44. Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Four
Ash
A sh is beside herself over Sam. She’s never seen him act like that. He looked wild, out of his mind. Raif texts that he’ll see her tomorrow, and she finishes out her shift. She awakes to a knocking on her door.
“Raif?”
“Hey Ash, I thought I’d stop by so we can talk.”
Ash feels her heart lurch to her throat. Talking has usually never meant anything good.
“What do we need to talk about?” Her voice is soft, and she knows it comes across as weary.
“Hey, nothing like that, baby.” He pulls her in close by her shoulders and wraps her up in his arms. She instantly feels better, safe, like Raif won’t one day break her heart.
He pulls her into the family room and sits her down.
“So Sam...it’s not good, Ash. He’s…”
“What?”
“He’s messed up on pills right now. He was high as a kite on the drive to his house and passed out in bed immediately. The house was filthy, with liquor bottles everywhere and trash all over. He’s a mess.”
“I should go-”
She starts to stand, intent on going right over to Sam’s house, but Raif pulls her back down with a gentle hand on her elbow.
“He needs to get himself straightened out first. He got hurt, got his job, which was his life, taken away from him. He doesn’t know how to cope. I talked to the Chief. He’s got some connections with people who can help Sam get sober.”
“So what? I’m not supposed to do anything? Just sit here while my best friend struggles with addiction?”
“I can’t tell you what to do, Ash. I can only tell you what I think, and I think he needs to get sober, get his life in order, and then you can see him. He said some awful things, Ash.”
“He was high. Or drunk. Fuck Raif, I have to do something.”
“I won’t stop you, but the Chief seemed like he had it handled. Just think it over before you go running headfirst into it. I know he’s your friend, but he needs to do this himself, or it won’t work.”
She settles back on the couch and tucks her knees up in front of her.
She has a tendency to try to fix things for people, always has.
It’s probably one of the reasons she was drawn to firefighting.
And she doesn’t know much about drug and alcohol abuse, but she knows enough that she can’t fix it for Sam, he has to be the one to do it himself.
He has to make the hard choices and get help.
She sighs, and Raif throws an arm around her shoulders and kisses her temple.
“Thank you, Raif, for helping him.”
“Of course, baby.”
They eat in front of the TV with her curled around him.
He strokes her hair, and she feels lucky to have such a great boyfriend.
She doesn’t know if Sam was serious about wanting her or if that was the pills talking, but she honestly never thought of him that way.
With Raif, there was intrigue, even from the beginning.
She was angry when she first met him, when he parked too close, and she yelled.
But she thought about him, he stayed on her mind.
Now she can’t believe how far they’ve come in the short time she’s known him.
Yelling in a parking lot to him, saying he loves her.
She hasn’t said it back yet, and he hasn’t mentioned it.
She wants to, she does. She feels something a lot like love inside her.
It’s so strong it overwhelms her sometimes, but it feels so monumental to say it to him that she just can’t bring herself to do it.
Raif’s a good man, though. Maybe the best man she’s ever met.
He went over and mowed her parents' lawn again without being asked. Just did it to be kind and didn’t even tell her, she found out from her father.
He mows other people’s lawns, too. People in town who need extra help and can’t do it themselves.
He takes stray dogs to the vet and pays out of his own pocket for their care.
After a call for an elderly woman who accidentally set her kitchen on fire, Raif started taking her groceries and tidying up her house.
He does all of this without being asked, without telling anyone else.
He’s wonderful, amazing. How could anyone not love him?
That evening, she pulls Raif to her room.
“Stay,” she whispers to him, pulling him towards the bed.
He kisses her once and gets undressed. He’s never spent the night before, they both have early mornings, but she doesn’t want to be alone right now. Truth is, she doesn’t want to be alone anymore at all.
When she slides in next to him in her tank top and panties, he pulls her back flush to his front and throws an arm around her waist, settling his palm firmly against her stomach. She feels cared for, loved. He kisses the back of her neck and whispers ‘good night, baby’ into the night air.
In the morning, she wakes first and feels a hardness pressing against her ass.
She rubs back into it and hears Raif groan.
As she presses back further, he starts to rut slowly against her in his sleep.
She flips over so she’s facing him and strokes her hand down his chest till he opens his eyes, blinking at her a few times before a slow smile spreads on his face.
“Mornin’, baby.”
“Mornin’. How’d you sleep, big guy?”
“Great. I think the beautiful woman sleeping beside me helped that.”
He stretches his arms up high, and she watches the muscles on his chest and abdomen move. She runs her hand down his chest and cups his hard cock through his boxer briefs. He jumps a little at the contact.
“This okay?” she asks him.
“Whatever you want, baby.”
“Just lie back, let me take care of you,” she tells him.
He rolls to his back and closes his eyes as she works his underwear down, and he kicks them off.
He spreads his legs a little, and she sits up to see his body spread out before her.
She can see his balls, heavy between his legs, and his cock standing up away from his body.
She grasps it, sliding the foreskin up and down, watching the way the head slips in and out of her grip.
He groans, eyes still closed but mouth open a little and panting.
She leans down and kisses his chest, licks at a nipple, and bites it, all while moving her hand up and down on his cock.
Because he’s uncircumcised, her hand just slides easily back and forth.
She goes slow, lazily jacking him till she sees his hands are clenched tight on the sheets.
She tightens her grip, speeding up a little, and his cock jumps in her hand.
His abs contract, and he seems to struggle with not thrusting up into her grip.
When she slows back down, he whines high in his throat.
It seems to startle him, and he clears his throat and shakes his head before lying back on the bed.
She likes him like this, letting her have control over his orgasm, just lying there so sweetly.
She wants to make him feel good, wants to make him come.
She tightens her hand harder, speeding up and swiping her thumb over the head. His breath hitches, and he throws his head back harder against the pillows.
“Ash, you feel so good. Fuck baby, just like that.”
She twists her hand on the upstroke, and then he’s coming, back arching off the bed, breath harsh and cock rigid in her hand. He paints his stomach and chest in come, and she strokes him till he starts to soften.
He pulls her down on top of him, kissing her lips and then biting the bottom one.
“Fuck Ash, that was amazing.”