A Place Beyond The Horizon Ch. 16

[Aidan's marriage has been shattered by his wife's cheating. Unable to cope with the thing Rosa did, he boarded a plane and put as much distance between them as possible. From Australia, making new friends in Sydney, to meeting Kat and sharing her bed, he finds himself in Los Angeles as the personal trainer and lover to Mara Fey, Hollywood A-Lister and one of the most famous women on the planet. As he becomes more deeply entangled in Mara's life, Rosa becomes more distant, leaving Aidan more lonely than ever.

Mara takes him with her to Tokyo, where Aidan is embroiled in Andrew's plans and must finally face up to his past.

The background to Aidan's story can be found in Oxygen Games by oneagainst, continued here with permission.]

---

FROM BEYOND THE HORIZON

It's decided that they need to celebrate because Mara has wrapped up her scenes and Andrew has signed his deal. The things that brought them all to Tokyo are finished, but Andrew isn't. He's planned a night out for them all.

"If you don't get on a plane with a hangover, you're just not trying hard enough," Andrew comments, glass in hand, as he stands in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows in his suite.

He's still dressed in a business suit, but his tie is hanging loose around his neck. He waves a finger at the other three and drinks some more of his whiskey.

"You should try this, Mara. Japanese whiskey. It's good."

"I think I'll stick to this," Mara replies.

She's in jeans and a plain white top, with a gin. Sitting next to her on the couch is Indi, also with a gin that she's barely touched. Aidan is sitting on the other side of her with a beer.

"I've got a place in mind, recommended by one of my new best friends. They have private booths," Andrew says, gesturing at Mara, "For megastars."

"You flatter me."

"You deserve to be flattered."

Andrew waves a hand dismissively, "But that aside, what do you think? Shall we go out in style?"

Mara gets up from the couch and slinks over to where Andrew is standing. She clinks glasses with him and he begins to grin.

"I'd better get changed," Mara says, "When do you want to go?"

"I need a shower first, how about an hour?"

"Perfect."

Mara turns, looking at Aidan. "Let's get you dressed," she says.

Still carrying his beer, Aidan follows as Mara sweeps out of the suite. She wiggles like she's on a catwalk, and he can't keep his eyes off the tight curve of her bottom. The excitement bubbling in her is contagious.

Back in Mara's suite, she finishes the rest of her gin in one gulp and kicks off her shoes. She pads barefoot over to Aidan and takes the bottle from his hand.

"Question is, what to wear for a Tokyo club?" she muses. "First, I guess, let's strip it back."

She tugs at Aidan's t-shirt, pulling it up. Bemused, Aidan raises his hands as she strips him. Her lips are curled into her trademark sardonic half-smile, her eyes bright and wide, clearly enjoying herself.

"And these, too."

She unbuckles his belt and unzips his jeans, pushing them down his legs. Mara looks down.

"Oh, that won't do."

She hooks her fingers into his undershorts and tugs them down as well, exposing him completely. Her hand brushes against his manhood.

"That's better. We can build back up from here."

Aidan isn't sure why he's going along with all this, but Mara takes his hand and leads him to his bedroom, conscious of the fact that she's fully clothed and he's been stripped naked. She opens up a drawer, and then the wardrobe, selecting items. Mara chooses a pair of tight, black trunks and kneels down in front of him. She taps each leg for him to raise so she can slip the underwear on him, pulling it up his muscled legs until she has it in place. Her fingertips caress the bulge in the front of the tight material and he feels himself begin to stir at her touch.

"It would be so nice to just have you like this all night," she murmurs, then leans forward to plant a small kiss on his thigh, "I could just stroke you."

Mara stands up to face him, but her hand cups him through the fabric. She squeezes gently.

"God, you feel good," she grins.

She withdraws her hand suddenly, and she picks up a pair of pants, holding them out for him to step into. She's suddenly business-like, sliding on a shirt and then doing his buttons up one by one. He watches her face, seeing the rapt concentration as she completes the task. It's intimate, and her eyes are on his thick chest as she covers it up, button by button.

"I guess you can do shoes yourself," she says, patting him on the shoulder.

She's biting her bottom lip with her teeth, blue eyes flashing, her hand lingering on his chest, and she says, "Now, me."

Taking him by the hand, she leads Aidan into her bedroom, opening up her wardrobe and rifling through her dresses. Unlike Aidan, she has many choices, and settles on a wraparound dress in dark blue. She hands it to him and goes over to her drawers.

"Help me choose?" she asks, indicating the collection of underwear in the drawer.

Mara picks up pieces to show him, but it's clear that she's not really asking him. She settles on a plain black strapless bra in glossy satin, and a tiny matching g-string. After a moment's hesitation, she also pulls out a pair of stockings, trailing them over her arm suggestively.

"Approve?"

Aidan nods.

"Let's get to it, shall we?"

Mara raises her arms and Aidan hesitates. It's clear that she wants him to dress her up. He steps closer to her and begins to take her clothes off, stripping her top and then her jeans, leaving her in just her underwear. All the while, he can feel those piercing blue eyes on him. Aidan reaches behind her to unfasten her bra, and he's conscious of having Mara encircled in his arms, of how petite she is barefoot as she looks up at him. He undoes the clasp and as he pulls it away to reveal her naked breasts, he finds her staring at him.

Slowly, Aidan sinks to his knees in front of her and pulls her panties down over her hips. He's looking up at her now, into those wide, blue fathomless eyes. The playfulness has evaporated; her expression is earnest and unguarded. He takes the g-string and slides it up her legs, positioning it carefully over her bare crotch. As she had done to him, he brushes the black satin with his fingertips, feeling warmth there beneath his touch.

Mara passes him her stockings. She balances on one foot with her hands on his shoulders while he slides the delicate hosiery up the toned, frictionless skin of her leg, tugging the top until it's nestling against her upper thigh. He runs a hand down her leg, feeling the sheer material beneath his fingertips. Mara is silent, simply raising her other leg for him to repeat the process.

After, Aidan rises to stand in front of her and she passes her bra to him. It's strapless and front fastening, so he has to reach around her back and then gather her up in front, cupping her breasts with his hands as he brings the clasp together. He lingers for a moment, his palms supporting her cleavage, before she hands him her dress.

She raises her arms, folding them behind her head, and all at once the realisation hits him: Mara Fey is looking up into his eyes, standing in lingerie in front of him, waiting for him to touch her. He slides the dress over her head, stretching the tight, thin material, tugging it over the curves of her body until it's in place. The dress clings to her, showing off her sculpted curves. Mara drops her hands down to her sides and looks at him.

Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she kisses him. It's deep and lingering; he can taste the gin, but there's something else to it. She breaks the kiss and looks as if she's about to say something to him, but then she steps away, retrieving a pair of black stiletto heels from the wardrobe instead. When she turns back to face him, her expression has shifted and she's grinning again.

"How do I look?" she asks.

Aidan can see beyond the figure-hugging blue dress: the image of her clad in nothing more than the satin g-string is burned into his memory.

"Beautiful," he grates, finding his voice at last.

Mara beams at the compliment. "Let me rectify the visage. Give me a few minutes."

She screws her face up. "Well, more than a few. There's a lot that needs doing."

Aidan finds himself laughing at that comment. "You're fine as you are, Mara."

"Yeah. Fine. Going for more than fine, babe. Gonna need to apply myself to get past just fine."

There is a wry smile twisting her lips, and for some reason it makes him step forward and take her face in his hands. He kisses her. Mara breaks it off, her eyes flicking over his face.

"Seriously," she says, "Stop distracting me. Go make yourself comfortable."

She pats him on the bottom, shooing him out of the bedroom. Aidan retrieves his beer and goes to stand by the windows, looking out at the Tokyo skyline in the dark. He slides his phone out of his pocket to discover a notification on the screen. Hesitating, he taps it and reads the message, staring at it for a long time, beer forgotten in his hand, Tokyo playing out unseen in front of him. Aidan doesn't move until Mara calls out from behind him.

Aidan blinks rapidly, then slides his phone back into his pocket and turns to see her standing in the middle of the floor, heels together, clutching a purse, her hair a tousled riot of blonde ringlets gathered up at the back of her head. Her eyes are rimmed by smoky eyeshadow and her lips are touched up with a dark red gloss. She takes his breath away. Mara smiles.

"Desired effect," she comments.

Mara turns, heading towards the door, her hips wiggling as the material of the dress clings tightly to the perfect curve of her bottom. However, the message has disturbed him. Distractedly, Aidan forces himself into motion, following her.

---

Andrew has booked them a car. There was champagne waiting for them in an ice bucket and four glasses, but it's now empty, as Mara laughs in the back seat. She's in full flow, regaling them with a story about the last day of shooting. Today was her big scene; paradoxically, she had filmed her grand entrance after everything else, descending the stairway as planned and to specification in a tight white cocktail dress in front of fifty people on set. Aidan watches her relive her moment of glory, the champagne glass nearly completely drained in her hand.

Andrew is sitting next to her in a suit, listening intently to every word. Indi is sitting next to Aidan, across from them, in a leather skirt that only reaches as far as mid-thigh and a tight black long-sleeved top that hugs her petite frame. She has her bare legs crossed and stiletto heels on, but not as high as Mara's. Indi has opted for eyeliner and pink lip gloss: a subtle, simple look compared to the woman opposite her.

They arrive and Mara throws the door open, exploding out into the neon-lit night with a whoop, leaving a void in the car behind her. She propels herself forward, sucking first Andrew, then Indi and finally Aidan along in her wake, tagging along behind the legendary Mara Fey in full flow. There is a moment of silence as they collect outside the doors, the doorman scrutinising them, until Andrew steps around Mara to present a small card. The doorman nods, calling out to a woman in a short black leather skirt who looks towards them and beckons them to follow.

There are people waiting in line, looking at them, but Mara raises her chin, grinning like a cat, striding past in her stiletto heels. Aidan brings up the rear, feeling horribly self-conscious and out of his depth. They emerge through the entrance into the belly of the club and the music hits him like a wall, the bass thudding through his body, the air warm and close, tinged with a scent of dry ice and alcohol.

Mara wheels around, pointing to Andrew and nodding her head, mouthing something. Andrew grins back. The woman leads the way, threading around a dancefloor already heaving with bodies under the flashing lights, to the back of the club. There is a raised section with a set of stairs leading up to a mezzanine level, cordoned off by a black velvet rope. The woman guarding it is tiny, presented immaculately, her long black hair platted and wound around itself into a tight bun. Their guide leans close and there are a few words, and then Andrew's card is exchanged.

After this, their guide steps back, nodding to Andrew, and departs. The other woman unhooks the rope, inviting them to step through, and leads them up the stairs, which turn back on themselves to deposit the group on the mezzanine above the club where booths are shrouded by red curtains. She peels back one set of curtains to reveal a wide booth with seating down both sides, in the same deep red as the curtains, and a small table at the end set up against the balcony rail, looking down over the dancefloor. The entire space is large enough for ten people.

The petite woman approaches Andrew.

"Would you like something to drink?" she asks in perfect English, voice raised against the thud of music.

"Champagne, first," Andrew responds.

"Of course."

She departs, slipping back through the curtains, and Mara flops down onto the seating, reclining like a cat on the red velvet. Indi remains standing to one side of Andrew, feet together and hands folded in front of her, but her eyes are roaming, taking in all the details. Finally her attention settles on Aidan, and Aidan shifts on his feet, unsure of what to do next.

"This is what the beautiful people do on a night," Mara calls out to him, almost shouting over the music.

She gestures with her hands, taking in the booth, then the scene playing out beneath them.

"You're beautiful people now, too," she continues, "Enjoy."

The curtain parts, and a girl in a red dress enters the booth, carrying champagne in an ice bucket and four glasses. She sets them down on the table, extracting the bottle and pouring the champagne. When she's done, she beckons Andrew over to the table and indicates a little screen.

"You order, press here. Okay?"

Andrew nods.

"I get you what you want. Anything you want."

She pauses for a second to make sure that Andrew understands. He taps the screen, revealing the drinks menu, which seems to satisfy her. She nods at him and then at Aidan and leaves. Mara comes up behind him.

"Females clearly here for entertainment only," she says.

Andrew smiles at her, resting a hand on her hip.

"There's nothing wrong with showing some proper deference to the male species every once in a while."

Mara's eyes flare, and she responds, "Oh, you would fucking love that, wouldn't you?"

"Maybe," Andrew laughs, "It'd be a nice change."

"I'm sure it would."

"That's when I'd know."

"Know what?"

"That you were imprisoned in some basement somewhere, and some imposter had taken your place."

"Bastard."

Mara's face lights up in her trademark grin, regarding Andrew sardonically as she picks up a glass.

"Here's to a good night," she says, "To the conclusion of business."

Despite the bubbles and the chill of the liquid, Mara downs the glass in one.

"Whoa," Andrew responds.

"Relax, babe, just taking the edge off a nightmare week. C'mon, refill, then let's get among the throng."

Andrew passes glasses to Aidan and then to Indi, who is still poised silently in the middle of the room. He refills Mara's glass and then raises his own. They chink glasses, but this time Mara sips her champagne. Andrew's eyes flick from Mara, to Indi and finally to Aidan.

"Great spot," Aidan says.

"Yeah, my guy wasn't bullshitting."

There's a flicker in his expression as he regards Aidan for a moment longer, before the smiles spreads across his face and he turns back to Mara.

"I just said party, and he came through like a rockstar."

Mara takes a seat again and Andrew settles next to her, just far enough apart that no room for anyone else, so Indy has to sit on the opposite side. Aidan flops down next to Indi as Mara leans forward into the middle of the booth, her glass in her hand and grinning mischievously.

"Anyone wanna dance?"

"We just got here," Andrew responds, "I need a drink."

"Babe, you had a drink, in the car."

"I mean here."

"Okay, bottoms up."

"You're already one ahead," Andrew counters.

"Yeah, babe. Get with the pros."

"We have all night."

"Nah, fuck that. I'm here for a good time, not a long time. You need to keep up."

Mara takes a mouthful of drink, blue eyes wide, feigning innocence, staring back at Andrew.

"Oh, no. Don't try that," Andrew tells her.

Mara flutters her eyelashes playfully. "Try what?" she replies.

"Does that really work, the cute thing?"

Mara flutters her eyelashes again, but Andrew isn't yielding. Mara turns to Aidan, and all at once he's caught in her wide eyes, the fathomless blue, the soft lips. He knows what she's doing, turning the full force of what she's capable of towards him. He's seen it on screen, the Mara Fey moment when the scene just stops as she looks down the barrel of the lens. He knows what she's trying to do and he tries to feign disinterest, but despite all that it stirs something inside him.

"Dance, Aidan?"

"Sure."

Mara's smile is like sunshine. "Andrew isn't a dancer."

She turns back to Andrew, giving him an exuberant peck on the cheek. Then she nods at the balcony rail, towards the crush of people below them on the dancefloor.

"But he can still watch."

She empties her glass, rising up from her seat and depositing it on the table in one fluid movement. She holds out her hand to Aidan, who finds himself taking it and allowing himself to be led through the curtains and down the stairs to the main level. Mara's grip is tight, and she keeps glancing back over her shoulder at him, flashing a smile. He begins to feel her infectious energy, slipping between bodies until they're in the thick of it, pressed in on all sides in the middle of the dancefloor.

Mara moves sinuously, gyrating to the music, then she holds up her hand, stilling herself. Aidan can't work out what's wrong, or the wild look in her eyes, as the beat ebbs away. Then the drop hits them, base thudding through them, and the dancefloor erupts. Mara goes crazy, eyes closed, lost in the bass, her hair falling tangled around her perfect face, and through the alcohol and the noise, right at that moment, Aidan sees it.

The tree on the hilltop, red and gold with the first rays of the dawn sun, standing alone in the stillness of the Outback dawn. That ephemeral moment of emptiness, the real Mara. Here she is again, suddenly shorn of everything else. The fame and the wisecracks and the relentless pressure drop away; she's stripped back to a spirit embracing the purity of a feeling, existing only in the moment and savouring it. The music passes through their bodies like waves and Mara abandons herself completely to it, free at last.

She's half a head taller than the women around her, blonde hair amongst dark, her body moving to the music, her face side-lit by the spotlights into a Janus-face of light and dark. In this club, on this dancefloor, once again like in Broken Hill, she's unexpected, improbable and therefore anonymous. When she reaches out to Aidan he lets her pull him close, until her body is tight against his and her eyes are all he can see.

All at once, it doesn't matter about Andrew, or the circumstances of Tokyo. He's dancing with her, wrapping his arms around her body as they move together to the music. She nuzzles his neck, blonde hair brushing against his cheek.

"It's just like sex," she calls out over the din, "You just feel it move you and you respond."

Her hands trace down his spine, settling on his rear, holding him against her. He feels a kiss against his throat and when he looks down at her, she reaches up, kissing him again, but this time on the lips.