Chapter 14

POV Ashton

01 WEEK LATER.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2024, AT 9:05 AM.

Harper's body is pressed against mine on the mattress, I thrust deep into her hot, tight pussy. I don't stop even when her squirt tries to push me out because I'm not there yet and I need to cum.

My hips pump hard, thrusting my cock inside her abruptly. I try to suck in her moans as I kiss her, but with the squeaks the bed makes with the violent movements while I thrust into her, avoiding her whimper is the least of my problems.

I don't give a damn. Let my friends know that I've been fucking her hard since four in the morning, which was when Harper arrived from Massachusetts.

Between a slow stroke and another violent one, I feel her inner walls tighten around me and, with my balls swollen, desperate to cum, I intensify my thrusts until my cock contracts and the climax spirals, piercing my body in a hoarse roar. My semen gushes inside the condom and, as much as I try to imagine the sensation of having my cum inside it, it is not enough to meet my expectations. I carefully remove the latex and lean to the side, to reach the trash can near the bedside table. I fall next to her, placing my forearm on my forehead as I try to find the rhythm of my breathing again. A smile curves my mouth, and Harper turns on her own axis, supporting her chin on my abdomen. Sweat marks between her sculpted eyebrows and the blond hair that I am familiar with the scent of vanilla, damp at the roots. I slide my hand through the strands, moving the ones that have come loose from the ponytail. Harper moves beside me. The scent of her body—sweat and sex—flares my nostrils. I turn my head to find her with her green eyes half-open to me. The sheet covering her moves a few inches as she moves her arms, exposing the hard, pink nipple that I've been feasting on for the past few hours.

I lick my own mouth as I feel the tip of it hard on my tongue at the memory.

This woman is a blessing, but I need to watch myself. Somehow, it seems like women who have the potential to mess with my head are my weak point.

Harper is a better version of me. We've been having sex for a long time, but she's never hinted that she wants a relationship or questioned my escapades between after-shows with the band. In other words, she doesn't care at all. As long as we're protecting ourselves and I'm up to date with my exams, Harper doesn't mind "sharing me," so to speak. I admit that the idea of ​​her dating other men or women screws me up mentally, but I ignore it because it's my possessive side showing its face.

I'm living my best phase with The Reckless, so why complicate the uncomplicated? I also can't tell if I like her or the sex. I have serious problems getting confused when I decide to put feelings into play. On the other hand, Harper isn't the least bit confusing.

But every time I'm with her, the marriage proposal is on the tip of my tongue. Hope is the last thing to die. To be honest, I don't need love — I've already said that I'm sure it wasn't made for me — I just need good sex and an even hotter woman to wake up next to.

Harper looks at me. It seems like the right time to tell her that our team is trying to find me someone and that someone is Gravity Monaghan.

Every time my mind wanders to the memory of us in that room, one contract away from making us a couple, my stomach turns to pure ice.

" I have to go. I promised Tess we’d have coffee together.

“Fuck. Why can’t you put me on your priority list when you’re in New York?”

Harper’s well-shaped eyebrows rise.

“Because my priority is and always will be Theresa, cutie. No matter how good you can fuck me.”

Patting my bare chest, Harper pushes herself off the bed. The red satin sheet falls to her hips. My throat goes dry at the sight of her accentuated waist.

“Would you marry me?” I turn my torso, lying on my side.

I put my hand under my head, watching her rescue her clothes scattered around the room.

“Is that a serious question?”

Harper doesn’t stop what she’s doing to pay attention to me.

“Of course it is. Don’t mess with me, I’m proposing marriage.”

“Don’t mess around, Ashton.” She laughs, slipping her arms into the sleeves of her pink button-down shirt. — I don’t want to date you, let alone marry you. What’s all this weird talk? We have sex because there’s a boundary between us. — He uses his hands, which are busy with his white boots, to illustrate. — Don’t tell me you’re in love with me? — The disdain on his face almost hurts me, I admit. — Does it have something to do with the punch Gravity gave you last week?

I grab the pillow next to me and press it against my face, stifling a frustrated scream.

“You can talk to me. What’s going on?”

As he puts on his panties and his white shorts-skirt — matching his boots —, he returns it to me. I put the pillow back where it was before and stared at the ceiling of the room.

" Nothing.

“It is extremely important that no one knows about this contract.” Jared’s voice repeats in my mind like an annoying one. “It needs to be an absolute secret, Ashton. No one but the team and your friends can know.” Son of a bitch!

" I can’t believe it! Are you keeping secrets from me?

" Marry me and I won’t keep secrets from anything else.

I ignore all of Sydney’s sentences dismissing her daughter as my wife.

" You’re crazy if you think I’m going to marry you. It’s not going to happen today or ever. You better stop daydreaming, it’s making you sick.

From the way Harper looks at me, I can tell she’s losing her patience and I don’t intend to irritate her with something so stupid.

I just let out a sigh of defeat.

" I’m only going to accept your no because you’re hot and I intend to fuck you casually for the rest of my life.

Harper can’t help but roll her eyes at my comment.

“We’re done the minute I find someone I actually like.”

“When I find someone doesn’t count?” I emphasize, pretending to be upset.

“Let’s be honest, when have you ever liked anyone other than yourself? There’s only one person you’re in love with, and that’s you.” Harper throws her bag over her shoulder, laughing. “And after you, there are the four men sleeping in the bedrooms of this house. So I’m not the least bit worried about that happening.”

“Pretty, have you ever been told how annoying you are?”

“Yes. I hear it all the time.” She leans over the bed to kiss me. “I might come over later, but don’t count on it.” She winks as she walks away.

“You’re using me!” I yell the moment she closes the door behind her.

It was a week of pure anguish. I left that meeting with Gravity worse than when I went in. However, the not-so-newfound anger has found a comfortable place inside me and has not surfaced since that day. That is because, I am sure, I have not found it again. Otherwise, I would have found a way, in my own way, to reignite it.

Gravity has always been bold enough to challenge me; when she dragged me to Paris and later, when she decided to cut me out of her life. Now, once again, I am waiting for her to determine what our future will be like.

Harper was wrong about me being in love with myself. I have been in love before, first with Nicola and of course that went wrong. And I even thought I had feelings for Gravity.

I force myself to get out of bed. My first action is to reach for my phone, but I have been avoiding social media lately. Reading the barrage of criticism about me is a surefire way to kill my mental health, but I understand that I will not be able to ignore my family for much longer like I do with the haters.

I find myself faced with five calls from Conrad and seven from Jolie, not to mention the messages from Maddie and Halle. Alex must be too busy proving himself to be the perfect son to bother texting me. He’s due to be home in mid-October, and I’m not looking forward to our reunion at all.

I thought that with the band’s success, Conrad Baker would recognize that I could follow my own path, like Alex, and achieve as much as my older brother. But my father and I have different views on what success means.