Page 51 of Off the Rim
"Mmmm yes. Play with my balls, Ash. Put them in your—Oh, fuck?—”
Oh fuckis right. I can feel the way Marcus' ass clenches around my finger as I suck one firm testicle into my mouth, then the other. It's fucking heaven. My head is at an awkward angle, and there's public hair up my nose, but Marcus is writhing on my finger and jacking off an inch in front of my face and I fucking love it.
"I'm going to come all over your pretty face, Princess," he growls, and his body jerks. "Fuck.Right there. Oh fuck, Ash?—”
My fingers rub mercilessly over the soft nub that is making Marcus' legs shake, and he comes with a choked groan. There's less cum than what he pumped into my throat earlier, but there's enough to paint my face.
When it's over, Marcus trails his fingers down the bridge of my nose and over my cheekbones, spreading his orgasm over my skin.
His husky whisper is almost inaudible. "Beautiful.”
CHAPTER 25
MARCUS
The moments after we come down from our high are the hardest. I feel conflicted, yet sated. It feels right, but the post-nut clarity has me remembering just how wrong this is. How it'll never work.
Once we're cleaned off and back in my room, I give Ashton a pair of my sweatpants to wear. He looks strange in my clothes. It's like the off-brand rags know they don't belong and fit oddly on his body. Of course, part of that could be that he's nine inches taller than I am. But the piling on the fabric is more apparent than ever, and I'm feeling a little embarrassed about it. I'd handed him my most comfortable pair on instinct, forgetting how ratty they are.
"I hope that's okay," I say, rubbing my hand along the back of my neck.
"They're really soft."
"They’re my favorite pair," I admit. "That's why they're so worn in." The pair I slide on isn't much better, but neither of us points it out.
We stare at each other in silence for a few tense moments, my small room feeling like a shoebox at the moment. "Maybe we should do this at your place. It's a bit cramped in here…"
Ashton hooks me around the waist as I try to make my way to the door and pulls me into him. "I don't mind being cramped. Now, are you going to tell me about whatever it is that's got you broodier than usual?"
"I'm not broody." He gives me a raised eyebrow. "You and my cousin Sean are not allowed in the same room with each other. Ever."
He laughs. "If you say so. Now, quit deflecting," he says as he takes a seat at the edge of my bed and pulls my hips so I'm standing between his knees. It's intimate, and I'm not sure what to make of it. Yeah, we've been fucking around here and there, but since when are we so casually touchy? "What's up?"
I swallow deeply and take a breath. It’s not the deep, soothing breath I need, though. I don't want him to know how nervous I am to talk to him about this. Why I'm so nervous, I have no idea. It's not like this was going anywhere. It couldn't. Even before I found my dad's files, it wouldn't have worked. We're too different. And our families would never accept us being together. I shouldn't even be considering it.
If I show him what I found, is he going to get defensive and pull away, or try to defend his family? Would he suddenly allow his dad to get me kicked off the team? He has the ammo he needs. All he has to do is mention that I punched him, and it would be all over for me. He has all the power here, as he does in every situation. It's one reason I take control the times we've fucked around, because as much as my body wants him, I won't be vulnerable again. I won't be caught off guard again.
"I found something in my dad's old files. And I think I figured out why our parents hate each other."
Ashton is quiet. Too quiet.
He's been staring at the pages of pictures and files I handed him, shuffling through them over and over again like he might be missing something. Some of the photos turned out darker in the copies, but they're all clear enough. I left the originals at the house for safe-keeping and helped myself to Greg's office to make copies. I made a copy for Ashton for if or when I decided to show him. I've been struggling with if I should show him, whether or not it could make things worse. There’s a small part of me that also wants to follow up on some of this, to find out the truth, like I could avenge my father by proving he wasn't wrong. What would I even do with that information? I'd want vindication, but I also want nothing to do with the outcome, which would surely be a media frenzy. That's not the kind of publicity I want or need.
After I've given him a long enough time to absorb the contents of the folder, and he's just staring at the pictures again, I finally speak.
"Did you know they were stepbrothers?"
"What? Where does it say that?"
"That's my grandma," I say, pointing to one of the pictures of a woman in a calf-length white dress and holding a bouquet. Her arm is hooked through the arm of Ashton James Senior, and they're beaming at each other with love and happiness radiatingfrom their smiles. There's another picture of them on a dance floor, outside a mansion that I'm pretty sure is the same one Ashton’s family lives in now. In the background, a teenaged version of my dad is sitting at a table, laughing at something happening off camera. Ashton's father is sitting across the table, watching him with interest. There's adoration in his eyes. I can imagine that at twelve years old, suddenly getting a big brother must have seemed pretty cool. Although I know from the story my dad told me, that didn't last long. The majority of the other pictures have Ashton's father, Junior, looking sullen or giving my dad a death glare from the background. There are a few pictures where they're laughing or getting along, most notably a photo taken when they are older. In this picture, they're in the shallow end of a pool and look to be wrestling. That must have been shortly before whatever their fight was, if I'm getting their ages right.
Ashton surprises me by laughing. "I wasn't paying attention to anything other than my dad and the random dude that looks like you. For a minute, I thought you were going to tell me that our dads were in some kind of secret relationship or something." He shakes his head at himself, chuckling. "I knew my grandfather had gotten remarried at some point, because there are news articles about the accident, but nobody ever talks about it. It's like a big family secret or something, but I never knew why. As a kid, I learned not to ask questions, so I honestly kind of forgot all about it. Mimi, that's what we call my grandma, basically pretends they were never divorced, and no one is stupid enough to say otherwise."
"Mimi is… Matilda?" I guess.
"Yeah, that's right. How'd you know?"
"Well, her name is on those documents there," I say, pointing them out. "But also from the story my dad told me."
