Page 128 of Forgotten Prejudice

“That sounds wrong,” I snorted.

“Eww.” He grimaced.

Letting go of his body, I spanked his ass. “Enough complaining. Now, let’s move. I want to settle down before the sunset begins.” And settle down we did. Thirty minutes and one checkered tablecloth later, we were sitting on a cliff overlooking the ocean. I drove us to an isolated spot and also took the initiative to turn the bed of Ash’s pickup truck into a cozy lover’s nest with blankets, pillows, and, well… condoms and lube.

“I gotta give it to you, Kai; I didn’t know you had it in you to be this romantic,” Ash said, pouring us both a glass of the nonalcoholic champagne I’d brought.

“Well, I’m a man of many surprises.” I raised my glass. “Cheers.”

“Cheers.” He smiled while we clinked our glasses.

Smitten with his beauty, I took a big gulp, unprepared for how bad that shit tasted. “Fuck,” I coughed, spitting out the rest of the drink I didn’t spill while choking, as Ash rolled in laughter beside me. He laughed until tears welled in the corner of his eyes, and he complained his stomach hurt.

“Stop laughing, you asshole,” I swore, upset that I’d got my shirt all wet with that crap. Since I planned on getting naked anyway, I got rid of the shirt, and that was enough to quiet Ash down.

“Maybe lose yours as well?” I wiggled my brows, and he responded with an eye roll.

“Nah. It’s too chilly.” He grinned.

“I’ll make it hot—” I reached for his side, but he slapped my hand away.

“We just finished eating. Let me digest first.”

Fair point. Besides, we had the whole night ahead of us.

With the food out of the way, we both made ourselves comfortable on the tablecloth while watching the moonlight shining over the ocean. It was a beautiful sight, but it had nothing on the one right beside me. Ash didn’t even notice I was staring at him the whole time, admiring his hot muscles, sexy lips, and hazelnut hair I wanted to run my fingers through. Licking my lips, I moved down his body, enjoying how juicy his biceps were with the way he leaned back on his arms. He was eye candy, and even though I said we had the whole night, my dick was already becoming impatient. The only thing stopping me right now from getting on top of him was knowing we still had to talk.

“Paris is going to be with me this summer.” I decided to start with a different subject and slowly move to the main one.

“Really?” Ash turned to face me. “That’s nice. I miss that kid.”

“He misses you, too.” I grabbed a cherry from the fruit plate beside me and popped it in my mouth. “I thought, maybe we can take him somewhere? Spend the summer together. Just the three of us,” I said while trying to make a knot of the cherry stem with my tongue. I succeeded. And once done, I spat it out. Ash seemed to be more focused on the cherry stem than on what I’d just said, so I went on. “What do you say?”

“There’s still a lot of time before summer.” He took the used stem and moved his finger over the small knot. “I never understood how you do this,” he murmured.

Annoyed that he was trying to change the subject, I grabbed his hand. “I know there’s time, which is good. It means we can plan where we’ll go. How about Bali? Maybe Hawaii?”

Ash took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “I don’t know, Kai. What about the boys? Diesel?”

He’d either be in jail or out, and neither of those options should affect us. Despite how much I cared for Diesel, his future couldn’t determine our life. But I couldn’t tell this to Ash. At least, not in those exact words.

“What about us?” I asked instead, my eyes focused on him. His mouth was set in a hard line, and he scratched his neck.

“What about us?”

With my hand still on his, I moved a bit closer. “At the beginning of the week, we said we’d talk about us being exclusive. You’ve been avoiding it.” It wasn’t a question but a fact. “Why?”

Ash seemed to be taken aback, and he tried to move away from me, but I didn’t allow it.

“Talk to me, Ash. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” he answered quickly, avoiding my stare.

It was almost like he was hiding something.

“Come on, Ashy, I know you better than this. You seemed excited when I first brought it up. Now, it almost feels like you regret what you said.”

He shook his head, still looking at the ground. “It’s not that. It’s just that… maybe we’re rushing things?”