The NOVA Trilogy Boxed Set

by Jayce, Aven

  “Well, what do you need?”

  Cove quickly reaches for his phone as a text comes through.

  “It’s my mother,” he says, handing me the phone so that I can view what she wrote.

  HE KNOWS SHE’S GONE. STAY PUT.

  I look up to see a ghost-like face before me, and I’m sure mine looks the same. I’m immediately queasy and unable to eat any more of my breakfast. Cove places his hand over mine and gives it a squeeze.

  “It’s going to be okay. We need to just wait it out a little longer before we figure out our next move.”

  “Or before he finds us.”

  “He’s not going to find us,” Cove says, deleting and emptying the trash from his phone. He looks into my eyes and reassures me that everything will be okay. “I’ll say it again. He’s not going to find us.”

  “Okay. I believe you. You wouldn’t have brought me here if you thought we’d be in danger.” I pour myself a second cup of coffee and add some to Cove’s cup as well, warming up the small amount that he has left. “How about your education? Did you go to college?” I ask him.

  “No. I’m not the type of person who would do well in a classroom environment. Could you see me sitting at a desk taking notes?”

  “You actually seem too sophisticated for school, if that makes any sense.”

  “I went to an all boys’ private school for the gifted when I was a teenager. Beyond that, everything I’ve been interested in learning I’ve taught myself through reading and online research.”

  He looks proud of himself for doing so well, despite a few obvious setbacks. I might be more self-reliant like him if I had more time to myself, and didn’t go out partying so much with Mera. We’ve calmed down quite a bit from our college days, and soon I imagine we’ll stop our nights out on the town altogether. I’m not sure exactly what age it is that people decide it’s better to stay home, but I know it happens at some point. That’s why I rarely see fifty-year-olds out in the clubs.

  “Cove, do you have a lot of friends?”

  He doesn’t answer me right away; instead he takes his cup, and sips his coffee. I wait and he smiles. He takes the final bite of his French toast, chews it even slower than before, and ignores my question. He closes his eyes as he swallows, sits back and folds his hands across his stomach.

  “Will you think it’s strange if I don’t?”

  “I think you just answered my question.”

  “You’re right. No, I don’t have any friends. I have acquaintances, like the woman you saw me meet in the park, but no one I would call a friend. Do you have anyone besides Mera?”

  Good call. I hadn’t thought of that in a while. I really only have one friend. I used to be friends with Evan, but we no longer speak to one another now that he’s in a new relationship.

  “No. Only Mera,” I respond, leaning back in my chair. “Does that mean you would consider a girlfriend more of an acquaintance than a friend?”

  He laughs, obviously feeling awkward again. “I suppose a girlfriend would be a friend, and not just an associate. Are you trying to rummage through my past love life?”

  “Well yeah, I wouldn’t mind hearing about old girlfriends. You said before that you’ve had to perform your entire life, and that you were trying to be intimate for the first time. Did your other girlfriends carry out acts with you on camera? Is that what you meant about always having to perform? Haven’t you had private moments with people like we’re having?”

  Cove looks down, obviously distraught by my question.

  “I’m sorry. I just want to know more about you, and past relationships can be very telling about a person.”

  “There aren’t any,” he responds, covering his mouth with his coffee cup.

  “Wait, what? Haven’t you ever had a girlfriend?” I ask, completely shocked that this gorgeous and wealthy man sitting in front of me hasn’t had hundreds of girlfriends. “Not one? How is that possible? If I had seen you when we were teenagers I’d be crawling all over you. Just like I want to now. Didn’t anyone ever approach you or try to kiss you?”

  “You want to crawl all over me?” he says with a smile.

  “Don’t change the subject.”

  “I’ve already explained to you some of the things that happened in my past.”

  “Okay, but you said that ended years ago. What about since then?”

  “It’s complicated. You don’t understand your father’s business. Let’s leave it at that.”

  “No.”

  “No? What do you mean no?” he places his cup on the table and leans forward again.

  “You keep saying let’s leave it at that. No. This is important. You don’t have to tell me exactly what went on, but why didn’t you have a girlfriend?”

  “Yes, I would have to tell you what went on.”

  “Will you tell me eventually?”

  “Eventually.”

  “You can tell me today just as easily as telling me next month or next year.”

  “Sophia, I just asked you to be patient with me. Please don’t make me do this now.”

  I look at his face and notice his lower lip trembles. I guess what he went through was just so terrible that he hasn’t been able to heal. If I was forced to make porn as a teen, I’d feel worthless. I wonder if that’s how he feels?

  “What are you thinking about now?”

  “You; your past, what you must have gone through.”

  He exhales and runs his fingers through his hair. “If I tell you a few things, will you let me decide when the time is right to tell you more?”

  “Yes,” I say quietly. “I’m sorry. I’m curious and I want to know everything about you.”

  “I understand. I feel the same way about you,” he says, placing his phone in one hand, and taking my wrist in the other. “Let’s go lie down in bed for a while and talk. It’s more comfortable, and I want to be next to you, not sitting across from you.”

  He picks up the comforter, throws it over the bed, and I watch it fall gently into place. He sets his phone on the nightstand and we lie next to one another. Cove kisses my forehead, and brushes a few strands of my hair over my shoulder and away from my face. He gives me a long, soft kiss. His warmth is comforting. His hand moves through my hair and I close my eyes, enjoying his touch.

  “You’re wonderful, Sophia. I couldn’t believe such a gorgeous woman was sleeping in my hallway, her shirt off exposing her soft skin. I had been watching you for about a week, but only from a distance. I had no idea you were going to cast such a spell on me when I picked you up and held you in my arms. You were curled up like you had been abandoned. It was the same position my father found me in after my first NOVA experience. I was crying in my bedroom closet, hiding in the corner in a fetal position. I didn’t want him to touch me. He saw the NOVA tattoo on my chest and he knew what had happened. I heard him call your father on the phone. They argued and eventually I cried myself to sleep. My mother never knew what happened to me, but my father? He knew. He knew and there wasn’t anything that he could do. He allowed Paul’s employees to kidnap me and abuse me for years.”

  “Your mother never knew?”

  “Not until my father was arrested, no. I never had my shirt off around her after the tat was there, and she probably just thought I was turning into a moody teenager. She knew about NOVA, I mean, she is one of your father’s employees after all, but she never knew I was the star. She doesn’t work for that part of the company.”

  “That’s fucked up. I figured your mother worked for my dad, but what does she do? And how old were you? And what do you mean people kidnapped you?”

  “My mother is a whole other story, let’s stay on track here okay?” He kisses my lips again and I feel his body tremble.

  “Was that because of me?”

  “I wish. But no, it’s the conversation. Let me get through this, and then I have a question for you.”

  “I’m here for you. Tell me what you can, but please stop if it’s too difficult.�
��

  Cove kisses my lips for a moment before he continues.

  “I was twelve when it started. Eighteen when it was finally over.”

  “Twelve?”

  “Yeah, and completely unable to comprehend what people were doing to me. I’d prefer not to give you details. We’re talking about girlfriends, and that’s what I’m getting to.”

  “Of course.”

  “So people did things to me and I was disgusted with my body, I couldn’t think about touching or being with a girl. I was abused almost daily, and that left me no time to be with friends, or to be a normal teenager. So no, I never had a girlfriend.”

  “I can’t believe I’m part of this family. I can’t believe that my father is this evil.”

  “It’s money, Sophia. People will do anything for money. Your father was also convinced that I was a brat whenever I tried to fight back. He said that any young man would be happy to take my place.”

  “He said that to you?”

  “Yes.”

  “And after? When it was over, you didn’t ever pursue any kind of relationship?”

  “It took me about a year before I realized I was free from the first experience, but I was still working for your father during that time, and for another two years after that. He owned me from the time I was twelve until I was twenty-one, and after that I was still his property, but no longer on any websites. When I was involved in the adult sites after NOVA, I had a job to do every day. It was difficult to come home after doing that type of work, and think about starting a relationship with someone.”

  “What about people you worked with?”

  Cove laughs, rubbing the side of his hand along my cheek, across my shoulder, and down my arm. “What I’m doing with you right now, this closeness, this intimate moment, it doesn’t exist in Paul’s company. You meet someone in the room where you’re filming, you barely talk, and when it’s over everyone gets up and leaves. No, there was never an opportunity to have a girlfriend, nor would I want a girlfriend who was involved in the company.”

  “What about after you stopped? You haven’t been involved with the fucking for years.”

  “Fucking? There you go again.”

  “Well, you can’t tell me you made love to these women, you fucked them. And I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have put it that way.”

  “No. I never fucked anyone.”

  “I know you don’t like to use that word as a reference to having sex.”

  “Sophia. No. I’ve never been inside of anyone before. It wasn’t in my contract, and it wasn’t part of NOVA either.”

  I sit up, my eyes wide, hovering over him. “Are you shitting me? You were in porn videos and online sites for almost a decade and you never put it inside of anyone? I don’t believe you. How is that possible?”

  “It’s very possible. You know full well all the crazy shit people do to get off. Think about the other day in my bedroom. There’s an example. I’ve done everything you could possibly imagine, but I’ve never done the traditional guy in girl.”

  “Holy fuck. Are you really serious? Didn’t you ever try to stick it in? I mean you were in a room with someone, naked, getting it on. Didn’t you ever just give in and push it inside?”

  “Sophia, stop. Why is this so hard to believe? I did what I was told to do, or what was within the limits of my contract, and that was it. There were no substitutions, no improvising. Paul has specific sites for certain clients, and they expect to log on and see a particular thing. Vaginal intercourse was not in my contract. I wasn’t involved in those sites.”

  “I just… wow… I’m sorry, it’s strange to me.” I calm my voice, not wanting to sound so immature with all of the questions that I have for him. “And after? Why haven’t you found a girlfriend after you became a partner in the business?”

  “Same reasons. I film and watch body parts pound into one another for a good half hour. Then I have to edit, add music or sound effects, and post. I see the same crap all day long. It can repulse you after a while, kind of like working at a fast-food restaurant and not being able to tolerate eating anything from the place once your shift’s over. When I’m not working, I’m not looking for a girlfriend. I have other plans. My mother and I have spent a lot of time opening the wine bar together, and hopefully we can open a second place soon. We’d like to have our own successful business, then we won’t have to work for your father anymore, that is, if he’ll let us go.”

  “What can I do to help?”

  “You’re not mad at me?”

  “Cove, why would I be mad at you?”

  “I don’t know. You could hate my life. What I’ve done. Who I am.”

  “You’re a wonderfully kind person who has had some very bad things happen to you and your family. None of this is your fault.”

  Another text comes through and Cove immediately picks up his phone from the nightstand. “It’s your father,” he says in a harsh tone. “See this. This is who he is.” He hands me the phone so I can view the text.

  YOU DUMBASS PIECE OF SHIT. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT. YOU TALK. HE DIES.

  “What? Who?” I ask.

  Cove throws the phone across the room, sitting up slightly and no longer looking at me.

  “It’s much easier to kill a man in prison, than to kill a man who’s free.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  We sit in silence and think about the text. Cove has shut down since it came through, and I can tell he feels guilty about exposing the information with regard to his father being in prison, and the business. If I had known any of this, I would have never accepted a dime from my dad. The car, college, gifts, money, and my loft all negated.

  “Say something, Sophia.”

  “Would my father really kill someone? Or do you know if he has in the past?”

  “I can’t answer that question. I’ve already made the mistake of getting you too involved in this world. The less you know, the safer we all are, and that includes my father.”

  “The more you tell me, the easier it will be for me to help you and your family.”

  “You’re wrong about that, there’s nothing you can do. Now ask me something else, and let’s leave this subject behind us for a while.”

  “You said earlier that you had a question for me. What is it?”

  “Bad timing,” he sighs. “Since you asked me about my girlfriends, I was going to ask you how many boyfriends you’ve had, and if any of them were significant. I understand if you don’t want to talk about relationships anymore. I probably shouldn’t divulge any further information, so I can’t expect you to either.”

  “And if I don’t mind?”

  “Be my guest. I still want to know all you’re willing to share.”

  He gives me a soft kiss. I advance my tongue and he captures it with his. His mouth is warm and his kisses moist. He lifts his head, pushing my shoulders against the mattress as he continues to sweep in and out of my mouth.

  “I love how my body melts when we kiss,” I say, placing my hand under his shirt. “Are your injuries better?”

  “The warm shower helped a great deal. But mainly I feel better because of you.”

  “What can I do to you that’s special? Is there something you’ve always desired sexually, but never experienced?”

  “We’re doing it. Kissing, touching, being intimate.”

  “I meant beyond that.”

  “Isn’t this enough?” he asks, taking my lips and tongue back into his. “I could probably cum just from kissing you. Now that’s something I’ve never done before. And what we did earlier, the dry humping, that was a first. How about you?”

  “Have an orgasm just from kissing? I don’t know. I’ve never tried it.”

  Cove embraces my mouth deeper and harder than before. He pushes his erection against my hip and shivers at the contact.

  “No dry humping, only kissing,” I say.

  He takes a breath and places small kisses along my cheek until he reaches my ear.

  “O
h fuck,” I pant. “That’s not fair. You found one of my sensitive spots.”

  “Kissing doesn’t only pertain to your mouth. I can travel anywhere I want, Sophia. And from what I can tell so far, you have many sensitive areas.” He takes both of my hands and raises my arms above my head while nibbling my ear. I tighten my inner leg muscles, causing a few small rifts to begin deep inside. “Remember, no dry humping,” he exclaims.

  “I’m not, I’m just bucking my lower abdomen. I can bounce, can’t I?” He laughs at me and sucks on my ear. “Oh God, this is going to drive me wild.”

  “Patience. Just think about my mouth, my tongue, and my lips against your skin. Know that I’m hard for you, I desire you, I want you, but I also need you.”

  He brushes his lips along my arm, up past my elbow, stopping at my wrist. He takes my hand, still above my head, and circles his tongue around my palm.

  “Fuck.” My clit aches for the touch of a finger or the pressure of his body. “That feels amazing.”

  He holds my fingers together while wiggling his tongue between each one. The feeling is intense. It’s more pleasurable than I could have ever imagined. Cove takes my ring finger into his mouth. He pushes it into the side of his cheek, then to the back of his throat. My body tightens and relaxes, over and over, until I begin to feel a strong urge build around my clit.

  He stops, takes his shirt and pants off, and undresses me down to my underwear. I can’t believe he’s hard again. I follow the outline of his lips with my tongue, feeling the lushness as they swell.

  “You hard for me, Babe?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? I won’t last too much longer.”

  I run my hand down his side, but he stops me before I can reach his shaft. “No. We’re kissing, remember?”

  “I can’t keep my hands off of you.”

  “Touch me with your mouth and your tongue.”

  I sit up on the bed and straddle him, placing my lace-hidden clit onto his length. “Don’t worry,” I say. “I’m not going to move an inch. Just keep still underneath me.”