Rhino Ash (Saturday Barbies Book 2)

by Lindsey Black

  ‘Excuse me?’ She was not serious! But she was.

  ‘Was it leather? No, that would burn. Something fire retardant. Daniel,’ she bellowed over the phone and he could hear her searching the house for her husband. ‘What sort of couch materials are fire retardant?’

  He pulled out of the station carpark and headed for home, listening to his parents argue the fire retardant properties of different materials and deciding that sometimes it was okay to be a wanker. Taylor and Clay would have hung up by now, and that was a good thing. A smart thing. They didn’t have to listen to their parents argue that no one would want a tweed couch because it would itch when you had sex on it. Ashley wished he hadn’t heard that.

  ‘Mum? Mum, that’s gross. We sit on those couches. I’m going now. I’m going home! Don’t call me, I’ll be asleep. And don’t turn up at the front door and expect to be let in. I won’t answer, because I’ll be asleep and I’m leaving strict instructions for Freya not to let you in.’

  ‘Oh, are you still on the line, dear?’

  ‘No one calls it the line anymore.’ He hung up, cursing himself for not doing so sooner. He went to turn the radio on when his phone rang again. Cursing loudly, he read the sound system screen and saw it was Brayden and answered with a heavy sigh.

  ‘I’m completely fucking fine!’

  ‘Mum called, then?’ He sounded amused.

  ‘Yes, Mum called,’ he groused. Had she ever. She’d broken his damned brain.

  ‘Hayley called, she said you’re okay but that the bruising is pretty bad. I left some salts by your mailbox that should help if you soak for a bit.’

  ‘Thanks,’ he mumbled, aware it had taken time and effort out of a day that was already excessively long and busy. It was thoughtful and kind, and he was grateful.

  ‘It’s on the news. It looks bad,’ Brayden offered. ‘But they show you standing around in your underwear and a blanket afterward.’

  ‘Excuse me?’

  ‘You look very rogue,’ Brayden laughed at him. At him, not with him. He apparently thought it was hilarious, what with how hard he was laughing. ‘Where are your damned shoes?’

  ‘I had to take them off to get the overalls off!’ he protested. How did people not understand these things?

  ‘Your toes are blue. Like a wee Smurf.’

  ‘I’m not a wee anything! Thanks for the salts, I’ll soak, I’ll sleep, I’m fine, goodbye!’ Brayden was still laughing when Ashley hung up on him. He gripped the wheel tighter than was necessary all the way home, nervous the phone would ring again and another of his crazy family members would lecture him about couches, shoes or Smurfs but the car remained blissfully silent.

  It was a relief to pull into his carpark and turn the engine off, and for a few minutes he simply sat there, breathing. Then he realised he was in a confined space and it grew uncomfortable and he hurriedly left, going up in the lift because stairs sounded too hard.

  Finn was at the door, hands in his pockets, hair a complete mess, pacing the few metres in front of the step. He came to a halt as soon as he saw Ashley’s movement and his gaze raked him, up and down a few times, checking him over. His shoulders relaxed and he pulled his hands out of his pockets.

  ‘Hey.’

  ‘Hey.’ Ashley couldn’t help the smile that erupted on his face. He was ridiculously happy to see him. ‘I thought you were on shift …’

  ‘Swapped out,’ Hale grinned, striding up to him and wrapping him up in a warm hug. It wasn’t tight or heavy, just the right pressure not to hurt and it was completely perfect. The scent of the man alone made him feel better.

  ‘It’s really good to see you,’ he admitted into Hale’s hair.

  Hale didn’t bother to say anything. He took his keys from him and pulled the door open, leading him inside and following him to the bedroom, watching him with curious eyes as he sat on the edge of the bed and flopped back, completely spent.

  ‘You want any food, or water, or anything?’

  ‘Brayden said he left bath salt by the mailbox …’

  And with no further explanation Hale was gone. He really was fast. Ashley felt like he’d barely closed his eyes when he heard the bath taps turn on and the water start, tinny against the porcelain, nothing like the water that had trickled through the layers of brick and destruction and tried to drown him.

  Warm lips pressed against his, then along his jaw, then his forehead and his closed eyes. Gentle hands carefully pulled him up so they could pull his shirt off and then they stroked his skin, barely there, they were so gentle, almost tickling as they traced the dark bruises.

  ‘Jesus, Ash …’

  ‘I’m fine. Just really tired.’

  ‘Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.’ He’d already scrubbed up, having a shower at the station, but it wasn’t the same as being carefully stripped by Finn Hale and led naked into the bathroom and lowered into a steaming bath that smelt of eucalyptus and lemons.

  He closed his eyes and let the scent lull his senses while the salt soaked his damaged skin and muscles. He was aware of a hand stroking his hair back off his face, stroking his jaw, petting his neck but it was calming instead of distracting and he fell asleep. Embarrassing!

  He woke in bed, startled awake by the change in locations, jerking and accidentally elbowing Finn in the thigh. Again. The man bit his lip while his eyes watered and chuckled softly while the pain faded. He had a vague memory of being coaxed from the bath, of gentle hands leading and guiding him between the sheets, but nothing concrete. His brain felt trapped in a fog.

  ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Not a problem,’ Finn whispered, his fingers still stroking through his hair, nails gently grazing his scalp. It felt incredible.

  ‘How’d you get me out of the tub?’ Because even with Ashley cooperating it had to have been hard.

  ‘I’m stronger than I look,’ Finn smirked at him, and it was so sexy all Ashley wanted to do was push him down into the sheets and make him howl his name. But he was barely able to squirm without pain flaring across his back. He must have been completely out of it for Finn to escort him to bed without him even remembering what had taken place, but then Hayley had mentioned there was a chance he could have had a concussion. He certainly had a bruised skull.

  ‘You’re very … colourful.’

  It was such a strange way to put it, Ashley laughed, then cried because it hurt his chest, which made him laugh, which made him cry … It was a vicious cycle.

  ‘Stop.’ Finn was laughing at him, his gentle stroking turning into a calm massage down his neck and behind his ears, helping to soothe and calm.

  ‘You really carried me in here?’ How was that even possible?

  ‘No. I convinced you to let me help you come to bed. But I could have, I suppose. If I had to? I’m used to carrying …’ But Finn froze mid-sentence, looking horrified momentarily before he sighed and shrugged. ‘Bodies.’

  That had to be the most morbid thing Ashley had ever heard, and it was startling enough that for a moment he couldn’t think of a reply. Then he frowned and watched the emotions play over Finn’s face. Guilt, fear, anger, sadness. They were all there in a potent mix, but mellowed by time and he knew it had to do with the rainbow rhinos. He wanted to know, badly, but he was too tired to listen properly, and he suspected Finn was too fragile to speak. Yet.

  ‘You need to take your clothes off now,’ he grinned at the man, enjoying the rich laughter that spilled out of him before he slid out from under him to follow his command. It was the best thing that had happened that day, other than finding Finn at his door. Watching Finn strip was a dream come true, his movements deliberately slow and graceful, letting each piece of clothing fall away into a pile at his feet.

  ‘You like watching me.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Ashley agreed, licking his lips when Finn was finally naked. Finn crawled forward onto the bed and hovered over him before kissing his cheek and nuzzling his neck, warm breath tickling his skin.

  ‘I like the
way you watch me.’

  ‘Good, because I can’t stop,’ he admitted, laughing at himself. It was the cold truth; as soon as Finn was in sight he was all Ashley could see.

  ‘Do you know how hard it is to try and get information about you out of your brothers without it being obvious that I’m trying to find out information about you?’ he mused, settling on the pillow by Ashley’s head, pressing in against his side, warm and hard and incredibly enticing. Ashley rolled into him, pressing their stomachs together, tangling their thighs, needing closer but wincing at the bruises that made themselves known.

  ‘Taylor and Clay don’t talk about me much, huh.’ It didn’t hurt; he didn’t talk about them much either.

  ‘Oh, yes they do,’ Finn chuckled, stroking his cheek again. ‘I don’t think they realise they do, but they do. Little anecdotes about something that happened, but I was always paying attention.’

  ‘So you had a crush on me, hmm?’ It was nice to know he hadn’t been the only one.

  ‘Not as huge as the one you had on me, perhaps, but then … you were barely legal when we met, so it had to take a little longer.’ Finn snickered at him and Ashley had to agree, that was a good point. He was glad he’d been too shy to do anything years ago. It was too perfect now, like this was the way it was meant to happen.

  ‘Finn … I like you.’

  ‘Good to know, since I’m naked in bed with you.’

  ‘I want you to be mine,’ Ashley admitted softly, feeling as if he were giving away his biggest secret because maybe he was, and waiting with breath held to hear what Finn thought about it. Finn arched one dark brow at him and his lips drew up in one corner, grinning but incredulous, as if those were the last words he’d expected to hear.

  ‘Ash, I’ve been yours for years, you were just too stupid to notice.’

  ‘Excuse me?’ Had he just said he was stupid? Ashley gaped at the man and then he grinned and chuckled at the amusement clear in Finn’s expression and the low rumble of laughter thrumming through the man’s chest.

  ‘You’re cute, but damn, you’re daft sometimes,’ Finn elaborated, laughing aloud now. Ashley rolled onto him, pinning him to the bed and scowling, but the man only laughed harder so he shut him up with his mouth, sealing them together and letting his tongue do battle for his dignity. He was pretty sure he still lost, sinking in to Finn’s body and moaning at the taste of him.

  ‘So, I’m gonna tell people you’re my boyfriend then,’ Ashley clarified, watching again for his reaction.

  ‘Alright,’ Finn agreed, still grinning.

  ‘We haven’t even had sex. Don’t you wanna try before you buy?’

  Finn was laughing harder, eyes watering and he rolled them over, somehow managing to swap their positions without leaving him feeling like his skin was going to ache off, looking down at him with pale green eyes that made him think of dragon’s breath.

  ‘I’m gonna sleep with you,’ Finn agreed. ‘But not tonight. And I don’t need to have sex with you to know I’m staying with you. I knew the moment you asked me to come home with you.’

  ‘I offered you a couch to sleep on,’ Ashley clarified.

  ‘No, you offered me your bed, and I took it, so it’s mine now and so are you.’

  They were silent, Finn kissing along his jaw and licking at the corner of his mouth. He had a prickly shadow along his jaw and it tickled.

  ‘Okay,’ Ashley finally agreed.

  ‘Okay?’

  ‘Yeah.’ He was grinning. ‘Okay.’ And then he was sleeping.

  He woke aching, his body feeling like a house had fallen on it. Which it had, he recalled, groaning as he rolled over and took the pressure off his back, finding it wasn’t that much better on his side. But the view was much improved.

  Finn was naked, the sheet drawn up to his waist but chest bare in the soft morning light coming in under the curtains. His face was turned toward the window, making his skin glow a soft gold, and his long lashes cast shadowed stripes across his cheek like a tiger. One hand rested by his jaw, the other tossed over his chest, his body relaxed in sleep. He looked younger than when he was awake and watching everything shrewdly. He looked far more vulnerable than Ashley would have thought possible and he remembered Taylor’s warning, that Finn was easy to hurt. With his legs tangled under the sheets, his height wasn’t obvious and Ashley realised how much smaller he was, his shoulders thinner, everything seeming longer where Ashley was wide. There was no fat on the man, each muscle looking carved on the slender frame and he stroked the backs of his fingers over the stubble of his jaw and wondered why Finn was there. He could have anyone, surely.

  But Ashley wanted him, and he wasn’t letting him go. He slipped out of bed and examined himself in the ensuite mirror. He was smothered in black, purple, red and green. It had coloured impressively overnight, and he prayed his mother didn’t come over because she would freak. It was painful, but nothing was broken and for that he was grateful.

  He pulled on some pyjama pants made of loose black cotton and wandered out to sit on the couch, taking his phone and opening Google, then pausing because he wasn’t sure what to type, or why he was doing it. Curiosity? Cat? Whatever.

  Machete attack.

  There were millions of hits, even more images and when he looked at them some of them resembled the scar on Finn’s back. He bit his lip and checked the door as if the man might have been summoned by thought alone, but it remained closed.

  Australian machete attack.

  Wow, he hadn’t known machete attacks were so common in his own country. Apparently the Northern Territory had a real problem with that. Weird. He contemplated again.

  Australian machete attack police.

  Still far too many hits to tell him anything. Australia apparently had a problem with attacking police with machetes. How did these things not make the national news? He sighed and put the phone aside, staring at the ceiling. And he fell asleep again.

  He woke to Freya screaming, standing frozen in the kitchen and staring at him with wide, terrified eyes. A second later the bedroom door flew open and Finn appeared. Freya only screamed louder, looking between the two of them.

  ‘Freya?’ Ashley wasn’t sure what was wrong and didn’t feel like getting up to find out.

  ‘What the fuck happened to you? You look like a piñata!’ She raced over and then proceeded to hover, flapping her hands in front of him because she didn’t want to touch him and hurt him, which was nice but made her look …

  ‘You look like a demented flamingo,’ Finn noted from the door. She gaped at him, horrified.

  ‘It’s the pink pyjamas and the hand flapping,’ Ashley tried to explain and that quickly turned her terror to rage.

  ‘At least I’m wearing pyjamas!’ She waved a hand at Finn, still naked in the doorway.

  ‘Sorry for thinking coming to your aid was more important than pants,’ Finn protested and disappeared back into the room.

  Freya turned back to Ashley and stared down at him, still doing the strange flapping thing before grabbing his arm where he wasn’t bruised.

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘A house fell on me,’ he sighed, having a hard time fathoming it had happened. It was all a bit surreal now that he wasn’t buried under it.

  ‘Technically, it exploded on you,’ Finn pointed out and Ashley shrugged, not caring about the details because Finn was in his jocks and one of Ashley’s tee-shirts. It was at least three sizes too big, but it was hot as hell. Ashley wanted to shove him back into the bedroom and take it off and lick the man from head to toe.

  ‘Yes, it’s very cute that the sexy man is in your clothes,’ Freya sighed in frustration. ‘But explain to me how a house exploded on you.’

  ‘Technically, it was a duplex, and one of the owners had a meth lab in the garage. They’d stashed chemicals in a safe in the laundry and it blew.’ That was the best he’d managed to dredge from the crew about the events, and really he hadn’t much cared once he was out of the rubble, mo
re interested in a shower than anything else.

  ‘A meth lab.’ Freya had that look on her face like maybe he was crazy or making it up. ‘In the garage?’

  ‘Yeah.’ It was the truth. Why was the truth so hard to believe?

  ‘People are so weird,’ she settled, and then she got up and went to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

  ‘I arrested a guy growing pot in his toilet once,’ Finn admitted, moving to sit beside Ashley on the couch, his thigh pressed hard against him, warm and reassuring.

  ‘What? So he grew crap in his crapper? So he’s a crackpot.’ They both stared at him, but he didn’t seem to think he’d said anything strange.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Where did he go to the toilet?’ Ashley wanted to know.

  ‘He dug a latrine in the backyard. It stank so bad the neighbours complained, which was how he got caught.’

  ‘Gross,’ Ashley groaned and Freya nodded in agreement.

  ‘I don’t understand why he didn’t grow the pot in the backyard, instead of making the latrine out there, you know? He said he didn’t want the neighbours to see, but the neighbours rang the cops because the yard stank like shit, so that totally didn’t work, right?’ Finn sounded like the whole thing still baffled him.

  ‘Doesn’t it affect the marijuana? I mean, growing it in the toilet, wouldn’t it get germs and spores and stuff on it?’

  ‘Not having grown marijuana in a toilet before,’ Finn pointed out dubiously, ‘I can assure you I have no idea.’

  ‘Have you grown marijuana somewhere else then?’ Freya was frowning. It made her nose look more pointed than usual.

  ‘What?’ Finn frowned back. ‘No, I’m a cop, of course I don’t grow illegal drugs.’

  ‘It’s only illegal because the government needs more criminals to justify having police,’ Freya argued and Finn looked to him for help.

  ‘Don’t look at me, I don’t do drugs, I have to pass drug tests,’ Ashley pointed out.

  ‘Meaning if you didn’t, you’d grow marijuana?’ Finn clearly knew he wouldn’t. He was teasing and it looked good on the man so Ashley let him.

  ‘I just don’t see the point, I mean the toilet’s so small, and it’s not like it’s an aquatic plant,’ Freya was mumbling to herself, putting far too much thought into the toilet marijuana.