Hailee sits down at the table with the three men, and I signal to River that we should go outside. It’s loud as hell in this place. I don’t want to have an awkward I haven’t seen you in five years conversation over Bon Jovi’s screeching. So, when he nods, I reach for his hand and lead him out of the bar. The alcohol swimming inside me gives me the confidence to take the lead, even after all this time.
I glance back at Hailee, giving her a look so she knows I’ll be close by if she needs me, and she grins back at me.
Once we’re outside, River says, “I’ve missed you, Ava.” The gaze he’s holding and the honesty in his voice, mixes with my buzz, making everything in this moment blur together.
I look at him, really look at him, for the first time in over five years. His emerald eyes glisten in the dark as headlights roll over his face, cars whooshing past us.
I want to tell him I’ve missed him, but something stops me. My pride? My new jaded self? “I’m so surprised to see you.” I glance away from his face because it’s too perfect, even after all this time, and I’m suddenly shy in his presence. So much has changed. There’s been so much time and distance and hurt packed into these years, but now he’s too close to me and all I can think about is getting my hands on him and letting them speak the words that I can’t right now. “But you did tell me you’d find me again someday,” I say, remembering it as I smile up at him.
“Yeah, and you stopped taking my calls. That hurt.” He looks away from me for a moment and then turns back toward me. “I mean, I understand why. I really do. It was hard, though. I get that it was my choice to leave but that didn’t mean I wanted to lose you. I just—”
“Let me make it up to you tonight,” I interrupt him. With us, it was never just about the sex, but it had been a beautiful bonus. I’d be lying to myself if I said I hadn’t thought about it multiple times over the years. Seeing him now makes me feel like I’m seventeen again, and the rush is more intoxicating than alcohol could ever be.
“Do you want to get out of here?” he asks, as we stand on the sidewalk outside the bar. My eyes widen at his question and he quickly says, “That wasn’t supposed to sound like a lame attempt to take you home with me.” An uncomfortable laugh escapes his lips.
I boldly reach out to cup his face in my hands, bringing my mouth to his to allow my actions to do what words can’t, losing myself in the moment as I taste the nostalgia on his lips.
Tonight, I don’t care about consequences. I don’t think about the mess this might make for us in the morning.
Tonight, I want him in his entirety.
“Who says I want you to take me home, River Jacobs?”
Track Eighteen: Lady Marmalade
by Labelle
AVA
My skin is hot beneath River’s hands. Suddenly, time melts away and it feels like we’ve always been this way. However, he’s all grown up now and gotten even better at seducing the hell out of me. He reaches up and lets my hair down, allowing his hands to get lost in it as it falls onto my shoulders.
A whispered moan escapes my lips as he trails his hands down my thighs. He’s teasing me, remembering every spot I loved to be touched, his breath hot on my skin.
As he moves a stray strand of hair out of my face, the dim light casts a shadow over the tenderness in his eyes, and I smile. His gentle touch reminds me of when he loved me, and part of me wonders if deep down inside, he still does.
I grab him then, pulling him toward me to kiss him. Too much time has passed since our lips last touched, in a way we could take our time with.
Straddling him, I slip my shirt over my head, then unzip his pants with one hand, the other still on his face, feeling his scruff. His tongue intertwines with mine and his breath is hot and minty, and I can taste the liquor he must have downed earlier in the night. I allow myself to let go just a little, to succumb to the feelings I never thought I’d have again.
My drunkenness had faded into a buzz when my eyes fell on him as he walked into the dingy dive bar. And now, with him here in my bed, knowing what we’re about to do, I feel surprisingly sober.
I’m pulled quickly back into the moment when he whispers into my ear, “Can I fuck you?” He sticks one finger inside me, then pulls it out slowly and puts it into his mouth. I watch his lips quiver as he savors it with a groan. “You’re so fucking wet,” he says, finishing the sentence with a heated kiss.
I can taste myself on him, and it only heightens my arousal more. I feel him, hard against my thigh, the throbbing of his cock sending a surge of heat throughout my entire body.
I want to savor every second of this, slow time down and devour every moment, feel every single inch of his skin against mine. I crave him with everything inside of me.
I press one hand against his chest to settle him back down on my bed. With the other hand, I start working his cock. I watch as his face radiates ecstasy, and I’m pleased to see he wants this just as badly as I do. He’s moaning softly, quiet and low, and playing with my tits, caressing them and using his thumb and index finger to gently squeeze my nipples. I pull one hand away and bring it down to my pussy, guiding his fingers back inside me. I want to show him how wet he makes me. I want him to feel me.
Once he does, a loud moan escapes his lips. His eyes roll back, his mouth falling open, and I know he can’t take much more. I sit back, moving my hips in a circular motion as he fingers me. I’ve gone so long without his touch, I’m ready to feel all of him, every single inch, inside of me.
I lower my face down to his and bite down gently on his ear. “Please, fuck me,” I whisper to him as I guide him inside me, finally allowing myself to relinquish every ounce of control I have left.
Track Nineteen: Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
by The Shirelles
AVA
My eyes flutter open, the sun rays spilling in from my still-open blinds. His arm is warm and tightly wrapped around my naked body.
“Hi.” My voice is raspy and I can’t see straight—a mix of the early morning light and the late-night endeavors. I tug at the blanket that he’s stolen from me at some point in the night. The force jolts him awake, and he looks lost for a moment.
When he realizes where he is, and that he’s with me, he calms, and a toothy grin spreads across his face. “You know I always was a blanket stealer.” He’s right. A tiny detail I forgot until now.
We lie there together, not touching any longer, both on our backs staring at the white popcorn ceiling. The sex was mind-blowing. The feelings that rushed through my body the moment I saw him standing in that bar was incomparable to anything I’d ever experienced. It felt different—he felt different—than all those years ago. Then again, we were teenagers back then. We didn’t know half of what we know now.
“How have you been?” He rolls toward me. “And don’t give me any of that surface-level shit, Ava Keyes. What’s been happening these last five years?”
It’s true that the moment I saw River last night, I wanted to tell him everything, only it’d been with my body as opposed to my words. I didn’t want to talk last night, not after I’d been drinking, not after seeing him after all this time.