"Rise and shine, Captain! Your sheeple need you to lead them!" Alex slapped the sides of our tent, yelling at the top of his lungs.
My head jerked up at the rude awakening, immediately alert and scanning the tent for any potential threat before I recognized the familiar surroundings and the person's voice. Groaning, my head dropped back down onto the pillow, and I reached a hand up to rub my face of the sleep still plaguing me. Only the arm wouldn't budge as it was currently curled under Hannah's naked form, holding her close to me. Peering down at her peaceful face, I couldn't help but notice the small details that always made me ache for her.
Her cheek was nestled against my chest, her pink lips slightly parted, a small trail of drool dripping from the corner of her mouth and onto my pec. Strands of her blonde hair, a tangled mess, cascaded over both of us, and I knew she'd be pissed off once she saw the state of it. A grin tugged at my lips as I looked forward to her angry mutterings while she tried to tame it.
Smirking softly, I wiped the drool away with my other hand and brushed some of the hair out of her face, my thumb tracing the curve of her full lips. My first instinct was to lean down and kiss her awake, but I held back, my eyes trailing down her sleeping face.
The things this woman made me feel...
Fuck.
Why couldn't we have met later on in life? Maybe five years down the road, when I would have had my life figured out, or even two years from now, when I could be prepared to give her everything she deserved. When I could treat her like I was gonna marry her. Things would be so much easier than this fucked up situation.
Maybe one day when I was finally ready, I'd search for her again. I'd make every effort to reach out to her, to try and reconcile, and hopefully, she'd let me back into her life. Maybe we'd pick up where we left off and things would go back to how they were... but what if she'd moved on with someone she actually loved?
The thought made me uneasy and I dropped my hand from her face. Looking back up at the tent's ceiling, I let out a long, heavy sigh.
This whole thing between us had blown way out of proportion, our connection growing far beyond what I'd initially anticipated. And I'd let it get like this because it had been so fucking easy. It felt nearly impossible to keep her at arm's length when she'd look at me with those piercing blue eyes, brimming with a trust that took fucking ages to build. Just the thought of causing her any kind of pain turned my stomach.
But I also knew that our current relationship wasn't sustainable. Already, we were both way too emotionally invested in each other, having ignored the rules and warnings. I'd made it clear that we wouldn't have much time together, yet somehow, I ended up devoting every spare second to her. No matter how exhausted I was by day's end, I still put in the effort to go to her, to be with her — even if it meant all we did was go to sleep with my arms wrapped around her. I knew it was because she made me happy and because being close to her felt like an unspoken necessity. She had changed me in a lot of ways; opened my eyes to the fun parts of having a person — your person. To laugh with and have long, weird debates about the best kind of grapes. To tease her in one minute, and fuck her in the next. Falling asleep with her in my arms and waking up to her had become an integral part of my routine.
It was so fucking easy to do all of that with Hannah.
A pang of guilt hit me as I wondered if I was leading her on. By allowing us to get this close, I was only going to hurt her more when we had to break things off. And then I'd be no better than her fucknut ex. Would she even want to ever talk to me again? I didn't want to become the person who made her miserable, like her previous relationship.
There was a part of me that screamed at me not to let her go, or I was gonna regret it for the rest of my life. Even now, I was debating whether we'd be able to withstand the stress, the distance, the limited conversation, and the intrusive media.
But I couldn't bring myself to take that jump. Football had been my whole life, and to risk it all for a girl went against everything I believed in. My father would be fucking livid if I let myself mess up my future over a girl. So would I. And if things went downhill, would I end up blaming her, maybe even resenting her a little bit?
I ran a hand through my hair, closing my eyes as I winced at all the thoughts crowding my head. What the fuck was I supposed to do now?
Suddenly I heard yelling from somewhere outside the tent and I turned in the direction of the noise. Along with the yelling, I could hear Alex's deranged laughter and concluded he was the reason behind the screaming. Was I going to have to step outside to put a stop to that idiot's shenanigans? Was this what it felt like to be a dad?
"Who's screaming like that?" Hannah mumbled, eyes fluttering open as she peeled her cheek off my right pec to look around.
"Alex's newest victim," I smiled down at her bleary expression, ducking to press a quick kiss to her enticing lips.
She blinked as she fully came awake before giving me a sweet smile and leaning forward to continue the kiss, nibbling on my bottom lip. One of my hands tangled itself in her hair and I drew her even closer, my tongue slipping into her mouth to slowly stroke and tease her. She moaned softly, her nails digging into my skin.
The entrance of the tent suddenly started unzipping, and I pulled back to quickly reach down and pull the covers over Hannah's bare back, ensuring whatever asshole was disturbing us wouldn't catch an eye full of her nakedness. Hannah looked back at the intruder with a frown, lips wet from our kiss.
Alex stuck his head in and grinned when he found us glaring at him. "Mornin', Captain and Miss ma'am. Just making sure you two aren't getting any ideas about being late. The sun is shining, my cock's crowing, and we've got a whole day of fun to get to. We've got a schedule to follow, ya know."
"Get out, McGraw," I growled, picking up my discarded shirt and throwing it at him.
He caught it and grinned. "Thanks. I needed a new shirt. One of my girls tore mine last night."
I cocked my head. "One of your girls?"
"You only brought one shirt?" Hannah piped in.
He grinned at both of us. "I needed the extra space in my bag for all my condoms. I ain't making any crotch goblins this weekend." He blew a kiss at us and retreated, closing the zip behind him.
"Crotch goblins?" She whispered, confused. "Is he talking about STDS?"
"I think he means kids."
"Huh... that's a new one." She sighed and dropped her head back onto my chest, wrapping her arms around my torso. "We should probably get up, but I don't want to. Who thought mornings were a good idea?" She grumbled into my skin.
Chuckling, I cupped her ass and pulled her closer. "You're right. Whoever invented mornings had to be off his rockers."
"Now you're just making fun of me."
"Babe, you're the one teasing me with those sleepy kisses and adorable moans. Can't you feel little Tristan?"
She pouted, feigning concern. "The poor little guy. He must be in so much pain."
"So much," I agreed, eyes zeroing in on her mouth.
Grinning coyly, she tilted her chin up to accept my kiss. Melting into me, she moaned as her lips parted and she accepted me into her mouth. Cupping her jaw, I tilted her head to angle her head so that I could deepen the kiss, pressing my throbbing dick into her thigh.
Her hand inched under the covers, heading towards my cock when Alex slapped the sides of our tent again, causing us to jerk apart, and her hand to stop its descent.
"Ay! No time for Hanky Panky! Only Wakey Wakey!"
I groaned, closing my eyes in pain as I rubbed my face again. I had a feeling I'd be getting no relief this morning. Curse that asshole, but he was right. We had shit to do.
"Rain check?" Hannah asked, sitting upright on top of me.
The covers fell to her waist, bearing all of her to me. Her tits were round and perky, her nipples hard as they demanded my attention. And her pussy was mouth-watering as it beckoned me to have a taste. My gaze devoured her like a starved man and I contemplated shirking my duties just to have that taste of her. She must have seen the look in my eyes because she smirked, wiggling her perfect ass against my cock.
"I know what's going through your head right now, Tristan Andrew Beckett, and I implore you to think innocent thoughts instead. Fluffy bunnies, cute kittens, adorable puppies — take your pick."
My hand left her thigh, and I brushed my knuckles over the small patch of dark blonde curls between her thighs. "Like this pretty pussy? Because it's all I can ever think about."
She blushed a deep red, and I smirked. But before I could do anything, she grabbed my hand, brought it to her lips, and pressed a small kiss to my fingers. And then she climbed off me and reached for her bags.
"I'm going to get dressed before you lose the battle with your self-control. I think Bailey wanted us to go to this morning pilates thing, and that should be soon. And you have a lot to get done yourself, Mister."
I grunted, eyes following her ass as she got dressed. "Spoilsport."
"Want me to call Alex back over here?" She raised a brow at me.
Letting out a dry chuckle, I sat upright and brushed my fingers through my hair.
"No need. I'm up now."
Her eyes dropped to the prominent tent in the blankets at my waist, and she laughed under her breath. "That you are."
°•°•°•°
Turns out a young female yoga instructor was offering couples yoga in a small clearing while the rest of the festival woke up. She was a little pedantic, so Bailey and I had to pretend to be a lesbian couple in order to participate. However, that hardly mattered because we kept giggling at the creative and highly sexual positions she was putting us in. Especially when she told Bailey to put her hands on my chest and feel my heartbeat, and Bailey squeezed my boobs like a clown horn, sound effects and all. Eventually, the instructor had enough of our shenanigans and kicked us out. Bailey was still laughing her ass off as we hurried away, whereas I felt a tinge of embarrassment, unsuccessfully attempting to shut her up.
Bailey then dragged me to a face-painting booth and begged and flirted with the guy manning it to let us paint each other's faces. I'd warned her it was a bad idea, but she insisted, tipping the guy generously as he handed us the tools and paint. So now I had a minion's eye on my forehead, and she had an eyepatch and a mustache. By the time we were done, we had literal tears running down our faces as we held each other upright, trying not to fall over while we laughed until our bellies hurt. And every time we looked back at each other, we'd just go back into another fit of laughter. The man just shook his head at us.
We eventually recovered enough to keep going. This time I made her stop at a little souvenir booth so that I could get something for Jace.
"What do you think about this one?" I asked Bailey, holding up a little brown bear wearing a yellow hard hat on a keychain. "It's cute, right?"
She wiggled her nose at it, "For that little dickhead? No — you need something like this." She held up an overly buff chicken with a rubber penis on its head.
"Or this," she suggested, pointing at a turd with a big smile.
Giving her some serious side-eye, I looked back at the array of keychains and I scanned them again. My eyes stopped on a little raccoon with a red bandana, and I picked it up, scrutinizing it as it dangled between my fingers.
Should I? Would he like it?
Fuck it. He didn't have to add it to his other ones if he didn't want to — I just thought it could be a funny inside joke between the two of us.
I ultimately decided on a cute monkey dressed in a banana costume for Jace and got the raccoon for Tristan. Bailey brought both the chicken one and the turd one for Jace, smiling maniacally the entire time. We got a few other knickknacks for ourselves and then when it was ten, meaning the festival's activities were about to start, we headed towards the action after putting our goodies away.
°•°•°•°
Hey, guys! How are we feeling about this chapter? I really enjoyed writing in Tristan's POV again — it's been a while. It was hard, though, trying to capture all of his feelings and thoughts.
Like, why are men so hard to write?
Happy Reading!
Brooke