by Mignon Mykel
Life-threatening, he’d said.
Life.
Threatening.
I glanced over to the glass door of her room.
Life-threatening, and I was out here having a fucking pity party because she kept something from me.
And I didn’t tell her I loved her before I left that room.
My heart ached in my chest and I tried rubbing at the hurt. It wasn’t going anywhere, not while I was out here and she was in there.
So I stood.
And I walked back to the one who held my heart in the palm of her hand.
In her room, I saw Asher’s eyes were closed again. I slid the door shut behind me quietly but when I turned back toward the bed, her eyes were open and on me.
Without a word, I walked over to the bed and put my hands on her face and pressed my lips to her forehead. “I love you, too, beautiful. So fucking much.”
We were in the ER for twelve hours before the docs released her. She protested it—because she was Asher—but I pushed her to the car in a wheelchair. After getting her settled in the car, I returned the chair and pulled out my cell, checking messages for the first time since texting my mom earlier in the morning.
Mom: Ok…please be sure to bring her to the house before the guest house when you make it home.
I replied, telling her I would, and folded myself into the driver’s seat.
“We’ll stop at the lake house so I can grab our things before heading home.”
She nodded, pulling that quiet thing she did sometimes.
I put the car in reverse to pull out of our parking spot, but right after moving into drive and heading toward the lake house, I reached over and took her hand, squeezing it once before threading our fingers together.
“That was why I was discharged from boot camp,” she admitted nearly twenty minutes of silence later.
I squeezed her hand but said nothing. If there was one thing I learned over the years, it was that Asher would talk when she was ready.
As hard as that could be sometimes, if I wanted her in my life, I had to give her time.
“It was just like every other day. I was actually really excited about the gas chamber. It was this big, taboo thing that you were either scared of, or wanted to face head on.” She turned her head to look out the window, but didn’t take her hand away from mine. “Carter gave me all sorts of hints from her brothers. They’re all Marines and SEALs and whatever. I was completely prepared. I knew that we’d get in and have to break the seal on our masks. I knew that we were going to experience small amounts of the gas first. I knew that some of the girls would get panicky, and that this was the true test, the first major test, before the long hike we were doing before graduating.”
She shifted in her seat but continued telling her story. “Two seconds.” She shook her head. “Two fucking seconds, and I was the one panicking. It was like a fucking switch—one moment I was fine, and the next the breath was completely out of my lungs.”
I lifted her hand to my lips, pressing it there and not moving.
“The docs said it wouldn’t be safe for me to continue boot camp, that I could be putting my squadron in danger in a real-life situation. I wasn’t…” She stopped herself and shook her head.
I could hear her unspoken words.
She wasn’t worth the risk.
I put my blinker on. I couldn’t do this while driving.
As I eased the car onto the side of the road, Asher turned to face me. “What are you doing?”
I let go of her hand so I could put the car in park and turned in my seat, facing the beautiful girl who, because of a shitty hand and shitty events, wound up in my life.
“I’m sorry that you went through what you did. I hate that you grew up feeling unwanted, unloved. I hate that you had choices taken from you. And I’m sorry that you think you failed at things.
“But at the same time, I’m not sorry.” Asher’s frown was quick but fleeting. “If you’d been adopted, where would you be? If you were still Genevieve, who would you be? Don’t tell me you didn’t change pieces of you when you dropped your first name. You’ve always worn your tattoos and piercings as a shield.” I ran my thumb down the myriad of piercings in her right ear before cupping her face with both hands. “If it weren’t for the Marine Corps and being discharged, where would you be?
“I can tell you where you wouldn’t be. You wouldn’t be here.”
Asher swallowed hard and I watched as the green in her eyes cleared. She was going to cry and I hated that I put the tears there. I hated that what she saw as failures, I saw as an opportunity.
“I’m sorry, baby, but I’m selfish. I want you. I need you. And I’m really fucking sorry for being a dick earlier this morning. It hurt to know there were things you still held from me, but the doc’s words kept filtering through my head. If you had died…” I couldn’t finish the thought, shaking my head. I could feel tears burning behind my eyes but I forged on. “Asher, I love you so fucking much. I want you in Charleston with me because I want to marry you. I want to have with you what my parents have, what Cael has with Sydney. And I think that we’ve got it.”
I could tell I shocked her. Her mouth parted but she didn’t have words for me.
“Marry me, Asher. We can have a long engagement, I don’t fucking care. Short, long, whatever you need. But tell me you’ll marry me.”
The tears started to fill her lower lids, her eyes now completely clear and glassy. “We can figure out what you’ll do in Charleston. But I need you there with me.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Okay?”
A smile broke across her face and tears spilled down her cheeks. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Everything in me stilled. “Are you shitting me?” I didn’t think she’d say yes.
She shook her head. “No. Yes, I want to marry you.” She was still shaking her head but she let out a watery laugh. “I love you.”
“You’re going to marry me.”
“Yes!”
My grin was fucking huge. “Fuck yes.” Then I sealed the deal.
“No condom,” Asher said, pulling my sweatpants from her legs. She stepped out of the puddled material and pulled off my Champion shirt next, leaving her in just her bike shorts. And under those?
I was willing to bet she was commando.
“Has it been…?” I pulled my shirt from over my head and made quick work on my lounge pants. I knew damn well we’d reached the probable healing mark for both our piercings. We’d had sex—I learned I loved the erotic push-pull of the metal in my dick, but more than that, I loved how quickly it got Asher off, and that was without the little silver bead rubbing deliciously over her clit—but I missed being bare in her pussy.
I missed feeling the intimate clench of her inner muscles, gripping and coating my cock.
“Yes.” She pulled down her bike shorts, leaving her in nothing but a small triangle of curls, and walked to the bed and crawled up, kneeling on the mattress.
The lake house was quiet, everyone having left for home already. After Asher accepted my botched proposal, I got us back as quickly as possible.
I needed her.
Her body was still jittery from the meds and her breathing still a little heavier than normal, but the doctor gave her the clear-all. He did say not to do anything too extraneous though, so I’d just have to be sure she wasn’t bouncing on my cock.
Maybe a slow grind today.
My cock jumped from it’s jutted out position at the thought.
I walked to the bed and banded my arm around her, getting onto the bed myself with Asher in my lap. Immediately, her knees were on either side of mine, my aching cock pulsing between our stomachs.
Asher leaned into me, her breasts flattening against my chest as she took charge and kissed me, her mouth demanding against mine. I couldn’t hold myself back, willingly sweeping my tongue over hers and swallowing her moans.
Just because her fingers weren’t playing with metal didn’t mean mine couldn’t.
I reached between our bodies, finding her hood piercing easily. I needed her to slow down a little—I was still fucking terrified of those life-threatening words used and I’d be pissed if I sent Asher into another asthma attack from her being too active—so with my finger at the top of her piercing, I moved the metal, knowing that the gem resting over her clit would rub her just.
Right.
She tore her mouth from mine, her nails biting into my shoulders. “Oh, Porter.”
“You like that, don’t you?”
Her hips were grinding to their own music, slowly moving as I played with both her piercing and her clit, back and forth, different pressures, loving the hitch in her breath.
“Ohmigod, Porter.” Her breathing was picking up, her chest heaving. I watched her face for signs I needed to stop, but she looked to be in the throes of pleasure and not breathless for other, more dire, reasons.
So I kept playing.
And she kept moving.
Her hands flattened against my chest and her head tipped back. She was just about there. Well, so the fuck was I, and as badly as I needed this to go slow, I just plain needed her.
I halted all activity, causing Asher to cry out. She brought her face back to mine, and she looked equal parts confused and pissed at me for stopping.
“Hold on, beautiful,” I told her around a strained chuckle. I grasped her hips and with pressure from my hand, she leaned back so I could pull my needy cock from its position.
Asher figured out the next step quickly, but while she was lifting up, my girl had to be stubborn about it. “Shit, Porter, I’m going to come right away.”
“That was the plan.” I angled my cockhead toward her waiting opening. She squeezed and a drop of her wetness slipped out.
God, I wasn’t going to last either.
Not bare. Not this first time.
I rubbed the head around her slit, coating myself in her.
“Oh. That feels…that feels really good. The ball rubbing…” Her thighs were trembling and I decided to have mercy on her, placing myself where I needed to be.
With one hand holding my cock and the other back on her hip, I thrust up as she sat down and good fucking Lord, it was like it was the first time going bare.
Her slick walls. The pull on my metal.
“Oh shit,” she moaned, her head once again pulled back. I could see her shoulders tighten, her neck straining. She was trying to hold back.
Well, fuck that shit.
“Come for me, Ash, beautiful. I’m not…” I wasn’t going to last. She lifted her head and with her hands on my shoulders, she pulled herself up and slammed back down.
“Fucking A, Asher.” With one hand between us and her tits at mouth level, I played with both of her most sensitive areas, my fingers rubbing her quickly and in circles over her clit, and my mouth suckling and nibbling her tightly-peaked nipple.
“Porter. Oh.” She let out a breathy moan and lifted her hips once more, but before she could fully seat herself, “Porter!” Her walls were clenching rapidly around my shaft and her body bowed into me. I pulled my mouth from her chest just as I found my own release.
Strong jets of cum had me letting out long, low grunts.
“Asher. Fuck, Asher,” I managed to get out. My cock jerked again inside her, but I was empty. So fucking empty.
And tired.
Really damn tired.
The last ten plus hours caught up to me, and in more ways than just being physically tired.
I put my hands on her back and eased down to lay on the bed. She lay on top of me, not moving to dislodge me from her.
God. I could stay in her for-fucking-ever.
But when she snuggled her nose into my neck, her arms sliding under to hold me close, I fucking lost it.
There had been a very real chance I could have lost her last night. This morning.
My arms tightened around her and I turned my head into her hair, squeezing my eyes tight and allowing myself to feel the burn but not allowing the tears to fall.
“No more secrets,” I whispered for no other reason than I could hardly get the words out of my tight throat. “Promise. No more secrets, Asher.”
“No more secrets.”
It didn’t escape me that she didn’t say she promised.
Porter insisted that we fill my albuterol prescription before we left up north. He also insisted that I keep an inhaler in his car, my car, and the house.
I knew better than to argue with him. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t had an attack in years. It didn’t matter that I likely wouldn’t have another for, heck, hopefully forever. If it meant he felt better, then I guessed that I was okay with it.
After the pharmacy run, we finally made it back to Beloit right before dinnertime.
“Mom asked us to stop by the house first,” Porter explained, when he didn’t take the turn for the guest house. “She wants to see you. Make sure you’re really okay.”
I shifted in the passenger seat. I hadn’t ever been under the scrutiny of Ryleigh Prescott. She was a great mentor, a wonderful friend, but I knew she was about to go ‘mama bear’ on me.
Porter chuckled at my unease. “She just wants to see you, Ash.” He reached for my hand and squeezed it once, not letting it go until we pulled up to his parents’ house.
Ryleigh was opening the front door before I could even unbuckle.
“I think I’ll stay in here,” I mumbled quietly, mostly to myself, because I knew it wasn’t really an option.
Porter reached out to unlatch the belt for me. “It’s not like you to shy down from something,” he said with a chuckle. “She won’t bite you, promise. Hug you probably, but not bite you.”
I got out of the car with a deep, calming breath. There was a slight breeze, and I had to stop myself from hugging my arms around my chest. Porter helped with that, meeting me and taking my hand. He pressed his lips to my temple before bringing me up toward the house.
Ryleigh’s smile when we reached her, was kind.
“How are you feeling, Asher?” she asked, stretching an arm out toward me.
Porter let go of my hand and I stepped forward, allowing Ryleigh to bring me into a close, one-armed hug. It wasn’t long before her second arm wrapped around me too.
“I’m okay. I promise.” The last was said quietly. They were words I didn’t say often.
Promises were meant to be broken.
But slowly I was learning to trust in them.
It sometimes felt as if Porter promised me the world, and so far, he’d made good on his word. No matter how hard I pushed, what I held back, Porter stayed. He grounded me.
He anchored me.
And his family…
His family did the same.
Ryleigh loosened her hold, moving her hands to my shoulders so she could look down at me. “I’m very glad you’re okay.”
The Rockets were in Chicago for a long weekend, and with that, meant extra Asher-time.
She only flew out of Charleston early Monday morning, but as always, I missed her within moments of her plane leaving the runway.
What was great about Chicago was she would spend the weekend with me.
I set her up in the hotel where the team was staying, and while I couldn’t spend as much time with her as I wanted, Saturday was all hers.
Well, and Logan’s.
Saturday, today, was an off-day for both our teams, playing one another last night, and then again tomorrow afternoon. We planned on meeting Logan for authentic Chicago pizza after my practice wrapped up. I was running late, so Asher went ahead of me.
I checked my watch as I walked down the bustling sidewalk. It
was chilly today, with snowflakes flurrying around. Returning my hands to my pockets, I wrapped my coat around myself tighter and looked up at the storefront signs, looking for the place Logan recommended.
Once I found it, I pushed through the revolving door into the dimly lit restaurant. It was lively with noise and the smell of tomato sauce was strong. Knowing where Asher was sitting thanks to a text message, I made my way to the back of the restaurant after smiling at the hostess, unwrapping my scarf from my neck.
My eyes searched the place as I walked with purpose to the back, just in case I misread her message. When my eyes landed on her, I fought the need to stop and take her in, unaware. It wasn’t often that I got this view of her, watching her when she didn’t realize she was being watched.
But it was these moments that I could swear I fell in love with her more.
She sat in a booth studying the menu, an untouched glass of white wine, courtesy of a really good fake ID, in front of her. My girl is going all out tonight, I thought with a grin.
I stepped forward, not wanting to be in the way of other patrons. Right before I reached the table, she looked up, a grin spreading across her face quickly.
She moved out of her seat and stood, her arms automatically moving around me as I stepped into her. I dropped my nose to her shoulder and breathed her in.
God, I missed her when I couldn’t be with her.
She hadn’t been able to come to the game last night, but would be there tomorrow. I didn’t have to be back to my room tonight until ten, either, so I was spending the day with her.
Asher pulled away first, moving to slide back into the booth. “How was practice?”
“Good,” I said, nodding. I took off my coat and Asher reached for it and my scarf, putting it on the bench beside her. “Logan’s not here yet?”
She shook her head. “No, I haven’t seen him.”
“These are his stomping grounds.” I chuckled as I moved to sit beside her. “I thought for sure he’d be here already.” I reached for her wine glass, sniffing the contents before bringing it to my lips.
