Chapter Five
Nina
Artimus’ game night proved to be fun for all. I wasn’t any good at playing poker, so I was the one who lost that game. I was thankful for the many layers of clothing Artimus provided for us, or I would’ve been bare-assed right in front of all of them.
Saturday morning had me waking up in the bedroom next to Ashton’s. It was a little awkward when the other couples headed off to bed and he and I walked down the long hallway to our separate bedrooms.
I thought he was about to kiss me the night before, but in the end, he merely pulled my hand to his lips and kissed the top of it before telling me he had a great time and wishing me a good night.
My sleep was pretty good. I dreamt about him, and that was almost as good as getting to be with the real man. After a couple of years of dreams and fantasies about Ashton, I’d resigned myself to the fact that that was likely as much as I’d ever have.
But now I had a perfect opportunity right in front of me, and I was going to make something happen. I wanted a real kiss from him. And I was going to do my best to entice him into giving me that kiss in any way I could.
We passed a pleasant morning together, taking a leisurely breakfast and lingering over our coffees before parting ways and then reconvening for lunch. I’d headed up to my bedroom to freshen up after lunch when I heard a knock at my door. Ashton called out through the closed door, “Hey, we’re all going down to the pool. Put on your bathing suit and meet us down there, Nina.”
“Okay. Give me a minute.” I went to get my suit out of my suitcase.
“Sure thing. I’ll see you down there.” He left my door, and I looked at the two piece I’d pulled out.
It wasn’t daring or especially sexy. Just a regular royal blue bikini, but it was all I had. “Why haven’t I ever invested in a sexy swimsuit?” I muttered to myself with regret.
Here it was—my time to shine and show off my body for Ashton, and all I had was a humdrum bathing suit. I knew Lila and Julia would both be wearing something hot and sexy.
With no other choice, I put the thing on and wrapped myself in a white towel before heading downstairs to the indoor pool room. I heard splashing and laughing as I got closer.
When I stepped inside, I saw there was a volleyball net strung up, separating the two halves of the pool. They were playing girls against boys.
Ashton was sitting on the edge, waiting for me to arrive so we could join them together. “Great, you’re here, Nina. Come on.” He jumped into the pool, and I walked gracefully down the steps and into the water.
Julia and Lila had chosen the shallower water near the steps, which I was glad for. “Okay, so what’s the score so far?” I asked them.
“Boys three, girls one,” Lila said. “I hope you can bring some heat, Nina.”
Cracking my knuckles, I informed them, “I was on the high school volleyball team. I was dubbed the spike queen.” I looked at the three men on the other side of the net. “I hope you guys are ready to get your butts kicked.”
They laughed as we all got into position, then Ashton served the ball over to us. Lila made a successful volley back to them, and Artimus sent it back our way. Julia managed to hit it back over, then Ashton came splashing forward, hitting it back, making it just over the net.
I saw my shot. “Lila, set.”
She hit the ball up high into the air, and I jumped up, spiking it over the net with my fist.
SMACK!
“Shit!” Ashton shouted. “Ow!”
“Nina?” Artimus yelled.
The glory was all gone as I saw blood in the water. The ball had hit Ashton right in the nose. “God! Ashton, I’m so sorry!” I swam under the net to get to him. Blood was running in rivers out from under his hand, which was covering his nose.
“It’s okay,” he said with a high, nasally tone to his normally deep voice.
“No, it’s not.” I felt terrible. No, worse than terrible. I felt sick that I had done that to him. “Come on. This is my fault; I’ll take care of you.”
Julia handed me a dark red towel as we all got out of the pool. “Here, use this to put pressure on his nose. That should stop the bleeding.”
The guys helped Ashton to a lounge chair and laid him back, and I took a seat next to him. “Move your hands and I’ll use this towel to stop the bleeding.”
When he pulled his hands away, I gasped.
“Shit! Is it that bad?” he asked.
It was awful. “No. No,” I lied as I put the towel on his nose very gently.” I looked at Julia. “Do you think you can get me a little baggie of ice?”
She nodded. “Damn, that’s going to leave a mark.”
Ashton’s eyes were bloodshot as he looked at me and asked, “It is?”
I tried to downplay it. “It’s going to be all right. No reason to worry.”
After Julia came back with the ice, the others headed inside to change. Pool-time fun was over, and it was all my fault. My eyes must’ve conveyed how guilty I felt because Ashton took me by the wrist. “It was an accident, Nina. Don’t look so guilt-stricken. I’ll be okay. Sure, a little bruised and battered, but I’ll get over that.”
Biting my lip as I pulled the towel back to see if the bleeding had stopped, I found I had hit him high up on the bridge of his nose. Both eyes would surely turn black, but it didn’t seem to be broken. “At least there’s no bone jutting out. That’s a good sign.”
“I would say so.” He laughed then stopped abruptly. “Ouch. Don’t make me laugh. It hurts.”
“Noted. No funny stuff with you for the rest of the day.” Covering the plastic bag of ice with a hand towel Julia had brought with it, I placed it on the bridge of his nose. “If you keep this on for a while, I think it will lessen the swelling.”
“It’s so cold,” he whimpered.
Leaning over him, I kissed his cheek. “I really am sorry, Ashton.”
Even bloodshot, his cerulean eyes were still gorgeous as he looked into mine. “Don’t be. It got you this close to me. That can’t be a bad thing. Not in my book.”
There were so many things I wanted to ask him, to tell him. But I knew that now wasn’t the time to do it. I just had to let the moment be for now.
“I think we can move you, now that the bleeding has stopped. You’re going to want a shower. I’ll help you get to your room.” I got up and took his hand, helping him up too.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and I wrapped mine around his waist to make sure he was steady. “Thanks, Nina. I am a little woozy.”
We headed inside and then up the stairs. He stumbled a little, and I felt his arm go tighter around me. “You okay, Ashton?”
We stopped for a moment. “Yeah, I’m okay now. My head just got really light right there.” He looked at me, then smiled as he held the ice on his nose. “I’m not entirely sure if it was from the injury or this.” His arm tightened around me even more. “I kind of like this.”
“The pain?” I asked, thinking he was crazy. I had heard about people liking the euphoria that happened after an injury as the adrenaline rushed to the brain.
“No, silly girl.” He took another step up. “Holding you. You, holding me.”
My face heated as I blushed. Ashton had never talked to me that way before. It was so odd, even though I had wanted him to see me as more than just a friend for a long time. It was just a little weird.
And when I didn’t say anything back as we kept walking, I felt his hold on me loosen. When we got to his bedroom door, he moved his arm off my shoulders.
“I’m going to shower and change. If you need me to help you back down …”
“That’s okay, Nina. I think I can handle it from here.” He went into his room without looking at me at all.
My silence had been a stupid move on my part. I stood there, looking at his closed door and wondering if I should just go inside and tell him that I was happy holding him too.
But I didn’t do that. I just stood there for a solid five minutes before turning and going to my bedroom. Stripping the bathing suit away from my body as I walked toward the attached bathroom, I wondered why I had reacted like that.
It was proving harder for me than I’d thought to go from friends to more than friends after all this time. I had watched what I said to Ashton for so long, keeping my feelings from him was like second nature to me.
All kinds of silent words of affection had gone through my mind over the years as the two of us had talked. I had kept those words to myself, and it seemed that was a habit I was going to have trouble breaking.
But I knew I had to, if I ever wanted to hear Ashton say something like that again.
Turning on the shower, I cranked it so it was steaming hot, then got in and let the water run over me. Moving my hands all over my body, I recalled just how often I had done that and imagined them to be Ashton’s hands instead of my own.
I couldn’t count all the times I’d pushed my fingers deep into my cunt, fantasizing that they were Ashton’s thick fingers inside of me. I could touch myself, pretending it was him, but I couldn’t find words to say when he told me he liked how it felt for us to hold each other.
The water pressure eased up for a moment, and I realized that Ashton was naked right on the other side of that wall. He was in the shower in his room, lathering his muscular body with soap and probably internally berating himself for saying anything to me about how he felt.
I was filled with even more guilt at that thought. Not only had I messed up his gorgeous face, but I had also hurt his pride. I had made him feel like a fool by not saying a word back to him.
It had felt good to me too, to have his arm around me and mine around him. Sparks had been flying through me with us being that close. My body had heated up, and my mind had already been moving ahead to other things.
Perhaps that’s why I couldn’t think of anything to say after he’d told me that. Or maybe I was just one dumb chick who didn’t know how to act when someone said something so sweet to them.
Whatever it was, I was going to fix it. I was going to get dressed, then go find him and tell him that I liked how it felt too and I was just too stupid to know how to put it.
I leaned my back against the tiled wall, knowing he was right behind me on the other side. “Ashton, I’m sorry I’m such an idiot where you’re concerned. I hope you can understand. I hope what I did didn’t ruin whatever it is that you had planned when you thought about us being here this weekend.”
Shutting off the water, I got out of the shower and began to dry off. I could hear the water in the next room go off too. And then I heard a weird yelp. “Fuck me!” Ashton’s voice came through the wall. “I look like I’ve been hit with a baseball bat!”
I wouldn’t say he looked that bad.