For the Love of Gracie (19 page)

"Now
that
was a hot kiss. Damn, I think
I
got turned on!" Cameron said, interrupting the moment. 

Ashton stood up, with me still straddling his hips, and set me
on the ground with a kiss on the forehead. 

"I take it back. That, right there, you standing up like she weighed nothing at all, that was hot! Are you sure you like chicks?" 

Ashton laughed. "If I didn’t, you'd definitely be my type, Cam." 

Cam blushed, I'd never seen him blush before.  It was too cute. 

"Did you need something, Cam?" I asked. 

"Oh, yeah. I wanted to talk to Ashton for a second." 

I left them alone. While they had their guy talk, I cleaned the kitchen. The table was cleared and the dishwasher was loaded. Just when I had started it up to wash, my phone rang. Before I could get to it, Ashton tore through the door frantic. He grabbed my cell phone before I could pick it up. 

He glanced down and handed it to me, relieved. "It's Angel." 

“Hey, girl. What’s up?” I said, uncertain of why Ash looked so panicked. “No, I’m fine. Ash has gone bat-shit crazy for some reason, but I’m good.”

Cameron stepped in beside Ash, they exchanged a look that made me uneasy.

“Angel, I’m going to call you back in a bit. My two guys are up to something and I need to find out what.”

I set my phone on the counter. “What’s going on you two?”

Cameron bit his lip which told me he was trying to come up with a lie.

I called him out on it. “Don’t lie to me, Cam.”

He cursed as he turned to Ashton for help.

Ashton said, “Sit down.”

Those words weren't usually followed by good news. The expressions on both of their faces were not reassuring me either.

Cameron slid a chair out for me. I eased myself onto the seat and prepared for the worst. Cameron placed his hands on my shoulder.  Ashton took my hand in his, stroking my palm with his thumb.  They were catering to me too much and it was making me more nervous.

"Cameron got a phone call from the police station.  Hudson has a clean record. They let him out on bail because they didn’t feel he posed a threat." 

It felt as though my chest caved in. I remained as calm as possible when I asked, "Why? He beat me senseless and put Cameron in the hospital." 

Ashton nodded and tightened his grip on my hand. "Since he has no record, they don’t feel he is a threat. He made a statement that said he was provoked by the two of you, that you were trespassing, and that Cameron attacked him first.  You were on his property, so it's basically your word against his on that part."

He paused and glanced up at Cameron. "There is a way for him to go back to jail.  It's something you have to do." 

Relief washed over me, I'd do anything to keep that monster away from Cameron and me.  "Done. Whatever it is, I'll do it." 

Cameron sat down next to me. Ashton scooted closer at the same time.

"There is one thing that Hudson did that would make him a definite threat to society. You have to release your medical records and report the rape."

He barely finished the last word before I stood up. My chair scraped across the floor and fell behind me. Cam and Ash reached for me simultaneously. I backed away not letting them touch me. I edged away from them to move to the living room. 

I plopped myself down in the middle of the couch and curled up into a ball. Cameron came in alone.  He sat beside me, two throw pillows between us.  He reached out and touched my shoulder, I flinched back. I saw my fear reflected in his eyes. I grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it to my chest. 

"I can't face him Cameron. If I release those records I have to testify. I can't tell all those people what happened to me. They'll call me a whore and say I deserved it for all the months I slept with him." 

Cameron's jaw clenched and he became angry, "The hell they will. I won't let them." 

Ash came around the corner, keeping his distance.  He stood with his arms crossed over his chest and said, "Neither will I." 

He knelt in front of me, still a good two feet from touching me.  "Bug, I don’t want to hurt you or make you uncomfortable. You tell me if I've gone too far." 

He didn’t move, until I patted the seat next to me.  He sat beside me, making sure our bodies didn’t touch. The problem was, I needed him to touch me. I slid my legs over his and leaned against him.  His body relaxed as his arm draped over me.

"I can't testify Ash. I'm not strong enough." 

Ash lifted my chin; I was shaking. "You're one of the strongest people I know, bug."

Cameron's voice trembled, "Gracie?"

I turned to face him. I waved him over and he laid his head against my shoulder. 

"He's right. You're stronger than you know. I have faith in you and we'll both be there every step of the way. Right, Ash?"

Ash nodded. "Absolutely."

I pulled myself onto Ash's lap hugging his neck.  His hand rubbed my back as he held onto me. 

Cameron broke
the silence, "Can I just say that you two are cute as shit! I should've introduced you a long time ago. I'm going to go see Gavin for a bit, give you guys some time." 

"Thanks, Cam." Ash said, then turned to me, "Give me a minute, I'm going to walk him out."

I nodded. He stood up with me in his arms, turned and sat me back on the couch. 

Cam grabbed his chest, "Sweet love of all things good, you are one strong man."

Cam's hand grabbed Ash's flexed bicep and he exclaimed, "Holy bulging biceps, Ashman. Just give me one fantasy and carry me out the door?" 

Cameron smiled and batted his eyes. I glanced at Ash, waiting for him to let him down easy. Instead, he lifted Cam over his shoulder and carried him out. 

Cam yelled, "I've died and gone to gay heaven and it's fabulous."

Then he pointed at Ash's butt and his mouth dropped open before he mouthed, "OMG." 

I burst out laughing. The sound caused Ash to turn with Cam in his arms. I hadn’t laughed in a while, and it made them both smile.

Cameron always had great taste in men and he was right, Ashton's butt was amazing. 

Ashton came back in a few moments later, shaking his head. 

"What?" I asked. 

"Cameron smacked me on the ass before he ran to the car." 

I laughed again. 

He sat on the couch next to me. Carefully he touched my hair, moving it off my shoulder. "I love hearing you laugh again." 

His hand started to pull away. I grasped it and tugged as a hint to come closer. He slid next to me.  I grabbed a fistful of his shirt, pulling him forward for a kiss. At first he gave in, leaning closer. 

He stopped short of our lips meeting and said, "Don’t do more than you can handle. I'm not going anywhere." 

I smirked. "Oh, I plan on handling you really well." 

I closed the distance between us. My lips met his, gently, at first. I nipped at his bottom lip with my teeth, he responded with a moan. Now, I had him where I wanted him. I placed my hand on his thigh as I slid my tongue across his bottom lip. I felt his pants tighten in response to the kiss. I pushed myself up on my knees, then slid a leg across his lap, straddling him.

His hands moved to my hips as he held me in place while I moved to nip at his earlobe. He slid his hands inside the hem of my shirt, rubbing his thumbs across my skin. My hips
ground against him as I felt his desire for me growing.  His hands travel further up inside my shirt. His palm moved to my breast, cupping the outside of my bra. I whimpered in pleasure as his thumb traced back and forth across the now hard nub of my nipple. 

Ashton's mouth moved from my lips to my neck.  His tongue trailed along my collarbone, followed by kisses up to my ear. His tongue flicked at my ear, one of my most erogenous zones. I slid my hand down, rubbing my palm over his pants. He moaned, pulling his mouth from my ear. 

"Gracie, we need to stop." 

I covered his mouth again with my own.  His hands were still on my skin, inside my shirt.  I stood and took it off. 

He protested, "Gracie, seriously.  This can wait, baby."

I glanced down at his pants, biting my lip.  He sucked in a breath.
"That lip-biting you do is so sexy." 

He grabbed my waist and turned to lay me on the couch. He hovered above, slowly lowering himself on top of me. He
had unhooked my bra sometime when he was laying me down. 

Damn, he's good
, I thought.

He slid the straps down and his tongue flicked out
over my nipple. I gasped in ecstasy. This was the closest I'd ever been to an orgasm from foreplay. His hand slid down my side, and when I felt his palm press between my legs, something clicked inside me. 

I shoved at him, begging him to stop. I only had to ask once. My chest heaved, I sat up covering my naked breasts.  Ashton said my name,
but I didn’t answer. 

His hand softly touched my shoulder and I cried out, "No! Don’t touch me." 

He stepped back and set my t-shirt on the couch next to me. 

"I’ll go in the other room while you dress," he said, his voice full of despair.

"Ash?" I said cautiously, as I approached him in the kitchen. His hand had moved to his face before he turned around. His eyes were red, he'd been crying. I lifted my hand to his face. "Baby." 

He softened at my touch. I wrapped my arms around his waist. He didn’t budge.

"I'm afraid to touch you, Gracie. I don’t want to cause you any pain." 

I took responsibility. "It's my fault. You were right, we shouldn’t have gone so far. Please hold me." 

He leaned down and hugged me close.  Ashton's phone disrupted our moment. He answered it, keeping one arm around me. "Um, I don’t know man. I need to check and see if that’s possible. Can I call you back? K, Give me twenty minutes." 

He kissed my forehead. "Sweetie, that was a friend of mine. He asked if I could cover his security duty at a club tonight. His daughter is sick and his wife is a night shift nurse. I need to call Cameron and see if he can stay with you while I'm gone." 

I felt nervous, but wanted him to be able to help his friend. "Angel and MJ will be around tonight. Even if they aren’t, I'll be fine by myself." 

Ashton stood firm. "No. Not with him out of jail. I'm not leaving you alone. You could come with me." 

I thought about that, but a crowded club didn’t sound so pleasant right now. The one thing I didn’t need was to have someone accidentally bump into me throwing me into a panic attack. 

Angel came to my rescue when she strolled into the kitchen, "Hey guys, what's up? Ooh, looks kind of serious in here. Everything, okay?" 

"You gonna be home tonight, Angel?" 

She nodded. 

I held my hand out and said, "See, I'm in good hands." 

Angel asked confused, "What's that about?"  Ashton spoke up, "I'm going to do security at a club tonight and don’t want to leave Gracie alone." 

Angel beamed, "Yeah, no problem. I'm glad to spend time with my girl. I didn’t know you were a security guard, Ash." 

Ashton replied, "I'm not. I'm a promoter. Most of the bouncers know me from the clubs I promote.  Occasionally they call me to take a shift for extra money. My size kind of screams bouncer, ya know." 

Angel looked him over. "Yes it does." 

I narrowed my eyes. "Watch yourself there, Angel." 

Angel's hands came up in surrender as she laughed.

Chapter Thirteen

Ashton made sure to fill Angel in on certain orders to keep me safe. We finally had to push him out the door, though he promised to call every hour to check in. The moment he left, I wanted him to come back. 

Angel put her arm around me and said, "How about we have a good old-fashioned movie night? We haven't done that in a long time."

We looked at each other for a moment and said in unison, "80's night?"

We grabbed every John Hughes, brat pack, movie we could. We popped popcorn and made fruity frozen drinks. 

"Oh my gosh, we should call Cameron over because he absolutely would
kill
us for having piña coladas and Judd Nelson without him," Angel exclaimed. 

"He definitely would.  I'll call him and see what he's up to." 

Cameron answered on the first ring and said, "Everything okay?"

I
replied, "Yeah. I'm with Angel and we have piña coladas and Judd Nelson.  I thought we'd see what you were up to."

He gasped. "Oh, you scamps! I'm out with Gavin.  Girl, this must be love because normally I would ditch my date for some quality time with John Bender. Damn this man for being so perfect."