Ginny wasn’t sure what had got into her. She liked to push boundaries, and yeah, sometimes she flouted conventions, but this was taking things to extremes even for her. Then again, Spook wasn’t exactly protesting, was he? He could have said no. He could have hung up the moment she made the suggestion, or passed the phone over or plain walked away. Instead, he was listening to her and relaying her words in his delicious, slightly accented English. What’s more, she’d swear he was enjoying himself. Not in an overtly sexual way, perhaps not in a sexual way at all. She didn’t think she was turning him on describing what she wanted to do to Ash, and what she was demanding Ash do to himself, but he was definitely getting a kick out of something about this.
Control, maybe.
Spook definitely liked to be in control.
‘He’s being a good boy again now, Ginny.’
‘Describe him to me.’
Was that pushing this too far? Maybe it was. Relaying her words was one thing, asking one guy to get poetic about another guy’s cock might be something else entirely.
‘Scratch that. Take his picture, film him for me. I want to see everything.’
‘Filming will cut the phone conversation. Pics I can do.’
‘You do realise it’s illegal to share photos of people without their permission,’ Ash interjected. She could hear the wariness in his voice. He might be doing her bidding, but there were lines he’d refuse to cross. ‘So don’t, unless you fancy two years in jail,’ he warned Spook.
‘Sorry, you’re going to have to negotiate this one yourself, Ginny.’
‘One little picture, Ash,’ she pleaded. ‘Please, sweetheart. I bet you look like dynamite at the moment, and I don’t want to miss out.’
‘He can take it, but he’s not sending you it. Not over the network. It’ll get out.’
Sometimes he could be hopelessly paranoid.
‘There’re enough pictures of me getting off out there already.’
‘Not responsible,’ Spook said.
‘But you’ll let him take some so I can see them later? Please, Ash. Just one, even. I love seeing how you look when you come.’
‘How do I look?’
‘Hot,’ she gasped. ‘I bet you look every inch the dirty metal head you are, with your hand working just as furiously as when you play guitar. Ash, it gets me so badly every time I see you come and I look into your eyes. I love the way you grimace, right when you explode, so your eyes crinkle at the corners and you seem almost in pain, but are then surprised because it’s blissful instead.’
‘You make it sound very poetic. What I’m doing now isn’t poetic, Ginny. It’s slick and sleazy. It’s about desperation. I need you. My body doesn’t know what to do with itself without you. I don’t even know if I can let go.’
‘You can,’ she whispered. ‘I’m right there with you, Ash. It’s my hand stroking you, my cunt you’re filling up. I can feel you, inside me, stretching me, making it hard to focus or do anything besides breathe. Oh, oh, God!’ She gulped. ‘I’m there, Ash. I’m so close.’ She was too, racing towards a big explosive climax that threatened to shake her all to bits. ‘Come for me, Ash. Say it. Say yes.’
‘Yes,’ she heard him groan as her orgasm pulled her firmly inside herself and shook her until she lay sated on the bed. On the other end of the phone she could hear Ash’s sharp, sweet inhalations. She wished she could actually wrap her arms around him and hold on tight. The bed beside her seemed massive and cold, and the toy she’d used to help her get off woefully inadequate. It wasn’t just sex she wanted. It was company. Always, this was where her relationships seemed to flounder.
‘Ash, are you there?’ she whispered.
‘He’s here, more or less,’ Spook informed her. ‘If you give him a moment he might claw enough wits back together to talk to you.’
‘He’s all right, though?’
‘Delirious. You understand I don’t want to get too close, given how filthy he is, but I might just be able to give you a moment or two of privacy.’ She heard a faint beep and assumed he’d switched her off speakerphone.
‘Baby?’ Ash’s voice was husky and low. ‘I love you so bad.’
‘Ditto. Are you going to manage to get some sleep now?’
‘I think my brain’s already shutting down.’
‘Then I’ll see you tomorrow at some point. Badass rock stars need their beauty sleep.’
‘Tomorrow,’ he murmured.
‘Tomorrow,’ she promised. ‘Goodnight, Ash. I love you.’
* * *
Once Ginny had hung up, Spook returned his phone to his pocket. He didn’t mention the photographs, for which Ash felt curiously relieved. Now that episode was over, he felt rather odd about it.
‘You promise you won’t say anything to anyone?’
‘I said so already,’ Spook replied.
Ash bowed his head. ‘Just checking. That was a bit … weird. Intense, but … Let’s not do it again.’
‘Wasn’t planning to.’ Spook padded across to where the TV was and grabbed a box of tissues from the shelf that housed the DVD collection. ‘Maybe you’d like to clean up now.’
‘Thanks.’ Ash grabbed a handful of man-sized squares and cleaned the mixture of semen and saliva from his belly. Spook knelt on the sofa as he did so, and pushed the curtains back a little so he could focus on the night sky.
‘Ginny thinks you fancy me,’ Ash remarked. He and Spook were normally at complete ease with one another, but a new awkwardness seemed to have developed. Leastways, Ash felt awkward, and as if he needed to say something to explain what had just happened.
‘I don’t fancy you.’ Spook turned to face him as he spoke, presumably so Ash could read the sincerity in his expression when he spoke. ‘You’re not my type.’
‘I didn’t know you had one.’
Spook flicked the curtain back again. ‘There’s a hell of a lot of things you don’t know about me, Ash.’
‘I’m never even sure if the whole celibate thing is real or you’re having a laugh at our expense,’ Ash continued.
‘It’s not a ruse.’
‘You just don’t have sex. There must be a reason.’
Spook wandered over and sat down beside him. ‘How long have we known each other and you’re only asking me this now?’
‘Seemed an appropriate moment.’ That, and Ash did like to respect people’s privacy. He wasn’t always good at it, but there were some things you didn’t dig into without a mithril shovel, and he sensed this was one of those things. Of course, that didn’t make sense of why he was digging now, other than that they had just bulldozed a few dozen barriers and he needed Spook to show some sort of weakness too.
Spook got a faraway look in his eyes as if his reasons dated back to another historical era.
‘Spook,’ Ash had to prompt him.
‘Yeah.’ He shrugged off his air of sadness. ‘It’s a long, sordid tale of passion, lunacy and deceit. It’ll make your hackles rise and balls shrivel.’
That didn’t sound good, even if Spook was trying to dress it up with a dose of humour. ‘Go on.’
Spook ruffled his hair. ‘It’s not the sort of story to be sharing after midnight. It’s late, Ash. I want my bed.’ He stood. ‘Godnatt, Ash. Sova gott.’
‘Sleep well,’ Ash repeated. He thought he probably would now, though possibly not as well as if he’d been spooned against Ginny.
If this was what it took to keep her secret, he didn’t think he’d manage it for very long.