Page 45 of Crash
“Nup,” he said, looking me up and down.
“How was your trip?”
Pushing off from the doorframe, he came and sat beside me. “No getting out of it, squirt. What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.” I couldn’t tell Ash about all the things that had happened with Lincoln, least of all our kiss in the office. Talk about embarrassing.
“I know this is your thing.” He gestured to me, then at the TV. “What’s got you wound up?”
I shook my head, clamping my mouth shut.
“Did Lincoln—”
“Ash.”
“I know you like him,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “Did he do something to you?”
“No,” I snapped. He had, but we were working it out, I supposed. That’s if you could call having the guy overload my brain cells with a single kiss ‘working it out’.
“I’m going to kill him.” Ash, as per usual, had jumped to his own conclusion and would dive inhead firstand ask questions later. It was his MO and always had been.
“Stay out of it,” I pleaded.
“Can’t do it, Vee,” he replied. “He made a promise, and obviously, he broke it.”
“You’re such a bully.” I knew I was pouting like a child, but short of beating him, which I had no hope of doing, there wasn’t much else I could do to convince him to drop it.
“If looking out for you makes me a bully, then I guess I’m a fuckin’ huge one.”
“Ash, please don’t butt in on this.”
“Like you butted in on me and Ren when I asked you not to?”
Remembering when I’d gone to find Ren at Beat, I began to pale. He’d been under house arrest then, wallowing, floundering, and wasting away… I’d done the drastic and gone to face the woman whose heart he broke. In his mind, this was exactly the same, and maybe he was right.
I cast my gaze into the bowl of popcorn. “Please let me handle it, Ash,” I murmured.
After a moment of silent deliberation, Ash reached out and pulled me into a hug. “Sure.”
I didn’t like the tone of his voice. It screamed hell to the no. Ash would do what he wanted to do, regardless[CS1]of how much I pleaded—I just hoped he would be diplomatic about it. I’d already put a dent inmine and Lincoln’s relationshipbefore it had even really started, any more and it might just totally implode and disintegrate.
I’d have to talk to Lincoln about that kiss tomorrow.Rain, hail, shine or Ash fucking Fuller.
Eighteen
Lincoln
All I could think about was how good Violet tasted.
Our kiss had been soft, tentative and completely fucking mind-blowing. It wasn’t what I was used to, which was hard and demanding, but she’d surprised me. Totally blindsided any expectation I’d had.
Thinking about how she’d pulled away, I frowned. I knew I’d have to take it easy…there were things she still struggled with. She obviously didn’t think much of herself either, so I guess I had to do something to change it.
She was fucking stunning, inside and out, and compared to Andrea? There was no competition. Never had been. I was the one who’d fucked things up, and I had to set them straight.
I wanted Violet Fuller.
My shoulder was getting better by the day, and the last scan had been really great, the exercises had increased and I was now allowed to do heavier weight training. It was fucking great to get back into it, and now I could have a heavier hand in Cole and Ryan’s training. It wouldn’t be long before I could join Coach and Dean backinSydney and train full throttle.
