Chapter 36 Mia #2
“You don’t . . . You don’t have to do that,” he said softly.
“Ugh, yes, I do. You’re my boyfriend, and I’m going to support you. Okay.”
He was smiling when I got up off the bed. “That’s not even a question, is it?”
I shook my head. “Nope. It’s a statement of fact. I am your support.” I yelped when he grabbed me and placed me on his knee.
“Thank you,” he said, pressing a kiss to my temple. “I only told Ava the other day, and it’s weird for me to tell people who aren’t my family.” He leaned back as I turned in his lap to look up at him. “You made that really easy.”
Pushing his hair off his forehead, I leaned up to kiss him softly. “And you listened to me talk about my deadbeat dad, and it was really easy to talk to you.” I smiled as I ran a finger down the side of his face. “Look at us, talking and everything.”
I screamed when he picked me up and placed me over his shoulder, his hand slapping my ass.
“Ash! What the heck?”
“Pizza,” he said simply as he took me to the kitchen. “We’re going to refuel.”
“I can order something else,” I told him as I wiggled in his hold. “Something better.”
“Nope. Pizza,” he said with determination, keeping a firm grip on me. “Then I’m going to fuck you in the shower.”
“Ash!”
He slapped my ass again, then placed me on the kitchen counter. He moved in between my legs, catching my lips with a hungry kiss. I felt him harden between my thighs as I ran my hands over his broad shoulders.
“How hungry are you?” he asked, his hand slipping under the elastic of my panties.
“Starving,” I answered, my voice husky with need.
“Fuck, me too Red, me too.”
It took a while for us to get back to the pizza.
* * *
“Why are you staring at me?” I asked Ava without looking at her. I could feel her watching me.
“I’m trying to decide if you’re glowing.”
That made me look at her. “What are you talking about?”
She was trying to hide her smile, and failing. Badly. “You look freshly fucked.”
“Ava!” I looked around us quickly. “People can hear you!”
She shrugged, not caring. “You went to the bathroom when we got here, and were gone for a long time.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief. “And when you came back, your man was like . . . two minutes behind you.”
I couldn’t hide my blush. It was lunchtime, and I had gone to the bathroom, and on my way back to the cafeteria, my overgrown boyfriend picked me up, found an unused classroom, and had me bent over the desk before I’d had a chance to protest. Not that I would have protested, but that wasn’t the point.
I almost denied it, but instead, I felt my shoulders slump. “Ugh. Fine. Is my hair okay?”
Ava cackled with glee, dodging my slap easily.
A chair was pulled back, and Quinn dropped in beside us. “Hi, what’s got her laughing like a madwoman?”
I shot Ava a warning look, and she said nothing, but she was still looking far too smug.
“Ignore her,” I mumbled. “She’s being a child.”
Quinn grinned but let it go. “Warning you now, three Devils are coming this way.”
I hadn’t really seen the twins since the day after the party. I’d spent the week mostly with Ash when he wasn’t at practice, and with Ava when he was. Things were . . . good. Things were really good, and even Quinn and I were doing great.
The screech of chairs being pulled back had me looking up, and Jett and Gray sat down across from me. I felt the warmth at my side as Ash sat beside me.
“Hey,” I greeted him. He gave me a light kiss, pulling me into his side with one hand, opening a premade salad with the other. “Ooh, what have you got?” I asked him, leaning over to inspect his salad.
“Don’t touch his food.”
“Enough,” Ash growled. “I mean it, Gray. That’s enough.”
I heard Ash’s rebuke, but I couldn’t keep my mouth shut, as I looked at the brothers with narrowed eyes. “I asked him a question.”
I looked between the two twins and decided to settle this once and for all.
I didn’t give a hoot that we were in the cafeteria.
“You’re protective of him, I get it. I really do.
” I ignored the sigh from beside me, but Ash stayed quiet.
“Actually, you’re protective of everyone you care about, and that is really admirable.
” I sniffed. “I wouldn’t expect it of you, either of you, because you work so hard on being colossal jerkfaces. ”
I heard Ava’s gasp and then a giggle, and I ignored that too.
“But you can both stop with the attitude.” I held their stares.
“Ash told me everything I need to know, and trust me, that took guts for him to tell me. I know that. I respect that. And you know what that should tell you?” I carried on, not giving them the chance to speak.
“That should tell you both that he trusts me, and that should be enough for you.” I turned my head to look at Ash, who had started eating his salad, and he gave me a wink.
Encouraged, I turned back to the twins. “I asked my boyfriend what he was having for his lunch. It’s a question people ask each other every day.
It’s not an attack. It’s not to make him feel anything other than his girlfriend saying, ‘What are you having for lunch?’” I sat back.
“So both of you, do me a favor. Get off my back and be the decent human beings everyone at this table assures me you are, because so far, I’m not convinced they’re telling the truth. ”
Gray and Jett watched me. They exchanged a look, and then both of them shrugged.
“Fine,” Gray said, opening his own lunch. “No need to be pissy about it.”
Jett was already eating. “Yeah, Mia,” he said around a mouthful of food. “Why are you being so dramatic?” He grinned, and I threw my scrunched-up napkin at him.
“Don’t eat with your mouth full,” I scolded. “It’s disgusting.”
The table was silent for a moment, and then Ava asked Quinn why she didn’t make Ava’s lunch. That started a whole conversation between the four of them, and I leaned back, moving closer to Ash. I felt the kiss on the side of my head, and I looked up at him.
“Was that too much?” I asked softly.
He shook his head, his gaze tender. “I don’t think you can ever be too much.”
I smiled at him and settled into the curve of his side. I looked back at the table and saw Gray watching me. He gave a slight dip of his head, and I nodded back. I doubted we’d be friends, but at least the open animosity could stop.
Jett held his bag of chips out to me. “Want one?”
I shook my head. “No. Thanks.”
“I’ll take one,” Ash reached out, and I slapped his hand away.
“No.” I frowned at him. “He’s testing you, and you failed.”
“No, he’s testing you.” Ash gave his cousin a smug grin. “You passed.”
I glanced at Jett, who looked pleasantly surprised.
“You all suck,” I grumbled, but there was no heat in it, and they knew it.
Conversation turned to the upcoming game and then to this afternoon’s classes. When Ava announced it was time to head to class, I was surprised that the time had passed so quickly.
“I’ll walk you,” Ash told me, taking my hand.
We left the cafeteria, and I glanced back at the table where the others were still gathering their things, laughing, nudging, like they’d been doing it forever.
“That was actually . . . comfortable,” I said, surprised at how true it felt.
Ash dropped my hand and slung his arm over my shoulder. “It was.”
I slipped my hand into his back pocket, grounding myself. “You know, there may be hope for us all yet.”
He chuckled and pulled me in tighter. “We’re all going to be just fine, Red,” he said with that easy confidence I’d learned to lean on. “Trust me.”
I did.
For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t waiting for the other shoe to drop. I wasn’t looking over my shoulder or holding my breath.
I was just here. With him. With hope.
Maybe not everything was fixed between me and the twins, but this afternoon had been a start, and for now, that was enough.
Ash leaned down and pressed a kiss to my temple — casual, familiar, like it was already a habit.
“You just took on the Santo brothers . . . and won,” he murmured. “You know what that means? You’re stuck with me now.”
I smiled, letting the words settle deep. “Good. I was planning on staying.”