The Stand-In Girlfriend Ch. 10-13

CHAPTER 10

Ashton slowly and quietly made his way up the stairs towards his old bedroom where his fiancée lay sleeping.

Since her parents arrival in London and they were staying at his parents' home Chevonne refused to sleep in the same bedroom with Ashton. Relegating him to the living room couch. She told Ashton her parents wouldn't approve and sleeping in the same bedroom with him while they were in the house made her uncomfortable.

Ashton was surprised that he found falling asleep difficult without Chevonne in the room with him. He wondered how he'd become so accustomed to her being in the room with him in such a short time. But he couldn't deny the fact that he spent half the night fighting the urge to go up to his old bedroom and lie on the floor next the bed Chevonne was sleeping in.

The only thing stopping him was the idea of possibly running into her parents (especially her father) and having to explain why he was going into or coming out of his bedroom.

But he didn't have to worry about running into her parents this morning because his parents had taken Chevonne's parents out for a real U.K. breakfast.

A shiver ran through Ashton's body as he stood at the bedroom door knowing that Chevonne was on the other side and he would be seeing her again. He reached out to quietly ease it open. He made his way over to the bed and gingerly laid down on the mattress next to Chevonne. He positioned himself on his side, rested his head against his hand and waited for Chevonne to awaken. He knew it would be soon.

Chevonne slowly opened her eyes and brought her hands up to wipe the sleep from her eyes. After wiping her eyes she brought her arms above her head to stretch her body awake to greet the morning.

"That's the sexiest thing I've ever seen."

Chevonne froze. She turned around and saw Ashton lying on the other side of the bed.

"What're you doing in here?" Chevonne asked lying on her side to face Ashton, resting and her head on her hand aping his position.

"Don't tell me you forgot about last night," Ashton said moving closer to Chevonne and putting an arm around her waist.

"I didn't forget about last night," Chevonne said removing Ashton's arm from around her waist.

"You're the one whose forgetting about last night."

"How could I forget about something so beautiful, so satisfying, so right?" Ashton asked putting his arm back around Chevonne's waist.

"It was only a kiss, Ashton," Chevonne said rolling her eyes towards the ceiling.

"You mean it started with a kiss," Ashton said leaning over and kissing Chevonne on the neck.

Ashton smiled at the shiver he felt make it's way through Chevonne's body.

"We're not going through this again," Chevonne said.

"Are you saying you didn't like it the first time," Ashton said kissing her neck making his way up to her jaw and slowly up to her earlobes where he gently bit her.

"Have you thought about what we discussed last night?" Chevonne asked removing his arm from around her waist once again and putting some distance between his lips and her body by getting out of the bed.

"Refresh my memory," Ashton said getting out of the bed and making his way over to her unable to stand the distance between them.

"I asked you if you noticed that our parents seem very much in favor of us getting married," Chevonne said, "Even though they didn't know we were seeing each other, they haven't put up any argument whatsoever against us getting married. I asked you if you found that strange?"

"And how did I answer that question?" Ashton asked pulling Chevonne into his arms and once again making a meal out of her neck.

"You didn't answer it," Chevonne said. "You did what you're doing now making a meal out of my neck."

"Oh, yeah," Ashton said as he tried to slip the sleeve of the nightgown Chevonne was wearing off her shoulder. "I remember that."

"And do you remember what happened after that?" Chevonne asked.

"Yes, I do," Ashton said as he froze, stopped kissing Chevonne on the neck and returned the sleeve of her nightgown back to it's proper place on her shoulder. "You didn't need to knee me so hard."

"I only kneed you hard enough to get your attention," Chevonne said. "How did you get into my room?"

"Snuck in," Ashton said. "You're a very heavy sleeper."

"You're going to be a heavy sleeper if my father catches you in here," Chevonne said.

"Your parents aren't here. Our parents went out to breakfast and to check out halls where our wedding can be held."

"Why are you so calm about this?" Chevonne asked almost screaming at him. "Can't you see how crazy all of this is?"

"There's nothing crazy about it," Ashton said. "Our parents are behaving the way any parents would behave when their children have made what they feel are wise choices about whom they want to marry."

"But we aren't really engaged," Chevonne said trying not to give into her desire to hit Ashton up side the head to bring him back to reality. "So we won't be getting married. This whole thing between us is fake, a scheme."

"There was nothing fake about the two kisses we shared last night," Ashton said raising his eyebrows up and down. "And did you or did you not say that you're attracted to me. Well, I'm attracted to you too."

"No," Chevonne said putting her hand on her hips and shaking her head, "you're not attracted to me. You're in love with Katina."

"How long have you been here?" Ashton asked.

"Almost two weeks," Chevonne replied.

"And how many times have I mentioned Katrina besides the times when she's called me?" Ashton asked.

"Never," Chevonne said. "But that's only because you've been trying to keep this farce of a plan from being discovered. You haven't had tome to think of anything else."

"You're right," Ashton said. "I have been trying to keep this farce of a plan from being discovered. But that hasn't kept visions of you out mind. It hasn't taken away my desire to kiss you, hold you and make you scream my name as I make wild, passionate love to you."

"You don...."

Ashton cut off her words by pulling her into his arms and covering her lips with his. He tightened his hold on Chevonne when he felt her body seem to melt into his.

"We can't do this. I won't do this," Chevonne said trying to push her way out of his embrace. "I won't allow you to use me as a sexual stand in for Katrina. We're going to end this mess today. My parents have been here for almost a week and things have only gotten crazier since their arrival."

"What do you mean?" Ashton asked.

"My mother and your mother are going on and on about a wedding that isn't going to happen and grandchildren their not going to have."

"Both of those things could and might happen," Ashton said.

"What about Katrina?" Chevonne asked. "Isn't she the woman you really love?"

"Katrina has been cheating on me," Ashton said.

"Cheating on you?" Chevonne replied her voice showing her surprise. "How do you know she's cheating on you?"

"I received these last night," Ashton said pulling out his cell and showing Chevonne pictures that someone sent to him through his email.

The pictures showed Katrina with an African-American man eating dinner, dancing, kissing and holding hands around the city of Atlanta. Ashton thought the surprised look that appeared on Chevonne's face as she looked at the picture was of it showing Katrina kissing a black man.

But that wasn't it. The look on her face was because the man in pictures eating, dancing, kissing and holding hands with Katrina was her brother. Martin.

"Oh, my god," Chevonne said her hand over her mouth, "that's my brother Martin.

"What?!" Ashton almost screamed..

"The man in the picture with Katrina is my brother Martin," Chevonne said again.

Ashton became so angry his body began to shake making him want to throw his cell phone against the wall and break it in two.

But he didn't because it would only leave him with a broken phone and that wouldn't change any thing. So he settled for letting a loud growl rip from his throat.

"Does that make you feel better?" she asked arching an eyebrow at him.

"Yes, it does," Ashton said as he exited the room.

Chevonne watched him as he stormed out of the room slamming the door behind him.

After he closed the door Chevonne went over to her purse, pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number.

"Hello?"

"Why did you send Ashton those pictures," she asked the person on the other end of the phone.

"How do you know I was the one who sent him the pictures?"

"He showed me the pictures and I saw that they were sent from your email address, Evelyn, mssweetbrownsugah," Chevonne replied her tone showing her growing anger at her friend.

"I figured if I knew that Martin was cheating on me, he should know that, that stank, hoe, bitch Katrina is cheating on him," Evelyn replied.

"You hurt him Evelyn," Chevonne said. "He didn't deserve that."

"I know," Evelyn said blowing out a sigh, "I was angry and I did it without thinking. I'm sorry."

"You should've handled your business and confronted Martin," Chevonne said. "You didn't have the right to spring this on Ashton this way."

"I said I was sorry," Evelyn said her voice revealing her shame for what she'd done, "I wasn't thinking clearly."

"Have you talked to Martin?"

"No, I thought I'd let Ashton get the ball rolling by confronting Katrina first."

"You're such a coward," Chevonne said.

"I know, I know," Evelyn said not feeling too proud of herself. "I don't want to lose him, Von. It might possible for us to work through this."

Chevonne didn't respond. She clamped down on her tongue to keep herself from voicing her opinion about what a fool she thought her best friend was being trying to hold on to a man who had no desire to be held on to.

Everyone that knew her brother knew he was the poster child for manho. If manho was an actual word it would feature Martin's picture. It was well known around town that if you wanted somebody that only wanted sex and nothing else, that Martin was your man.

But if you were looking for love or a commitment Martin wasn't the person to be with.

But Evelyn like many before her thought she could change Martin whether he wanted it or not.

She thought that she could get him to fall in love with her, change his ways and get him to make a commitment to her.

Because she and Chevonne were friends Chevonne tried to talk her out of even talking to Martin when her brother showed interest in Evelyn but Evelyn wouldn't listen and became involved with Martin anyway.

Chevonne cringed when she thought about all the times she held Evelyn in her arms as she cried about the way Martin treated her.

Or the fights they would get into when Evelyn accused her of not giving Martin her messages when she called and her heartless brother never bothered to call her back.

The fights and crying were just one of the reasons Chevonne didn't want her friend to start dating her brother.

She didn't want to be drawn into their relationship by having Evelyn ask her if he was truly not there when she called or if he called anyone or went out with anyone else when she wasn't around.

Chevonne didn't want to be the one to answer those questions. Because Martin was her brother and Evelyn was her best friend she didn't want to be caught in the middle of their relationship.

"Say something Von," Evelyn said bring Chevonne out of her thoughts. "I know you're biting at the bit to tell me I'm making a fool of myself trying to hang on to a man who isn't worried about hanging on to me."

"I'm not biting at the bit to tell you anything," Chevonne said.

"I'm glad to hear that," Evelyn said her anger too out of control to hide it, "because the last thing I need is advice from someone sitting on her coochie like it's the Hope Diamond. It's a wonder there's not a section in Fort Knox just for your coochie. Do you go there very week or so to dust it off? Do you go there and make sure the force field around it is still working and keeping the guards away? Everybody can't be like you Chevonne and be frigid while we pretend to be waiting on the right man. Most of us are adult enough to embrace the fact that we have sexual urges and are brave enough to give into them when we find someone we're attractive to. We're mature enough to understand that sex doesn't always mean love and we don't have to be married to justify giving into our sexual needs. We're not like you, foolish enough to think that marriage is a guarantee of love."

Evelyn panicked when she heard the click signaling that Chevonne had ended their conversation.

"Oh, my god," Evelyn said looking down at her cell phone. "What have I done?"

She redialed Chevonne's number and her call went directly to voicemail meaning Chevonne had turned off her cell phone. Evelyn threw her phone across the room smashing it against the wall.

She threw her head back looking up at the ceiling tears falling from her eyes. She wondered how she could say such hateful things to a woman she loved like a sister and whose friendship she cherished more than anything.

Wiping the tears from her eyes she tried to think of how she was going to fix the situation. She decided to call Ashton. She went over to her purse and pulled out the business card that Ashton gave her, picked up her home phone and dialed Ashton's cell.

"Hello?" Ashton said.

"This is Evelyn, Ashton," Evelyn said her voice filled with panic. "I need to talk to you and I don't want you to say anything until I finish."

"Alright," Ashton said wondering what was going on.

Evelyn told him everything. She told him she was the one who sent the pictures of Martin and Katrina to him and why she sent the pictures. She shamefully told him everything she said to Chevonne including her Fort Knox remarks Chevonne's coochie.

"I tried to call her back, to apologize" Evelyn said her shame growing, "but she's turned off her phone."

"I'll check on her," Ashton said closing his phone and making his way back upstairs to his old bedroom.

When he reached the room he heard mumbling and was surprised when he put his ear to the door to hear not crying but cursing flying about the room like there was a military man on the other side instead of Chevonne.

He tapped on the door, it flew open. Ashton looked past Chevonne and saw here suitcase sitting on the bed with clothes thrown in it.

"Where're you going?" he asked slipping pass Chevonne.

"I need to fly back to Atlanta," Chevonne said going back over to the bed to continue stuffing her things into her suitcase.

"Why?" Ashton asked pulling her clothes out.

"I have some business to take care of," Chevonne said thinking of the ass whuppin she was going to give Evelyn the moment she found her.

"Does this business involve Evelyn?" Ashton asked.

Chevonne froze and stopped throwing clothes into her suitcase. "How do you know?"

"She called me," Ashton said. "She told me everything."

"Everything?" Chevonne replied praying that Evelyn hadn't told him everything she said to her.

"Everything," Ashton said unpacking and closing her suitcase and removing it from the bed.

"I'm going to kill her," Chevonne said grabbing her purse off the bed, making her way out of the bedroom door.

"Oh, no you're not," Ashton said grabbing her pulling her back into the bedroom and throwing her down onto the bed.

"Let me go," Chevonne said struggling to free herself from Ashton's grasp.

"I'm not going to let you go until you calm down," Ashton said pinning her down with his body.

"You expect me to calm down after what she said to me?" Chevonne said. "I'll show her whose coochie is locked up in Fort Knox."

"Whose what is locked up where?" Ashton asked not understanding what Chevonne was saying.

"Coochie," Chevonne said.

The look on Ashton's face said he still didn't understand.

"Coochie," Chevonne said again.

The same look of not understanding was on Ashton's face.

"Vagina, hole, snatch, pussy, cunt muff, twat, beaver, fuck hole."

"I got it," Ashton said cutting her off and laughing, "I got it."

"It's not funny," Chevonne said laughing along with Ashton as tears rolled down his cheeks because he was laughing so hard.

"I'm sorry," Ashton said, "but your description was so funny. "Is it true?"

"Is what true?" Chevonne asked.

"That your ---- is locked up in Fort Knox?"

"Oh, no you didn't," Chevonne said throwing him off her and jumping on top of him.

"I was kidding, I was kidding," Ashton screamed, laughing still and wrapping his arms around her to keep her from hitting him.

After he got control of her arms he flipped their position so that he was on top of Chevonne.

"When I get free I'm going to kick your butt," Chevonne said fighting to free herself.

"You look so beautiful when you struggle," Ashton said.

Chevonne stopped thinking that was a strange thing for him to say.

"Let me go," she said.

"Why?" Ashton asked. "Are you afraid I'm going to kiss you?"

"Yes," Chevonne said. "and I told you I won't be a sexual stand-in for Katrina."

"I would never do that to you," Ashton said. "I love you too much to do something like that to you."

"What?" Chevonne said.

"I love you," Ashton said as he leaned down and kissed her on the lips.

"You love me?" Chevonne said surprised that he would make such a declaration. "You're just saying that because you just found out that Katrina's cheating on you."

"I'm saying it because it's how I feel," Ashton said leaning down and kissing her again.

"That doesn't make any sense," Chevonne said shaking her head denying what she was hearing.

"You don't know me well enough to be in love with me. "

"I know myself well enough to know and recognize where my heart lies," Ashton replied. "And it doesn't lie with Katrina."

"Why did you get so upset when you learned that Katrina was cheating on you?"

"Because I had been beating myself up for falling in love with you," Ashton said kissing her again. "I was worried about how I was going to tell her and how she was going to react to hearing that I wasn't in love with her."

"How could you fall in love with me?" Chevonne asked.

"I've always been in love with you," Ashton said. "I have been in love with you since the first day I saw you walking around campus two years ago. I wanted to get to know you and learn everything I could about you."

"If you were in love with me, how did you wound up with Katrina?"

"I was a coward," Ashton said. "The day I knocked on your door it was my intention to introduce myself to you, but when you opened the door I lost my nerve and I asked for Katrina who I knew was your roommate."

"Why didn't you tell me what you wanted when I answered the door?" Chevonne asked.

"I was too afraid of telling you I was interested in you and you telling me that you weren't interested in me," Ashton said. "I just couldn't take that chance. I knew it would kill me to hear those words come from your lips."

"Did you think I wouldn't be interested in you because you're white?" Chevonne asked.

"Yes," Ashton said hanging his head in shame. "I thought that you would never consider dating me because I wasn't black."

"I'm not a racist, Ashton," Chevonne said. "I expect to be treated with respect no matter what color the man I'm dating is."

"I'm sorry," Ashton said. "It was wrong of me to make such an assumption about you. I'm I forgiven?"

"I don't know," Chevonne said slipping her arms around his neck and smiling. "You're going to have to convince me that you're worth forgiving."

"I think I can do that," Ashton said kissing her passionately on the lips.

Ashton tightened his hold on Chevonne and dove in and kissed her the way he'd wanted to every since the first day he laid eyes on her. His tongue moved around her mouth like a thunderstorm falling on parched land seeping into every part of her mouth drowning it in passion.