All Fired Up (24 page)

‘Ash!’

‘What? It’s nice,’ he said, sliding back and forth between her clenched thighs. ‘Your clit’s plenty hot and bothered by it.’

That was true and half the problem. It felt good but left her wanting. She needed filling up.

‘Ash,’ she tried pleading once again, but he just ignored her and kept on driving up her need without showing any signs of delivering on it. It called for desperate measures.

Mirroring his hold upon her backside, she began paying his arse a heap of attention, going so far as to slide a couple of fingers into the channel between the two muscular globes of his tush. When she circled over the little puckered entrance there, the whole of him flexed, not just his cock, and she very nearly got what she wanted.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Teasing, the same as you.’

‘You know I don’t like …’ His eyes widened as she brought one hand up to her mouth and wetted two fingers.

With only a small adjustment to the position of his hips he could have slid straight in, but no, he wouldn’t back down, so she didn’t either. ‘I’m going to do it, you know.’

‘Don’t.’ His eyes were twinkling with excitement, and an intense tremor of arousal rolled through his body as she stroked her wetted digits over his arsehole. He accepted both fingertips with little resistance. For someone who claimed he didn’t like this sort of thing, he sure was excited by it. He bit his lip, but couldn’t stop needy, God-that’s-so-good groans escaping his mouth.

‘More?’ she asked.

Ash didn’t answer with words but peppered her face with ardent kisses.

‘Like me to get a bit deeper?’

‘Lick me,’ he murmured into her skin. He wasn’t quite begging, but she figured he was only a few finger strokes away from that.

* * *

Ash rolled onto his back, legs lifted so that he was splayed open to Ginny’s touch. Thank the Lord, she didn’t make him wait, because he was fucking desperate for more. Her tongue tickled as she teased his cock and balls first, then targeted in on his hole. Her finger-fucking had already made him so sensitive that he’d lost almost all inhibition. Only one other person had done this to him. One other person he’d let get anywhere near his arse. He’d liked it a little too much that first time round, which is why he’d ended up doing things his rational mind would have vetoed. Ginny didn’t have the equipment to take it that far, thankfully, but what she was doing was enough to make him feel raw and just a little crazy. He had to stroke himself as she licked. He was just too bloody aroused not too. What that girl – his girl – was prepared to do – was doing – was plain old wicked. No wonder he friggin’ loved it. He wasn’t selfish though. He believed in taking care of those he loved.

Yeah, he loved her. Just a little, you know … Translation, more than he could understand, and almost losing her had spotlighted exactly how far gone he was. He knew it was too soon, but he wanted to put a ring on her finger, to match the diamond barbell he’d claimed her pussy with. He wondered if she’d let him. A smile creased his face. Maybe by Christmas. He could picture it, snow all around, twinkling stars above and him getting old-fashioned.

The last part gave him a moment of doubt, but he couldn’t let his past spoil the future.

Of course, first he needed to work on showing her just how much she meant. ‘Come here,’ he insisted. Much as he could happily lie here groaning incoherently until he went supernova, he’d much rather she went with him when it happened.

Ginny shimmied her lithe body up the bed alongside him but didn’t end up quite where he’d anticipated – on top. Instead, she lay by his side, her butt pressed against his loins, but her upper torso twisted so that one arm wrapped around his shoulders and drew him in for a life-affirming kiss. ‘Yeah,’ he sighed, accepting the smooch. Actually, maybe this angle could be fun. He lifted her upper leg so that he had a straight, smooth ride into her pussy.
Yeah, that was fucking nice.
In fact a whole lot more than fucking nice, because he was in a position to suck on the nipple perked up in front of him too.

The way she responded, with a bone-deep exhalation of pleasure, convinced him to stay put and ride her with a steady rhythm. It was one of those occasions when he wished he was a three-armed alien; then he could have given her perked-up clit some action too. Luckily, Ginny wasn’t coy or shy about her body. She was happy to touch herself if it helped things along. She was so relaxed and comfortable with bringing herself pleasure in his arms, in time with his strokes, that it made him breathless. ‘I love you,’ he gasped, looking her in the eyes.

‘Yes,’ she agreed, holding his gaze, though he could see she was fighting to do so as her body rushed headlong towards orgasm.

‘Think you can hold out so that we can come together?’

‘Only if you’re going to come like now. Right now.’

Ash ramped up the pace of his thrust, which made her head tilt backwards and her eyelids slide shut. She arched, jaw tightening as she fought to look at him again.

‘Oh, God! Oh, God!’

He kissed her as she came, until the possessive clamping of her muscles around his cock set him off too, and his systems flipped over to autopilot.

Yeah, he definitely liked this position. He got to cuddle her close as the aftershocks lashed their bodies, without fearing he’d crush her or leave her occupying the wet patch. Also, he didn’t need to pull out right away. He really liked coming down together slowly. Especially when she kissed him like he was the saviour of the universe.

She was certainly the mistress of his.

‘Are you wide awake enough for breakfast now?’ he asked, when they eventually parted. He leaned over to pick the duvet up off the floor. It seemed to have been kicked aside at some point.

‘I might need a little nap.’

Nope. Nope, that was not the correct answer. Instead of pulling the duvet back into position on top of them, he unfastened a couple of the poppers and wriggled inside the cover, then reared up over her, spectre-like.

‘Duvet monster hungry,’ he roared, his voice low and gravelly. ‘Will have to eat little Ginny up.’ He blindly pounced on her and set about mercilessly tickling every bit he could lay a hand on, growling and pretending to take fake bites.

‘Get off. No,’ she squealed, wriggling and trying to bat him away, but failing because she was laughing too hard. ‘All right, I give in. Stop it. Stop it. I’ll get up. Promise. We can go and eat now.’

‘Sure?’

‘Absolutely.’

Ash tugged the cover off his head. Just a minute covered up like that had left him damp with sweat and with his hair sticking up at wild angles. ‘Damn, it’s hot in there.’ He kissed her properly, without a layer of poly-cotton in the way. ‘We’ll shower afterwards, OK? Just get dressed for now, because my appetite is thoroughly worked up.’

‘Ash,’ she said catching hold of his hand as he made to leap out of bed. ‘You’re a doofus and I love you for it.’

‘Yeah,’ he replied, returning to give her another kiss. ‘And I’m completely besotted with you too, but that’s a secret, so shush.’

Actually, he had no intention of keeping it secret any longer – at least, not after today and he’d dealt with Iain. He was going to shout it from the goddamned rooftops and admit it to the crowds of fans when he and the guys played on stage. She was his, his Ginny, and he’d bury anyone who ever tried to steal her away again.

* * *

Ash tried to contact Xane again after his second and third rounds of breakfast. Even given the amount of exercise he did to burn it off, Ginny wasn’t sure where the hell he put it.

‘He must be fucking,’ Ash sighed, when Xane failed to reply yet again. His call to Spook was a little more productive. Spook just sounded relieved to find out he was in the vicinity of that night’s venue and wasn’t at the bottom of a ditch somewhere. Ash didn’t tell him anything about Ginny or Iain. He insisted he wasn’t saying a thing until he had everyone in the same space so they could formulate a cohesive action plan.

Xane replied by text several hours later, as they were standing in the hotel lobby waiting for a taxi to take Ash to the stadium.

I’m on my way, OK. Stop bloody hassling me. Only one of you needed to call.

Ash’s attempt to respond resulted in a ‘service unavailable’ message. ‘Swine’s pulled the SIM card out again,’ he complained. ‘He’s going to leave me with diddly-squat time to sort this out.’

‘Maybe you ought to rethink the plan.’

‘And risk disappointing several thousand fans who are due to watch us in a few hours’ time? No way!’

She appreciated his concern to put the fans first, just wished she was comfortable with his plan to let the gig happen and then fire Iain’s butt. Really, the sooner that man was no longer involved with Black Halo, the better for everybody, because heaven knows what he might attempt to do next.

‘Are you sure I can’t come with you?’ She’d feel a lot happier if she was present to spot any risks that might arise.

‘No. I can face Iain on my own. I’d rather you were here, where I know that you’re safe.’

‘I don’t like it,’ she complained. Sulking in the shadows and letting someone else deal with her messes wasn’t how she normally rolled. Still, it was sweet that he wanted to take care of her.

Ash ran his hands through her hair. ‘I don’t like it either, Ginny, but please let me sort this out how I think best. Then afterwards we can be together as much as you want. I’ll even tell the guys you’re going to be travelling with us.’

‘All right.’

He kissed her eyelids, and her lips, and then finished with an Eskimo kiss. ‘See you later tonight. See if you can track down your luggage, otherwise –’ he handed over his credit card, and whispered the pin into her ear ‘– treat yourself. Hell, treat yourself anyway.’

A
sh’s plan not to confront Iain over what he’d done until after the gig that night lasted until he walked into the auditorium of the old redbrick building where the gig was being held and saw Iain lording it over the roadies who were trying to set up his drum kit. Luthor, who normally did that job, was apparently on the road with Xane and Dani adding complications to their already thorny relationship. Meanwhile, his absence was simply providing Iain with another reason to moan.

Ash had meant to keep a lid on his wrath. He really, really had meant to. But something else took over when he was five paces away that turned him in to a testosterone-fuelled maniac. Probably it was the memory of the little prick with his hand up Ginny’s skirt, or maybe him swearing blind it was all her fault, or him saying, ‘Hell, never mind, just try out this riff, will you,’ back when Connie had just left him. Any of those things individually would have been enough to warrant a smack, but on top of them were his suspicions that Iain had been sabotaging Black Halo’s reputation and performances: lights coming down – no accident; Spook’s precious Washburn guitar going missing – deliberate; screwing around with the beat and pacing of tracks – premeditated. The little prick needed to know it wasn’t on.

‘Iain.’

His oldest friend turned. Ash slammed his fist right into his ugly face, sending him flying backwards into the partially assembled drumkit. The splash cymbal tipped first, followed by the bass and snare. ‘That’s for Ginny,’ Ash said still coming at him. He accidentally knocked over the hi-hat. ‘This one is for me, and this one’s for what I suspect you’ve done but have no proof of.’

Ash noticed that the roadies all stepped out of the line of fire, rather than moving to intervene on Iain’s behalf. He’d not made any friends among the crew, and probably fewer still within the band. Maybe, Ash thought, he should be grateful for that. Iain had brought them together again in some ways. There was nothing like having a common enemy.

‘I know what you did to Ginny. How far were you going to take it, eh?’

Iain continued to back-pedal on his skinny arse.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. She was the one who started it. I told you that.’

‘Yeah, the trouble is I don’t believe you. I think you set her up. In fact, I think you did more than that. What did you give her, Iain? What did you put into her drink?’

The shitty bastard pulled the most incredulous face he could muster, a wide-eyed, outraged mixture of shock, disappointment and hurt. ‘That’s crazy, Ash. Why would I spike someone, particularly someone I knew that you cared about?’

‘For the same reason you’ve been doing your best to destroy the band I love too.’ He continued to advance, wading through the wreckage of the drum kit towards him. ‘It’s not that you can’t play certain tracks, you just like screwing things up for us and making us sound bad. From day one you’ve been doing what you could to break us up. Did you think when it all finally fell apart that I’d just trot off into the sunset with you and then get all gooey-eyed over your ego project?’

Even fleeing the onslaught of Ash’s fists, Iain couldn’t help his automatic reaction to the prospect of fulfilling his dream. A flash of glee briefly brightened his expression before Ash swiped it off his face. ‘We’re not going to record together. We’re never going to be a double act, or part of a group that you lead. Right now, I don’t even want to set foot on the same stage as you, you evil little prick.’

‘Then you’ll screw yourself and your idiot mates for tonight. I don’t see another drummer standing by ready to help you out.’

Iain somehow managed to get far enough away from Ash’s fists to scramble to his feet. He kicked an amp over in an effort to block Ash’s approach, and, when that failed, started flinging anything he could lay his hands on: drumsticks, nuts and bolts, even a microphone on a lead.

Ash dodged the missiles with varying degrees of success.

‘You haven’t the guts to get rid of me. You need me. Think of all the sad faces you’ll make if you cancel. The mad bastards that come to see you won’t like it. Didn’t they flip over a car the last time you pulled the plug at the last minute?’

‘I won’t need to get rid of you if you’re already a bloody smear on the floor.’

‘Oh, there’s plenty of smearing I can do. I bet the world would love to know what a bunch of batshit crazy freaks you are, and that’s before we touch on Elspeth’s little shrine to a man who couldn’t get it up for her and liked to bang her ex instead. You have to admit she’s unstable, Ash. I mean, look at all the restitution she’s seeking. Those lights came down awful close to Xane’s head the other night. That glass might have cut up his pretty face or crushed him into a bloody pulp.’