56. Truths and distractions
Chapter 56
Truths and distractions
Ariana
A fter our round of shower sex, Luca dries me off and carries me back to his bed. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of him carrying me around in his big, strong arms. I might be a badass, but I love that he makes me feel like a precious treasure.
He’s curled around me—his chest pressed against my back, his cock nestled between my ass cheeks, his breath whispering in my ear, and those fingertips lightly touching me… fuck.
I really love the feel of him against my ass.
His hand skims across my body, settling on the pieces of dandelion fluff on my left hip. “I guessed you had your belly button pierced, but you have more tattoos than I realized. I didn’t know about these,” he says softly, his fingertips grazing the ink. Seriously, I don’t know how I’m getting turned on again after having sex twice and coming three times, but I am.
“One for each person I love. For each person who loves me.”
He raises onto his elbow and studies the tattoo before tracing his finger over the one I added a couple of weeks ago. “This looks newer than the rest. ”
“It is. It’s yours.”
His eyes flick to mine. “When did you get it done?”
I roll onto my back. “The day Mom took Lil and me to the salon. After my drunken freakout and falling asleep holding your hand.”
“Baby…” he leans over me, resting his forehead against mine.
“How long did you stay there that night, Luca?”
“Until after the sun came up.” He lets out a rough breath. “I…I couldn’t leave you.”
I tilt my chin up and kiss him softly. “I thought so.”
He holds my gaze, his brow crinkling slightly. “That was before either of us said it.”
“Yes.”
“I could barely admit it to myself, and you tattooed me on your skin.”
“Okay, but I’m a little willy-nilly about getting tattoos, so is that really the brag you’re making it out to be?”
His bright blue eyes shine when he laughs, and his dimples come out of hiding. God, those dimples.
“I love your willy-nilly tattoos.”
“Good. I’ll probably be covered in them one day.”
He makes a humming sound as his hand moves up and over to the ink just under and to the side of my right breast. “Is this a heart?”
I cringe. “Is that your way of saying it’s shitty?”
“No, no, it’s just?—”
“It’s shitty. I know.”
“It’s not as good as the rest. Where’d you get it done?” He looks up at me curiously.
Shit. I don’t realize I’m chewing on my lip until he drags it out from between my teeth with his thumb. His eyebrow arches as his curiosity grows, and I brush the tip of my finger along the scar bisecting it. “How’d you get this? ”
He reaches up and grabs my wrist, raising it above my head and pinning it to the mattress.
“Don’t change the subject, Minx.”
“What was the subject?” I test the hold he has on me. As always, he’s firm but gentle. “Huh, I think I like this. I bet you could hold both of my wrists with one hand. Can we try that next time?” I squirm, even more turned on than I already was.
“Baby, you have to know by now I’ll try anything with you. Well, as long as it doesn’t involve sharing. Don’t think I could live through watching someone else touch you.”
“I wanted to cut Melissa’s hands off when she put one on you, so let’s just agree on the no sharing rule.” Oops. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.
I hold my breath, waiting for disgust or horror, but it’s amusement that crosses his face.
“And here I thought you were all about guns.”
“I have a very lovely knife collection, thank you very much. I didn’t like being scared of them, so I made them my friends.”
“That’s my fucking girl,” he growls before his mouth slams into mine. Still half-restrained, I squeeze my thighs together as I seek out any kind of friction my clit can find and stroke his tongue with mine.
Luca groans and nibbles my bottom lip. “Fuck. We were talking about something.” He raises up onto his knees and straddles my legs, pinning them to the mattress, too. Holy fuck, why is this so hot?
My eyes are drawn to where his dick rests just above my pussy. He’s not unaffected by our position, but he’s also not fully hard, and I am fascinated by it. “Yeah, we were talking about how you’d try anything with me. But anything is a very, very broad term. I need some parameters here.”
“I think I’d let you peg me if you wanted to. Does that help?”
Huh… never thought about doing that before, but if he’s gonna th row it out into the realm of possibilities, who am I to veto it? “Immensely. Thank you. I might need to make a sex bucket list.” I wrinkle my nose. “That sounds weird. Let’s not call it that. What about non-sexual things? Are they covered under ‘anything’? Because I have some ideas.”
“With the way you’re eyeballing my dick right now, I’m almost afraid to ask.”
“Am I allowed to touch it when it’s soft?”
“It belongs to you. You’re allowed to touch it whenever the fuck you want to.”
“Even if you’re asleep?”
“Even then. Full access at all times.”
“Cool. Same. But about my pussy.” I reach out and graze his cock with the hand that isn’t being held above my head, delighting in the way it twitches against my palm. Taking it between my thumb and fingers, I lift it and move it side to side. “Can I put doughnuts on it? Or onion rings. Ooooooh, let me hold it next time you pee!”
“Half an hour ago, you made me turn my back while you peed, now you want to hold my dick when I do it?”
“It’s called growth. I’ve evolved. Say goodbye to Eevee, I’m Flareon now, bitch.”
“Did you just call me bitch?”
“No. Yes. Maybe?” I slide my fingers down to the base and flop it around. Well, kind of. It’s a half-hard half-flop.
With a groan, Luca pulls my hand off his dick and brings it up to meet my other one. “Focus. The shitty tattoo. Where did you get it?”
Fuck, that’s right. “I don’t… hey, you said it wasn’t shitty,” I pout.
“Baby, I love you. But that tattoo is not great.”
“Yeah, yeah, fine. It’s just, it’s a secret. A me and Lil secret.” I don’t know how to navigate this .
Luca’s face softens. “Oh. Ari, you don’t have to tell me everything. You can have secrets with your best friend.”
“But I don’t like keeping things from you. Or anyone I love. Silly shit, sure. Pranks, shenanigans… but important stuff? It gives me a stomach ache. Now you know it exists, and I want to tell you, but it’s not only my secret.” I turn my head toward one nightstand, and then the other, realizing my phone isn’t in here. “Can I use your phone to text Lil?”
“Of course.” He releases my wrists and climbs off of me. I immediately miss his hold and his weight. I’m more fucked than I realized, but I’m not mad about it. I guess we really do own each other.
He grabs his phone and hands it to me. “She’s under Fartface.”
Chuckling, I bring up his contacts. “Why?”
“I don’t know, I changed it when I was drunk,” he shrugs. “It sounded funnier at the time.”
“I don’t know, it sounds pretty funny right now.” When their message thread opens, I snort. The last thing on it is a middle finger emoji after Lil sent him the Forest Gump waving gif three times in a row.
It’s me. I left my phone in there.
Fartface
Prove it.
Prove that I left my phone in there?
No. Prove you’re Ariana and not Luca being a dick
Um
Hold on
Brain processing
Yeah, okay, it’s you
Rude. Didn’t even let me say the thing I thought of.
Remember that time we went to Disneyland and decided it was a good idea to ride the ferris wheel in a swinging gondola?
And it was not a good idea to ride the ferris wheel in a swinging gondola
And we both cried
Like so many tears
Are you done with that story yet?
No, I didn’t get to the part where you threw up yet!
MOVING ON! What’s up? Did you fools do it?????? You totally did it, didn’t you? You had the sex. Why are you texting me right now? Did something bad happen? Do I need to kick his ass?
No
No, you didn’t have the sex? Or no, I don’t need to kick his ass?
You do need to kick his ass.
*don’t!
Fuck! You don’t need to kick his ass! DON’T!!!!!!
Jesus, I think I had a tiny heart attack
Sorry!
YOU HAD THE SEX!
*eyeroll emoji*
Serious moment please?
I’m ready
He obviously saw the heart
Shit, I forgot about that when I was hyping you up!
Can I… can I tell him?
Make him pinky promise
He doesn’t have the pinky tattoos though
Still counts. He’ll keep our secrets. Unless they put you in danger, that is.
Yeah… okay. Love you.
Love you, too. Bitch
I totally called Luca a bitch like ten minutes ago
Of course you did
You’re in his phone as Fartface, by the way
WHAT?!?!?!
I close out the thread and put Luca’s phone to sleep. He’s still butt-ass naked, laying on his side propped up on an elbow, his lips lifted in a lazy smile.
I love how he looks at me. He makes me feel comfortable in my skin, scarred as it is.
Mimicking his position, I face him. “You have to promise not to tell anyone. Anyone, Luca. No one knows about the tattoos, just me and Lil. ”
“Tattoos?”
“Lil has one, too. Same tattoo. Same place.”
He sighs deeply. “I should have guessed that.”
“Yes, you should have. I’m disappointed in you,” I say with an exaggerated frown.
“I’ll redeem myself.”
“I have no doubt. Anyway, no one else has even ever seen the tattoos.”
“No one?”
“No one. Not even the people Lil’s been with.”
His eyes go wide. “That’s enough information on that, thanks. I swear, I won’t tell anyone.”
I hold out my littlest finger and say, “DeVille promise.”
His gaze narrows on the ink running along the inside, his mouth tilting up a smidge more. “Does it still count if I don’t have the tattoo?”
“It’s legally binding but there’s loopholes.”
“Hmm.” He hooks his pinky around mine. “Guess I know what I’m getting the next time I go to the tattoo shop. Don’t need loopholes.”
“Wait, for real?”
“Focus, Ariana.”
“Stop saying distracting things, Luca.” I really like the idea of him getting the tattoo if he wants it. Ink looks good on him.
He smirks. “I’ll try.”
“Good enough. So, about a year after…” I drag in a ragged breath. Luca drops my pinky and moves closer, curling his hand around my hip protectively. “Mom and Becca went on a trip for a few days. It was the first time anyone left for more than a few hours, but they needed it. And we needed to watch a bunch of Fast and Furious movies with Dad.”
“When you’re ready for a rewatch, count me in. ”
He really does get me. “So Lil and I, we talked Dad into letting us get tattoos.”
“Wait, wait. You were what, fourteen?”
“Yeah.”
“Marco let you get tattoos at fourteen?”
“Yeah.”
“How the hell did you manage that?”
Dropping my eyes from his, I open and close my fist. I can’t tug on a bracelet while I’m laying this way and I really need to tug on a fucking bracelet right now.
Luca sits up slightly, and slips his finger under the bracelet closest to my hand. He slides it off my wrist and onto his.
It’s too tight, overstretched so there’s gaps between the beads.“What are you doing?”
Instead of answering, he puts that hand on my hip again, takes my hand and places it on the bracelet, then settles back onto his elbow. “Now you can mess with it. Well, kind of. Make a few that fit me, okay?”
My brows pinch together. “Why?”
“So you always have more fidget options.”
I rub my fingertip over the beads. Huh… that works surprisingly well. “You’re going to wear friendship bracelets?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “Why not?”
“Like all the time?” I knew he was the one for me before today, but he keeps doing and saying things that make me realize just how true that is. He’s going to wear a pink wedding band for me, and now friendship bracelets?
“Yes, baby. All the time. Now focus.”
“But I was just about to kiss you.” I stick my lower lip out.
“Later. Back to the tattoos.”
“Oh. Yeah. Right. I just… I hated the scars. Still do, but not like I did back then.” Luca opens his mouth but I don’t give him the chance to speak. I need to get these words out. “When we first floated the idea, he just laughed it off. I don’t blame him. But I was dead set on it by then. I told him it wasn’t fair that I had all these ugly scars someone else forced on me. If I had to wear something on my skin for the rest of my life, I should be able to pick the damn thing myself.”
“Damn. That’s a pretty good argument.”
“It worked, so yeah. Since I was getting one, there was no talking Lil out of getting one, too.”
“Okay, so which thing did you get first? The flamingos?”
“No, the chicks with guns. We had just spent a shit ton of time down in the basement learning like everything about guns. Felt fitting, you know?”
“Yeah. Bet your mom freaked out when she got home.”
I cringe at the memory. “God, she was so pissed. I’ve never seen her so mad at Dad. So then I cried because it was my fault, and she felt terrible about making me cry, and…” I slowly exhale, my finger moving back and forth along the beads. “It was a big mess. We promised we wouldn’t get more until we were a little older.”
I drag my gaze away from his wrist and up to the eyes I so easily get lost in. Forcing myself to not do so now, I chew the inside of my lip before saying, “We take promises very seriously.”
“I know. Is that what the heart tattoo is? A broken promise?”
Swallowing, I nod. “Yes. We… we tried. I really tried, Beefcake.” I close my eyes and take a couple of ragged breaths, remembering how the hyper-fixation had set in so deep I felt like I had ants in my blood. “I couldn’t get it out of my head. I loved everything about that first tattoo. I caved. We ordered shit to do some ourselves. And we took turns practicing on the fake skin, but as you can see, we weren’t so great at it. So we swore to keep them a secret and didn’t get any other tattoos for a few years. By then, Mom and Dad were more on board with us doing what makes us happy even if it goes against the norm. ”
“And what makes you happy, Ariana Ray DeVille?”
I let out a breathy laugh. “Being myself makes me happy. Being free to go where the dopamine takes me. Being accepted and loved.”
He moves his hand from my hip to my cheek. “I’m sorry it took me a bit to get there. Accepting you for you.”
“It didn’t take you that long.”
His expression becomes serious. “I am not fucking worthy of you.”
My head tilts as I look at him. “Yes, you are.”
“I loved you right away but was trying so hard to fight my feelings that I focused on stuff I didn’t understand. I shouldn’t have tried to change you.”
“Wanting me to drink water and eat veggies isn’t trying to change me, per se. But it’s good that you realize it’s a lost cause.”
He purses his lips. “Mmhmm. Never going to stop doing that. Gotta take care of my house-cat-plant.”
“I am what I am.” I yawn what I’m sure is a horribly unattractive yawn. But the way he smiles softly at me makes me think he doesn’t find it unattractive.
He leans in and presses his lips to mine. “My girl is tired.”
Humming in agreement, I roll over and snuggle up against him. His hand lands on the mattress in front of me. “Okay, I’m losing feeling.”
Chuckling, I take the stretched-out bracelet off his wrist and slip it back onto mine. It’s a little loose now, but I don’t mind.
Luca pulls the covers over us. “Don’t forget to make me some. I’m in my Midnights era, FYI.”
“That’s a good one,” I say sleepily, my eyes already closed.
I jolt awake to a knock on the door. It cracks open, and Lil’s voice drifts in. “Are you both dressed?”
“What’s wrong, Lil?” Luca asks, his voice raspy from sleep.
She sighs. “I’m having a hard time sleeping alone. I’m not used to it. I’ll get used to it. I will. I promise. But nothing’s working tonight.”
Ah, fuck. My poor Lil. She was so damned sure she would be okay sleeping in her bed alone and basically pushed me out of the room tonight when I almost chickened out for a third time. I know we started sleeping in the same bed because of me, but it’s been our normal for a very long time. I was worried it would be harder for her than she thought.
“Give us a minute.” Luca kisses my temple, then gets up to pull on boxers and shorts. He brings the shirt I stole from him and wore in here earlier over to me and helps me into it.
I cup his cheeks. “You’re an exceptional man,” I whisper. He takes my hand and we walk to the door. Lil’s standing in the hallway, looking sheepish.
“Come on, cuz.” Luca gently pushes her toward her room and we all climb into her bed. After I put on panties, that is.
“Good call, Luca. I don’t even want to know what you two did in your bed tonight.”
“Shut up and go to sleep, Lilith,” he says. I can’t help but giggle as I snuggle into his body again and wrap my pinky around Lil’s.