Surrender (16 page)

Brody

As we walk through the doors of the Hotel, my hands are sweating and butterflies are taking flight in my stomach. I don’t know why I’m nervous; we’ve had interviews and press releases before. I guess I’m just a little unsure of what to say. Travis said he will handle most of their questions, but I will need to make an effort to answer some.

Security leads us down a long corridor and through to a conference room. There is a small stage with a long table and six chairs facing the audience of reporters, journalists and photographers.

We all take a seat on the stage and are joined by Travis and a representative from the record label.

Travis speaks into the cluster of microphones along the table as I take a sip of my water.

“Okay, Ladies and Gents. Thank you for coming along today. Please keep your questions short and try not to get too personal. We’ll start with you.”

He points at a man in the front row, holding a small tablet in his hands that I am assuming is recording the whole thing.

“Yeah, Hi. I’m Jared from In Touch Magazine. Can you please explain for our readers the extent of your injuries resulting from your motorcycle accident, Brody?”

I glance over at Travis who nods his head slightly and then I look back out at the sea of unfamiliar faces in the room.

“Sure, Jared. I suffered from a fractured collar bone and a couple of ribs. But the main injury was blunt trauma to my head which caused swelling in the brain.”

Travis then takes over answering and explains why the swelling occurred and the different ways the Doctor’s tried to reduce the swelling, eventually relying on an induced coma. He then points out another face in the crowd.

“Hello guys, I’m Rose from The Los Angeles Times. Is it true, Brody, that since your accident you are suffering from short term amnesia?”

Just as I open my mouth to respond, Travis beats me to it.

“Brody has unfortunately lost some short term memories, however, recently he has been remembering certain events that occurred while on tour, so we are very confident that he will overcome this obstacle and regain all of his treasured memories of the fabulous tour.”

Over the next thirty minutes we answer their questions and smile for their cameras. There were a couple of personal questions thrown in there but I think we handled them pretty well. A couple of people asked about my relationship with Ava and how she was handling the fact that I had no recollection of ever meeting her. There was also a woman who spoke about us being seen a lot together recently and that our relationship must be surviving. The rest of the questions were based on our music and how it was going to be affected by my ‘condition’. Travis told them that we were taking some time off from writing and recording so that I could make a full recovery and then when the time is right we will jump straight back in. He even mentioned the possibility of the National tour.

Overall, it wasn’t as bad as I had been imagining all morning and when Jeremy dropped me off at my place the first thing I did was call Ava at work to let her know how it went.

“Ava Flores speaking.”

“Hi, it’s Brody.”

“Hey, how did it go?”

“It wasn’t too bad, actually. Travis did most of the talking, as usual, and their questions weren’t too personal. How’s your day been?”

“Great. I interviewed that new band, ‘Finn’ this morning and they are so nice, really down to earth. I hit it off with their lead singer and we’re having lunch tomorrow.”

Her words surprise me. I am shocked that she would just meet up with some strange guy for lunch. I’m also really surprised that she just blurted it out to me like that. Maybe she isn’t as keen as I thought for our relationship to just pick up where it left.

“Oh…that’s nice. Listen, Ava, I have to go. I’ll um…I’ll call you later.”

“Oh…okay. Bye.”

I quickly disconnect the call and feel like a total douche for doing it. We haven’t established where it is exactly we stand with one another, but after she told me a few weeks ago that she still loves me, I just thought that meant she had no interest in seeing other people. I guess she’s free to see other people if she really wants to.

Tossing my phone down on the couch I head to the kitchen and grab a beer. Jo isn’t home from classes yet so I have the place to myself. It’s probably too early to start drinking, but my head is feeling a little confused at the moment and I need to relax. I switch on the TV and mindlessly flick through the channels.

I can’t believe she’s going out with this guy. Shaking my head I will myself not to think about her, but after a couple of seconds my mind starts filling up with images of Ava. Images of the night she stayed over; images of her dressed in my shirt and her panties, looking so fucking sexy that it took all of my willpower not to tear them off her.

I drink my beer a little too fast and then grab another one. I can’t sit here and not do anything. Picking up my phone I dial her number again.

“Ava Flores speaking.”

“Don’t go out with him.”

“Brody? Is that you? What are you talking about?”

“I mean it. Don’t go out with him. I can’t promise yet that our relationship is going back to the way it was before, but I know that I want to try. I’m really enjoying spending time with you and we just need a little more time. Please don’t go out with him.”

“Brody, who are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the singer. The singer from that band you interviewed”

Ava does the last thing I expected her to do. She giggles. Why would she giggle about this? I’m wearing my heart on my sleeve. How could she think that’s funny?”

“Brody, Honey, the lead singer of ‘Finn’ is Lara Finn. She’s a girl.”

She giggles again and I feel really stupid. Totally relieved; but stupid.

“I must say though, I’m really glad that you’re jealous. It’s kind of a turn on.”

“Oh…well. Um…do you want to hang out at my place tonight?”

She agrees to come around after work. It’s Friday night so she doesn’t have to work in the morning. Maybe I can convince her to spend the night with me again.

Heading to the kitchen I check out the contents of the fridge and freezer with plans of cooking her something nice for dinner. Nothing looks very appealing though, so instead I call the Chinese restaurant down the road and get them to deliver some food.

While waiting for the food to arrive I call Jo to find out where she is. She’s at a bar with a couple of girls from her class, but she tells me she’ll be home soon. Damn. I was hoping me and Ava would have the place to ourselves for a while tonight. Suddenly a devious idea pops into my head and I quickly dial Jeremy.

“Hey, man. What’s up?”

“Hey, Stone. Listen, I need a favor.”

“Okay…what kind of favor?”

“Ava’s coming over for dinner and I want it to be romantic, but it won’t be romantic with Jo pottering around in the background.”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“She’s at this bar with some friends. I need you to intercept. You know, keep her there a bit longer.”

Jeremy chuckles on the line and I swear he loves the idea.

“What’s the name of this bar?”

***

By the time Ava arrives, the food is already here and the table is set for a romantic candle lit dinner. The look of surprise on Ava’s face is worth the effort I went to.

“Wow! What’s all this?”

“Ava, you’ve been really great and you’re dealing with this so well, that I just wanted to do something nice for you.”

I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her to me, planting a soft kiss on her lips.

“You cooked for me?”

“Well…I ordered for you. You know I can’t cook to save my life and I wouldn’t want to put you through the torture of having to eat my cooking.”

She tosses her handbag onto the couch and kicks off her heels. She obviously came straight from work and she’s wearing one of her sexy pencil skirts with a demure little button up shirt that makes her look like a sexy librarian.

Snapping out of my fantasy I follow her to the table and she scans the different dishes on the table.

“Hmm, it smells delicious.” She glances around the apartment. “Where’s Jo?”

Pulling her into my arms I look down at her as I brush a few loose strands of hair off her face.

“She’s out with Jeremy, so we should have the place to ourselves for at least a couple of hours.”

She grins and leans in for another kiss, before sitting down to enjoy the meal.

An hour later, after cleaning off the table and loading the dishwasher, we sit down on the couch together to watch a movie. I let her choose and of course it’s some romantic comedy that belongs to Jo.

I have one of my arms wrapped around Ava and she is leaning on me with her feet tucked up on the couch behind her, her head resting on my chest. The mixture of her perfume and shampoo is making me a little dizzy as I rub circles on her bare arm with my thumb. Her golden skin is so soft and smooth and I find myself closing my eyes and picturing her naked beneath me as I rub my hands all over her body.

Shaking my head, I force the sexy image out of my head and when I open my eyes, she’s watching me with a look of concern.

“Are you tired?”

“No, I’m fine. I was just thinking.”

“Oh, I thought you were falling asleep because you kind of moaned a little. What were you thinking about?”

I can’t tell her I was moaning because I was picturing her naked body.

“I was just thinking about how much I want you to spend the night with me again tonight.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I like waking up beside you in the morning.”

She grins up at me and then stands up, holding a hand out to me.

“Come on then, let’s go.”

We switch off the movie and the lights and head to my room. I walk to the closet to get her one of my shirts but her voice stops me.

“Don’t worry about a shirt for me. It’s um…it’s quite warm tonight. I can just sleep in my underwear.

Oh man! I am so going to struggle to keep my hands to myself tonight.

She unzips her skirt and it falls to the floor around her feet. She then slowly unbuttons her shirt before it joins her skirt on the floor. She is now standing before me in matching deep red bra and lace boy panties. The sight of her instantly making me as hard as a rock and a low growl rises from my chest. This girl is so damned beautiful and I feel my heart start to race as she slowly walks toward me, a shy look in her eyes.

As soon as she is close enough, I reach out and pull her to me, my mouth crashing to hers in a hungry kiss. I can’t remember a time when I have felt this rush of emotions before. My hands are shaking as I run them down her back and over her tight, round butt. She feels like perfection and I pull her closer to me. I reach up and gently pull the hair band from her dark hair and it falls in soft waves, cascading around her shoulders and down her back. I run a hand through it and she sighs in my arms. I suddenly feel her hands at the waistband of my jeans and I kiss her harder. Her scent and her taste are intoxicating and I can’t get enough. She seems so much more comfortable with me tonight and she is really quite forceful. I like it!

She unbuttons my jeans and pushes them down around my ankles. I step out of them and kick them across the floor as she lifts my shirt over my head. As I throw my shirt across the room, I feel her mouth on my nipple. My breath catches and I moan as she pulls at the bar with her teeth, creating a rush of heat through to my groin. Holy crap, this girl has me so fucking turned on; I hope it’s not all over in two seconds. Her hands roam up and down my chest as she licks at my nipples and I throw my head back in pleasure. Her tongue feels amazing and I just want to throw her down on my bed and return the favor. I slowly remove her bra and panties and let my hands run over her soft skin. She gently sucks my nipple into her mouth and I can’t take any more. I gently push her backward until the backs of her legs touch the bed and she falls down on her back. I let my eyes roam over her gorgeous body one more time before lowering myself on top of her.

Ava

Brody lowers his body onto mine, resting on his elbows. I look up into his grey eyes and I see right into his soul; his gentle, kind and loving soul. He smiles and brings his mouth closer to me. I pull him against me, wanting his lips on mine, needing them.

"You’re beautiful, Ava."

His breath dances across my lips and I give him a small smile. Closing the last few millimeters between us I softly nibble at his bottom lip. His moan draws me in further and I take the opportunity to run my tongue against his. He deepens the kiss and runs his hands along my body. He breaks apart the kiss and places soft kisses across my jaw line and down my neck. Stopping at the junction of my neck he softly bites. Moaning, I feel my body melt against his. The tingle in my lower stomach increases, his cock is pressing hard against my upper thigh and I want to reach down and touch it.

Rolling my head further back against the bed I close my eyes, focusing on Brody's tongue moving in a circular motion around my nipple. As he closes his mouth around it I groan in pleasure and he sucks on my nipple.

"Do you like that?"

"Mmhmm." I can't even talk it feels so good. Running my hands down his arms I reach down to his cock and run my finger along the length of it. His mouth starts running kisses further down my stomach with the occasional nip here and there. Brody stops at my hips and runs his soft, warm tongue around the lines of my tattoo.

"Ava I may not remember everything about you, about us but I'm making new memories."

"The future is all that matters Brody with…" I'm stopped midway through my thought and my sentence as Brody starts to run his tongue lower down my thigh junction ever closer to my sweet spot.

Brody spreads my legs apart with his hands and runs his finger against me, making my hands grip at the sheets.

"Brody I've been waiting for so long."

"I know baby, me too. I want it to last forever."

He brings me from my thoughts as he places his mouth on me and licks.

"Oh Brody. Sweet mother of…ohh."

He stops and looks up at me with hooded eyes.

"Are you ready baby?"

Lifting my hips up closer to him I watch him position himself at my entrance. Bringing his lips to mine he kisses me, while pushing himself deeper into me. Making us as close as any two humans can be. Brody starts a smooth rhythmic motion and I move my hips in time. He kisses me deeper and our movement picks up pace. I can't stop kissing him; I need to move in time with him. Right here in this moment nothing matters; just us. Brody is moaning against my mouth and I feel pressure already starting to build. Gripping on to Brody’s back I feel my nails cutting into him but I just can't stop. I'm sure it's painful but it seems to be pushing him further into ecstasy. Brody starts moaning louder and I feel my body get tighter.

We find our release together and Brody tenses as my muscles contract around him. After riding the waves of pleasure, he lowers his body gently on top on me and I can't be bothered to tell him to move, in fact I like it. After a few more minutes, he rolls off me and lies on his back staring up at the roof. Moving over closer I snuggle in to his side and wrap my arm over his chest. "Ava that was amazing."

"That was worth waiting for Brody."

Snuggling in closer to him I close my eyes and breathe in his woody scent that brings me so much comfort. In this moment I am so freaking happy. I finally feel like everything is going back to normal and I’m so glad that we have been able to survive this whole mess. My fingers twirl in circles around his nipple and his hand is mimicking the movement on my back. I don’t know what it is about this man, but the slightest touch from him can bring me to my knees. I have never wanted anything so much in my life.

Hearing a thud come from the lounge room I move closer to Brody. I hear a giggle come through the wall opposite the bed, great Jo has brought some fella home just what I need to hear. Closing my eyes, I relax in Brody’s arms and allow sleep to take over my tired body.