forum Under The Painted Sky (O/O CLOSED)

Started March 18, 2019 by Deleted user

tune

Edit topic

Sterling rolled his eyes with a small smile at her last request. “Come up here and get me, shorty,” he teased with a chuckle.

Eden shot him a menacing look. “Don’t make me kick your ankle to do so, Sterling,” she threatened. “Because I certainly will.”

Sterling laughed and set his books down, then took hers and set it on top of his. Once his arms were free, he pulled her to himself and pressed their lips together.

Eden hummed in delight when he pulled her to himself, capturing her lips in his own. She immediately kissed him back as if it had been days since they last kissed. She loved it. Her arms wrapped around his neck, fingers gripping his hair. He liked that, didn’t he?

Sterling grunted softly when she out her hands in his hair. He pulled back just enough to breath against her lips, “You can have your hands in my hair as long as you don’t tug or play with it too much while we’re kissing.”

Eden nodded numbly, not even questioning him as she pressed their mouths together again. She could deal with what. Nothing too much. She could do that.

Sterling g hummed when she reconnected their lips. He lifted a hand to her cheek, thumb brushing over gently. Could he ever get tired of this? Of kissing her softly like this? He didn’t think so. Not at all.

Eden would have continued kissing him if not for someone clearing their throat behind them. Eden immediately pulled away from Sterling, her cheeks slightly pink in embarrassment.

Sterling straightened with a sigh, turning to look at whoever had interrupted then. He raised an eyebrow, a silent question of What?

The old man merely returned Sterling’s look with a disappointed one of his own.

“Kids these days…” he clicked his tongue, brushing past him. Eden couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Come on, let’s go pay for these,” she tugged on his sleeve. “The sooner we’re done here, the sooner we can get home and you can kiss me breathless.”

“Those are dangerous words, Eden McArthur,” Sterling said with a chuckle, shaking his head. He blinked a couple of times before taking her hand and picking up the books. “All right. Let’s go.”

Eden shivered at his words. What did he mean by that? Surely she hadn’t said something that tempting, right…?

“Give me half,” she murmured, reaching to take half the books from Sterling. “There we go. Let’s go now.”

Sterling smiled and kissed the side of her head before walking up to the counter to pay. Once he paid, he handed Eden the bag with her book in it.

“There you go. Now what should we do?” he wondered.

Eden took the bag gratefully, slipping her hand in his afterward. “Let’s just walk,” she suggested. “For a while, we can walk. And then we can go home and watch a movie or something.”

“Sounds perfect,” Sterling said, squeezing her hand gently. “Just around the block?”

“Just around the block,” Eden repeated, looking down at their joint hands, a small smile on her lips. “Tell me more about yourself.”

“Well, what do you want to know? My dad is a lawyer, and a good one, at that,” Sterling said with a shrug. “I either want to be a computer software designer or a lawyer after I graduate.”

Eden chuckled softly, shaking her head. “I know,” she nudged him on the side. “You said that already.”

“Did I? Well, then, tell me what you want to know about me,” Sterling chuckled, nudging her back.

Eden cast her eyes down, biting on her lip. “Um… your past,” she answered quietly. “If it’s not too much. I want to know about the past Sterling.”

Sterling sighed and shook his head. “No, it’s not too much… You should know, anyway,” he murmured. “Um. Well, in tenth grade, closer to the end of the year, my girlfriend at the time and I decided to take it a step further in our relationship. So, you know, we had sex a few times before I found out she was cheating on me. With one of my old best friends. So I dumped her, obviously. To get back at her, I… started sleeping with other girls. Throughout my eleventh grade, I did that. I slept with girl after girl. Sometimes, it was one night. Others, it lasted a week. And then I moved here, and no one knew my reputation. I didn’t have to make her jealous anymore, but I still wanted to do it. I will admit, I slept with two or three before I started to like you. Which is one reason they now know who I am and what I would do. But I stopped. I stopped doing that weeks ago, after… the storm.”

Eden fell silent, taking in his words. She bit her lip, trying to decide how to answer. She wasn’t angry. She wasn’t disgusted. At all. Just—why would anyone even think of cheating on Sterling? He was amazing. He was perfect. Why would anyone do that? And she didn’t care if he had slept around before they got together. It didn’t matter at all. He was—he was hers now. He said so.

“Can I be selfish, Sterling?” Eden paused to look at him, her grip on his arm loosening.

Sterling hummed and looked down at her. “Depends on what you’re being selfish about. But sure. Go ahead,” he said.

“I’m glad she cheated on you,” she started softly. “Not that it didn’t hurt, of course. It must have. But I’m glad because if she hadn’t, then you both would have continued dating. Maybe. And we probably wouldn’t have gotten together. I wouldn’t be dating you. And… honestly, I wouldn’t mind reliving my a—“ Eden abruptly cut herself off before she swallowed, continuing differently. “I wouldn’t mind going through what I did if it meant to lead me to you.”

“Yeah? Well, in that case, I’m glad she did, too,” Sterling said softly, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her close into a tight embrace. He noticed her pause, how she changed what she was about to say, but he didn’t comment on it. If she didn’t want to talk about it yet, he wouldn’t make her. “I’m glad we’re together, Eden.”

“So am I…” Eden murmured and realized with a sick feeling that she really wouldn’t mind. If it meant being together with him, she would gladly suffer again. And since he shared a piece of his past with her, she figured she’d do the same. Just a little. Nothing about her abuse. She couldn’t talk about that yet. Just about her… experiences. “I… um, I’ve never had… sex before.”

Sterling raised and eyebrow at her. “I hope you don’t think that’s a bad thing. It definitely isn’t. You saved yourself for it, unlike I did. I think that’s great, E.”

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I’ve never done it before, Sterling, but…” she trailed off, swallowing thickly, digging her nails in her wrist. She squeezed her eyes shut. “Been… touched before. And that’s why—that’s why I react badly to physical contact.”

Even admitting that had been hard for her. She felt like she couldn’t breathe, but she still took deep breaths.

Sterling let out a long sigh, resting his forehead against hers with closed eyes. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, Eden. Whoever did that to you…” He cleared his throat to cover a growl. “If I ever see him, he will get what’s coming to him.”

“I hope you don’t ever see him,” her voice cracked. Eden forced the fear to stay back. “I hope he never comes back. If he ever does…” she trailed off, completing the thought in her head. If he ever does, he won’t stop until he has me in his hold again. His loyal pet.