18. Chapter 18 #2
He motioned me up to the mixing board. Summoner’s eyes bounced between Wooly and I before quickly looking away as I approached.
In awe and very much out of my element, I listened as Wooly talked me through their breakneck recording session he flew in from LA for.
The pair made no sense, but Wooly was on board once he knew who was producing.
He was a big fan, and the pair connected over their shared love of music.
Wooly desperately wanted to include a reworked sample of Shades, a hit Summoner song from the early 90s.
But Summoner quickly shot that down. It would be too meta and force too many connections in the public eye.
Summoner being a secret record producer blew my mind.
How many people knew? How many records did he work on? Were NDAs involved?
A new juicy tidbit of Summoner history my inner researcher would relish looking into later.
“So?” Wooly turned to Summoner.
Smirking Summoner blew out a breath. “I think we can call this one.”
“Fuck yeah!” He punched the air. “I love the man and working with him is a dream, but he’s such a hardass.”
I snorted. “I can imagine.”
“Sadly, for me, this is only our second session. We’ll be back at it, eventually.”
“Yeah, this self-important asshole has some award to accept or something. I’m sure it’s something I’ve won already,” Summoner scoffed.
“Fuck off. Besides, when was that, 30 years ago? New shiny things impress the ladies. Right, Poppy?” He winked at me. The flashing of his dimple gave my heart a flutter.
I noticed Summoner’s jaw clench from the corner of my eye.
Wooly glanced at his diamond-encrusted watch. “I’m gonna get going.”
“You act as if the recording studio gives you cooties or something,” Summoner sneered.
“It’s so dark in here! No windows! No natural light!” Wooly stood up and shook his shoulders as if the heebie-jeebies overtook him.
I laughed.
“He’s an ass, but talking with you, Poppy, has been a joy. Next time I’m in town, let’s grab dinner.”
“I’d like that.”
Wooly extended his arms and pulled me into a tight and comforting hug.
Under his nerdy shirt, his body felt like a wall of muscle.
The women he was with were very lucky. As we pulled apart, I felt a lump forming in my throat.
Wooly pulled Summoner in for a quick slap on the shoulder, the manly hug thing guys do.
I stood against the mixing board as Wooly and his entourage filed out of the studio. In their absence, an awkward silence overcame the space surrounding Summoner and I. He sat at the board with his hands steepled in front of him. His face was a storm of emotions I couldn’t quite make out.
“… Did you want to go with him?” he asked quietly.
His voice startled me so much that it took an extra moment for what he said to register in my brain.
“W-What?” I sputtered.
“You heard me. But for amusement’s sake, I’ll ask again. Did you want to go with him?” The flat pointedness in which he asked wounded me.
My hands lay flat on the mixing board. My fingers found spaces between the dials and knobs to flex and stretch out. I stared straight ahead. My eyes fixed on the smooth blackness of the piano in the next room.
What is he asking me?
Summoner’s chair creaked as his weight shifted.
Suddenly, the quiet was no more. A loud static ripped and crackled through the air as he moved towards me.
I swallowed, but the sudden lump in my throat was unmovable.
A tiny yet unmistakable gasp fled my mouth as his hand brushed against mine.
Sparks. Electricity coursed through me at his touch.
Does he feel it too?
Summoner was a flood, and I was nature, unexpecting and unprepared.
His fingers teasingly traveled up my arm, leaving confusing goosebumps in their path.
The full weight of his hand came to rest on my shoulder.
My breath came in short and light as his fingertips wrapped around the edge of my V-collar.
I gasped. Summoner pressed himself against me.
His body filled in solidness around my softness.
Sandwiched between the mixing board and him, I was trapped.
His body was just as unmoving and unrelenting as the million-dollar piece of equipment in front of me.
His lips rested against my ear. The weighted sound of his steady breathing filled my head.
A heady elixir leaving me tipsy and wanting.
“Poppy…” His delivery was jagged, harsh, yet restrained.
My heart desperately pounded my chest.
“Is that what you want?” Direct sharpness right into my ear.
My eyelids fluttered.
“…Answer me, Poppy. Did you want Wooly?” he asked again.
“N-No…” I forced out of a dry mouth.
His hands skated down my chest. Right where the fabric of my V-collar met, he pushed his hands inside. I moaned at the sudden yet very welcome invasion. His hands caressed the softness of my swollen breasts before his fingertips pinched and pulled my nipples.
“You come here dressed like this. Laughing and flirting. Could have fooled me,” he breathed against my ear before trailing kisses across my jawline and down my neck.
My body trembled quickly, turning to putty in his capable hands.
Suddenly, a series of sharp gasps exploded out of my mouth as his lips attacked my collarbone.
Jealousy, his tongue lashed out. Licking, sucking, draining me dry.
Anne Rice would be proud. It would definitely leave a mark.
His hand fell from my chest, leaving me panting.
He let me linger in a moment of wanting before his hand was back on me.
His hand ran up my thigh, bringing up the hem of my dress.
Delicately, his fingers skimmed along the waistband of my underwear.
The overactive pounding of my heart sent enough blood to my brain that desire had me lightheaded.
Palm flat and fingers outstretched, Summoner slipped his hand into my underwear.
I gasped as his hand quickly settled in the warmth between my legs.
Involuntarily, my body wiggled and writhed.
Summoner’s hips against my ass kept me firmly in place.
My head rolled back and rested on his shoulder as his fingers played in my most intimate place.
“What about that friend of yours? Do you want him?”
What a stupid question.
A sheet of warmth worked its way up from my toes to my core.
“Poppy? I asked you a question,” he pressed.
I could almost hear the teasing smile on his lips as his fingers plunged inside me. My chest tightened as an inrush of air fought for space against the fire of desire burning in me.
“N-N-N No,” I stammered, trying, and failing, to hold onto a fading reality with both hands.
“Poppy, your pussy is quite wet. Am I mistaken in who is making you feel this way?”
The heady scent of my own sex filled my nose.
Summoner fingers were making such easy work of my pussy that they were as much at home as they would be on a guitar.
I was his instrument, and this was the music we were making.
Two fingers thrust in and out of me while another lazily circled my clit.
Systematically, I was being unwound. A sob clawed at my throat.
“I asked you a question.” He bucked his hips forward, and my upper body toppled over onto the mixing board.
Buttons and knobs pressed into my exposed chest. The oddly cool and foreign sensation added to the utter desperation wound inside of me.
“N-No,” I moaned.
“No, what? Who is making you feel this way?”
His free hand pressed down on my back. That extra bit of added pressure was just enough to destroy me.
“I’m a man prone to a bit of jealousy. A character flaw, if you will. I need to know what you want, Poppy. I need to know who makes you feel like this. What do you want?”
“You! Summoner! ONLY YOU!”
Moaning, I exploded on his hand. My back arched against his hold, and my toes curled desperately in my shoes.
For a moment, one glorious moment, my soul danced above my head.
The roar of blood pulsing through me filled my ears.
It was amazing and terrifying all at once, the power Summoner had over me with an orgasm. My jaw went slack as my moaning slowed.
When he pulled his hand free and stepped back, a crushing sense of sadness strangled me. I tried to bury it. I tried to ignore it. But I couldn’t. Stupid feelings. Panties still askew, I stood up and turned to him. Cheeks red, his eyes were downcast as if looking at me caused him physical pain.
Look at me!
“…You…You don’t get to act jealous! You left me. I needed you and you left!”
Emotions ripped through me. The confusion was so thick, I felt like I was drowning. I stammered, my mind racing to find a way to express my feelings to another person.
Unexpectedly, Summoner crashed into me. I buried my face into his chest and his arms circled me. And just like that, I was safe.
“I’m so sorry Poppy. I couldn’t get out of this session. Why didn’t you say something?”
I shook my head.
“We have to communicate with each other. Talk to me,” he pressed.
“You, me, this. I don’t know what this is. I don’t know what we’re doing. …Y-You’re not my boyfriend.”
“Is…Is that label important to you?” he asked. I shrugged. He chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes. I didn’t think things like that mattered at my age, but clearly, they do. They matter to me because they matter to you. Will you be my girlfriend, Poppy?”
Will you be my girlfriend, Poppy?
I replied with a quick nod, while my heart exploded in a sea of fireworks and confetti.