Among The Roses

Chapter 38: The Luckiest Couple

Drew turned the knob on his bedroom door and was surprised to find it locked. He tried it again, sure it was just stuck, but no, it was definitely locked.

Had he accidentally locked it when he left that morning?

He tried knocking, and heard Chiara's voice from inside.

He waited, and heard the door across the hall open. He turned around and saw Gary standing in the doorway to his room, shirtless, looking apologetic. Before Drew could ask him anything, however, the door his own room opened, and Chiara was standing there, wearing one of his old flannel shirts, hair brushed to a shiny gloss, face washed, smelling of toothpaste.

She looked unspeakably beautiful.

She looked beyond Drew and saw Gary. Her eyes narrowed for a moment as a look of watchfulness settled over her features, and instead of moving aside so he could enter, she stepped out into the hallway, putting her arms around Drew's neck and hugging herself close to his body.

Drew could tell immediately that she wasn't wearing anything at all under the shirt, and his hands went to her waist of their own accord as his arms wrapped around her, around her pliant warmth.

She let out a sound, a raw moan of want, as she reached up and in to kiss him, her mouth open in anticipation, feeling greedily for his tongue with her own, licking deep into his mouth over and over as she wrapped a leg around his hip pressed her sex into him.

Drew's response was immediate and visceral as his body pressed hers into the wall next to the door. He groaned, deeply and long, kissing her back so deeply and so hard that her head hit the wainscoting with a little bounce. They both laughed, and Drew broke the kiss to ask, "Are you all right?"

She nodded, gasping, "Let's go in, okay?" She rolled her hips into him again, raising her leg even higher on his.

Drew nodded back, kissing her. "Fuck yeah, feels so good, you feel so good, CC--"

They stumbled through the door and Drew kicked it shut behind him with a bang before picking Chiara up and simply carrying her to the bed. He laid her down, lying on top of her, crushing her under him as he raised her hands over her head and pressed her into the bed.

"What's gotten into you, hm?" he asked as he went to work on the two or three buttons she'd closed on the flannel shirt.

"When I came up, Gary followed me," she began in between kissing him. "It was strange."

Drew stopped kissing her and sat up, looking down at Chiara. Her shirt was unbuttoned, and she pulled it closed to cover her nakedness as she, too, sat up, looking down so her hair fell forward, obscuring her face.

"What?" He smoothed her hair behind her ear. "CC, did something happen? What are you saying?" None of the boys in Manderley Dreams had ever, ever had this kind of issue before, even Gary, who was, to be sure, the acknowledged womanizer of the band. "Surely you misunderstood him?"

Chiara stared at Drew as comprehension dawned. "Oh no, Drew, nothing like that, that's not what I'm saying at all." She shook her head, and Drew was relieved, but he noticed that she did continue to hold her shirt closed just below her breasts.

"What, then?"

"He followed me," she repeated. "And he said he wanted to say good night, and he came and hugged me, and kissed my cheek, you know, the way Neddy would. Or Noah." She touched her cheek, though she continued to hold her shirt closed with her other hand.

"And then he wouldn't let me go, Drew." Her voice was quiet. "He kept hugging me. And it kind of felt like he was crying, almost, like he needed me. It was strange." She went back to her original words. "So I stayed there for a minute, but then it just felt too close, too tight, so I kind of pushed him off and came in and shut and locked the door."