Chapter 26 #2
He made a noise, close to a laugh, but there was zero laughter behind it. “It did a pretty good job ensuring I stopped dating. And I was lucky, for the band’s sake, that Rebel Rebellion wasn’t big enough that it affected them.”
My heart ached for him as I imagined the betrayal and hurt he had endured. I swallowed the lump in my throat. It made sense, the way he treated me in the beginning. I understood why he kept the steel wall around himself.
But I couldn’t deny that I wanted to take a bulldozer to that wall and have him let me in.
He rolled toward me, resting on his arm, and ran his fingers along my jaw. “Which is why this scares me so much.”
“I’m sorry.”
Tilting his head, he asked. “Why?”
“For making things hard for you.”
He smiled, big and genuine and beautiful. “And that’s why it has to be you.”
“Wha—”
But his lips cut off my question, and I fell under his spell again.
This time, the kiss was slow, like he was savoring the taste of me. When he moved on top of me, still unhurried, I pressed my chest to him and closed any distance between us.
As much as I enjoyed our sweet kisses, the heat in my body called out for more.
I was the hare, and he was the tortoise.
I wrapped my legs around his hips and ground against him. He still wore his stage clothes, and I yanked on the buttons.
Throwing his shirt to the floor, I went for his pants next, but he grabbed my wrists and put them above my head, lacing his fingers with mine. “Such a greedy girl.”
“Can you blame me?”
He gave me his signature grin, and I swear I melted a little inside.
Running kisses from my forehead to my chin, I let my eyes shut as I enjoyed the sensations. His kisses moved down my throat and chest to the bare skin between my breasts that my dress didn’t cover.
“I think it’s time to take this off.”
And like magic, he worked with skilled efficiency to pull the fabric over my head and tossed it to the floor before making quick work of my simple nude-colored bra.
As his heated gaze raced down my body, a hum of appreciation came from his mouth.
We all had parts of our bodies that we hated, every single one of us, and I was no exception. But for some reason, under his gaze, I wasn’t worried he’d see my imperfections. I knew he only saw the stories my body told.
The scars from being too clumsy and getting hurt. The stretch marks that kissed my skin after my hormones rebelled against me, and I’d gained weight too fast, and then when I was too sick to eat for months. The fact that my stomach wasn’t as flat as everyone thought it was.
But all those things made me who I was, and right now, in Damien’s eyes, I knew I was perfect.
Perfectly imperfect.
I reached for his pants once again, wanting nothing more than to pull out his cock and worship it like he deserved. To show him how much I appreciated him. To tell him everything I couldn’t verbalize. Everything that I didn’t even know how to explain myself.
I wanted these moments between us to last a lifetime.
I left tomorrow on an early flight, and I wanted to make sure we took advantage of every second.
My hands dove into the waistband, not even patient enough to wait until I’d pulled them down. My palms slid over the soft skin of his cock, and I gave him a gentle squeeze.
Damien only let me go on for another few seconds before he pushed my shoulders back down to the bed and kicked off the remainder of his clothes.
Putting our bodies together, Damien once again took his time as he touched and kissed the rest of my naked skin.
He was so gentle and tender that when he finally pressed inside me, I’d grown so needy from his touch that I orgasmed almost instantly.
Knowing just what I needed, he rode me through the peak as I moaned and clenched his cock, before angling his hips to hit that one spot that made me see stars.
I was his puppet, my body on strings to manipulate as he pleased.
He tucked his head into the crook of my neck and whispered, “I love hearing you moan as I make you come.”
I groaned. Ready to burst into flames from his words alone.
And he fucked me like I was the most precious thing in the world. A priceless artifact to be preserved for years.
What I felt for him scared me too.
My body was sated. Exhausted, but energized.
I ran my fingertips along Damien’s abdomen, enjoying the warmth of his body. Pulling my head up from his chest, I looked at him.
His eyes were still hooded as he met my gaze.
I pushed up onto my elbows and touched the skin on his arm, permanently covered with ink.
Tilting my head, I studied his tattoos. “Do these have a special meaning behind them?”
I ran my palm along his forearm and up to his shoulder as his skin pebbled.
“Yeah.”
“Hmm.” I let another moment pass before I spoke again. “What does this one mean?” I traced my fingers along the lines of the snake that wrapped around his forearm.
Damien lifted an eyebrow along with his signature smirk and the butterflies swarmed in my lower belly once again. “Tattoos can represent someone’s worst moments in their life and the struggles they went through. A map of pain drawn on their body. And you’re just going to ask me all about mine?”
I lift a shoulder. “Is that what they are? A map of your pain?”
“A question with a question.”
“Naturally.”
Damien pushed himself up into a sitting position and I followed suit. His leg pressed against mine, and I couldn’t help but let my gaze fall to his cock. Even now, it was an impressive size, and I had to force myself to look away, or risk becoming distracted… again.
“The flowers…” He touched the two red roses that lay entwined with the snake’s body.
“Are for Grant and Maylee. And the snake,” he pointed to the black snake with the red underbelly.
“Usually, snakes are known to be a symbol of protection and rebirth, which wasn’t my true intention, but it fit.
I wanted a reminder that not everyone is as they seem, and I needed to keep an eye out for the snake in the grass. ”
I could hear the underlying pain in his voice. “And this one?” I pointed to the beautiful phoenix surrounded by flames that rose from the ashes on his bicep.
He lifted the corner of his mouth. “I think you know me well enough now to guess, but there is more than that. When Vanessa and I ended, I found out Violet had cancer and she would be fighting for her life. But the two of us, we survived. She beat the cancer, and I made my music successful.”
“You both rose up from the ashes.” My throat tightened, thick with sympathy for the tragedies they’d suffered.
Damien nodded. “But that didn’t stop the cancer from coming back.”
I stilled. “She has cancer, again?”
“Yeah. Even more serious than before.”
“Damien, I…”
He grabbed my hand. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything.”
Even if he didn’t want my comfort, I couldn’t miss the sadness that lingered behind his words or the way he squeezed my hand harder than normal.
I pressed my lips together as I reached up to touch the petals of the flower that decorated the side of his neck. “And this?” My voice came out as a whisper. I honestly hadn’t expected the dark stories behind each piece of art on his body.
“A blue hydrangea. The symbol of regret. So I don’t forget what’s important. Not ever again.”
How could someone so kind and genuine have gone through so much in his short life? He bore so much sadness and remorse in him.
It wasn’t a burden he needed to carry alone.
Not anymore.
I moved into his lap, straddling him as I wrapped my arms around his neck. I placed quick little kisses over each petal of the hydrangea flower. Wishing I could help him forget the pain of the past.
But even I knew that it was the tragedies of the past that made us who we were in the present.