2. Chapter Two
Chapter Two
Ash
A sh didn’t want for much. A roof over her head and food on the table.
She didn’t care much for relationships. Lately hasn’t found anyone she’s particularly interested in.
Yes, she recognized people were attractive.
She could see when someone would be labeled as hot or cute.
But she wasn’t necessarily attracted to a lot of people.
She needed to know them first, know who they were before the attraction came.
Her first girlfriend became her girlfriend after they were friends for years.
Ash knew the girl was pretty. She had soft brown hair, big blue eyes, and creamy skin, and people flocked to her.
Ash watched Michelle date for years. Michelle would find some guy, and they’d date for a few months before she was onto the next one.
It wasn’t until Michelle kissed her one day that she thought huh, maybe this is something more.
She had felt friendship towards Michelle, affection.
And even after the kiss, she still wasn’t sure if she wanted more.
Michelle was her friend first, anything else came second.
They were sitting on the hood of Michelle’s old sedan, passing a bottle of Jack between them and talking about life.
The conversation had gotten deep. Michelle reflecting on what she wanted in life when Ash looked at her and knew.
They had never discussed the kiss after it happened.
Ash chalked it up to Michelle exploring her sexuality.
But then Ash knew she wanted more. Michelle looked beautiful with her head tilted towards the stars, her lips were plump, and when her tongue darted out to wet them, Ash surged forward, kissing Michelle with passion.
It wasn’t like their hesitant first kiss.
This was lips and teeth, hands scrabbling in hair.
Pulling away after a few minutes to breathe, Michelle asked her what the kiss was for.
Ash stuttered out that she liked Michelle, had feelings for her, and wanted to see where it went.
Michelle smiled and kissed her lightly. That was the beginning of her first relationship.
Two years later, they had graduated from high school and moved in together.
Some people said it was too soon, they were too young, but neither girl cared.
Michelle got bored with the small town. She wanted to explore, go to college, and travel the world.
But Ash had to stay and help with her parents' farm. Even though she no longer lived with them, she woke early every morning to help with the animals. Michelle got restless, finally admitting she’d applied to colleges and got accepted to one in England.
She moved shortly after. They tried to keep the relationship going, but it was hard, and soon Ash realized she’d been so busy she hadn’t talked to Michelle in two weeks.
They loved each other, but it didn’t fix their issues, and the next time they talked, they ended it.
Ash’s second relationship was with a man, James.
He was kind and funny, a real ladies' man. He wouldn’t kiss her hard like Michelle.
He was all soft kisses and slow hands. He made love to her after six months of dating.
It was similar to how Michelle and her started.
They were friends first. James was a farm hand for her father, a strong cowboy with a big heart.
Ash realized one day, when they were sitting in the hay loft talking, that she liked him.
That feelings had developed slowly, and she wanted more.
He always looked at her like she hung the moon, and she realized he’d been flirting with her for years.
He asked her if he could kiss her, pressed a chaste kiss to her lips, and smiled. She knew she was gone on him then.
They loved each other fiercely. He was protective, she was feisty.
They’d ride horses for hours when they had free time, and make love in the grass.
They had years together, and she was so grateful.
He taught her what it meant to be demisexual.
That she had to develop feelings first before the attraction came.
Made her feel like it was special to be this way. That it made her feelings more real.
Then one day, he was gone. James used to like to ride bulls when the rodeo came around.
He was good, not a champion or anything, but he could hold his own with the other bull riders.
He liked the thrill, and Ash liked watching him.
She watched him die. Watched the bull throw him and trample him before anyone could get out there.
She froze in the stands. Holding her breath as people flocked to James on the ground.
He was pronounced dead as soon as the paramedics got to him.
Said he was killed instantly by the bull.
Ash felt lost and broken. She and James had never married.
She wasn’t a widow. She was the woman with a dead boyfriend.
A new ranch hand was hired. Ash never got to know him, didn’t want the reminder of the love she had lost. She never dated again.
Sometimes she’d be in a bar in town and get hit on.
She’d think about going home with those people, letting them fuck her, at least for a little while, she wouldn’t feel so alone.
Eventually, her parents got too old to run the farm.
She tried to keep up and hired more hands.
But when her dad’s heart started failing, she knew it was time.
She helped them sell the farm. Got them situated in a small house in another town, Silver Lake.
She worked odd jobs, never feeling settled, never dating.
Her friend Tate suggested she try being a volunteer firefighter.
Said there was a need and that she fit the bill.
She was strong from years of working on a farm.
Tall with thick legs and a strong back from lifting hay bales.
Ash took to firefighting like a duck took to the water.
She was a volunteer at first, helping out in between working at the hardware store.
Till a permanent spot opened up, and she was hired.
She had to go through training in the city, but she was done quickly enough and was a permanent member of the team.
She was the second woman there, the rest were men, but they treated her as an equal.
She lugged just as much weight as the rest of them.
It wasn’t until her dad had his first heart attack that she thought about moving closer to them.
Being two hours away and working sixty hours a week didn’t leave her much time to travel to them.
She was out on a call for a vehicle accident when their truck got a call that her dad was in the hospital.
She drove like a bat out of hell, not even changing out of her uniform before arriving at the city hospital.
Her dad looked like death, with a pale, ashen face.
Weak in bed. Her mom crying and hugging her.
She knew then she needed to be closer to them.
Silver Lake didn’t have a fire department.
They shared a fire station with a neighboring town, Juniper Springs.
But regardless, she got a job at the fire station.
She moved to the border of Silver Lake. Closer to her parents but still able to get to the fire station quickly.
It wasn’t ideal, but it worked. She spent her free time with her parents, helping her mom tend to the yard, and helping her dad do his physical therapy exercises.
His heart wasn’t getting stronger, but at least he was still with them.
A sunny Monday is the first time she sees him.
She’s in a good mood, really. It’s just that one of the idiots from the local motorcycle gang had set fire to a trash can, which set an abandoned building on fire.
It took them hours to put out in the middle of the night, and she’s five hours late getting off shift.
So she’s in the best mood possible for being up thirty hours straight and having to go over to her folks and help her mom with her jam canning project.
Ash has just loaded up her arms with canning jars from the store and is making her way out to her vehicle when she sees that the driver's side door is blocked by some idiot with a big blue truck. No way she can open it with how close the fucker has parked, and she isn’t about to climb over the passenger seat to get to the driver's side.
She sets the canning jars down a little hard on her hood and stomps off in search of the truck owner.