Chapter 7 #2
By the time she pulled down the long driveway to her house the light misting of rain was quickly turning into a soaking pour.
The tires of her Camaro rolled quietly along the wet pavement and past the line of rosebushes framing their large circle drive.
Even in the rain and the dim light of the overcast sky, the deep-red, almost black, roses stood out against their deep green foliage.
Five years ago, her dad surprised her on her birthday, presenting her the one-of-a-kind rose: Velvet Dusk.
He had told her he had it made just for her and no one else in the world would have it.
Ebony smiled and reached up to press the garage button.
The third garage door opened slowly, revealing a person standing in her spot, glaring at her. Ebony sighed. Gavin hardly waited for her to open her door before he began.
"Where the hell have you been?"
Her smile faltered. Gavin stood there like a storm of his own all packed into a six-foot frame, jaw locked, arms crossed, that glare cutting straight through the car door between them and into her chest. Heat prickled beneath her skin; she ignored it just like she always did and gave him a mean smile of her own.
"Oh you know just canvassing the town for guys to join me in my orgy. Although my birthday is months away, one can never be too prepared. Must make sure the roster is prepped and ready," she said, her tone bright and biting.
"Oh sweetheart, my lovely, beautiful Ebbs. There isn't one guy in Stardust County dumb enough for that, much less two."
"Are you sure about that?" she asked coolly, walking past him, giving him a challenging smile over her shoulder.
"Are you sure you want to take this joke further?" His eyes narrowed dangerously like he was just waiting for her to say the wrong thing.
They were half way up the stairs to the bedrooms when she paused and turned.
"How is it that you’ve had loads of…of…conquests, and I’m supposed to have nothing?
" she said, half-joking, but the words held weight. She remembered the box of condoms stashed in his glovebox, the way he came home late some nights ever since his sophomore year. The dates he never admitted to, even though the muffled giggles of girls in the hallway, or the smug glances they threw her way that always soured into hate once they realized Gavin’s attention was never permanent, told her all she needed to know.
His gaze met hers, a hint of cruelty flashing in the dark pupils. "The fact that you say conquests and not chicks I fucked should tell you all you need to know."
She moved fast, completely intending on kicking him, but her foot caught the edge of the stair. Panic sliced through her as the ground tilted, and she saw the flicker of alarm flash across Gavin’s face just before her hands scrambled for the railing.
Instinctively she knew Gavin wouldn't just step to the side and let her plummet. It would be the ground or Gavin. That much she was certain. Would he catch her? Would they both go tumbling under the weight of his tackle? In those few seconds of fear, she feared both.
But the tackle never came.
Instead, he caught her in a crushing bear hug.
She slammed into his solid chest with a breathy oomf and blinked.
Somehow, Gavin hadn’t moved much. He’d planted his feet, taken her full weight, and then pivoted them both against the curving wall behind them.
For a moment, neither of them said a word, they just stood there breathing.
Finally, Gavin spoke first. "And you want an orgy. You can't even walk down the stairs without trying to die. The only orgy you'll be having is me, you, the couch, and a packet of Oreos."
Ebony's hands were still clutched onto him, partially digging into the skin of his forearm and back. "Are they double stuffed Oreos?" she asked, her voice small.
"What kind of orgy would it be if they weren't double stuffed?" he asked, making her laugh.
He lied about the Oreo orgy.
She had just changed out of her school clothes when he appeared in her open doorway.
"You want to go train?" His eyes lit up, clearly eager.
She leveled a stare at him. "So you can beat me up? I think not."
"I've never once beaten you up. For starters, Dad would finally get to live out his secret fantasy of filicide. And secondly, I remember quite clearly you beating the shit out of me a few times." He reminded her, a half-smile tugging at his mouth as his eyes glinted with amusement.
"Only because you let me and need I remind you the thousands of times you threw me across the room?!" She jabbed a finger at his chest.
Evil delight widened his smile, showing off his white teeth, much like a shark’s. "Judo is a lovely sport and it's not my fault you never learned to post."
"The answer is no," she said firmly, heading past him.
He caught up in two strides, his hand closing gently but insistently around her shoulders as he turned her to face him. "Come on. I promise I won't throw you…much."
He also lied about throwing her.
She had been staring up at the ceiling when she finally called it quits and half ran half crawled out of the gym.
Now here she was in the middle of the den straddling his back on top of the massage table.
How did she let him talk her into everything?
She could be doing anything right now. Watching TV, calling Jade to see where she currently was in the country, or finally listening to that crazy apocalyptic podcast Taylor wanted her to listen to.
Yet here she was working up a sweat as she dug her fingers into the muscles in Gavin's back.
Massages had always been a thing they did after training. A necessity to make the next day bearable. Straddling him however was new.
The first time she’d climbed on his back months ago, it had been a clumsy impulse.
The table was too high, he was too solid, and standing wasn’t working.
So she’d swung a leg over him without thinking, only for them both to freeze.
They stayed like that, stiff and startled, until he cracked a joke about her trying to crush him.
It had broken the tension, but not the awareness.
The awareness imprinted itself on the inside of her legs where their flesh touched, never leaving her mind.
"I shouldn't be massaging you at all. You threw me," she grumbled as she kneaded just below his right shoulder, earning her a deep satisfied groan.
Gavin made a derisive snort through the hole of the padded face rest. "It was such a baby throw, and I held you up the entire time. I basically just turned you upside down."
"Whatever," she mumbled to herself. "And besides you're too…hard." She felt his shoulder tense beneath her hands and quickly corrected herself. She could just imagine his grin. "Too hard to massage! Massaging you is tiring. I'm sweating just trying."
Beneath her his body relaxed and he let out a deep groan that vibrated her whole body. "It feels good to me."
Scooting back until she was sitting on his ass she ran her hands down the V shape of his back. "You need another guy to do this. They would be able to get deeper."
"I prefer not to have another man's balls on my back," he said dryly.
Ebony laughed and pushed back her hair over one shoulder and she leaned into her work. "They wouldn’t have to climb on top of you."
Gavin's shoulder flexed as he adjusted on the table. "I much prefer this. Besides I will do you later."
Sure. She's heard that before. "You always say that but never do."
Her phone buzzed beside her thigh. She reached for it, thumb swiping lazily at the screen. She expected the message to be from Jade or Taylor or maybe even her friend Beryl.
Unknown Number: You shouldn’t wear those skirts. It drives me crazy.
The air shifted. Or maybe it was her heartbeat, stuttering in her chest.
Slowly, her gaze slid to Gavin. He hadn’t moved. His phone sat facedown on the shelf across the room—untouched.
"Less texting, more hands," Gavin grumbled beneath her like an angry bear rug.
"Fine, fine." Still frowning, she put her phone away. Maybe it was a wrong number…but she had been wearing a skirt today.
"Are you going to tell me why you were late? Were you hanging out with that hooligan, Beryl?" Gavin's question interrupted her thoughts.
Ebony smirked. Beryl was a recent friend.
A year older than her, Beryl had graduated last year.
When she was in school their paths never seemed to cross much.
They both moved in their own different worlds.
That was until Ebony got a flat last year and pulled into the local garage to find a girl with purple hair working on cars.
The friendship was immediate, much to Gavin's irritation.
While Ebony enjoyed Beryl's abrasiveness and tell-it-like-it-is personality, it was like oil on a flame when it came to Gavin.
Wondering who Beryl was of course he insisted on meeting her. They bickered instantly.
"No, I wasn’t. I was in a meeting with some of the faculty and then I caught Cameron at swim practice and talked to him for a bit," she explained.
His body went rigid beneath her.
"Does that satisfy your curiosity?"
"No, it does not." He shifted beneath her, forcing her to get off him. Without another word, he stood and stretched, his joints popping in a slow cascade. When he finally looked at her, his ice-blue eyes were set, clear, sharp, unreadable.
"Go shower. Take your pill. The storm will be here in an hour. Meet me in my room."
She wanted to say there was no need. But she would just be lying. Even though she’d long moved past the old memory of the man in her room, storms still made her anxious. Knowing it would be pointless to argue, she went and did as she was told.
Rain was pelting the glass of her room by the time she walked across the hall into Gavin's room. Sitting at his desk, Gavin was staring daggers at his phone while Duke lay on his back at his feet. Absently, Gavin’s toes stroked the dog's pink tummy.
She came in and sat on the edge of his bed. "What's wrong?"
For a split second his expression remained unforgiving as he looked at her, before softening into a smirk. Tossing his phone onto the desk, he stood up and rubbed his hands together. "Are you ready for this Midas touch?"
Ebony laughed — she could already feel the tiring effects of her sleeping pill. Scooting back on the bed she turned over onto her stomach. Wearing a simple white pajama set, shorts and a tank, Ebony rested her cheek against the soft comforter, feeling the bed dip beside her on the left.
She could feel him above her but he wasn’t moving. Her brows furrowed and she was prepared to turn over and look at him when she felt his hands on the straps of her top.
His fingers brushed her skin, they were so warm it made her skin prickle with goosebumps, before they slid under the thin straps of her tank top.
Slow. Achingly slow. He pulled them down over her shoulders, the fabric gliding down her arms until it pooled at her waist. She tensed, breath hitching, but didn’t say anything.
Then came the clasp of her bra. She wasn’t sure why she wore it in here but it seemed wrong not to wear one. A soft snap, barely audible over the sound of her heartbeat thrumming in her ears, pulled her attention back to the moment. The bra loosened and fell away. Gavin still didn’t say a word.
For a second there was no movement, nothing at all. Just the cool air on her exposed skin. Suddenly his hands were on her skin. Slick with oil, her favorite, a vanilla and valerian one that always lulled her to sleep, his hands ran down the curve of her spine.
Ebony sighed and closed her eyes.
His massages were so different from hers.
With him, she spent most of it talking as she worked herself to death to work out his stiff muscles but with her it was vastly different.
His touch was always encased in dedicated silence.
His hands strong and warm against her skin pushing and kneading her until she was utterly pliant.
The sleeping pill she took earlier flowed through her veins reaching every inch of her body wrapping its chains of sleep around her.
The only thing she could concentrate on was the glorious relaxed feeling Gavin was creating as he moved over her buttocks and down the back of her thighs.
Each press dragged something out of her, like he was stealing the last threads of tension and leaving her open. Bare.
"Gavin," Ebony groaned against the fluffy comforter. She could barely keep her eyes open. The gentle amber light of his bedside lamp felt like a lighthouse in the far distance.
"Mmm," he hummed, never pausing from his work.
Drunk off fatigue she thought of the one thing she wanted to say and said it without giving it a second thought. "I love you."
She wasn’t sure if she fell asleep or what. One second, she was there and the next there was nothing but darkness. Until warmth draped over her, tucking itself into every line of her body. She tried to speak, to stay tethered, but all that came out was a soft sound, a plea swallowed by sleep.
Then his breath hit her neck, warm and slow, and the words that followed sank beneath her skin like fangs.
"I do not just love you, Ebony," he whispered, his voice like dark velvet. "Remember that."
And then she fell deep into nothing.