Epilogue #3
“Yo, Julie!” Tubman called, and I turned back to where he had a whole box of pizza. “Know you just ordered a slice each, but we accidentally burned the whole pizza. You wanna just take it? S’already got the extra sauce.”
“Tubman, you rat,” Julie laughed, taking the box. “I can pay for my pizza, man! Hell am I gonna do with you, dude?”
Tubman chuckled, giving me a knowing look, and somehow the situation got even more complicated, because that was where we were when—once again, even here, Estelle tracked me down, pushing in through the doors and waving to me, rushing across the room and catching me in a hug.
“There you are!” she called. “Oh, you got the three of us pizza?”
“Stellie… how did you even find us?”
She laughed, pulling back from the hug with her eyes shining. “Oh, I see! You wanted to just have your big premiere and then disappear without even seeing your best friend from childhood. Well, it’s a good thing I have your driver’s number.”
“What, Emilio? You have his number? Why?”
She grinned. “You know.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Estelle. With him?”
She put her fingers in the air a good… seven, eight inches apart. I pushed them down.
“I don’t want to know. Put that away.”
She laughed. “Well, am I ever glad I caught you before you ran away again!” she said, and she turned to hug Julie, too.
“Hey, Houdini. Help me convince your girlfriend to come with us to the house upstate this weekend? You can come, too, obviously. It’s girls only, but no rule saying the girls can’t kiss. ”
Julie laughed. “We’ll consider it. For right now we’re busy celebrating.”
“Oh, I believe it. I’m sure you’re heading home to celebrate right now and I won’t get in the way, but first you have a lot of pizza and a lot of stories from the premiere, so let’s share.”
“Mooching off my food,” I said, and she snorted.
“Like they’re letting you pay for it.”
“She’s got us there, Freckles,” Julie sighed. “Oh—let’s crash Kingmaker’s consultation session. That poor girl probably didn’t even get any pizza when Kingmaker tried to go halfsies on it.”
I laughed. “If she’s calling Kingmaker, she’s probably desperate. Could use a free slice. Sure, you win, Stellie.”
“I always do,” she sang, and she led the way to the booth seat, where we all crowded in together and the girl, for her part, did look a little starstruck.
And like she didn’t believe this was happening in a sketchy Brooklyn pizza parlor, but Estelle was a persuasive one and made friends with her anyway, and we all sat together to dig into a pizza that was remarkably unburned.
It was fun, and it was good to catch up with Estelle on the stories from the premiere, but by the end of it, all I wanted was a warm bed and my girlfriend.
I tried to forget certain things I’d learned as I got back into the car and Emilio drove us back to our apartment, and Julie went up on her tiptoes and pulled me down into a kiss as soon as we’d gotten the door shut behind us.
“God, you’re so fucking hot when you’re working a press event,” she said against my lips. “You’re a fucking star. And you sure as hell deserve it.”
“You’ve been waiting to get me alone to tell me that, huh?” I laughed, and she grinned.
“Only in that I want to worship every part of your body, and that’s socially frowned upon to do at an event.”
“Mm.” I put my hands on her sides, under her jacket. “Well, it’s also socially frowned upon to do it while you’re bent over a sound system in a studio.”
“Okay… but if the society doesn’t see it happen, it can’t be socially frowned upon at all.” She ran her hands down my dress, down to the hem, feeling along my thighs. “This dress is so sexy. Is it Shiyun?”
“Otherwise I’d have been returning it once the event was done,” I laughed. “They’re expensive.”
“Then I’ll take it off very carefully.” She kissed my collar, and I murmured softly in contentment. She lingered there, looking up at me. “Is this okay? I guess I didn’t ask.”
“I want you very much. I’m just also exhausted.”
She grinned. “Do you want me to take the lead this time?”
I slipped my fingers through the hair on the back of her head. “You spoil me…”
“Trust me, it’s not exactly a great sacrifice.” She kissed lower, and then higher, up my neck, and back to my lips, pressing herself against me, pinning me into the wall as we kissed, her eyes sparkling when she pulled back and looked adoringly at me. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too. Thanks for coming with me.”
“I’ll go anywhere with you. Movie premieres, networking events for Jewel… even the ski slopes.”
I laughed. “You’re going to do great.”
“Take your dress off, please. And then sit on the foot of the bed.”
She didn’t top me very often, but it was very nice when she did.
I worked out of the dress, getting it off over my head, and I hung it up in the closet before I dropped back onto the bed, exactly where she told me to.
She stood over me, caressing me, whispering adoration and praise as she touched every part of my body, and slowly, she stripped out of her outfit, draping them over the armchair and stripping down to nothing, and she guided my hand between her legs to touch her, losing myself in the sensation of her pleasure, her wetness.
She quivered, gasping in approval before she guided my face down between her legs, and I looked up at her as I tasted her, sucked and licked at her, until she pushed me back onto the bed, stripping my underwear off.
She worked me slowly and gently, her fingers building soft, budding pleasure in me, and once I was starting to thrum with heat, she took the wand vibrator from the drawer and went to clean it, coming back with an appreciative look at where I was touching myself in anticipation.
She lay down on the bed next to me with the vibrator between my legs, and she kissed me as she pressed it up where I needed her, and I blossomed with pleasure until it released in a soft wave, rippling out through me and melting everything else away.
I gasped her name as I came, riding up to a climax with my hips lifted off the bed searching for more touch, more intensity, more her, and then I came crashing down with my eyes sparkling as she kissed me again, whispering how much she loved me and how much she loved when I felt good.
She was still spoiling me, not letting me expend too much energy, because she put a strap-on on me and climbed up to ride me, settling down onto me and grinding against me with heavy gasps, and I picked up the vibrator to add it in, sending her cresting in pleasure as she came on me, her posture crumpling as she collapsed down onto me.
We stayed like that for some time before she pushed herself up, breathless and shining, beaming so brightly it was almost blinding. “Hey, you,” she said.
“Hi there.”
“You look fucking fantastic.”
“You too.” I squeezed her ass. “I’m a fan.”
“Was that good?”
“I kind of want to go again, but I think I’d fall asleep in the middle…”
She laughed, kissing my neck. “We don’t have anything until late tomorrow. We can save it for the morning.”
“Well, look who’s the big planner. I can cosign that.”
Slowly, she pulled up off of me, and she collapsed onto the bed next to me. I shimmied the harness off, letting it fall on the side of the bed next to the vibrator, and we pressed close together in the center, her head on my chest as I stroked her back, planting kisses on the top of her head.
“So what now?” she said quietly.
“We clean up, probably.”
“I mean, what’s next for you? Staying on acting, or do you want to focus on something else now?”
“Ah…” I squeezed her tighter into me. “I’ve been neglecting the business side a bit lately. If the new Jewel project is going ahead, I want to be a part.”
“Oh, yeah?” She kissed my chest. “I’ll get you roped in. Krysten will be ecstatic.”
“Oh, and you’re not?”
She laughed. “I’m always happy when I’m with you. God, I really lucked out.”
“I did too.” I squeezed her. “I did too.”
“I know we’ve gotta get cleaned up, but…
just one second.” She nestled in closer to me, and I let her have it.
I let myself have it. We’d probably fall asleep a little, doze until one in the morning, and then we’d have to haul ourselves up out of bed and get to the bathroom and clean ourselves up, but we could cross that bridge when we came to it.
For now, the New York lights gleamed outside the window, softly through the curtain, and in the whole city full of lights, the brightest light of all was right here in my arms.