Page 7 of All Right No

What else? Oh, no, not his speech again. That issue had resolved itself after a couple of sessions with a speech therapist. He must have been incredibly upset for that to re-emerge. “I need to go to him.”

Spook refused to let her go. “Let him calm down on his own a moment. Then go and see if he needs you.”

He needed her. When he was wild and worked up like this, the best thing to do was offer him reassurances and love. It wasn’t necessary to say that everything would work out. She didn’t like to make promises she couldn’t keep. Just letting him know there was someone around who loved him was enough. For some unfathomable reason, Ash never really believed those around him cared for him.

“There’s no point in rushing in and getting into a row for no reason,” Dani weighed in. “Come and sit back down with me for a bit longer.”

They didn’t seem to be giving her much choice. Fine, she’d sit on her hands for a while and watch the clock.

Spook didn’t linger for long before he announced he was turning in and made his way upstairs. Only a handful of minutes after that, Xane arrived seeking company. Very specific company.

“Xane. Oh, my, God!” Dani squealed, her eyes widening to the size of saucers, when she saw him. “You can’t come in here like that. It’s obscene.”

Coming was clearly foremost in his thoughts. Sure, he was fully dressed in ubiquitous black, but his T-shirt was clingy and the wood he was sporting.Sweet baby Jesus!That thing was huge. Most disturbingly, her lady bits wept at the sight of it. Okay, that confirmed it. It had been way too long since she’d had sex.

“Take him to bed, Dani, before I’m tempted to take a bite.”

“Ginny!” her friend screeched. She hopped up off the sofa and grabbed hold of Xane’s hand.

“Sorry, but it’s right there and I know for a fact he knows what to do with it, and I haven’t had a shag in weeks.” Xane’s tool was near prodding her in the face.

Dani tugged on his hand, and started dragging him from the room.

Result! Now she could do what she’d wanted to do twenty minutes ago.

“Watch Ash doesn’t hear you talking like that,” Xane laughed.

“He knows I’m all bluster, and in any case from what I’ve heard, he’s already way ahead of me.”

One of the things that had rolled off Ash’s tongue when he’d been rambling during the first few days in hospital was a lot of garbled emotions about Xane. There were wounds there that had barely scabbed over. She hadn’t deliberately meant to pick at them. She hadn’t even had a chance to properly talk to Ash about them. There was something of a list of things they hadn’t talked about.

Xane shrugged. Dani, on the other hand, turned ashen.

“You’ve done more than just kiss him.” She stared open-mouthed at her boyfriend.

“Babe, it’s hardly a revelation.” He patted her on the arse, to hurry her along towards their bedroom while he lingered a moment, a thoughtful pucker narrowing his face. “I don’t know what you think you know, but he’s never gone down on me. It was the other way around.”

“You blew him?”

Xane inclined his head a fraction. “One time. We’ve all done things that were ill considered.”

Wasn’t there a world of truth in that statement.

“The past is the past.”

If only that were genuinely the case, but as she was learning, things had a way of rearing their ugly heads. Her phone vibrated inside her pocket.

She waited until Xane had gone before looking at it.

Change of plan? I was expecting your call today.

No, there was no change of plan. She was just wary of sticking her head above the ramparts after remaining in the shadows so long. So, sure, maybe she was dithering a bit. Tomorrow, she’d definitely take the next step, but Ash was her priority now.

Danger dude was flat out on his back on the day bed in their room. The soft whisper of his breathing persuaded her that he was genuinely asleep. She’d spent enough hours by his bedside to know when he was faking it in order to win some peace.

Ash, there’s something I need to tell you.

How many times now had she begun this conversation in her head?