Page 32 of All Right No
“Or you could give me a trim.”
For a moment, a gleam of interest shone in his eyes only for it to blink out of existence a moment after its birth. “Sorry, I’m not feeling very…” He turned away from her with his head bowed, and began walking back along the jetty.
It was understandable, of course it was, considering everything that was on his mind that his libido would suffer. Their sex life wasn’t entirely barren. They still got intimate sometimes, maybe a couple of times a week…fortnight… Maybe it was actually closer to a month since they’d gone all the way. Him falling asleep on her with his mouth wrapped around one of her nipples didn’t really fulfil her expectations of sex. Maybe if there was a bonus to learning that the guys were going away and leaving them behind, it was that they’d have time to spend together uninterrupted by all things Black Halo.
That was it—her plan, for once they were gone, fishnets, corset, and a set of handcuffs so she could secure him to a chair. She knew his triggers. She could make him smile, and maybe once she had him smiling, she might persuade him to put some effort into some other vital activities too, like exercising his stiff joints, or sexercising them.
Hell, anything to make it the way things had been.
“Do you want me to talk to them? Maybe it would help to get them to see your side.”
“No! Leave it, Ginny. I mean it. Just leave it be.”
She raised her hands in surrender. Very well, she wouldn’t interfere directly, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to ask Spook what the ever loving heck was going on.
Ash gave another exasperated harrumph, and cast some serious side-eye at a nearby tree.
Ginny pulled her wet dress away from her skin. Wet was only fun while you were in the water. “I’ll bet it wasn’t even Xane or Spook who made the decision to go without you. It’ll have been your manager, or the label. Therefore, it’s pointless being pissed at them about it.”
“Whatever,” he drawled dismissively.
She balanced on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips. Sure, he was in a foul mood and he’d already brushed her off once, but lip to lip contact was different. And in any case, she meant the kiss to be assuring, not sexual. She kept it light, and gentle. He had tears in his eyes when they pulled apart, which he cursed over, blaming the pollen count, while he rubbed the moisture away. “Let’s go and dry off.”
He gave his head an emphatic shake. “You go. I just want to be left alone for a while.”
Ginny let him pull free of her hold, and didn’t attempt to stop him when he climbed over the low chain fence and crossed the lawn. Maybe a little solitude and a chance to walk off his mood were what he needed in order to process everything and figure out a path forward. After he’d vanished from view, despite her wet clothing, Ginny headed back towards the studio. Ash might not want her to interfere, but she wanted answers. Xane still hadn’t returned. Chances were, he was busy working off his anger with Dani and Luthor somewhere, and that could take a while. Spook opened the door to the sound booth in order to talk to her.
“Ash isn’t with you?”
She shook her head.
“What happened to you?” He inclined his head towards her dripping wet figure, then went into the little kitchen area at the back and returned with a hand towel.
“I thought an impromptu swim might help Ash to cool off.”
He smirked despite his grim demeanour. “Did it?”
“Ish. He wants some alone time.”
“Need a hug?” Spook asked, having instantly grasped the nuts and bolts of the situation.
Ginny waved him away. “I’ll just get you wet.”
Spook swaddled her in an embrace. “Better?”
“Yeah,” she sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on, Spook? Ash says you’re all off to Australia without him. Is that true?”
Spook led her over to the leather sofa in the main studio space. He made sure she was sitting comfortably, while he stayed on his feet. “It is.”
“Why?”
“For the same reason Xane and I have been pulling all-nighters for the last week.” He busied himself righting the toppled furniture, and returning discarded instruments to their rightful places.
They’d been pulling… Now that she looked closely at him, Spook definitely looked grey around the eyes, and the weary set of his jaw couldn’t entirely be attributed to the recent spat.
“You are trying to cut him out.”
“No.” He spun towards her quickly. “No. We’re just trying to get things done. We’re already way behind schedule. We were supposed to have the album recorded by now, not still be working on composing the tracks. Several of the people we had booked to work with us, we’ve had to cancel, because they’re booked solid with no wiggle room and we missed our deadlines. I’m not blaming Ash exclusively for that, but his current attitude really isn’t helping matters.”
