Chapter 14
Fourteen
Ashton
The car ride back to the house could have been explosive. The tension was insurmountable, and Nova at least listened to me when I whispered that she needed to sit up front.
Thankfully, she didn’t argue with me.
Luca storms into the house, slamming his bedroom door, making it clear he’s still royally pissed at me.
Seems about right.
I don’t know what it’ll take for him to forgive me. Perhaps when he realizes that I do care about Nova. She’s more important to me than anyone I’ve ever been with, and there are a lot of girls on that roster.
I can understand why he’s pissed.
He’s worried about his little sister.
He thinks she’s just another fuck, which is far from the truth.
I appreciate his concern. Believe it or not, had the tables been reversed, I’d have wanted to punch the living shit out of him too.
Thankfully, Brooks and Liam kept my face from getting bashed in and turning black and blue. I owe each of them.
Nova waltzes right into my bedroom. There’s not even any attempt at sneaking in tonight. By the look on her face and the way she carries herself as she walks, she’s still tipsy.
Damn.
I had a few drinks tonight, but Nova out-drank me. I didn’t exactly count how many drinks she had, but the girl was drinking that punch like it was fruit juice and, well—the liquor did have a sweet taste to it.
Nova smiles, batting her long lashes up at me, those sky-blue eyes transfixing me in her gaze. “Are you mad at me?” she asks, her voice soft, fragile, almost child-like, which brings pause to the situation.
“Of course not.” I collapse at the edge of my mattress, and Nova breathes a heady sigh of relief.
“Good.” She strides closer, coming to straddle my hips as she settles her weight on my lap.
Her fingers tangle in my hair, her breath heavy with liquor, and I can’t bring myself to go any farther tonight.
“You’ve had too much to drink.” I drop a soft kiss to her cheek, my hands on her hips as I guide her off my lap.
Nova whimpers in protest. “I’m not drunk.”
“You are very toasted.” It’s the nicest response I can give her because there’s zero chance she’s giving me consent tonight. And I need true, enthusiastic consent, not drunken, enthusiastic agreement.
After what transpired at the party, I’m not sure where we stand.
I like her.
She declared her love for me.
Well, she certainly shouted that she wants to marry me someday, which might as well be telling me that she loves me. Neither of us has used the L word yet.
If I wasn’t slightly tipsy and she wasn’t sloshed, we might be able to have a genuine conversation.
“I’m not drunk,” Nova whines as she stands in front of me.
“Come on,” I say, hoping I’m not making a huge ass mistake as I take her hand and head toward the bedroom door.
Quietly, I turn the doorknob; the squeak of the door causing me to wince.
I don’t need Luca coming out of his bedroom, raging at me for sneaking across to Nova’s room.
Although, technically it would be me putting Nova in her room, but I still don’t think he’d be pleased when he witnesses her stumbling out of my room, drunk.
That’s one fight I’d like to avoid.
I press a finger to my lips, reminding Nova to be quiet as we stalk across the hallway and I quietly open her bedroom door.
She’s not particularly quiet with her footsteps or her breathing, which makes my heart hammer in my chest.
Luca is going to kill me.
I can hear him down the hallway, giving quite a tongue-lashing to Harper.
While I feel bad for her, right now I’m just glad it isn’t me he’s screaming at, because while I know he’d never hit a woman, he would most certainly take a swing at me.
We manage to sneak into Nova’s bedroom, and I shut the door as quietly as possible, but the slight click makes me still for a moment.
No sign of Luca.
No doors slamming or footsteps pounding over the ground.
He’s too busy fighting with Harper to notice me sneaking Nova back to her room.
I can breathe again.
Turning toward Nova, she’s standing by her bed, head tilted, waiting diligently for me.
“Are you coming to bed?” she asks, and the smile on her face makes me eager to please her.
But I can’t.
Not tonight.
Not while she’s inebriated.
“I’m going to tuck you in,” I say, hoping that will satisfy her.
Nova whimpers, and I swear the sound goes straight to my cock. My body responds like it always does to her, which makes everything a hell of a lot harder.
She’s not going to make this easy on me, is she?
Nova draws back the sheets and unceremoniously strips down to nothing.
Fuck me.
I inhale sharply.
I want to stride across the room, cover her lips with mine, and take her.
But I can’t, and I fucking hate my life right now.
If Luca hadn’t been at the party, things might be different. She’d still be drunk, but at least I’d know she wants me. She’s wanted me what feels like thousands of times before. But after what transpired, I can’t be certain.
I need to hear it from her lips that we’re okay.
That we’ll get through this together.
That conversation has to come when she’s sober.
When she has time to truly decide if I’m what she still wants after Luca’s outburst.
Because I won’t drive a wedge between her and her family.
“Are you coming … to bed?” she says with a wicked smile. She knows exactly what she’s doing to me, her perky breasts staring right at me, her pussy begging to be tasted.
My mouth is dry.
My cock throbbing to be touched by her hand, her lips, her pussy wrapped tight around my shaft.
“Climb into bed,” I command.
The smile is ever-present on her face as she walks the two steps backward and lies down, waiting for me.
I know her bedroom like my own. I open the second drawer and grab a pair of pajamas for her to wear, bringing them to the bed.
“Clothes?” Her bright smile turns quickly into a scowl as she pouts.
“In case Zeke tears into your room in the morning.” I help her get her arms into the tank top, and then she wiggles her pajama shorts on herself.
“I hate you,” she grumbles at me.
I don’t take her words to heart. I can’t. Because if I did, they’d burn me, and I’d never get to sleep tonight.
“Lie back down.” I shut off the bedroom light and then sit at the edge of her bed, the mattress dipping from my weight as I pull the covers up around her.
She huffs and rolls onto her side, facing away from me.
I can’t tell if she’s mad or acting angry because I made her put on her pajamas. I didn’t intentionally reject her tonight, not in the way that she’s certainly acting.
I’m just hoping it is her performing, and she’s being her tenacious self and not truly mad at me.
“Scoot over,” I whisper, and she shifts slightly, giving me barely enough room as I curl up behind her. The covers are an added layer between us, but I don’t mind it tonight.
My arm drapes over her side, my breath against the back of her neck as I curl up against her body as best I can.
“You’re such a tease,” she mumbles. “Climb into bed with me. I promise I won’t bite.”
I laugh under my breath. “I might.”
“You won’t. You’re all bark, especially tonight.”
I playfully nibble at her neck, and she giggles, her hips grinding back against mine.
The heat builds, the room several degrees warmer. I have to stop. Her heart isn’t a game, and I need another cold shower.
“Get some sleep,” I whisper, kissing her cheek, my arms pulling her tighter against my chest.
“Hard to when I want to have sex with you,” she purrs and rolls around to face me.
There’s not a speck of tension between us, which at least helps me relax, but the fire still seems to burn within her tonight.
And I so desperately want to help her, but I can’t.
I won’t.
“You’re tipsy,” I remind her. She’s more than slightly tipsy, but I’m trying to be nice and not make her feel like I’m outright rejecting her again. “You can’t consent.”
“Yes, I can,” she grumbles and pushes me off her bed. The smile only grows on her face as I hit the floor, then the laughter starts in her chest, rumbling through her.
My eyes widen, praying that Luca won’t come charging into her bedroom at any moment, because there’s no way that he didn’t hear my ass hit the floor.
Nova beams up at me. “I consent to you sleeping your lame ass on my floor while I fuck myself with my toy rabbit.” She reaches for the nightstand and opens it.
God help me.
She turns the toy on, and the buzz fills the sound of the room.
She brings it between the sheets, moaning my name, and I can’t take it anymore.
I leap off the floor, stumbling backward toward the door. I want to watch her touch herself, even give her a hand, but I can’t. Not tonight.
“I’m going back to my room.” I feel like a coward as I walk backward, my back gently hitting the door, and I sneak out and back into my room.
It’s impossible to sleep, knowing what Nova is doing just across the hall.
And while I can’t hear her toy rabbit buzzing and spinning, I know that damn toy is fucking her.
I want to be the one putting my cock between those sweet pussy lips and inching inside of her.
I collapse onto my bed, my body fueled with heat and steam. A cold shower would be good, but it also could wake Luca.
Well, fuck it.
It’s late. Hopefully by now, he’s in bed, asleep, and will leave me the fuck alone.
I head quietly for the bathroom, lock the door, turn on the fan, and blast the shower on cold. My cock throbs as I strip naked, and I can’t stop myself from stroking it.
Knowing she’s two doors down, pleasuring herself makes my pulse race. She’s fucking herself, imagining that damn toy is me.
I’m her fantasy.
It’s enough to make me rock hard, and I want to find release tonight.
Fuck the ice-cold shower.
I flip the faucet to hot, and steam begins to fill the shower stall.
I step under the hot spray, letting it cascade down my back while I stroke myself, eyes closing, imagining her lips, her tongue, her mouth taking every inch of me.
Fuck.