I see him jerk with the shock of what I’m doing. Determination renews itself in my blood, I raise my head to meet Asher’s eyes.
“You’re not getting free of me until you hear me out.”
I’m taken aback by the glorious smile that stretches on his face. “Never want to, baby.”
Does he mean never wants to hear me out or he never wants to be free of me? I’m confused. Maybe he’s trying to trick me into taking the cuffs off. I’m not falling for that. I ignore him and stand. He takes my hand in his and all the chemistry between us flows like it always did, taking my breath.
Not letting him distract me from my goal, I lead us out of the classroom and to my car. He’s not saying anything, he’s letting this play out. Good. Luckily no one stops us or notices the cuffs on the way. I walk to my car, remotely unlock it, and then realise my mistake. I’ve handcuffed us using the wrong hands. Shit. I was going to get in the passenger side and crawl over to the driver’s seat. That way I wouldn’t have to un-cuff us. I stop and let out a long frustrated sigh before I face him.
“Asher, I have some things I need to say to you and I want you to listen. Don’t interrupt or argue until I’m done. If when I’m finished you still decide to leave things as they are between us I’ll respect that, but you have to listen first.”
He’s still smiling. What game is he playing? He’s confusing the hell out of me. “Okay.”
“Good. I’m going to take these cuffs off now and we’re going to get in my car. If you run now, I’ll have Michael pin you down next time.” I’m completely serious. I call it plan M.
I unlock his cuff. My hands are shaking, I’m so nervous that this may be the last time I’m alone with Asher. I pray that’s not the case. When the lock clicks open I get in the car. My heart rate slows momentarily when Asher does the same. I angle myself towards him.
“First I’m not here to apologise. You may not agree with what I’m doing but it’s the right thing for me. It’s my only viable option to be able to live my life the way I want to. It’s not a double life, Asher, its double appearances. I’ve never changed anything about myself other than the way I look.
“I’ve always been me. Everything we shared was real. I hate that you think I’m capable of such a massive deception. For you to think I’d tricked you somehow even when we were alone broke my heart. The only way for me to come to college and have it be real was to not be Bells Stratton. Do you think for one minute that that bitchy sorority would have turned me down if I’d shown up as I usually look? They wouldn’t have. And now I’d be stuck with a load of false friends using me for what I can do for them, instead of the great people I’ve got now.
“I never went to high school so I’ve got no old friends I met there, I had private tutors my whole life. I didn’t have close friends just lots of acquaintances, until now. These two years at college are my one chance. I’m never going to have a regular job to meet people at work or live on a normal street and be friendly with my neighbours. Then I met you and everything changed into something better than I could have ever dreamed. I miss you, Asher. When you walked out that night, it felt like you took my soul with you. I’m stronger now, I know I’ll survive without you but I’d rather live, not just exist.”
Asher leans forward and frames my face in his hands, using his thumbs to wipe away a few stray tears falling down my cheeks. Having his hands touch me so reverentially gives me hope. His face is a mix of emotions. I can’t tell what he’s thinking.
“Bow, I never wanted you to apologise. There are some things in my life that you don’t know about and I’ll tell you about them now but first, I need to apologise. That night had nothing to do with you and everything to do with my problems and things I hadn’t dealt with in my own life. Yes, I was angry but only for a couple of days and even then I was torn between being angry and missing you so much.
“Don’t think I wasn’t going to crawl to you and beg for you to take me back, I was. I’ve got Colby and Tate trying lure the Oddballs out of the house as we speak. I was going to keep you hostage until you took me back. You just beat me to it. You’re my world, Bow. It was broken in the past and you put it back together piece by piece with your kindness, humour, spunk and pure heart.”
I listen intently to Asher tell me about the last three weeks of his life. It’s shocking what he’s been through. I wish he would have let me be there for him but he said it was something he had to do by himself to become the man I deserve. He asks me to meets his family at Christmas. I can’t talk, my throat won’t work as my feelings overwhelm me. I nod enthusiastically and throw myself into his arms.
I bury my head in his neck and draw in the scent that makes me feel at home. He gathers me to him, pulling me out of my seat and onto his lap.
Asher
With Bow in my lap my whole body calms. My girl is back where she belongs. I’m never letting go ever again. I need to taste her again, relearn ever curve of her body, every smile, every expression and goofy laugh. I bring her face close to mine and skim my nose down the side of hers.
We look into each other’s eyes as I lightly rest my lips on hers. Bow tries to push closer. I hold her back, I’m not rushing one second of this. Her tongue peeks out to wet her pink lips and skims mine as well. I hear her let out a small whimper and I swallow deeply before giving in to our bodies’ demands.
I trace her lips with mine, teasing, and only then do I add pressure. Our lips mould together liked they were formed for this purpose alone. Bow traces the seam of mine with the tip of her tongue and I lose all my restraint. We devour each other, not able to curb our need. Bow angles her head taking us impossibly deeper, I can feel her fingernails pressing sharply into the skin at the back of my neck.
I need to feel her skin pressing onto mine and join my body to hers. A car starting a couple of spaces down from us jerks me back to the here and now. I abruptly end the kiss remembering we are in a parking lot. This isn’t the place to show her how I feel. Our breaths are sawing in and out of our chests. I don’t want to break the moment.
“Do you want to come and see how Oddball turned out?…In fact, go back to the frat house and get a bag, I’m not promising anything is going to happen but I want you in my bed tonight.” She pants out.
“With you lying next to me, what will I dream about?”
She softly giggles. “That was pretty cheesy.”
“But true.” I chuckle.
“Oh and don’t forget swimming shorts, bring a few to leave in your cubby.”
“I have a cubby?” My insides warm hearing this.
Her blush is adorable. “Well, you didn’t but you do now. I had a sign made, I just couldn’t bring myself to hang it.”
“Oh crap! That reminds me, there’s something you don’t know.” I tell her about the Victoria’s Secret show, how Colby, Tate and I spotted the Oddballs in the audience and that I showed them why they were there.
“Cool. That’s one less thing to do and I can safely get out of this wig when I get home.” I’ve still never seen her in front of me as she truly is. “Get going, I think we owe ourselves some Jacuzzi time.”
I wish she hadn’t said that. The thought of her in a bikini surrounded by hot, bubbly water is enough to put me in a very uncomfortable position. There’s no way I’m missing out on seeing that regardless. I help her back over to her seat, give her a peck on the lips and then sprint to my truck.
I must throw half of what I own in my bag. There’s no organisation or careful selection gone into it. I’ve probably packed mainly laundry, I don’t care. I drive faster than I really should back to Oddball. I park my truck and run double time to the front door. I calm myself for a second before I knock. I hear a faint beep and a couple of clicks and the door opens. Radley answers it with a big smile. He shouldn’t be here.
“Nice to have you back, man.” He shakes my hand and lets me in. I can hear Bow hysterically laughing as I approach the family room.
I go in and see Bow supportin
g herself by leaning on the wall, her hand gripping her side like she’s got stitch. Only then do I notice that Colby and Tate are tied to chairs. Everyone else in the room looks confused and a bit pissed off.
“Thank god you’re here, now we can explain.” Clearly Colby and Tate’s guaranteed fool proof plan didn’t work. Idiots. “Listen, Asher had a big plan for getting Bow back, then we saw you all on the TV in the audience at the Victoria’s Secret show, so, Asher filled in the gaps with Bow and then Tate stopped us from flying to London. Asher wanted you out of the house so he could hold Bow hostage while you came with me to take Tate to the hospital.” He said all that so quickly it was barely coherent and in one breath too. He’s gasping for air now.
Bow wipes her eyes and asks “Why would you be taking Tate to the hospital?”
Tate answers. “I pretended to fall down the steps of your front porch and hurt myself. Turns out we’re not as good at acting as we thought and the human bullshit detector over there” he nods his head at Glen, “wanted to know what we were up to. We wouldn’t talk, trying to give Asher more time to sort his shit out. Next thing you know, they’re taking our phones and tying us to chairs. You people are a little bit crazy, you know that right?”
Now everyone is in hysterics. I walk over to Bow and tuck her under my arm as Radley unties Colby and Tate.
“Well, thanks for the effort guys, I really appreciate it.” Bow gives them both a hug.
“Does this mean we can move in?” Fuck, Colby never quits. He’s like a dog with a bone.
“You may not want to when you hear my terms.”
“I accept.” Colby states.
“Me too.” Tate nods.
“Don’t be flip. Look, you know my situation now so you understand why we’re so hot on privacy. Even moving into the pool house, there’ll be no guests, apart from family and no girls. You want a night in the sack, you have to go to her place. I’m not getting up and putting on my disguise just in case one of you got lucky.”
“One fuck up and you’re out.” Glen adds. They’re both still nodding and I can see they’re holding in their celebration until they’re sure everyone’s finished.
“In that case, when we get back from the road trip after Christmas break, you can both unpack here.”
The guys loose it. They jump on everyone, yelling that they’re officially Oddballs now.
“Hey, hey! What about me? I’ll be all on my own.” Everyone looks to Bow. She walks over to me and wraps her arms around my waist and leans back to look me in the eyes.
“You can move in at the same time, not before. Also, your terms are slightly different. You have to let Ralph in on our Christmas plans and if you fuck up on any of the rules, you don’t get thrown out - Michael kills you.” Everyone laughs again. Apart from Michael who’s looking at me with one eyebrow raised communicating that while it may be funny, she’s not joking.
“It’ll be fine, I’m the president.” We all quiet in time to hear Glen mumble this to Janie.
“President of what? If you say America, I warn you now, I won’t be that shocked.” Colby jokes.
Glen explains about the Underdog Society and all the clubs that are grouped together, their parties and what they do for each other. It sounds brilliant.
“There’s a secret underground society at the college? That’s awesome. I say we rise up and take down the Greeks!” Colby yells, pumping his fist in the air. A few high fives are exchanged while Glen just shakes his head at them all.
After everyone calms down, Bow gives me the grand tour of the place. The backyard is amazing. I realise I’m still carrying my bag, so while I’m in the pool house I unpack some stuff into my cubby as Bow attaches my sign. It’s official now and we celebrate the best way I know how, with each other. When we break apart, Bow grabs a few scraps of material out of her cubby and disappears into a cubicle. I strip as quickly as I can and change into my swimming shorts.
“Asher, can you take me a couple of towels outside please?”
“Sure, baby. No problem.” I’m trying to stop picturing her naked behind that door.
I grab both our towels and put them on a lounger. I see everyone sat around the outdoor kitchen or on the loungers by the pool, chilling. When the guys see me ready to swim they all get up and start to walk to the pool house.
Colby and Tate abruptly stop while the rest keep walking. I spin around to see a golden goddess walking towards me. She seems to be approaching in slow motion, like a scene in a movie. Bow’s hair is fluttering in the breeze, her perfect body is barely covered by a small coral bikini and her mis-matched eyes sparkle in the sun.
I’m able to function again when the outdoor speakers’ blast out Right Said Fred’s ‘I’m too sexy’. Bow laughs and her smile gets impossibly bigger as she exaggerates her walk, making fun of herself. My smile mirrors hers as I meet her half way and pick her up bridal style.
I walk into the pool and when I’m up to my waist I throw her in. She comes up spluttering and starts to splash me. I’m suddenly picked up from behind and launched away. It’s my turn to splutter now. We all play about with a volleyball set that Radley brings out. Janie and Pepper fetch us the ball when it goes out of the pool area. They’re cheering everybody on. I make the effort to not stare at Bow even though that’s all I want to do. We’ll be on our own soon enough.
Chapter eighteen
Bow
After our impromptu pool party we enjoy steaks with baked potatoes and eat outside. Colby asks if they can stay over. That guy can whine with the best of them. He says Asher’s staying over so it’s not fair that they can’t. I point out the obvious difference in the situations. Then he starts moaning that he needs to test out his bed before he moves in. I love teasing him so I pretend to reluctantly fold. They can stay whenever they like as far as I’m concerned.
When a movie night is suggested I say to count Asher and I out. I want to be able to spend some time showing him my family pictures and videos that I couldn’t before. We need time on our own to reconnect.
Asher follows me up to my room. I’ve never been more pleased than I am right now to have the top floor to myself. It’s like our own little hideout.
I show him my bedroom. It’s pretty plain so I can change it without too much effort. I love the navy blue and gold that it is now. Plus, now Asher knows about everything I can hang the pictures that I wanted to.
“What do you think?” I ask him.
“I think I can’t wait to share this room with you all the time.”
He trails soft kisses up my neck from behind. I angle my neck further to the side to give him more access. His hands run up and down my arms making my skin tingle. I move away and show him my dressing room next. I’ve still not organised the stuff I bought in London so there’s boxes and bags piled up in one corner.
“We’re lucky I’m a regular guy with not much stuff otherwise I’d be having to hang my stuff in a bag out the window.” I giggle, he’s right.
Then I show him the bathroom. It’s the biggest in the house. There’s a whirlpool tub with his and hers TV screens, a very large shower, a toilet and two sinks. The tops are grey marble as is the shower enclosure. The builders had to reinforce the floor beams to manage all the additional weight.
I turn and get a whiff of the chlorine on my skin. I have an idea. I don’t want to rush into going all the way with Asher but I do need to take the edge off. Since our kiss in my car I’ve felt hyper sensitive all over and now we’re alone it’s increased tenfold. I bend over and open the bath faucets.
“You want to take a bath with me?” I ask nibbling on my bottom lip.
His eyes instantly heat. He doesn’t need to answer me when his kiss tells me everything I need to know. Earlier in the pool I kept my distance not wanting to embarrass myself by touching him too much. Now I’m on a voyage of discovery. I run my fingers under his t-shirt and up his smooth back, pressing and shaping his muscles with my hands, then I move them back down to his waist.
/> He pushes me back and pulls his t-shirt over his head and does the same to mine. He unclasps my bra and throws it behind him. His large calloused hands are on my back and he thrusts me forward into his chest. A small groan escapes my mouth. Being skin to skin with Asher is every bit as good as I dreamed it would be. The steam from the bath starts to swirl around us, dampening our skin.
Asher drops to his knees and takes one of my nipples into his mouth, flicking and teasing me with his tongue while he massages my other breast with his hand. He switches and the pleasure spreads rapidly down to my already wet folds. I run my fingers through his damp hair and grab on to it, keeping him close to me. Having his mouth on me feels so good.
I hear my shorts zipper lower and they fall from my hips. He kisses down my stomach and around the top of my panties. He lifts his head and there’s a question in his eyes. I nod and he slowly pulls my panties off, smoothing over my legs as he does. I kick them away when they reach my feet. His hands grab my ass and he buries his nose into my bare mound and inhales deeply.
“Jesus, baby, you smell so good. I’ve got to have a taste.” His words alone can make me convulse.
He lifts one of my legs to rest over his shoulder and dives into the seam of my pussy with his tongue. He moans causing his tongue to vibrate over my clit. I’m not going to last long. He continues to suck, lick and tease me until I’m right on the edge. He plunges a finger into me at the same time he deeply sucks my clit. I fall from the precipice, screaming all the way. My body shudders as he brings me back down from the single greatest orgasm I’ve had in my life.
I pull him to stand and take his mouth with mine, putting every ounce of what I’m feeling into it. My hands wander down his hard defined chest and abs. I lightly trace the sexy ‘v’ of his lower abdomen with my fingertips. I unbutton his jeans and push them down his hips along with his underwear, his cock springs free and rests hotly against my lower belly. He kisses my collar bone and neck as I get my first look at his dick.
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