The man glanced from Ashton to me in confusion, but we didn’t wait to find out if he figured it out or not. We definitely wasn’t about to explain something I didn’t even understand. Would the tennis racket even work?
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ashton
It was a stupid idea.
We should have waited until we got to his apartment or my house, but Callum made it work. The private quarters my parents paid for annually at the country club was merely like a locker room. A bathroom with cupboards, and personalized towels that no one else used.
Both Callum and I stripped in record time when we walked into the bathroom. Our lips stayed fused the entire time. Or 99 percent of the time. We needed a minute to come up for air while our shirts went over our heads.
“Do I really need to spank you?” Callum asked against my lips, his hands pushing under the holes in my shorts to grope the underside of my ass. “You’ve been really good.”
My breath hitched at his subtle reference to the type of relationship we had before. Slowly he was slipping back into the role of Daddy. I let it happen, wanting him to see that this was a part of who he was. It would be better for him to find a boy worthy of his time and attention than to stifle that part of him.
“Yes, but spanking has always been a reward for me.” I reached between his thighs and cupped his hard-on. “I’m thinking I deserve a huge reward. Do you agree?”
“God, yes you do.” He buried his face into my neck, kissing the skin there. “I’m sorry I’ve been giving you a hard time, Ash.”
“It’s okay. I know I have to earn your trust again.”
“Consider it earned.”
“But it’s just been three weeks.”
He hauled me up against his body. “Three weeks of watching you avoid trouble and making a difference at the home. You’re amazing, and I’m glad we’ve both been able to experience this side of you. The real side of you.”
I licked his Adam’s apple. “As much as I love to hear how proud you are of me, I really want to have my ass spanked now.”
“Then drop your shorts. Leave them around your ankles and kneel on the bench.”
I was already so high on desire by the time I got on my knees on the bench. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to kneel, but I got down on my hands and knees for him, resting on my forearm.
“Dammit, Ash.”
I glanced over at my shoulder at him. He stood there, racket in hand, and one hand stroking his dick which he’d pulled out from the waistband of his shorts. I whimpered, almost begging him to just fuck me and forget the ass whipping. But I wanted it all. I wanted my high.
This high was all right.
“Please.” Daddy. I didn’t dare say the word. I was pretty sure it came across loud and clear though.
“Your safe word.”
“Pineapple,” I said.
“Good. I will try to be gentle since I’m not sure how much this thing hurts. Don’t be afraid to use your safe word, Ash.”
“Okay.”
The racket came down on my ass gentler than I’d hoped for, but it was okay. Getting my ass swatted with a racket was different from a belt or a spatula, both of which Callum had always used on me. The impact of the cords peppered and teased my skin with controlled pain.
I whimpered, digging my hands into the slats of the bench, counting each stroke with Callum.
“Just three more, baby.”
I barley heard him from my senses heightened by my throbbing ass. I took each stroke, crying out when the last one came down swiftly, hard, and stinging.
“You were so great, baby.” Callum tossed the racket aside and came up behind me to pull me from the top of the bench and back into his chest.
“Callum,” I moaned. “Please. Let me.”
He released me, and I went down on my knees, cupping the base of his cock. I captured the head of his dick with my lips, moaning my relief at the familiar girth that spread my lips. Oh god, I’d wanted this so badly. Nine weeks were a long time not to be intimate with the man I loved so much.
“Ash. Ash, that’s enough.”
I was so caught up on Callum fucking my face that I didn’t realize he was trying to let me go until he tugged at my hair. I reluctantly released him, still eyeing his dick dripping with my saliva.
“Callum,” I moaned. I needed something.
“God, look at how beautiful you are,” he murmured. “What do you want, beautiful boy?”
“You,” I answered without hesitation. “I want to feel all of you inside of me.”
I pulled him to his feet and kissed him hard. “We don’t have any lube, but I can make you come.”
“I have lube.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything, but I wanted Callum too much right now to let it go. Hopefully, he would want me too much as well to question why I had lube in my private locker. He already knew about my past and accepted it.
I unlocked the locker I’d shared with Jake. The door popped open, and for a disorientating second, a whiff of Jake’s cologne filled my nostrils. I was temporarily distracted.
“Everything okay?” Callum asked, sidling up behind me. His hand came around me to stroke my cock gently.
“Yeah, I just—for a minute everything smelled like Jake. We shared the locker.”
He placed his head on my shoulder. “Want to talk about it? We can always continue this later.”
I shook my head and smiled at him over my shoulder. “I miss him. I mean, he spent so much time with my father and his business, but when he was around, we did stuff together.”
“Like tennis.”
I nodded and reached into the locker, pushing Jake’s clothes he’d left behind aside. I’d never cleaned it out since I hadn’t been back to the clubhouse since the accident. I brought out the lube. Still sealed.
“Not used?” Callum teased.
I elbowed him in the gut. “Jake helped me sneak it in, so I know he would have approved that I’m putting it to good use.”
“Then let’s not disappoint Jake.”
He brought me back over to the bench and spread a towel on top of it before I hopped up. We kissed, exploring each other unhurriedly like we were in a private hotel room instead of a bathroom in a publicly accessed building.
“What was I thinking?” he grunted when he released my lips. “I must have been crazy resisting you for this long.”
“Yup,” I agreed with a grin. “Plain crazy, but let’s remedy that. Now, please.”
Despite the desperation pulsating between us, Callum took his time, lubing his fingers and prepping me. I held my knees up to my chest and lay back for the ride, appreciating the time he took with me since it was a while. I hadn’t even turned to self-pleasure in all the weeks we hadn’t had sex.
Everything inside me was built up in anticipation of this moment.
“Wait, c-c-ondom,” I stuttered out when he lubed up his dick.
“You want to use a condom?” His hand stopped applying the lube. “I haven’t been with anyone else since you, Ash. Have you?”
His tone was biting, his frame going stiff.
“No, no, there’s been no one else,” I quickly explained. “It’s just that the last time you insisted on using a condom. I didn’t want you worrying after.”
His shoulders released the tension, and his hand rubbed lube onto his cock once more. “I wanted to hurt you that day, Ash. The way you were hurting me. I didn’t for once believe you were sleeping with anyone else while we were together.”
Such a fucking relief. “You didn’t?”
“No. What we have? It’s too real.”
“Yes, I’d never hurt you that way, Callum.”
He crouched over me and kissed me slowly, sweetly, his hand supporting my head, cradling me.
“I’m counting on it. You did after all promise.”
“And that’s a promise I’ll keep.”
He placed his forehead against mine and breached my hole, pushing de
eper inside me. I panted, arms wrapped around him as I took the entire length of him inside me. When he bottomed out, I kissed his lips, then rested my head back against the bench.
“Fuck me, Callum. Please. I need to come so bad.”
He pulled out and thrust back in. I encouraged him with my moans, one hand resting on his hip, nails biting into his flesh. His thrusts were deep and hard, not sparing me even quarter of an inch. His heavy balls slapped against my skin, the sound of our fucking echoing on the tiles of the bathroom.
“Oh god, I missed this,” I moaned, bent in half, my head under Callum’s chin. He worked my hole hard and deep with his cock, setting a punishing rhythm that had my cries bouncing off the walls.
“Shhh.” Callum covered my mouth with his hand, and my cries became whimpers. He found my dick with his other hand, stroking with just the right pressure. I bit his palm and came with such force my body shook with the fullness of my release. Callum fucked me right through it, gasping. At the last minute, he pulled out and nutted on my stomach.
“Always so fucking perfect the way you come apart in my arms.” Callum sat heavily on the bench and pulled me into his lap, kissing my face. “Does that satisfy you now?”
“Me?” I kissed the corner of his lips. “I’m pretty sure you got some of your spunk in my ass before you pulled out. How’s that for being satisfied?”
“Hmm, I’m definitely not complaining.”
But he never complained when it came to me and sex. That always went well even when we were combusting. Without the worry of my alcoholism, lies, and uncertainty tainting our relationship, we could truly enjoy what we had.
“Just so you know, that just makes up for last week. We have what? Seven more weeks to make up for?”
He kissed my forehead. “How about we not try to make up for anything, but satisfy each other in the present, huh?”
“That sounds good.”
We sat with me in his arms, basking in the scent and security of our lovemaking before it was time to take a shower. Callum was definitely up for satisfying each other in the present. He coaxed another climax out of me with his skillful tongue, and I could barely walk by the time we got dressed, wearing the change of clothing we had brought.
“Hey, can I get a minute?” I asked Callum when we were both dressed.
He nodded and kissed my forehead. “I’ll be outside waiting.”
He didn’t press, didn’t pry as to why I needed to be alone. I watched his broad back disappear. He was really one fine man, both in physique and personality.
I opened the locker, and the scent of Jake hit my nostrils once more. I took a deep breath and reached inside, pulling out his clothes. I held them up to my face and inhaled. They were slightly musky from being locked away for so long, but I didn’t mind.
“God, Jake, I’m so sorry,” I said softly. “You know how much I love you. I miss you. You should have been alive, but I swear I won’t let the rest of life pass in vain. I’ll make you and Dad proud.”
I took out the clothes and the rest of the knickknacks of his that he’d left behind. A fancy pen he would never let me use but always carried on his person. A half-finished bottle of body spray, deodorant, and his high school ring. I slipped on the latter, which turned out to be too big. I placed it in my pocket to have it resized while I placed the clothes in the garbage chute in the locker room.
It was time to let go of the past.
“Ready?” Callum asked when I stepped out. He took my hand, squeezing it, and I felt the support.
“Yes, I’m ready.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ashton
“This is it. Are you ready to go in?”
I wasn’t ready. I needed more time, but I had a feeling weeks, months, not even years would be able to prepare me for what today would bring.
I’d been through my testimony several times with my lawyer, and when the preparation got tiring, Jeanine was only a call away. Callum was always close by too and was great to be around when I started feeling anxious.
A part of me wanted to call the whole thing off for fear that I’d lose, but when I spoke to Jeanine last night while I was at Callum’s, she’d insisted that the outcome wasn’t mine to worry about. I just needed to do my part in reporting a terrible thing that had been done to me.
“I don’t think I am,” I said honestly, glancing at Callum. He’d been so patient with me over the past couple of days. He never pushed; he always asked if I was okay and waited for me to come to him. “We still have an hour before it’s your case,” he said. “Take some time and breathe. Do you want me to dial Jeanine for you?”
I shook my head, smiling at his support. Just his presence was a huge relief.
“No, I don’t think I need her this time.” I stared straight ahead through the windshield, not really seeing the courthouse ahead but myself in Jeanine’s office.
“You have all the tools you need to overcome your fears on a daily basis.”
That was the difference between the Ashton of old and the person I was now. The fears weren’t gone. The insecurities came and went. The urge to drink was still there, especially when I was stressed, but now I knew how to handle these emotions.
“Hold my hand, please.”
Callum took my hand in his, and I held on tightly, closing my eyes and leaning back against the headrest. I concentrated on my breathing, letting the tension slowly drain away. And all he did was hold my hand.
“I think I’m ready,” I said after a while. “Thanks for doing this with me.”
The corner of his mouth hitched up in a smile. “You know, I love this side of you. The way you sound so grateful for every little thing. We didn’t have that before.”
No, I had definitely never let people know how grateful I was for what they did for me. I’d been a selfish prick and taken whatever I could get without a thought.
I leaned forward to kiss him lightly. “Stick around, and I can show you how grateful I can get tonight.”
The past month we’d slummed it from his place to my place depending on our mood. Most times we ended up at his when he had to lock up the coffee shop, but the days he negotiated off with Phil, he was often at my house.
His eyes blazed at the words that came out of my mouth. “It’s good to know some things haven’t changed.”
He came around and opened the door for me. Yes, it was really good to know that some things between us didn’t need to be changed. Not everything had been toxic. He hadn’t just been drawn to the broken me but had seen something I hadn’t even been able to recognize in myself.
The feeling of love that gushed inside me was so overwhelming I hugged him, wrapping my arms around his neck. His arms came around my waist to hold me to him.
“Do you still need another minute?”
“No, but I could use a kiss.”
His hands ran down my back to rest on my hips. I’d taken Mother’s advice and worn a suit, but I couldn’t bring myself to care if it got rumpled when Callum ducked his head and kissed me. I moaned, temporarily forgetting that we were on a time limit and I couldn’t just stand there in the parking lot of the courthouse, kissing him like I’d rather be in bed with him.
He broke the kiss and pressed his lips to the center of my forehead.
“You’ve got this, Pretty Eyes.”
I closed my eyes briefly at the endearment. I’d missed it so much when I was away, but now I heard it every single day. We had made such strides in our relationship although we still hadn’t arrived at the place where he permitted me to call him Daddy. I didn’t press the issue, and he never brought it up. “I—” My words halted when I opened my eyes and connected with a pair of gray ones. I hadn’t even heard a car approach us. They’d parked across from us. Louis, his father, and a woman I assumed was his lawyer.
Since my return to Battersea, they’d been hounding my phone, trying to get me to meet to discuss the case, but my lawyer had cautioned me against it. We weren’t looking to settle ou
t of court, so there was no reason to meet up.
“You think you’ll get away with this?” his father snarled, taking a step in my direction. Callum inserted himself in front of me, and I sensed the tension in him. I placed a hand on his arm in case anything physical was about to happen. The last thing I wanted was for him to get into trouble because of me.
“Lance, don’t,” the woman said. “We fight this in the courtroom. A confrontation won’t help our case.”
“You’ll be sorry for this,” the man fumed, then stalked off toward the courthouse.
I barely gave him a glance, more disconcerted in the way Louis observed Callum until his father retraced his steps and grabbed him by the shoulder. His face was red as he whispered furiously to Louis, who eventually looked away and followed him up the steps. Just before they entered the courthouse, he glanced back at us—more so to Callum.
“Jesus, what an asshole,” Callum said. “Are you okay?”
I blinked at him, still feeling a bit surreal about that confrontation.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have come.”
He frowned at me. “What? Of course I’d be here. Where else would I be when you have a trial?”
“At the coffee shop?” I suggested.
“Nope, I’m going to be here with you throughout the whole thing.”
Still not completely at ease with the way Louis had been staring at Callum, I held his hand, and together we climbed the steps. Despite all the trouble I’d been in in the past, I’d never set foot in a courthouse before, and I was relieved by Callum’s support.
My lawyer was already inside, waiting for us. He met us in the center of the lobby.
“Ashton, I wasn’t certain if I should be worried you weren’t here yet.”
“We ran into Louis and his lawyer outside.”
He frowned at me. “Did he attempt to do anything? You need to tell me everything, even if you don’t think it’s important. Some of that can be used to prove he’s a threat to you.”
I shook my head. “He didn’t do anything.” I indicated Callum, who just stood there patiently listening to us. “Callum, this is Stanley Wisdom, my lawyer, and this is Callum.”
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