by Jade Webb
“Agreed.”
I call over the waiter to settle the bill and we gather our things and stand up from the booth. We each loop an arm through Daphni and bring her outside, where she has now decided to start singing.
After helping Daphni into the backseat of the car, Gabby closes the door and looks up at me. “I never had the chance to thank you for...” She smiles uncomfortably and rolls her eyes. “Well, everything really.”
I shake my head. “You don’t need to thank me.”
“Okay. Well, I had fun tonight. At least let me thank you for that?”
Behind us, Daphni rolls down her window before rolling it back up, then back down again. “Did you guys ever wonder how automatic windows are kind of like a metaphor for how our expectations of life are just illusions?” she asks as she pokes her head outside.
Gabby and I share a smile and I gesture to her sister. “Perhaps it should be Daphni you’re thanking for putting that smile on your face again.”
Gabby laughs as she looks back at her sister. “True.”
She looks back at me and sucks her lower lip into her mouth, as if she’s trying to solve a difficult equation. Then, without warning, she perches on her toes and presses a kiss to my lips as she grips my shirt in her hands. The minute I feel her lips on mine, a switch inside of me flips. For weeks my body has been aching for this and with her perfect pink lips on mine, it’s fucking impossible for me to hold back. So I don’t. Instead I push her back against the car, deepening the kiss. My hands find her hips and I grip them as Gabby brings her hands up to wrap around my neck. My tongue slips in her mouth, meeting hers. The hot heat of her mouth makes my dick spring to action and I feel my erection press uncomfortably against my jeans. As my hands skim up her body, the sound of the car’s horn instantly rips me out of the moment.
I reluctantly pull away and look into the car to see Daphni in the driver’s seat fumbling with the steering wheel. I curse under my breath and look down to see an amused Gabby watching me. She slips away and opens the driver’s door to pull Daphni out and tuck her in the backseat. Collecting myself, and adjusting my hard dick in my pants, I jump into the driver’s seat and take us back to the hotel.
I don’t have a chance to say goodnight to Gabby when I get caught by John on the way up to our rooms needing to discuss the plans for the rest of the week. Reluctantly I watch Daphni and Gabby slip into their hotel room and follow John to go over the week’s schedule. Though I try to listen, I’m too distracted. I can still feel Gabby’s lips crushed against mine, still smell her perfume. And it’s only in the quiet of my bed later that night that, with nothing but silence and my own thoughts surrounding me, that I realize Gabby is it. She’s what I want and everything I never knew I needed. I had never allowed myself to think of the possibility of settling down with a woman before. I had everything I thought I needed already. Love was never part of my plan. And then she happened. And there’s not a chance in hell that I’m letting her slip out of my arms a second time.
41
Gabby
Leaning against the tall pillar backstage, I actually find myself bobbing my head along to Daphni’s newest song. It’s the first time she’s playing it live. Somehow she had managed to get it recorded while we had a few days off in Salt Lake City and judging by the crowd, they are absolutely loving it. In truth, I am as well. It’s different from her usual stuff, incorporating a bit more electronic synth paired with an orchestral chorus, which, weirdly enough, kind of sounds amazing.
“I don’t believe it. Am I finally seeing Gabby Monroe, in the flesh, dancing to Daphni Monroe’s music?” Melissa playfully asks as she approaches, holding her hands up as if she’s filming a documentary. I catch Liam walking beside her and instantly a smile sneaks up my face.
“Not dancing,” I argue. “Swaying.”
“Say whatever you want. I have it on film,” she says as she again pantomimes a camera.
Liam chuckles and I shoot them both an incredulous look before rolling my eyes. “Melissa, your dad jokes are seriously next-level embarrassing.”
Melissa dramatically flips her long, red hair over her shoulder. “Whatever, Gabby. I know you love them. Anyways, I got to scoot. We are working on trying to get Daphni a performance slot for the American Music Awards.”
“Hi,” I say, suddenly feeling incredibly self-conscious as my brain instantly replays our kiss from last night. I had fallen asleep with the taste of him on my lips and a dorky smile plastered on my face. Daphni hadn’t shut up about it either, and had insisted I give her a play-by-play reenactment. And now that he was here again, all I could do was stare at his lips and pray they would find their way back to mine again. I was done with the bullshit. I wanted him, and judging by the way his body reacted last night, and the bulge I felt against my stomach, I knew he wanted it, too.
“Hi,” he responds, and I feel a jab of surprise at how nervous he looks. He shoves his hands into his pockets and looks over to the stage where Daphni is performing before bringing his piercing grey eyes back to mine. “Did you sleep well last night?”
“Very well, thank you.”
This all sounds so foreign and uncomfortable. I force my eyes to look into his and I’m generously rewarded. Liam’s eyes are locked on mine, and I can see burning passion and need swirling in his dark-grey irises. He’s my favorite open book, and while it scared me how easily he wore his emotions in his eyes and on his face, in this moment I am grateful. Because in his eyes I can recognize the same need I have inside of me for his touch and his lips against mine.
I don’t know if I’m the one to take a step closer, if he is, or if we both do at the same time. All I know is that somehow my hands are on his chest, my fingers gripping his shirt as our lips connect and all the noise and people around us fade into nothing.
With his lips on mine, I close my eyes and willingly surrender myself to Liam, let him dominate all of my senses. I allow myself to fall captive to the intoxicating scent of his cologne, the sweetness of his lips, the feel of his fingers digging into my hips, and the sound of our two breaths becoming one. He consumes every single inch of me and, like an addict, I know that after this kiss, I’ll only want more.
But I just can’t care because I know I'm already too far gone. Because something about Liam has sparked something inside of me that I want to explore. I want to know what it feels like to be held by him, to be owned by him. So I tilt my head, opening my lips, allowing him to more fully taste me as he dips his tongue into my mouth. I feel dizzy and drunk as his tongue explores every inch of my mouth and his hands dig through my hair, pulling me closer to him.
Only when the roar of the crowd swells as Daphni finishes her song do our lips finally break apart. Liam’s breaths come out in short pants as he wraps his arms around me, binding my body to his.
“What are you doing to me, Gabby?” he whispers into my hair as he dusts a series of soft kisses on the crown of my head.
It’s a simple question, but I don’t know how to respond. So I press my cheek against his chest and remain silent. And as I feel his heart pound, I realize with a fear I’ve never experienced that I think I may be falling for Liam. With a kiss and a simple question, he may have managed to chip away at the barricades I had spent years building to guard my heart. And it’s that thought that terrifies me the most.
42
Liam
The second I feel my phone vibrate, I dig it out of my back pocket. Still, I can’t stop the smile from spreading across my face as I read the message.
5 minutes. 2214.
I feel a heat course through my body in anticipation as I read the message. I glance around the hotel suite and see more than a dozen crew members crowded around the television set, watching some movie and drinking beer. They’re all oblivious, and thank fucking God, because I know I have a ridiculous smile on my face and an emerging hard-on in my pants.
The next five minutes are painfully glacial, but I’m easily able to slip out of the room an
d make a quick exit. Most of the team has the night off tonight, since Daphni is back in L.A. for three days for the Teen Choice Awards. When Gabby had told Daphni she wanted to stay in Houston to study, Daphni had suddenly decided that I needed a few days off as well and insisted that I also stay behind. Say what you want about her, but Daphni Monroe was quickly becoming one of my best friends.
Most of the crew had also decided to hang back in Houston, and despite the fact that we’ve all been living on top of each other for the last three months and spend our free time bitching about our lack of privacy and desire to get away, we’ve somehow all also inevitably decided to spend every minute of our free time together too, drinking beer kept in the ice bath in the hotel bathroom and ordering pizza delivery.
Needless to say, I’ll take any excuse to leave.
I knock on the door to 2214 and a second later, it clicks open and I slip inside. Gabby’s arms instantly wrap around my neck as she pulls me in for a kiss. I happily oblige as I follow her and we collapse onto each other on the couch.
“Did anyone see you leave?” she asks as she pulls herself off me.
“No one was paying attention,” I respond before pulling her back in for another kiss. She responds just as eagerly, and I feel the blood racing through my body begin to flow to my dick, hardening it instantly. This has become an ongoing issue now that Gabby and I are…whatever the fuck we are. Ever since we first kissed a week ago, we’ve been sneaking in stolen moments alone to be together. Though it’s been exciting, it’s also been fucking exhausting. I am trying to be respectful of Gabby’s desire to be more private, especially after everything that happened with Jordan, but it’s tiring. I also don’t particularly like hiding my relationship. And though I try to push back the anxiety, I can’t help but wonder: Does she even think this is a relationship?
“Liam, what’s wrong?” Gabby asks, a concerned look on her face as she watches me.
“Let me take you out,” I blurt out.
“Out? Like on a date?” Gabby asks, her brow knit in confusion.
“Yes, I want to take you out on a date.”
“I thought we agreed that we didn’t want to be public about this.”
“No, you decided that,” I say, raking a frustrated hand through my hair. “If it were up to me, I wouldn’t hide you from anyone.”
Gabby sits up. “Is that what you think I’m doing? Hiding you?”
“Well, what else do you call what we’re doing? You only talk to me when there’s no one else around. You won’t let me hold your hand or kiss you unless we’re behind a locked door,” I reply, the frustration obvious in my voice.
“Liam, every day we are surrounded by dozens of people. Staff, assistants, publicists, paparazzi. I don’t want people to think they can see what we have and judge it and ruin it. I want for whatever we have to be for just us.”
“So you want to keep me your hidden secret?”
“Yes! No! I don’t know!” Gabby pulls her knees up to her chest and rests her head. “I don’t know, Liam. The first relationship I ever had ended with him trying to assault me in a bathroom while fifty cameras captured it for the world to see. I’m just scared.”
I reach for Gabby, lifting her chin, forcing her eyes to look into mine. “Gabby, I am not Jordan. I would never hurt you. I don’t want anything from you. All I want is to take my girlfriend out for a nice date. Buy her flowers, take her out to a nice restaurant where we can get two meals for $25 with a free appetizer.”
She lets out an adorable snort and rolls her eyes. “Wait, did you just call me your girlfriend?”
“Yeah, why?”
“You think I’m your girlfriend?”
“Of course you’re my fucking girlfriend, Gabby.”
Gabby’s face lights up and she jumps on top of me, pinning me with her legs on either side. Wrapping her arms around me, she presses a firm kiss on my lips. “Okay,” she says. “Let’s do it.”
43
Gabby
“That’s what you’re wearing?”
I look down at my outfit and frown. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”
Daphni rolls her eyes and comes to stand next to me in the mirror. Cupping her chin with her hand, she surveys my outfit.
“Okay, you either need to be showing legs or boobs. And you’re not doing either. Also you need to wear your hair down and play with it through the night. It’s sexy and will totally make him want to grab it while he pins you down and—”
I cover my ears and shake my head. “Okay, okay. I’ll wear my hair down,” I concede. “But I’m not changing—I like this outfit and besides, we’re leaving in like three minutes.”
I pull out my ponytail and let Daphni play with my hair until she’s satisfied. For my date with Liam, I had decided on a simple, dark heather-grey pencil skirt, white tank, and cropped jean jacket with a wedge heel. Though I would never admit it to Daphni, this was actually the seventh outfit I had tried on. I was nervous. This was new ground for me and Liam. This was not just a date for us: it was our debut. We would be leaving the safety and comfort of our bubble, and it terrified me.
A knock at the door finally gets Daphni off me, and she rushes gleefully to the hotel door.
“Daphni! Stop!” I screech, but it’s too late. She opens the door and gestures for Liam to enter.
The minute I see him, I can’t stop myself from smiling. He’s wearing his usual uniform: dark-grey dress pants and a black button down, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing the familiar peek of black ink. God, what was it about rolled-up sleeves and tattoos that got me so hot and bothered?
“You look lovely, Gabby,” Liam says as he crosses the room to offer me a quick kiss on my cheek.
“Thanks,” I mumble awkwardly, painfully aware of Daphni watching us, a huge smile on her face.
“Oh, Liam. Flowers? For me? You shouldn’t have!” Daphni exclaims as she pulls the flowers from Liam’s hands.
Liam smiles in amusement, playing along as he gives me a wink.
“And Liam, good sir, pray tell, are your intentions with my sister noble and pure?” Daphni asks, in a mock British accent.
“Daphni!” I hiss, glaring at her.
Liam smiles and reaches for my hand as he leads me out the door. “My intentions are completely noble, Daphni,” he promises as we leave the room. Once the door closes, he pins me against it and kisses me. “But I must admit, they aren’t the most pure,” he whispers against my lips as he breaks the kiss.
_____
“Okay. I have never been to Albania. I think frogs are actually adorable, and I think mustaches are kind of gross.”
Liam nods along thoughtfully and pauses a long moment to think. “The frogs. That’s the lie.”
A large smile stretches across my face and I shake my head triumphantly. “Nope. I love frogs and they are adorable. Mustaches on the other hand? Disgusting! Drink up!” I push the milkshake toward Liam and he takes a long sip from the bright, neon-pink straw.
After walking for two hours just talking, we had stumbled into a diner. We discovered that we both have an unnatural aversion to the texture of milkshakes, so we decided to order the largest one they have and head right into a game of “two truths and a lie.” I was having a wonderful time discovering that Liam has a pathetic poker face and is the absolute worst liar on this planet. While I, on the other hand, was scarily fantastic.
“I don’t think I can drink any more of this rubbish. I can feel it sliding down my throat,” he complains.
“Fine, I’ll give you a break. I am still struggling to understand how someone who spent six years doing surveillance is incapable of telling a simple lie.”
Liam shoots me a playful glare as he stands up from the table and walks over to pull out my chair. Even though we had ended up at this hole-in-the-wall diner, Liam still insists on opening every door and pulling out my chair for me.
Once back on the street, Liam pins his grey eyes on me, sending a shiver of heat and aw
areness right through me. “What are you up for, Gabby?” he asks, and I know what he is asking me. When I bring my eyes to look in his and see the same desire swirling through him that is consuming me, I know what he is asking, and I know it’s exactly what I want.
“Let’s go back to the hotel.”
Liam hails a cab, and a short while later we’re back at the hotel. I can feel my whole body radiating nervous energy. Silently, we head up to my room, and once the door closes, I turn to look at Liam.
“Are you okay?” Liam asks, his brow furrowed with concern.
I smile weakly and nod. Twisting my hands at my waist, I walk toward the bed and sit on the edge. I force myself to drop my hands to my sides and I look up again to Liam.
He crosses the room in two strides and sits on the bed next to me. Reaching for my face, he tilts my chin so I’m facing him.
“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
I nod. “I know.”
He kisses my lips softly, caressing my cheek with his hand. I force myself to relax into his touch and bring my hands up to wrap around his neck.
His hand leaves my face and slowly skims down my body. As his lips move to kiss my neck, he pushes my jean jacket off my shoulders until it comes to rest on the bed behind me. I let my head fall back, giving him greater access to nip softly on my neck. His hands continue to roam until they find my breasts. When his thumb skims over my nipple, it sends a jolt of electricity through my body and I moan. The sound inflames Liam and he eagerly claims my mouth again with his, thrusting his tongue into my mouth as he kneads my breasts, bringing my nipples to hard peaks.
I bring my own hands down to roam the contours of his hard chest. I feel a surge of power when I feel his muscles ripple as my fingers skim over him, knowing that my touch has the ability to affect him so physically.