Chapter 25: XXIV

"There is no way you're wearing that out."

"What? Why? Don't you think it's cute?"

"River, I will not let you leave this changing room in booty shorts and a cropped shirt. If you think I'm going to let other guys see you like that you have another thought coming."

Groaning, I leant back against the wall and looked over at him with puppy eyes. "But Minnie, I don't care about any of the other guys. I only want your eyes on me."

"Well that isn't going to happen if you wear that. I- wait why am I even discussing this with you? No!"

I sighed, pulling at the sleeve cuffs while thinking of some way to convince him to let me buy it. The shorts were black with little poppies on the sides while the top was red, short and hung off my shoulders. I personally thought I looked adorable.

After twenty seconds or so of racking my brain, I dragged my tongue over my lower lip and bit on the plush skin, looking up at him with a wicked glint in my eyes. I stalked forward, struggling against the urge to forfeit under his intimidating gaze, and stepped out of the curtained area.

He had been stood out there for a good twenty minutes while I showed him everything I'd picked up, and I thought now would be a good time to try out the skill Lila had been helping me with.

Seduction.

"Come in here baby. You can sit and wait while I change into the next outfit." Those simple words had his eyes widening and his mouth slackening.

It wasn't long before he was inside the small area being pushed down onto the small three legged chair in the corner of the room. I slid the curtain across and waited there for a few moments until I somehow managed to 'accidentally' drop one of the hangers on the floor.

"Oops." I leant down slowly and wrapped my fingers around the black plastic, taking my sweet time with standing back up again. I could feel his hungry stare as it burnt into my skin, leaving shivers and tingles behind.

"River, I don't know what you're getting at here but I would stop if I was you."

I turned to look at him with an offended expression, my hand resting lightly on my own chest. "How rude! I'm purely trying on some clothing that you refuse to let me buy-"

"Don't use that tone with me, love. It doesn't suit you." I stared after him as he rose to his feet and exited the room, not even looking back once. My mouth was hanging open and my eyes were filled with shock.

The fuck? Did he really just do that?

Plonking myself down on the small chair Ash was sat on previously, I rested my head in my hands and started the the curtain that was still waving slightly due to the violence of his movement.

Fucking dickhead.

Two can play at that game.

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When I left the changing room I found Ash outside talking to a girl with blonde hair that fell down to her shoulders. She was smiling brightly, continuously tucking a strand behind her ear and batting her eyelashes way too often. Although, the worst part was how he was leaning forward towards her, the signature smirk moulding his lips.

She let out a loud giggle, covering her mouth with her hand and looking up at him with sparkling eyes. He raised an eyebrow and laughed softly, clearly finding her amusing. I hated the fact that their closeness made my blood boil; he was allowed to talk to other people... just not when I was pissed already.

Just as I was about to walk over there and kick his sorry ass, a group of guys clad in leather wandered in, all talking between themselves. It was quite obvious they weren't here to shop for dresses - in fact, they probably only came in here to pick up girls.

However, since I was momentarily being driven by jealousy, I decided to chance my luck and hope that one of them was into boys.

Running a hand through my hair, I began walking over to them, swaying my hips for extra effect as I did so. I ran my tongue over my lips, slickening them, and straightened the creases in my olive green jacket.

Once I was sure that we were out of view from most of the people, I started talking. "Hey there boys. What brings you here?"

I instantly gained their attention, all five of them locking their eyes on me. Two of them had dyed hair while the other three seemed to have stayed with the basic brown, and I had to admit that the vibrant orange and red locks were a serious attraction point.

"Look at the fresh meat, lads. He's a cutie too." The one with red hair stepped towards me, mouth morphed into a toothy smirk. His arms were folded over his chest and his leather trousers clung to his thighs, showing how his unquestionable trips to the gym paid off.

"Why thank you, I like to think I'm at least a little pretty."

"Oh yeah?" He halted, placing his hands on my hips and pulling our bodies close together. "Fucking gorgeous is what I'd use."

"Wait, are you holding cropped shirts and booty shorts?" Another one of them stepped forward - one of the ones with brown hair and extremely muscly arms - and stalked over towards me and Red.

"Hell yeah I am. I'd be happy to show you but I'm skint so I'll have to put them back again." I faked a sigh, looking down at the floor sadly. Red trailed his hands up my torso and squeezed my waist, a shallow grunt passing his lips.

"How about we buy them for you? Although, if we do, you're going to have to pay us back." The way his eyes ran up and down my body had my hairs standing on end, the seriousness of the situation finally sinking in.

"W-well I-"

"Aww, not getting all shy now, are you cutie? You seemed so confident before."

"Do we really care though? I mean, I'd pay hundreds to have him. Can you imagine him laid under you with h-"

"Excuse you? What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"A-Ash I can expl-"

"Keep your mouth shut, bitch." The orange haired boy spat, hands coiled into fists at his sides.

"What did you just call him?" Ash stepped forward, one of the veins in his neck becoming visible due to how hard he was clenching his jaw.

"A fucking bitch. Just look at him. Came up to us and started flaunting his perky ass. Surprised he's not on his knees already."

Those words hit like a kick to the stomach, sharp and painful. I hadn't meant to come across like that - a little needy, maybe. But not like that.

"I would beat the living shit out of you right here but I don't think that's socially acceptable, so we're going to go with the other way. Let go of him right now and I won't file you for underaged sexual harassment, but if you don't, then I'm afraid we're going to have a problem.

"Who the fuck are you anyway? If he's a minor and you're with him then I'd call you the harasser here."

Ash closed his eyes for a moment and cracked his knuckles, becoming more annoyed by the second. Red still had his hands tightly around my waist even though I told him to let go, and it was starting to make me uncomfortable.

"Yeah well I'm not the one trying to force him to have sex. Anyway, let him go. Now. I have power and money, so you better believe I'll remember this."

"What are you, his sugar daddy or some shit? You're probably like ten years older than him."

Hey! I don't look that young.

"I'm his boyfriend who also happens to be a police officer, and it just so happens that I'm best friends with the chief, so I'd be careful if I was you."

Red scoffed, not believing the lies Ash was throwing out.

"Show me your badge then."

To my surprise, Ash reached into the pocket of his tight black jeans and pulled out a small silver badge with his name engraved underneath it. I stared at him in shock, alarmed at the fact he actually had a police badge.

It seemed to work as Red instantly let go of me, a look of fear on his face. All five of them backed up, resembling children when they were caught misbehaving.

"We're s-sorry. We won't do anything like it again S-Sir." The orange haired boy spoke up, hands shaking by his sides. None of them looked that old - maybe early twenties - but they still thought that Ash was older.

"You kids better not. Now go before I change my mind."

They ran out of the door before I could say a word about the matter, but as soon as they were gone Ash turned to face me. "What the hell was that Sky? You could've gotten in big trouble for that. What if- what if they tried to rape you or drug you? If I wasn't with you then I don't know what would have-"

"Hey, baby. Calm down. I'm okay, yeah? You got me. But why the fuck do you have a police badge?" I wrapped my arms around his body and laid my head on his chest, squeezing my eyes shut while I listened to his heartbeat.

"I have my resources, but that was just luck Sky. There's no way you could've fought them all off. Hell, even I couldn't have taken more than three of them on my own."

After pulling in a few deep breaths I shifted my gaze to look up at him, his brown eyes filled with concern. "I'm fine, Minnie. Just a little shaken up, that's all. They're gone." I paused, running my fingers up and down his back soothingly. "Plus, the thought of you as a police officer is sexy as hell. Free handcuffs, am I right?"

Ash blinked, his face showing no emotion. I worried that I'd stepped out of line until he suddenly cracked up, laughter racking through his chest. "That's what you're thinking about at a time like this? And you say I'm bad. But thank you, I do enjoy knowing what goes on in that pretty little head of yours. Especially if I'm involved."

Giggling, I snuggled my head further into the black hoodie he was wearing, almost forgetting about earlier.

"Wait! You were flirting with that girl! It's your fault that I nearly got raped!"

"Woah there! I wasn't flirting as such, just... fuck. Yeah, I was flirting. I'm sorry love, I won't do it again. I was just messing around."

"You better not or I'll dump your cheating ass."

"I won't. I promise."

As payback for his stunt earlier, I convinced him to pay for everything I was holding, even adding in a few extra things since it was free for me. He agreed that this was better than me rejecting his affection for a few weeks, so it was a win-win situation in my case. Afterwards we went to a cafe and bought cupcakes, they were my idea, before moving on to get hot chocolates.

Ash said that he was happy doing whatever I wanted to do, but I wanted to do anything that he wanted to do, so we ended up in a never-ending cycle that neither of us wanted to be in.

"But what do you want to do? We've already been to most of the shops I want to go in, so now it's your turn."

"I told you there's nowhere I want to go. I'm not really a shopping kinda guy, but I can see that you enjoy it, and I'm just happy being with you."

Sighing, I pressed my forefingers into the sides of my skull, allowing the bags on my arms to slide down and gather at my elbows. "Thats really sweet Ashy, but I don't want to bore you all day. Is there nothing you want to do?"

"Well, I suppose we could go back to mine and cuddle. Actually scrap that, we're not going to my house because my raging parents are there."

"Let's go to my house then. My parents won't been home until eleven or later because its date night, so we can have the house all to ourselves."

So that's what we did.

The evening started out nicely as we sat curled up on the sofa watching The Winter Soldier. It was his choice but I wasn't complaining; Bucky was hot.

After that Ash decided to attack me with tickles so I threw a pillow at him, and that resulted in a ten minute pillow fight where we ran all around the house before we finally collapsed on my bed, panting heavily.

Uncontrollable laughter was filling the room for a timespan that felt like forever, and all we could do was lay there writhing around. I could hardly breathe by the time we stopped, the corners of my eyes wet with tears.

The room felt stiflingly hot and only seemed to increase in temperature as the minutes passed, and by the end of it, I decided to just strip myself of the loose t-shirt I was wearing.

However I seemed to have forgotten that Ash was sat right beside me, staring directly at my now bare torso.

"Woah there tiger. Mind warning me next time?" My body jolted at the voice behind me, arms reflexively circling around myself.

"W-wait! I forgot you were-"

"You forgot I was here? Now that's just plain rude." I felt the bed dip and his chest against my back seconds later. "I just might have to punish you, especially after today's ordeal with those five boys."

My body quivered from both the cold and my wrecked nerves, too scared to turn around. "Ash I- Oh fuck"

The curse fell from my mouth as soon as I felt his lips on my neck, gently pressing kisses over the sensitive skin. He made sure to take his time with every single one, and it felt heavenly.

His tongue dragged upwards towards my ear, stopping just beneath it to suck and bite lightly before stopping and blowing cool air over the same spot.

Everything in my mind was jumbled, none of the billions of thoughts passing through making any sense as his hands snuck around to trace shapes onto my stomach.

"You're so beautiful baby. So so pretty." His breath fanned over my ear, the sensations something foreign and mildly ticklish, and I shuddered. I felt drugged by the heat, the closeness of our bodies only adding to the intensity.

Somehow I managed to regain a slither of confidence and I spun around, straddling his waist so that I could lay my head down on his shoulder. My breathing was laboured and he must have heard it as a soft 'you okay?' slipped past his lips.

Although I don't think he expected me to give my consent in a non verbal way; definitely not by slipping my hands underneath his hoodie and pulling at it until it was over his head.

However, as our eyes met in a passion filled gaze and our lips pressed together for the first time that night, I missed the quiet buzzing noises coming from our phones.

We both did.

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Oop-

Sorry not sorry.

If we backtrack a little, I didn't plan for the boys earlier to sound so horrible but I know that some people are treated like that, whether they're straight or have any other sexual preference, and I wanted to bring awareness to that. Not everyone has an Ash to come and save the day, so be aware.

Also I'm leaving it up to you to decide how intimate Ash and River were that night, but keep in mind that everyone will have their own opinion and you must accept that, even if you don't like it yourself.

Leave thoughts here (if you want) as even I have an opinion, and I wouldn't mind knowing yours:

Anyway, two chapters left! I'm so excited and I hope you are too. Thank you so much for reading, I love you all uwu

- Storm 🌹