Loving Him (Ashton Irwin a.u.)

Chapter 12

The door swung open.

"Aiden! Look who's here!"

The baby squealed, struggling out of Lauren's grip towards Ashton, who immediately dropped our bags on the ground and pulled Aiden into his grip.

"Hey, Buddy, I missed you!" Ashton enthused, holding his nephew close, tucking the small head under his chin.

While the boys cuddled on the porch of Ashton's family home Lauren turned to me, holding out her hand to me. "Hi, I'm Lauren. I don't think we've met yet?"

"No, I don't think we have," I replied, shaking her hand with a smile. "I'm Maisie."

"I've heard more of your name than my own lately," she joked. "Ashton's obsessed."

Ashton stopped fussing with the baby and instantly turned to his sister. "Hey, no, I'm not... I'm hardly obsessed..." he insisted. "I merely share the odd story with you guys, and sometimes Maisie's in the story... I'm not obsessed."

I laughed, kissing his cheek. "Of course you're not, babe."

Lauren grinned, taking my hand and saying, "Come on, dinner's nearly ready."

I followed her with a breathy laugh and she pulled me quickly through the house. "Mum! Ashton and his girlfriend are here!" she announced to the woman in the kitchen I recognised as Ann-Marie.

"Maisie!" she enthused as she turned around and put down her cooking utensils. "Merry Christmas!" she added as she pulled me into a hug.

"Merry Christmas, Mrs Irwin," I replied enthusiastically, squeezing her softly but affectionately.

"Oh, come on, Maisie," she huffed. "How many times do I have to ask you to call me Ann-Marie?"

"Yeah, you're right, sorry," I agreed with a grin. "Merry Christmas!"

Aiden squealed behind me and before I knew it Ash had placed him on my shoulders. I squeaked in surprise as my hands flew up to grab his feet to prevent him from losing his balance. I started bouncing up and down, jiggling giggles out of the small toddler and causing a wide smile to grow on my face. Ashton cautiously loomed behind me with his hands hovering by his nephew's back as if he was holding up an invisible force field to keep Aiden safe. Aiden knotted his fingers into my hair, pulling slightly. I winced in pain when he got a little bit too excited, and Ashton noticed, carefully picking the young boy off my shoulders and pulling him back into his grasp. Aiden whined with an unimpressed look on his face, squirming away from Ashton.

"Well, that was unexpected," Lauren said to me. "Aiden likes you more than he likes his own daddy, don't you!" Lauren went over to the baby and tickled him gently, receiving a stream of loud laughs to escape his mouth.

I quirked my eyebrow at Ashton after hearing what Lauren had called him and gave him a look to say I wanted to talk to him in another room.

"Excuse us for a second please," Ashton said politely before handing Aiden over to Lauren and grabbing my hand, leading me out the kitchen and into the living room.

"What the fuck, Ash?" I asked incredulously.

After a short silence, a quiet voice said from behind me, "Um... Small kid in the room. Mum says we can't curse like that."

I whipped around, my cheeks burning hot as I saw Ashton's half-brother sitting cross-legged on the floor playing video games with the sound off. "Oh my gosh," I whispered. "I'm so sorry! You must be Harry. I'm Maisie, Ashton's girlfriend." I kneeled down by Harry and held out my hand for him to shake.

"Hi," he returned neutrally.

And that was the end of that conversation, as Harry got up, pushed his thick blonde hair off his forehead, and padded out of the living room. Ashton watched Harry leave, scruffing up his hair as he walked past and grinning as he turned around with a pout. Harry shut the door behind himself.