum down her throat. She didn't think she'd ever tasted anything better.
He pulled her to her feet, kissing her deeply. Seemingly not at all revolted by his taste in her mouth.
“You are the sexiest woman on this whole goddamn planet,” he moaned as he shut off the water and wrapped her in a soft towel.
“And you make me that way, Rhys. Never in a million years could I be like this with anyone else.”
“I don’t want you to be, princess. You’re mine, you hear me?” He fixed her eyes to his as he said this. Her heart galloped away again… Sure, she had no idea what he meant. But she liked the sound of it, so she didn't ask. She wasn't willing to sacrifice this moment with him by saying something stupid.
They dried off and got properly dressed for the first time in days. “Much as I wanna stay here with you forever, I need to go check on Anders and the guys. We have an interview set up for later this afternoon.”
She changed into a deep purple dress and almost lost the dress as soon as he saw her in it. Kissing her stupid and sliding his hands under the hem, she almost lost all rational thought and led him straight back to the bedroom before he murmured softly to her. “This has to wait, princess, we gotta get to Anders’ place and to that interview. Much as it fucking kills me. You look sexy as all hell in that dress.”
She followed him to the cavernous garage, heading for the Aston Martin. Instead, he led her to the black Range Rover. “Not today, Serena. Let’s just take the Rover. Don’t want to call more attention to us.”
Well, that was new. Wasn't the purpose of her being here to provide a distraction and call attention to them? In the last few days, something between them seemed to have shifted, but she wasn't sure what just yet. She definitely felt something for him, but there was no way he felt that way too, right? Wishful thinking. The sex had been mind- blowing. But to him, sex was probably just sex. He had been clear about what this was from the start, she was here as a distraction, yet here he was, not wanting to call any extra attention to them…
She voiced none of this as she slid into the Rover, cranking up the A/C and the radio and settling into her seat, sunglasses over her eyes and she hoped, every bit the picture of cool confidence.
They pulled up to Anders’ house and it was definitely not just them here. All the guys’ cars were scattered in the drive, along with a few that she didn't know.
“Shit,” Rhys breathed. “I can’t believe they have groupies here, we’re doing the interview in about fifteen goddamn minutes.”
“Do you usually do interviews at your houses?” It surprised her to learn t
hat the interview was supposed to be taking place here. She had thought that they were meeting the band here before heading off to wherever the interview was happening. In her infinite knowledge of rock star interviews, of course… Truth be told, she had no idea how these things usually happened.
“Hell no. This is a first. But there have been rumors about Anders. Annie thinks it’ll work if it looks like we’re ‘inviting people in.’ Bullshit if you ask me, but she didn’t. So here we are.”
Rhys opened the door for her and they walked hand in hand into Anders’ house. The rest of the guys were relaxing on couches, groupies swooning all over them in the living room. As they walked in, still holding hands, the guys catcalled, Luc and Jett started a slow clap and Milo was laughing good-naturedly, joining in the slow clap. “Only three days, Rhysie?” he laughed at them. “I’m disappointed in you. Thought you had more stamina than that!”
Rhys grinned at first at Milo’s taunts, but his smile dies on his lips and his eyes were fixed on Anders, a beer in his hand, glaring at Rhys and Serena like they were the end of his party. Rhys moved toward the same couch that they had found Anders unconscious in front of not so long ago and took the beer from him.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, bro?”
Anders said nothing, still glaring at Rhys. Then he looked at the girls scattered around the room and ordered them away. Milo, Jett and Luc looked between Rhys and Anders for a second before following the girls out of the room.
“Good to see you, Sese,” Milo shot as he gave her a quick hug on his way out the room. Luc and Jett just smiled and winked at her before they were gone as well.
Anders fixed Rhys with his dark glare. “So,” Anders sneered. “The girlfriend is staying then?”
“Yes, Andy. She is. If you have a fucking problem with that, you can fuck yourself with it.”
Anders said nothing, instead he surveyed her like she was an alien.
“Anders, alcohol? Seriously? You need to go to fucking rehab, brother. With the greatest of respect. You can’t keep doing this to yourself!”
“Why the fuck would I go to rehab, Rhys? I got no problem, unless you do.” Anders snorted and Rhys tensed visibly. “In which case, you can fuck yourself with it.” He snidely repeated Rhys’ words from seconds before.
“Look, bro. I know the home was tough on you. You need to deal with what they did to you there, Anders. It wasn’t your fault, damnit. You fucking need therapy. You need to focus on you for a goddamn change.”
Anders cut him off then. “Fuck off, Rhys. I don’t need you fucking preaching to me. Just leave, bro. And take your little slut here with you.”
Rhys took a deep breath, looking like he was about to punch Anders again.
“You don’t fucking call her that! Ever, you hear me?” He had Anders’ shirt balled up in his fist. “And we’ll leave, Anders, but in case you’ve forgotten, we have an interview here starting any fucking minute, so pull yourself the fuck together!” He fumed as Annie stepped in the room, as if on cue.
“Right, gentlemen. I have Drew Prince setting up with the rest on the balcony. If you’ll stop assaulting one another for a second, you have an interview to get to.” Annie didn't seem surprised by the scene in front of her for a second, but she did glance at Serena, letting her annoyance slip through.
Rhys immediately released Anders and walked over to her, tilting her lips up to his and kissing her gently. “We’ll be done in fifteen minutes or so, princess, then we’re blowing this joint.”
He walked to the balcony. Anders glared at her briefly before following.
“Well,” Annie nodded toward her. “Are you coming?”
The guys were spread out on couches on the balcony and a middle-aged, friendly looking man was sitting in a chair facing them. Cameras surrounded him and various cameramen and others were frantically checking cables and shots and the like before one nodded to him. “You’re live in… five, four, three” he stopped talking and counted the host down with his fingers.
Annie kept Serena close to her as the host looked straight into the camera and said, “You’re live with Misery, ladies and gents. Nowhere else than from Anders Grant’s own balcony, chilling with the guys on this glorious Saturday.”
“How’re you doing, Misery?” He turned to them. “Been a while since you’ve come home from your last tour, what’s new with Misery? Can we expect a new album soon?”
Jett launched into an answer, Luc and Milo interrupting from time to time. Rhys and Anders were quiet, but no tension was visible between them. The interview seemed to go seamlessly, it was clear to her that the band had a definite rhythm, an ease with which to face these things that, regardless of what may have been happening personally, was swept away by their public personas.
“So Rhys, we’ve seen a lot of you around town with a certain young lady recently. Want to fill us in on what’s happening there? You’ve never been this openly affectionate before, some are speculating that you’re trying to draw attention to yourself, care to comment?”
“Let them speculate. Serena is a wonderful girl. I’m honored to be spending time with her for as long as she’ll have me.” He gave an arrogant nod as he smirked straight into the camera, but his eyes went soft when they met hers where she was standing behind the camera.
“Is there a Misery wedding in the near future then?”
Her heart completely stopped, her lungs refused to accept air.
Rhys simply chuckled easily, like the question was completely normal and didn't faze him at all. “It’s only been a few weeks, Drew. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? Lest we scare the poor girl off.”
The host asked no questions that concerned her after that, but her head was still spinning. Rhys hadn’t said no!
The band continued their easy banter with Drew Prince for a while before Annie nudged the camera man, who alerted Mr. Prince.
“Well, folks, that’s all the time we have today with Misery. Let us know what you thought using the hashtag #miseryontwo!”
Just like that, the red light indicating that the cameras were on blinked off, and Rhys jumped to his feet. “Pleasure seeing you again, Drew” he said, shaking the man’s hand. Then he nodded to the rest of the band without any further words, grabbed her hand and dragged her to his car.
Chapter Twenty
“Rhys, why are we packing? Where are we going?”
He hadn’t said a word all the way back to his house in the Hills. He had sighed at the ever- present cameras waiting for them at the gate and as soon as they were safely inside it, had slid his sunglasses into his hair, looked over at her with burning eyes and told her to pack a bag for a few days.
“We’re going somewhere private. Somewhere away from this chaos.” He emerged from his walk in closet, duffel bag hanging from his shoulder and pushed his lips to hers in a deep kiss. When he broke the kiss, his eyes lingered on hers for a long moment, a look that she couldn't quite place in them. Then he blinked and whatever had been in his eyes in that moment was gone.
“We need to get away from all this for a minute. Lucky for you, I know just the place.” His confident smirk was back in place, the tenderness having not vanished only from his eyes, but also from his voice.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see when we get there. Pack comfortable, and light. I don’t wanna be lugging a ton of shit around.”
He turned on his heels and she only just heard his voice call, “Meet you in the kitchen in fifteen minutes!” from the stairs.
Damn. She'd really thought they were over this part of their relation - whatever-the-hell-they-were doing. Clearly though, she'd been wrong. Not for the first time when it came to this man. Confusing as heck!
Nevertheless, she must not disappoint her confusing, moody, rock star. With a sigh she grabbed one of her smaller bags and packed quicker than she ever had before.
Rhys was waiting in the Range Rover, talking on the phone. As soon as she slid into the car, he e
nded the call and pulled out of the garage once more.
He turned the music up loud and barely slowed down to allow the cameramen to clear the drive before slamming his foot on the pedal and screeching away, leaving his house and the cameras and everything else behind. His jaw was set, mouth in a tight line as he sped to wherever they were going.
Once they were on the Pacific Coast Highway, he seemed to start to relax. His mouth was softer, and his shoulders weren't as tense. He hadn't slowed down, turned the music down or told her where they were going, but the farther away they got from the house, the more the tension seemed to seep out him. They'd been driving for a while when he rolled down his window, put his arm out the window and let the air slide around his hand, diving it up and down like one does making dolphins with your hand for a child.
Eventually, he turned down the music and shot a glance at her.
“I’m sorry, Serena. I had no right to take any of this out on you. Anders just drives me up the fucking wall sometimes, you know? And what he said about you… Let’s just say it made me want to go back to when we used to settle things differently than how we do now.”
“And you had to get away not to?”
“Yup. But it’s not just that. These past few months have been intense. Need a couple of days to clear my head. Away.”
“You know, if you need to clear your head, you can just drop me at Mary’s for a few days?” A small part of her withered as she made the offer. She didn't want to leave him for a few days again, not when things were finally starting to feel real between them and especially not after how they'd spent the last few days tangled up in each other, but he seemed like he desperately needed some space to ”clear his head” as he had put it.
His face fell. “You don’t want to come with me?” His voice was hard as steel.
“No! No, Rhys, of course I do. God, you have no idea how much. It’s just that I get that you need space, and I’m trying to give you the option to have it. I know that you might have thought that I don’t have anywhere to go, and that why you…”