by Amy DeMeritt
“As long as Gloria doesn’t shriek like a banshee again.” Ashton grins at the glare Gloria is giving her. “Love you, babe.”
“Uh huh.”
“Speaking of walking in like a banshee, why did you decide to meet Skylar at the firehouse? Weren’t you the one acting all snooty in the bar saying you need to consult with her in a professional manner in your office? Meeting at the firehouse doesn’t seem very professional to me.”
“And where would you be if I didn’t? You wouldn’t know you have fractured ribs and might have injured yourself worse. You are very lucky I decided to pay you a visit and you’re very lucky that coffee spilled on you so I could see your bruise and discover the injuries you were ignoring.”
“I love how you twist everything to make yourself look so goddamn fantastic.”
“I don’t have to twist anything because I am so goddamn fantastic. I’m just stating the facts.”
“Right. So, why was my office better than yours?”
“Since Skylar’s last apartment building was riddled with fire code violations and safety concerns, I was going to request you join us on the tours so you could do a thorough inspection of any place she was interested in. I thought it would be nice to give her a bit of extra peace of mind.”
“You’re so sweet.” Gloria smirks as she gives Ashton an air kiss from her seat in the cushioned armchair next to the other side of the couch. “Sure, I can do that. It will give me something to do while I’m on medical leave.”
“And I’ll be able to keep an eye on you. Skylar, I’m free tomorrow from noon to three if you’d like to start then.”
“Yeah, that would be great. But, uh, how much do you charge for…?”
Ashton cuts Skylar off, saying, “Don’t worry about that. I’ll pay Gloria’s commission.”
“No, you have done too much for me already and…”
“Honey, I’m not going to charge you. I was going to do this pro bono as a friend. But I will gladly take Ashton’s money.”
Ashton laughs hard and picks up a pillow, pretending she’s going to throw it at Gloria.
Erin walks in with a beer and sits down next to Ashton, saying, “I don’t feel like cooking.”
“Then don’t. We’ll order in.”
“Let me see your back.”
Ashton nods as she sets Ember down on Erin’s lap and scoots forward to set her mug down on the coffee table. As she stands up, she pulls her shirt up, and Erin quickly stands and lightly places her hands on the large bruise.
“Shit, babe. Does it hurt?”
“Not too bad. Gloria made me take some ibuprofen when we got home.”
Erin gently glides her fingers over the large bruise on one shoulder and the large burn scar on her other. She can’t help but think they look like deformed angel’s wings – like a painful branding of the good she does for the community. Her eyes tear up and her throat tightens with emotion. She glides her hands forward and wraps her arms around Ashton, pulling her in close to kiss her shoulder.
Ashton looks over her shoulder, and asks at a whisper, “Still all in?”
“Yes. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Erin tugs on her hip, pulling her around to face her and wraps her arms around the back of her neck. She gently kisses her lips a few times, then slips her tongue forward. She sucks and nips her bottom and top lips between tumbling twists of their tongues and runs her fingers up through Ashton’s hair.
“They would make good porn, right? You should hear them when they’re having sex. It’s very hot stuff.”
Ashton laughs against Erin’s lips and pulls away to look over at Gloria, who is grinning at her over the rim of her coffee mug.
“You’re a freak.”
“So are you, baby. Now, pull your shirt down and settle down so we can order dinner.”
“You’re so bossy.”
“You need me to be.”
Ashton laughs and lunges forward to grab her sides. Gloria squeals as she quickly sets her coffee down and grabs Ashton’s hands, trying to pry her off.
Between gasping laughs, she demands, “Ashton Maria Hyland, you stop it right this minute,” making Ashton laugh and tickle her harder. After a few moments, she releases her and Gloria lightly slaps her cheek. “That was completely uncalled for.”
“I disagree, obviously. What do you want for dinner, bossy woman?”
“I think you should take us all out someplace nice for making all of us worry about you today.”
“Yeah? How nice? Nice, like I have to shower and change into slacks? Or nice like they don’t have a drive-thru window?”
Gloria hums as she grabs the collar of Ashton’s tee shirt and pulls her down to kiss her lips. “Someplace in between so you still have to change out of this damn tee shirt.”
“What’s wrong with my tee shirt?”
“It’s not dinner date material unless you’re taking us for fast food. Which, I will not allow you to do.”
“Allow me?”
“Oh, good lord.” Erin laughs as she grabs Ashton’s hips, pulling her up from leaning over Gloria with her hands resting on the chair. She pats Ashton’s ass, saying, “Come on, let’s put you in something nicer before you two get into a ridiculous back and forth for no reason.”
“You know, both of you are really bossy. And have either of you even asked Skylar if she wants to have dinner with this crazy group for a second night in a row?”
With her blushing cheeks slightly twitching with the effort to control her smile, Skylar answers, “If you really want me with you, I’d love to come to dinner with you.”
“You help keep this one,” Ashton jerks a thumb towards Gloria, “tamed with your presence, so yeah, you can come.”
Skylar laughs as Gloria spanks Ashton’s ass really hard. “You guys are funny.”
“Come on, babe, let’s get you dressed.”
Erin tugs on Ashton’s hand, pulling her out of the living room and down the hall to her bedroom. Ashton closes the door behind them and swiftly picks Erin up and tosses her on the bed, making her laugh hard. With a naughty grin, Ashton climbs on top of her between her thighs and grabs for the button on her jeans.
Laughing and squirming under her, Erin grabs Ashton’s hands, saying, “We can’t do that right now. And you should not be picking me up with two fractured ribs.”
“Babe, I’m fine, really. It’s just a little bump.”
Erin exhales hard as she wraps her arms around the back of her neck. She gives Ashton a slow, soft kiss, and as she pulls away from the kiss, she places a hand on her cheek. “Ash, it wasn’t just a little bump. A fucking staircase fell on you. You could have died. Ash, please don’t downplay the seriousness of your injuries or the situations you go through out of fear of me ending things again.”
“You can end it right now and I know we’ll be back together again next week. You’re addicted to me, babe. You want me bad.” She bends into Erin’s neck and gives her a slow sucking kiss just below her ear, making her head roll back in pleasure with a breathy groan. “You want me to take your pants off and make you scream till your throat hurts.”
She gives Erin a few soft kisses on her lips, and while looking into her beautiful green eyes, Ashton continues, “You want to meet me at the end of the flower carpeted aisle and vow to be mine forever. You want me to knock you up with our babies. You want to grow old with me and retire someplace sunny and sandy. If I downplay something, it’s not because I’m afraid of you leaving. It’s because I’m just being a cocky asshole who would rather make love to you than think about how I and my two best guys almost died today.”
With tears in her eyes, Erin pulls her down into an emotional and fervent kiss. While their lips and tongues wildly clash together, Erin reaches between them and unbuttons and unzips Ashton’s pants. As they slip their hands under the waist of each other’s underwear, Erin gasps and stalls in the kiss.
“No screaming, babe.”
Erin groan
s as she pulls Ashton down to press her mouth against the front of her shoulder.
“Skylar saw me topless today.”
Erin laughs a little, then moans deeply into Ashton’s shoulder as Ashton pulses her fingers against her G-spot.
“Did she like it?”
“I think she did.”
Erin groans and gasps deeply as she thrusts her hips up to take Ashton’s fingers in deeper.
“Of course, she did. You’re fucking hot. Tell me about it. What did she do?”
“You’re such a bad girl. It really turns you on when another woman is checking me out, doesn’t it?”
Ashton nibbles her neck and sucks her earlobe as she thrusts her fingers deep and hard. Erin screams into her shoulder and grips her ass with her other hand.
“Yes, baby, yes. Oh, fuck. Did she want to touch you?”
Breathing hard and lightly moaning from Erin’s hand working between her thighs, Ashton licks the curve of Erin’s ear with the tip of her tongue, and whispers, “She did.”
“Fuck. What? What did she do? Tell me. Oh, Ash, please fucking tell me.”
“When my bra was still on, she traced my abs.”
“You have great abs. What else?”
“I had to take my bra off so Morgan could put burn cream on me. Gloria hugged me afterwards and hurt my back. She spun me and Skylar caught my hip to steady me.” She moans deeply against Erin’s neck. “We ended up pressed front to front while Gloria was looking at my back.”
“Right there, don’t stop. Oh, fuck, baby, I love you. Oh, fuck. Did she like it? Tell me she liked it.”
Ashton releases a laughing moan and bites Erin’s neck. “I think maybe she did.”
“She liked it. Oh, fuck. I’m coming.”
She presses her mouth harder against Ashton’s shoulder and releases a muffled scream into the strong muscle as her body begins to shudder. When her quakes turn into spasms, Ashton pulls her hand out and Erin quickly sends her over the edge. She falls breathless and listless on top of her and Erin runs gentle hands over her back and head.
As Ashton lifts her head with a smile, Erin firmly slaps her cheek with narrowed eyes, and says, “You better not fuck that girl.”
“For fucks sake, babe. Seriously?”
“I’m serious.”
“I have never cheated on anyone in my life. I told you, I’m all in. I’m not looking anywhere else.”
“What were you thinking when you were pressed against her today – topless?”
“I was thinking it must be really awkward for her and I was watching for any signs that she was scared or felt assaulted. I was basically just waiting for her to run out of there and never want to speak to me again. I was waiting for her to look disgusted that a half-naked woman twice her age was pressed up against her.”
“You weren’t at all hopeful that she was enjoying it?”
“Hey, to be fair, I think anyone’s ego would hope the person their naked body is pressed against is enjoying it and not repulsed by it.” Erin laughs a little with a perturbed pout. “But in terms of humoring some fanciful notion of an age-gap romance playing out – no, that wasn’t on my mind at all.”
“Good, because if you were, it was going to totally ruin my little fantasy I was writing while you were fucking me.”
“Tell me about it.”
The bedroom door flies open and Gloria walks in with her high heels clicking on the hardwood floor.
“I knew it. Get the hell off of that bed and get dressed.”
“What, no threat to join us this time?”
Gloria smirks at Ashton as she struts across the bedroom. She lays down on her side next to them propped up on an elbow and grips Ashton’s ass.
“Make your move, baby.”
“You’re bluffing.”
“And you’re stalling.”
“Maybe I was just waiting for you to come in and pick my clothes since you didn’t like how I dressed myself last night.”
“And now you’re trying to bullshit me. But fine, I’ll play along. Go wash the damn cum off of your fingers and I’ll pick your clothes.”
“You’re so bossy.”
Ashton darts to the side, planting a firm kiss on Gloria’s lips, then stands up, pulling Erin up with her so they can get ready to leave.
Chapter Fourteen
With tears of pain in her eyes and a groan of frustration, Ashton throws her sports bra on the bed and storms out of the bedroom to the kitchen. She grabs a bottle of ibuprofen from the cabinet and a glass to fill from a filtering pitcher in the fridge. But as she’s about to grab the pitcher, she grabs a beer instead and slams the door. She storms to the living room, completely forgetting to take the medicine, and sits down on the couch.
Ember comes bouncing across the area rug meowing and paws at Ashton’s foot, so she bends down and picks up her little fur-baby.
“Your mommy forgot that the day after injuring ribs hurts like a mother fucker. I can’t even dress myself. How pathetic is that?” Ember meows and licks Ashton’s thumb. “Thanks for trying to cheer me up, but I absolutely hate this. I hate being on medical leave. But it’s better than being dead.” She exhales hard and kisses Ember’s head. “Don’t worry, if something ever happens to me, Erin will take care of you.”
She carefully leans back against the soft couch so she doesn’t hurt her ribs and takes a swig of beer. She tilts her head to look at the clock on the wall and groans.
“This is torture, Ember, absolute torture. I should be at work answering fire alarms and putting out fires. I should be training new firefighters or drawing up maps of historical buildings at least. But no, I have to be on freaking medical leave. I’m not an invalid, you know?” She scoffs at herself and takes a swig of beer. “Who am I kidding? I can’t even put on a bra right now. This really sucks.”
She guzzles the rest of her beer and walks back to the kitchen with Ember in her hand playfully licking and nibbling her fingertips. As she bends over to set her on the floor, she groans in pain from stretching her bruised and fractured ribs and shoulder. She pets Ember once then opens a can of food and serves it on a plate next to her water bowl.
“Okay, I’m going to attempt to finish getting dressed.”
Feeling defeated, yet determined, Ashton returns to her bedroom and snatches the sports bra off of the bed. But before she can make another attempt to get it on, the intercom for the downstairs security door buzzes.
She rushes to her front door and pushes the button, inquiring, “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Skylar.”
She pushes the button to unlock the electronic security door downstairs. “Come on up and let yourself in.”
“Thanks.”
She races back to her bedroom and tenses her jaw through the pain as she puts her arms through the arm openings of the sports bra. But as she starts to pull it down over her head, contracting the bruised muscles in her shoulder, she releases a groaning scream of pain and stops. She takes a few deep breaths, pinches her eyes closed tight, and tries again. And just like the other six times, she screams in pain and rips the bra off over her head and throws it down on the bed. She sits down on the edge of her bed with her face in her hands, taking deep steadying breaths through her fingers. She suddenly regrets not owning a single standard bra that wraps and clasps in the back, especially since she has been through this situation numerous times before and should know better by now.
“Ash? Are you okay in there?”
She looks up at the door expecting Skylar to be standing in the doorway, but she’s not. She takes a deep breath and runs a hand through her hair.
“Ash?”
“Yeah, no, fine, just having some difficulties with the ribs and being able to fucking dress myself.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“No. I’ll just wait for Gloria. You can go make yourself comfortable. I’ll just…”
“Just tell me what you need.”
She looks up from the floor to see Sk
ylar standing in her bedroom, looking at her with a kind, patient smile. Skylar walks over to stand in front of Ashton and sets her purse down on her long chest of drawers.
“It’s too weird for me to ask you to…”
“You’re not asking. I’m offering.” She bends over to pick up the bra and holds it up, asking, “Is this what’s causing you trouble?” She smiles and taps Ashton’s arm, saying, “Arms up.”
“This is ridiculous. I’m a grown woman. I should be able to do this myself.”
“And under normal circumstances, I’m sure you are marvelous at dressing yourself. But you have two fractured ribs and a seriously bruised and swollen shoulder. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and just let me help you.”
“You’ve been hanging out with Gloria too much.”
Skylar laughs hard and tugs on Ashton’s elbow. “Come on, arms up.”
“Fine.”
Ashton raises her arms above her head and Skylar steps forward to put the bra on over her arms but stops and gently places two fingers on her neck, and asks, “Did you put something on these burns already?”
She drops her arms and shakes her head. “No, I forgot. I’ll do that first.”
Skylar tosses the bra down on the bed next to Ashton, but she doesn’t move back. Ashton smiles as she loosely grabs Skylar’s hips and gently pushes her backwards a few paces so she can stand up.
“Oh, sorry.” Skylar blushes with a bashful giggle and brushes her hair behind her ear.
“You’re fine.”
She follows Ashton to her master bathroom and watches her squat down to pull a first aid kit out of the vanity cabinet.
“I love your bathroom. Those gray stone tiles in the shower are gorgeous.”
“Thanks. When I first viewed this place, they had these horrible cheap white and black checkered tiles in here. I ripped it all out and redid the whole bathroom before moving in.”
“Wow, they let you do that?”
With a smug grin Ashton stands with a tube of burn cream in her hand. “Let me? I just did it. They can keep my deposit if I ever move and they have a problem with it. It’s worth it just to not have to look at those horrible greasy diner tiles in my bathroom. I mean, seriously, who puts checkered tiles in a fucking bathroom? I redid the floor and put a better vanity in too. I actually did them a favor, so they can stuff it if they have any complaints.”