Chapter 10
The first thing Kieran notices as he slowly comes to, aside from the sunbeam falling directly across his eyes, is the absence of a headache. Huh, maybe he’s finally building up a tolerance after all these years. About damn time.
The second thing is how fucking hot it is, hot enough it makes it hard to breathe. Strange, because his apartment usually stays nice and cool, even in the midst of the hellish Queensland summers.
The third—and by far the most disturbing—thing is that he’s not alone, if the subtle snoring from behind him is any indication.
It’s disturbing not only because it’s been a long time since he woke up next to somebody, but because the events of last night are painfully vivid in his memory.
Who he’d been with is painfully vivid, so he can’t even pretend to be confused about who’s in bed with him right now.
As if that isn’t disturbing enough, the snoring stops. Instead, the person in question lets out a low, satisfied sound, before plastering himself flat against Kieran’s back, not a millimeter of space between them. Explains why it feels like a hundred degrees in here.
What it doesn’t explain is why Kieran isn’t fucking moving.
He’s in bed with another person. Not just a person, but with Ash.
Who clearly thinks Kieran is his emotional support pillow with the way he’s wrapped around him.
So close that Kieran can feel Ash’s breath on his neck, feel his heartbeat against his back, his dick against—
The floor shakes with the force of a small-scale earthquake when Kieran lands ass-first on it, his fall cushioned by the blanket he dragged down with him. He clutches it to his chest, both from the shock and to cover up his very much naked body.
Why the fuck is he naked?
Why the fuck is Ash naked?
Why the fuck are they naked together?!
Hand searching blindly over the freshly vacated spot next to him, Ash’s brows furrow. Grunting, he rolls onto his back, his dick standing tall and proud, pointing at the ceiling like the freaking Eiffel Tower.
With a scandalized sound, Kieran throws the blanket at Ash in a feeble attempt to spare his eyeballs. It does shit, the baseball bat between Ash’s legs tenting up the blanket in the most obscene way. He snatches the blanket back to cover his lap.
“Babe? Where did you go?” Ash’s sleepy voice is rough, like whiskey poured over gravel. He rubs at his eyes, pushing up on his elbows and looking around blearily. His lips stretch into a wide smile when his gaze falls on Kieran. “What are you doing down there?”
“What am I— What are you doing here?!” Also, babe?! Has the fucker finally lost his last marble?
Left eyebrow slowly rising, Ash snickers. “Would you like me somewhere else?”
“Y-yeah! Out of here!” Clutching the blanket in a death grip, Kieran tries to calm down his racing heart. Did what he thinks happened really happen? “I can’t believe you. This is so not what I meant when I said you could do whatever you wanted. Who the fuck takes advantage of a drunk person!”
He’s so stupid. What was he thinking? How could he have let his guard down for even a second? What the absolute hell possessed him to act all comfortable around Ash? He let himself be swayed by a few pretty words, acting exactly the way he always makes fun of other people for doing. Pathetic.
“Uh-huh.” The fucker barely blinks, all blasé and shit as he sits up and stretches.
Kieran’s panicking brain vaguely registers a tattoo on Ash’s forearm, some sort of watch?
“Babe, we’ve talked about this; if you want to roleplay, you have to give me a little heads-up.
Or at least wait until I’m fully awake, so we can discuss it. ”
“You’re sick.” Swallowing over the lump in his throat, Kieran tries to stand up, giving up when his legs refuse to cooperate.
“Get out. Get out of here right now or I’m calling the coppers.
” He should call them anyway, he knows that.
But who the fuck would even care? They’d probably just laugh in his face.
Ash sighs. “Really, babe, we need some time to talk it o—”
“Stop calling me babe!”
“Honey? Cupcake? Sweetheart?”
“N-no! Just get out!” Finally managing to get his feet under him, Kieran stills as he becomes aware of his surroundings, his panic reigniting with vigor. Where the fuck is he? This isn’t his apartment. Oh my god, have I been kidnapped?! Did the asshole actually put something in the water?
Ears ringing, he sways, bumping his hip against the nightstand.
Ash is on his feet in an instant. “Kieran? Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Stay away,” Kieran orders but it comes out breathless.
“Hey, hey, easy. Take a deep breath. And stay still for me.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” Even as he says it, he finds himself obeying, pulling in a big gulp of air. He’s only doing this because it’s the smart thing to do, not because Ash told him to.
Too focused on trying not to hyperventilate, he doesn’t throw Ash off when he cups Kieran’s face between his palms. Ash’s eyes on him are more intense than usual, but his touch feels almost…
reverent. Ash touching him after everything he’s done should make him sick to his stomach, so why the fuck does he find himself relaxing?
“Good. That’s good,” Ash praises, his thumbs stroking Kieran’s cheekbones and…fuck, Kieran can feel his knees giving out.
Sliding his hands to Kieran’s shoulders, Ash turns them around, making Kieran sit down on the bed.
The position puts his crotch directly in Kieran’s line of sight.
At least he lost the boner, Kieran thinks fleetingly as Ash drops into a crouch in front of him, hands on Kieran’s blanket-covered knees.
Catching Ash’s gaze to ask him what the fuck he thinks he’s doing, Kieran does a double-take.
“What’s happening to your eyes?” There have been moments when he questioned the quality of his vision, or his memory. When he was convinced Ash’s eyes were steel-blue but appeared green the next moment. That’s fine. It was a trick of the light. There was a logical explanation.
He can’t come up with a logical explanation for how Ash’s eyes can be changing color right now. He can quite literally see how green is diffusing through the blue irises, gradually taking over.
Actually, there is an explanation. He’s fucking tripping.
Ash is watching him like he’s the one who woke up buck-naked next to a virtual stranger, with no memory of what happened, in a place he doesn’t recognize. The sheer audacity.
He releases a shaky breath, gripping the edges of the blanket and pulling it tighter over Kieran’s shoulders.
“Kieran, what do you think happened last night?”
“That should be my line.”
“No, I’m asking you.” Ash’s voice is firm, similar to what he sounded like when he ordered Kieran to get in his car. “What do you remember?”
Kieran grinds his teeth. What kind of sick game is this? Is he asking just so he can try to convince Kieran that’s not what happened? Bastard.
“You harassed me at the pub, bullied me into following you into your sissy car, then forced yourself into my apartment and hovered until I fell asleep.” Then proceeded to sexually assault me.
He doesn’t say that out loud, since, technically, he can’t remember that part.
Not that he needs to. Now that he’s marginally calmer and has more awareness of his body, he can sense a strange, unfamiliar ache in his ass that has nothing to do with landing on the floor.
This is what you get for being so fucking stupid.
Fuck, what is he still doing here? Why is he still talking to Ash? Why doesn’t he have his hands wrapped around Ash’s throat already?
Ash is suspiciously silent for a long while. He seems even more confused than Kieran and—Wait a minute. His eyes are back to being blue. What kind of mindfuck is this?
Yeah, he’s definitely tripping.
“Who were you at the pub with?”
Kieran pauses at the question. What does that have to do with anything? “None of your business.”
Ash’s hands flex on Kieran’s knees. “Was it your coworkers? Did your mum call that evening?”
Kieran gapes at him. “How do you know that?” Did his drunken ass tell Ash?
A muscle in Ash’s cheek jumps. Closing his eyes briefly, he gives Kieran’s knees another squeeze and stands up. “Get dressed. I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“What? Why?”
So…he has not been kidnapped?
Ash slides into a pair of shorts—where did those come from, he was wearing slacks last night—and goes to the other side of the bed to grab his phone. “Because you fell off a jetski yesterday and it might’ve been more serious than I thought.”
“I don’t jetski,” Kieran counters. “I’d never.”
“So you said.” Ash throws him a pair of underwear. “Now, get dressed.”
Kieran flings the underwear back at him, reveling in the momentary joy of witnessing Ash’s dumbstruck expression.
“I’m not going anywhere, especially with you.”
“Kieran,” Ash says. Slowly. Very slowly. Oh shit. “I’m not gonna ask again.”
Utterly ignoring his survival instinct, Kieran retorts, “Good, because I wouldn’t listen anyway.
” He stands up. “I don’t know where I am, but I’m going home.
” That shouldn’t be a problem, since it seems he really has not been kidnapped.
Now that he’s looked properly, his phone is even on the nightstand.
“Hey, where’s my phone?” he demands when it turns out it’s not his phone. Similar, but bigger.
“You’re holding it.”
“This isn’t my—” The phone vibrates in his hand, the screen lighting up with a newly received email. He’s about to ignore it when he notices the subject line in the thumbnail.
IF YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON, WATCH THIS!
He drops back on the bed and instinctively presses his thumb to the scanner. It unlocks.
“Huh?” Clicking the email open, he can see it’s been sent by—
What the fuck?
“What is it?”
He jumps when Ash sits next to him, looking over his shoulder.
“Do you mind?”
Ash ignores him, taking—stealing—the phone from him. “You sent yourself a video?”