Birds In Your Garden: Chapter 4
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Message Board Posts for Chapter 4 (fictional)

He noticed nothing in the room matched as he stood, looking around, but it was still inviting and playful. There were pictures scattered here and there, some partially dead plants and hovering beneath was a black and white cat watching him with wild eyes. He crouched down and reached his hand out, but the cat fled, keeping his distance from him in panic.

"Don't mind him," Jana said coming down the hall. "He doesn't like boys."

Kevin stood up and felt a lump grow in his throat. "Hi."

"How the hell did you find me here?" she asked, much like the cat in keeping her distance.

"I bribed Fatima," he said softly, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"Okay," she exhaled, "now why are you here?" He dropped his head and looked up to her through his hair. She hated that he was this beautiful. She hated that he could convey such hurt emotions with only his eyes. She hated that she wanted to throw her arms around him and taste his sexuality. "Don't pout at me," she demanded, walking out of the room into the small kitchenette.

"Jana," he said softly, but the low rumble carried through to her, "I'm here because you wouldn't talk to me in Texas."

She came into the doorway and looked past him. "So, is your wife on the doorstep, or did she join Leslie at the Dodger?"

He dropped his shoulders and tilted his head slightly, keeping his expression completely unchanged. "Please don't be sarcastic," he said. "Can I talk to you?" She sighed heavily and leaned against the doorway, folding her arms and returning a cold stare. "Will you listen if I talk to you?" he asked, maintaining a calm voice.

"I hate you," she said angrily. "I just hate you."

He closed his eyes for a moment and then lifted his chin slightly, looking to her, still trying to maintain his calm. "I want to explain."

"Explain what, Kevin?" she demanded. "What is there to explain? You're married. How do you explain that? I don't need to see the wedding photos." He lifted his hand up to her, palm facing him. "What? What does that mean?"

"Do you see a ring?" he asked. She blinked quickly, realizing there wasn't one. "Can I explain? Please?"

"Why do you do this to me?" she mumbled, shaking her head. "Why do I always feel like I'm going to cry when I'm around you?"

He took a hesitant step towards her, watching her eyes widen and reached out his hand. "Please?" he asked again.

"Who knows you're here?" she asked, unmoving in the doorway, watching him lower his hand back into the back pocket of his jeans.

"Fatima," he answered.

"No one else?"

"Brian."

She sighed. "Can you just tell me all the names at once so I don't need to keep asking?"

"Fatima, Brian, Howie and Carlos," he answered. "Why does that matter?"

"So I can try to make up my mind as to whether or not I should even go back," she replied, moving past him at a distance to flop herself on the couch wearily. "So I know what kind of gossiping situation I'm walking into and how trashed my reputation is going to be."

"It's not," he said with certainty, moving to the opposite side of the couch and lowering himself down slowly.

"Yours isn't," she clarified, bringing her knees up to her chest and resting her chin down with a sigh. So beautiful, she considered as she looked at him. "I don't understand what the big deal is here, Kevin. Why this is such a big thing. I mean, you know nothing about me. What I know about you is from TV trivia and reviews in the paper. Neither of us are the same person we used to be. Go home to your wife."

"If you would just stop talking," he said, his voice stiffening as he leaned forward, reaching out to place his hands over hers.

"No," she shook her head, "because when we stop talking, we end up kissing and that is absolutely not going to happen." She pulled back, leaning into the arm of the couch. "Matter of fact, I think we should get out of here."

"And go where?"

"Just out. For a walk. I don't know." She got up and headed back into her bedroom, putting on a bra under her tank top and slipped into a pair of jeans as Kevin sat waiting on the couch. She slid a pair of white Keds on and headed towards the door, picking up her keys from the table near the door. He was right behind as she stepped out, heading down the street. "So," she said quietly as they passed under a streetlight, "talk."

He kept his hands in his pockets, looking to the houses they were passing. He could hear the leaves rustle from the overgrown maple trees in the yards around them, and looked down just in time to step over a pavement block lifted by roots on the sidewalk. "This is really nice," he said, turning to look at a cat walk along the railing of a porch across the street.

"Yeah, I know," she agreed quietly, folding her arms, also watching the cat.

"You live here long?"

"Kevin," she interrupted, "what did you fly here to say? It's now or never."

They came up to a chain linked fence surrounding a park and he turned into it, reaching his hand out to her. She kept her arms folded, but followed as he led her across a small baseball field over to a play park. She made her way over to a swing and sat down. Her toes touched the ground and she moved herself slowly as he straddled the swing next to her. It was silent all around them except for a dog barking in the distance.

"I didn't want to marry Kristin," he said in a low voice. He reached up to hold the swing chain with both hands and rested his cheek against the back of them. "I knew that I cared for her, and I knew there were problems that didn't seem to be working out and they were holding me back from taking that next step. But she told me she was pregnant, and it was the right thing to do, so we got engaged and she started making all the plans. Three months into the engagement, I found out she was never pregnant. She made the whole thing up so we could be engaged for the new year. But by then, I suppose I was used to the idea and I had hoped that maybe this commitment would make things right. Brian was engaged to Leighanne and I suppose I thought I needed to be more responsible… I don't know, but I didn't call it off. We talked about starting a family for real and she agreed we'd try right away once we were married. It never happened between her career and my career… I've spent the last year or so trying to be what she wanted and trying to work this whole mess out with her because I believe firmly in the vows I took. But there comes a time when you just can't live a lie like this. We didn't start out on the right foot and I've been trying to keep it all under control in my personal life. I had to sit back and watch AJ spin out of control, bleeding into my professional life. I went home for a while trying to just regroup, not just the band, but my marriage as well. Asked her to work at it, start a family, but she doesn't want it. She wants a career, and I understand all that, but I don't know why she did this whole thing. I don't know what she wants from me, or why she had to trick me into marrying her when…we just don't have the same agenda. That's why, that first time we were together, I asked you not to judge anything because you didn't know the full story. This is the full story and I do take my commitments seriously, but…after everything… I feel betrayed by her and I feel trapped. I don't believe that's what marriage should be.

"I came back to the tour, knowing at least that my group was going to manage a way out of everything, walked into that studio for rehearsals and…there you were. I knew at that exact moment, my marriage was over. I didn't recognize you immediately, no, but I just knew whoever you were, you were my future, and then…it was you." He paused, closing his eyes for a moment before looking over to her from the spot in the dirt he'd been focusing on. "It was you."

"The person you walked away from twelve years ago," she said.

"I didn't know how to leave, Jana."

"You still don't, Kevin," she said looking over towards him. "I mean…you got married because you couldn't walk away. What do you want?"

"To get to know you again," he answered. "I just want that chance."

"Isn't that going to happen regardless?  Considering we see each other practically every day anyway?"

She could hear the chains grind together as his hand reach out and pulled her swing closer. He leaned around the chains and leaned over, kissing her gently. "You're making things difficult," he chastised quietly.

"Me?" she scoffed.

"I don't know what more to say," he said, hooking his elbow around the chains, holding their swings together. "I think you know what I'm trying to say."

"That doesn't mean I'm not scared to death to believe it," she said quietly. "Or that I'm willing to just go ahead and see what happens."

"What can I do to make you mine…falling so hard, so fast time…what did I say, what did you do? How did I fall in love with you?" he whispered lightly.

She had to smile. She could just see the gleam in his eye with the shadowy lights around them and the corners of his lips rose slightly. "What's this, Kevy?" she asked, tugging at his beard playfully. "When all else fails, sing? I don't know if that works outside of a movie."

"Can't hurt to try," he said softly, leaning closer to her.

She pulled her head back, smiling. "I should make this so hard on you."

"Are you going to?"

"I don't mind pretending we're fiction for a while," she said with a tilt of her head. "As long as somewhere in here is a happy ending."

"I never want to hear you say, I want it that way," he sang jokingly to her.

She put a finger under his chin and pulled him close for a quick kiss. "Are you just going to sing random lyrics at me? How about 'I should have known that I would be another victim of your sexuality - doh-doh don't want you back cuz you're no good for me I know?'"

"You are my fire, the one desire…" He released her swing, lifting his one leg from the swing and knelt down on one knee in front of her, trying to hold back a laugh and clasping his hands over his heart.

"Oh, God, he's going to get cheesy on me too!" She dropped her head back, saying loudly. "Would you get up?"

He laughed, standing up and stretching his hand out. "I don't get it."

"Get what?" she said, letting him pull her from the swing.

"There are people out there that think that's endearing when Nick falls to his knees. Why doesn't it work for me?"

"Because you're not the little, blond, flirty one," she said patting his cheek.

"Which one am I again?"

"The smoldering, sultry, sexual one," she said stepping past him, heading towards the entrance.

"Tell me the words to say, the road to take, to find a way back to your heart…What can I do to get to you and find the way back to your heart, I'd turn back time to make you mine and find a way back to your heart…I beg and plead, fall to my knees to find a way back to your heart…" he sang after her, spreading his arms out to his sides.

"Oh, shut-up!" she laughed, spinning around and walking over to him. Clasping her hand over his mouth she laughed. "Okay…if it means you'll stop singing at me, you've got one chance."

He put his hands on her waist and lowered his head, kissing her fully. He pulled away, singing and laughing in a whisper. "I'll be the one…"

"Less than a second," she said, pulling away from him. "You had me for less than a second. That's pretty damn pathetic, Kevin."

She attempted to walk away again, but he grabbed onto her wrist and pulled her back to him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and leaned her back to kiss her again, setting her back on her feet when he was finished. "I'm trying to do my best Bing Crosby," he said. "He always got the girl, didn't he?"

"Not when he was playing a Priest," she said, trying not to show that the kiss affected her.

He dipped his head and looked up to her, tilting his head. "You're just not gonna give me a break, are you?"

"Kiss me again and I might have to give in," she said, slipping her fingers into the belt loops of his jeans.

~

Kevin rolled over onto his back, listening to the thunder roll off in the distance and the rain pound against the window over his head. He rolled over onto his side, feeling the sheets stick to his skin with the humidity and sweat and thinking that he must have forgotten to turn on the air conditioning, but he was too lazy to get up and figure out where it was. As he settled back into the pillow he realized where he was and slowly opened his eyes to see Jana lying on her stomach next to him, the sheet hanging low on her bare back. Another thunderclap pealed in the distance and he inhaled deeply, running his fingers along her spine gently, just making sure she was really there. She stretched slightly and turned her head on the pillow, blinking her eyes open to him and smiled tiredly when she saw him.

"Texas must have followed us," he said, placing his hand on the small of her back.

She yawned. "It can blow over without me this time." She rolled onto her side, snuggling her back against his stomach and he draped his hand over her waist, lowering his head into her neck. "But I'd give my kingdom for air conditioning."

He merely mumbled, the sound vibrating against her shoulder as she felt his kisses take its place. His hand flattened against her stomach and rubbed slowly for a moment as she closed his eyes with his touch and inhaled deeply. Was it possible to be this sexually aware upon waking? She could feel him pull back a bit, pressing his lips at the base of her neck and shift to lay light kisses virtually on each vertebrae of her spine. He began curling down, positioning his body between her legs and instructing her to lay on her back with his hands as he kissed her inner thighs, slowly making his way up to the tender flesh between her legs to slide his tongue along her wetness.

As he did, she sighed lightly, curling her back to greet him and ran her hand over her breasts as she laced her way down to slide her hand into his hair with a moan of pleasure. "Oh, fuck, Kev," she sighed before swallowing heavily, pressing her head into the pillow. His tongue began sliding in and out, rubbing her clit before he shifted, taking the skin between his lips to suck gently before sliding his tongue back inside. He slid his hands beneath her buttocks, lifting her hips up slightly more and slid his tongue in deeper, sucking her clit as he slid it back out.

Her hand fisted in his hair and into the sheets of the mattress with the pleasure and her hips began a slow steady rhythm against him before she had to turn her head and moan into the pillow with her orgasm. She sank into the mattress to catch her breath as he laid kisses up her belly and stomach, pausing at each breast to nip and suck tenderly before continuing up to her neck before finding her mouth. "I could do that to you all fucking day," he mumbled into her ear, "just to hear you moan like that."

"I'd let you," she mumbled back, seeking out his mouth and pulling him against her firmly, lifting her hips up to his and feeling the arousal her moans had created. She released him, looking up to him and pulling his hair off his face as he settled his forearms on either side of her head to look down to her. He lowered to kiss her again, pressing his hips against her in a slow rhythm before she paused, moving to the nightstand to get a condom.

Once he had put it on, he laid down beside her, turning her until her back was against his stomach. She lifted her leg over his as he guided his dick into her with a satisfied groan. She shifted slightly, letting him enter her more deeply with the next thrust. His hand wrapped over her, fondling her breasts and pinching her nipples between his fingers gently as he thrust again slowly, savoring the feeling of sliding inside of her. He didn't think he would be able to maintain the slow pace, and soon, he was shifting to lean back against the wall as she shifted to straddle him. This time, he let her slide him inside of her, letting her start the pace that felt like a tease with each thrust. He leaned up to meet her briefly, pulling her against him, tasting her sweat soaked skin. He loved how easily they could find a rhythm and take their time with the pleasure, allowing the sensations to build until he didn't think he could breathe. Each thrust became more forceful and came quicker until he was no longer in control of the movements. He wasn't aware of anything but the ecstasy she created with her body and the soft moans she made in response to him until he exploded inside of her, holding her body against him as he brought them back down to the mattress in an exhausted heap of sweat with a clap of thunder sounding directly overhead.

Soon she was lying beside him watching her fingers leisurely stroke the firmness of the muscles of his arms, stomach and chest with her head on his shoulder. The rain continued to stream against the windows as the thunder grew more distant again.

"What're you thinking?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing," he said quietly. His eyes were closed, relishing the gentle touches between them.

"When do you need to get out of here?"

"Last night," he answered easily. "I'm supposed to meet the fellas at some studio to do a bit of recording, or rehearsing or something."

She pulled up onto her elbow and looked down to him. "You're kidding," she said deadpan.

"No," he said, reaching his arm up behind her to bring her back down to lay next to him. "So, I'll be late. Backstreet time."

"Is someone coming to get you?" she asked, pulling herself back up. He shook his head, putting his arm up again to lay her back down. "Are you supposed to meet someone somewhere? How are you getting back?"

"I didn't plan that far in advance," he said. "Please, lay back down. Don't worry about it."

"What if this didn't happen last night? How were you going to get back to New York?"

"I know how to call for a car, Jan," he said with a light laugh. "I just don't want to think about it just yet. I'll go in late. I don't think the world is going to fall apart because I'm not there. 'S'all good. Don't worry."

Birds In Your Garden: Chapter 4
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Read the companion story:
Oreos for Breakfast (Nick Fanfic)
by The Pumpkin Coach & Paperbag Princess

c. 2001, 2002 by Coriander
Some content not suitable for children. You have been warned.