Poison Rose (Sequel to "Good Love")

Eight

Nashville, Tennessee

        January, 2025

A lil over a month after the Yule celebration he'd been invited to, Duff found himself back in Nashville again for the scene they'd managed to set up. Since it was Ash's birthday now, he'd decided that getting beaten silly and maybe even birthday sex from his own girl was what he wanted versus material goods. Aerin was all too willing to oblige by that, if that was what he really wanted, and they'd even negotiated letting the significant others sit in to watch, too.

        Considering that none of them wanted the twinsta accidentally witness any of what happened, Bobby'd headed off to take them to Bubba Zak's place. Zoe'd recently found out that she was pregnant, so she wasn't exactly feeling up to wrangling a pair of toddlers right now. At least they'd be in good, trustworthy hands for the Night, and that was the main thing that mattered to their parents, as well as their surrogate aunt and uncle.

        Said surrogate uncle was currently waiting for the young woman to come pick him up, 'cuz one of their rules of play was that when he was bottoming for her, he wasn't allowed to even drive himself over. He'd a bad habit of driving drunk in the Past, and she wasn't about to take her chances with him trying to drive while stoned on his own endorphins. If making him let her pick him up and drop him off–or have the Silver Fox do it, for that matter–nixed that problem in the bud before it ever really was one, it was all for the better. Even when it felt like a blow to his Pride, he could understand their concern, so he didn't really let it bother him as much as it could–and usually woulda.

        Given that she'd just picked the blonde bassist up from the airport, Aerin decided to just go ahead and swing by Ash's on the way home since they'd have to pass his neighborhood. She'd shot him a text right before throwing her truck in gear to let him know that she was on her way, and that she'd get any response he sent once she was in his driveway. If there was one thing he knew about her, it was that she didn't play with her phone in the slightest while she was driving unless she was on the interstate, no traffic around her.

        "Ah, shit," she muttered, checking her phone once she was parked. "Guess I'm doing one of the things that annoys the ever-living fuck outta me."

        "What's that?" Duff asked as he glanced over at her from the front passenger's seat.

        Instead of answering him, the young woman simply laid her hand on the Center of her steering wheel and all but laid her entire body weight on it.

        "What's so annoying about blowing a horn?" he laughed once she removed her hand.

        "Personally, I find it highly rude and disrespectful to blow a horn instead of getting out and ringing a doorbell to let someone know you're out front," Aerin answered. "But in this case, it's better for everyone to be a lil crass."

        The blonde bassist couldn't help his confused look as the front door of the home they'd parked in front of opened, Ash darting out with a duffel bag thrown over his shoulder.

        "Sorry I couldn't letcha come in this Time," he said as he opened the back door to throw said bag in.

        "It's fine, Ash," the young woman laughed. "Go give 'em a hug and a kiss from us–even Duff and Susan–and get your ass back out here so we can go home and beat it."

        "Aye, aye, Cap'n!" Ash laughed.

        They both watched as he darted back into the house, the front door closing behind him to keep out the cold Air. Moments later, it opened again and the youngest bassist came back out, only pausing long enough to make sure it was locked before heading back down to the truck waiting in his driveway. He was quick to hop into the back seat, obviously shivering a bit as he slammed the door closed behind him and started to get settled behind his friend.