Hand In Glove

Chapter 53

Sometime during the night, Chloe stirred awake with Ashton in her arms. She heard some bumps and voices. Smiling to herself, she figured it must be the guys coming home and drifted off to sleep again. Only moments later she awoke to some strange sounds coming from inside the house.

Could it be? It was definitely a female voice and from all the moaning and giggling it became all too clear. "Go back to sleep, Chloe," Ashton whispered.

She tried but the moaning grew louder and more frantic. "What's going on?"

Ashton laughed, looking up at her. "Sounds like someone else got lucky tonight."

"Jamie," she huffed.

"Um, no, from the sounds of her, it could be none other than Nick Arrow, I'm afraid," Ashton said.

The moaning was out of control. Whoever she was with, she was definitely enjoying herself. "Nick?" Chloe said in disbelief. "That's crazy."

"Trust me, there's only one other guy in this house that can make a girl scream like that." Ashton laughed.

"You mean you?" she teased.

"You know it and since I'm in here with you. Then that has to be the one and only Nick Arrow." He laughed as the moaning grew louder with a few squeals in between.

"I don't sound like that, do I?" she asked, embarrassed. "Ashton?"

He didn't answer, preferring to laugh instead.

"Wow..." she said quietly.

***

The next morning, Chloe and Ashton were the first ones up. Downstairs, evidence of last night's debauchery was all around the room. High heels were strewn across the floor, the smell of strange perfume lingered in the air. There, slung on the banister was a Miss Sugar Dunes sash.

Ashton took much pleasure in showing it to Chloe. Shrugging indifferently, she went about setting up for breakfast.

"Looks like it's just you and me this morning," he said with a knowing smirk.

"You're loving this, aren't you?" Chloe accused.

"What do you mean by that?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"So much for the code," she said in a huff.

Sitting down at the table, Ashton smiled at her. "Chloe, we try but even the best of us fall from grace now and then. Besides, the code was mostly my idea," he said, watching her. "Anyway, what did you expect?"

"Nothing, you're right I guess," she said, shuffling through the cabinets.

"Hey, wait a minute. Are you jealous?"

"Jealous? Don't be ridiculous," she answered sharply.

"That's it, isn't it?" He walked over to where she stood, crossing his arms and placing his hand under his chin. "You thought you could keep Nick all to yourself, way up on a shelf," he said as his lips curled into a sly smile.

"Come on, Ashton, that's not it," she said with her hands on her hips, causing him to laugh. "It's just weird, that's all."

"Weird how? That Nick would dare be with another girl?" he teased. "Come on, Chloe, he's only human."

"I know that," she said with a frown. "Fine, you're right okay! I guess I just expected a little more from him."

"Like I said before, he's only human. We all are," Ashton said. "Do you really think it's fair for us to be going at like rabbits while he sits around pining after you?"