Hailey

“So, what are you two going to get into?” Anna asked as we headed for the cars.

“Honestly? I’m not sure. What are you and Drew going to get into?” I asked.

“Not sure. Drew here says he’s got a fun adventure he wants to take me on,” Anna said.

“My only requirement is that she’s safe,” I said.

“You’ve got my word,” Drew said.

“Good. Anna, you remember where the spare key is?” I asked.

“I do, I do,” she said.

“Don’t use my bed if you go back to the apartment. You’re buying me a new mattress if you ruin it,” I said.

Drew’s eyes widened so comically, it made me laugh, and Anna couldn’t help but play along with the banter.

“I’ll just leave the money for it underneath your pillow,” she said, winking.

“Oh, I like this woman,” Drew said.

“I figured you might,” I said.

The four of us parted ways, and I hopped into Bryan’s truck. We rode in relative silence, my ears still ringing from the blasting of the fireworks. Bryan’s hand felt so warm in mine. His fingers dwarfed my hand, curling over my skin as if he were holding a toddler’s. My thumb traced pointless outlines on top of his skin, and I grinned to myself when I saw the goosebumps ricochet up his skin. I had to admit, my body was heating up at the thought of simply being with him, but I was excited about going to his house.

It was the first time I was going to see it, and it meant I got to know more about him as a person.

When we pulled up into his driveway, my jaw hit the floor. His house was gigantic. Well, compared to my studio apartment, it was gigantic, but it wasn’t at all what I expected from Bryan. The geometric shapes that donned the support system of the house told me he’d designed it himself. The driveway rounded around right to the front door of his house, and he shut the truck off before he got out and opened my door.

And still, I was gawking at his home.

“Bryan, this is where you live?” I asked.

“Yep. Designed it myself if you couldn’t already tell.”

“I could,” I said, grinning. “It’s beautiful. How big is it?”

“Just shy of three thousand square feet. I didn’t want something too gaudy, but I wanted enough space to eventually expand into.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t plan on staying single forever,” he said.

I looked up at him, and I could see his eyes dancing with his future plans. This strong, chiseled man who’d designed his own house, built his own company, and probably had a hand in building all the projects his company took on, was daydreaming in his spare time of a family. I couldn’t help but watch as the joy of that prospect rolled across his face, and the moment he looked down at me, he smiled.

“Wanna see the inside?” he asked.

“Hell yeah, I do.”

He took my hand and walked me inside. We were dumped into an open foyer with beautiful darkened hardwood floors. A massive staircase led up to a second story, and all I could do was gawk. There was so much room. So much space. I walked down the hallway and rounded around into the kitchen, filled to the brim with stainless steel appliances. Over to the right was a huge living room with a television mounted on the wall and a small hallway that cased the back of the house. It dumped into a guest bedroom, one that was probably used by Drew if he ever came to stay over.

“There’s a basement I think you might enjoy,” he said into my ear.

“Lead the way.”

There was a door in the main hallway that he opened. He flicked on a light that exposed a delicate staircase, and I followed him down it as he continued to click on lights. The basement ran the entire length of the house, easily one thousand square feet on its own as I took in the layout. There was a small living area with a television to my right, a sprawling bedroom area to my left, and behind me in a little caddy corner was a bathroom and shower combination.

He had an entire living space down here, minus a kitchen.

But it was the walls that caught my attention. The walls that were lined with various drawings. Sketches that had been framed and shaded geometric patterns that had been encased and preserved over the years. I saw a few paintings, some scenic pictures and some painted animals. I ran my eyes along each and every one of them, studying them as my smile grew wider. These were all paintings and drawing Bryan had done over the years. He’d painted and drawn every single one of them, and I was standing in awe of the work he was capable of.

The artistic expression that flowed through the utensils he used to create these portraits.

But there was one that caught my eye. One that I knew Bryan hadn’t done. The log cabin painting came into view at the very end of the line, where the wall stopped and took a turn to span the width of the room.

It was the tattoo he had on his lower back.

John’s high school cabin painting.

I was stunned. Rooted to my place. I was standing in front of the original painting. The painting that seemed to be a pervading theme throughout the course of our relationship. This painting seemed to hold a sort of innocence with Bryan, but to me, it seemed to be this thin connecting string that strung all of us together. This idea John had that he’d latched onto, of brotherly love and familial innocence, it had followed him throughout his entire lifetime.

I felt tears rush to my eyes as Bryan’s hand descended onto my lower back.

“I had this picture blown up and put in my original office. It’s now Drew’s office alone, but he wanted to keep the painting up there,” he said.

“It’s...”

I had no words. I was looking at the original painting while seeing the painting I had in my possession in the back of my mind. The painting John did for me back when I was in L.A. was more detailed, more fleshed out, but it was definitely the same cabin.

And he had painted these pictures with the same emotions.

“What does this painting mean to you?” I asked.

“Innocence. A happier time. Positive memories of my brother and I running around,” he said.

“What do you think it meant to your brother?” I asked.

“I’d like to think it meant the same thing. He loved that place. He begged our parents to go every summer. I’d get mad at him at first because I wanted to stay in San Diego and play with my friends all summer. But whenever we’d get there, we’d start running around and playing in the creek out back, and all would be forgotten. Just like that.”

“Just like that,” I said.

“I figured you might like it down here,” he said.

“I’d like anywhere we went, so long as I was with you.”

I panned my gaze up to him, and I could see the growing seriousness behind his eyes. He took my hands and led me to the bed, sitting me down before he sat down next to me. The talk was coming, I could feel it. He was ready to define our relationship, or at least talk about it.

I had to tell him.

I had to tell him everything before he made such a grave mistake.

“Can I be honest for a second?” he asked.

“You can always be honest with me,” I said.

The guilt just bubbled up my throat with every word that flew from my mouth.

“I really enjoy spending time with you,” he said.

“I enjoy spending time with you, too, Bryan.”

“But I’m worried that there’s a great deal unspoken between us.”

“Honestly? I feel the same way. I really think we should talk this through,” I said.

“Good. Because I always want to be upfront with you. Hailey, I’m not the most emotionally stable guy. I hang onto a lot from my past, especially regarding my brother’s death.”

“I understand. I can’t imagine the toll that must’ve taken on you.”

“I’m worried that my emotional instability will drive you away,” he said. “I’m worried that you’re still doing this with me because you think you’re somehow still repaying me for the gallery.”

Wait. He felt what?

“Bryan, you don’t ever have to worry about that,” I said. “This is so much more than you helping me out with the gallery. There’s a real connection between us. A genuine one. I feel it every single time we spend time together.”

“So, you don’t feel that you’re doing this because of our deal? Because if you did, I’d never be able to—”

I leaned forward, silencing him with my lips. I didn’t want to hear another word about it. I couldn’t believe we’d had all the encounters we’d had with this in the back of his mind. I wanted him to enjoy this time with me. I wanted him to lose himself in me the way I lost myself in him.

I wanted to enjoy every single second of our time together before he found out the truth about my life.

He kissed me back, his hand migrating to the back of my head. He sat up and pulled me closer to him as my body shifted into his lap. His long, strong arms held me to him as our lips danced in tandem, a tango breathing life into our bodies as I felt him come alive against my legs. His tongue was so soft, and his lips tasted so sweet, and soon all the hesitations and lies and deceits fell to the background. I knew I had to tell him. I knew I had to come clean. I knew I held the key to him finally being able to gain closure on what had happened to John.

To his brother.

To the one person who was in his life that he loved more than anyone else.

“I really like you, Bryan,” I said breathlessly.

“I really like you, too, Hailey,” he said, smiling.

“Remember this,” I said.

“What?”

“This moment. How you feel right now. Remember it.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Well, we’re bound to fight sometime, right?” I asked. “When we do, I want you to remember how you feel at this moment. Because—”

“Hailey,” he said. “No matter what we fight about, we’ll work it out, okay? Don’t fret about something like that now.”

His hand rose to cup my heated cheek, and I knew in the back of my mind that statement wasn’t true. He’d be infuriated. Irate. He’d cast me out without a second thought, and all because I couldn't be honest with him in the beginning.

All because I told him I wasn’t at that memorial service.

“Hailey? You all right?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“You know we don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” he said. “I’d be more than happy just lying here with you.”

“I know,” I said, grinning. “But there’s something I’d like to do first.”

“What’s that?”

My lips planted onto his neck as my body slowly slid from his lap. My hands planted on his hips, rushing up his thighs as I felt for the button on his pants. I heard him groaning, his hands removing his shirt as his rippling chest came into view. There wasn’t a view of his body that wasn’t exquisite to behold, and I allowed my lips to take their time memorizing every single crevice while I slid off his pants. I could feel his body humming, trembling with anticipation of where my lips were finally heading. The red tint that followed the path of my lips lit a fire of happiness in my chest. One I wouldn’t forget for years to come.

No matter what happened between the two of us.

Bryan scooted himself up onto the bed, his body draped in nothing but his skin as he stood tall and proud for me. I slithered between his legs and kissed up his thighs, feeling his muscles twitch and jump as I nipped at his skin. I felt myself diving into the pool of his body, holding my breath as long as I could as I wrapped my lips around him. He tasted of salt and passion and desire, and I felt his hands searching for mine.

He intertwined our fingers while my lips pulled moans from his throat.

I lavished him with my tongue and felt him press against my body. I reveled in the way his hips rolled into me, taking in each and every motion while his body glistened in the pale lights of his basement. In that very moment, he was nothing but vulnerable. His eyes were closed, and his hands were threaded tightly with mine. I could feel his hips rolling faster and faster, chasing an end I wanted to bring to him, if only because he deserved it.

If only because it was a good man who deserved the pleasure he was currently experiencing.

His back arched and his heels dug into the mattress. I hummed around his body, pressing myself into him as he shook and writhed. Never had I heard the sounds tumble from Bryan’s lips that were currently filling his basement, and I smiled once my name finally dripped from his lips.

“Oh, Hailey. So good. Oh.”

His body settled onto the bed, his chest panting for air. His eyes stayed closed while his hands loosened his grip, and I took the opportunity to clean him off with my lips before I stalked up his body. I committed everything to memory: his sinewy muscles, the way they bulged after he sought his own pleasure. The veins rising to the surface of his beautifully-tanned skin while his blood cascaded through his body at lightning speed. I kissed every single mark I left behind on his skin, grinning as his muscles twitched underneath my surprise pressures.

I slid to his side while my fingertips danced in the crevices of his rippling muscles.

“Fuck,” Bryan said breathlessly.

“Just allow it to wash over you,” I said mindlessly.

But the moment didn’t last for long because, as soon as he composed himself and his muscles found their strength again, his lips attached themselves readily to my neck.

And I allowed myself to sink to the depths of his body, drowning myself in him while the darkness was held at bay by the walls of his beautiful home.