Pulse

by Amity Cross

  He pressed his forehead against mine, his lips parted and skin hot and sweaty. His gaze held onto mine as he drove his cock into me again and again, pounding against my clit and building my orgasm to breaking point.

  “Ash,” I gasped.

  “Come,” he grunted, increasing his pace. “Spitfire.”

  “Don’t stop,” I cried out as my body erupted below his.

  “Never.”

  He thrust into me as I tightened around his cock and I couldn’t hold on. I threw my head back, breaking from his gaze and let the orgasm take me. It crashed through my body, searing through nerve endings and took my vision with it. Lips were against my skin, hands buried into my hair pulling painfully, but I didn’t care. It felt so good. All of it. The pleasure and pain were both the same.

  Ash drove his cock into me, his grunting mingling with my desperate cries. I felt him come, his body quaking against mine, sweat sticking us together.

  He pumped again, filling me even more, giving me everything he had and held still, spilling inside me.

  There was this moment of calm as we rode the last of our orgasms together when he was deep inside me, hands wound into my hair and I knew. I knew I’d made the right choice.

  It was Ash. It’d always be Ash.

  I wasn’t sure how long we lay together, locked in our desperate embrace. I wasn’t sure how long Ash clutched me, his cock still inside my body. I didn’t care in the slightest.

  It wasn’t until I began to shiver as our bodies cooled in the aftermath that he pulled out and drew the covers over us, wrapping our bodies together.

  He pressed a kiss against my mouth and sighed. “I know it makes me sound like a pussy, but you’re precious to me.”

  I couldn’t help smiling and I moaned in satisfaction. These were the words I’d wanted to hear from him all along. I knew he felt it, but I wanted him to be able to tell me. Now he had and it made my bloodstream hum in delight.

  “I didn’t think I was capable,” he added.

  I frowned. “Capable of what?”

  “I always thought I was a beast. A fuckin’ animal with no control. Beasts can’t love.”

  I screwed up my face. “Get fucked.”

  “I did.”

  I rolled over so I was half lying across his chest and cupped his face in my hand. “Well, animal sex with you is mind-blowing by the way.”

  “I don’t care how we do it as long as I get to put my cock in you.”

  I laughed before pressing a kiss to his lips. “There’s the vulgar asshole I know and love.”

  Ash hissed, his green eyes piercing into mine. “I’ll never get tired of you saying that.”

  “What? Calling you an asshole?” I asked, knowing full well what he was getting at. He didn’t laugh, his expression just fell and I began to panic a little. “What?”

  “I just…I don’t want anything bad to happen to you because of me.”

  “Bad things happen all the time.”

  “Ren,” he murmured, trying to interrupt.

  “No, listen,” I complained. “The world might throw more bad things at us, but you have to promise that you’ll talk to me. Don’t keep me in the dark again.”

  “Ren… I was only trying to make things better for you.”

  “I know, but it wasn’t right,” I said, burying into his side. “You shouldn’t have had to face that alone.”

  “I wanted-”

  “Shut up.” I placed my hand over his mouth. “The only thing that matters is that we face the crap together. We’re a team. Promise me.”

  He curled his fingers around my wrist and pried my hand away from his mouth. His gaze searched mine for a moment before he smiled. “I promise.”

  I settled down against him, tangling my legs through his. The sun had dipped low, casting long shadows across the darkening bedroom. Through the windows, I could see the sky was strewn with red and orange as the afternoon gave way to twilight.

  “Will you stay?” Ash asked.

  I didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

  There wasn’t anywhere else I’d rather be.

  Chapter 19

  Ren

  Waking up next to Ash Fuller sent me into a total tail spin.

  I’d done it so many times, but this was the first since we were together back at Beat. And it was the first since we’d told each other how we truly felt.

  I’d woken tangled against him and once I would’ve felt stifled by his bulk, but now I only wanted to hold him tighter. I forgave him for leaving and I loved him. It was the one thing I knew with absolute certainty. I loved Ash Fuller.

  He shifted next to me as if he sensed I was awake and tightened his grasp.

  “Hey.” His voice was all sexy and husky from sleep and I glanced up at him.

  “Hey,” I whispered.

  “Breakfast in bed?” he asked.

  “If we do that, then there’s no way you’ll ever get me to leave.”

  He cupped my ass in his big hand. “Sounds fuckin’ good to me.”

  Smiling, I said, “Let’s have a shower and go downstairs.”

  “You’re mean,” he complained, but his eyes brightened as he thought about something that was obviously very wicked. Sitting upright, he pulled me into his lap and bounded out of bed.

  “Ash!” I squealed as he strode into the bathroom.

  Setting me on my feet, he turned on the shower and declared, “Shower sex.”

  “You’re a fiend,” I murmured as he backed me into the warm water.

  “You want it.” He covered my mouth with his; kissing any comeback I could’ve thought of right off the tip of my tongue.

  Tearing my lips away, I said, “Fuck, I can’t keep my hands off you.”

  “Good.”

  Caressing a hand over my breast, he pressed me back into the tiled wall of the shower, melding his body against mine. I gasped as his already hard cock pressed against my stomach and he took full advantage, covering my parted lips with his own. His tongue twisted with mine, devouring with a hunger that couldn’t seem to be sated. More, I just wanted more...

  I trailed my hands down his back and grabbed his ass, digging my fingernails into his skin. In one swift movement, he hooked his hands underneath my ass and lifted me up, positioning me over his cock. I clamped my legs around his waist, beginning to ache as he pressed the head against my opening.

  “Ash,” I sighed.

  His gaze fixed on mine as he succumbed to his desire and slid into me, filling me to almost unbearable levels. He swirled his hips grinding against my clit, driving deeper and I moaned, unable to hold on anymore. It hadn’t taken much to make my release simmer after last night’s sex marathon.

  “I can’t hold on,” I gasped, digging my fingers into his shoulders. “Don’t stop.”

  “I’ve got you Spitfire,” Ash muttered and pulled out all the way to the tip of his cock. “I won’t stop.”

  He thrust into me and out again, setting up a rhythm that had me crying out for more.

  “Fuck,” he moaned as his lips settled against the crook of my neck and sucked.

  It was too much to handle and I fell over the edge, my orgasm ripping through me. I tightened around his cock as he kept stroking, his own release pulsing into my core.

  The moment I started to come down, I wanted to go right to the top again. I’d been sex starved for months after Ash had left; it was like I was trying to make up for lost time. We both were.

  His chest heaved against mine as his lips searched for my mouth and when we found each other, we kissed long and slow, putting the exclamation mark on our quick, but hot, shower fuck.

  My back slid down the tiles and as my feet hit the floor, my knees shook.

  “Every time Spitfire,” Ash murmured through a contented sigh.

  He reached for the soap and began washing off the scent of sex from our skin and I was happy to let him take care of me as I leaned back against the tiles, closing my eyes. Once he was done, he shut off the water and tugge
d on my arm, stepping from the shower.

  Wrapping me in a fresh towel, he began drying my body, the gentleness of his gestures almost sending me off the deep end into another kind of physical release. Tears. Ash Fuller was probably the only man in existence that I would let care for me like I was breakable. And he was the only man I would let do things for me…as long as he didn’t mind me doing things for him, too.

  “Shower sex is a close second,” he muttered like he was vocalizing his thoughts.

  “To what?” I asked as he toweled my breasts dry.

  He dropped the towel and moved his lips toward mine. “Sex on a gym mat.”

  “Fuck,” I moaned just as he kissed me. Pulling away, I added, “Get dressed. Fuck…get dressed.”

  “You think I’m horny.” He chuckled, turning away so he could pull on a pair of boxers.

  I didn’t have any clean clothes, so I tiptoed out into his room, an arm covering my breasts and began rifling through his drawers.

  “Looking for dirty secrets?” Ash asked, leaning over my shoulder.

  “Something to wear.”

  A lazy grin spread over his face as he grabbed a T-shirt from the top drawer and a moment later he pulled it over my head.

  “Do you want my boxers too?”

  Biting my bottom lip, I nodded. “Knowing what’s been in them before me...of course I do.”

  His jaw stiffened as he handed me a pair of clean boxers and shorts. “You test a man’s willpower Spitfire.”

  “Likewise Maverick.”

  Pulling away before I stripped again, I got dressed in his clothes, breathing in the familiar male scent that just stirred up the arousal between my legs even further. Controlling anger was one thing, but desire? That was probably the most difficult emotion of the lot.

  I perched on the end of the bed, watching Ash dress, and I wondered about what was going to happen next. Mostly about him and me together and what that meant, but also about what we were going to do with our lives. How could we both keep fighting in a way that made us both happy? Pro didn’t satisfy me in the least and it wasn’t an option for Ash.

  And his anger issues…it was fine while we were secluded in our own little world, but when he was let out and had to interact with society again…could he handle it then?

  “What about your medication?” I asked, watching as he pulled a T-shirt over his head. Last time I’d mentioned it, it’d been a sore spot. He’d been trying to make things better, but even I wasn’t sure the prescription they’d given him was doing any good. All it had seemed to do was sedate him, not help stabilize his mood.

  “I don’t want to take it anymore,” he said.

  “We can work something out,” I began. “Talk to the doctor. Find a new one.”

  “It’s okay Ren,” he said, his expression softening. “There’s other ways of dealing with my shit than getting doped up on pills. Natural remedies, a different diet. Violet has been looking it up for me.”

  “She has?”

  “Don’t get jealous,” he said, a small smile tugging at his lips.

  “I’m not jealous,” I lied.

  “There’s a few different things I can try with training,” he said changing the subject.

  “Like what?”

  “Instead of running on the treadmill, we can run from Beat down to the Zoo, through Royal Park and back. Fresh air, sun and all that.”

  “You wanna go back to Beat?” I exclaimed, my eyes widening. I was one hundred percent certain the moment that Ash walked through the doors the Twins would pound him into a pulp, and that was if my dad didn’t get to him first.

  “I need to make things right with your dad,” he said. “I need to tell him the entire story.”

  “He’s going to flip his stack.”

  Ash grunted. “I know, but I love you Ren. Your dad’s a part of your life now.”

  “I never needed my dad’s approval,” I said, still sore about Dad and his tentative father role in my life. “As far as I’m concerned neither do you.”

  Ash ran his hand over his face. “Ren, your dad pretty much saved me from landing head first into juvie at fifteen. His approval mightn’t matter to you, but it does to me.”

  “There’s a lot of shit waiting for you at Beat,” I said slowly. We hadn’t discussed Monica once and I wasn’t keen to start either. Then there was Dean and Lincoln who’d always had a rivalry with Ash and now that I was in the mix, they’d try and beat the crap out of him to avenge my honor.

  “I know and we’ll deal with it. You’re strong enough and I’m finally strong enough, too. Together-”

  “We’re invincible?” I asked with a grin.

  “Something like that.”

  Laughing, I rose to my feet, grabbed his hand and led him downstairs, my stomach beginning to rumble, and he followed me without complaint. The house was quiet, but it was still early and Violet hadn’t seemed to have woken up yet.

  Gesturing for Ash to sit down at the dining table while I fixed us both some breakfast, I couldn’t help feeling my body tingle as he watched my every move. The kitchen had become familiar territory over the past few weeks, considering I’d spent every day here. Bowls in the left cupboard, spoons in the draw by the sink and cereal in the top cupboard on the far wall.

  I sat the milk and cereal on the table and Ash pounced on them, filling his bowl to the brim. Where all that food went when he inhaled, I never knew. Men.

  “What’s the plan after your release?” I asked, sitting beside him and making up my own cereal.

  He dumped the bottle of milk onto the table with a thump. “I want to finish what I started.”

  My heart twisted in my chest and I smacked him in the arm. “No. Fuck, Ash. Not after everything…”

  “I’m not going to…” He grimaced, fisting his hand around his spoon.

  After such an intense and fucking amazing night together, the mention of Hammer and the rage Ash still felt towards him, threatened to overshadow it all. “Some things you can’t fight, no matter how hard you try. Some things you’ve just got to accept.”

  “I can’t accept the fact that he’s walking around out there, free, while I’ve rotted inside for five years.”

  “I know, Ash…”

  “Then what am I meant to do? Let him get away with it?”

  “No!”

  “Then what?”

  “Beat him at his own game.”

  Ash’s eyes began to widen as understanding began to hit him. “He’s back at The Underground.”

  “Trying to win the Championship from Hamish.”

  “Hamish won?”

  “The last two times.”

  “Fuckin’ good. If anyone should have it, it’s him.”

  I cocked my head to the side. “I didn’t know you guys were all buddy-buddy.”

  “We weren’t,” he said, placing a hand on my thigh. “But he wasn’t a fuckin’ dog like the rest of them. He fought fair and square.”

  “As fair as The Underground would allow,” I said wryly.

  “A new Championship will be starting soon,” Ash mused.

  “Six weeks.”

  He shifted in his chair and I knew he was getting himself worked up. “I want to go pound Hammer’s face right now.”

  “I know you do,” I said, placing my hand on his thigh, mirroring his on mine. “But we need to bide our time. Get you out of this house, train, and survey the competition. It all depends on who wins this round and who signs up for the next.”

  “Fuck you’re smart,” Ash breathed, leaning into me.

  Laughing I said, “The women’s league will be watered down some with the AUFC in full swing…”

  “Ren, you’re not-”

  I glared at him, digging my fingers into the thick muscles of his thigh. “I am.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “I know you don’t, but I’ve proved myself time and time again Maverick.”

  His lips thinned as he bit back whatever he was going to say an
d for once I was glad he didn’t want to talk about it. Maybe finally he realized the reason they’d called me Reign of Terror in the first place.

  “How many weeks until they take off that thing on your ankle?”

  “Five weeks. Not that I’m counting.” He winked and the small gesture lifted the mood entirely.

  “So it’s settled,” I declared. “We train like mad, get your ass to Beat and go back to The Underground and dish out some payback medicine.”

  Violet chose that moment to walk into the kitchen and I glanced at Ash.

  “She knows,” he said absently.

  “That he got himself all bloody in an underground fighting racket? That he bought this house with money he won illegally?” Violet said dramatically, opening the fridge. “I know all about that.” She said it with mock disapproval, but I gathered that she wasn’t too happy with it.

  “Don’t complain,” Ash said. “You like the house.”

  “You’re going back?” she asked, ignoring her brother’s jibe, fixing herself a bowl of cereal. “I thought you said they wouldn’t take you back.”

  “There’s a chance they won’t,” he said slowly, glancing at me.

  “We’ll just have to convince them,” I declared. “You were the major draw card only a few seasons ago. If you can prove you won’t fly off the handle again, then I reckon they’ll be foaming at the mouth to make some serious cash.”

  “You gunna write me a speech?” Ash grinned and hooked his foot around my ankle. The touch sent shivers up and down my spine and I couldn’t help grinning back. I wouldn’t mind going back upstairs and going at it again.

  “I see you two had a good time last night,” Violet declared, sitting at the other end of the table.

  “Violet,” Ash grumbled.

  I started laughing, throwing my head back.

  “So you guys are like, back together?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good.”

  I laughed, finally feeling alive for the first time in months. We finally had a plan, one that was only for the immediate future, but it was still something to work toward. There were more tough times coming, but at least this time we would face them together.