Chapter Eight

I had no idea where Thomas was taking me. It was my first time on the back of a motorcycle and I was terrified. Adrenaline coursed through me. I held onto his waist and tried to remember what he told me. I should not try to drive. If he leans, let him lean. I had to remember to go with the flow of the bike.

There was no measure to my surprise when Thomas pulled up outside what looked like an ordinary park. I climbed off of the bike slowly. My legs felt like jelly, wobbly and unsteady. I handed the helmet back to Thomas. He was grinning at me as he packed both his and my helmets into a compartment under the seat.

“Come on,” he said. He began walking into the park and I followed.

The smells of the place were the first thing that hit me. It was really dark so I could barely see where we were going. I stumbled once and then Thomas’ hand was in mine. He squeezed it reassuringly and began to walk again. I felt a bit better with him guiding me.

Although I could not see where we were headed, there was shrubbery on either side of us. The scent of flowers struck my nose and I breathed them in. It was lovely, really.

It was right as I was about to ask what the flowers were that Thomas stopped. We had reached a clearing of sorts. There was a fountain and I could hear the subtle splash of water into the feature. Suddenly, the place was illuminated by what must have been a hundred twinkling fairy lights. My eyes went wide.

We seemed to be in some sort of greenhouse. The fountain was in the center, a pretty sculpture that made the whole scene feel tranquil. All around us, there were all sorts of plants and flowers I had never seen before. It was exotic. There were vines creating a canopy from the glass ceiling, making it seem like we were in a forest of sorts. Someone had hung the fairy lights and they seemed to be the only source of lighting in the place.

“It’s magical,” I said in wonder. “This is amazing.”

“Well, thank you. I’m glad you think so.” Thomas was smiling at me. He moved closer to me. I saw the switch behind him for the lights and a vine moved over it to hide it from sight. I realized that you would not be able to switch the lights on unless you knew exactly where they were.

“Did you do all this?”

Thomas gave a low chuckle. “Nah. There’s no way that I could take all the credit. This is my class project.” He looked around. “We have been working on it for the past few years. It has grown a lot. I wanted to bring you to one of my favorite places in the world.”

“This is really amazing.” I said. It was. “It’s probably one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen. Like, really. Plus it smells pretty damn good, too.”

He laughed again and my chest felt light. I could live to make him laugh. He moved closer to me and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips. I closed my eyes and he cupped my face in his hands. The kiss was short but my lips still tingled afterward.

“I thought that we could maybe eat here, if you are okay with that.”

“What do you mean?”

Thomas ran a hand through his hair. He walked over to the fountain and disappeared behind it. I stood, feeling confused. When he reappeared, it was with a basket in his hands. “Picnic.”

Just when I thought that the boy could not get any more perfect than he already was, he proved me wrong. I did not answer. I simply nodded my head, my smile wide.

He opened the basket and pulled out a bright pink blanket from within. He laid the blanket on the ground. It was only then that I realized that the floor was grass. They had gone so far as to extend nature to the ground. I guessed that the majority of the exotic-looking plants needed the grass or they would have let everything grow wild. In a way, they were letting nature take over as much as they could. I bent down and ran my fingers across the grass, pressing down on the ground. It was real, squishy and damp to the touch.

“Amazing,” I murmured again. I had not even realized that I had spoken until Thomas wrapped his arms around me from behind. He hugged me gently and pressed a kiss to the back of my shoulder, through my shirt.

I felt my cheeks grow hot but just as quickly as he had arrived, Thomas was gone again. He was unpacking the basket onto the blanket. There were two bowls of food and two bottles of juice.

“May I sit?” I asked.

“Please do,” Thomas said. He was grinning. He sat down across from me once I had picked a spot on the blanket. “Okay, you can help yourself.”

I looked around. It looked like he had made sandwiches with roast beef and salad; there was a bowl of strawberries and bananas; and two bowls which had lids on them so I could not see their contents.

I was starving. I had not eaten while I was out with Kayla, nor when I had gotten back to the hotel. I bit into the sandwich and my taste buds died and went to heaven.

“This is amazing,” I said.

Thomas laughed. It was not like a low chuckle like he usually did. It was a real laugh, boisterous and full of life. “You keep saying that.”

My cheeks grew hot. “Well, it is.”

“You are adorable, Myles.”

That statement did nothing to cool down the fire heating my cheeks up. We mostly ate in silence. There was a peace in the greenhouse that begged not to be disturbed. It was not an awkward silence. I found that I was quite comfortable with Thomas.

After the meal was done, I resisted the urge to once again say that it was amazing even though it was. I lay back on the blanket, looking up at the ceiling. I could just make out the moon through the canopy of vines that covered the glass. It was silvery, reminding me that the world was still outside the little bubble that Thomas and I were in.

“Hey,” Thomas said. “There’s still dessert, you know.”

“Did you make all this?” I asked. I sat up.

“Yeah, I did.”

“Okay, so, could I like keep you around to cook for the rest of my life?”

Thomas paused, glancing over at me. “You just want to keep me around for the rest of your life so that I can cook food for you?”

“I mean, that is just one of the perks of having you around…” I said quietly.

“Oh, yeah?” Thomas moved closer to me and my breathing hitched. “What would the other perks be?”

I bit my lip as I looked at him. There were so many perks. For one thing, I would get to look at his beautiful face like, all the time. I could listen to his laugh. I could kiss his lips. I was staring at his lips. I forced myself to look back at his eyes. “There are… a few,” I said. I wanted my voice to come out strong but it was barely a whisper.

I don’t know if Thomas heard me. His lips were gentle as they touched mine. It was barely a brush of skin against skin. My eyes fluttered shut and I moved to him. Somewhere along the way, I ended up lying on my back and he was above me. My arms wrapped around his neck as we kissed, my tongue dancing against his in his mouth. I could feel his hard-on pressing against my hip and I bucked my hips up against it, grinding on his crotch.

Thomas’ hands moved between us. My pants were unbuttoned and his hand was inside my underwear, his fingers wrapped around my shaft. I moaned into his mouth as he pulled my length out. He started stroking up and down the shaft while we kissed until I finally broke free of his mouth. I was breathless. My thoughts were all over the place and I was struggling to concentrate on kissing him while his hand was moving up and down my cock.

He did not seem to mind that I had broken away. His lips were on my neck, suckling at the spot where my pulse was. I could only imagine the reactions I might get if he got a hickey. I pushed the thought out of my mind as soon as it entered it. It made me think about the fans and I felt my stomach clench uncomfortable.

All of the thoughts were chased away at the sound of Thomas’ breathing. He nibbled on my skin and moved lower. I don’t know how but the top buttons of my shirt had come undone. He trailed kisses down my exposed shoulder. He moved lower and everywhere that his mouth was, tingled long after he had moved on.

I moaned as he took one of my nipples into his mouth, twirling his tongue around it. The little bud grew harder in his mouth, the desire I felt shooting straight down to my core. It was like every nerve ending was on edge and they all wanted Thomas to keep going. I thought that I might explode.

Before I knew it, my orgasm had built to its bursting point. I had been so lost in the sensations taking up the entirety of my body. I jerked and bucked under Thomas, my load landing on his arm. He did not stop stroking my cock, coaxing every last drop of my cum out of my balls. I shuddered underneath him, moaning his name softly.

“How about that for a perk?” Thomas asked quietly. He moved back and pulled me along with him. I wanted to return the favor but I did not know how to initiate it. When I reached for him again, Thomas shook his head, smiling at me. “No. It’s okay. I wanted to give you pleasure.”

My heart was racing as I looked at him. “So, about that forever thing,” I said.

Thomas grinned. He gave me a wink and then moved to the bowls with lids on them. He opened them up and the smell of chocolate hit my nose. I leaned over his shoulder to look into them. They looked like chocolate mousse.

“Oh, my God. Yeah, forever, please.” I said.

With a laugh, Thomas reached for the bowl of fruit. He pulled a strawberry out of the bowl and dipped it into the chocolate mousse. He put the strawberry to my lips and I was reminded of the moment that we had shared at the restaurant with the milkshake and the fries.

I parted my lips and took the fruit into my mouth, biting down on the end of it. Thomas dunked the rest of it into the chocolate mousse and then popped it into his mouth with a soft crunch. We ate the whole bowl like that. Thomas would not let me do it on my own. I think he was enjoying feeding the fruit to me. I could not complain.

We lay back on the blanket together after the bowl was finished. Thomas wrapped his arms around me and I curled in closer to his body. I was starting to feel kind of cold. All the foliage was cooling the atmosphere and I suddenly missed the jacket that I had not brought along.

It must have been close to midnight when Thomas woke me. I had fallen asleep curled into his side, my head resting on his shoulder. It had been a long day.

“Hey,” he whispered. “We should probably get going.”

I tried to sit up and noticed that Thomas had taken his jacket off and covered us with it like a makeshift blanket. It was ironic, considering we were on a blanket in the first place. It was a sweet gesture and I felt my chest swell.

“We probably should,” I murmured sleepily.

Thomas began to pack everything back into the picnic basket. I stood and he folded the blanket up and added it to the top of the pile. I still had his jacket around my shoulders. He walked around the fountain and returned the basket to wherever it had been hiding before. When he walked back to me, he had a curious expression on his face.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I think that you are pretty damn cute when you are sleepy.” Thomas said.

He walked over to me and slipped his hand into mine. It was warm compared to mine, which were freezing cold. He was like a walking heater. I was both envious and admiring. He led me back to the bike. The walk back felt shorter.

“You can wear the jacket on the way to the hotel,” Thomas said as he pulled his helmet onto his head.

I wanted to argue that he needed to wear one, too, but I figured that there was no point in arguing with him. I knew Thomas well enough to know that he would not take the jacket back. So I climbed quietly onto the back of the bike and held onto him as tightly as I could without hurting him.

When we arrived at the hotel, I took the jacket off and handed it back to him.

“It’s so nice and warm,” he said. He leaned in to me and I knew that he was about to kiss me. My reaction was instant and involuntary.

Thomas tried to conceal his emotions but I saw the hurt in the split second that it was on his face. I pulled away as he leaned in. I could not help it. I looked around and there were not many people but we were right in front of the hotel. I felt guilty as soon as it happened.

I wanted to kiss him. I really did. I wanted to have a great make out session with him right there out in the open for anyone to see. After all, who would care? There was just one problem. That very morning, several paparazzi had photographed Kayla and me outside this hotel.

The record label may have known that I had no non-platonic feelings for Kayla, but they did not know about my sexual orientation. No one did, really. My band members were included in that collection of people.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “It’s not you. I swear it really is not you.”

Thomas shrugged sadly. “It’s okay, Myles. I get it.”

He did not give me the chance to argue. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me in for a hug. I melted against him. His arms were the most comforting thing that I had ever experienced. With that, he pulled his helmet back on and climbed onto his bike.

The engine was deafening as he drove off into the night.

It was cold so I turned to the hotel and made my way back up to my suite. I could not stand outside feeling sorry for myself. The guilt ate at me. I knew that Thomas was going to find out about Kayla and me, even though we were in a fake relationship. I regretted not bringing it up.