"Is An Mia in dare, I need help." Ryan emerged from his room. As I snapped my head to look down at him, Mia cursed and scuffled noises came from her room.
I was so busted.
Chapter Nineteen
Soaking wet, we went into the house to change. I thought I'd closed my door completely, but having not been home for so long, I forgot that the door would be caught on the carpet. So when I heard Ryan and saw Christopher's figure outside of my door while I stood there in a pair of underwear and a tank top, feeling like a damned fool. I hurried to the other side of my room the heat flooding my face from embarrassment. Please let him have just been walking by and not have seen me running around half-clothed.
I hesitated at the top of the stairs, but manned up and headed downstairs. I was trying to keep the embarrassment off my face.
Ryan's laughter carried up the steps. When I could see into the living room, I couldn't help but smile. Ryan had his play swords out, and apparently, he had stabbed Christopher, who was lying flat on his back with his eyes closed. I covered my mouth quickly to stifle my laugh. Ryan kept poking Christopher lightly with his sword and saying his name, but he didn't move. Ryan huffed and walked closer. Then Christopher jumped up and grabbed Ryan's sides. Ryan squealed loudly and burst into laughter. This time I couldn't help but laugh aloud. Christopher turned his head quickly toward me. For a short moment, he looked surprised and embarrassed. I kept up my 'pretend it didn't happen' façade. If he had seen anything, he was playing along with me too.
After a round of light sabers and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we settled into the living room to watch a movie. Eventually we all fell asleep, Christopher having slid next to me on the couch and Ry on a bean bag on the floor.
It was almost dinnertime when Ryan finally woke up.
"An Mia?" he said groggily.
Sitting up straighter, Christopher started to stir next to me.
"Hey bud did you have a good nap?" I smiled. He nodded and tried to climb up onto my lap. He frowned when Christopher's arm was in the way.
I tried to push Christopher's arm over but he locked down on me. Grabbing Ry I sat him on Christopher's arm. When Chris tried to move Ryan away, I nudged him with my elbow. He pulled his arm back and opened his eyes. He saw Ryan cuddled up with his back against my chest and his legs stretched out over my lap. Christopher buried his face into my hip and went back to sleep. I sighed, feeling over crowded in my personal space.
After Ryan had about twenty minutes to wake up completely, he spoke up loudly.
"I'm hungry," he jumped off my lap and grabbed my hand to pull me up.
Christopher jerked awake when I let Ryan pull me off the couch. He pulled me to the kitchen.
After order a pizza, playing video games, coloring pictures, and a rousing game of Go Fish, it was time for Ryan’s bath.
It was after eleven when everyone got back from their movie and dinner. Evidently, they had a few drinks as well. Shortly after returning home, everyone wandered off to bed. It wasn't too long before Christopher showed up in my room and lay down next to me. My last thought before going to sleep was wondering if he was doing any better.
"An Mia!" Ryan charged into my room and jumped onto my bed.
Rolling over, I looked at the clock. Yuck…seven in the morning.
"Ry it's early, can't it wait?" I groaned.
"Mommy said we can go to the beach today!!" He started jumping and Christopher started to move around next to me. Ryan stopped moving.
"Is that Cwis?" Ryan looked at me confused.
I nodded. Ryan smiled.
"Is Cwis you boyfend An Mia?!" My face heated while he giggled.
"No, Ry." I shook my head.
Ryan leaned over me and poked Christopher. He raised his head and smiled groggily at Ryan.
"Morning Ry." Christopher put his head back down and covered his face with his hands.
"Did eww huva nightmeer, Cwis?" Christopher's head came back up quickly looking at Ry. I watched Christopher.
"Um…Ry –"
"Yeah Ry, I had a bad dream," he smiled at him.
"Oh," Ryan looked perplexed. "Mommy heps me wiff my bad dweams. She even sings me a song to help me get back to sweep." Ry smiled at him. Christopher smiled back.
"Oh my God, Ryan!" Serena came running in. "Leave Aunt Mia alone. She was sleeping." She gave him a stern look. "I'm so sorry he woke you up." The apologetic look on her face was for me, because when her eyes landed on Chris her face-hardened.
I shrugged and got out of bed.
After breakfast, everyone got ready for the beach. Ryan was beyond excited. He had his sand buckets, shovels, and all the beach toys he owned put into a large bag. The bag being dragged to the car.
When we got to the beach, everyone carried coolers, blankets, towels, and other bags. Laney laid out three large blankets. Kat set up the coolers in rows. Serena put the large beach umbrella up, while I helped Ry get all his toys placed out into the area he claimed for castle building.
"Okay, let's hit the water!" Kat yelled as she stripped off her beach cover-up dress and headed to the edge of the water. Her red string bikini definitely left little to the imagination. Jimmy and Elliott followed closely after her.
Christopher seemed to have found a comfortable spot under the umbrella and lounged with his arm over his face. Apparently, the beach wasn't his thing.
Serena stepped out of her shorts, pulled off her tank top, and headed toward the water in her green halter bikini. Elliott hooted and hollered as she approached the water's edge.
"Wait for me," Laney shouted to Serena. She pulled her sundress off and caught up to her. Laney had on a black bikini that barely covered her ass. Jackson stepped quickly behind Laney, his eyes focused on said lack of ass coverage.
Ryan and I sat building sandcastles and moats until familiar voices interrupted us.
"Mia!" Looking up, Sam, Amy, Jace, Sean, and Jon greeted me with their beach bags over their shoulders.
"Hey," I stood and hugged Amy.
"We heard you were back, girl," Jace walked over and lifted me into a large hug.
John marring Linda, who had lived in the apartments near the beach, introduced us to many of the kids who'd grown up around here.
"Yep, the rest of the gang is swimming." I motioned out to the water.
"Well, let's get out there with them!" Sean yelled and grabbed me up into his arms, I yelled for him to put me down.
"I'm watching Ry!" I wiggled to get out of his hold.
He placed me on my feet.
"I got him," Amy shouted with a laugh.
I screamed again, when Sean grabbed my arms. Trying to dig my feet into the sand for leverage, Jace’s arms wrapped around my legs and they lifted me up together. Both of them carried me to the water. I yelled at them the entire way.
They tossed me into an oncoming wave and then dove into the water behind me. Once my head re-emerged from the water I heard everyone laughing. Sean's laugh was the loudest because he was the closest, so I jumped on him trying to shove him under the water.
My plan foiled when Jace grabbed me and lifted me up. He threw me back into the water. This went on for a while, everyone trying hard to shove the other into the water. Then we switched gears and decided to play chicken. I was on Jace’s shoulders.
At the end of the afternoon, everyone was water logged and tired. Ryan fell asleep in the car on the way back to the house so we agreed on grabbing some take out from the diner in town.
Once everyone had eaten and lounged, we took turns showering. Deciding on a movie to watch for the evening was difficult with so many people; however, we finally settled on Gladiator. Before it was third of the way over, I headed to bed.
I'm not sure how long I'd been asleep, but I woke up to my door shutting roughly. I wasn't completely awake when Christopher's figure appeared at the side of my bed.
"Shit! Christopher," I caught my breath after being startled, "you scared the shit out of me." I tried to lau
gh it off, but looking at Christopher's face there was something off. "Are you okay?"
Nervousness sank into my voice. My nerves were firing warnings across my body when he didn't respond and simply stared intently at me. His eyes roamed over my face and then down my body, making me extremely uncomfortable.
"Christopher, what is wro –" before I could finish he moved.
He quickly moved over my body, using his hand to push my legs apart. I tried to pull myself up, but he was above me too fast.
"C-Chris?" I stuttered. He didn't speak.
His hand cupped the side of my face and his lips came down on mine. The pulse that took over my body was foreign to me. It was the most amazing kiss I'd ever had. Then the reality of the moment started to sink in.
I started to push him away, but he moved his lips over my jaw and down my neck. The fiery sensation he left on my skin was more intense than anything I ever felt. I had to force myself to keep focused on what was really happening. I shoved at him again.
Christopher's hand moved from my face and slid down to my neck, cupping around it. His other hand was pulling on the collar of my t-shirt to give him access to my collarbone. He situated his body and weight between my legs. I almost moaned aloud at the sensation of our bodies pressed together.
"Christopher?" I breathed out heavily.
His lips never moved away from my skin. His tongue and teeth started to graze me. My inner hooker squealed and hurried to shave her legs.
"Eh-Christopher!" I groaned aloud. He ran his hand from my neck down the side of my body.
"Christopher Stop!"
He abruptly stopped everything and rolled off me. Both relief and disappointment washed over me. I lay there for a moment trying to catch my breath and trying to figure out what to say, while Inner Hooker threw her razor back into the tub and grumbled.
"What the hell was that?" I sat up looking down on him. "What's going on with you?" I was a little mad at myself for not being angrier about what he just did.
"I, uh….I…I'm sorry," he whispered out and rolled over.
"What's going on Christopher? Did you have –" he flipped back around toward me.
"No I didn't have a fucking nightmare, Mia! I haven't even gone to sleep tonight." I flinched at his tone and volume.
"Then what's going on with you?" I asked with a little more compassion than anger this time.
"I don't know, just forget it happened," he sat up "I can leave if you want me to. I would understand."
Knowing I should ask him to go, I sat there trying to think. I didn't know what to say.
"Just go to sleep," I finally spat. "Maybe you'll be honest about what's going on with you eventually." I lay back down and rolled onto my side away from him.
Falling asleep did not come easy when you could feel tingling all over your skin. Every place his mouth had touched still burned with desire and the feeling of him next to me in the dark felt like there was an invisible connection between us.
"Mia?" Christopher whispered very close to my ear. I shivered.
"Yeah?" I barely croaked out.
"I'm sorry."
"I know."
"No. I mean I'm sorry about tonight and I'm sorry about all of this." He shifted away from me.
I drifted off to sleep shortly after that and woke to Christopher's arm around my waist, under my shirt against my bare stomach. I nudged him a little trying to get him to roll over. Instead, it caused him to lean closer into my back and to slide his hand further up until it rested just below my breasts. Flames lit across my flesh like tiny erupting volcanoes. Taking a deep breath, I tried to move. He locked his arm around me and nuzzled his face into the back of my head with a sigh.
"Please don't move." I thought he was still asleep, but then my hair moved away from my neck and his lips against my skin.
Glancing to the clock next to my bed it was four in the morning and I had Christopher Mason next to me placing open mouth kisses on my neck.
"Christopher," I used a warning tone hoping it would be enough for him to stop. He didn't. "Christopher, what are you doing?"
Finally, he spoke very huskily in my ear.
"Don't make me stop, please?" My body screamed to let him continue, my brain screamed for me to stop this now.
"Christopher," I gasped when he took my earlobe between his teeth. "Christopher you, we, can't do this…please…maybe you should go back to Seattle…." He broke his silence again.
"I don't want to go back, I don't want to sleep alone," he groaned as his hands stilled.
I turned my head around in an attempt to face him.
"Christopher, I'm not someone to fill your bed for you! I know I agreed to let you sleep with me, but I didn't agree to be one of your whores." I spat defensively. Pictures of all his groupies, the ones I pretended weren't around on the tour, flashed through my mind.
I didn't need more light to know his features had hardened. His body tensed at my words.
"I never said you were a whore," he spat.
"Then what do you call what you are doing? Hmm?" I argued. "You don't want to be alone? So what you climb in my bed to keep you company and think you can climb into my pants because you're horny?"
"I'm not trying to climb into your pants because I'm horny." Defensiveness poured off him in waves.
"Oh really...then what is this? Is it just –"
"Fuck, Mia!" Before I could speak up again he continued. "What is this? I don't know what the fuck this is!" He rolled onto his back and ran his hand through his hair.
"I sleep better than before, not like when you are there, but better. However, I don't want to sleep without you. I don’t want you to be anywhere but next to me. Why? I'm not sure…I can't…I don't know." He sighed heavily.
I was too shocked to speak. He doesn't want to sleep without me. He doesn’t want me anywhere but next to him?
"Then there's this weird connection with you. You have to feel it, fuck, please tell me you feel this too and that I haven't totally lost my fucking mind!" His head moved in my direction but I was still trying to process what he'd said.
He rolled back over to my side and cupped my face again. There was the feeling he was talking about.
"Please tell me I'm not the only one that feels this?" His eyes were close enough for me to see them and to see his was plea.
Before I could even think of a response, his lips crashed down to mine and he pushed his tongue into my mouth. I didn't stop him. Our tongues danced with each other, battling for full exploration of the other's mouth. Christopher slid his hand down my body and wrapped his hand around the back of my knee pulling my leg up over his hip.
Our bodies pressed firmly chest to chest. His erection against my leg only fed the pulse increasing between my legs. Dampness pooled in my underwear and my lower body was on fire. It was a fire that extinguishable only by Christopher.
Reality set in again once his lips moved from mine and over my chin. My inner hooker screamed in frustration and yanked on her hair. I'm pretty sure I heard her scream cock blocker.
"Christopher, I don’t’ think this is a good idea," I breathed out heavily.
His grip tightened on me, but then softened. He sighed heavily against my neck.
"What's going on?" I asked him, slightly annoyed but mostly sexually frustrated.
"I just…I know you feel this thing between us. You have to." His voice was as pleading as his eyes had been.
"I don't know what it is between us, Christopher, but I don't think this is what we should do," I barely got the words out as my body flamed in argument.
"So you want to tell me what's really going on here?" I placed a hand on his head. However, all I wanted to do was fist his hair, yank back his head and attack his mouth.
"Nothing," he mumbled.
"Fine," I said, pulling my body away to roll over and get up. He gripped onto me not allowing me move an inch.
"I don't like other guys touching you," he mumbled quietly.
"Other
guys? What are you –?"
"At the beach," he mumbled his response. I thought about it and remembered the guys at the beach, friends in which I’d grown up.
"Oh my god." I was yelling. "So this is about jealousy? You're all over me because you're jealous of someone touching me?" I had to admit I was flattered but mostly irritated. "Like I'm some new toy for you."
"No," he groaned. "Okay yes, a little." He huffed and removed his hand from me to rub over his face. "I'm kind of…territorial…with you," he whispered. "You don't belong to them or with them."
"Okay, first, I'm not with them, and, second, who is it you think I belong to? You?"
He stayed silent.
"So, you think of me as some sort of possession of yours?"
"No! Christ, Mia, that's not what I am saying," frustration filled his words. I knew he was struggling with something, but just the mention of me 'belonging' to someone was annoying as hell.
"So, then you're saying you can claim me with sex or something?" My irritation was unmistakably evident now.
"I didn't plan anything," he spat, but moved in even closer to my body. "The thing, this feeling, just took over and I couldn't stop. I didn't want to stop."
His mouth was close to my skin again, his warm breath wafted over my skin. I didn't know how to respond to what he was saying. I couldn't think straight with his body pressed so close and his lips just millimeters from my skin. I shifted away from him. He rolled onto his back, leaving an inch of space between us.
Waking up the next morning, I wasn't surprised to find myself alone. However, I was a little surprised at the way Christopher avoided me for the rest of the week at our house. I had to admit I missed his presence, but if I was being honest I was also pissed he would avoid me based off what happened. It was ridiculous. He was ridiculous.
* * * * *
Just being close to her, made my chest lighter. Spending time with her and Ryan made me remember the fun times spent with my mother. It was something I hadn't let myself feel in a long time, something that would have been impossible to do – until now.
Falling Stars Page 25