CHAPTER NINETEEN
Lying in bed with Ash makes Jewel smile. She had started to miss all of this over the week without him. As he pulls her closer to him she can feel his warm skin against hers, and it’s comforting. She doesn’t want to ruin this moment, but a question is nagging at her, one that she really wants to know the answer to.
After a few more moments she looks at him and just blurts it out, “What is all of this about? I dropped everything to come out here with you. You owe me some answers. Why did you bring me here?”
Ash doesn’t stop caressing her skin. He takes all the time that he wants to respond. His voice is slow and sincere.
“Those groupies weren’t doing it for me. I didn’t want any of them. I kept having thoughts about you. You left, and I decided to drive to you the first chance I could get. So, here I am.”
Jewel takes a moment to mull it over, unable to hide her smile, but before she responds Ash continues. “I want you to go on tour with me.”
Upon hearing those words her heart skips a beat. She hesitates, as if asking him will change the answer, but continues anyway. “You want me to go on tour with you?”
Her tone reveals that she’s a bit dismayed. She thinks that he has to be joking. He wouldn’t really want her badly enough to want her to go on tour with him, would he? She holds her breath, dreading a, “No, not really,” type of response.
“Yeah.”
Holy shit, Jewel thinks to herself. And for several moments Jewel just lays there, thinking about what the words he just said to her actually mean, and how it is exactly what part of her wants. But now, she isn’t exactly sure what she wants. The reality of it all hits her like a ton of bricks. This time, Ash doesn’t stop caressing her skin, he just lays there beside her. The rhythm of his heart seems nervous, but his breathing is deep and calm. Images of going all over the country with him flash through her mind. She imagines traveling across the US, and even abroad to places like Germany, the UK, Russia…
“Damn. I’m crazy,” she starts. “But I want to stay with you. Just…”
She pauses. “What about the Grimms?” She knows that being with Ash isn’t simple, not when he has the ties that he does.
“Listen... the drug dealer wasn’t supposed to be selling at the club. We’ve already made that known. Nobody can put merchandise in our territories, or our clubs. Wolfe’s the one who set those ground rules, and we just comply. You let us know that someone was breaking our rules, and we couldn’t just let them get away with it. We had to set an example.” Ash pauses for a moment, leaning over to kiss her forehead.
“So he got the crap beat out of him, his drugs flushed, his money taken, and he was put on display with a message to anyone he may have been connected with. He was new to the game, but that’s no excuse not to know the rules. Sucks for him, but it had to be done.” Ash pauses.
“I wasn’t the only one who fell to drugs. Wolfe once ruined his own life with that stuff. So I can’t really blame him for putting a ban on it. It’s for the good of us all, really. One thing is for sure, no one in the band will ever have the typical druggie rocker reputation. Wolfe will see to that.”
Jewel nods as she listens. She hadn’t known about Wolfe having had a close relationship with drugs. She begins to wonder if that;s how all of the band members got into the Grimms, or if it was just the two of them. S And since they aren’t involved in drugs, she begins to wonder how exactly the biker gang makes their money.
Ash continues, “As for you… well, if you’re with me then you’re with the band, Seven Ravens. And then you’re with the Grimms. It’s a package deal. You won’t have to do anything you don’t want to, but you’ll still be a part of us.” Ash gives Jewel a minute to let it sink in.
“And Wolfe?”
“He will accept you. Just stay away from drugs and you won’t have issues with him. He may see you as an asset, but you can say no. I’ve earned his respect.”
Jewel is unable to answer right away. Instead, she rubs her fingers up and down Ash’s chest. Together they lay in silence for a while. Jewel listens to Ash’s heartbeat, to the sound of his breathing and the quiet of the motel. Then Ash moves, getting on top of her again with a smirk on his face.
“Ready for round two?” he asks before aggressively attacking her neck. She smirks, remembering the last time they had sex how she initiated round two and how he doubted that she could handle it. Once again, she turns to putty in his hands, moving each and every way that he wants. She finds him even more irresistible. It turns Jewel on even more. After a few different poses, and some squeaking of the cheap motel bed, they’re laying side by side again, both out of breath and exhausted, but both thoroughly satisfied.
“Best round two ever,” Jewel admits.
Ash only chuckles. Really, she hadn’t known many guys who had the drive for a second round so soon after the first. Most are never up for it after cumming once. Jewel is starting to have to admit that Ash is all the more impressive the longer she hangs out with him, and the more they get to know each other, the more impressive it’ll be.
Jewel rests her head on his chest and thinks about Ash’s life. For a moment she remembers her ex, the one who would do drugs to the point he was so shit-faced she had to clean up after him, and how he couldn’t keep his grubby hands off of other women. She compares him to Ash, someone who has cleaned up his act. Someone that would drive all the way out to see her after a week of being away because he didn’t want to sleep with anyone else. That couldn’t have been easy, considering all of the sexy women he could have chosen.
Jewel sighs and Ash inquires if she’s okay. She nods and finally pulls her head off his chest and rests her weight on her arm. Ash moves the hair from her face, kisses her and asks her what’s up.
“Let’s go to Vegas,” she says, and a smile spreads across Ash’s face. He nods and pulls her close to him to lay there for a bit longer to regain their energy before getting dressed to get back on the road.