40. The Uglier Ashby Brother
40
THE UGLIER ASHBY brOTHER
MALLORY/OLIVER
MALLORY
Oliver has been acting weird all morning. He says he’s fine. He’s plastered on a smile for his family, but it’s not his smile. Something is bothering him. I even offered to watch Spiderman for the billionth time with him, but he’s not enjoying it. He sighs, again, like he has done for the past thirty minutes. We’re lying on his bed, watching the film with my head in his lap. I can tell he’s trying really hard to focus on the film, but I just can’t take it any more.
I move my head up from his lap and twist my body to straddle him. I lean closer, cupping his cheeks. “Ask the question, baby.”
“What question?”
“The question that’s been stewing around in that brain of yours for weeks. Ask it. ”
He sighs, moving his hands up and down my arms. Stalling for extra time.
He’s not going to talk. So I will. “Do you know the reason I went to boarding school? ”
“Your dad sent you because of his hockey schedule.” He replies.
I shake my head. “It was my idea.” He looks up at me, brows furrowed. “Henry was already out of college and with a team. I didn’t want to be a burden to him, having to work around his schedule so I took myself out of it. When my mom left, she left because she didn’t want to raise me. She valued her career more than she did me, and my dad was a wreck when she left. I’m the reason, and I've been trying to repay him ever since.”
“Baby,” he cups my hair, smoothing it out around my ear. “It was not your fault.” I blink away the stinging forming at my eyes.
“I know that now. My mom and I had a talk when you left the hospital. Well, she talked, I yelled. Bottom line is, she knows what she did was wrong. She wants to spend time with me.” Ollie nods along, listening to me, waiting patiently for me to finish, like he always does. “She said that the head of Peds in Westbrook Memorial is going on leave next year, and they need someone to replace her. She officially put in her request to transfer, and at the wedding, she told me it was accepted.” I smile, watching Ollie’s chest heavily rise and fall.
“Mallory,” is all he’s able to say.
But he’s looking. He’s looking at me, at all of me, and the way he’s looking, that says plenty.
I place one palm on his chest, right over his heart, begging myself to do this without crying. “I haven’t forgiven her, not even close. But my heart, my heart is right here. With you. Where you go, I go, there is no choice in it.”
He moves his thumb to swipe a stray tear off my cheek. “Say the words,” he whispers.
“I’m staying here next year,” I hiccup. “With you. ”
His smile knocks the air clean out my lungs. His sparkling green eyed, dimpled, creases around his mouth smile. His Ollie smile, that’s just for me.
“I think that we were always meant to be like this.” I say. He drags my body closer to his, resting his forehead against mine. “Like that Spiderman film you made me watch. The one with the eight hundred million versions of their reality, in every one of them, the same thing happened but in a different way. That’s like us. No matter how it happens, or who we are, we're always meant to be like this, with each other. Be together.” I pull back to stare into those gorgeous green eyes I get lost in.
“Did you just correctly reference a Marvel film?” He whispers, making me smile. “God that’s so fucking sexy.”
“It’s you and me, Ashby. You’re stuck with me.” I kiss him on the lips, softly, delicately, while moving my hands down his chest, under his shirt. His eyes turn hungry, primal. In the blink of an eye, I flipped over on my back, Ollie hovering over me.
“Mallory, you have no idea how badly I love you. I will spend every second of our forever, showing you.” He moves his way down my body, pulling off my leggings. “Starting right now, if you’ll let me.” He moves my panties to the side slowly, giving me a teasing lick, reaching the specific place that always makes me jut my hips up.
Asshole.
“You like this?” he says, pulling my panties down my legs, tossing it over his shoulder. A silly question really considering he knows what I like and how I like it. But he always does this, so I indulge him. “Answer me, Mallie.” he moves back down to kiss my clit, and I feel his absence deep in me.
“Yes,'' I breathe. “I love it. ”
He moves his hand to me, circling my clit slowly. “Tell me what you want,” he says. “I’ll give you everything, baby, just tell me.”
“I want you,” I say. “I want you on me, in me, I don't care, just be with me. Be close to me, please.”
That was all I needed to say before he slips his sweatpants and shirt off. I take mine off – thankfully I’m not wearing a bra, which he loves. He climbs on top of me, kissing every inch of me, making his way down to my breasts. He captures one nipple into his mouth and sucks, kneading the other one with his free hand. I move my head back against the pillow, reaching down to stroke him between us. He positions himself and slides inside me, eliciting a moan from both of us.
This right now, with him, is where I want to be for the rest of my life, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
OLIVER
“Sorry, but I gotta ask – Mallory , really?”
I walk into the kitchen to find all my brothers glaring at me. They’re already sitting at the table, waiting for breakfast. It’s dead silent and all eyes are on me. That's a lot of green eyes for one person. I’m used to having brown eyes on me.
One certain pair comes to mind.
“Avoiding the question, are we?” My younger brothers, Cam and Casey, speak at the same time. Like they always do.
“What?”
“We heard some… sounds, last night,” Elliott adds.
They heard Sounds. AKA, Mallory moaning – because I went down on her last night when we woke up at 3 am. What can I say? A man’s gotta eat. “We got home late last night, probably heard us clattering in my room.”
“Sure, if clattering sounds like a girl moaning.” Casey mumbles under his breath, fiddling with the cubed pineapple in his bowl. And just like that, all eyes are on me. Again.
Mom and Dad walk in, pancakes in hand, and freeze at the doorway, dragging their eyes over my brothers, then me.“Boys?” They walk over to the table and place the food on the table, carefully eyeing me.
“Ollie broke the rules!” Casey hastily admits, pointing at me. “Ollie broke the rules he let a girl in his room!”
I slouch in my chair, rubbing my forehead with my hand. My dad silently chuckles, placing a hand on my shoulder. “You boys know the rules. Once you’re old enough and have an official partner whom we’ve met and deemed appropriate, then you can have them in your room overnight.” My parents smirk as they leave the room, which just makes my brothers narrow their eyes even more. They always think I get away with things because I’m the golden child. I used to deny it, but now, I just think I am. I’m the favourite.
Elliot and the twins slouch In their chairs, mumbling curses at me, causing Frankie and Eddie to smile into their coffee mugs. I’m about to open my mouth when we hear someone coming down the stairs. Mallory walks into the dining room nonchalantly, like she has every time she’s stayed here. She’s wearing my old Spiderman tee, with my joggers rolled up – a lot. She clipped her fringe to both sides, and towel–dried her hair so it’s a little wet. Her face is fresh from the shower, so her freckles are out for the world to see.
God, she’s so beautiful, I can’t help but smile at her .
At the thought that she’s mine.
And my brothers notice.
“Morning Ashbys.” She offers everyone a warm smile as she heads to the seat next to me. She stands behind me and leads forwards, wrapping her arms around my chest. Just as she’s about to rest her head on my shoulder, I yank her down on top of me, tickling her uncontrollably, smiling every time a giggle spills from her lips. or my name.
I never knew how much I loved my name until she said it.
I never loved a lot of things until her.
She manages to wiggle her hand out of my grasp and as I see it inch for my… tickly spot, let’s say. I quickly raise my hands, waving a metaphorical white flag.
“Truce?” I say.
She nods eagerly, kissing me. “Morning,” she says sweetly. As she pulls away, I grab the back of her neck, slowly bringing her back to me, until those sweet lips are inches away from mine.
“Morning, beautiful.” She smiles into my lips, and God damn it, I just can’t help myself. I learn in and kiss her, more deeply than I probably should considering my brothers are all fucking staring at me. but I can’t help it. I spent two years repressing my feelings. We both did. Every time I saw her, stood next to her, brought her home with me. Every single time, I itched to touch her. My hands, my lips, my whole fucking body.
And now that I have her, I’m not wasting another second.
“Oliver, is Mallory awake ye –”
Until my mom walks in. In that case, I push her off me like she has the plague. My mom lights up when she sees her, as always. As my best friend or girlfriend, my parents have always loved her.
“Come here sweetie.” She gestures for Mallory to come to her as she places the stack of pancakes on the table, and she does. Mallory practically leaps into her arms. They break away, and mom caresses her cheeks, holding them in her hands.
“Oh, my sweet girl. You get prettier every time we see you, doesn’t she, Luca?”
That’s my dad’s cue to walk in, and a giant grin transforms his face when he sees her.
“Indeed, she does, sweetheart. I like your hair this length, it suits you.”
“You saw me yesterday, Mrs Ashby,” she says, hugging him when he hands his stack over to my mom, and he completely covers her with his body. I’m tall, and so is my dad. And my brothers, technically. Casey is seventeen, and he’s just over 6 '1. I’m still watching my dad hug her, a grin glued to my face, when Elliott does that dramatic loud fake cough thing he does.
“Um, gross?” We all look at my brother who is gaping at us.
My grin widens. “I’m dating your brother. Deal with it.” She casually announces, walking over to the seat next to mine. The room is silent again, but for a shorter length this time.
“And this isn’t like a prank, no like fake–dating so he didn’t show up to the wedding solo?”
She shakes her head. “Nope,” She turns to face me, love sparkling in her eyes. “We’re together. For real.” I lean in and place a quick, soft kiss on her lips, earning an ew from the twins.
“Out of curiosity, when did this happen? Like become official?” Elliot asks. Everyone’s sitting down, dishing the fruit and tiny pastries when we reply. “Uh, the end of October, I guess. That’s when we kissed at Marcus’ party.”
Elliot nods a few times, and lets his fork clash against his bowl, right before he shouts, “I WIN.” All my brothers groan and sink into their seats.
“You win, what?” I narrow my eyes.
“We made a bet on when you’d finally grow some balls and ask her out. I bet it would be before senior year Halloween.”
“What the fuck?”
“Hey,” he holds his arms out in defense, waving the money he just received. “Everyone else said after graduation.”
Cam and Casey nod. “We said on her wedding day.”
“To who?” I practically scream, my voice breaking slightly with jealousy. If I was looking at Mallory right now, she’d be laughing.
“That dude she just broke up with, Glen something.” Elliot says, staring at his wad of cash.
“Gus,” I mumble. Fucking Gus.
“Russo? I didn’t know the guy you dated was Gus Russo,” Elliot says, forking a pancake and sticking it onto his plate. “I like Gus, you should’ve stayed with him. He’s way better looking than Ollie.” All of our eyes divert to Elliot, and he’s just sitting there, drizzling maple syrup over his pancakes. He looks up at us, startled. Fucking startled. “What? Or at the very least, you could’ve picked me. You know, the hottest Ashby brother”
“You know what,” my mom announces, placing her napkin on the table. “I remember Sarah calling, saying he needed help with something. We should go, dear.” She looks at both my dad and Eddie, and just as they’re both about to take a bite out of their pancakes, they simultaneously sigh, putting it back onto the place. They all get up and leave, and it’s not until we hear the back door slam that we continue our conversation.
“What the fuck does that mean?” I shout. “I’m the hottest brother.”
This earns a snort from Frankie. He’s happily married, and about ten years older than us, so there’s nothing there, but I’m still angry. “Um no you’re not,” Frankie replies. “There’s six of us in total, one of us has to be the ugly sibling. And it’s not any of us, ergo…”
“Yeah, you’re butt ugly dude,” Cam spits a mouth full of pancakes before turning to Mallory. “I don’t get what you see in him. He’s just a nerd with a big ass nose.”
“A big ass nose you also have,” I slouch in my chair, folding my arms. Do the tips of my ears look red? They feel red to me.
“Yeah, but it works for me,” he smiles. “But for real, doesn’t it bother you?”
“His nose?” she replies, taking a bite of her pancakes. “Not really, it’s just about angling your neck in the right wa –”
“Not his nose, dumbo, his… nerdiness.” He physically shivers, like my nerdiness is somehow contagious.
“Why would that bother me?” she replies.
“So you genuinely don’t care about any of it?” he grimaces, looking down at her shirt, and she follows his eyeline, frowning.
“No it doesn’t, and this is my new favorite shirt, so don’t be a hater.” She turns to me and says, “You’re not getting this back by the way.”
I smile, leaning in to lightly kiss her neck. “I don’t want it back. ”
“I just –” Cam interrupts us “So to confirm, no part of you hates any part of his weird Marvel personality?” He arches his eyebrow and Mallory goes still.
Wait, what?
She remains silent, cutting her pancakes very neatly.
“Mallie…” I question.
“I hate your poster,” she blurts, clattering her cutlery onto the plate. “Not all of them, just the green goblin one above your bed. It freaks me out sometimes when I stare at it because he’s scary and creepy and I don’t like it.” She looks at me. “You don’t need to take it down, just move it so it’s not above your bed frame.”
“Why is the fact it’s above his bed frame an issue?” Cam asks, genuinely clueless.
“Dude,” Frankie says, widening his eyes, giving him the hint.
“Is that the reason why you won’t…”
“Why won't she?”
“Why she won't ride his dick,” Casey blurts out, suddenly uninterested in the conversation.
“ In his bedroom, ” she corrects, kissing me on the cheek. “Move the poster bub.”
It’s been fifteen minutes, and we’re still arguing about the poster.
“We both have things we hate about each other’s rooms,” she says.
“Yeah like your snack drawer.”
“Oh yeah, well you didn’t hate it when I caught you eating from it at 2am.”
“I was hungry,” I shrug. “And I’m a growing boy. ”
She snorts. “You’re 6 ft 4, I don’t think any part of you needs to grow anymore.”
“Not even his…” Elliott dares to ask.
“Nope,” she deadpans. “But I never did measure, so if you want me to time how long it takes to lick from base to tip next time, I can if you’re that keen.”
I think that was a rhetorical question, but she dared to answer it anyway. “You want me to talk to you about your brother’s penis?” She raises her eyebrows. “About how big is it? How long it takes me to lick him from base to tip and –”
Everyone clatters their cutlery onto the plate, making vomiting sounds, and I’m back to grinning like a maniac. They all collectively get up from their seats, mumbling about how they each had something to do and somewhere to be.
“Pass the syrup please,” she says, grinning at me. “I love this cherry syrup.”
She pours basically the entire jug over her strawberry pancakes, and I just sigh. But then I dip my finger in the remainder and swipe it across my cheek.
“Oops.” I smile. “Clean it for me, will you, baby?”
Her smile is different from mine. There’s hunger in it. She slowly gets up from her seat to straddle me, and makes her way to my face, inch by inch. As she slowly licks the syrup from my cheek, she leans into my ear, and whispers.
“Make sure you save some for later.”