I made it my point of duty to catch him. Four years and some months of sobriety had made us closer than ever. We’d been through the horrible times, but we now reaped from the care and time we’d invested in our relationship.
The affirmation board now had a thankful section. Every weekend, Ashton and I filled it out with what we were most thankful for in the week that passed. It allowed us to focus on the positives and let go of the things that went badly. We also had a couple’s vision board where we added goals we wanted to achieve together.
Over the past four years, we had remove and added so many goals to that board.
“Hold on, I need to do something,” Ash said, squirming in my arms.
I released him. “To do what?”
“Come see.”
I couldn’t not follow him. His ass was a magnet, and my cock would follow in that general direction. When he stopped at the vision board, my focus shifted to the eraser he took up.
“I got something done off this board today.”
I kissed his shoulder. “Show me.”
At the top of the board, he erased the words Get Ash accepted into his Master’s program. I watched breathless at the implication of what this meant when he wrote new words in the empty space.
Help Ash complete his Master’s program.
“Baby?” I asked, my chest bursting with pride.
He laughed and threw his arms around me. “I got in! They called me today and I got in.”
I held him, kissing his face. “I’m so proud of you. So damn proud of you, baby boy.”
And I was. Four years ago when Louis was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison plus being registered as a sex offender, Ashton had gone through a bout of depression, questioning whether or not he’d done the right thing.
I’d lived in fear at that time of him returning to what he knew for comfort. He’d admitted to both Jeanine and me that he came pretty close on several occasions, but he overcame. Ashton Keyes was a fighter.
This boy who’d hated school, didn’t do his assignments, and avoided classes had not only finished his first degree in nursing, he’d also been admitted to into a master’s program to study to become a mental health/psychiatric nurse practitioner.
Crushed, broken, spoiled, ruined Ashton was perfect to me in every way that mattered.
“Let’s do it,” I said, staring at his goal.
“You sure?” he asked. “It’s going to take up a lot of my time. I’ll need your help studying.”
“Then it’s a good thing I know a coffee shop owner where we can get the best stuff when we’re burning the midnight oil.”
“Then we’re doing this?” His eyes shone in excitement before he took on a thoughtful expression. “Daddy, they would have been proud of me, wouldn’t they?”
I had no doubt about it. I kissed his eyebrow. “Your dad and brother would be extremely proud of you, and so are we. All your family that stands by you.”
Did you enjoy reading this duet? You may enjoy another favorite hurt comfort age gap romance of mine Ollie on the Out.
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What Next?
Gianni is a lover of age gap (May/December) romance stories. Check out her list of books below. Also keep a lookout for Gianni’s new pen name G. S Holmes where she will publish Mpreg and other fantasy-oriented books.
The Grimm Tales of Smoky Vale series (Motorcycle club)
Boyfriend Booked
Dresses & Cuts
Fable’s Foes
Boys’ Night Out
Taking Care Series (Daddy Kink)
Take Care of You
Take Care of Me
Take Care of Us
Dec the Halls
Mother’s Day Special
Father’s Day
The Cinderella Butler
Till There Was You series (Hurt/Comfort)
Easy Does it Twice
Ollie on the Out
All Hearts on Deck
The Runway Project series (May/December)
Unwrapping Ainsley
Where There’s a Will
Ring My Bell
Free Novels for You
Marking What’s Mine
Marking His Mask
He’s Mine Not Hers
Lemonade & Loose Lips
More About Gianni Holmes
Gianni Holmes is a high school Spanish teacher by day and a naughty but nice writer by night. She loves to watch romantic comedies especially old sitcoms such as Everybody Loves Raymond and The Andy Griffith Show. She spends much of her time writing or impersonating her characters. Apart from her love of superheroes, she also enjoys cartoons and watches them regularly. She is a single mother who lives with her five-year-old daughter in the Caribbean. Her mission is to write heat with heart, spinning compelling stories that will leave readers wanting more.
Visit her at
www.gianniholmesauthor.com