Page 73 of Marley

And that scared the shit outta me.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

1989

I was dragged back into consciousness by the sound of someone throwing up.

Where the fuck did we go last night for Maca to have drunk enough to be in this state?

I rolled over and pulled my pillow over my head, and realised in an instant that the sound was coming frommybathroom, not Maca’s.

Shit.

Ashley.

I jumped out of bed and ran to my bathroom, stopping in the doorway as I watched her arch over my toilet as she sat on her knees in front of it. All the while, she was trying to hold her hair back and I remembered that Jimmie told me I should tie her hair in an elastic band.

I ran to the kitchen and pulled open the junk drawer. You know, that one that every house has, filled with elastic bands, Blu-Tack, paper clips, batteries, pens, and condoms? I rifled through it all until I found an elastic band big enough to hold all of her hair, then I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before rushing back to my bathroom.

Her elbows were propped on the toilet seat, her arms crossed, and her head resting on top of them. Without saying a word, I pulled her hair back and attempted to wrap the elastic band around it. I didn’t miss the fact that she stiffened as soon as I touched her. I rubbed her back a few times.

“There’s a bottle of water there, thought you might need it.” She turns her head and looks at me kneeling next to her.

“Oh God,” she groans.

“Almost.” I tell her as I wink and hold my hand out, as if to shake hers. “Most call me Marley. They save the God title for when I’m making their toes curl.”

She blinked those big blue-brown eyes at me before rolling them. “You’re such a dick, Rock Star.”

Yeah, I had to agree. Why the fuck did I just make that toe curl comment?

She unscrewed the cap on the water bottle, tilted her head back and swallowed. I couldn’t take my eyes from her throat. The way it moved as she swallowed each mouthful, the way her lips wrapped around the neck of the bottle ...

I’m kneeling in front of her, in just a pair of boxers, and I have a big fat chub going on and no way to hide it.

I’m fucked. Totally and utterly fucked.

“I’m probably one of the few people in the world that actually wished this was all a dream, and I hadn’t really woken up in Marley Layton’s bed.”

Her voice brought me back from imagining all the ways I’d like to see her swallow and I thanked the god of hard-ons ... Erectimus? I think that was his name, or was that a transformer? Erectimus Prime? Anyway, I thanked him, the god of hard-ons, that rather than making eye contact with me, she still had her head tilted back and was staring up at the ceiling.

“Well, cheers.” I told her, feeling a little hurt.Who the fuck doesn’t wanna wake up in my bed? Is she still drunk? I wonder, does she know, exactly, who I am?

She moved her head and her eyes to meet mine. I’m not sure if they were glassy from her puke fest, or if she was actually about to cry and once again, I was hit with that unnerving need to make sure she was okay.

“Please tell me we didn’t fuck?”

“Wow, are you for fucking real right now?” That hurt, and I hated that it was obvious in my tone. I fuckinghatethat what she just asked bothered me so much.

“You’re Marley Layton. I’m not a part of your world. I work for your mum and your sister, who also happens to be one of my best friends, the other being Jimmie, your future sister-in-law. I don’t want to be the dinner table conversation next time you all get together, and I don’t want you all talking about how easy I was and what a slut I am. Despite what people think they know about me, I’m not that type of girl.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks and I couldn’t stay put. “C’mere.” I whispered and pulled her into my lap. I rested my back against the bath and pulled her into my chest, stroking her back and her hair as she cried.

“Nothing happened last night, and even if it did, I would never talk about it with my family.” Although that could’ve actually been a bit of a lie. We did tend to share in my family.

“So how come I’m wearing your clothes?”

Ah shit. And it was all going so well.