TANTRIC (Book 3 of the Soundcrush Series)

Chapter 34: Frontmen Hear The Whole Story

Trigger Warning--There is brief description of BDSM acts and description of a sadist assault. Anyone with assault or sexual assault triggers, please be aware. Anyone with concern over the content, please message me privately, thanks.

Okay...it's almost time to hear what Ashlynn's tale. 

Song: Don't GIve Up On Me by Andy Grammar...because, it's so Leed, in the ways he thinks about Ashlynn...

Leed

The kiss I gave Ash in the hall did the trick. It put me in the moment with her and Ollie. It almost gave me almost enough presence to push Mac's startling revelation.

Almost.

Because if Mac thinks she knows who the psycho fucker is, it's likely that I'm acquainted with him, too.

But I tell myself...time and place. Mac is right, nothing bad it going to happen to Ashlynn while she's surrounded by her tribe in the Heartley hideaway. So I'll hear what she has to say about her experience tonight, and I'll file it all in my memory, and cross-reference with everything Mac has to tell me, and then I'll call Riley and see where we are with engaging a private investigator.

Right now, I'm with Ash and Ollie, and we haven't gotten to spend a lot of time like that, so I try to return to the moment with them.

Ash breezes into the suite and holds the door open for me with one hand while I manhandle the suitcase and stroller. She's biting her lips hard as the wheels twist and lock on the stroller and I end up picking up the damn thing and tossing it into the living area with a bitter, "Fuck German engineering!"

"Okay," she says tolerantly. 

I'm not finished. "Do you know that stroller cost three thousand dollars and was custom built to Tam's height? And it doesn't work any damn better than one that cost a couple hundred bucks from Target, I bet!"

"Your daddy is so funny," she whispers to Ollie, as she rights the stroller and paces it around it, inspecting it.

"Feel free to kick it," I encourage her and she shakes her head and smiles at me. She pushes it herself, maneuvering it forward and back and jiggling it in the way that always seems to cause it to lock up on me. It operates smoothly for her, because she has the magic touch, I suppose. After a few moments of playing with it she presses her foot down on a bar, squeezes a safety trigger and jerks on the push bar, causing it to extend upwards. All while holding Ollie to her chest.

"Try it now." She waves at it like a game show hostess.

"I'm sure it's a piece of shit in any mode..." I insist, but actually I didn't know the push bar extended. Now,to my surprise, the wheels don't swivel and lock up now, no matter how I turn it. I careen it around the living room. "What the hell? How did you fix it?"

"I figured for that much money, it's not just made to one parent's measurements. You and Ben are about the same height, so I'm sure the extension is made for you. When the bar was too short for you, you were probably bearing your weight down on it differently than Tam would and causing the wheels to pivot. German engineering is about precision, right?"

"Yeah, I guess." I smile at her. "You're really smart, Ash."

She blushes and drags her suitcase to the bedroom, grabbing the makeup mirror from the bathroom and putting it on an ottoman by the window. When she pulls the blanket from the end of the bed, I help her fold it and she lays Ollie down on the pallet while she zips open her pullman.

I lie on the bed and prop my chin on crossed forearms, fascinated at the way she plays with him while she puts on her makeup. She pulls a big purple puffy bath sponge from her makeup bag and pretends to eat his tummy with it, while she brushes on some mineral powder. In thirty seconds, she has him laughing. When he quiets and is focused on her, she starts naming the colors of all her toiletries and sponges, letting him grasp at them. She takes a clean giant brush—the kind for powder—and brushes it softly down his face from his forehead to his chin and he coos at the soft sensation. When she puts on her lipgloss, she gets close to him and smacks her lips, and he mimics her. While she concentrates on putting on her mascara, Ollie, now as addicted to her attention as I am, squeals for her, and she lays a hand on his tummy and talks to him softly, still stroking her lashes with the wand.