~Ashlynn~
Cooper taking me on a hike at Hamilton Pool in Marble Falls was something I’d always wanted to do. I loved to hike and didn’t get to do it as much as I’d like. I dressed in my favorite blue jean shorts, my tank and my trail shoes. I loved to get out in the fresh air and listen to the ground crunch underneath my feet. Cooper packed us a picnic to take along. The whole hike Cooper didn’t let go of my hand. He walked in front of me like he usually did when we’re walking somewhere we weren’t familiar with. It was his way of protecting me and I loved it. I kept taking a look at his fine ass as we walked up the trail. He was wearing black camo shorts -cargo style- and a gray tank top. Sexy as hell.
The temperature was comfortable today which was unusual this time of year. It was usually so hot you couldn’t even be outside without melting. At the end of the trail was the Pedernales River. Hmmm, maybe we could have some water fun. I happened to wear my skimpiest bathing suit under my clothes I got at Victoria Secrets. We walked and walked for a good hour and it felt great. We hadn’t passed anyone in over half of that time. Cooper seemed to know where he was going and I’d come to see him as a planner. When he planned our dates, he always knew exactly where we were going and he knew about the area as if he researched it. Don’t get me wrong, he is spontaneous too, much more than me.
We finally reached the end of the trail and there were a few large rocks in the middle of a small lake. He led me to the other side of the rocks where there was a beautiful large oak tree. It was partly in the sun and in the shade. He spread a quilt down and started to unpack our picnic. I sat right in front of him and watched. He layed back on the quilt and crooked his finger at me to come down on the blanket with him and smiled. I layed down right beside him on his arm and he cradled me in. I turned my head to line up with his and kissed him. It was soft at first and I let out a light moan. He was on top of me quickly and was moving his tongue in and out of my mouth with perfect rhythm with mine. He started to move his hand down my body to my stomach then back up to my face.
“You are so beautiful Ashlynn. I love you so much.”
“I love you more Cooper.”
Cooper stood up and started to back off of me slowly. Uhhhh, wait where are you going?
He gestured for me to get up too. “What do you think about joining me in the lake?”
“Sure, Coop. I was hoping we were going to get in.”
Cooper started to take off his clothes. All the way down to nothing. I sat and admired. I knew he had an amazing body, but, seeing it in sunlight out here in the middle of the day showed he is quite a piece of art. He worked hard to stay in shape for his job. I giggled at him and gave him a whistle. He turned around, winked at me with that sexy ass southern smile, and jumped in the water. I walked over to the water with my bright pink swimsuit on that barely covered my boobs. He might be brave enough to do that, but no way was I stripping until I was in the water; not to mention I wanted him to see me in my bikini I bought for him. I got to the shore of the lake and started to give him a little strip show. I turned around and wiggled my ass a little bit at him and then I turned back around. I started to untie my bikini top slowly and turned the other way so he couldn’t see me.
Cooper gave me a pouty face. “Come on Ash, don’t do that. I want to see you.”
I let it fall and then cup my breasts and pushed them up. He started whistling at me. Hmmm should I take my bottoms off now or in the water? He was fun to tease. I walked the rest of the way to the water and then removed my bottoms. I threw them behind me and then dived in. Once I was in, I take a quick look around to see if anyone was around us. Thank God! I hadn’t heard anything since we passed the last group of people a couple hours ago. Cooper swam up to me lightening fast and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He was so hard he could poke a hole through my leg. I leaned back just slightly while he was holding me to get my hair all wet and to make sure it stayed out of my face. I came back up to him and I was greeted with a look of pure ecstasy, of pure animal want. I grabbed him by the neck and kissed him as deep as I could. I started to rub against him and it felt so good. He was amazing. This was a new experience to me being in the water where the temperature was perfect. Our bodies were on fire with passion for each other. I continued rubbing against him and grabbing at him at the same time. I couldn’t stop touching him. He grabbed my ass so hard and squeezed it. I damn near let out a scream with wanting him in me, but, I didn’t. I just kept rocking back and forth on him. He had his arms around me and was rocking into me too. I finished and screamed out his name. He kissed my neck and kept stroking my back. He clutched my legs more firmly around his waist.
“Hold on baby.”
He walked us out of the water and headed us back to the quilt. I was kissing his ears as he walked us over to our spot. He had not let go of me. We got to the quilt and he layed me down with kisses from my toes all the way up to my neck soft with a touch of his slick warm tongue. He grazed over my center and just gently licked enough to let me know what was to come. Damn him! He loved to tease me.
I pulled his face up to mine and kissed him like he was my air. He is what my life depended on. I realized 100 percent at this moment that our souls were one. We made a whole. My heart beat for him and he was my reason for living.
“Cooper please I can’t wait any longer. I want you in me now.”
He gently spread my legs and entered me. I felt whole when he was in me. We were made to be together. He moved slow and steady. He started to whisper in my ear as he made love to me.
“Ashlynn, I love you so much. I was made for you. I have waited so long to find you so I could give my heart to you.”
I have had Cooper in me when he was fucking me and then I have had sweet love making Cooper. I loved both. As I moved my hips with him, I grabbed his ass and clawed into it. Damn it was firm. I looked down and saw how we were joined together.
“Baby, you like what you see, me and you together?”
“Hell yes Cooper, I love it when you’re in me. You have total control of my body and you know it don’t you?”
Cooper just nodded his head yes with a huge smile on his face.
He moved a few more times in me and then finished. I could feel him inside me and I loved it. I loved knowing I brought him to this. One day with any luck we would be doing this to make a baby. We would be starting a family and making little Coopers and little Ashlynns. I’d never wanted to have children until I’d felt the love Cooper gives me.
He moved off me and lay beside me. We lay there looking at the sky trying to catch our breath. We both were shaking still feeling the after effects of our release. I tried to pull up some of the quilt to cover some of my body suddenly remembering we were outside. I cuddled to my side and lay right in the curve of Cooper.
After we were all relaxed, Cooper was ready to feed me. “You ready to eat our lunch sweetheart?”
“Sure, then maybe we can do that again before we leave.” I smiled and laughed.
“Sweetheart we can do that any time you want.”
Lunch was great but not as good as our love making. It was sandwiches and fruit, the perfect amount of food and Cooper even cut it special for me. He fed me fruit and I layed back on him as we stared at the sky.
I told Cooper how I was the happiest I have ever been right now. The happiest I could remember. The things that most people wanted mean nothing to me. Material things had little value to me. I wanted happiness, I wanted real love, and I wanted simplicity, stability, to laugh and to live. I wanted to spend my mornings waking up with the love of my life and the evenings sitting in a rocking swing with him. I wanted to be loved unconditionally under all circumstances. I wanted honesty and trust. I laughed for a minute. “Cooper everything I want out of life costs zero, but, yet seemed so hard to find until I met you.”
“I know what you mean Ashlynn. You telling me what you want is like looking in a mirror. We want the same things out of life. It’s like you are reading my mind.”
It was a
beautiful day and I never wanted it to end. I wondered if my mom was looking down whooping and hollering for me. We heard voices over the water and looked and see small groups of people coming. I guess our private time was over, for now anyway.
Chapter 24
~Ashlynn~
Age 12
The beatings didn’t get better, in fact, they got worse. I got older and was trying to stay gone as much as possible. I don’t know what happened when I was gone, but I do know when I came back my mom was slipping further away from me. She was miserable. I can’t say that I blame her; we were in a living hell. No matter what she did, it wasn’t right. Nick seemed to get crazier and crazier. Even though people saw it around us they did nothing. I think they were scared for their own life. He was a ticking time bomb. I came home on a Sunday afternoon after being at McKoy’s since Friday to find Nick asleep on the couch. He was passed out. As soon as I walked in, I started to smell this awful smell like something was burning. I walked to my room and walked back to the living room when I heard the fire alarm going off. He had dropped his cigarette on the couch and it had started a fire. He wasn’t moving and was still passed out. Mom was in her room and heard the alarm and came running out. She ran for a bucket of water and started to put it out. I looked at her mad. I had hoped that the fire would hurt him enough so that he couldn’t hurt my mom anymore. She put out the fire and he still didn’t wake up. We stood there staring at him. He finally woke up a few minutes later and had no idea what had happened. He stood up and looked at my mom and then slapped her. She was so close to me standing, I could feel the wind from his large hand. She cried and stood there. She didn’t move, she didn’t say anything. I walked out of the living room and went back to my room praying she would learn to stand up for herself, but I also had to pray that it would not get her killed.
I awakened with a jolt and almost felt like my breath was being pushed out of me. I was having more and more flashbacks during my sleep or during the day when victims came in. I tried for years to keep my past in the past and look towards the future. Why are these memories coming back and haunting me now?
ღ
~Cooper~
I was nervous tonight for some reason. No matter what I did, I couldn’t shake it. I had a horrible day at work today. I was called out to six domestic calls and none of them ended the way I intended them too. I felt like my job was worthless at this point. Less victims my ass. It seemed to be doubling. I was exhausted and needed to be next to Ashlynn tonight. Ashlynn my calm in the storm. Some days are just worse than others and I can’t forget what I’ve seen. This was one of those days. The more years I do this, I realize that sometimes I’m just in the right place at the right time. God knows I was driven to be there to help.
I texted Ashlynn knowing how late it was, but I had to see my girl. I needed to see her face and hold her. I got to her house and crawled in beside her. I fell asleep next to her pretty quick feeling her warmth and her heartbeat. I felt her breathing and it soothed me.
I was sleeping really well next to Ashlynn when I hear Max start barking. I looked over at the clock and it read 3:00 am. Max started to go crazy and I shot up out of bed on full alert.
I looked over at Ash and she was sitting up in bed with the sheet pulled up over her. The look on her face, I’ll remember until the day I die. She was scared shitless. I knew it was my job to protect her and I would do it without hesitation. I put my index finger to my mouth and gesture her to be quiet. I grabbed my gun and started to walk towards the window to look out the corner of the curtain. I didn’t see anything. We were both standing there naked. I heard a sound in the kitchen and I looked at Ashlynn and told her to stay in the bed. I knew she didn’t want to stay put, but, I was hoping she listened to me.
I walked out of the room and got into the living room walking further toward the kitchen. I checked all the doors and everything seemed like it was when I came in the house earlier. I did notice the back door was unlocked and that was where Max was barking. It didn’t look like it had been opened. I finally told Ash everything was fine and crawled back in bed with her. My heart was still beating fast from being worried I was going to have to act. I was ready too. I had my gun drawn and I wasn’t going to think twice about it.
ღ
~Nick~
I got a call from Russell again. He had a friend at the station who said that Cooper Brooks had been snooping around asking info about my whereabouts. Crystal ended up in a shelter after I beat her recently. I figured she would have done back home to her folks. Instead she stayed in town and went to a shelter. Figures. Stupid bitch didn’t even know how to leave me right. She happened to pick the one shelter that Ashlynn worked at. This Cooper, Ashlynn was dating was a “to do everything right citizen.” Just makes me sick. Probably a rich kid that never worked for anything. Crystal’s stupid ass sure didn’t help me. I needed to start to make my plans a little quicker. Time was running out, I could feel it.
ღ
~Cooper~
I decided I was going to surprise Ashlynn with a coffee from Starbucks at the shelter. Normally no men are allowed into the shelter, but, since I was a police officer, I was able to get clearance. I was waiting in her office sitting in her chair when she came in to get some files and enter some information into her computer. I could smell her by just her light jacket on her chair.
“Oh my God, Cooper what are you doing here? You know I don’t like surprises, but you are a good one!”
“I just brought you a frappe that I know you could use. Do you have a minute?”
“Cooper is everything okay? You are worrying me.” Ashlynn’s face turned to a frown and I could tell she was nervous by the way she was fiddling with her fingers.
“Yes baby calm down. Don’t always assume the worse”. I took her face in my hands and kissed her nose.
“Listen, I would like to take you away for the weekend. What does this weekend look like? I know it is late in the week, but it would mean a lot to me.”
“Let me see if Rhonda can cover the few women I was planning on coming up to check on Saturday. Other than that I should be fine. Where are we going?”
“I’d like to take you to South Padre again. I know you hate to fly, but we’ll be together. It is super short and since we do not have much time since I can only get off the two days, we will get there faster and get to spend more time at the beach. Watcha think?”
“We can’t drive?”
“Sweetheart, it will take six hours to drive and if we fly we can get there in an hour. That will give us more time for the beach and I already have some plans made for us. Not to mention, I plan to reward you for being a good girl and making it through the flight.” I raised my eyebrows up and down smiling. Usually when I make this face Ashlynn can’t resist me.
“Hmmm,” She tapped her finger to her lips. Damn I love her lips.
“Okay, how can I resist you? It’ll be fun but you know I’m going to be a nervous wreck until we get there safely. Do you think eventually I will get over the fear of flying?”
See, the look works every time!
“I don’t know Ashlynn, but I do know no one will ever hurt you and that means planes, as well. I hope you come to love it like I do.”
Rhonda walked in to tell me the new victim just admitted was asking for Ashlynn.
“Don’t hold your breath on that one Mr. Brooks. I have to get back to work, but I’m so looking forward to our weekend. This week has been a hard one on me so you taking me away for the weekend sounds like heaven. I love you Cooper.”
“I love you too sweetheart. I’ll let you get back to work. I’ll call you this evening.”
I turned around and walked out the door. I had some plans to get lined up and not much time to do it in.
Chapter 25
~McKoy~
My phone rang and I saw it’s Cooper. Shit. I wonder what was wrong. My heart skipped a beat. He wouldn’t be calling me unless something was wrong with my Ashlynn.
&nbs
p; “Hey McKoy, its Cooper. You busy?”
“Is everything ok?” Please let Ashlynn be okay.
“Yes, everything is fine. I am actually calling you to talk to you about Ashlynn. I hope you know how much I worship her. I love her with all my being. Anyway, since her mom is no longer with us and her father is not around, I wanted to ask you for permission to ask her to marry me.”
Silence. Crickets. I didn’t know what to say. I knew how Ashlynn felt. I saw the love they had between each other. I couldn’t believe he was being such a gentleman. Ashlynn’s mom would have loved him.
“McKoy are you there? Please tell me you didn’t hang up on me.”
“I’m here.”
I heard muffles. Was she crying?
“McKoy are you okay? Did I say something wrong?”
“Oh Cooper, NO! I am so happy for Ashlynn and you. She has finally let a man in. I happily give you my approval. There is no other man I would want for her. My heart is so full for her right now.”
“Glad to hear it. I knew if you approved Grace would too. You girls are her closest family. I can’t wait to have her as my wife. I love Ashlynn more than life itself.”
“And Mc, DON’T say anything. I know how you and the girls are. I’m taking her away for the weekend and planning to pop the question.”
“My lips are sealed, but you better hurry because I don’t know how long I can keep them that way. You know I can’t lie to her and if she notices something is up, it will be hell to pay for me.”
“Thanks Mc. I would marry her tomorrow if I could.”
I hung up the phone and sighed a deep breath of relief. I didn’t doubt that McKoy was going to tell me yes, but it just confirmed that everyone saw what I was feeling. This was meant to be. Ashlynn was made for me. We were made to be together.
ღ
~Cooper~
I got on the computer and made our flight arrangements. I started to get so excited, like a damn girl. I have officially lost my balls! I even wanted to scream from the roof tops with happiness or cry from nervousness. I picked up the ring on the way to see if I could convince Ashlynn to go. Luckily she gave in. The ring was perfect. McKoy was able to get me her ring size, how I don’t know, but either way she pulled it off. The ring was one carat white gold with a princess cut. It was going to look perfect on her little fingers. Ashlynn had talked constantly over our relationship how she didn’t like big jewelry. She liked simplicity. I would give this woman the world, but she wanted to downplay everything. She wanted security and could give two shits about possessions. Security was one thing I could damn well give her. I could also give her a beautiful ring to wear on her finger. Every time she looked down at it she would think of me and my love for her (not to mention every poor bastard that looks at her will know she’s mine). The lady at the jewelry store advised me that the reason you wear your wedding ring on your left finger is because it is the only finger with an artery to your heart to connect to one’s heart. She is my heart, my complete heart. I hope she likes it. I saw it and knew instantly that was the ring I wanted Ashlynn, as my wife, to wear. There was another ring that crossed over it to make almost an infinity sign that I would buy for her for our wedding day. It would look fantastic on her.
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