Life behind a photograph

Chapter 24 | Part I

Ash's pov

I lean back on my pillow, waiting for Abigail to wake up. I've been up for almost thirty minutes now, already on my second cigarette. But I haven't left the bed. Instead I watch Abigail sleeping next to me peacefully. Her forehead is wrinkled as if she's troubled. Her mouth slightly parted and her hair falls gracefully next to her, spread on the pillow. The white cotton blanket covers her naked body and she truly looks... angelic. 

I push away the thoughts that's telling me that this was all temporary. That even by tomorrow she might not be here. That by next week she'll be with someone new. Loathing me and cursing my existence. And I know I'll be hurt but if I got over it before I can again. Distancing myself from her won't work because that would make her leave me sooner. I should just live in the moment, not worrying about the future and doing every possible thing to make sure that she doesn't leave me. 

It's almost past eleven now and Abigail is still sound asleep. I don't blame her though, based on how many times we went at it last night, I don't expect her to wake up till the evening.

But eventually she stirs and slowly starts lifting her long eyelashes as if they weighed pounds. 

"Rise and shine, sugar." I say and put out my cigarette in the ash tray on the bedside table. She closes her eyes immediately when they fix on me, and turns around, hiding her cherry red face from me so that she's lying face down. 

I smile and snuggle close to her. Kissing her new tattoo and then picking her up in my arms so that she's lying on top of me. She lays her head sideways on my chest and starts tracing the dragon tattooed on my upper arm. I rub her back in return and we stay like that for a while, enjoying the moment.

Her phone dings, breaking us out of the trance and I sit up, so that she's straddling my hips. Abigail pushes my chest to make me lie down again but I stand up despite her restrictions. I unwrap her legs from around me and place her on the floor, the blanket still wrapped around her. She groans and lays her head back on my shoulder but I push her back from her forehead. 

"Hey!" she complains. 

"Go get a shower while I open up the windows to let some air in. This whole room smells like sex." I say and she colors again. 

"Well not anymore because someone has been smoking." she says and scrunches her face.

"I was bored and you took a long time to wake up." I say.

"Please." she rolls her eyes. "It wasn't a tight sleep because a certain someone was arguing with someone on the phone for like thirty minutes." she sighs.

"Oops. You heard that?" I ask, I tried to keep my voice low and went to the furthest part of the balcony so that it wouldn't disturb her.

"Slightly, but enough to stir me."

"It was Monica. She was giving me shit about what I did last night." I roll my eyes. "When I announced to everyone that we were dating." I explain when she raises an eyebrow, confused.

Monica is always nagging me to to publicity stunts so that people wouldn't forget I existed since I barely post on social media. And now when I do something like this she gives me an earful. However she never dares to push too many of my buttons, since I can replace her within seconds. Monica is one of the best mangers in the industry and I'm very lucky to have her but that doesn't mean I would think twice to fire her if she displeases me. So when I firmly told her that I did what I did out of instinct and that I wanted to stop the conversation from there, she agreed and apologized immediately, understanding the extent of my fury.

"Now that I think about it. That was totally uncalled for." Abigail says and I groan, pushing her in the direction of the bathroom. "Don't you start too," I tell her and she shoots me a dirty look before walking inside and closing the door behind her.