12. Ashley
CHAPTER 12
ASHLEY
I ’m nice and cozy, dreaming about something pleasant when an annoying and persistent sound breaks through my bliss. The very solid chest I’m using as a pillow moves.
Wait. Solid chest?
I open my eyes and find Sean half asleep in my bed. It’s morning. The pesky sound is my phone ringing.
“Sean, wake up!” I shake him.
He blinks and asks groggily, “What?
“You spent the night.” I throw my legs off the side of the bed and get up.
He leans on his forearm. “What time is it?”
I’m freaking out a bit, but it’s hard to be mad at him when he looks sexy as hell with messy hair and bedroom eyes.
“I don’t know.” I grab my phone and see that I missed a call from Kenzie. “Crap.”
“Is it super late?” He sits up and stretches his arms, which proves to be a distraction.
After a moment, I shake my head, remembering what I was doing. “No, it’s only eight. Kenzie just called.”
My phone starts to ring once more, and this time, it’s my mother. What’s going on?
“Is she calling you again?” Sean tries to cover a yawn with his fisted hand.
“No, my mother is. I have to get this, or she’ll worry. Don’t make a sound.”
Sean makes the zipper-shutting sign over his mouth, but I give my back to him nonetheless before I press the accept button. “Hey, Mom.”
“Finally! We’ve been trying to reach you for the past five minutes.”
My stomach coils with worry. “We? What happened?”
“Oh, it’s not an emergency. We wanted to surprise you and Sean.”
My stomach bottoms out. “What?”
Not surprisingly, Sean gets up and turns me around to ask with his eyes why I keep freaking out. I press my index finger to my lips, even though he didn’t say a word.
“Kenzie, Chris, and I are in Fairbanks.”
Oh my God . I want to vomit.
“What do you mean you’re in Fairbanks?” I ask, more for Sean’s benefit than anything else.
His eyes bug out, and he mouths, Fuck.
Frantically, I point at his scattered clothes, urging him to get dressed.
“We’re at Hannaford U campus. We stopped by Sean’s dorm first, but his roommate said he didn’t spend the night.”
“Because he’s a horn dog,” Kenzie pipes up from the background, then laughs.
She’s not wrong, but hell, they can’t find out Sean was being horny with me . “Where are you now?”
“We’re a minute from your building. You are there, right?”
“Yes, Mom. I’m in my dorm room. You woke me up. It’s only eight in the morning.”
“I know. Chris wanted to come early to spend the whole day here.”
Of course he did. Chris is a really nice guy, but he can be such a pain in the ass sometimes. “I need at least twenty minutes to shower and get ready.”
“We can wait in the car, hon.”
“Not me. I’m coming up, Ash. I want to see your room!” Kenzie shouts.
“No! I mean. You can’t come. My roommate is still sleeping.”
“Kenzie, dear, just wait in the car with us,” Mom tells her.
“Oh, fine.”
I let out a breath of relief. “I gotta get ready. I’ll see you soon.”
“See ya.”
Sean is already dressed when I end the call.
“They went looking for you. What are you going to tell them?” I ask.
“I don’t need to tell them anything. It’s college and I’m a guy. They expect me to have hookups.”
“That wasn’t sexist at all,” I grumble.
“It’s the truth, isn’t it?” He smirks, then walks over. “As hookups go, last night was off the charts.”
I push him back before he can kiss me and send my common sense flying out the window. “Quit it. You need to get out of here. They’re probably already parked outside.”
“How am I going to get out of here without them seeing me?”
“Shit.” I begin to pace. “See, that’s why I told you to go home last night.”
“Duh. We’re acting like idiots. So what if they see me walk out? They’ll never suspect I sent the night with you .”
My brain knows he’d only be pretending to have spent the night with someone else, but my constricted heart doesn’t seem to know the difference. I’m jealous of an excuse.
“True. Well, go on then. Get out of here. I do need to shower.”
He arches his brows, and the corners of his lips twitch upward. “What? No goodbye kiss? I feel so used.”
There’s no chance in hell I’ll kiss him when we’ll be hanging out with our folks in half an hour. I toss a pillow at him and shout, “Go already!”
He laughs and opens the door. “See you later, Ash.”
I can’t believe he’s not freaking out. Am I the only one who sees the potential for disaster here?
SEAN
My amusement vanishes the moment I step into the hallway. I saw the worry shining in Ashley’s eyes, so my go-to reaction was to joke about it to try to diffuse the tension. I’m not happy about our parents’ surprise visit by any stretch of the imagination. They said they couldn’t come to my first game last night, so their presence in Fairbanks this morning is shocking. And what the hell is Kenzie doing here? She’s supposed to be in London with Mom.
I’m hoping they won’t spot me leaving the building, but I should have known better. They see me as I’m crossing the street toward the parking lot. Dad just happens to be driving in at that precise moment and, for a second, I think the universe is punishing me for doing all those wicked things to my stepsister.
He stops the car and lowers the window. “Sean!”
I have to pretend I didn’t know they’re in town. I hope I don’t exaggerate my surprised expression. “Dad? What are you doing here?”
“We came to visit you and Ash.”
Kenzie also lowers her window and sticks her head out. “Surprise!”
“You’re here too? Don’t you have school?”
The car behind Dad’s honks. “Let me park and we’ll talk.”
I wait for them in the parking lot, bouncing on the soles of my feet. I should have washed my face before I headed out. I smell like sex, and I’m about to be embraced by everyone. Talk about awkward.
Kenzie is the first to reach me. “Sean, I missed your stupid face.”
“Hey, sis. I missed you too.”
“Sheesh, you had a good time last night.” She eases back, grinning.
My face and ears burn. “You could say that.”
I take turns hugging Marnie and Dad, but mercifully, they don’t make a comment about my morning-after smell.
“So, what’s the deal with Kenzie being here?”
“I’ve decided to move back to Boston for senior year.” She shrugs like it’s no big deal, but I know better than that. Kenzie loved her school in London.
“Why?”
“I’m done with Europe.”
Dad throws an arm around her shoulders. “And we’re thrilled about that.”
She’s not meeting my eyes, so she’s hiding something. Kenzie and I have always been close, which was a sore spot for me when she welcomed Marnie and Ashley into the family with open arms. Thankfully, I’m over that phase of resenting their presence. I was such a jerk when I was younger.
I stick my hands in my pockets. “What’s the plan?”
“If you’re free, we’d like to take you and Ash for breakfast,” Dad replies.
“Yeah. I’m free. But I need to get back to my dorm and shower.”
Kenzie’s wrinkles her nose. “Yes, please do. I can’t believe you hooked up with someone who lives in the same building as Ash. What a coincidence.”
I don’t think she’s insinuating anything. How could she? But I tense, nonetheless. “I had no idea Ashley lived here. We haven’t really hung out.”
Dad makes a guilty face. “I should have told her sooner you’d been accepted here.”
Now I feel like shit. I was the one who asked him to keep it a secret. “I’m sure she’s over it by now. Besides, it’s her fault for not paying attention to the school’s social media. My acceptance to the hockey program was well documented.”
God, why do I have to be such a dick?
Kenzie rolls her eyes. “Yeah, we all know what a big shot you are.”
“If you want to freshen up, you’d better get going, son,” Dad says. “Ash said she only needed twenty minutes to get ready.”
Yeah, I’m well aware of that, Dad.
I have to make a sarcastic comment, or Kenzie might suspect something isn’t right. “Twenty minutes? I’m shocked. Are you sure she didn’t say two hours?”
“Sean... you’re not going to carry on picking on your sister in college, are you?”
Go and punch me in the guts, why don’t you? “She’s not my sister,” I grit out.
“Give Sean a break, Dad. I’m sure he’s hungover. The Warriors won last night, as you know.”
Dad’s expression turns guilty again. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there, son.”
“It was my fault,” Kenzie chimes in. “My flight landed late last night, and I wanted to surprise you.”
“No worries. There’ll be more games. Where should I meet you?”
“I’ll text you the address. Don’t be late,” Dad replies.
I don’t plan to. If I take longer than Ashley, she and my sister will tease me to no end. That should be the least of my worries. How am I going to survive having a meal with my family after I spent hours buried deep in Ashley’s pussy? My dick stirs as I think about her. God damnit. A cold shower it is.