by Wendy Louise
“Thanks Ava. I needed to hear that.”
Following an introduction from the record label and Rafe, my beautiful boy takes to the microphone at the front of the stage and welcomes everyone to the launch. I’m so full of pride for him that I feel like I may burst. He’s worked so hard to get to this place in his career and his talent knows no bounds.
The boys launch into the first single, my song - Dark-haired girl, and the film clip that we all worked on is now playing behind them on the screen. I haven’t seen it yet.
Sienna comes bouncing over and puts her arm around me as we watch ourselves on screen dancing and being silly. I have to admit that it looks great, and matches the song perfectly. Gray and I look brilliant up there too. I’m surprised by how much they’ve featured our relationship in the clip, but it does highlight the message of the song.
I look back at Gray and he is just so unbelievably beautiful on that stage.
He’s dressed in head-to-toe black tonight. Tight black jeans, black button-down shirt, heavy black boots and black leather cuff on his wrist. His almost black hair just sets the look of bad-boy rocker off. His sleeves are pushed back to the elbow, and a couple of his tattoos are playing peek-a-boo on his muscled forearms.
He leans towards the mic stand and runs his hands down the length of it as he sways in time to the beat. It’s a sensual dance, and one that he has perfected over the years to the point that no woman can watch him up there without wanting him.
Right now, I can’t think of anything but how much I want him.
It’s amazing to me how one person can become your whole world in such a short breath of time. Gray has always been here, right under my nose, and it feels like we have both wasted so much time.
We should’ve been together from the start. The moment I met him I should’ve let him know how much I wanted him.
I guess fate works in weird and wonderful ways, and it just wasn’t our time. It still makes you wonder what the grand plan was for me dating Ryan, and Gray playing the field, while both of us were right here wanting the other.
How do you live without that person once you have found them? How do you go back to a life that doesn’t have them in it?
It makes my heart hurt to think that in no time at all, Gray and I will find out.
Following their set, I make my way over to the stairs at the side of the stage. I need to kiss him after that performance; he has me all hot and bothered.
He climbs slowly down the stairs, smiling that hot smile of his and staring straight into my eyes. He’s covered in a light sheen of sweat after being on stage, which only adds to his appeal. He pulls me to him and I throw my arms around his neck, meshing my mouth to his and kissing him with all the passion I can muster.
He deepens the kiss and runs his hands down my back and over my backside, squeezing the flesh as he goes. Just as I’m about to suggest we find a more private location to continue this, Grayson is pulled back from me.
Again.
Ruby-bitch stands there with her hands on her hips. “Grayson you have an interview with Rolling Stone magazine – now!” She looks her usual pissed-off self and damn if it doesn’t make me smile at her.
“Are you going to make it a habit of interrupting me Ruby? I don’t like it, I’m just saying,” Grayson says, as she grabs his elbow and pulls him from me.
He blows me a kiss with his free hand and moves away.
As I watch Ruby-bitch pulling him from me, I can’t help the dread that settles in my bones. I hope this is not an omen for the times ahead.
I shrug that thought off and make my way over to Ava. She’s talking to Josh and Chelsea, as well as Madeline.
Great!
I don’t feel like dealing with Madeline tonight but I will. I need to be civil for the sake of the movie, and also because she is Ava’s sister-in-law. I can’t be bothered making small talk with her so I saunter over and suggest that we all dance. Everyone is happy with that and we make our way onto the dance floor as a group to enjoy the album and celebrate the music.
After getting into it for a few songs I feel warm arms snake around me from behind. I settle back into the familiar chest that I love, and allow his big hands to clasp my hips, moving us both in unison. I rub my backside against his front and deepen the sweep of my hips. I place my head back on his shoulder and turn my face to the side, inviting him in for a kiss, which he obliges me with. As Grayson’s tongue joins the dance I wonder how I will ever get my fill of this.
“Is it too early for the guest-of-honour to go home?” I ask against his lips.
Gray leans in and swipes his tongue along my bottom lip. “No, we’ve done everything we need to do, and right now I just want to bury myself in you.”
I almost faint on the spot. I’m sure my knees just gave way, but thankfully Grayson is holding me up.
“Let’s get out of here then,” I say, as I grab his hand and we make our way off the dance floor.
By the time we walk through our door, neither of us can wait.
Grayson slams it closed, and pushes me up against it, before I have time to put my keys down. I drop both them and my purse to the floor with a bang, before running my hands over his hard chest and curling them into his hair.
He spins me around so my chest is against the door, and he moves in close, pushing his chest to my back and sandwiching me. I can feel his arousal against my back. He is well and truly ready for me.
“I want to take you here first Liv,” he breathes on my neck as he slowly lowers the zipper of my dress, and runs his hands around the front to cup my breasts. I arch my back and push my sensitive flesh further into his hands, encouraging him to continue his ministrations. My head falls back and rests on his shoulder, allowing him to access my mouth. He kisses me hard and fast, slamming his tongue between my teeth and eating at my mouth.
He slowly runs his hand over my ribs and down across my stomach, taking my dress with him. I am left in my red lace panties and flesh coloured thigh-high stockings, along with my red heels.
Gray pulls back, spins me around to face him and groans. “Jesus H. Christ Liv, are you trying to kill me?”
He meshes his mouth to mine as I run my hands down the front of his shirt, and undo each of the buttons, slowly. I run my hands over his broad shoulders and down across his hard biceps as I remove his shirt, before I lower my hands, tracing every plane of his chest and abdomen.
I find the happy trail that leads to his pants and I allow my fingers to trace over it before moving to the belt on his jeans.
“I want you Gray,” I say, as I lift one leg and wrap it around his hip, opening myself to him. He lifts me effortlessly, and moves us a few steps away to the kitchen table.
“I can’t make it to the bedroom Liv, this is our first stop.”
He lowers me slowly onto the cool glass table top, protecting my head in his large hands. He removes my lace panties, throws them to the floor, and pulls back, staring deeply at me.
“I love you, so much,” he says, as he runs a finger from my collar bone, down between the valley of my breasts, and lower, until he sinks it into my warm heat.
He adds another finger to the rhythm, and I can feel my insides quickening with the motion. My back arches off the glass as my thighs begin to quiver.
“Oh no you don’t,” Gray says as he removes his fingers from me. “I want to be inside you when you go.”
Love and awe mark his features as he holds my stare. He enters me in one swift stroke, causing me to cry out from the sensation. The feeling is exquisite, unlike any I have felt before. He is hard and deep, and the feeling of his skin on mine is heaven.
“I’ll pull out Liv, don’t worry, I just want to feel you like this.”
I’m restricted by the hard table at my back, but I manage to move my hips to take him as far as he can go, and we both cry out in pleasure as the orgasm takes us over the edge together.
Before I have time to come down off the cloud, Gray has lifted me again and i
s striding us down the hallway to my room. He positions me on the bed and crawls over me, running his fingers down the side of my face.
“You. Are. Beautiful,” he says with so much reverence that I almost cry. He grabs my hands and moves them above my head.
“Hold tight to the bed head and don’t let go until I say so.” He removes my shoes and slowly peels off the stockings that I am still wearing.
He gives me a sly smile as he trails kisses from my calf up the inside of my thigh and then repeats the process on the other side. He sucks on the soft flesh at the apex of my thighs, and my breath leaves my lungs.
Grayson Adams has a very talented tongue!
His mouth moves higher, and the urge to run my fingers through his hair proves too much. I remove my hands from the bed head and do just that. Grayson raises his sinful mouth and shakes his head at me.
“Hands back onto the bed head Liv. Do I need to tie you up?”
There is playfulness in his eyes and it warms my heart. I smile at him and place my hands back around the wrought iron curls on my bed head. He can tie me up whenever he likes, but I don’t get a chance to tell him that as he lowers his head and starts all over again, raining kisses along my calf and following the same path as he did previously.
He is working me up into a frenzy, and I’m not sure I can take too much more. My body starts to writhe from side to side, as he places his big hands on my hips to hold me still. With that, his tongue dives deeper and deeper, and within seconds I’m exploding again, head held back, and eyes squished closed, riding the intense pleasure that he is wringing out of me.
As I open my eyes I feel him climbing over me. His beautiful face hovers above mine and he dips his head to kiss me, deep, and passionate, and loving. He grabs each of my hands from the bed head and rubs my wrists before placing them on his back. “Now I just want to make love to you.”
“Yes please,” I say, as I run my nails lightly over his back.
While the first time was hard and fast, this time is slow and sensual.
For the next hour or two Grayson and I spend time just being together.
We’re not Grayson Adams, lead singer of Awesome Rebel or Olivia Lucas, famous actress and star of Forever is Mine - we are just Gray and Liv, two people who are very much in love and want to enjoy connecting and being together before real life gets in the way.
Ava meets me at the Studio the next morning looking gorgeous in a light blue dress and high wedged sandals.
“Morning Sis,” she says as she hands me a coffee.
“You’re here early Ava.”
“Ethan had an early call time. We came in together so I thought I’d go visit Chelsea and grab us both some breakfast.” She hands me a bacon and egg roll. My favourite!
“Thanks,” I say as we make our way into my dressing room. “I’m starving.”
“Lots of sex will do that to you.” Ava says with a grin.
I smile back at her but don’t comment any further. “So what’s on the agenda for today?” I ask, placing my bag and script down onto the bench and taking a seat next to her on the sofa.
“You have a voice lesson this morning and then filming starts at 1pm. It’s going to be a long day today Liv.”
She takes a sip of her green tea. “How’s everything going with Grayson?”
“Unbelievably well. I’m kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop,” I confess.
“He’s really fallen for you Liv, anyone can see that. His focus was all on you last night. No matter where he was or who he was talking to in that room, he knew where you were and had one eye on you. He’s got it bad.”
“So have I Ava,” I say, “and I’m worried about how the time apart is going to change everything.”
“Two months isn’t that long Liv, and we’ll be flying out to the San Fran and Vegas shows. Break it down into little chunks of time and it’ll be easier to deal with.”
“Yeah, that’s a good way to look at it.” I say, thankful that my sister understands where I’m coming from.
Ava continues, “Remember, Mum always says…”
“…Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” we say in unison and then laugh.
“What else has you worried?” She can read me like a book.
“Everything,” I say with a sigh, “he’s got that Ruby-bitch travelling with him, not that I’m too worried about her, I think he genuinely dislikes her, but what about all the others Ava? All the fans and the women that will throw themselves at him just to be with a famous rock star, what happens when he is lonely and tired and needs to take the edge off?”
Ava laughs. “Liv, Gray’s not like that. He loves you; I don’t think you need to worry about him being unfaithful. Remember what happened when I believed all those stupid rumours on the entertainment websites about Ethan - I went crazy and fled the country. You need to remember that most of what they print is false. With you and Gray being apart, you will need to trust him and talk things out if you see anything in the press that upsets you.” Ava laughs, “God, I sound like Ethan!”
“Thanks Sis, I don’t know what I’d do without you here.”
“Well you don’t need to worry about that Liv, you’re kind of stuck with me now that I’ve up and married your co-star. This is my home too now.”
“Speaking of which,” I say, “Can you set me up some time with Ethan to rehearse the scenes we’re shooting tomorrow? Maybe an hour this afternoon?”
“Sure, I’ll talk to Josh and we’ll schedule it.”
Ava rises from the sofa. “I’ll be in the office if you need me Liv.”
I sit down in the large chairs in front of the mirror and stare at my face.
My cheeks are flushed, and my eyes are bright. I smile.
This is the Grayson Adams effect!
I pull my phone from my bag and type out a text,
I love you X
Before I can put my phone down he responds,
I love you more baby X
The goofy smile that engulfs my face is ridiculous.
I shake my head at myself in the mirror – you really do have it bad! - and pick up my script, leaving the room to make my way to my voice lesson.
“Olivia,” I hear from behind me.
I turn to see Ryan striding purposefully towards me.
“Good Morning,” I say amicably.
“Morning,” he says with a grin, before his face drops. “Oh, I was going to see if you wanted to grab a coffee, but I can see that you already have one.” He looks to the cup in my hand.
“Yeah, I’m on my way to a voice lesson actually, so no time to stop.” I want to get away. I don’t want Ryan to get the wrong idea, especially with Gray heading away so soon.
“No worries,” he says, “perhaps we could grab lunch?” He looks hopeful.
I nod. “Yeah sure. Not today though, but talk to Ava and she can pencil something in for us.”
Not exactly a brush-off, but I don’t want to offend him.
“I’ll do that,” he says with a disappointed look on his face. He turns to walk away.
“Liv!” he calls.
“Yeah?”
“I miss you,” he says simply before walking down the hallway.
I feel a small twinge in my heart.
I loved Ryan, and he was so sweet to me, but nobody wants to be second best to their partner’s career, and that’s all I was.
I remind myself of that as I continue down the hallway and turn my thoughts to work.
Sunset love
Seconds turn to minutes, minutes to hours and hours to days.
Very quickly, days turn to weeks, and weeks pass by until all of a sudden it is almost the day we leave for our tour - and I don’t know what happened to the time.
Liv and I have both been frantically busy over the past few weeks. She with filming and me with rehearsing for the tour, as well as publicity for the album.
Dark-haired girl fled to number one on the charts two days after it’s official release, s
o the label were adamant that we needed to bring forward the release of the album to capitalise on the success of the single.
As much as Ruby drives me insane, I’ve got to say, she is incredible at what she does. The publicity machine has been churning non-stop and our album has climbed into the top five on the charts, with a view to number one. The label is ecstatic, but no more than me and the guys, we can’t believe the success we’ve had, and we’re happily riding the wave.
It’s Saturday and we head off on Monday morning, so I’ve planned a really special day for Liv and I. Neither of us have any work or plans so we promised one another that we would set the weekend aside for just us.
Poor Liv has an ear infection, but she’s been taking medication for a couple of days and it seems to be clearing up. Even so, I want to make sure that she enjoys our time together this weekend.
Sienna has still been seeing Cooper, and I’m pleased to say that he has been treating her really well. She is spending the weekend with him at his apartment, before we all leave.
On Monday…
In two days…
Every time I think about it, my heart physically aches in my chest.
I don’t want to leave Liv, and even though I’m excited for the tour, the heartache is overtaking all other feelings that I have right now.
The stupid tabloids are already speculating on what will happen when I leave Liv to tour. Fucking stupid headlines like ‘Grayson and Olivia take time off’ and ‘Time apart – will love survive’ have been gracing the covers. I haven’t even left yet! It makes me worry about what they will say once I do.
Liv and I have promised one another that we won’t pay any attention to the crap they print, but I know it’s easier said than done when you’re in the supermarket line and the fucking magazines are screaming at you from the stands.
I’ve made breakfast in bed for Liv. Her favourite; a crispy bacon and scrambled egg muffin with coffee. She even likes that funky vegemite shit spread on the muffin, so I’ve done that too even though the smell of it makes me want to puke.