Alex swallowed thickly. "You told him about me? Does he know he's got one more parent?" "Well, what was I supposed to do? Most of the other kids at preschool have more than one parent; of course he was going to ask," Ashly grumbled. She crossed her arms over her chest defensively and still wouldn't quite meet Alex's eyes. But her scent hadn't soured; it had just sort of gotten weaker, so she wasn't mad, just embarrassed, Alex guessed. So he took mercy on Ashly and let it rest. It was enough to know that Ashly hadn't pretended like he didn't exist. He hoped Ashly had told Adom good things about him, and maybe at some point he would ask, but for now, it was enough. But Alex is really excited to meet his son and to hug and kiss him. Adom looks really precious, and he is an exact copy of Ashly; even Ashly denied this. He reached out and curled his fingers around Ashly's wrist, stroking rhythmically along the line of a vein where it stood out blue beneath the thin skin of her inner arm.
"What the hell is wrong with your family? I am going to kill your grandfather," Ashly hissed, which made Alex smile a tiny bit. "Well, he is dead already." Alex massages his temper awkwardly when Ashly raises her eyebrows at him again. "And what about letters? Who sent a letter to man? Why the fuck didn't he show me your letters? Why is everyone doing this to our relationship? Do they think it's funny?" "What?" Alex said, his brow furrowing further. "I sent them. They definitely sent it to Man. I can't send you directly because of my grandfather; not even Allen knows her, but Man. Grandfather doesn't know much about him." He reached into his pocket for his phone, showing Ashly his writing pad, where he wrote a soft copy before sending a hard copy to Man, and the long series of letters he'd sent to Ashly, just like Alex told her. Ashly took the phone, scrolling with wide eyes, and then she looked up at Alex, and they both made the realization at the same time. "Why did Man do this?
Alex has always been the type of person who prefers to keep his feelings on the downlow. His feelings regarding everything in his life are intense. He wouldn't say that he isn't intense because the fire that burns in his chest every time he looks at Ashly is very intense. He prefers to show his feelings subtly, preferring to come off as casual and easy-going as if nothing affects him. At this moment, however, when he's pressed close to Ashly, so close that he can smell his mate's scent every time he breathes, so close that Alex can hear the steady and soothing beating of his Ashly heart, Alex doesn't want to be subtle. He really misses all of this, but now that he is okay, everything is okay. There is no purpose in being subtle anymore. Now that he already has Ashly back in his arms, he has no plans to be subtle. He wants to shower Ashly with all his affections, though hopefully not so much to the point that Ashly feels suffocated and can no longer stand him. "Alex," Ashly whispers.
Alex suddenly wakes, missing the state in between dreaming and waking for a moment lost in disorientation. Thoughts, or rather sensations of memories, slowly flood his mind, and he's aware of the body next to him. Relief is ebbing through him. He rubs sleep from his eyes before he turns around, strangely emotional the moment he lays eyes on Ashly's relaxed expression. For only a few moments before she starts to stir, her eyes opening sluggishly. A rise of guilt tightens his chest, a notion of shame and failure. "I'm sorry I was like that yesterday and that you had to do that. Take care of me, I mean." He feels his throat closing, making swallowing hard. Ashly reacts fast and unexpectedly, her fingers covering Alex's mouth and her eyes fully aware, piercing his. "I'm not. You've been taking care of me even when I didn't want you to or didn't realize what you were doing. If you want a one-sided relationship, you have to find it somewhere else, Alex. Either we're there for each other w
Alex sprawled on their bed, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, as the day got warm and quite humid. He's catching up with messages on his phone as he becomes aware of movement by the door, his head turning, blinking in pleasant surprise, and his heartbeat quickening as he takes in the sight of his beautiful mate. She's wearing a thin, short, white bathrobe, her hair up and fastened in the back, revealing all of her gorgeous face. Alex was rather spellbound, at first not noticing the object Ashly was holding in her hand and now waving in front of him. "I need to cut my hair short; will you do it for me, Alex?" Her smile is charming and much too tempting for Alex, knowing that might be her sole interpretation, but he lets go of his phone instantly, mid-message, and gets out of bed as if bewitched, his hand taken by Ashly, who smiles happily at her request being granted and leads him to the bathroom. She puts the instrument in Alex's hand and sits down on a stool in front of the tall mirror.
Ashly's mind is drifting in and out of thoughts and memories, and all of a sudden their conversation from before triggers something again in Ashly's alertness, and for a few minutes she's just silently thinking, lots of memories and discoveries she made during their time apart about herself and Alex coming back to the surface. Once she's ready to share, she turns the music off and speaks up, eyes trained on Alex. "You know, when you were gone, I thought about everything a lot, and I realized all the things I was blind to before. Like, your brother made comments about us when we were at the school, and even when you told me you liked me at the ghost other event, even though you took it back, I should have known the truth long before I did, right? But, honestly, I think I wasn't ready to even consider it. I wouldn't have believed you could like me like that, especially since we'd been rivals for so long." Alex has been watching her quietly, his phone forgotten next to him, his hands h
"How did you know it would work, though? Or did you just do all that for the minute possibility that it could?" Ashly looks expectantly at him, but Alex still has no idea what she's talking about, having a bit of a hard time thinking clearly anyway, having her so close, every part of her touching, and touched by Ashly, sending delicious sensations through him. "Can you please elaborate?" He takes a breath to get a grip, gently and slowly running his fingers along Ashly's back, pleased to feel her skin and body and reacting to her touch as well. "You know, getting me into the heat and then taking advantage of it..." Ashly raises an eyebrow, watching him closely. A hand comes around Alex's neck, her fingers splaying over his throat. "Oh, that." Alex remembers, of course, swallowing a tiny lump down where he's intently aware of Ashly's touch. He knows he would deserve some punishment for fooling her like that. "I told you my feelings made me do some unorthodox things." He swallows h
About the Monika and Sam relationship before their breakup: Monika knows her mate is shy and reserved by nature; she knows this. Even Sam expresses his feelings in an equally quiet way, preferring to show his love through his actions and touches rather than words. He loves Monika so much and for so long that he guards his love so jealously, so closely to his heart. He has loved Monika from afar, through his loneliness and tears, and from the quietest corners of his desolated heart; so, in a sense, this love is sometimes his even more than it is Monika. Of course , he's not going to be able to just say it casually. He also doesn't know how to put it into words most of the time. No words in this world can describe the magnitude of his love, his adoration, his fondness, and his devotion to his monika. It's impossible for him to say it all, so he shows it instead. Besides, he likes taking care of Monika, making sure that Monika eats well and sleeps well, leaning against Monika, holding