Hard Rock Love Box Set, page 21
He positioned himself to enter her, thrusting in one smooth motion that had her throwing her head back in relief and pleasure; not having any trouble because of how well lubricated she was.
The pressure of his huge shaft built up in between Bella’s legs and she grabbed his neck and held his face up to hers to sloppily make out with him. The tip of his manhood hit the very back of Bella’s entrance every single time he built up momentum, thrusting strategically into the places that Sebastian knew yielded more pleasure.
“Oh my god! Sebastian! Harder!”
Feeling his animal instincts kick in, he began to thrust even harder and faster, creating loud slapping noises as his thighs hit the bottom part of her legs. Bella could barely contain her cries, gasping for air as she was being pleasured so rightfully so, like a woman reaching maturity for the first time. He felt her pleasure release before his own did, holding himself out as long as possible to provide her the greatest enjoyment a man could ever give and finally releasing himself on her breasts and neckline.
Beneath him, Bella hummed in delight. “Wow…” she said, clearly very content.
“I told you I could satisfy, didn’t I?”
Bella gave him a sly little smile and nodded. “I should have trusted you from the beginning.”
“Did you not?”
She looked away, playing at shamefulness. “Maybe just a little bit.”
“Well then, I hope this serves as a lesson to never doubt me again, cuz I never fail to deliver.”
“I look forward to seeing more of that.” She leaned up to kiss him, just one, gentle, innocent kiss, juxtaposed by everything they had just done and everything that she was suggesting.
“Trust me, I have many more surprises in store. This is just the beginning.”
“Oh, is that so?” she giggled, a little flustered as Sebastian began to idly tease her again.
“I would say I could show you right now, but we might want to take a little break, for your sake.”
“Are you sending me home so soon?” she asked with a pout, and Sebastian shook his head.
“No, just suggesting that we turn our attention to something else, even if that may be difficult.” He gave her lingerie a meaningful look.
“Like what?”
“How about a movie, we can cuddle on the couch.”
“That sounds lovely.”
Bella allowed Sebastian to lead her back to the living room and over to the couch, reclining gracefully while he selected a show on his smart T.V and retrieved a soft throw that was big enough to cover the both of them. Although, only to hide from the fact that her choice of attire was distracting him a little too much.
Sebastian had a large library of James Bond and classic Hollywood Noir films. He selected one of the former to show Bella, not knowing whether or not she would appreciate an older film. His suggestion intrigued Bella and she let herself be pleasantly surprised by his choice.
After grabbing the remote and sliding the DVD into the player, he joined Bella on the couch under the blanket, pulling her onto his lap so they could rest comfortably in one of the corners, legs outstretched and intertwined.
As one might expect, the movie was soon forgotten. In Sebastian’s defense, it is quite difficult to pay attention to fictionalized spy stories about villains and beautiful women when there’s a lovely woman sitting in your lap and you’re naked and she’s in a piece of lingerie that you just finished banging her in.
Sure, things may start innocently enough. Your hands may move down to hold her better, but then you’re playing with her clit and she’s not doing a very good job of concealing her moans, and then the roles reverse and she’s toying with your manhood beneath the covers of the blanket, and the movie is just a pretext now and both of you have no idea what’s going on with the plot anyways. Some explosions. Suggestions of sex, while the two of you are contemplating your second round of very real sex right there on the couch with James Bond playing in the background.
Such are the way things go, and that’s exactly how it happened for Bella and Sebastian that night.
Twenty-Four
At the party, someone else was watching. Despite the state that Ash was in, not everyone there was quite as ‘lost’ as he was, they hadn’t lost track of time or the fact of meager existence. Bringing up their phone, they snapped a picture of the up-and-coming lead singer making out with a girl on the couch of an expensive hotel room at an after party. This kind of drama was exactly what the public wanted to see, to know that their idols were human, to know that they succumbed to basic desires as well. Sex sold, especially when it came to those in the public eye.
Pleased by the photos they were able to snap—though they may not have reached the artistic quality of a photojournalist—the voyeur opened up their social media app and uploaded the photos, with an eye-catching and dramatic caption.
Dreams of Compass Gods’ Lead Singer Ash Bennett Makes Out with Mystery Girl at Party
They smiled to themselves as they put their phone away and rejoined the party, knowing that it wouldn’t take long for the pictures to catch flame and spread like wildfire.
The public was obsessed, after all, and these kinds of things never stayed secret for long.
Rebecca had just finished comforting Lillian, letting her know that she didn’t have to be over it yet—wouldn’t have to be for a while, that was the way of love after all—and now the two of them were relaxing together on her bed, watching an old Spanish novella while they scrolled through social media.
Lillian grabbed her laptop from her own bedroom and started editing some pictures she had taken for a recent issue of Illusions while they idly watched the television. She was doing her best not to think of anything to do with Ash Bennett and just threw herself into her work instead. It was as the main character on screen uncovered the plot against her life by her long lost second cousin who she had been slowly falling for that Rebecca stumbled across the pictures.
At first, she couldn’t do more than look on in mute horror as Ash Bennett filled her screen, kissing another girl at a party. She thought that maybe there had been some mistake with the whole thing—a mishap with social media, an overprotective manager, something of the sort, but this left no questions, no doubt in her mind.
There he was, Ash Bennett, making out with some other girl who clearly did not resemble Lillian at all. Rebecca knew that Lillian could probably handle the picture, would probably just be filled with righteous anger, but she didn’t think it was the best time for her to confront it nonetheless. After all, they had just finished talking through things, and opening up that wound again so soon couldn’t be good for the healing process at all.
But as Rebecca turned to Lillian to suggest that maybe they should focus on the novella for now—as it was getting quite interesting, and neither of them spoke Spanish quite fluently so they really would catch more if they set aside their phones and devices—she realized it was too late.
Lillian was staring down at the phone in her lap, mouth agape, the photos she was editing forgotten, tears brimming in her eyes. Rebecca knew without even looking what must be on her screen, what she must be seeing to make her react in such a way. It pained her to know that there was nothing she could do, that she couldn’t protect Lillian from it, that she had been too late in intervening.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she said, gently taking the phone from Lillian. “He really is an idiot, he doesn’t know what he’s missing out on. I’m so sorry, Lillian.”
Lillian could feel a genuine pain bulging up in her chest as she stared down at her phone. A sense of panic was welling up, memories from her teenage years overwhelming her.
It had happened again. Maybe not exactly, but she knew that the Ash in the photos, the Ash who had blocked her, the Ash who had ignored her, was a different Ash than the one who she had fallen in love with. It was the world he lived in, giving into the temptations of too much alcohol, of too many drugs again, breaking her heart in a way that she was sure he never would have if he was more sober.
She choked back tears, trying to remind herself to stay strong, that she didn’t care, that she had already moved past that, and that Ash had made his choice and she had no responsibility to him anymore. But the thoughts were overwhelming—that she had lost another person she loved, that maybe she was responsible, in some odd way, and she couldn’t control it anymore.
“It hurts,” she said, as the tears started coming, and Rebecca looked on, unsure how to respond. “I don’t want it to, but it hurts.”
“I know, it’s okay, you’re allowed to hurt.”
“But it hurts for other reasons too, for more—”
She was cut off as a wave of sobs racked her body and she was lost to the destructive power of her inner thoughts. She couldn’t even manage the energy to form the words to apologize. She had never wanted to be vulnerable like this again, after everything with Ash, she didn’t want to be forced to be vulnerable with people again. She didn’t want Rebecca to see her like this, to feel like she had to deal with the torrent of her emotions. Rebecca clearly didn’t know what to do, had never seen Lillian in this kind of emotional state before.
“Lillian, take deep breaths, what can I do, what do you need?” she asked, but Lillian was too far into her head to respond, she was trying desperately to make her breathing calm and force her body to cooperate. Rebecca didn’t know what else to do, she picked up her phone and dialed the only person she knew who might be able to help.
Being thoroughly exhausted, Sebastian and Bella were preparing to go to bed. She was brushing her teeth next to him in the bathroom, making silly faces in the mirror, and laughing with a mouth full of frothy toothpaste when he tickled her in retaliation.
“I do think I like this game,” he said after finishing, resting his chin on top of her hair. “I hope we can play it for a little while longer.”
“As long as you need to keep playing, I’ll be here,” she replied, turning around with a cheeky smile to land a kiss on his lips.
He wrapped his arms around her waist, wondering if the two of them had the energy for another round. She looked so sexy in one of his button-downs, he definitely thought he might be able to. He was just starting to kiss her lips again, tasting the minty-ness of the toothpaste, contemplating the benefits of making love again versus just cuddling in bed and going to sleep when—his phone rang. At first he ignored it, apologizing to Bella with another kiss and telling her not to worry about it.
But then it rang again, seeming to be more insistent this time, and Sebastian decided it would be better to see who it was, at least so he could tell them to stop calling him at such an unholy hour of the night.
When he picked it up, the contact name was not what he expected, and he answered immediately.
“Rebecca, are you alright?”
Bella looked at him curiously, mouthing, is this the girl? and raising her eyebrows in question.
Sebastian shook his head, trying to concentrate on what his stepsister was saying and on the faint sounds of sobbing in the background.
“I’m okay, it’s Lillian. I don’t know what to do—some things happened and she’s—”
“I’ll be right over,” Sebastian said, cutting her off. He figured it was better to see the situation for himself—and as soon as possible by the sound of it—than to have Rebecca try and explain what was clearly confusing even her.
“Thank you,” Rebecca said, and then hung up.
Setting his phone down, Sebastian turned to Bella with an apology on his lips, but she just shook her head.
“It sounds serious.”
“I’m sorry, Bella, I really am. I would have loved nothing more than to fall asleep next to you, but something urgent came up.”
She gave him a little smile, one that said she thought his earlier statement was a lie, but she didn’t care anyways. “Of course, there are always other nights.” It didn’t sound like her, didn’t sound like the Bella Sebastian had just been fooling around with, but he guessed that that was just because she was being serious now, and he wasn’t quite used to that yet.
“Do you mind if I call you an Uber? I want to get over there as soon as possible.”
“That’s fine.” She kissed him gently on the cheek, before heading back out to the living room. “I’ll gather my things, you be on your way.”
“Thank you.” Sebastian grabbed his keys and wallet, summoning an Uber for Bella while he was in the elevator down to the parking garage and texting her the information. His mind ran through all the possibilities of what could be going on with Lillian.
Had she injured herself badly? Had something happened with her family? With one of her friends? Was the stress of her job getting to her? Whatever it was, he wanted to protect her. He wanted to take her far away from whatever was happening and make her feel safe. Not once did the thought of it being an issue with Ash cross his mind —he wasn’t over that yet, obviously; but as Lillian’s friend, Sebastian just wanted the best for her. Besides, he couldn’t imagine his rival doing something as stupid as breaking her heart. If Lillian had gone for him, then he had to be good, and he trusted her judgement.
The drive felt long, longer than what he wanted it to be. He couldn’t get there fast enough, couldn’t make the distance between them short enough. He just wanted to be there to comfort her, like they were teens again and she was freaking out over a bad grade. He wanted to put his arms around her and kiss the top of her head and let her know that he was going to be there for her as a friend, no matter what.
Finally, he arrived. He hurried to find parking, not caring that his car maybe wasn’t parked carefully, just wanting to be there, rushing up the stairs, feeling his heart pounding in his chest as the wind whistled around him. He knocked on the door and the moments felt agonizing. And there was Rebecca opening the door, looking clearly distraught.
“You should come inside,” she said, and he did.
Lillian hadn’t known that Rebecca called Sebastian, she was too busy trying to calm herself down and get her breathing stabilized to even notice. It took her a moment when he walked into the room, and then suddenly everything was flashing back again.
She remembered those first months after he had left and things had gotten bad, desperately wanting him to be there to help her through it, realizing that he might never be again. And now here he was, in a time where things were going wrong again, standing before her, arms open, face clearly saying that he was there, and he wasn’t leaving.
She rushed to him, throwing her arms around his waist, squeezing tightly as she buried her face in his shirt. She realized, in the back of her mind, that he was wearing pajamas, and had probably rushed over as soon as he heard something was wrong. The thought was comforting, and she knew then that she was never going to lose her best friend again.
He held her close, a little awkwardly at first, and then tighter, crushing her to his chest so that she could hear his heartbeat. She could feel her breathing start to calm and the wild thoughts she was having leave her as the sound of Sebastian filled her ears. His presence seemed to chase away anything else that might want to fill her mind and cause her harm.
She had forgotten how calming it was to be held by him, to have him there when she was struggling. It wasn’t a dominating presence either, like the rest of him usually was. It was more—she didn’t quite know how to put it into words, like he was existing there and also letting her exist. He stood as a rock for her thoughts, feelings, and everything else she was going through, to just be there for her as she worked through her problems on her own.
She knew it wasn’t something that came naturally to him. When they were teenagers and she had first been working through the emotional strife that came with puberty, and high school, he had always wanted to attack the threat instead. It had been overwhelming, him trying to protect her all the time from everything, trying to solve everything the moment she told him something was wrong. But she still loved talking to him, and he understood that sometimes all she wanted was someone to listen. Sometimes all she wanted was the knowledge that someone was standing there with her in solidarity and she wasn’t alone. And here he was, in the moment that she maybe needed him most, being that pillar of generosity again, despite everything.
“Thank you,” she whispered, not knowing if Sebastian would hear her.
But apparently he did, he gently stroked her head and said, “Of course. I’m here for you, any time.” He arched his head slightly to turn to Rebecca, “What’s going on?” he asked.
“Do you want me to explain, or would you like to do it?” Rebecca asked, and Lillian just shook her head.
“I think it’s better if you do it for now.”
“Of course. Let’s go sit down.” The three of them headed over to the couch, where a concerned Coby looked up and jumped down to move out of the way.
Lillian sat in between them—her roommate and her old friend—feeling more calm now. She knew she could handle things on her own, but it was nice to have people who cared about her be there, reminding her that was she not alone. Rebecca explained things as concisely as she could, occasionally glancing at Lillian to make sure that she was getting it right. Sebastian nodded as he listened, not interrupting, only making Rebecca pause once to clarify something.
“I see,” he said when Rebecca had finished telling him what was wrong. “That’s really terrible Lillian, I’m so sorry that ever happened.”
Rebecca nodded in agreement. “He’s a complete jerk, and doesn’t deserve your tears.”
Lillian took a shuddering breath. “That’s…not the main reason I was crying.”
“What do you mean,” Sebastian asked.
“I mean, yes, I was crying because Ash hurt me, and that’s horrible, and he did it in a terribly immature way, but it’s other things too. There’s something I’ve never told either of you before.” She didn’t know if she really wanted to tell them, or if it was even the best choice, but it was too late to turn back now.
