"Arrested, huh?" Bobby queried, shaking his head. "So I can't leave you to your own devices for a couple of weeks without you getting up to mischief, is this what you're telling me?"

      The slight grin on his face told Aerin that he wasn't really as annoyed as he was pretending to be, and as she snuggled closer to him on the couch, she replied, "None of us actually got arrested, we just had to go answer a bunch of questions. Now, Crazy Bitch and the Three Stooges are a totally different story, however. Her dad wound up getting charged with disorderly conduct and attempted assault for trying to fight Ash, and his buddies got charged with assault and battery and unlawful restraint for putting their hands on me and Aidan."

      "And that was on top of the injuries they wound up with," Ashley chimed in from his recliner, where he was leaned back with a beer in his hand and Sparrow sprawled across his lap. "Somehow I doubt that those two are gonna be real quick to step up the next time Lydia's dad calls 'em up and wants backup to go beat down somebody that insulted his little princess."

      "So what happened to her, then?" Bobby inquired, earning chuckles from both of his companions.

     "Well, after they managed to detach her from the stair railing that Aerin tied her to, she actually wound up in more trouble than all three of the guys," Ashley explained. "Turns out that I'm not the first guy she's pulled that shit on, and she already had warrants from Knoxville for violating a restraining order, and for vandalism and property damage for breaking into her ex-boyfriend's apartment, spray-painting threats and profanity on everything in sight, and then turning on all of the faucets and flooding not just his place, but the one underneath it, too."

      "But it still kinda works in her favor," Aerin snickered. "I mean, as long as she'll prolly be out of circulation, she won't have to worry about going into hiding, or making up excuses for her bad style choices."

      Both she and Ashley burst out laughing, to Bobby's confusion, and when they noticed his bewildered expression, Aerin managed to choke out, "Did we forget to tell you that after bitch-slapping her hard enough to make her eyes roll independently of each other, I tied her up with her own hair? Took thin little sections and tied a couple-three half-hitches in each one, as close to the scalp as I could get, so they ended up having to bust out the scissors to get her loose."

      "And that's really not a good look for her," Ashley added. "Did you ever see the first 'Friday the Thirteenth' movie?" When Bobby nodded an affirmative, he continued, "Well, if you remember what Jason looked like when he popped up out of the lake in the final scene, she's kinda got that hair now."

      Bobby winced, and unconsciously fingered his own hair as he glanced briefly at Aerin. "Okay, I get ya now," he acknowledged. Then, looking across at Ashley, he said, "Remind me not to do anything to piss her off, if that's what happens."

      In a wry tone, Ashley responded with, "Oh, you'd be getting off lucky with that, if you made her too mad. I know you've said that you're not interested in details, but trust me when I say that there are all sorts of worse things she could do to you."

      "Yeah, 'nuff said. I'll take your word on that one. But going back to the original conversation, are you saying that none of you got into any trouble over this?"

      "Well, no tickets or anything, but Aidan's knife did get confiscated, cuz it was outside the legal carry length," Aerin told him. "But she's apparently not too worried about it."

      "Yeah, she said she 'knows a guy that knows a guy', and she shouldn't have a problem getting a replacement," Ashley said. "And that's another one you'll wanna be careful about pissing off if you ever get to meet her. Nice girl, incredibly chill most of the time, but I'm smart enough to step real carefully around someone who can look that fucking bored while she's folding some dude's fingers over the back of his hand."

      "Yeah, that even surprised me a little bit," Aerin agreed. "And you both know that I'm somewhat of a fan of sharp objects myself, but I have to admit that thing she was carrying around actually gave me the willies."

      "Why?" Bobby queried. "A knife is a knife, except for some being bigger than others, right?"

      "Wrong!" Ashley and Aerin replied in unison. Ashley grabbed a pen and one of the sketchpads he kept scattered in various areas, and began sketching rapidly. After a couple of minutes, he passed the pad over to Bobby, who raised an eyebrow in surprise as he inspected the drawing.

      "Yes, I do believe I see your point now," he drawled. "This sort of looks like something you'd see the psycho cultists waving around in a low-budget horror flick. But you're saying that this chick isn't pagan, or whatever the correct term is?"

      "Not even a little bit. She's described herself as more of an agnostic than anything else," Aerin clarified. "But her basic outlook on things is that just because she doesn't understand something, or might not even believe in it herself, that doesn't mean it isn't valid to someone else. I actually saw a comment she made to someone else on the writing site, and it was somewhere along the lines of, 'If you're respectful of my opinions, whether you agree with them or not, I'll give you the same courtesy. As long as no one's getting hurt, and everyone is legally and mentally capable of consenting to whatever, you do you, I'll do me, and we'll all be cool.' That's pretty much why we get along so well, I think. She's not into some of the things I am, and prolly doesn't even fully understand some of it, but she's not gonna judge me for it, either."

      "Sounds like somebody I could hang with," Bobby mused. "You'll have to introduce us sometime."

      "If things work out like we both hope they will, I'm pretty sure you'll meet her at some point," Aerin agreed, snuggling closer to him. 

      The conversation eventually drifted to the subject of music, and Aerin listened with interest as the men swapped tour stories, sharing backstage anecdotes that she had never heard before, several of which had her wheezing with laughter. After a while, they began talking about their instruments, discussing the reasons why they preferred certain brands over others, and after a few minutes, Ashley rose from his seat to go collect one of his basses to show to his guest. Just before he stepped out of the living room, he paused, and suggested, "Hey, Aerin! Whyn'tcha go grab yours, and let him have a look at that, too?"

      She hesitated momentarily, then extricated herself from her spot between Bobby and the back of the overstuffed gray suede couch. "Yeah, I guess I can do that," she agreed. This left Bobby alone in the living room until the roomates returned from their opposite ends of the house, with Ashley carrying a Dean bass festooned with pictures of naked women, and a mother-of-pearl inlay of the word "OUTLAW" on the fretboard, and Aerin bearing a deep-red satin-burst finish Schecter, which she was cradling as if it were a child instead of a musical instrument.

      Ash handed the guitar he carried to his fellow bassist, who chuckled as he looked it over. "Y'know, this is something I could picture Sixx using back in the day," he declared. "Or maybe Gene Simmons."

      "Yeah, I could see that, too, considering the reputation both of 'em have as pussy-hounds," Aerin concurred with a giggle. "I know that a lot of people think of Ash here as a player, and I know you've participated in your fair share of debauchery, but if even half of the stories about Gene are true, he make both of ya look like altarboys."

      After a few minutes, he passed the bass back to Ashley, and turned toward Aerin, who was standing by the arm of the couch. He didn't notice that Ashley was giving him some sort of hand signal, nor did he see the look of amazement that crossed the younger man's face when Aerin held her instrument out to the older musician, and allowed him to take it from her hands.

      She, however, did notice, and cocked her head to the side as she stared at her roommate. "What?" she blurted, in a somewhat impatient tone.

      "What, what?" Bobby questioned, glancing between the two in puzzlement at the exchange.

      "That I did not see coming," Ashley announced. "She was here for almost four months before I was allowed to touch that. So I guess you should consider yourself special,"

      He looked to his hopefully soon-to-be girlfriend, obviously still rather confused, until she sat herself down on the arm of the couch and explained how she had come to own both that guitar and the other that was still in her room, and why she counted them as her most valued possessions, and was very particular about who she allowed to handle them. 

      He very nearly teared up as he listened to her tale, and once she had finished, he laid the instrument carefully across the cushions and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into a hug and saying, "Thank you for trusting me with something that important to you, then. I hope you know how much I appreciate it. And I just want to say that I plan to do my damnedest to prove that it's not misplaced." He carefully passed the guitar back to her, then inquired, "Do you actually play, or do you just keep them for the sentimental value?"

      Her cheeks flushed, and she appeared to be at a loss for words, so Ash jumped in, saying, "Yeah, she's actually fairly decent. She's no Flea, or Billy Sheehan, of course, but then again, neither am I. She can definitely hold her own, though."

      "Do you think I might persuade you to play something for me, babe?" Bobby requested. 

      She hesitated again, but then sighed, and said, "Yeah, I'll give it a shot, if Ash will go grab my amp."

      Her roommate bolted from the room almost as if he'd been shot from a cannon, returning almost instantly with the amplifier and plugging it into the nearest outlet. So after taking a minute to adjust the settings, she asked, "Anything particular you wanna hear?"

      "Whatever you want to play is fine with me," Bobby replied. "Surprise me."

      She cocked her head sideways for a moment, then exhaled, saying, "Okay, here goes." She focused her attention on the instrument in her hands, and began strumming a tune that they quickly recognized as Bobby's own bass lines to "Every Rose Has Its Thorn". She kept her eyes on the guitar, deliberately avoiding eye contact with her companions, fearing that she would falter and make some sort of mistake if she acknowledged them, due to her ever-present unease with playing or singing for anyone other than herself. Then, once the final note had faded, she finally glanced up and said, "I hope it didn't sound too bad, but I'm a bit out of practice. So..."

      Bobby cut her off in mid-sentence, saying, "Don't even go there, hon. You were great."

      "No argument from me," Ashley said. "Hell, I would've taken you on as a bass tech in a heartbeat, if I'd known you when I was still in the band."

      She blushed nearly crimson from the praise, and fairly ran from the room to put the bass back on its stand. After allowing her a couple of minutes to recover, Ashley unplugged the amp and followed after her, stopping in the doorway to hand it to her, and suggesting that they all watch a couple of movies before it was time to turn in for the night. She agreed, and followed him back to the living room, reclaiming her previous spot next to Bobby as they debated what to watch. 

      After some debate, they decided on the vampire movie "Near Dark", followed by "Beetlejuice", which Bobby insisted on once he learned that she had never seen it. Once the second film was done, Ash announced that he needed to turn in, since he had an early-morning meeting at APFI, and headed for his room, leaving Bobby and Aerin alone for the night. 

      There was a somewhat awkward silence for several seconds, until Aerin finally ventured, "Ash has the guest room set up for you, but you can sleep in my room if you'd rather. As long as you can deal with just sleeping, that is, cuz it's still a bit too early for me to consider actually having sex with you yet, as much as I admit that I'd like to."

      "I can respect that," he responded. "And if you're sure, then I'll happily take you up on your offer. Even if we just cuddle, that's actually more than I was expecting at this point. So just let me grab my pajamas out of my bag and change, and I'll be there in just a few."

      She went to her room and changed into shorts and a tank top while Bobby changed in the guest room, then crawled under the blankets to wait for him, admittedly just a bit nervous. Soon afterward, he entered the room, closing the door behind him and turning off the light before joining her in bed and wrapping his arms around her from behind, making her the small spoon. They chatted for a bit, attempting to relax enough to fall asleep, but their proximity to each other was causing them to react in ways that were almost painful, and, for Bobby, slightly embarrassing.

      Aerin was well aware of his erection, since her position next to him meant that it was resting almost perfectly along the crack of her ass, and her response was so intense that she couldn't stop a small whimper from escaping her throat.

      "Something wrong, sweetheart?" Bobby murmured. When she didn't answer immediately, he inquired, "Would you like me to go back to the guest room?"

      "No!" she blurted. "Yes. Oh, I don't fucking know anymore! It's still way too early for us to... y'know, but right now I'd like nothin' better than to roll over the top of you and ride you like a mechanical bull. But I know it'd just end up making things weird at this point, and I don't want us to literally fuck up whatever this might turn out to be."

      "I understand how you feel, and I don't want that to happen anymore than you do," he whispered, making her shiver as his breath tickled her ear. "But there are other solutions, y'know." 

      This assertion earned him a bewildered look from Aerin, who failed to grasp his meaning until she felt his fingers slide under the waistband of her shorts and make their way to her groin, gently rubbing the sensitive flesh. She instinctively arched into his hand, moaning, "Oh, my Goddess, that feels so good," as she turned to face him, her own hands fumbling to lower his pajama pants.

      It wasn't long before she managed to achieve her objective, and wrap her own fingers around his rather impressive girth, pulling a pleasured groan from him to blend with her own whimpers and moans. Their movements were rather frantic at first, since both of them had been abstinent for quite some time, so they both rather quickly achieved climax. But after a bit of recovery time, they began again, taking time to explore each other's bodies, trying to discover what was most pleasurable, until they were both too exhausted to move, and fell into a deep, contented sleep just after the clock rolled over to midnight, with Bobby's last words before sleep overtook him being, "Happy Birthday, my beautiful witch."