“Sleeping in my bed.”
“Does she know where you’re at?” When I lift my head to frown at him with confusion, he explains himself further. “Will she freak out if you’re not in the bed if she happens to wake up?”
“Oh. No. I doubt it.” She’d probably figure out exactly where I’m at.
“Then go shut the door, Callahan. And lock it, too.”
I shouldn’t. If I leave, everything will stay the same. But if I stay, if I get up and lock that door and come back to bed with Ash, everything could change.
Everything.
“Please stay,” he whispers in my ear just before he kisses it, his big hands smoothing over my backside, making me tingle.
Again, it’s the please that does it. How can I resist?
I pull out of his arms and make my way over to the door, closing it carefully. Softly. I turn the lock as slow as possible so it doesn’t make any noise, and then I go back to the bed. Ash scoots over and tosses the covers back, patting the now empty space invitingly. I crawl in with him and snuggle close to his warm, hard body, sighing when he pulls the covers over both of us. I rest my hand on his belly and figure out quick that he is totally naked.
“Ash.” My hand springs away from his stomach, and he chuckles, grabbing my hand and placing it right back where it was. “You don’t have any clothes on.”
“I know.” His voice is dark, devilish. As if he enjoys shocking me, which he probably does. “Thought I might surprise you if you did happen to come by tonight.”
“Well, it worked. You’ve completely taken me by surprise.” I raise my hand higher, not ready to touch him in that area just yet. I don’t want to move too fast, though that seems to be the way we operate lately.
Well. We either move too fast or not nearly fast enough. It’s like we can’t make up our minds.
“I have another surprise for you too.” He lifts my chin and kisses me, his lips insistent, stealing my thoughts, my breath. When he breaks the kiss, he reaches over to the bedside table and pulls the drawer open, rummaging around before he finds what he wants. “Look what I’ve got.”
He waves a condom packet in my face.
“Where did you get this?” I try to snatch it from his fingers, but he moves too fast, raising his arm out of my reach.
“Your brother’s room.” His voice and his face are smug.
“You stole it from Jake?” And why the hell does my brother have condoms?
Oh God.
I don’t want to know.
“Yeah. I snuck into his room earlier, when you were all still downstairs in the kitchen.” Ash nods with satisfaction. “They were in his bedside table. He has a giant box of them.”
I need bleach to scrub my ears with after hearing this.
“So I figured he wouldn’t care if I snagged a couple,” Ash finishes.
The idea doesn’t settle well, that he went into my brother’s room uninvited and stole the condoms from his bedside table. What a violation of privacy. What if he snuck in there again and stole other things? Things of actual value? “You probably shouldn’t have done that,” I tell him.
“What do you mean? Not like he cares. Besides, your family is loaded. He can go buy another economy-sized box of condoms like it’s no big deal. He doesn’t have to worry about money. Nothing but the best for the Callahans, right?” The mocking tone in Ash’s voice rings clear.
And it pisses me off.
I pull away from him and sit up. “You’re being really rude right now.”
“And you’re being really sensitive right now,” Ash throws right back at me.
“You shouldn’t have stolen those condoms from my brother. This is the same exact thing that got you in trouble before, with your mom and her boyfriend,” I remind him. “You stole a pack of cigarettes from Don, and he beat you up for it.”
“He just used the stolen smokes as an excuse,” Ash starts, but I interrupt him.
“You did steal them, though, right?”
He looks away from me. “Yeah.” His voice is scratchy.
“Okay, well, you just stole from my brother now too. Yeah, you took condoms, big deal. But you can’t keep doing that, Ash.”
“You really think your brother is going to rat me out that I stole his rubbers? Give me a break,” he mutters.
“No, but it doesn’t look good to me.” I rest my hand on my chest. “Me, Ash. You’re stealing, and it’s not cool. You keep stealing. And you’re going to end up getting in real trouble if you don’t stop.”
He sits up as well, running a hand through his hair as he contemplates me. His lips are parted, his eyes narrowed, and he looks thoroughly irritated.
Fine. I’m thoroughly irritated too.
“You’d rather sit here and argue with me about stealing some stupid condoms than use one of them.” I think he’s asking me a question, but it sounds more like a statement.
And no, I’m definitely not using that condom with him tonight. The mood has been ruined.
“It’s the point that you stole, Ash. You think after what happened to you, you wouldn’t do that,” I say softly.
“What the hell do you know about what happened to me?” Ash glares at me, then stretches his arm out, pointing at the door. “You should go.”
My mouth drops open. “What?”
“If I’m such a disappointment to you, then you better leave, Callahan. You’re only proving my point.”
I scramble out of the bed, angry. Sad. A swirl of emotions moves through me, settling heavy on my chest. “What point are you talking about?”
“That I’m not good enough for you.” He waves his hand at the door. “Leave. Hurry, before I touch you with my dirty, stealing hands.”
I run to the door and fumble with the lock, the tears streaming down my cheeks before I even realize I’m crying. I’m finally able to open the door and I run out of his room, fully expecting to hear him laughing as I go, but I hear nothing.
Just silence.
I’m hustling through the kitchen when the light comes on, momentarily blinding me. I blink against the brightness, rubbing at my still tear filled eyes and dread socks me right in the gut when I hear my mother’s voice.
“Autumn! Are you okay?”
Thank God it wasn’t Dad.
Sniffing, I turn my back to her. “I’m fine. Just grabbing something to drink real quick.”
“Really? Where is it?”
I stand up straighter, praying she doesn’t want to look at me. I don’t want her to see my face, or the tears running down my cheeks. “What do you mean?”
“Your drink?”
“Oh. I just drank water out of the tap. With a cup.” I hunch my shoulders, hoping she doesn’t look in the sink for that nonexistent cup I’m talking about.
“Autumn.” Mom approaches, and then her hand settles heavily on my shoulder. “You weren’t trying to sneak out, were you?”
“N-no.” I shake my head, my back still to her, the tears coming anew.
“Where’s Kaya?”
“Sleeping.”
“Where’s Ash?”
I hang my head. “I don’t know. Probably in his room.”