Ease [Cashton/Muke]

Chapter sixty eight

Ashton - Maggie: I can't find Calum

It wasn't even 7pm yet. The dinner finished a little after 6:40 and not long after that Michael had left to prepare his welcome speech, Calum went with him and somehow Ashton didn't. Everyone from the dinner seemed to be running around in a flurry, trying to get things organised for the main event.

Maggie - Ashton: As of how long? Have you texted him?

Ashton - Maggie: About ten minutes, haven't really seen him since the dinner ended.

Ashton - Maggie: No, Michael's working on his speech. Don't wanna disturb them.

Maggie - Ashton: Gotcha, we'll be there in like 5 minutes tops. There's been roadworks delays. Just find a seat somewhere or something.

Ashton - Maggie: Okay, see you soon

Ashton goes into the main ballroom and finds a row of chairs against the far wall, sitting alone and anxiously waiting for Maggie and Carla to arrive. The room gradually starts to fill up and Ashton worries he won't be able to find Maggie and Carla when they arrive amongst the swarms of everyone else. Then they arrive and all his fears of not being able to find them vanish rapidly.

Ashton hears them before he sees them. Loud and unusually fast footsteps ring through the entrance way and the ballroom, paired with shouts of "we need to find him" and "would you slow down, for the love of god". Ashton reconsiders entirely, perhaps it'd be best if he just hid in the bathroom for a few hours.

"Ashton!" Maggie shrieks, making Ashton just shrink into his chair.
"I told you to be quiet." Carla hisses, eyes on the way Ashton retreats into himself.
"Hi." Maggie says finally, standing in front of Ashton and catching her breath.
"Hi." Ashton whispers.
"Hey," Carla smiles softly, smiling wider when she sees some of the tension leave Ashton's shoulders. Carla turns to her dom and takes a deep breath, stepping in until their fronts are lightly brushing against one another -too close and intimate for anyone else to listen in.

"You've overwhelmed him. That's okay, just give me some time with him. Go find Calum and reassure him that Ashton isn't alone. I'm going to find a quiet space with him." Carla says gently, watching her doms eyes as she processes every word.
"Thank you. I'll go find Cal, tell Ashton I'm sorry. I love you." Maggie kisses her sub on the lips softly.
"I love you too." Carla replies and Maggie doesn't wait much longer before she's off to find Calum and Michael.

"I know somewhere we can escape to." Carla grins cheekily, extending a hand to Ashton so she can lead the way.
"Where are we going?" Ashton asks as they leave the ballroom, past the dining room the dinner was in and up a small staircase.
"The second floor balcony. You can see all of Sydney and it's gorgeous. Obviously not open for most events, I've just been to enough here to know. When there's a big Hood launch, Maggie and Calum are both stressed to the bone. I bring them here for a breather." Carla explains, opening the door to the balcony and allowing Ashton to step out first.
"Wow." Ashton's mouth falls open.
"I told you it was a nice view." She laughs.
"It's stunning." Ashton mumbles.

Maggie - Carla: I think I'll stay here, these two are on fire. In a bad way.

Carla - Maggie: Good luck, send our luck to Michael. We're on the second floor balcony.

"Maggie told me to tell you that she's sorry." Carla says loosely to break the silence, though they both keep looking at the view.
"What for?"
"I told her she overwhelmed you. Her entrance was too much on so many levels."
"Oh. I- she-" Ashton scrambles.
"Society still isn't good at talking about the flaws of doms. We like to glorify them, see them as a saviour in shining armour for subs. That comes at the expense of subs and society recognising our strength. Our ability to help and guide our dom." Carla decides to stop talking about specifics, they're less important.

"Wait- but isn't the dom supposed to guide us?" Ashton furrows his eyebrows.
"Of course but we're supposed to guide each other. I'm sure Calum's told you that you're equals-"
"Wouldn't let me forget it."
"This is an example of that. It's hard for you to see at the start, you're still in the honeymoon phase so don't stress. I've been with Maggie seven years, which might seem like a lot now to us both, but we also know it's not much in the scheme of life."
"So is there anything I can do? Or just wait for the honeymoon phase to be over?" Ashton wonders.
"Don't do that. You shouldn't live waiting for the honeymoon phase to be over, it's a beautiful time in a relationship. Every phase of a relationship is equally important. If you live right now just thinking of the future then you'll miss the things you're supposed to be learning from right now."

"You're full of so much wisdom, you know that?" Ashton smiles, looking at Carla and away from the view for the first time in the conversation.
"And it's such a pity my class of grade 1's can't appreciate it." She jokes.
"They might not realise but I know you're doing a great job. You're probably the best teacher at your school."
"I doubt it," she snorts dismissively, "but I'll take the compliment. Thanks Ash." She pulls him in for a sideways hug.

"We should head back in, if you're feeling up to it. The welcome speech should be over, everyone will be more relaxed." Carla sighs.
"Really? Why does it go for another three hours then?"
"Press and other people in the tech industry, or just other rich people, now just bombard Michael with questions. He can deal with that, he just hates public speaking. Not to mention he can deflect a fair bit of it to other people in his company." She explains as they walk inside and down the stairs.

They slip back into the ballroom unnoticed and quickly find Calum and Maggie, each sitting with a glass of champagne and looking thoroughly exhausted.
"How was he?" Carla muses, causing both their heads to snap up. Calum bounces out of his seat immediately, quick to shower his submissive in kisses and apologies for leaving him.
"Nearly shat an actual brick beforehand but carried it out like a champ." Maggie informs, Carla taking the opportunity to sit next to her.

Carla sends a knowing look over to Ashton and when they make eye contact she just mouths 'honeymoon' before carrying on as if it never happened. Ashton stifles a small giggle but doesn't let out anymore.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this! It has always felt like a really important chapter in the understanding of the flaws and shortcomings of dominants. They have weaknesses and submissive's have strengths and that's important to remember.

It feels like I haven't updated in ages, I haven't all year that's for sure hehe

Lots of love and let's prosper in 2020 :)

-Grace Williams xo