Fighting Shadows

by Aly Martinez

  “Insane,” I whispered, kissing her again. “Besides, the driver’s license isn’t a big deal because you can drive. It’s a big deal because it will have our address on it as your legal residence. There’s no getting rid of me now.”

  “I’m pretty sure I could just change it when I move out.”

  “You planning to move out?” I joked. It was an idea that, a few weeks ago, would have spiked my pulse. But Ash wasn’t going anywhere. Of that I was sure.

  She was mine in every possible way.

  “Well, I don’t know. Are you going to stop wearing the sweatpants?” She slid her hand back down into my pants.

  “No. I love those sweats.”

  She squeezed my ass and winked. “Then I’m definitely not moving.”

  Smiling, I leaned forward to take her mouth, and it wasn’t going to be sweet. It was going to be completely indecent, regardless that we were in a very public place. Judging by the way her eyes flashed with desire, she was okay with that.

  Unfortunately, Quarry and Mia noticed our moment too. Catcalls echoed through the DMV, earning us quite a few glares from the employees.

  “Ash Carson?” the older woman called from behind the desk.

  “Mabie,” Ash corrected on a mumble.

  “We’ll, get it changed,” I assured her the same way I had when she’d melted down the day her birth certificate had come in the mail.

  Ash hadn’t spoken to Ray again since the night she’d turned him in to the police. Nor had she shown any desire to visit him in jail. She just hated the fact that Mabie wasn’t listed as her legal last name. I had full intentions of helping her change it from Carson, but it was never going to be Mabie.

  Ash Page had a nice ring though.

  While I wasn’t jumping into the whole marriage thing yet, I was positive it was where we were headed. I was planning to give it some time. But every day that passed only cemented the fact that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.

  I wasn’t a rash person.

  But it was Ash. I lost my fucking mind when it came to her.

  We had only been back together for eight weeks, but it had only taken four for me to fall in love with her when we’d first met. Eight weeks felt like an eternity.

  “Wish me luck,” she said, pushing up to her tiptoes and pecking me on the cheek.

  “You got this, baby.”

  “Then I’m getting that.” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively, backing away. “Oh, wait.” She turned to Quarry, snapping her fingers. “Keys.”

  Quarry dropped the keys to his sports car in her hands. “Be gentle with her.”

  “Right. The same way you were gentle with Flint’s SUV when you took it out mudding last week?” She smirked, knowing she’d just thrown him under the bus.

  My eyes jumped to his.

  Quarry didn’t seem fazed in the least though. “Oh, don’t even start. It was a puddle. You don’t even have four-wheel drive. Those hand pedals sucked too. Pushing a lever really takes the sexy out of peeling out.” He draped an arm around Mia’s shoulders when he finished signing.

  She giggled, squeezing against his side.

  “Ash Carson?” the woman droned again.

  “Oops. Gotta go.” She patted me on the ass then jogged away.

  I looked over at Quarry as I sat down in the chair next to Mia. “You are never allowed to borrow my car again. I don’t care if yours is in the shop.”

  “Meh. I’ll survive,” he signed back before scooping Mia out of her chair and settling her on his lap.

  I began checking my e-mails on my phone. “Please don’t molest her in here.”

  “Huh?” she said and Quarry’s hands translated for her.

  Mia slapped my arm to get my attention. You’re one to talk, she signed, not bothering with saying it aloud since Ash was gone. I threw up in my mouth a little.

  Whatever. You look like you’re twelve. Q looks like he’s older than I am. Everyone in the room is assuming he’s a pedophile right now, I replied.

  Q interjected, Hey! I wasn’t the one getting a sixteen-year-old girl naked in the back of my child molester van.

  Yes, you did! That’s why I had to sell it. I don’t even want to know what you two did in that thing before Till bought you a car.

  Q laughed. Oh, come on. That’s not why you sold it.

  The floor was sticky, you dick. I punched him on the shoulder.

  “Damn it,” he cursed, rubbing his arm.

  Mia stared into space dreamily and signed, God, I miss that van.

  I gave her a disgusted look then went back to scanning my phone.

  Quarry asked, “Hey, why didn’t you tell us about Ash’s birthday?”

  “It’s not for another month. I’ll let you know when I plan something,” I answered absently.

  “Dude, her birthday was last week.”

  My head snapped up. “Her birthday is April eighteenth.”

  Mia’s hands lifted as her jaw fell open. You idiot! You missed her birthday.

  I looked back at Quarry and repeated, “Her birthday is April eighteenth.”

  He shook his head, pulling Ash’s birth certificate from the folder she’d left on her seat. “March eighteenth.”

  What the fuck?

  I distinctly remembered her telling me that it was in April the first night we were lying in the weeds. “What astrological sign is March eighteenth? Aries?”

  They both shrugged, so I picked up my phone and did a quick Internet search.

  “Pisces,” I whispered at the screen of my phone. “Why the hell would she have lied to me?”

  “This is going to cost you big time. You should buy her a car and pretend this was all part of your plan. Make her think you forgot her birthday on purpose,” Quarry suggested.

  Mia excitedly nodded her agreement.

  It wasn’t a bad idea, exactly, but I was more focused on why she would have lied to begin with than the repercussions of flubbing the date.

  For the next ten minutes, I stared a hole in the DMV’s door, waiting for her to come back inside.

  Finally, she bounced around the corner, laughing with the once disgruntled DMV employee. “You just let me know when. You can borrow his car anytime,” Ash told the woman, flashing her eyes to Quarry.

  “Hey!” He quickly shifted Mia back to her seat and rushed to retrieve his keys. “You pass?”

  “Psh, did I pass?” She gave him a disgusted look. “Tonya didn’t even make me take the test. We just took turns pulling the parking brake and sliding into the parallel parking spot.”

  Q snatched the keys from her hand. “Shut up. You did not.”

  I pushed to my feet and joined them. “You pass?”

  “You’re in a suit!” she squeaked.

  “How many more times are you going to say that?”

  “You’re in a suit.”

  Shifting my weight to one arm, I wrapped the other around her waist. “Are you stuck on repeat?”

  “I’m not sure. Get naked and let’s see.”

  “Jesus, woman. Just answer the question.”

  She grabbed my tie and tugged my head down, whispering in my ear, “I think we should celebrate my brand-spanking-new driver’s license by having sex in your back seat.”

  I smiled down at her when she added, “This. Suit.” I let out a loud laugh.

  Pointedly nodding toward my zipper, she let me know just how serious she was.

  “All right. Keep your pants on,” I said, backing out of her grasp.

  The woman at the camera station called her name. “I’ll be right back.” She sauntered away, swaying her ass and ensuring that, as soon as I got to the bottom of the whole birthday lie, I’d be using the suit to my full advantage.

  “You seriously took the rest of the day off?” I asked when Flint surprised me by climbing out of the car instead of just dropping me off at home.

  He unlocked the front door and swung it open. “Yep. I told you. Big deal.”

  “You ca
lled in after you saw how much I loved the suit, huh?” I made a show of checking him out before walking inside.

  “I mean, that didn’t hurt my decision. But I’m more interested in why you’re lying to me,” he replied with a hard edge to his voice.

  I spun to look at him. “What?”

  He closed the distance between us, stopping only inches in front of me. “Your birthday is March eighteenth,” he stated definitively. “But I can’t for the life of me figure out why the hell you would lie to me about that.”

  “Uh, ’cause maybe I’m not lying,” I snapped, taken aback by his accusation.

  “Bullshit. I saw your birth certificate when you were taking your driving test. You are lying and I want to know why. Now.”

  I loved bossy Flint. I actually even loved angry Flint. But asshole Flint made me want to resort to violence. Fortunately for him, he was still wearing that suit.

  “So let me get this straight. You see something that’s different than what I’ve told you and your immediate conclusion is that I’m lying to you? You don’t ask me about it. You just jump straight to liar. Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “You did lie to me! You point-blank told me that your birthday was in April.”

  “My birthday is in April!” I yelled, quickly losing my temper.

  “Stop fucking saying that. Your birthday was last week. What the hell are you trying to hide from me?”

  I blinked at him. “Are you kidding me here? Now I’m hiding shit from you?” I said, a little bit hurt. Okay, a lot hurt.

  “I don’t know! That’s exactly what I’m trying to figure out!”

  “There is nothing to figure out!” Taking a step away, I closed my eyes and attempted a calming breath. “Listen, you’re acting like an asshole right now. Let me know when you want to talk. I’m happy to explain, but I’m not sitting here, listening to you toss out accusations.” I turned and stomped to our bedroom, slamming the door behind me.

  So maybe I was acting like an asshole too. I was hurt though. Flint was the one person who knew my buttons. Yet, like a little kid on an elevator, he was pushing every single one of them.

  I collapsed onto our bed, toeing my shoes off then kicking them over the edge. I groaned to myself when I heard his steps against the hall’s hardwood floor. I needed a few minutes to collect myself and get rid of the bitter taste he had left in my mouth. The door opened, but he didn’t come inside.

  Propping himself against the doorjamb, he said, “You’re right.”

  “I know I am,” I snarked back.

  “For what it’s worth, I wasn’t assuming it was some nefarious plot or anything. I thought maybe you had lied to keep some distance between us when you first got back. I don’t know. That doesn’t even really make sense.” He ran his fingers through his hair then used his hand to comb it back into place. “It’s just . . . I missed your birthday, and now, I feel like a dick.”

  “Are you ready to listen now instead of jumping to conclusions?” I asked, sitting up and crossing my legs underneath me.

  He looked down sheepishly. “Yeah.”

  “You didn’t miss my birthday, Flint. My mother killed herself on March eighteenth, so when I was a kid, I picked a new day to celebrate.”

  His head shot up. “Shit,” he breathed, becoming unstuck and walking to the bed to join me.

  “As far as I’m concerned, my birthday is April eighteenth. I wasn’t lying to you, but the fact that you automatically assumed I was . . .” I trailed off.

  He cupped my jaw to force my eyes to his. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

  “But that’s exactly the problem. There’s a lot of stuff you don’t know, Flint. You can’t always assume I’m lying or hiding shit from you every time a new truth comes out.”

  The bed dipped under his weight as he settled on the edge. “I want to know everything about you, Ash. I should have known something as big as March eighteenth.” He leaned forward, kissing me all too briefly.

  “Look, we’ve been back together for two months. The get-to-know-you portion of this relationship is not going to happen overnight.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “Sage advice from a woman who’s only been in one relationship.” He smiled, kissing me again.

  “Nah. I read a lot of romance novels.”

  His head snapped back. “Do you really?” he asked skeptically. “Seriously, or are you fucking with me?”

  “No. I really do. The dirtier the better.” I shrugged.

  His eyes flashed wide as he fell back against the bed, laughing. “How the hell did I not know that?”

  “You never asked!” I defended.

  Grabbing my arm, he tugged me down, juggling me into our position. Sighing, he kissed the top of my head. “What else should I know about you?”

  “Well, my favorite color is neon green, but only for accessories. You’ll never catch me in a neon-green shirt or dress. I prefer black with splashes of color. My favorite flavor anything is apple, but I hate actual apples. I love olives of all colors and prefer vanilla over chocolate.” I paused to tap on the corner of my mouth. “I feel like I’m missing something.”

  “Maybe the important stuff.” He squeezed me tight.

  “I can’t tell you the important stuff, Flint. That kinda comes out randomly. Hell, the stuff you think is important might not even be the important stuff to me. But the good news is I’m here for forever, so long as you stop making assumptions, time is something we have.” I pushed up on an elbow and pressed a kiss to his jaw.

  Turning his head, he captured my mouth. “I love you.”

  “I know you do.”

  “And I’m sorry. You can have whatever birthday you want.”

  I kissed him more deeply then moved to straddle his waist. “What if I want my birthday to be today?”

  “Sorry. No can do.” He suddenly sat up, shifting me to the side as he scooted toward the edge.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Shopping. I just found out my girl has a fetish for suits.”

  I chased him off the bed, catching him just before he was able to retrieve his crutches. “Well, then why don’t you let her enjoy this one? Then go shopping.” I dropped to my knees in front of him only to be lifted right back to my feet.

  “Because torturing her with a day at the mall then fucking her to sleep sounds like more fun.” He winked.

  I would have argued, but it did sound like fun.

  I could live with that.

  Three weeks later . . .

  “HAPPY BIRTHDAY,” I SAID, PULLING a little, black, velvet box from my pocket and placing it on the table after we’d finished lunch.

  I’d wanted to take her somewhere nice, but in true Ash fashion, she’d picked a greasy burger joint with paper menus. It was her birthday though. If she wanted burgers and milkshakes, then damn it, I would make sure my girl got them.

  “Oh my God,” she breathed, staring at the box as if I’d just unleashed a venomous snake. “I can’t open that.”

  I nudged it a little closer. “Yeah, you can.”

  Tears filled her eyes. “Flint.”

  “Just open it.”

  She shook her head and bit her lips.

  “Ash, open it.”

  “No!” she yelled. Then she pleaded, watching me intently, “Are you sure? Like, really, really sure?”

  I grinned, pushing the box even closer. “I’m positive, Ash. Absolutely positive.”

  She looked back down, sucking in a deep breath before extending a shaky hand to pick it up. “I love you,” she whispered.

  “I love you too,” I replied, waiting for her reaction as she slowly pried it open.

  Staring down, with tears in her eyes, she exclaimed, “You asshole!”

  I burst out laughing. “Ash, baby, we’ve been together for three months. Did you really think I was going to propose at a burger joint on your twentieth birthday?”

  “No!” she snapped. Then she looked to the side and mumbled, �
�Maybe.”

  I continued laughing but took her hand and lifted it to my lips.

  “I’m glad you think this is funny,” she bit out, pulling the silver dog bone from the box. “What is this?”

  “One step at a time, Speedy. I figured maybe we could get a dog until you’re old enough to legally drink at your own wedding.”

  “Just so you know, there was no guarantee that I was going to say yes.”

  “You cried.”

  “So?”

  I winked and pulled the box from her hand. “You were gonna say yes.”

  She rolled her eyes then laughed. “I was totally going to say yes.”

  “That’s really fucking good to know for future reference.” I reached back into my pocket, and her eyes grew wide again. “Oh God, stop! It’s not a ring.” I revealed a small, pink collar and twisted the silver dog bone onto the loop.

  Her shoulders fell, and I laughed all over again.

  “I should not have started with that damn box. I had no idea that you would assume it was a ring.”

  I’d known with one hundred percent certainty she would think it was a ring. Ash had found the engagement ring I’d bought her while she’d been snooping around my office at On The Ropes. I knew because she’d put it back in the box upside down and then spent the rest of the day tearing up every time she so much as looked in my direction. I got the best sex of my life that night. She rained I love yous over my entire body, focusing the majority of her attention on my cock.

  I got hard from just thinking about it.

  “I thought we could go pick out a puppy. I’ve never had a dog, and I figured maybe you’d want one. But . . . I mean, if you don’t—”

  “No! I do. I really do,” she interrupted, snatching the collar from my fingers.

  “Are you sure, because you didn’t seem too excited?”

  Leaning over the table, she planted a kiss on my lips. As she tucked the empty box into her purse, she said, “Let’s go get a dog.”

  I drove Ash to a pet store, where I had full intentions of buying her a small and fluffy lap dog—something yippy she could fawn all over. However, she refused to even go inside, stating that there were plenty of dogs at the animal shelter waiting for a new home. So, after a quick search on my phone, we were on our way to the adoption center at the local pound. Ash painfully paced up and down the rows of caged animals, apologizing to each and every one for not being able to take them home, before finally settling on the ground in front of a Chihuahua puppy. She sat there for several minutes, poking her fingers through the chain link and letting him chew on the tips.