by Mignon Mykel
“And then.” He held up his hand before pressing the ignition button. “Everything’s hands free. I love it.”
It was evident. He was like a kid in a candy store.
The screen in the middle of the dash turned on, welcoming him back. It was a wider screen, wider than some others I had seen. “So, this half can have navigational tools and like, hands free phone settings, but this half, you can control.” He pressed buttons on the screen. “The seats even have massagers. Cool, right?” Without looking at me, he pressed more buttons. “And, if we were taking a long trip, you could even watch a movie. There are wireless headphones in here somewhere, too.” He sat back and opened the glove compartment in search of them.
Even though I was put off by this showing of money—uncomfortable, rather—I got a small thrill when he kept saying I could do something, or when we were to take a longer trip.
Finding what he was looking for, he sat up and showed me the small earbuds. “See?”
I smiled at him, and nodded. “Yeah, I see.”
“Cool, right?” He said again, as he tossed the headphones back in the glove compartment and closed it up.
“Tell me something,” I said, amusement lacing my words. There was no way Porter Prescott, child of Noah and Ryleigh Prescott, went into a dealership looking for a car of this grace. “You had a really great car salesman, didn’t you?”
He scratched at his chin and shrugged a shoulder so minutely, it was almost like a brush-off action. “Yeah.” His voice was slightly disgruntled. Embarrassed? “He definitely sold me.”
He looked around the space, puffing out his cheeks before settling his gaze back on me. Making a face that made the corners of his eyes wrinkle, he said, “It’s a lot, isn’t it?”
I laughed and nodded. “Yeah, but it’s a nice car,” I said with a shrug of my own shoulders. “And I’m sure it’s very exciting, though.”
He rubbed his hand over the leather dash and, for a moment, I wondered what it would feel like to have his hand brush against my leg with the same care he did for the car. The thought shocked me.
I was sixteen the last time I had a heavy groping make-out session.
He ran his hand up my thigh, over my boy shorts, then under the bottom hem of my t-shirt. “I missed you, sweetheart.” His voice was gritty and his breath stale. I held my breath and wished to be anywhere else.
“Ash!”
I startled, my eyes jerking to focus on Porter’s worried ones.
He put his hand on my cheek, his face etched with concern. “Where do you go?” he asked softly.
I forced a smile and shook my head. Damn that monster for taking the last year of my high school innocence. “I’m fine. Tired.” I shrugged. “Long flight.”
I didn’t buy it.
Not with the way her body stiffened and her eyes got that glassy sheen. Not with the way they darkened, the reds and blues overpowering the green.
What were her secrets?
What were her ghosts?
I battled with myself; I wanted to pull the answer from her, but I also didn’t want to ruin this week before it even began.
So, not for the first time after one of her zone outs, I let her have her lies. “Okay.”
I leaned across the console and pressed my lips to hers, meaning for it to be an easy chaste kiss. It had been just a few weeks since I felt her lips against mine and I realized those weeks were much too long.
This long-distance thing was going to kill me, and we hadn’t even started yet.
I felt her relax as I kept my lips light on hers. I didn’t want to get hot and heavy, not right now, but I did want a little more of her taste. I pulled back from the kiss just slightly, enough that I could suck her lower lip into my mouth, so that when her lips parted, I could sweep my tongue over hers.
Fleeting tastes. My tongue over hers lightly. Pulling back just a breath of space between us, only to lick into her mouth again.
Her hands left her lap and she wound her arms around my neck, keeping me near.
We kissed, and kissed, and kissed. I slid my hand into her hair and ran my other up and down her side. Her stomach clenched slightly but she relaxed again under my hand quickly.
There was no stopping this kiss. I was in fucking heaven; the only thing that would make it better would be if this damn center console wasn’t between us.
Suddenly, the cabin of the car began ringing.
“Fuck,” I mumbled against Asher’s lips. I rested my forehead against hers and closed my eyes, listening as the ring shrilled again.
“Do you need to get that?” she asked, loosening her arms from my neck. I felt naked without her wrapped around me.
“No,” I answered. My parents knew Asher was here. Nico knew we were coming. No one needed me badly enough to warrant my answering the phone. I sat back in my seat and fumbled with the dash, trying to figure out how to decline the call.
“I haven’t exactly figured out the phone thing yet,” I mumbled. I pressed a button but then the car was filled with open static.
I held my breath. I totally just answered the call. I glanced at Asher, who grinned crookedly at me, but her grin quickly faltered.
“Porter?” A woman’s voice came through the air. “Are you there?”
Shit. Melissa.
“Um, hey, Mel.” I looked over at Asher, who was now fumbling with her seatbelt, her face down, wisps of her hair shielding her face from me.
Why the hell was Melissa calling?
“You still up for coffee?” her voice filtered through.
I frowned. Coffee?
I kept my gaze on Asher, willing her to look at me.
“You there?” Melissa chuckled lightly.
“Yeah, yeah. Um.” I shook my head. “I don’t remember…”
“Last week after the game with Tampa Bay. I asked if you wanted to meet up during your bye.”
I wracked my brain. The Tampa Bay game, the Tampa Bay game.
It had been a good game, but I had tried to get out quickly so I could confirm Asher’s flight with her.
Oh, yeah! Interview. She said she wanted to chat.
“Damn, I forgot, Mel. I can’t.” I reached for Asher’s hand and, finally, she gave me her eyes. “Sorry,” I mouthed to her. She just gave me one of those strained smiles that I was pretty sure she thought she pulled off, but she failed miserably at.
I already fucked up, and she had only been here for twenty minutes.
“It’s fine,” Asher mouthed back, but her words came out breathy and—
“You with someone?” Melissa voice was confused.
“Yeah,” I said, squeezing Asher’s hand. She didn’t squeeze back, but she kept her eyes locked on mine. She was uncomfortable, I could read that much. “My girl flew from home. I just picked her up.” Her lips parted and her eyes dilated. God, I wanted to kiss her again.
“Oh. Okay. Yeah. Sorry.” Melissa laughed lightly again. “My bad. I’ll see you after the game next week.”
“Cool. See you then.” Not waiting for her, I reached over and, damn screen, hit the disconnect button that was big and red and center.
“You could have had coffee with her,” Asher said the moment the cabin air cleared. “I’m sure I could have found a movie or something to watch. Unpack. Nap.”
I threaded my fingers through hers. “Nope. This week is yours.”
“She thought you were going on a date with her.” Asher’s voice wasn’t accusatory, but with that statement, I would have expected it to be.
I shook my head. “No. Chatting with Melissa is an interview. It’s how she talks to us after games. Wanna chat? Like that.”
Asher’s lips curled slightly. “No, that woman wanted to go on a date with you.”
I shook my head again. “No. She’s like…Myke’s age.”
“And you’re like, gorgeous.” Immediately, Asher’s face flared with red. “I mean, you’re a good-looking guy.�
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I tugged on her hand while leaning closer to her. My lips a breath from hers now, I said, “You’re gorgeous, and you’re my girl, and this week is yours.” I brushed my lips over hers softly, so softly it was hardly a fleeting touch. “I won’t share. I don’t expect you to either.”
“I didn’t know if—” she started quietly, her lips moving against mine. I liked that she didn’t pull back.
“Now you know. I’m doing this. Are you?” I lifted a brow. “In? Gonna give this a try?”
“Okay,” she breathed out.
I smiled. “Good.” I kissed her full on the lips with a little more pressure this time before pulling back. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
“Where’s Nico?”
I unlocked the back door and held it open for Asher while holding her bag in hand. “He went home. He’ll be back before you fly back to Wisconsin, though.”
“So it’s just…you and me.” She walked in and dropped her chin to her chest, not looking at me. She stepped out of her boots though, so I couldn’t tell if the action was for her shoes, or if she was avoiding me. Her voice seemed unsure.
I pulled the glass door shut before closing the wood door, locking it out of habit. “That okay?” I stood against the door, dropping her bag to my side and watching her. She bent to move her discarded boots, putting them against the wall where a pair of my shoes—and three of Nico’s—were. The action had her shirt billowing forward and I could see a sliver of her bare stomach.
My dick twitched and I rolled my eyes heavenward. God, grant me the strength.
Asher stood and pulled on the bottom of her shirt, pulling the loose fabric down and into place, but the action also molded her shirt to her chest and I could see the lace outline of her bra.
Yeah. No strength given. Thanks.
I bent to take off my shoes, trying to hide my tented jeans.
“Yeah. It’s fine. Just curious,” she finally answered.
“I figured we could just hang out. Movies.” I stood up, pushing my shoes to the side with my foot. There was still some tent action going on, but fuck if there was anything I could do about it.
Just the thought of being with Asher for the next six days had me twitching below the belt. This was going to be a perpetual state.
I reached for her, my hand meeting her hip and pulling her to me as I leaned back against the door. “Make out,” I grinned at her. I waited for her smile before kissing her lightly, keeping just one hand on her and the other at my side.
“Your birthday’s coming up,” she said, putting her hands on my chest.
“You know?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “I may have heard rumor,” she answered softly. “Ryleigh was sad you weren’t coming home, having the bye over your birthday.”
“I’ll Skype her.” I moved my free hand to grasp her hip now, pulling her closer. “But I’m excited to spend time with you.” It was the honest to God truth. Maybe by the time she left, I would know her inside and out.
Maybe I would have an idea of those secrets and ghosts she hid behind her eyes.
The week went by entirely too fast.
I looked to my left, seeing Porter’s sprawled out, sleeping self. The room was still dark, the sun only starting its rise for the day.
Every morning for the last four mornings, I woke before him, and every morning of those last four mornings, I took him in.
He was a stomach sleeper; something that I witnessed the last time I was here but now knew was a fact. He also respected my space.
But he also always had his face turned toward me.
We may have both been under the covers, but he kept his hands under his head and, looking down the comforter, his ankles were likely crossed. I wondered what it would feel like to wake up wrapped in his arms.
He certainly kept me busy the last few days, doing a number of touristy things in Charleston. We went on a Civil War historical site tour, we did a fun ropes course, we sailed on a Schooner, and we went to a Magnolia plantation. He held my hand and maybe kissed me on the lips a few times, but that was the extent of everything.
He was very gentlemanly, but I was curious if I was throwing off vibes that I couldn’t handle much more.
“I feel like I have to move slow with you. I’m afraid of you getting skittish.”
I rolled to my side to face him and bit down on my bottom lip. I was terrified of doing anything more with him.
Absolutely petrified.
I was broken.
My body was disgusting.
There was some disconnect between my body and mind, and how was I to know if what I felt with him—the fluttering, the excitement—was real? How would I know that what I did with him, was something that I wanted?
I slipped my hands under my cheek, still watching him sleep.
Then there was the fact I hadn’t ever had sex for me.
I didn’t have a fucking clue what to do.
What the hell was I doing here? I was in way over my head.
“You think loudly,” Porter mumbled without opening his eyes, startling me. Slowly, his lids lifted and his gaze locked on mine. “What’s wrong?”
His voice was sleep heavy, quiet and cracking from not being used for hours.
“Nothing,” I whispered.
He lifted his head just enough to move a hand from under his pillow, reaching out to trail his finger down my forearm. “You tremble. Here, and your breathing.”
Well that was embarrassing. “Sorry.”
He shook his head against his pillow. “Don’t be.” He stared at me a moment before adding, “I hope that someday you’ll trust me enough to let me in.”
There were some darknesses that weren’t meant to be given light.
“I trust you,” I told him instead. The look he gave me told me he didn’t completely believe me but, like he always seemed to do, he let it go.
I did trust him, though. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. And because I didn’t think he knew that, I told him those very words before scooting close enough to kiss him chastely on the lips.
And then I added, “Happy birthday.”
There was something about speaking so close to another person, that your lips brushed against the other’s. It was an intimacy I never imagined for myself.
He smiled against my lips, pecking mine back once before pushing me over so I was on my back.
He put his hand between me and the wall, effectively trapping me under him.
My heart started to beat overtime, and not from anticipation.
My sight started to gray out in my peripheral, black closing in until it was nearly a tunnel of sight.
And then black.
“Asher!”
One moment, everything was fine and the next, Asher was going into some sort of panic mode under me, her eyes rolling up, and passing out. I sat back on my knees, pulling her up.
“C’mon, Ash. Wake up.” Her body was limp in my arms.
What the hell just happened?
I rearranged my body to lean against the wall, pulling her into my lap. Her body was shivering, so I pulled the comforter up over her shoulders, cloaking us in its warmth.
“Asher,” I murmured, brushing her hair back from her face. “Wake up, Ash.”
I can’t say I’ve ever had anyone pass out on me before, and it was some scary shit.
I needed her to wake up.
I needed to see her eyes.
Dark green, light green, fiery red, I didn’t give a fuck what color they were. I just needed to see them.
I sat with her, rubbing my hands up and down her arms, and my lips pressed to the top of her head. Wake up, wake up, wake up.
My heart was pounding, a rapid rhythm that it didn’t even reach when I was racing down the ice. It didn’t help that I was pretty sure it skipped a beat every few beats, too.
What happened? She was going to wake up, right?
She ha
d so many damn secrets. She said she trusted me, but this not knowing shit wasn’t trust. The panic in my chest was starting to grow.
We had a good week. I experienced a side of Asher I had only had tastes of before. Getting to experience her happiness every hour of every day was something I hadn’t realized I’d been craving until after the very first day this week.
I felt her shift against me and the panicked anger dissipated. “Ash.”
Then she startled, pushing away from me and scrambling into the corner. She sat there, her knees drawn up and her head down. I refrained from squeezing the bridge of my nose in frustration.
I reached out and, knowing it was likely going to elicit the same response her coming to in my arms did, I touched her leg. As I figured she would, she jumped, but I wrapped my hand around her lower calf, not giving her an inch.
But giving her an anchor.
“Ash. It’s just me. Porter,” I added, just in case.
She mumbled something into her legs.
“What?” I scooted closer, giving her leg a gentle squeeze.
“I said, I’m so embarrassed,” she repeated, still into her legs but decidedly louder.
“Will you talk to me about it?”
She shook her head into her knees and I squeezed my eyes shut. This wasn’t going to work. This me and her thing, it wasn’t going to work. But that very thought brought my heart into its panicked rhythm again.
This ‘us’…it was new, but God, I wanted to see where it could go.
I was torn.
I didn’t need this.
I didn’t need the worry about what was going on in her head every time she went guarded on me. I didn’t need to worry that something I did was going to send her into panic. I had too much going on in my life right now.
On the flip side, I needed to see her eyes, the mix of colors that showed her emotions.
I needed to hear her laugh; the bright, yet husky, melody that seemed to filter through me.
I needed to see her smiles, the ones that brightened up her face and made me feel like I stood ten feet tall.
