Loving Him (Ashton Irwin a.u.)

Chapter 5

(A/N: I know it's late (sorry!! Merry Christmas and happy birthday to me), but it's nice and long. Hope you enjoy :D)

A man groaned softly, his voice hoarse and tired due to the morning hour. He tightened the grip of his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to his warm body. It took me a few long moments to realise the voice was coming from Ashton - Coffee Guy Ashton. I smiled softly to myself, remembering the last night.

Ashton took my hand, warming it instantly with his touch, before bringing it to his lips, then playing with my fingers as he began to speak to me.

"Maisie," he mumbled in his husky tone. I hummed in response. "Do you have pills? I forgot protection."

My heart thrummed in my chest. "No, I don't have any."

I rolled onto my back and turned my head to the side in order to look at him. It was then that I remembered we were lying on the floor, with nothing but a blanket covering our lower halves. I pulled the blanket up to my shoulders hastily as I blushed furiously.

"I'll go get some for you," he whispered and kissed my cheek, before standing up and picking up his clothes from around my living room. "I'll be back in a few," he promised after he'd got dressed, before stroking my leg on his way out.

It took me another five minutes to find the willpower to get up, and when I did I had to bend over double due to the intense discomfort in my back. Last time I sleep on the floor, I thought flippantly.

I went straight to the bathroom to take a shower, dragging the blanket with me as it hung loosely off my shoulders. I shrugged it off to the floor, I turned on the shower and looked in the mirror as I waited for the water to heat up. But I stopped myself from turning away and stepping into the steamy shower cubicle. Looking at my reflection, I felt my breath rushing out my lungs. My body was covered in deep purple and black bruises, neck-down, front and back. What happened? I asked myself. I hadn't hurt myself, and I knew Ashton hadn't hurt me, nor did anyone else, for that matter.

Last night, I told myself. Ashton. He made them. I could've sworn that no man I'd ever been with was as passionate as Ashton. And that was just our second date. How long had I known him? Two and a half weeks, was it?

I got into the shower, washing my hair quickly and my body slowly, cautiously, entranced by the sheer number of dark marks all over me.

By the time I was out the shower and dressed, but my hair was still dripping wet, Ashton was back at the front door with a drugstore plastic bag in his hand. I opened up the door for him, and a minute or so later he was walking through my open door.

"The cashier was a bitch," he told me as he wrapped me in his embrace briefly. As he pulled away, Ashton offered: "Shall I get you a glass of water?"

"I'll do it, don't worry," I declined. "Besides," I added as I left for the kitchen, bringing the pills with me, "I'm the one that lives here."

I swallowed the pill easily, and when I returned to the living room, Ashton was sitting nervously on the couch, waiting. He stood up when I entered the room, and took my hand. "All good?" he checked, searching my eyes.

"All good." I grinned at him.

"So..."

"Yeah."

"Do you have work today?" he asked.

"On a Sunday?"

"Well... News never stops."

"Do you have assignments to mark?"

"No."

"Then I don't have articles to write."

Ashton chuckled quietly, still holding onto my hand. Both of our gazes dropped to watch him threading his fingers through mine, studying each and every digit carefully.