“Remember, Angel, this is all about you. I’d do anything to fully satisfy you.”

  “You do satisfy me . . .” I tried to argue, but he cut me off.

  “Shh! No talking back. As a matter of fact, no talking at all . . . I just want you to feel.” He stroked my cheek with the pad of his thumb, and I closed my eyes to focus on the sensation.

  “I love you, Scarlett.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Minutes later, I could only see black and my wrists were loosely bound to the headboard. I heard Mason’s clothes drop to the hardwood floor and then I felt him climb onto the bed and straddle me as he had just been. Slowly lowering his body onto mine, I could feel the heat radiating from his him, and he was obviously extremely aroused, even though the soft cotton of his boxers still separated us.

  “You are the most beautiful fucking thing I have ever seen, Angel.”

  His warm breath tickled my ear and his unrefined words made me wet instantly. Instinctively, I moaned and arched my back into him.

  “Relax, baby. Let me do all of the work.”

  He then began a tortuous trail of kissing, licking, and biting, starting at my hairline behind my left ear and moving downward at a snail’s pace. When he reached my collarbone, he drug his lip ring across my sternum to the right side of my body, where he mirrored his previous actions. Feeling that hardness of the metal accompanied by the softness of his lips drove me crazy. I forgot that my hands were inaccessible on several occasions and tried to move them to his head, and each time I grumbled in frustration which Mason found quite amusing.

  After a short while, I was able to completely relax and I submitted to his seduction. My available senses were definitely in overdrive, especially touch. Every time he touched me he left a little fire in his wake, by the time he reached my feet, I was a scorching, sweltering mess.

  I thought that I heard something at one point, but Mason began doing something incredible with his mouth and I lost myself in the sensation. A few moments later, as he was rubbing my feet, I felt something in the room change. Mason even paused a moment, but quickly picked back up on his special treatment. When I felt the weight of someone else climb on the bed next to me, my body froze.

  “It’s okay, Angel,” Mason said soothingly. He continued to rub and kiss my lower legs and feet. “Trust me, on this. We’re gonna make your fucking world explode.” I slowly began to relax my tensed muscles.

  “I told you this was all about you. We are gonna worship every inch of your body.”

  He continued talking to me in a calming voice until he knew I was completely accepting of the idea. The other person had not moved or said anything since sitting next to me on the bed. I am not sure how or why or what happened, but I found myself eagerly nodding and surrendering to my sexual curiosity and the frantic throbbing between my legs

  Mason stayed where he was at the foot of the bed where he continued to kiss and rub my feet and legs, while the other person straddled my hips and cupped each of my breasts. I wanted so badly to have my hands free so that I could at least feel the mystery person to know sort of what he looked like. Mystery guy used his thumbs to tease my nipples, flicking and circling them, making them harden immediately. His touch was soft but potent, and it felt so different but familiar. He too was still wearing boxers, but his erection was lined up perfectly with my aching clit. When he shifted his weight once, I moaned and pressed myself against him, trying to recreate the friction. Thankfully, he answered my request and began rocking up and down on me, driving me closer and closer to my orgasm. A combination of being caressed, rubbed, and stroked in so many places at the same time quickly led me over the edge of the cliff and exploding into millions of little pieces all over the ground.

  As I lay winded and breathless, still unable to see and tied to the bed, the mystery guy leaned down and put his lips right next to my left ear.

  “Watching you cum is the sexiest thing in this universe, Butterfly.”

  I shot up in bed as The Lumineers screamed “Ho Hey” over and over at me from my phone snuggled next to me in my bed. I was embarrassed at the scene that had been playing out in my head and the real-life wet panties I had on, and thought to myself that the song would’ve been more fitting for me had it played “Hey Ho” instead. It took me a few seconds to figure out what in the world was going on, but when I saw Mason’s name on the caller ID, I quickly answered.

  “Hey Mase.”

  “Hey, Angel. Sorry it’s so late. We all went out for our last night here and I accidentally left my phone in my room,” he over-eagerly explained.

  “That’s cool. I just fell asleep reading.” I had suddenly changed my mind about complete honesty. Surely dreams that you couldn’t control didn’t count against you and didn’t need to be discussed. I blamed my out-of-control sub-conscious on the books. I really needed to move back to the young adult genre for a while.

  “I can’t wait to see you tomorrow,” he said longingly. “I’ve missed you like crazy.”

  “Hey, Rat. There you are.” I heard a female voice through the phone. “We are waiting for you to start the shots.” My stomach dropped, and I hoped that I was about to get a good explanation for what I heard.

  I stayed silent as he replied to her, “I’m on the phone with Scarlett. I’ll be inside later; y’all don’t wait for me.”

  “Angel, I can explain,” he said when he redirected his attention to our conversation.

  “Where are you?” I demanded. “And don’t fucking lie to me.” My face grew hot; I knew I wasn’t going to like what I was about to hear.

  “On the balcony of my hotel room.”

  “Who is all there with you?”

  “All of the guys, Sophie, the guys from VanderBlue, Bentley, Jag, and his girlfriend, Smiley.” I didn’t say anything so he continued. “Look Scarlett, I didn’t know they were going to be here. They came into town today because their drummer is getting married this weekend. Jag and Bentley thought it would be good if the two bands met, so we all hung out and had some drinks. Nothing happened. Okay? I’m telling you the truth.” His defensiveness put me on alert.

  “And now they are all in your hotel room doing shots? And that was her, wasn’t it?” I was beyond pissed.

  “Yes, that was her and yes, we all just came back here. I saw my phone as soon as I got in, and came out to call you. I haven’t had anything to drink . . . please don’t freak out, Angel. We are going to have to get used to this. You are going to have to trust me, just like I’m going to trust you.” My stomach clenched even tighter. I thought about seeing Ash in the store followed by the dream and felt a little guilty. Then I remembered that a girl that he had slept with numerous times was doing shots in his hotel room in the wee hours of the morning, and my guilt subsided quickly.

  “Whatever, Mason. I am the one that has to get used to it . . . not we. You get to live the life of a rock star while I am stuck here at school. I go to class, study, and go to work; you practice making music—something you love, go out drinking, and hang out with a bunch of hot women including one you know intimately.” I said with a bite in my tone. I just wanted to get off the phone with him. I didn’t want to be psycho controlling girlfriend, but he needed to know that I was mad. “I’m tired and I want to go back to sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Please don’t be that way Scarlett. You know I have to do this. You’ve got to be able to deal with these situations.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of. I’m not sure I can. Good night Mase. Please just let me go to sleep. I don’t want to argue with you. We’ll see each other tomorrow.”

  I hung up the phone and turned it off and went back to sleep, hoping when I woke up in the morning that the phone call had been a dream as well.

  MASON

  Five minutes after she hung up on me and turned her fucking phone off, I was on my bike headed east on Highway Seventy-one. I was not about to let her shut down on me over this. I was not about to let Bentley fuc
k this up for me. I needed her to understand that I didn’t want to be with anyone else, as long as I had her.

  Being without her for just a couple of days was about to make me lose my mind. I didn’t know what it was about her that stabilized me, but I knew that I couldn’t be without her. Any previous thoughts I had about breaking up with her to set her free and let her live her life like a normal nineteen year old had disappeared after the first day without her. I was a selfish bastard and I was going to keep her as close to me as I could for as long as I could. Whatever it took to make us work, I would do. I didn’t care if I had to drive to Houston a couple of times a week, if that would make her happy and feel secure.

  As I flew down the highway, I cussed myself for allowing the night to play out the way it did. I never should’ve answered the phone. I was all ready for a night in my room, relaxing and talking to Scarlett for a while when Bentley called. Of course I couldn’t refuse the opportunity to meet and hang out with VanderBlue, and my friends would’ve killed me if they knew I had declined the invitation. It turned out a really good thing that we went. I hit it off with front man, Boone, and it appeared there was a good chance for us to join their tour for the second half, which included some international shows as well.

  I knew when Bentley invited everyone back over to my room, she had ulterior motives, but there wasn’t much I could do except un-invite them and that would’ve been awkward. Her reason for riding back to the hotel with me was because I was the only person that hadn’t been drinking. Again, I couldn’t say anything without looking like a complete dick in front of everyone. She thought she was being sexy by rubbing her fake ass boobs on my back and pressing her crotch up against me, but she was really just annoying the shit out of me. I wondered what in the world I had been thinking when I hooked up with her.

  On the walk from the bike to the room, she kept putting her hand on my arm or my back, and I kept moving out of her grasp, hoping she would eventually get the hint. Ultimately, she worked for Jobu’s Rum, but we all knew that we needed her a lot more than she needed us. I couldn’t be flat out rude to her and risk pissing her off, but I wasn’t going to fuck her again so she needed to go ahead and stop trying. I knew that she purposely came outside to say something when she knew damn well who I was talking to. I had only mentioned no less than five times that I had left my phone in the room and needed to call Scarlett. Bentley was a conniving, manipulative, heartless bitch, which made her great at her job, but I had a bad feeling she was going to try and use those same qualities to keep me from my angel. I was determined to not let that happen.

  Three hours later I pulled up to her apartment and raced up the stairs. Not caring in the least that it was four o’clock in the morning, I began banging on her front door with my fists. I didn’t stop until the Medusa-version of Scarlett flung the door open with an evil glare. I had to contain myself from smiling at her, not wanting her to think I was laughing at her, but she was so adorably cute when she was mad. Actually she was fucking hot when she was mad. My dick twitched at the sight of her in her barely-there night clothes; I wished I could screw some sense into her about this whole situation. I wasn’t quite sure how else to tell her that Bentley had just been a convenient fuck, nothing else, and not a very exciting one at that. I wasn’t sure that would score a whole lot of good boyfriend points for me either.

  “What are you doing here?” She rubbed her eyes in disbelief that I was at her doorstep.

  “Can I come in?” I asked.

  “Well, since you came all this way . . .” She held her arm out ushering me inside.

  I followed her into her bedroom and we both sat on the bed, looking at one another. I didn’t waste any time, I began talking immediately.

  “Scarlett, I came here to prove to you that you are the most important thing to me. You told me you wanted honesty, and that’s what I gave you tonight, but as soon as I did, you just fucking shut down on me. What the hell was that?” I surprised myself at the anger in my voice, and I knew I had startled her when her eyes shot up to find mine. I continued, needing her to understand how much she meant to me. “And what the fuck do you mean that you’re not sure you can deal with it? What’s there to deal with? I love you. I want to be with you. I need to be with you. We are only going to be a few hours from each other; we will figure it out. But please don’t play these immature fucking games like turning your phone off when you’re upset with me!”

  Neither of us said anything for several minutes. I wasn’t sure if I had pissed her off by raising my voice a bit, but shit, she needed to understand where I was coming from. Finally, after what seemed like forever, she spoke softly, “I wasn’t trying to play games, Mason. I was upset and thought it would be best if I calmed down before I ended up saying something I would regret later. I didn’t mean to piss you off. I just had a long day and I was tired.” She lowered her eyes to her hands in her lap, and I had a bad feeling that she wanted to say something else . . . something I wasn’t going to like.

  “What is it, Angel?” I asked apprehensively.

  “I saw Ash today,” she replied, refusing to look at me in the face.

  So much for my fucking blood pressure. I tensed up as my pulse skyrocketed and I began boiling from the inside.

  “He stopped by the shop. He had just come in for guitar strings; he didn’t know I was there. He told me that he was sorry again and he told me that I didn’t realize how much I hurt him,” she rambled nervously. “It really got me thinking about how much hurt everyone felt back during that time, and I decided that I’m tired of hating him. I needed to forgive him because that’s the only way I can move on from the whole ordeal. So, I did. I forgave him, and I’m ready to try and put all of that behind me.” She looked up at me and I could see the struggle in her eyes. I knew that without her hate for him, all she was left with was love.

  Not really sure what to say in response, I asked, “So now what?” I studied her beautiful brown eyes, scared it would be the last time I would see them. I had this overwhelming fear she was about to tell me that we couldn’t be together.

  “So now we figure out how we are going to make us work. Mason, this doesn’t change the fact I want to be with you. Just because I forgive him doesn’t mean that I will ever forget what happened. It doesn’t mean I even like him; I just don’t need to waste any more energy hating him. The entire situation was awful for everyone involved, you included, and it’s time to just let it be. It’s the only way I can move on.”

  Her words were what my ears begged to hear, and I did feel some sense of relief at them, but I couldn’t help but be worried. Actually, worried wasn’t the right word; scared shitless was a more accurate description. I honestly wasn’t sure if our relationship could survive me in Austin with Bentley and her in Houston with Ash; something or someone was bound to try and tear us apart, but I wasn’t giving her up easily. Things in my life were finally heading in the right direction—my music career had never looked more promising and I had a girl that was just as beautiful inside as she was on the outside. I could never be half the person she was, but she made me want to be the best I could for her. And I wasn’t about to let anyone take her from me without a fight. I needed to get her to move in with me in Austin, I just didn’t know how to ask.

  ROOM MATES AND SOUL MATES

  BETTER TOGETHER—JACK JOHNSON

  MIRRORS—JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE

  CRAZY—DAVE MATTHEWS BAND

  SCARLETT

  Mason and I didn’t finish talking until after five in the morning, and I had to wake up at eight for class. I thought he handled the Ash conversation pretty well, but what could he really say after what had happened with Bentley? We had some issues we needed to work through, but I had faith that we could.

  Completely exhausted, we laid down in my bed, holding one another, for the few hours I had left to sleep, which seemed to pass in ten minutes. After hitting the snooze button twice on the alarm, I finally rolled myself out of bed and into the shower. Mas
on was sitting up on the edge of my bed, dressed and ready to go, when I came out of the bathroom. Worrying his lip ring between his teeth and staring off into space, there was obviously something on his mind.

  I padded across the bedroom with just a towel around me to my dresser to grab a clean bra and panties. My near naked body must’ve snapped him out of his deep thoughts because as I leaned forward to grab my underclothes, he magically appeared behind me. Pressing me against the furniture with his muscular body, he bent down to kiss the back of my neck and a moan escaped my lips.

  “You like that, Angel?” His voice was smooth and sultry.

  “Mmm hmm.” I closed my eyes and leaned my head back onto his chest.

  “Come back to my place today and I’ll spend all day making sure that you feel good; you can miss one day of classes,” he proposed. My eyes shot open at his comment about making sure I felt good and images of the previous night’s dream flashed in my mind.

  “I can’t miss, Mase. You know that . . .” He continued kissing and nibbling on my neck and shoulders, and he slowly began sliding the towel down my body until I was standing naked in front of him.

  “Please, Angel, we only have two weeks before I leave and I want to spend every possible moment together.” His hands reached around to the front of me, each cupping a breast and stroking my nipples with his thumbs. Unable to resist the pleasure he was offering, I whimpered and arched my back, pressing my chest further into his grasp and lifting my ass up against his evident erection.

  “Move in with me,” he whispered, in between his tantalizing kisses.

  At first I wasn’t sure if I heard him correctly, I twisted my body around so that I could look him in the face. “What did you say?” I asked.

  Wrapping his arms around my waist, he leaned into me and rested his forehead on mine, his grey eyes cloudy with hunger, “Move into my apartment here. We can be together for the next couple of weeks, and then once I move, I’ll still stay in Houston once or twice a week, and you’ll be there. Plus you won’t need to pay for this place anymore; I’m keeping my place no matter what. It just makes sense.”