27. Ashley
CHAPTER 27
ASHLEY
L uckily, Kenzie didn’t notice the altercation between Sean and Ken. And I’m glad that Ken stopped us from leaving. It would have been horrible to take off and miss her concert. I was too worried about Sean and didn’t stop to think about the repercussions.
He didn’t misbehave when we returned to the party, and he even stopped drinking like a fish. But the stress made the rest of the evening not fun. My desire to socialize dropped to sewer level.
So when Kenzie finished her set, I told her we were ready to go home. I felt bad, because Kenzie clearly didn’t want to leave, but then her friend Lola suggested they share an Uber.
Sean thanked me for staying sober and driving home, but that’s the only thing he said the entire ride. The silence was uncomfortable, but I was afraid that if we talked, we’d argue.
“Home sweet home,” I say when I park in our driveway.
“Thanks for getting us here safely,” he replies politely, and it annoys me.
I get out of the car in a huff and stride to the front door. I leave the door ajar for him, but I don’t make it past the first step of the stairs before he turns me around and kisses me.
I’m ashamed to say I don’t put up any fight this time. When he attacked my mouth in the garage back at Ken’s, I tried to resist. But I don’t want to stop him now. It was harder than I thought to keep my distance from him at the party. I’m not sure I can keep pretending he doesn’t mean anything to me.
“Sean… I need you,” I whisper against his mouth.
“Good, because I need you too, Ash. So fucking much.”
“We have to be very quiet.”
“Okay.”
We head upstairs on our tiptoes, and even so, in the dead silence of the night, a board creaks loudly. I cringe with each step I take. We’re being so reckless. I bite my lower lip when I open my bedroom door. The hinges on this sucker always make a god-awful noise. My heart is pounding, and I dare to let out a relieved breath only after Sean closes and locks the door behind him.
I turn to him in the dark, and we don’t move for a couple of beats, as if we’re waiting for the other to change their mind. But something snaps, and we meet in the middle in a hurricane of limbs and lips. I jump into his arms, and our mouths fuse together. This kiss has a fury unmatched. It’s savage, demanding, and it bites.
We keep trying to steal each other’s air until we fall onto my bed together, with Sean on top of me. His greedy hand runs down one side of my body, and his fingers graze the underside of my breast, making me gasp. But he keeps moving his hand until he grabs my hip then lifts my leg over his shoulder. My dress has ridden up, and I’m not wearing pantyhose. Sean unzips his jeans, then rubs the head of his cock against my drenched panties.
“I love how wet you already are for me, babe.”
The friction between my legs feels so good that I can’t form words. I can only moan as I close my eyes.
He slides the fabric to the side and enters me slowly, making my toes curl. “You’re determined to torture me tonight, aren’t you?” I whisper.
“Me? Torture you?” He chuckles. “You’re the one wearing this sexy dress. It was agony not being able to touch you at the party.”
With my leg over his shoulder, he rubs against my special spot and makes me see stars before I even come. I’m getting delirious from pleasure. I dig my nails into his back and beg, “Faster, please.”
“As you command.” He seals his lips on mine and increases the pace.
Unfortunately, going faster means the headboard starts to bang against the wall. Sean stops moving. “Shit. This won’t do.”
“You can’t stop now.”
“Who said anything about stopping?”
He slides out of me and gets up. “Come on. We need to move our party to the floor.”
I let Sean take my hand, but I grab the pillows. The room is carpeted, but the floor is still hard.
“You know what? Forget the floor.” He picks me up.
“Sean,” I shout-whisper. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to bang you against the wall.”
He pushes me against the wall next to the door and proceeds to shatter me completely.
I wake up with Sean between my legs, his tongue wreaking havoc on my body. My brain is fuzzy. I have no idea where I am or what time it is.
I run my fingers through his hair, pulling when he sucks my clit into his mouth. “Sean… oh my God.”
“My God too.” He inserts three fingers in me and presses his thumb over my bundle of nerves. I’m so close to unraveling that my body seems to be levitating.
Suddenly, the door bangs open. “Ash, are you u—holy shit!”
Sean pulls away from my throbbing pussy as if an invisible band yanked him. “What the hell, Kenzie? Don’t you knock?”
She covers her face and turns around. “What the hell are you two doing?”
My face is in flames. I want to cover my body with the bedsheet, but Sean is sitting on it.
“What do you think we’re doing?” Sean jumps out of bed, freeing the sheets. Quickly, I cover myself, but it does little to fix my mortification. This can’t be happening .
“You guys hate each other. Since when have you been screwing?”
He looks for his clothes, and I should do the same, but I’m frozen. I can’t even speak.
“We hooked up at a college party. It was a masquerade, and we didn’t recognize each other.”
“You’re not wearing a mask now,” Kenzie replies, sounding exasperated.
“Duh.” Sean puts his shirt on, and now he’s fully dressed.
“Oh my God. Ash was your hookup when we came to visit you on campus, wasn’t she?”
“You can’t tell Dad or Marnie,” Sean replies.
“Are you dressed?” Kenzie asks.
“Yeah.”
She turns around, and her gaze finds mine first. The hint of reproach there kills me. I just don’t know if she’s judging us because we kept it a secret from her, or because she believes we shouldn’t be hooking up in the first place.
“You bet your ass I’m not telling them. This is… insanity. You’re stepsiblings, for crying out loud.”
Not this crap about being stepsiblings.
“Barely,” I reply. “We didn’t grow up together.”
“And we never had a real sibling relationship, as you know,” Sean adds.
“Marnie and Dad won’t see it that way. This will break their hearts.”
Guilt turns into a sharp dagger plunging deep into my chest. Sean must be feeling the significance of Kenzie’s remark as well. He rubs his face, and then he stares at the floor.
“Please tell me you’re going to stop,” Kenzie continues.
My heart becomes heavy, and my stomach churns with nausea. I’ve always known my entanglement with Sean would have to end eventually, but now that the moment is here, I don’t want it to happen. My heart is rebelling.
He looks at me, and I read sadness and regret in his eyes. Fuck. This is it.
He returns his attention to Kenzie. “I can’t make that promise.”
My jaw drops to the floor. To say I’m shocked is an understatement.
Disappointment washes over Kenzie’s face. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m dead serious.”
“Wait. Are you saying you guys are in love?” She looks at me.
My heart skips a beat. I’m certain that my inability to end things with Sean means I’m falling for him, but is the same happening to him?
“No, that’s not what I’m saying,” he grits out, and the hope in my chest deflates.
I’m such an idiot. Of course he’s not falling in love with me. He just likes to fuck me.
“Can you please have this conversation later when I’m not naked in bed?” I snap.
Kenzie shakes her head. “I don’t think there’s anything left to say. I’ve heard plenty.”
That’s such bullshit, but I’m not going to argue with her now. I’m too stunned about the last five minutes to engage with her.
She walks out of the room, shutting the door hard. The pictures on the wall rattle, but the noise is nothing compared to how loud my pulse is pounding.
“Well, that escalated fast,” Sean murmurs.
Feeling sick to my stomach, I look away. “You need to go.”
“Ash, I’m sorry. I must have forgotten to lock the door when I came back from the kitchen last night.”
I don’t remember him leaving my room and returning, but it doesn’t matter.
“What’s done is done. There’s not point feeling bad about it. Just… leave before my mother catches you here too.”
“Okay. I’ll go. But this isn’t over.”
I don’t answer him, nor do I make eye contact. He’ll see the truth in my eyes. This is over.