Kristen Ashley

“Dead. It was me who was with her, me who found her. Felt her throat, no pulse. I gotta tell you, Red, there is nothin', not one thing in the world worse than puttin' your hand to the throat of someone you love and...feelin'...nothin'.”

“Makes him feel however Slim feels that makes him get close to you anytime you're even a little near, like any moment a lion's gonna come roarin' into the room and he's gotta be close enough to come between you and it so he can keep you safe.”

“You were just a beautiful woman. Now you're my beautiful woman. What you got under your clothes is for me. No one else. They don't look. They don't touch. That's the deal. Yeah?"I stared at him, speechless, which was a good thing because if I had words, I would have said them so loudly the neighbors would hear."Now," he went on, either not feeling or not caring about the badder than bad vibes emanating from me directly toward him, "go put on a tank."That’s when I found my words."Maybe I should go put on my ragged white dress and stone necklace and you can put on your leopard skin tunic and we can pedal in our stone car to the roadhouse before you go bowling with Barney and I go shopping with Betty, Fred.”

“It might make me selfish, and an idiot, but when you needed time to get your head together after you'd had your heart broken by a commando, hanging at a mountain hideaway with a biker was a good way to heal”

“Clocked you before you clocked me, Gwen.”

“I felt a warm hand on the skin of my lower back.”I twisted my neck, looked up and there he was.I held my breath and he asked, “You comin’ or what?”That was it. That was his pickup line. “You comin’ or what?”I went.”

“You comin' or what?”

“Yeah, I started to chase you but the way you were goin’ after him, hell bent for leather, it occurred to me you would not be best pleased I caught you and stopped you. I didn’t want to deal with that backbone of yours getting any stronger if you were denied what you wanted. Especially in the middle of the night with you in an emotional state, in the throes of dealing with hearing Dobie Gray’s undeniably kickass but, no offense to you, honey, or Dobie Gray, in my opinion not cry worthy song.It also occurred to me you would be pleased I caught the kid for you so I went after him instead.”

“Coming back for Comic-Con. Now that the seal has been broken and we all know each other as in know each other, expect you and Chace to meet me there,” Benji told me and my mind filled with thoughts of Chace at a Comic-Con.Because it did, I burst out laughing.Chace’s eyes came right to me and seeing the look on his face, openly happy, I sighed again but this time on the inside.I grinned at him but murmured, “I’m not sure that’ll ever happen.”“I am,” Ally replied and I tore my eyes away from my husband…My husband.I looked to her. “No way.”Ally looked to me. “That man would do anything for you. Even commune with a bunch of geeks.”Well, I figured she would know. Since she had one like mine.I grinned at her.”

“It’s not classified information, Chace. You can read all about it on Wookieepedia.”His body started shaking again, as did his voice when he asked, “Wookieepedia?”“Stop making fun at me when I’m pissed,” I snapped.“Wookieepedia?” Chace repeated, his body now rocking, taking mine and the bed with it.”

“When we moved me in and I fretfully shared this with him, he pulled me loosely in his arms, dipped his face close and told me, “This décor isn’t mine either. It’s Ma’s. Do what you want. Anything you want. I don’t give a fuck. Just as long as you’re happy here.”I’d be happy on a deserted island that had nothing but a palm tree and a lifetime supply of sunscreen as long as Chace was there. And it was because of statements just like that I would.I didn’t tell him that.I just whispered, “Okay.”

“That night, it wasn’t Dobie Gray,” I whispered. “It was this song. It was Ella Mae singing this to me when I thought you weren’t all I knew you to be, which is all the words to this song. Twenty-nine years, I held out for this. Then, half an hour later, you proved every one of these words true and every moment since then, you kept doing it. I’ll take you thinking I’m your angel but you need to know you’re my hero. Twenty-nine, honey, I held out for this. Twenty-nine years, I held out for you.”

“His head dropped to watch his thumb move over my fingers as he muttered, “Naked, baby.”My head twitched at his weird word.“Pardon?”His eyes came to mine and he repeated, “Naked.”I felt my brows draw together and I asked, “Naked?”He held my gaze even as he moved...”

“Sweet Pea, the way you eat means you got tits and ass. This is good because I like tits and ass. This is bad because Tack and Lawson like 'em just as much as me. Then he shoved his noodles and veg into his mouth and said with his mouth full, Tack maybe more.”

“Don’t forget the chocolate fudge frosting!”“Gotcha,” Dad shouted back.“Good to know, even after a family drama, Gwen’s still hard at work on that great ass,” Gus noted.”

“I'll let you in on a secret, honey. The knight who has serious chinks in his armor but never falls is the true hero. That means he's won battles and doesn't waste time polishing his armor so he can look good while he rides in parades that are tributes to his glory. He just drags himself back on his steed and keeps right on battling. And if he's the right kind of knight, he never rides alone. The best heroes inspire loyalty. The best heroes keep fighting the good fight, tirelessly, quietly. The best heroes always have scars. If they didn't, the heroine would have nothing to do. It's her job to help the hero let all that stuff go in order that her man can be strong enough to fight on but when he's with her he's free to just 'breathe'.”

“Tex shrink-wrapped a dealer’s BMW. Wrapped the wholething in plastic wrap and then used a portable blow drier on itto tighten the plastic. Wordhas it, it was several layers deep.”

“You grew up on a farm but you became a woman that doesn't belong here and right now, it fuckin' kills me to admit it, I gotta focus on Jonas and I can't afford to get you the goddamned binds you want....You think I don't lose sleep wonderin' what you gave up and wonderin' when you'll want it back and knowin' I can't give it to you?”

“I feel like I’ve been waiting,” I said to Billy, looking at Hank. “Waiting for a long time, but I guess I know what you mean. My life began when I met him.”

“I wil not calm down. My baby girl is moving halfway across the country.”“She’s been moved away before,” Dad pointed out.“Yeah, but that was with Billy. We all knew he wouldn’t work out. We’re talking about Hank here. Look at him,” she pointed to Hank.“She’s never coming home. Never.”

“Sweet Jesus! Sweet, sweet Jesus!” Mom called to the Savior, caught up in the divine intervention that was Hank and me.I narrowed my eyes at her. “Stop cal ing Jesus, Mom. Hank’s gonna think you’re weird,” I snapped.“She is weird,” Dad said.“I’m not weird,” Mom returned.”

“Hank wants to have a conversation tonight. We had a conversation last night! I can’t have another conversation! He’l say shit that freaks me out because he’s, like, in my brain. We haven’t even known each other for two weeks! How can he be in my brain? It’s unreal ..”

“You can’t tel me I’m not breaking up with you when I’m breaking up with you!”

“That’s what love’s all about, Roxanne. Youlove someone, you trust them always to telyou the truth.”

“These boys need women who can take the heat without meltin’ like butter, and sometimes that heat is fiery. They need women who can give back their shit so they don’t walk all over ‘em and get bored out of their fucking skulls. And they need women who can go soft when the situation demands because they get hard knocks on a regular basis, sometimes literal y, and comin’ home to somethin’ soft is the only way to cope.”

“I’m an idiot. I’m ten times an idiot. God, I could just die.” Then I forged ahead because the last comment was too close for comfort these days. “Not die die, as in not-breathing die, but die figuratively, if you know what I mean.” Lee was grinning.”

““Fuck! ” I shouted and everyone at the espresso counter looked over at us. “Half a million dollars?” Lee dropped his foot and turned to me. “Roxie, calm down.”“Half a million dollars and he bought me cheese puffs and took me to that sleaze bag motel? I’m gonna fucking kill that motherfucker!” I yelled.“Roxie –”I slammed my fists on my knees. “The least he could have done was bind my wrists with VELVET ROPE. He sure could have afforded it. Stupid jerk.”

“I’l erase your day”

“I’m not going to fucking calm down. I’m going to hunt that bastard down and murderhim.”“Oh fuck,” Hank rocked back on his heels, his eyes went to the ceiling, his hands went to his hips.“What?” I asked.“Nothin’.”“What?” I asked, louder.His eyes came back to me. “You aren’thuntin’ anyone down.”“Wel … no,” I said, staring at him like he was crazy. “I was just saying that because I’m mad as hell. I wouldn’t begin to know how to hunt him down.””

“Dude,” I said low. “All cornfields are haunted. Trust me. I know.” Then I came up on my elbows so I was closer to him and I said quietly, “They whisper to you.””

“I could make better pie-type love with a new stove!I heard his disembodied voice shout back, “Dick territory, babe. Don’t even think about it unless I’m there.”“Chick territory,” I kept shouting. “A stove’s in the kitchen!”“It’s got a plug and weighs over fifty pounds. Totally dick,” he shot back on his own shout.I gave in, turning to the plans while giggling.Totally dick.My old may was funny.”

“Kiss me, Tate,” I demanded softly. “Baby -“I lifted my head and put my lips to his, encouraging on a whisper, “I wanna catch fire, honey, and only you can bring that out for me.”I watched up close as Tate’s eyes went intense then his head slanted and he muttered, “You got it, Ace.”Then he kissed me.”

“An accountant would not make his girlfriend worry he while he was away at work”“Yeah,” Jonas shot back with a smile, “but he also wouldn’t have a milf girlfriend either.”I felt my eyes round as Tate said in a father’s warning tone but still I could tell from his voice he was smiling huge, “Bub.”“Dad, seriousloy, she’s milf,” Jonas returned.“Think it, boy, don’t say it.” Tate replied.“Right,” Jonas muttered but he was still smiling at me and his smile was unrepentant. Jonas had called me a milf. I knew what that meant and I didn’t know what to do with it.Seriously, Tate from head to toe.”

“You’re safe, Lauren,” he murmured and my eyes came back to his.“You weren’t safe with him but, honey, swear to God, you’re safe with me.”

“Saw him come outta the garage at you, I knew,” he muttered against my skin. “I was strugglin’ with it but I knew then. I knew you were my girl.”

“That’s my good girl,” he growled in my ear. And there it was. His good girl? Why did I always have to be the good girl? Fuck that.”

“She doesn’t look like a Buster,” I declared, “more like a Princess Fancy Pants.”Tate was bent and pulling a skilled out of a cupboard. His head tipped back and his eyes locked on mine.“You call my cat Princess Fancy Pants, Ace, we got problems.”

“I tried to imagine Tate on ice skates. This vision didn’t form in my brain likely because Tate’s badassness reached across four states and halted such activity.”

“Holy fuck, Jesus, shit, you’re Tatum Jackson”

“I see you again, it won’t be pretty. I find out she sees you again, you’ll be breathin’ through a fuckin’ tube. You get me?”

“Perhaps I should go,” Brad noted and Tate didn’t release me but his head turned toward Brad.“You think?” he asked.”

“Don’t mind us,” Mack called. “They probably don’t get a lot of foreplay in hospital waiting rooms. You’re breakin’ the monotony of tears and tantrums. “Mack!” Carrie hissed. “Tate just kissed her, that’s hardly foreplay.”“You weren’t watchin’ close enough, honey. That was definitely foreplay.”

“You’re gonna find special, Ace.”…“Sometimes special doesn’t exist, Tate,” I told him. “And I’m okay with that.”His lips came back to mine and when he spoke, he did it gently. “It will for you baby.”

“Will you stay out of it?” he clipped. “She’s holdin’ onto me, bud, I’d say I’m in it,” Tate returned.”

“Whose SUV is this?” I asked once we were out of Carnal.“Mine.” He answered.I looked at him. “You drive a Harley.”“Not big on puttin’ bad guys on the back of my bike when I hunt them down, Ace. Fucks with my street cred.”

“Everything that was Chace Keaton urged him to follow her. To ask her to dinner. To get to know her. To find the right time to taste her mouth. To find the right time to taste her body. To take the time to teach her how to pleasure his. To lay his burden on her.Everything that Chace Keaton had done, seen and heard for near on a decade stopped him”

“Then she leaned slightly into him and said gently, “I don’t think you should be left be. I think you’re dealing with something heavy, you’re obviously doing it alone.” She threw a mitten-covered hand out to indicate the area, “You need to unload it, Chace.”Christ.Fuck.Christ.That voice, quiet, gentle, so fucking sweet saying his name, her eyes soft on him.Fuck.Better than he could have imagined.Better than he ever could have dreamed.And not his.Never to be his.Which meant finally hearing her say his name was torture.”

“Every day somethin' new. Will I ever get to the heart of you?”

“Straight up, this is the man in your bed. I want in there, Faye, and when I get in there, I'm gonna dig in deep so when I share my shit that's so dark you'll be blinded by it and you'll wanna run to the light, you can't because I'm so deep, you can't let go.”

“I stand here because of you, my Aslan, my Faye, my protectors and I make the promise that what you gave me, what you taught me, I will live those lessons. I cannot repay you for what you gave me. That's all I can do. All I can do is learn the lesson you taught me and go forward in my life good and pure and right." His voice dipped to a whisper in the microphone and he finished, "Thank you."”