Chapter 26
twenty-six
. . .
Jordana
Under the stars and the paper lanterns, we explored every booth at the Fall Leaf Festival. We shared apple cider donuts with Eden and Matt and watched a street performer juggle clubs. We had our palms read by a woman who turned out to be Matt’s downstairs neighbor.
And, thanks to Matt, we tried every beer, wine, and cider booth.
Gavin and I paced ourselves, but Eden and Matt were enthusiastic. The difference was that Matt was a big guy who’d done this before, while Eden was a lightweight who didn’t know how to drink.
I tried to keep her in check, our roles reversed for once. But by the time we said goodnight to Matt, Eden was drunk off her ass and loudly insisting we go to Gavin’s apartment because “I need to see where my best friend’s boyfriend lives.”
“Are you sure this is okay?” I asked Gavin, as Eden staggered up the stairs between us. I held her arm, while Gavin carried a bag of kettle corn and a stuffed yellow duck she’d won at the horseshoe toss.
“Positive.” He unlocked his front door and ushered us in.
“Ooooh, this is nice.” Eden wove around the room, patting the couch and bookshelf. “Your house is nice. So, like, what do you do when Jorie comes over? Do you play games, or talk, or…”
“Um,” I said eloquently.
“We talk.” Gavin smiled at her.
Eden stopped in front of Gavin’s photograph of the tongue licking the lollipop. “Wow. This is…wow.”
Gavin glanced at me. I shook my head slightly. No, I haven’t told her about the shoot.
“Eden, would you like to sit down?” Gavin offered.
She snatched the yellow duck from him and hugged it to her chest. “Buttercup wants to sit down.”
“Buttercup?” I asked. “The duck has a name?”
Eden dropped onto the futon, tipping sideways until she was stretched out with Buttercup smushed beneath her. “Ahhh, this is comfy. I’m so tired. I…mmph. Just gonna…close my eyes…”
Gavin’s lips twitched. He eyed me from the side.
“I think my best friend is falling asleep on your couch,” I said.
“I think she already has.”
Eden let out a gentle snore.
“I’m sorry. I can try to wake her—”
“It’s fine.” He went to the red camp chair, picked up the plaid blanket, and draped it over her.
My heart twisted. He didn’t only take care of me; he took care of Eden, because she was my friend. He was a good, kind person who did things to be good and kind.
“Jorie?” Eden’s eyes fluttered open. “Are you here?”
I tucked the blanket more firmly around her. “I’m here. Go to sleep, sweetie.”
She smiled, drifting off again.
I straightened. “I’m sorry we burst in on you like this.”
Gavin’s amber eyes widened. “No need to apologize. Come in the kitchen so we don’t wake her.”
He pulled me to him by the kitchen counter, enveloping me in his heady scent, overlaid with a tart tinge of cider.
“I like you here,” he murmured. “Even if I don’t know what to do with you.”
My head swam. “You don’t know what to do with me?”
“Without a camera in my hand? No, I don’t.”
“I guess you’re right. Where do we go from here? What do we do without the shoot?”
That unguarded smile lit up his face. “This. We do this.”
His lips covered mine. My flower crown was knocked askew as his hands tangled in the ribbons woven through my hair.
“You’re a beautiful fairy princess.” Kisses marked my neck, sweet and burning hot. “You’re perfect. Precious.”
I’d spent so long, so fucking long, feeling anything but precious. I’d lived so many years desperate to run away from myself.
I cupped his face, my voice cracking. “I believe you. I actually believe you.”
Gavin sucked harder on my neck. When I gasped, he lightened up, licking my throat.
“You’ve sounded hoarse all night, kitten. Are you okay?”
“I’ve been using my voice a lot,” I said ruefully.
His thumb rubbed my jawline. “You’ve got two more shows this weekend. Can’t have you losing your voice. Let me take care of my princess.”
Eden slept peacefully through the whistle of a kettle. Gavin poured me a steaming mug of mint tea.
“Honey?” he offered.
I nodded, inhaling the fragrant steam. He handed me a bear-shaped squeeze bottle and a spoon. These little gestures — making tea, offering honey, even noticing my hoarseness — felt huge.
The tea soothed my scratchy throat. Gavin leaned his long frame against the counter, watching me drink. Eden must have been out cold on the couch. She was a heavy sleeper; the girl needed three alarms in the morning to get her going.
Gavin grinned. “Do you feel okay leaving your friend for a little while?”
My pulse sped up. “To go where?”
“My bedroom.”
“As long as we can hear her.”
Gavin’s knowing smile made my stomach drop as we walked down the hall.
“That won’t be a problem. Tonight’s about protecting your voice. It’s one of the most important assets you have.”
He shut his bedroom door behind us.
“My voice,” I echoed, suddenly curious. I’d never had someone talk about my voice. At least, not in a protective way.
Gavin’s eyes smoldered like banked embers. “Your voice matters, Jordana. In your life, your art. In the book we’re making.”
Finishing my tea, I sank down on the bed. “It’s your book.”
“It’s our book. Your story. I would’ve scrapped this project if it weren’t for you. Given up on my dreams. If we hadn’t met…” He shook his head. “You’re my muse, Jordana.”
“You’re mine.” I fisted his shirt. “For my writing, my performance… You’ve inspired me.”
Gavin acknowledged that with a quick nod. “Your voice is powerful. Let me take care of it tonight.”
I ran my palms under his shirt, up his hard abs and chest. “How?”
He put his finger over my lips. “No more talking, princess.”
I swallowed my questions, sucking his finger into my mouth instead. Gavin groaned, pushing me onto his bed in a froth of gauze.
“See how well you take me?” As his finger moved in and out, his free hand slipped inside my costume to explore my breasts. “So soft. Precious. Perfect.”
He climbed over me, no camera between us. His jeans, my gauzy dress, my swimsuit — the layers seemed to dissolve as his cock ground between my legs. For once, I believed myself to be as soft and delicate and precious as he said. He was all hardness, strength and angles, consuming me.
“Gavin!” I cried out.
“Oh, princess. You know you’re not supposed to talk. I’ll help you out with that.”
He pulled off his shirt as he rose from the bed, shedding the rest of his clothes on the way to the closet. His back muscles rippled as he rummaged through the boxes on the high shelf.
I knew some of what that closet held.
Not all of it.
Gavin returned, naked and carved, one hand behind his back. The now-familiar coils of rope looped over his shoulder.
“Lie back, princess,” he urged. “It’s time to give you what you’ve needed all along.”