A month had passed after the Walker incident, and everything had returned to normal. Everyone had healed up and adjusted back to jobs here and there though now they were in a small dry spell. No one had jobs at their previous ports and so now they were just traveling peacefully to the next one hoping for work. Having the stress levels down worked to Cassie's advantage though because it meant Ash had been paying her more attention.
That was why she woke up one morning to the small movements of Ash's fingers tracing down her arms and his lips pressing gently against her neck and shoulder. Cassie stirred a little and began to turn her head towards him, except he in turn deepened the kiss on her neck which caused her instead to moan softly. He stopped and let her turn over to face him, his arms wrapping around her waist as she did so.
"I'm beginning to realize why you enjoyed teasing me so much before you woke me up," Ash said smiling. "Morning, by the way."
"How do you have so much energy these days?" she asked while she felt her eyelids still trying to droop close.
He grinned broadly and then kissed her collar bone gently at first until he began making his way back up to her lips. When he pulled away, he said with a broad smile, "I think all this time with you has got me energized. That or the excitement of being with you has."
He then proceeded to kiss her in all the parts that excited her nerves. His lips trailed along her skin, pausing in places he knew could garner a better response from her while her hands gently ran through his hair and gripped his shoulders. While he was gently sucking on her collarbone again, his communicator went off on the nearby table.
"Hey Captain, something's come up," Matt said through the link.
Ash proceeded to ignore the call and met Cassie's lips again causing her to moan slightly and hold onto him tighter.
"Ash quit making love to Cassie and answer me; this could be an emergency!" Matt shouted through the communicator.
Pulling away from her, which she even admitted was disappointing, she watched him reach for the device and then activate it saying, "Alright I'm here. What's going on?"
Cassie waited to hear Matt's next joke but to her surprise, his voice was serious as he replied, "We're coming upon what looks like some wreckage of a ship. By the looks of it, I would say it's the Diva. Looks like it hasn't been like that long, so I thought if you clear it, we could go aboard and see if we can find some traces of what happened or see if anyone's on board."
Ash shifted a little bit, so he was lying on his back. Cassie followed and pressed against his chest. "Sounds like we should check it out then," he said.
"Which means you need to get up here and pilot while I go out and search," Matt replied. Ash groaned and ran his hand through his hair. "Tell Cassie you'll make it up to her and get up here."
Ash glanced down at Cassie who pouted. He sighed but kissed her forehead as he made the move to sit up. She instead lay back down on his pillow and curled up in his side of the bed while he got up and began to quickly get dressed.
After he left, she continued to stay in the bed sheets for a while trying to soak up the warmth and doze off again. When she finally got dressed and went out, she made her way towards the control room only to pause temporarily at the site of the atrium where nearly all the other crew members were suited up and waiting to go outside. She tilted her head in confusion but continued towards the control room.
Inside the ship was humming and the lights were blinking everywhere. Ash was sitting in the farthest chair, pushing various levers here and there and steering gently. Cassie looked out the window and could see a ship like theirs, torn apart and electricity flying off it into various parts of space. She slipped into the co-pilots' seat and just watched as they edged closer.
She then looked over at Ash and said, "So what does that to a spaceship?"
"Some sort of attack," he said distracted and frowning at one of the readings in front of him. He then quickly snapped another trigger next to him and looked relieved before glancing at her. "I mean this is obviously the work of intentional damage. Someone wanted this ship to go down and they did a good job of making sure that happened."
"But then why are we searching for survivors? People can survive this?" she asked surprised.
He nodded. "If they are smart, they can. Like if this crew is alive, they are probably holed up in one of the remaining sections of the ship, but then it comes down to a matter of time to determine if they are alright. If the attack was too long ago, they could be out of oxygen."
Cassie shivered at the thought and curled up in her chair, hugging her knees. She watched as they prepared to dock and remained quiet until they had tethered to the other ship. Ash sat back and then said into his communication link, "Alright, you are clear to search guys. Be careful."
There was a response from a couple of guys and then silence from the men. "Why are so many going? Is it really that necessary?"
He looked over at her with a frown on his face and eyebrows knitted. "Not in the slightest."
"But then why are you letting them?"
"Because although I think it's unfair of them to stop me from enjoying my love life, I refuse to get in the way of their testosterone." He softened up as she giggled slightly. "You don't get to make fun of me right now, missy. I can't even begin to tell you how frustrated I am."
She just giggled again and got up quietly moving towards him. "I take it there are girls on that ship, then?"
"Nothing but girls," he said as he pulled her onto his lap once she had gotten close enough. "Like I said most human girls don't escape to the far edges of the universe. This ship is under the control of Captain Elaine who decided that once she escaped from the Sovereign sector, no man would ever run her life again. She got her own ship and recruited all the girls she could to make a crew."
"Now it all makes sense. What you're not lining up though?" she teased.
He squeezed her and then frowned. "You want me to take my sexual frustrations somewhere else?" Cassie quickly shook her head, causing him to grin, and then leaned against his shoulder where he rested his head against hers.
They sat there watching the ship as red spacesuits moved in and out of the wreckage. They looked so slow, and Cassie realized that they were moving in an antigravity space for the first time she had been on board. She suddenly had an urge to also suit up and try it, but as she was about to voice this idea, she realized her boyfriend had taken the opportunity to begin kissing her the way he had this morning and that excited her more.
As his lips moved slowly down her neckline, she closed her eyes and held onto his hands tightly. He continued teasing her until again, the communication link cut through.
"We found Elaine and the girls," Dean's voice suddenly said. "They are alive, so we are bringing them aboard."
Ash groaned and pulled away from Cassie reaching for his commlink. "Roger that."
"Elaine will want to see you immediately," Dean replied instantly.
"Of course, she does," Ash mumbled. Then into the link, "I will be down as soon as we start getting away from the wreckage. I don't want to stick around in case the attackers are nearby."
"I'll try and relay that."
Ash then sighed looking down at Cassie who was again leaning on his shoulder. "Sorry, babes."
She frowned. "You should institute an hour or two of mandatory 'Don't-bother-the-captain' time."
He smiled at her, but then looked upwards with his eyes narrowed. She followed his gaze but couldn't make out the buttons or lights overhead. He suddenly let go of her though and began to mess with them.
"What are you up to?" she asked.
"You'll see..."
She shifted away from him so he could mess around with the buttons and work with the controls. Once they had heard the all-clear, Ash barely tapped the steering device around and then pressed a button and the ship began to work on its own.
"It's a good thing we have a slight automated system for when we go to bed," he mused, grinning brightly at her. "A little programming and I can make it look like I'm moving the ship when I'm not. Meaning..." He moved over to her since she was now back in her original seat. Cassie watched him smirking at him. He bent down near her ear and whispered, "Want to go again?"
She nodded and he began to lovingly have his way with her again. His warmth and touch excited her almost instantly, igniting all her nerves on fire and driving her crazy. Even after all the kisses and all the passion, he held her in his arms for a few moments again, tracing lines along her spine while letting her rest against his chest.
"I really like this," Cassie said softly. "These times with you, I mean."
"I'm pretty fond of them myself," he whispered back. "Unfortunately, I should probably go and greet our new shipmates."
She kissed his jawline gently. "I guess I can't hog you all the time, even though I really want to."
She pushed off him and they got dressed quickly. She let him leave first and waited for just a few minutes before following him so it wouldn't look hopefully as bad. However, she was surprised at the sounds that greeted her or rather, the lack thereof when she exited the control room.
Cassie glanced down from the walkway into the atrium to see all the men standing their arms raised above their heads. A group of about sixteen women stood opposite them, close to the door with one woman in her mid-thirties standing in front of them, a laser pistol in hand and aimed at the men. She had long black hair with one strand of grey peaking from her forehead. The rest of the girls varied in age, most of them young in their late teens and earlier twenties, minus one elder lady who appeared to be in her fifties. She was shielding many of the girls behind her while the leader held the rest at bay.
The only person moving was Ash who was making his way through the men of his ship to stand before Elaine. His hands were in his pockets at first, but he uncovered them as he grew closer to the leader to show he meant no harm. The two captains stared at each other for a moment before Ash said, "Elaine. Please put your gun down. I would rather not have this be the second incident where someone tries to hold my ship hostage while I'm still on board."
"Ash, I apologize, but I'm not exactly fond of male company at the moment," Elaine replied, her voice deep for a woman, but still refreshing to Cassie's ear. "I want to establish ground rules for traveling with you before I let down my guard."
"You've travelled with us before," Ash countered. His voice was still calm, which surprised Cassie since he was being aimed at still. "You have my word as you have had before that no harm or injustices will come to you or your crew while we give you a lift."
"I need some more ground rules Ash. We were betrayed just before this which as you can see did not end well for our ship."
"I am curious as to what happened. But again, I promise you a safe journey. If you put down your weapon I will listen to your terms."
Elaine raised an eyebrow at him and then slowly lowered her pistol and placed it back into the holder resting on her thigh. The men slowly lowered their hands but did not move. Most of them seemed slightly annoyed, but their gazes at the group of girls were transfixed.
"My terms then," Elaine said. "After our last encounter, I have deemed it necessary to make sure my girls do not feel threatened or endangered while onboard a ship full of men. So, first I wish for all activities except for special announcements and eating to be separate from each other's company because this will also help us to regain normalcy in our own routines as much as possible.
"Secondly, I need confirmation that we have ample enough time for our daily regiment routine without prying eyes. I don't want help even if you think it is inferior to your training style. We operate our own way, and it is better for us if we stick to this.
"And finally, since you are going to have to put us up, we want all of your crew to sleep in the same room, so we know none of you are plotting something while we are sleeping."
This caused an uproar among the men. They instantly began to yell and talk about the injustice and unfairness that this request was. Cassie sneaked down the stairs to join the crew while all of them voiced their opinion and watched as Elaine just crossed her arms, frowning.
Finally, they quieted down and looked towards their leader. Elaine stood her ground though and Ash took a deep breath before saying, "Seriously?"
"Yes, seriously," Elaine replied. "We a had bad encounter when we shared a ship with someone. What's the problem?"
Ash hesitated, but the guys covered it by calling out various complaints including moving beds, not sleeping well, and readjusting their schedule. They finally quieted down again and refocused on their leader and Elaine.
"I feel like you have another problem, captain," she said.
"No, he's just upset he won't get a chance to have sex with his girlfriend now," Dean said loudly.
Cassie felt a blush come immediately to her cheeks right as she heard Dean cry out although she couldn't see why. There was a collective snickering coming from the guys, but from the other side the girls were piping up saying, "Girlfriend?"
"You have a girl on board?" Elaine asked, the pitch of her voice getting higher.
The guys started to part and soon Cassie could see Elaine and met her gaze. The older woman had a set of grey eyes, and they were narrowed while her mouth hung open a little in confusion. Cassie also glanced towards Ash who to her surprise and small delight, still had red cheeks. She smiled and walked up towards the pair and then held out her hand to Elaine.
"Pleased to meet you, I'm Cassie. It's nice to meet another girl for a change."
Elaine shook her hand though the older woman wasn't smiling at her. "It's a pleasure to meet you too. How long have you been aboard?"
"Um, a few months now..."
"And you two are dating?" she asked, emphasizing the word 'dating.'
At this Ash stepped forward and said, "Yes. But that has only been a recent change. But obviously, no harm has come to her since she has been in our company. So can I agree to just your first two terms and not the last one?"
"No, it's all or nothing."
Ash frowned and sighed. "Fine, then I agree if it makes you the most comfortable. We'll go start setting up the ship then. We can use the atrium as the sleeping area. Go pull all the sleeping materials here and store them on the side there for now. Get to it."
The guys turned and began to go and get the sleeping supplies though many were frowning or making side comments to each other that sounded negative. Cassie glanced up to Ash who hadn't moved, and he turned back to Elaine.
"So can we talk about what happened and where I can take you and your crew?" he asked her. She nodded and the two began to head up towards the control room behind the guys who were going to go get sleeping materials.
Cassie was about to follow to go help but then turned back to the girls who finally left their cluster of a group and now stood more relaxed. Half of them were staring off at the guys, and the other half was focused, arms crossed, on Cassie. She felt a little bit uncomfortable suddenly standing there and so she opened her mouth to say something, but the other girls shook their heads.
Then a girl with long red hair stepped forward. "Wow. Must feel nice dating the captain, doesn't it?"
Cassie didn't react. The older woman who had protected the group scoffed. "Bet you get all the perks."
"You don't know what you're talking about," Cassie replied coolly. "I would shut your mouth."
"Well first maybe you should shut yours," Another girl chimed. "That or your legs."
Cassie gaped as they began to slide past her. "Wow, so much for female solidarity. Guess you're not so different than the guys really."
"Take that back!" cried one girl who paused and turned around.
"Like hell. And please if you are going to fight me on one thing, then please don't have it be that."
Suddenly the girl was crying out and Cassie turned to see her charging at her, but she dodged just as more began to make their way towards her. Before too much broke out, however, the girls were pulled back by some of their own crew and some of Ash's crew as the guys returned. Once everyone settled down and the girls were back on opposite sides of the guys. They were fuming for a moment before the girls charged off down the hall toward the training room.
Phil Jacobs stepped forward and looked at Cassie with an eyebrow raised. "What just happened? Should we know?"
"I would rather not talk about it. Can I help with something?" she asked instead.
"I'll be needing help in the kitchen if you want to join me," Johnson said. Cassie agreed and followed him, hoping to ignore the female crew she had been so eager to greet.
Things went smoothly through dinner and before everyone turned down the guys sat around telling stories of their lives and adventures. They did this occasionally, but since they were all gathered, things felt natural and comforting to just casually tell stories. The only annoying thing was that at the time of bed itself, it was insisted upon by Elaine that girls and boys sleep separately, which meant that Cassie was forced to sleep on the side of the girls. This was distressing not only because she wanted to be as far away from the female crew as possible, having heard a few more slurs throughout the day, but she also couldn't be next to Ash. For the past couple of months, she had been so used to sleeping next to him that the thought without him was unsettling.
She of course never was good at sleeping in new places or in new situations. She was very noise sensitive and had a hard time adjusting to new settings. This translated into a poor sleep for that night, something the female crew decided to take advantage of.
They called her names throughout the day and all under their breath so they wouldn't alarm the men. Cassie nearly snapped back at them a few times but tried to just avoid them and keep herself busy instead.
One time when she was walking towards the training room, a group of three girls was laughing and smirking as they walked past. Then one of them said to the others, "Good thing we aren't full-time here. I would hate to have a whore's status and be forced to work."
Cassie clenched her fists and looked back at them. "I don't know what your problem is, but you can cut the crap on being a whore. Not all women are created to be a man's sex toy. Obviously, Elaine hasn't taught you that since you feel the need to continue degrading me."
The three turned back to her but had pitiful smiles on. "Oh, poor baby," one said pouting. "Just because you don't want to admit you are just a cover-up to make Ash look normal doesn't mean you have to lecture us on what a woman can and can't do."
Cassie furrowed her brows. "What do you mean making Ash look normal? I thought you all have travelled with him before, which means you should know who he is and what type of character he has."
The three looked at each other and then one redhead stepped forward. "You really are a pitiful actress. The whole universe knows Ash has Sovereign roots, which means he isn't like any of us. Stop making him out to be a hero when he's probably just a bastard spy."
Then with a flip of their hair, the three walked off down the hallway. Cassie just stood for a moment feeling heat behind her ears. She hated close-minded people and their unwillingness to just listen, but she also began to feel a nagging sensation in her stomach. She tried to just expel it due to her lack of sleep though and returned to her tasks.
The duration of the trip was a nightmare for Cassie. With lack of sleep still being a problem, she wasn't very focused during the day and the girls were not lightening up on their remarks and insults against her. The worst part was Elaine was also making sure that Ash was keeping busy thanks to her demands and regulatory meetings with him that Cassie hadn't even had a chance to talk with him.
On the fifth day, Cassie was so frustrated and tired of the other crew that she took to running small errands to try and keep herself distanced from them. As she was on her way to the engine room to bring them some spare gloves, a gentle tug on her arm pulled her backward and she stumbled into someone's arms.
When she looked up, she was surprised to see Ash who held her gently. "Hi. Sorry, it's been so long," he said softly brushing a piece of hair from her face.
She leaned into him, putting her arms around him. "Hi. This seems silly, but I miss you."
He pressed his lips on her temple. "I miss you, too, love. Now, what's wrong?"
Cassie looked up at him and sighed, recognizing his tone as a sign he had been watching her for a while. "Sorry, just haven't been adjusting well. I really hate all these rules in place right now."
"And?"
She broke his gaze. Knowing that he was waiting for an answer though she pressed against him saying, "Just dealing with some stuff. I can handle it, I think. But I also miss your company."
"Stay with me tonight then," he whispered. When she looked up at him, eyebrows raised he continued, "You are after all part of my crew which means you can stay on our side. Plus, I don't care what Elaine thinks. Batty old lady keeps trying to make things uncomfortable for me anyway."
"Wait, what?"
Ash sighed but frowned. "Not sure why but miss 'I-don't-take-crap-from-men' has decided she wants me. She's been throwing herself left and right in the most obvious ways. Not that I have been taking any, of course."
Cassie grew wide-eyed but then bit her tongue. "Okay, then yes. I am spending the night with you."
"Okay, but are you mad at me?"
"No, not you. I'm mad at that fucking bitch though. That's been the whole problem!" She felt her fists clench and refused to meet his eyes. "Her and her whole crew have been doing all they can to insult and belittle me while getting their captain to replace me!"
Ash grabbed her arms tightly. "Hey, hey, relax. You don't have to worry about her replacing you since you've got me wholly and completely. Plus, if you want to take on Elaine then do it. Trust me your skills are probably way above theirs in combat."
Cassie frowned at him. "Wait you are giving me permission to beat the crap out of them? That doesn't sound like you."
"I'm not saying go at them and beat them, but if you rile them up and they come after you, you could probably show them up. Even if you were to dodge them only, which is what I would suggest you do."
He smiled a little and she smiled back, hugging him tightly. He kissed her head again, holding her protectively.
That evening Cassie was feeling better because of the knowledge that she was going to be with the guys. She had gotten ready like always and the guys were again gathered in a circle talking. Elaine and her girls were also doing the same on their side. Cassie wasn't paying attention to them though and instead giggled at the tales from one of the tournaments they participated in where they had to do various random skits to win. When Ash finally showed up, he sat down next to her and handed her a pair of ear caps to help cancel out the noise since she would now be closer to the heavy snorers.
They were funny looking with their huge circle outsides and the stem in the middle that was supposed to fit in the ear. Cassie messed with one, getting help from Ash as to how to put it on. It slipped into her ear and at first felt stiff and uncomfortable, but the outside part capped around her ear and the stem grew soft like a pillow. She tested it out on one ear and was grateful that it indeed blocked any noise from coming through. Smiling up at Ash she leaned into him, preparing to put the other one in.
"Alright, enough talk," Elaine called out. "Time to get some shut eye." The guys grumbled but followed suit with the girls, moving to their own sleeping mats. Elaine watched in assurance to make sure none of them were going to pull a fast one on her, but she eagled in on Ash and Cassie who hadn't separated. "You too, Princess."
Cassie glanced up at her and then focused back on the other ear cap. "I heard you. I'm staying here tonight thanks."
"Excuse me?"
"Meaning I feel a lot better here with my crew than yours, thanks."
"But-"
"Leave it be, Elaine," Ash said coolly. "She's not endangering any rules because she isn't part of your crew. So go to bed and drop it."
Elaine frowned and her eyes narrowed in on Cassie. She then turned and began to turn in while the girls passed around a whisper. Cassie watched for a moment before plugging the other ear cap in.
All the noise in the room was silent and she already knew tonight was going to be better now that she couldn't hear the various snoring coming from the room. It helped too as Cassie laid down, Ash next to her with an arm around her waist, holding her gently. The comfort of his presence, plus the warmth radiating from his body made it easy for her to quickly drift off.
When she began to come to the next morning, she could already feel the benefits of a good night's sleep. Her body wasn't as achy, and she didn't feel nearly as weighed down as she had before. She had somehow turned over in her sleep. She realized this as she woke up and found her head on Ash's chest, his arm loosely around her waist still. He was of course still asleep, and she just smiled at him as she laid there.
After a bit she took out the ear caps, resting them above the pillow. Her ears were greeted by the sounds of snores from the still sleeping people. But above that, she could also hear fierce whispering going on. She lifted her head slightly and looked over to see the women gathered in a circle talking. Cassie tried to seem asleep still while she watched them carefully. After a bit they moved down the hall, but Cassie quietly got up to follow along behind them.
The sounds of the voices were louder as Cassie quietly made her way down the hall towards the training room. Stopping just outside of it, Cassie listened.
"We do it now. Lock them down and seize control. If not now, it will be too late," came one voice.
"Are we sure we can overpower them?" came a higher-pitched voice.
"I think we could, just have stop acting like whiny little girls," came another.
"It's settled," said Elaine's deeper voice. "We take our chance and take the ship."
"You really think that's smart?" Cassie said stepping into the room, arms crossed. Elaine's crew was dressed in tight clothes that were made to be fought in. They all turned to her, and many clenched their fists. Elaine was dressed similarly, her black hair pulled into a tight bun on her head.
"Well, well," she said coolly. "The boy's whore here to save the day?" She paused and smirked. "You think you can stop me?"
Cassie bit her tongue for a moment before an idea sparked in her head and she grinned. "Oh, I don't know. I like to think I can."
Elaine laughed a little. "They really make you feel entitled here, don't they? Think you are so special, that you can do whatever you want, but in the end, you are nothing but a piece of ass. You don't have the strength that my crew has, living a life without men. I would have offered you a chance to join, but you seemed like a lost cause."
Cassie shrugged. "I think I'm flattered. But in all honesty, I wouldn't want to join you anyway. Because in all this talk about sleeping with the guys, I realized maybe that's not a terrible thing. I mean hell, just the thought of it gets all of you jealous to the point you decided to fling yourselves carelessly at guys when it's obvious you don't know how to get a man's attention anymore."
The girls behind their leader were fuming. Elaine herself was no longer smiling and was breathing slowly and deeply. Cassie just shrugged to signal she was ready for anything. That was all it took too.
One of the girls immediately threw herself at Cassie who dodged her easily. Seeing this, the rest soon began to go at Cassie, but to her surprise, Ash was right. The girls overall didn't have a good hand-to-hand combat style and compared to Cassie they were all easily unskilled. To their credit though, their chicken scratch fighting techniques did prove to be difficult when they tried to team up together, knocking Cassie to the ground sometimes or scratching her here and there with their nails.
It took a little while, but finally, all the female crew was sitting on the ground in some sort of pain. Elaine was watching this mess, her frown increasing every time a girl of hers gave up. Cassie was a little bit winded, bruised and scratched, but otherwise still ready to rumble. Seeing this Elaine finally took a stance and said, "Alright, come at me then."
Cassie didn't quite move towards her right away. After all she was supposed to be playing defence. But when Elaine stood still and firm, she didn't know what to do.
"Come on bitch," Elaine called. "Or what too scared to fight?"
"I'm sorry," Cassie said. "I didn't exactly ask to be attacked; your girls just decided to. So why should I come after you?"
"You're trying to prove a point, first. You already called me out for trying to steal your pathetic little boy from you. Second, you were trying to prevent my takeover of this ship."
Cassie looked around and shrugged again. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly sure I took out your fighting force, doing little damage to myself. What makes you think you can get past me and twenty-five ready to fight guys all on your own?"
"I'm not weak!" Elaine yelled.
"I'm not saying you are. Your crew maybe but-"
Yelling loudly, Elaine came running at her, nails extended like small daggers on her fingers. Cassie readied herself and when Elaine extended a claw, she ducked to the side and managed to kick Elaine hard in the spine, knocking her to the ground. But the old woman stood quickly and again charged at her opponent.
Repeatedly, Cassie dodged and ducked from her, but couldn't manage to knock her down again. Elaine was learning the tactics well, but then she was also tiring out quickly. Using this to her advantage Cassie managed to add a few quick blows to her abdomen and then finally she got a chance to trip her and knock her to the ground. This time Elaine didn't get up.
"How the hell does a whore learn to combat so well?" Elaine yelled as she glared up at Cassie.
"Simple, she's not a whore," came a deep voice from behind Cassie. She looked back and saw Ash, Matt, and Dean standing there, relaxed.
"In fact, she's my star pupil at the moment," Dean said. "Because she keeps a level head and doesn't go gaga over any of us on board."
"Not to mention she's loyal which makes her a good team player and not a backstabbing thief," Matt added.
"Wow," Elaine said laughing. "You really get around-"
"No, I don't," Cassie said calmly. "I fell in love with one guy. He loved me back and he and I developed a relationship. Something you and the rest of your girls desperately want and before you argue against that, tell me for real that isn't the real reason you are mad at me.
"You got screwed over in the past by some guy, sure. It's why you wanted to protect yourself from men until you could heal. You want to do the same for all girls which is a noble thing. The problem is, like I said you became you alienated from guys, and you don't know how to act around them. Which sucks for you because I can tell you for a fact, the guys here actually cared about you at first and you could have gotten somewhere with them. Do you realize that I would have put in a good word for all of you if you had treated me like a friend?
"But you didn't. The problem with your ideals is you treat your own girls perfectly fine. But you are so closed minded that you don't try to gain new friends, you just shut down outsiders. I am sorry you didn't take the time to become friends. I would have loved to have a female friend. But your loss I guess."
Elaine just glared at her as she began to sit up. From behind Ash touched Cassie's arm and she looked up at him relieved. He smiled at her and then gave orders to have the Diva's crew locked up for the duration of the trip.
Afterwards the guys moved their stuff back to their rooms and things felt a lot more at ease among everyone. That night, Cassie sat on Ash's bed, braiding her hair quietly thinking about an idea that had occurred to her after the fight. He came in and started changing shirts without saying anything. She finished the braid and tied it up, then ran her fingers over it gently. "Ash?"
"Hm?"
"Why does this keep happening?"
He paused as he had started to roll down his T-shirt. He took a deep breath and continued to get changed. Once he had he turned around frowning a little. "Stuff like this happens. Not usually this crazy in such a fleeting time, but it happens. People on the outside have their difficulties, but in the end, they do what they must to survive."
"But why am I becoming an object for people?"
"What do you mean?"
Cassie frowned looking down at her feet. "I mean this is the second time someone from the outside feels the need to use me in some way. With Walker I was his bait, with Elaine I was her punching bag. I don't want to be used like this."
Ash sat down next to her and pulled her to his chest, holding the back of her head gently. "I'm sorry Cassie. I don't know why either, but hopefully it won't continue." Cassie breathed deeply, tucking her nose beneath his chin, and closing her eyes. "What's really going on, Cassie? You're more upset than you are leading on."
She hesitated for a moment before asking, "Ash what really happened to you when you were part of the Sovereigns? Because I get that's the reason why these people won't trust you full out and I think that's why they somehow, they have it in for me when they have never met me before."
He was silent for a moment, and he tensed up as she asked her question. She felt her heartbeat pick up a little but stayed where she was waiting for him to say something. He didn't and that surprised her. When she looked up at him, he was staring at a far corner of the room, his face holding a frown.
"Ash?"
He shook his head. "I don't know why they are out for you, Cassie. I doubt it has something to do with me. And if it does then let me worry about it." He let go of her and then moved to the opposite side of the bed, lying down with his back turned towards her.
Cassie looked over at him feeling suddenly nervous as goose bumps crawled up her arm. She began to massage them as she watched him. When she realized, he wasn't going to say anything though she got up quietly from the bed and walked towards the door. She paused to say something, but didn't and instead left quietly through it, wondering what just happened.