Without Me

Girls

A couple of months ago

''He's nice Ash, come on, give him a chance,'' Ashley rolled her eyes as Talia shoved her phone in front of her face, the picture of a man's Instagram filling her screen, ''you can't say he ain't hot.''

''I'm not saying he isn't, but it doesn't matter what he looks like Tai. If he isn't nice then he can fuck off back to taking selfies,'' Ashley shot back shoving the phone away from her so she could continue putting the shopping away.

''Why don't you just hire someone to do this for you?'' Talia questioned as she watched Ashley unpack the various groceries that they'd just spent an hour trying to find.

''If I did I'd get bored, It's like that Simpsons episode when they move and the house does everything for Marge and she ends up drinking,'' Ashley responded.

''I'm sorry what?''

''I'd get bored Talia, I'd go crazy and probably start drinking because I have nothing to do,'' Ashley explained, causing Talia to huff.

''Even more, reason to go on this date because you'll be too busy with your new man and then you'll never be bored again,'' Ashley rolled her eyes and held out her hand.

''Gimmie my phone,'' Talia smirked handing it over, from where it had been resting behind her on the countertop and watched with a grin as her friend typed in a text saying she'd like to meet up with the person.

''Jason Aderson and Ashley Aderson, I can see it now,'' Talia giggled, a little to overenthusiastically.

''What's with the squealing Jesus Christ, didn't realise I was walking on in a group of schoolgirls,'' Marshall stepped into the kitchen with a parcel tucked under his arm, ''special delivery, for a Miss Jackson,'' Marshall grinned handing out the parcel for her to take.

''Thanks must have arrived while we were at the shop,'' Ashley mumbled taking the package from him and putting it down on the counter in front of her. She then proceeded to grab a pair of scissors out of the draw so she could open it.

''What is it anyway?'' Marshall questioned leaning next to her by the counter, completely blocking Talia out of the conversation.

''She wants me to go on more dates,'' Ashley started, pointing in the direction of Talia who was now stood behind them, ''so she took it upon herself to order me some new clothes, so...'' the sentence she was speaking trailed off as she pulled out the navy blue dress that would when put on, would stop just above the knee.

''So you bought her a ton of short dresses?'' Marshall scrunched up his forehead as he watched Ashley put it against herself to check the sizing. A small part of him had hoped she'd go upstairs and put it on she they could see what it looked like, but he knew she wasn't the type to show off like that.

''No I bought her some outfits that would make her extra cute and sexy,'' Talia remarked rolling her eyes as if he'd asked the most ridiculous question he could have. He on the other hand just stared at her.

''But Ash is already cute,'' the words came out before he could stop them. In the corner of his eye, he could just about see the tinge of red that had started to creep across Ashley's face.

''No guy is going to want to go on a date if she meets them dressed like that,'' Talia waved a hand down Ashley's body pointing out the outfit she had on. Granted she was only wearing leggings with a loose fitting top and black zip-up hoodie on, but it wasn't the worst outfit in the world.

''When we met she was dressed like that,'' Marshall shot back. It had become an ongoing thing that Marshall would continue to make comments that would mean an argument would form between him and Talia.

''When you met she hadn't met me yet. So she had like zero fashion sense like you,'' she taunted.

''Excuse me, at least I don't dress like a fucking...''

''Ok and we'll leave the conversation at that shall we,'' Ashely cut in pushing Marshall out of the room, the dress hanging limply from her arm.

''I wasn't going to offend her,'' Ashley raised an eyebrow at his comment.

''Ok maybe a little, but come on she's a total bitch Ash. Setting you up with these random guys. Could be murderes for all we know.''

''I highly doubt that Marsh,'' Ashley shook her head, letting out a little chuckle as they moved towards the front door.

***

Present

'Could be murders for all we know,' those words suddenly hit Ashley square in the chest, knocking the air out of her. Who'd a thought that with one harmless almost joking comment could turn out to be true. If Jason really killed Arthur, Alonzo and a number of others, then Talia had indeed set her up on a date with a Murderer, a homophobic one at that, which makes it even worse.

As she carried on packing her clothes and various belongings into the suitcase she had brought with her the what if's kept circulating around her head. What if they'd gone on a second date? What if she'd introduced him to Jamie? What if she'd let him into her life only to maybe take it all away from her. The thoughts made her blood run cold and the worst part of everything was that she'd actually gone on the date with the man convicted for her husband's murder.

''Ashley?'' The gental brush of fingertips crazing her shoulder caused her to whip around to see who had been behind her. No words were exchanged between the two, instead, his hands rested on her hips and her arms locked around his neck.

''I can't wait to go home,'' she whispered burying her head into his neck. Marshall sighed bringing his hands up to caress her back.

''Me too, me too,'' he whispered placing a longing kiss on her head.

''You know what the first thing I want us to do when we get home is?'' She questioned picking her head up from his shoulder so she could look up at him.

''Something to do with a bedroom?''

''Sort of, I wanna talk about the nursery and which house it's going to be in,'' Ashley answered bitting her bottom lip in anticipation. She hoped he got the clue that she wanted them to move into one of the houses together.