Hailey woke up to a dream.

A beautiful dream.

A dream she had had for a few years. She was in a bed that was not hers, a bed that shared owner with the beautiful tatted naked light-skinned back that filled her vision.

She was literally in bed with the woman of her dreams. So she did the one thing she'd always dreamt of doing. Taking her hand ever so slowly to the first tattoo that caught her eyes, she traced along the red and black ink decorating the skin for as far as her eyes could see, following the pattern of roses that took up most of Ash's back.

Her finger found a trail of ribbons and continued to follow the body art. As the ribbon snaked around Ash's hip to her front, Hailey followed diligently.

It was then that Ash drew a deep breath, a telltale sign that the Latina had awoken.

She cast a glance over her shoulder, her sleep filled eyes blinking slowly but repeatedly as she brought herself to full awareness. Her hand slid over the hand on her hip and held it there for a moment before she decided to turn around to look at Hailey, somehow managing to keep Hailey's hand on her hip as she did.

Her piercing grey eyes looked deep into Hailey's brown ones; an act that until a week ago would have ended quickly with Hailey looking away. This time she held her gaze and when she did look away it was not because she was uncomfortable.

"Good morning," Hailey said, her tone soft and tentative.

But Ash seemed to agree that it was indeed a good morning. She leaned in and kissed her in response. As she deepened the kiss, Hailey's hand moved from the hip to cup her cheek.

When Ash pulled away, Hailey resumed drawing with her finger along her body, going downwards. She stopped at Ash's collar bone where a tattoo of a short sentence written in Spanish took up residence.

For some reason, though she could not translate the words the sentence seemed familiar. Then it hit her.

"These words... You were writing them all over your notebook during History on Friday."

Ash's brows furrowed, stunned by Hailey's attention to details and her memory.

"What does it mean?" Hailey asked.

"This means nothing," Ash said.

"Oh come on, you have to tell me," Hailey pleaded.

"You're not following. That is what it means; 'This means nothing.'"

Hailey could not hide her disbelief.

"You got a tattoo on your body saying 'This means nothing'?"

Ash's expression was dead serious. "It has sentimental value."

Hailey forgot about her intention to trail on down till she oops!-ed her way onto a handful of boob. She was curious.

"It was over a year ago. I asked my mom what tattoo I should get next. I told her I wanted it to be special so I needed her help picking it out. She laughed at the idea that tattoos had to mean something. As a joke she said, 'For God's sake you could just get a tattoo that means nothing, it's your body, you don't need anyone's approval.'

"The next day, I went to the tattoo parlor and got myself this. I revealed it during dinner. Mom laughed so hard she fell out of her chair. Then the next day, she went out and got the exact same tattoo. It became our thing. What started out as a joke turned out to be the most important tattoo I ever got."

Hailey was close to tears by the time Ash was done.

"Your mom sounds amazing," she said.

Ash nodded. "She was."

"Ash, listen if there's anything I can—"

"Hailey, you've done plenty just being here; don't underestimate your value to me, but the truth is my mother would not be at peace knowing I'm feeling this way—not to mention it's been two days—so I will make a conscious effort to be happy today."

"Well that's great."

"Shouldn't be too hard, I got you here with me."

Hailey looked down to hide the aggressive blushing that ensued but Ash caught her chin and lifted her head back up.

"Maybe I should start by calling Olivia. Just in case she wanted to see me about a booty call," Ash teased. At least Hailey hoped she was teasing.

"Careful there before you start another rumor about you sleeping with a teacher. Apparently people think you and Ms McCarthy did it last year."

"Oh yeah, we did do it," Ash said, "Or more accurately I did her. Repeatedly." She stressed out every syllable of that last word.

If she had been vertical, Hailey's jaw would have dropped to the floor.

"What?"

"Mhm. She even needed therapy to get over me. It was that epic."

Hailey just stared on, too awestruck for words. But then Ash exploded with laughter.

"You should see your face right now."

Hailey managed to close her mouth.

"Rumors really do make life interesting, don't they?" Ash said.

As she pulled Hailey in for another kiss, Hailey could not help acknowledge the fact that Ash had not outwardly denied anything.

She really was dating a crazy person, Hailey realized. Why the hell did that turn her on so much?

Reaching directly, she grabbed Ash's tits firmly, flicking her thumbs over her turgid—this time not as a result of the cold—nipples. That was the moment she discovered that Ash had really sensitive nipples.

Her reaction was instantaneous. She jerked her head back at the touch, breaking this kiss, and arched her back, a gasp escaping her lips.

When Hailey continued, Ash's eyes shut tight, almost as if she was in pain. She bit down on her lip.

Ash buried her face in Hailey's hair and her heated breath cascaded down on her neck in thick short gasps.

"Someone's not playing fair," she said.

When Ash brought her lips up to hers again, the kisses got deeper and rougher as she all but smashed her lips into Hailey's. There was a sound at the back of her throat, a cross between a growl and a moan.

Hailey soon realized that Ash was not acting completely herself. She was more aggressive. More desperate for release.

It frightened Hailey but not as much as it drove her on. She wanted release, she'd get release. The freak in Hailey had reared her horny head and she was out to play.

At the exact moment she slipped her hand between Ash's legs; beneath her panties, Hailey felt her go rigid, her breath hitched in her throat.

Ash was not faking it even a little. The dampness that leaked down her inner thighs was more than enough proof.

Hailey thrust her middle finger into the folds of wetness as far as it would go and her pupils threatened to roll all the way up inside her head.

"Shhhhit!" Ash hissed.

She continued to finger her in slow steady thrusts, bending her finger as she did, meanwhile she had her mouth closed over a nipple and her tongue swirling around it.

Ash grabbed onto her shoulders like her life depended on it, her fingers digging into her flesh. The moaning intensified.

As Hailey took it up several notches, Ash's body quivered in a foreshadowing fashion.

She said the words "Don't stop" repeatedly and rapidly so it came out as a single word command. Still it was a command Hailey felt obliged to obey.

Going so fast she briefly feared she would make a mistake on reentry and her fingers and wrist would snap, she continuously shoved her middle and index fingers deep inside the Latina. Barely managing to multitask, she flicked her tongue against the dogged firmness of one nipple and her thumb against that of the other, out of rhythm but certainly harmonious.

To clinch it all, she moved up to Ash's neck and bit her fairly hard.

Instantly reaching climax, Ash pulled her onto her completely, fiercely locking lips with her and holding on with a spine-busting hug, her thighs clenched around her fingers as wave after wave of spasmodic pleasure crashed through her.

After a full minute, Ash's body—coated with a thin film of sweat—went slack; completely motionless if not for her wild breathing.

Hailey rolled off of her and flexed her fingers then licked them one by one.

It took two whole minutes and then some for Ash to recover enough to speak. The first words out of her mouth were,

"What the fuck?" Her breasts did a little jiggle that was nothing short of appetizing as she took a deep shaky breath.

Funny enough, Hailey was asking herself the same thing. She had never done something so wild and freaky.

"Who the fuck are you and what have you done with Hailey? My legs feel all soft and tingly." She sounded awestruck. "Okay, this had better not be a dream."

"Ash."

"I gotta put a ring on that finger. Girl, you are a beast!"

"Ash..."

"Does your mama know about this? Is this hereditary?"

"Ash!"

"What?"

Ash turned to look at her.

"You're rambling."

"Right." She breathed deeply. "I guess that answers the virgin question."

"What?"

"I know you did not get that good practicing on yourself, sweetheart."

That was true.

"Summer camp. A year ago," she confessed, "No one else knows. Not even Cait."

Ash laughed.

"Well whoever she was she definitely taught you well. But...I have a feeling you will still learn a thing or two." She rolled onto Hailey's body then looked into her eyes with her trademark grin.

"What are you doing? What is that look?" Hailey asked.

"As if you have to ask." Ash laughed again. There was something compelling yet sinister about it. "It's your turn, freckles."

"Wait...what?"

Then Hailey felt fingers marching downwards along her torso towards her centre. She swallowed hard.

Ash pulled Hailey's underwear down to her knees then lifted her own naked body to straddle her and Hailey knew that if the world ended right then, she would die happy.

"I am about to sexually violate you, Hailey. Do I have your consent?"

"Mhm." Hailey nodded, shrinking under the gaze of the girl she loved, her skin burning with arousal.

She helped her out of her shirt.

"Good." She leaned in for a kiss but didn't quite complete the journey. Just as their lips grazed, she pulled away, her breath caressing Hailey's face.

Instead, she pulled herself downward. Her eyes still locked on Hailey's, she kissed her chest, first in the middle then a little to one side then the other.

She went further down, trailing kisses all the way to her belly button. With her tongue she poked into the intrusion in her tummy and Hailey shivered pleasantly.

From there, she licked down all the way to her close shaven nether regions. Her tongue scraped along the budding hairs peeking through her flesh.

Hailey felt two thumbs pull her lower lips apart and a concentration of warm air hit her in her very tender spot.

Her face hovering directly over her other lips, Ash said, "You might want to hold on to something."

Hailey did not take the warning seriously but the next second as Ash buried her face between her thighs, her tongue out and about and working together with her fingers, she grabbed onto the sheets tight as she arched her back like she was getting exorcised.

"Oh...FFFUCK!" she practically screamed.

*****

"Well would you look at that?"

It was Ash who spoke.

Hailey was too tired to do anything more than live.

She was on her feet, looking down at the bed where Hailey lay perfectly still on her belly, completely naked but too spent to be even remotely self-conscious. Her upper torso hung off the edge of the bed. She felt like she had been through hell—or about eleven orgasms back to back in the last hour. She felt like all her nerves were on fire, alight with hypersensitivity. And Ash was responsible

Hailey was serenaded by the sounds of joints cracking and popping and assumed Ash was stretching. She forced herself to roll over to confirm, dragging the sheets up to cover her body.

As she predicted, Ash had her hands stretched to the ceiling. She was still completely naked but unlike her, completely comfortable.

She twisted at the hips this way then that way then touched her toes. Suddenly, though her body was still weak, Hailey's spirit was once again willing.

"Caleb's probably downstairs making breakfast. He gives Maria the whole day off on Sundays. You can go ahead without me, I'll be down in a few. There is a change of clothes in the drawer."

"Maria?"

"Our butler," Ash clarified, "Although someone insists she's a housekeeper."

"You have a butler?"

Ash gave an amused smile.

"Wait...you want to workout? How do you still have the energy?"

Ash chuckled softly. "Please."

She lifted herself to her tiptoes and let herself fall forward.

When Hailey lifted her head to make sure she had not sustained any injury, she was doing push ups.

Hailey sat in awe for a moment, watching as Ash's head bobbed up and down before she did as she had suggested and left the room.

As Ash had predicted, Caleb was in the kitchen. He was beating eggs when she walked in.

Surprisingly, he was alone.

He looked up at the sound of her arrival and smiled.

"So one female in this household comes down before ten on a weekend. That's new." He laughed.

"Good morning, Caleb. Emily's not awake yet?"

"Morning, Hailey. And no, she likes to sleep in on weekends."

"Well I'm here now. You need any help around here?"

Caleb raised an astonished brow.

"If my sister doesn't put a ring on you I just might."

Hailey laughed, taking the bowl as he offered it and continued to beat the eggs.

"Do you have any special requests I can add to the menu for today?" he asked. "Nothing is off the table."

"Really?"

"I mean, come on. Be reasonable."

"Blueberry pancakes?"

"I am on it."

And he set about it despite the fact that there was already a pile of pancakes on the counter.

While they worked together, they talked about little things; comparing recipes, telling cooking gone wrong stories and one or two—dozen—food puns, and while they did Hailey couldn't help noticing how similar yet different Caleb was from Ash.

He had a matching sense of humor, the same easygoing nature, the joviality, the ability to make one feel at ease. But he was also organized. He managed to multitask between making bacon and eggs and pancakes and muffins and grilled cheese sandwiches without a single thing getting burnt. He also had this big brother vibe in the way he carried himself and the way he spoke to her. He was responsible, that was clear. With every crazy story he told, he subconsciously mentioned what he had learned from it. There was also the more obvious fact that he looked like his father while Ash was her mother's replica.

As he went on, telling yet another story, she was thought back to the event of Friday afternoon where she had watched him knock down Reynolds. It wasn't the fact that he'd done it that amazed her; even though such violence didn't seem characteristic to him, it was the reason and the way he had acted without hesitation.

"...it was the first time I ever caught a fish," he was saying when she zoned back to him, "It was a glorious moment...before Ash pushed me into the water and the fish got away. That was when our Dad finally got the camera working. Ash had it printed and framed."

Hailey laughed. "Yeah I saw that picture."

Caleb frowned, turning completely from the pancakes in the pan.

"That's not possible. Ash doesn't keep that picture in her room. I mean..."

"I know what you mean. We slept in her bedroom. Her main bedroom."

Just when she thought he would let it burn, Caleb flipped the pancake, doing so without sparing it a glance but managing to stick the landing.

"She let you into her room?"

"Well I let myself in. I thought that was the room you meant to direct me to. She found me there."

"But she let you be there? And even sleep there?"

The way he spoke, it was like she had just told him the laws of physics had been reversed. Maybe even then he wouldn't have been as astonished as he was.

"Yes. Why?"

"Ash doesn't let any girl in there."

"Yeah. I know she told me she hasn't used it much since the...you know."

"No, Hailey, I mean she has never let any girl in there before. Never. Not even before our mom passed when she could still sleep there. Not even before our mom got sick. Never. That room was like a shrine to her; dedicated to her idol..."

"Your mom," Ash concluded.

He nodded.

Before Hailey could ponder on what it meant that Ash had let her spend the night there, the sound of approaching footsteps descending the stairs reached her ears.

A second later Ash entered the kitchen clad in a tank top and baggy shorts. She moved past Caleb without so much as a glance.

"Bitch," she said.

She took a piece of bacon from the plate.

"Turd," Caleb clapped back fluidly.

On the return trip, she kissed him on the cheek and mussed up his hair.

"Man! You smell good," she told him.

She kissed Hailey full on the lips before leaving the room, munching, carefree, on the slice of roasted cured meat.

When Hailey recovered from admiring the peculiarities of their relationship, she found Caleb watching her, his gaze soft and warm yet slightly amused—it was like both siblings almost always had their lips just slightly turned up.

"Go on." He nodded towards the living room. "Em's awake."

Before she could ask how he knew, Emily appeared in the doorway.

"Hey, Hailey."

"Hi." A small wave.

"Hey, baby," Caleb said.

"Good morning," she replied, moving forward to wrap her arms around his neck.

Hailey didn't need to be told she needed to leave.

She found Ash out on the steps finishing a cigarette.

Ash looked up when she realized she was not alone and flicked the remainder of the joint. Hailey noticed she almost looked embarrassed.

"Sorry. I wasn't expecting you to come out here anytime soon."

"It's cool. I was hoping you could show me around. This place is huge!"

"Uh...sure." She seemed pleasantly surprised. "Let's start with the swimming pool behind."

"There's a swimming pool?"