Ease [Cashton/Muke]

Chapter thirty two

"I have a problem..." Ashton awkwardly bounces on his toes and bites nervously on his lip, standing in front of Maggie's desk. It was 9:30am and he'd already been working a little over an hour.
"You could have called me but anyway, shoot." Maggie says, looking up from her computer. She can see Calum in her peripheral's looking on with interest but not saying anything.
"No this is... more of a problem than that."
"Oh? Should I be worried?" She raises an eyebrow.
"I don't have my maths textbook."
"And..." She presses.
"And it's at school." Ashton adds nervously.
"Oh." She says in understanding.

"I don't- I don't wanna go- and I didn't wanna disturb Cal-" Ashton starts to ramble, panic building inside him at the thought of having to go back to school.
"Relax. Deep breaths. It's all gonna be okay." Maggie cuts him off.
"Okay." Ashton says shakily.
"Do you want me to just order a new one? The old one can go to the school and I'm sure I can find a new one today." Maggie suggests.
"I mean... there was notes in that one that were kind of important..."
"Okay. You go do another subject and I'll have this sorted by lunchtime. I promise."
"Are-"
"Go."

Ashton nods and goes back to his office, after which Maggie stands up and walks into Calum's -knowing he'll want an explanation.
"He's scared of you." Is the first thing Calum says when Maggie steps through the doorway.
"He is not." She rolls her eyes.
"He 100% is. He looked like he was about to cry when he walked off. You cut him off and I learnt yesterday that when a dom does that he feels not valued and respected."
"I-" Maggie cuts off her defence before it can get too far. "I didn't know, I'll apologise."
"Thanks, I just thought you should know."
"I'm glad you told me and I'm proud of you for learning more about him and becoming a better dom yourself. Gold star!"
"You had me until the gold star." Calum deadpans.

"Now, the issue at hand, Ashton left his maths text book at school. Can't have a replacement because there were notes and things in that one. Meaning, someone needs to go pick it up." Maggie says, plopping into the seat across from her boss.
"I can-"
"Absolutely not. You've caused enough stir in that school in the last week. By someone I meant me."
"Fine." Calum grumbles.
"Great." She smiles. "I'll get Alec to drive me so that I can keep on top of everything. I'll talk to Ashton before I go, see you in a couple of hours."
"Okay, bye then. Thanks for all this Maggie." Calum says, lips lifting into a small and grateful smile.
"It's like you forget I'm a dom and it's in my nature to look after subs." She mutters, making Calum laugh, as she walks out whilst texting Alec.

"Hey." She lightly knocks on Ashton's open office door before stepping in.
"Hi." He looks up from his PE theory work.
"I wanted to apologise."
"What for?" Ashton furrows his eyebrows.
"For cutting you off just before. You were just trying to ask a question and I should have allowed that." She clarifies.
"Oh." Ashton's voice goes quiet. "Calum told you then."
"Just that you when a dom cuts you off you take that as feeling unimportant."
"It's selfish I know." He scrunches his eyes shut in frustration.

"It's not selfish Ashton. I know that this submissive thing is very new to you and you're still unsure at times but it's okay. I'm sorry I cut you off and I want you to know that my intention is never to make you feel like anything less than my equal. Calum feels the same way, as does any dom who's not an asshole." Maggie reassures him.
"Thank you." Ashton smiles. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course. Anything, anytime."
"How long have you been a dom?"
"Seven years." She replies easily. "I'm not older than I look, my sub's just older than me." She adds with a laugh upon seeing his slight look of confusion.
"Oh." He chuckles awkwardly.

"Now, I'm going to pick up your textbook. Is the textbook in your locker? Is there anything else you need?"
"Yeah it's in my locker, will you be able to find it? And no, there's nothing else I can think of."
"Cool, I'll ask someone. Text me your locker code or whatever that is."
"Will do. Thanks for this." The younger smiles.
"Anytime. I'm here for you too."

Maggie strolls out with a wave, grabbing her laptop from her desk and heading downstairs to meet Alec. The car ride mostly consists of Maggie repeating to Calum over text that he doesn't need to go check on Ashton, it was easier to restrain him when she was just outside his office.

"Thanks a ton, I'll be back in like five or ten." Maggie says to Alec as he parks the car and she jumps out and walks to the school office. Suddenly she realises she forgot to plan any of this.
"Hi. Can I help you?" The receptionist smiles.
"Um, hi. Is Tony Riersack available?" Maggie asks, figuring he's the only one who would know all of Ashton's story at this point. Or rather, he's the only staff member Maggie knows the name of.
"He is, down the hall to the right. I'll let him know you're coming."
"Thanks," Maggie nods, walking down the hallway the receptionist gestured towards.

"Come in." The man calls out when Maggie knocks on the door. "Tony Riersack, I don't believe Linda at reception grabbed your name." He introduces warmly, sticking out a hand for her to shake.
"Maggie Sears, personal and executive assistant to Calum Hood."
"Right, lovely to meet you. How is Ashton doing? Is he settling in to his new way of learning?" He asks as they sit down across from each other.
"Still early days but yes it's all going very well so far. He's enjoying it."
"That's wonderful to hear. What can I do for you?"

"It's nothing major however Ashton left a book in his locker and I was wondering if I could just empty that out."
"Yes that's no trouble at all, I'll walk with you to it." Tony gets up, leading them both back via reception so Linda can access the locker chart and check where Ashton's is.
"Thank you." Maggie says curtly.

The two make slightly awkward small talk on the trek to where Ashton's old locker sits underneath a verandah outside the year 12 common area. Maggie makes an effort to hide the way her breath hitches when she opens the locker and finds a pile of notes people had slipped into Ashton's locker -none of them nice. She keeps the small talk going and discreetly shoves them inside cover of the maths text book. After grabbing the few other floating pieces of paper and things she shuts the locker and turns to Tony with a smile.
"Thank you so much for this but I must be getting back to the office."
"Of course, it's been great meeting you and please don't hesitate to contact me if there's anyway the school can assist Ashton with his studies."
"Will do, we appreciate it. We'll be in touch soon regarding his exams anyway." She replies as they walk towards the car park.
"Of course. Thanks again for making the trip out here."
"Anytime."

Maggie slips into the car, nearly 20 minutes after she left, with an exasperated sigh.
"That took so long, just drive." She groans, Alec chuckling as he starts the car. Maggie reads over the slips of paper from Ashton's peers, 8 notes all some way or another saying that Ashton's a failure as a submissive. She's in two minds about telling either Ashton or Calum about their existence.

A/N: I don't really know what to say... hope you all enjoyed that. The story's starting to pick up so I'm really excited to be updating. See you in a few days! Thanks for the love :)

-Grace Williams xo