Page 76 of All Right No
“I think you’ll find it’s quite a bit.”
“You spend just as much time in my throat.”
“It’d be a crying shame not to utilise your ability to breathe through your ears.”
“I should box yours for that.”
He grabbed hold of her wrists and rolled her onto her back. “How about something a little more mutual?”
“Like what?”
He tugged her knickers off, then rose and stripped himself. Ash climbed back onto the bed over her on all fours, but with his head pointing towards her toes. “Like suck me, honey, and I’ll see if I can’t tickle your fancy at the same time.”
“You’re on, providing you’re not stubbly.” She checked his recently shaven chin. “Hm, pretty smooth. Okay.”
***
Ash crashed out post-climax. Ginny prodded him a couple of times, provoking a few contented grunts before accepting he was done for. She snuggled alongside him with her ear pressed to his chest, but even the comforting beat of his heart couldn’t lull her into rest. It was like the princess and the pea, only instead of a pea, there were two Manilla envelopes causing her discomfort. She knew that anyone she asked would tell her honesty was the best policy. Hell, she knew it herself, but if she told him, that would be the end of them, and she didn’t want to risk that. If it had been as simple as sitting Ash down with a cuppa for a chat, then she’d have done that months ago, but it wasn’t. He was still hurt, and she was still married to Miles. Ash thought she was one thing, when really she was another. She didn’t want him to think of her in any way other than how he did right now.
Oh, God, it was such a mess.
She wouldn’t have to keep her silence much longer now, surely.
Unable to find a comfortable position, Ginny rose and headed outside. Night had already fallen, and a breeze whistled over the surrounding pastures, carrying the lowing of the livestock. She walked down the lane as far as the entrance sign before returning and finding her way to the little patio overlooking the paddock. There were no horses, but a messy collection of crushed cans and empty beer bottles sat on the centre of the little table inside a damp cardboard box.
Ginny hunted among them on the vaguest chance that she’d find an unopened beverage she could use to dampen the whirr of thoughts through her brain.
Why the hell had she ever agreed to involve herself with such an utter prick? It was easy to lay the blame with her ambitious and astonishingly shallow mother, but no one had forced her to say yes. That’d been all her. Well now she was stuck with the consequences, and she was going to have to weave her way through the ensuing minefield as best she could, exactly as she’d been doing for the last three and a half years.
A light came on in the lounge behind her. The burrs of multiple voices reached her through an open window somewhere, but she didn’t go to join them. They were mostly talking about technical stuff to do with recording that she didn’t understand, and teasing one another over past cock ups. She wasn’t sure how long she sat outside, long enough for the clatter of plates, and the smell of food to drift out of the open window.
“Someone go and knock on Ash and Ginny’s door and see if they’re joining us.”
“Nah, leave ’em. More for us.”
“We can leave them some to reheat when they’re done humping.”
“If they’re humping, I volunteer to interrupt.”
The last speaker was definitely Rock Giant, but she guessed the other guys sat on him, as Ash didn’t appear, and no one remarked upon her absence. Ginny pulled Ash’s jumper more tightly around herself, cocooning herself in his scent. Her fingers were cold, but she sandwiched them between her thighs.
For heaven’s sake couldn’t things go her way for once? Why did everything always have to be so difficult? Once in a while it would be nice if the path ahead wasn’t riddled with booby traps.
She was still outside searching for a shooting star to wish upon, when Spook stepped out onto the patio a little after ten.
“Ginny? Hey. I thought you were tucked up with Ash. Everyone’s turning in.” He crossed to the table and added an assortment of additional empties to the box, before turning his gaze on her wind whipped cheeks. “Shit! You haven’t argued, have you?”
Not yet they hadn’t, but arguing would be the least horrible outcome if Ash ever saw those documents. Their presence in the building made her feel physically sick. She needed to retrieve them and throw them on the fire, or something like that. What was the actual penalty for not replying? God dammit! She needed to buy some time.
An indrawn hiss of fear passed through Spook’s teeth. “How bad?”
Jeez, he sounded like he’d been notified of an unexpected death, but then things had been so topsy-turvy for Black Halo over the time she’d known them, any sort of discord threatened to unhinge them.
“We’re fine, Spook.” For the moment, at least. “I’ve just had things on my mind and I fancied a bit of quiet, that’s all.”
He gave her another slow look over, then pulled over another chair and planted his bones onto its wooden slats.
“Want to talk it over?”
