Chapter 26 Ash
Practice was good, I even got positive words from the coach, and Gray was doing drills and runs, no catches or passes, but he was almost fully training again.
When I got to the locker room this morning, Alden looked delighted to see me, and I had great pleasure walking past him with a good-natured wink. When I was getting ready for practice, I told Jett her plan, and he laughed at her nerve.
None of us looked at our phones until we were showered and dressed, and it was Gray’s savage cursing that caused me to look up from putting my boots on.
“What is it?” I asked him cautiously.
“Check your phone,” he growled as he reached for his hoodie and shoved his own phone in his pocket.
Unlocking the screen, I saw the notification, Red has created a group.
I read her text message first. No, she didn’t. Looking up, I looked around the locker room for the guy who was supposed to meet. What the hell did the guy who was supposed to meet her this morning look like?
“Read the chat,” Gray encouraged me tensely, and I looked back at the phone.
My eyes widened as I read it, and I could feel my temper surging.
“What the fuck? Tell me she didn’t,” Jett groaned as we read together. “Dude, your girl’s got a fucking death wish.” He glared at me as he flung his backpack on his shoulder. “Thank fuck she’s okay, but fuck!”
“They’re still at the coffee shop,” Gray said as he waited impatiently. “Let’s move, now.”
On the way there, we didn’t speak, Jett texted Onyx to ask if the janitor prick had turned up and got his payout. We were still waiting for his reply when we got to the shop.
“Remember, she’s okay,” Jett murmured beside me. “They all are.”
“For how much fucking longer if she keeps pulling this shit?” Gray demanded as he pushed open the door.
I caught his shoulder and jerked him back. “Keep your temper. She’s had a bad morning as it is.”
“Are you shitting me?” he asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.
“You scare her or upset her or whatever. Don’t,” I warned.
“I will knock you the fuck out, understand?” I shoved past him and entered through the door.
I saw her sitting in a small booth at the back, her back to the wall, meaning she could see everyone inside and outside.
Clever. Pity she didn’t put her intelligence into practice all the time.
She was waiting for me, and I could see the trepidation on her face as she looked at me and then past me to the twins. Ava looked up and immediately stood up and moved away from her. I appreciated the move because I knew I needed to be right beside her.
“Girls,” I said softly as I dropped onto the bench beside her, angling myself to look at her. Wide-eyed, she looked at me and gave a small, guilty shrug.
“I messed up,” she started nervously.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m sorry, I should have waited.”
“You think?” Gray snorted.
“Shut up,” I told him without looking away from her. My eyes searched her face, looking for a sign that she was lying. “You’re more unmanageable than Ava.” I saw her startled smile, and my thumb grazed her cheek. “Did he hurt you?”
Red shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself. “Just grabbed me and said mean things.” She flicked her eyes to the twins quickly. “I’m used to people saying mean things to me lately.”
My forehead dropped to hers before I kissed it briefly. “Grabbed you where?”
“Arm.”
“Are you bruised?” I asked as I drew back to look at her.
“I’m okay, Brute.” She reached out to take my hand, and I linked fingers with hers as I turned back to the table. Gray was wrapped possessively around Quinn, and Jett had Ava tucked in beside him.
“Coincidence?” I asked the table. “That’s the second time he’s shown up.”
“Third,” Gray grunted. “He was at the bar too.”
“But was that planned?” Jett asked as he watched me carefully. “Or was that what set him off on being a dick? Queeny pissed him off in the bar, he fucked with her in the theater, it blew up for him, he got fired, and then he comes for his last pay and sees one of his antagonists—”
“Antagonists?” I cut him off.
“You know what I mean.” Jett looked at Mia. “It’s either a stalker or an unfortunate series of events that just happens to be coinciding with our other issues.”
Her fingers tightened on mine slightly. “It’s not a stalker. It wasn’t me he made the move on in the bar, it was Quinn.”
“And he bruised Quinn,” Gray said, his voice tight with anger. “Did he bruise you?”
She looked at us all and then her arm, which was covered by the long sleeve of her sweater. “I didn’t look.” She looked up at Gray. “I don’t think he was holding on tight enough,” she told him quietly before she smiled suddenly. “He let go pretty quickly when I screamed.”
“It’s good he let go,” Jett spoke. “But he shouldn’t have been holding on to you in the first place.” He stood up quickly when his phone rang. “Big brother is calling,” he told Gray as he walked outside to take the call. Gray followed him to no doubt hear what Onyx had to say.
“You don’t need to go?” Mia asked me curiously.
“The twins will tell me.” My attention was back to her, and I knew I had to take her mind off of what had happened, if only for a moment. “You owe Alden twenty bucks.”
It took a moment, and then she drew back from me in surprise. “No way.”
“What’s this?” Ava asked inquisitively, looking between the two of us.
“Someone made a bet with one of the freshmen that they could make me late for practice,” I explained, and Quinn snorted in amusement.
“He’s never late for practice,” she scoffed good-naturedly.
“How did you even get there in time?” Red demanded, slightly outraged.
“Long legs,” I answered easily. I didn’t tell her that her text prompted me to run, so I did get there on time. I pulled my phone out and showed her the locker room clock. I’d made it with literally one minute to spare. Red pushed the phone away from her with a disgruntled huff.
“You want coffee, Ash?” Quinn asked as she stood.
“Yeah, thanks.” I looked at Ava as Quinn made her way to the counter. “She may need help to carry everything.”
Ava met my look with one of her own, then she huffed out a laugh. “Subtle,” she mocked me as she stood. “Don’t give her any grief.”
“As if.” I gave my best wide innocent look that still fooled my mom. When she turned to go stand with Quinn, I turned to face Red full-on. “So, what the fuck were you thinking?”
Red’s mouth flattened as she tugged her hand out of mine. “No grief, remember?”
“It’s a question. Not grief.”
“You’re swearing.”
“I swear a lot, you said it yourself.”
“I wanted coffee and a muffin.”
“You couldn’t wait?”
“I was hungry, I skipped dinner.”
“Why?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “You know why. I think I saw enough of you all last night, don’t you?”
“So, thanks to your own actions, you starve yourself and then put yourself in danger?”
“I wasn’t in danger. Not really. Was I?”
“You screamed and ran. Then sent a group text, knowing the guy’s a creep and knowing Quinn needed to be careful.” I sat back. “You’re not stupid, Red.”
Leaning forward, she placed her elbows onto the table, her head in her hands as she looked down at it. “I’m not usually,” she agreed. “But I don’t usually have to look over my shoulder all the time.”
“I know, it sucks.” I rubbed my hand over her back. “It’ll be over soon.”
Red turned to look at me. “And we go back to the way everything was before?”
Turning my attention to the counter, I saw Gray was back inside, his arm looped around Quinn’s waist as he spoke to her.
Ava was trying, and failing, to appear not to be watching us.
Jett was outside, his eyes on his girl. Was this the way it was before?
“I think the shift to coupledom has maybe changed the dynamics, but yeah, that aside, normal service needs to resume soon.” Looking back at her, I saw her frown before she hid it. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” She shook her head and gave me a shrug.
“Tell me,” I encouraged her as I turned to face her again.
“I think my best friend may be more of a permanent fixture in your house from now on.”
“Hmm.”
“Is Quinn?” Red asked me.
“No, when it’s over, she’ll go back to her own place. She likes her own space.”
“Does it hurt?” Red asked me quietly. “To see them together? Like that?” Her head nodded toward the front of the store, and I turned.
Gray was whispering in Quinn’s ear, and she was smiling at whatever he was saying.
Ava and Jett were standing close to each other but also in their own bubble of communication.
“Sometimes,” I answered honestly. “Not to see them as a couple, I’m not jealous,” I told her as I turned back to look at her. “The lies? They hurt.”
“Understandable. Who likes being lied to?”
“Yeah, which means I need to see your arm.”
Red’s hand covered her arm. “No, you don’t. I’m fine.”
“Show me.” I reached for her arm.
“Ash! I’m not showing you here!”
Sitting back, I considered her. “Nothing on under the sweater?” Standing, I held my hand out. “Come on, it’s a bathroom break for you again.”
Red’s eyes were wide as she looked at me and then our friends, who were walking back toward us with coffee orders. “No.” Reaching out, she tugged at my hand. “Sit down!”
Using my superior strength, I tugged her to her feet and chuckled when she stumbled forward. “No need to fall over yourself for me, Red,” I joked as I winked at Ava and pulled Red behind me as I walked us to the restroom. I ignored Ava’s voice of protest — Jett would talk her down from following.
“I’m not going into the guys’ restroom with you again,” she whispered furiously.
“Noted,” I agreed as I tried the handle for the disabled cubicle. “Here works.”
When we were in and I locked the door, I turned and looked at her in exasperation. “Why is your sweater still on?” Her face flushed. “You’re not shy. I’ve seen you in a whole lot less. Just extract your arm if you insist on being shy.”
Red turned her back to me with a lot of inaudible muttering, which I am sure wasn’t complimentary toward me. With a defiance that always surprised me, she thrust her arm out at me.
The bruises were faint, but they were there. “He marked you.” I was pissed.
“It looks worse than it is,” she said quietly as she pressed the bruises softly. “They don’t hurt.”
Turning her to face me and pushing her sweater further up, I ignored her mumbles as I looked closer. Taking out my phone, I held her arm out straight.
“What are you doing?” Red tried to yank her arm back, but my warning look stilled her actions.
“I need to photograph the evidence,” I said as I zoomed in on my phone. “Red, can you cover the girls up?”
She made a weird squeaking noise as she hurried to cover her exposed bra with her sweater. “You’re the one pushing my clothes up!”
“Sure, blame me.” I took a close-up and two on normal lens. “Okay, I got what I needed.”
“Well, I’m delighted.” Sassy Red was back.
“Wait,” I said as I tucked my phone in my back pocket. Her hands froze in the process of putting her arm back through the sleeve.
“What?” Red glanced down at herself. “Is something wrong?”
The white of her skin between her jeans and the upturned sweater was enticing.
I tugged the sweater out of her hold and pushed it up further.
Her pink bra was satin and lace, her breasts full and inviting.
Reaching out, my finger traced over the valley of her breasts as my other hand held her sweater further up.
“Ash,” Red gasped when I pulled one cup down, exposing the soft pink nipple. My mouth watered.
“Hmm?” Bending, I captured the rosy peak between my teeth as my tongue flicked over it.
“You are not making out with me in a bathroom again. This is becoming a habit!” she scolded as her fingers laced through my hair, but not to push me away, to pull me closer.
“But I like this habit,” I told her as I pulled the other cup down and gave her other nipple the same attention.
I felt her fingers tug sharply at my hair at my words, and I bit her nipple gently before I sucked it again.
“Stop pulling my hair,” I warned as my dick got harder. “How long have we been in here?”
“Too long,” Red replied sternly, which would have been more effective if she hadn’t moaned right after it.
“We could be quick,” I suggested teasingly. She had me so wound up that I knew I would be so quick that I would embarrass myself.
“Not happening.”
With a sigh, I reluctantly left her breasts and straightened as I pulled her cups over her again and helped her put her arm through her sweater. “Later,” I told her quietly.
“Later?” Her voice wavered with her hesitancy, but her eyes shone with an excitement that wasn’t there earlier. As she straightened her sweater, I rearranged my dick in my jeans.
“From now on, when I tell you to stay put, you stay put. Understand?”
“I’m not a dog.”
“No, you’re not. They do as they’re told.” I pointed to her arm. “Do you still not believe that something is happening?”
Understanding caused her eyes to widen. “You don’t think it’s coincidence about the janitor?”
“When Quinn was in the theater, she said to Gray she now knew how other people felt when we did Mayhem,” I told her. “The janitor, he’s connected. I don’t know how, but he is. I can feel it.”
“Then why go after me? Why my apartment?” Fear made her eyes widen.
“Because that’s where I am,” I explained. “And before you even say a word, no, I’m not fucking leaving you.”
Red rubbed her nose as she looked away from me. “I don’t want you to,” she admitted. “Not now.” With a resigned sigh, she looked up at me. “Okay, I’m at your command.” My shit-eating grin was wide, and she swiped at my arm as she headed to the door. “Not that kind of command, perv.”
I smacked her ass hard as she opened the door, and her look of surprise made me laugh.
Curling my arm around her waist, I pulled her hard back into me.
“That one is just a taster. There’s more to come for your stunt this morning trying to make me late, for going outside when I told you not to, for letting yourself be vulnerable. ”
“You’re going to hit me?” Her voice was incredulous.
“Red, I’m going to spank you, and,” moving her hair, I kissed under her ear, “I know that you’re going to love it.”
I heard her breath hitch as I flexed my arm. “I won’t,” she whispered huskily as she squirmed in my arms.
Smiling against her neck, I kissed her once more before I let her go. “Challenge accepted.”