My eyes opened slowly to the feel of a warm hand cupping one of my breasts above the thin sheet that was covering my body. I couldn’t move being enfolded by that arm as that body spooned me on the best skin-to-skin feeling I ever had. Moving from there was, by far, the last thing I wanted to do. Cause I knew Brian owned that special and soft warmth and that matchless way of holding me against him. I knew every secret his body held for me now and I knew I had to let them all go as soon as I would move out from there. Let him go.

And I also knew what would happen when I’d have to turn on my cellphone again, and open the windows, and get out of that door. I knew I would have to face all my mistakes. Especially this one.

I tried to reach for my phone without moving my body, with only one arm, but the nightstand was too far. I had no idea what time was right now but I could see light shining outside my window. My heart was forcing me to stay still and go back to sleep on that perfect position I could grow old on, although my head was completely aware of the amount of mess I made in only a few hours. Yeah, my head won this time.

I reached for the nightstand again, moving all my body and Brian’s along to at least pick up my phone. When I felt his arm pulling me back and kneading my both breasts under his touch, I knew I had woken him. My body fell back to his chest and he kept making a few lazy moves on my skin until my nipples were poking on his fingers. God, I had shivers everywhere.

“Don’t even think about moving out from me.” He muttered on my neck after spreading a few kisses there as his hand dropped all the way down to my lower belly and then, to my clit. My eyes rolled over my head instantly and I couldn’t breathe again.

I was easily turned on in the morning but… this was way too easy. Yes, he also had that power over me.

He squeezed his body harder against my back while playing softly with my delicate skin down there, making my butt cheeks get a feel of his semi hard-on. My hips moved slightly in response as the fire was gradually climbing up from my core to every cell of my body.

Facing the world now? Totally out of question…

Unless… a loud Zeppelin tune would be blasting out of my phone. And yeah, it was.

“No, Emily, you’re not answering now.” Brian didn’t stop his fingers on me and held me tighter, inhaling deep on my cheek skin.

Can someone, please, teach me how to say no to this man?

I moaned loud when his hips moved against my back as accelerated as his middle finger pace on my clit, my breath rushing at both back and front thrust. He was rock hard now, I could feel it.

The ringtone was still echoing on the room but I couldn’t care less.

Almost there, almost there…

“Ohhh, Brian… please let me…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. My racing heart was pounding on my mouth and my neck when I grabbed his head and pressed his face against mine to feel his breath breezing on my skin.

When I moved my face to look at him, there was the trigger to my climax. The magnificent lines of his face. His jaw clenching as if he was the one having that orgasm. His tongue licking his own wicked smile. His beautiful eyes squinting to mine. All that combination made me feel the last and the most intense throb inside my womb, finally.

I heavy gasped in relief and his smile grew wider when he realized I had gotten there. I didn’t even wait for my muscles to relax, when he pulled his hand out, the first thing I did was pick up my phone.



JIMMY CALLING

I thought my heart was being expelled from my body when I looked inside those lustful deep blue oceans staring at me on the screen. When I answered, Brian backed off completely from me and sat on the bed, his back facing me now.

“Hey…” I tried not to sound short-winded.

“I thought you would never pick up.” he said, his words as dry as I never heard before.

“Yeah, well I’m…” Brian rose from the bed in a violent jump, chasing his clothes on the floor and other places around the bedroom. I frowned when he didn’t look at me while heading to my bathroom and closing the door. “I needed some time alone.”

Liar.

“I’ve been calling you for hours. You could’ve at least picked up to say you were okay, you know.” he was tired and disappointed, I could feel it.

“Yeah, I know, I’m a stupid…” I thought about the word whore, but didn’t say it. “…head. I thought you were used to that already. I’m sorry, James… for your car, for Johnny, for everything. I really do.” I let out a heavy sigh.

“I know you do. We should talk. Can I… step by?” my belly churned. My breathing ceased for a moment when I quickly glanced at the closed bathroom door. Jimmy couldn’t come here now.

“Well I… just woke up so… I need a few minutes to dress up and eat something. Can you give me… an hour?” I bit my lip and gulped my anxiety.

“Yes, I’ll be there in an hour. See ya.” I sensed a bit more of excitement on his voice.

“See ya.”

I jump out of my bed and went straight to the bathroom door with the sheets wrapped around me.

“Brian? Are you okay in there?” as soon as I asked, he opened the door to face me, all dressed up and serious. I missed his naked forms already.

“I’m fine.” he sighed and I felt his air blowing in my face. We were standing so close to each other and neither one of us dared to step forward or backward.

“Jimmy’s coming… he wants to talk.” I moved my eyes to his jacket, trying to run from his gaze.

“Yeah, I heard. So you came here to say you want me out, right?” he was gonna walk past me but I stopped him with my palms on his chest.

“Brian, please, don’t be like that. He’s still my…” I went back to his eyes. God, how gorgeous he could be when angry.

“Yeah, and he’s still my best friend. I can’t help it if I’m feeling bad about all of this now…” he leaned in the doorframe, letting his guards down finally.

“Hey, we are at the same boat here. I feel terrible too. I could be worse if you haven’t…” I licked my lips and tried to contain a micro smile to the recollection of the past minutes on his arms but it came out anyway. His eyes and lips softened. We were almost drunk in each other again when he broke our eye contact.

“I gotta go, Em.” He took long to blink his eyes and moved my body out of his front in a soft way before stepping out of the bathroom and heading to the door. I went after him and opened it.

“Wait, let me see if Jess is here!” I whispered and went out before him. She wasn’t at the kitchen neither at the living room so… clear.

“She’s not around, you can go.” I went back and stood at the door as he went out, grabbing his hat out of the doorknob. He set it on his head and faced me once more.

“Are you… coming over later to finish what we started?” his gaze was so intense I almost couldn’t answer.

“Maybe…” his face got so close I had to grab his both cheeks and pull him into a hungrily goodbye kiss.

“Are you… breaking up with him?” that question couldn’t have been made in a worst possible time. I only nodded, still bewitched by his taste and tripping into my thoughts. I couldn’t rationalize anything now.

“We talk later okay?” I mumbled and he walked away after winking at me.

God… I thought I could never let him go.

I watched as he passed through the front door and disappeared. When I was about to close my bedroom door, Jess opened hers, hands on her hips, the biggest frown I ever saw stamped on her face.

---

“On the Emily-screwing-her-own-life scale, this past two days are standing at the highest level, I would say. And it’s kinda hard to top a few of your previous mess. What the heck were you thinking!?” she was blabbering her usual lecture about my life, sitting at the toilet, while I was trying to take a quick shower before Jimmy would show up.

“As you said, I was screwing my brains out with Brian. My thinking system was disabled.” I chuckled.

“God, how can you still make jokes about it? This is serious, Emily! You just cheated on Jimmy with his best friend, god only knows how many times!! And the worst of all, you did this after you almost killed his other best friend, the one who almost missed his own child’s birth. Well done!” I could hear her hands clapping.

Yeah, I wasn’t expecting her acceptance anyway.

“You don’t give up with your buzz killer role, do you? I’m sorry if I’m still too ecstatic with Brian in my head after almost dying. This past hours with him made me think a lot about my life, you know. Even if you don’t believe so…”

“Oh, really?” she was ironic to the bone.

“Yeah, it’s like I’m… renewed. I feel like my insides are healed. He made me believe life’s still worth living.” my eyes closed when I smiled at the recollection of his hands roaming all over my body.

“This is not only about you anymore, Emily. What about Jimmy’s feelings, Brian’s? They are not just a toy you can toss it somewhere when you’re done playing, I hope you know that.”

Only the water sound was covering our ears for some time. I didn’t have a straight answer to that. She was right. I was only looking through my selfish side.

“I know Jess…”

“You have to choose. Fast.” she waited for my answer but I didn’t have it again. “Are you breaking up with him?”

“I wish people would stop asking me that.”

Silence fell again, a stupid reflective silence.

“You got at least to change those sheets... I can smell Brian’s cologne from here.”

“Yeah, I’m definitely changing the sheets.” I tried to suppress my grin, but it was impossible to do that lately, apparently. I think I never felt that happy before.

But maybe it was too soon to talk about the best day of my life. Cause when I turned off the shower, the doorbell rang. Oh shit…

“I’ll take that and I’m out of here.” Jess said.

“Don’t let him…” before I could finish my sentence, she was out of reach. “…get inside my bedroom… Damn it, Jess.”

I dressed up as fast as I could.

---

“Hey Jimmy, she’s still at the shower. You can wait over here.” Jess pointed to the living room. But Jimmy seemed to ignore Jess’ suggestion. His pace was heavy and determined to go straight to Emily’s room, the one he’d never walked in before.

“Thanks, Jess, I’ll wait on her room.” he walked in through the corridor and hesitated when saw two doors.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna… wait here for a while?” Jess tried in a way she wouldn’t appear too suspicious.

Was she covering for her friend? Obviously, she was. She would always cover for Emily no matter what.

"Yes, I'm sure!” but Jimmy seemed in a hurry to meet her. Jess hesitated a few seconds and gave up.

“It’s the one on the left.”

“Emily? It’s me.” he knocked on the door and Emily didn’t answer right away as she was changing her bed sheets in what it seems to be like the speed of light.

“Hey… Jim, wait there, I’m almost… dressed.” Emily appeared at the door by the time she said the last word.

Her wet and tangled hair was hanging on one side of her face as she seemed out of breath and worried. Jimmy didn’t even see it, he only noticed how his heart pounded swiftly inside his chest at the sight of that woman.

He pushed himself through the short space between Emily and the door and seized her body against him as if he hadn’t seen her in years. Emily had her eyes entirely opened, a bit shocked with his sudden attack on her mouth, as she needed a few seconds to get used to that feeling again. The feeling of Jimmy on her arms and on her lips. Not Brian.

“God, you have no idea how… how worried you made me feel, Ems. I thought I had lost you, you and Johnny at the same night… I…” he held her neck as his forehead was pressed on hers intensely, their noses touching slightly, his eyes closed.

Emily felt the guilty stinging on her heart for the first time that day. And she knew that feeling would never leave her as long as Jimmy was there to show all his love and caring through those beautiful eyes even if she wasn’t worthy of it.

Wait. His love?

Emily pulled away from his kissing for a second, she couldn’t breathe with his intensity.

“Jim, I’m sorry for everything I put you through. I’m paying you every dime, I swear, I’m gonna find a steady job and…” he stopped her with a kiss.

“I love you so much, I’ll never let my stupid jealousy get in the middle of us again. I know it was all my fault.” Emily couldn’t believe his words. They were supposed to make her feel better but they made her feel the evilest person in the world.

As he was alone and feeling guilty for everything, she was having fun and forgetting about any other existence but her own and Brian’s. What kind of person… does that?

“Jim… it wasn’t your fault, okay? I lost it and… you should be angry with me right now, not telling me you… love me.” she felt sick of her own skin and had to pull off from his embrace before she would end up telling him everything. She also had to hide the tears forming on her eyes, so she turned her back to him.

He closed the door and sat on the bed, staring at her back, still clueless about her weird reaction to his love declaration. Emily, on the other hand, was glancing at her recorder on top of the desk. She thought about tossing it in the garbage but before she could do something she would regret later, she picked it up and stored quickly in a drawer.

As Jimmy noticed she wasn’t willing to face him yet, his eyes wandered around the place. Tons of Avenged Sevenfold posters on the wall facing the bed. A few of him, a few of the entire band. Most of them, from Gates and his Schecters. Yeah, well, expectable from a guitarist and a fan…

But then he noticed something peculiar on all Brian’s posters. They were all signed. Brian’s signature.

He’s been here… before me?

He breathed in and out and… something hit him again. Brian and his excessive use of perfume couldn’t pass unnoticed anywhere. Not even on Emily’s bedroom. He could smell him all over the room.

“So… Everybody was worried about you on the hospital when you left. Especially Brian…” Jimmy tried not to take rushed conclusions out of that scenario but he was imagining his friend stepped by some time before him, and that fact alone was killing him with anger.

“Yeah, he… came to check on me yesterday.” she tried to sound normal when she closed her eyes firmly, still facing the wall, waiting for the time she would be ready to look at him again without feeling like crying.

“Oh, really?” he wasn’t so glad to hear that.

Why couldn’t he just stay out of my girl’s life?

“He just… wanted to see if I needed someone to talk to, you know. He’s a good friend, Jimmy, and that’s all.” she finally had the bravery to turn to him. Once again, he trusted blindly on her words, they sounded completely true to his ears. He promised his jealousy would never take over his actions again.

“Okay, I believe you.” He breathed and softened his frown finally. “I’m here cause I wanted to check up on you too and… to tell you that Johnny is already discharged and he asked me if I could take you to his house to talk. What does he want to talk about? We all know the accident wasn’t you fault so…”

Emily felt sick again. She bet Johnny wanted to tell her he wished she had died on that night. He would never want to look at her face, ever again. Or he would just call a mental facility to lock her up forever, she thought. Neither of those options was a good deal for her.

“Look… I don’t know what he wants to talk to me but… I don’t think he would want to have me on his house now, when he’s recovering and really occupied with his wife and daughter. I don’t wanna bother him.” she stared at the ground, just thinking about seeing Johnny’s disapproval look at her. That was shameful enough.

“He made me promise I would take you there today, Emily.”

She thought it through a thousand times. And she had no choice, after all. She had to face it all someday, even if it hurts like hell.

“Okay, if he insists…” she sighed and headed to the door. “I’m just gonna eat something before we go, okay?” Jimmy nodded and she stepped out of the room, leaving him alone there. “Do you want something?” she yelled from the kitchen as he rose from her bed, walking by the window.

“No, thanks, I’m good.” he sat at her bed again, now in front of the window and used that time he had to feel the soft texture of her bed sheets. The fact that she had never asked him to come there, to lie there with her, was really bothering him. Why didn’t she?

Then he took her pillow at his nose level and inhaled her scent he missed too much and could easily get high on. When he was about to place it back at the headboard of the bed, he caught a glimpse of a black fabric stuck in between the mattress and the bed wood. He picked it up and had the worst betrayal feeling he’d ever expect to feel disturbing his mind.

He definitely knew from where Brian’s scent was coming now. From his headband. Stuck behind her mattress. He could even picture how it ended in there.

His lips showed his more than sarcastic grin to the air while placing it back where, apparently, it belonged.

“Hey babe… I’m done, let’s go?” she showed up suddenly on the door although it didn’t startle Jimmy. He was as numb as if he had shot up a good dose. But not a good numbness this time.

He took a few seconds to answer as Emily waited for him on the door.

“Yeah… let’s go.” he followed her, trying to pick up the scattered pieces of his heart throughout the way.

He got out of her bedroom finally acknowledging the fact that she was more than ready to graduate on the liar’s department. And so was his best friend.

Notes

is he breaking up with her??

scenes of the next chapter ;) hahahah

<3