"I'm gonna drink this pineapple juice."
Steve glanced up from his book at his sister's red-haired best friend, Ashly. "That wouldn't be wise."
She smirked as she put her free hand on her cocked hip. "And why is that?"
He returned his attention to the novel. "Because it is mine, and I'll spank you if you do."
"You shouldn't threaten me with a good time."
He peered over the pages, raised his left eyebrow and dropped his gaze to the text.
She flopped on the couch behind where he sat on the floor.
When he felt her hand running through his shoulder-length hair, he shut his book and set it on his lap. "Why are you harassing me and not Elizabeth?"
"She's busy with Thomas."
"Okay, that explains why you're not bothering her, but not why you're bothering me."
Ashly lightly scratched his scalp, like one would a cat. "Am I really bothering you?"
Releasing a sigh, he leaned into her touch. "No, not really." He let the book slip to his lap as his eyes slid closed. "This is rather soothing if I'm honest."
"The best way to make a Leo purr," she said with a smile.
"Second best." The correction was automatic.
"Oh?"
"Yeah." He smiled when her hands moved to his shoulders. "Maybe if you're good, I may tell you the best way when you grow up."
She lightly flicked his ear. "Bitch, I'm older than you, remember?"
"Bitch?" He chuckled. "Mister."
"What?"
"Mister Bitch. Be polite if you're going to attempt to insult me."
"I'm gonna bite you."
He glanced over his shoulder with a lopsided grin. "If you bite me, I'm going to fuck you."
She pushed away from him as she gasped. "How dare -?"
"Very easily."
She tilted her head towards him as the words came at a deep rumble. She shook her head when he moved up on the couch slowly, like a stalking lion.
"Oh no. You don't -" She slid down onto the cushions as he moved above her.
"Don't what?"
She balled his black shirt in her fists as she breathed her answer. "You don't make promises you don't intend to keep, Mister."
"Hmmm."
His hard chest vibrated under her hands with the sound.
"Who says I don't intend to keep my word?"
"Hey, Steve!"
His sister's call was a shout in the middle of a sermon.
"What?"
"Whatchu got all that bass in your voice for?"
He popped his head up, locking his glare on the interloper.
"Oooooh. I see." Elizabeth walked over and tossed a bag of laundry on them. "No trying to fuck my best friend on my couch, yo!"
Ashly sat up, pawing the clothes off her. "We're not."
"No thanks to her," Steve muttered.
She threw a towel at his face. "Shut up. We were not."
He surged to his feet. "Hey, Lizard, haven't you been wanting this couch in your room?"
"You know I have. It's only been about a month."
He tossed the fresh clothes haphazardly into the laundry bag.
"Fair point. How about I take it up now?"
"Huh?" Elizabeth watched as he pulled Ashly to her feet and then picked the couch up with apparent ease. "Um..."
Steve paused in the process of shifting it above his right shoulder. "What?"
Thomas came bouncing down the stairs. "Hey, you need a hand with that?"
"Nah. I got it." Steve glanced back to his sister. "You were going to say something?"
She shook her head. "I forgot what it was."
He chuckled and carefully started up the stairs with the couch.
###
A push to the back of his head pulled Steve out of his book. The scent of jasmine and vanilla told him Ashly had returned. He slowly turned his gaze enough to catch a flash of a red shirt and a blue-ish skirt.
"What do you want, wench?"
"'Wench?'" A firmer push came this time. "I'll show you a 'wench.'"
"Excellent. Show me a proper one and grab me a beer from the fridge beside you."
The creak of the mini refrigerator's door caused him to smirk.
'Who knew she could be so -'
Icy coldness raced down the back of his neck where she'd laid the bottle to the middle of his back.
"Fucking hell!" He recoiled from the chill and spun to face her, almost falling on his face as he did so.
"How was that, Mr. Man?"
"You realize this is war, don't you?"
She shook her head. "No, it's not. I won, fair and square."
"Sure of that, are you?"
A nod of her head. "I am."
He cocked his head to the side. "And how can you be so certain?"
"I'll go downstairs and spend time with Beth, instead of staying up here with you."
Steve turned away and powered up his PlayStation 4 and tv. "What makes you think that would be a deterrent to me?" He sat on the floor with his back against the couch which bounced as she flopped on it. Her arms wrapped around his neck from behind.
"Because you're starting up Resident Evil 2 for me."
The way she whispered those words in his ear gave him chills. He tried to ignore the sensation as the opening movie started. He largely succeeded when the male protagonist showed up, but when the female one made her appearance on her motorcycle, Ashly's finger tracing the outside of his ear made him flinch away.
"Come on, I'm trying to pay attention to this."
She gave a low chuckle. "You've seen it many times before." She nibbled on his earlobe.
Again, he flinched away. "Behave, or I will spank you."
"Don't make promises you can't keep."
"I. Can't. Keep?" He carefully set the controller on the floor near his knee as he faced her.
"Nope." She quickly reached down and pressed the start button. "It's loaded! Pay attention."
"Brat."
"You love it."
"Hmmph."
He focused on the game and the two become engrossed in the haunting atmosphere of the remake. As he explored the seemingly abandoned police station, Ashly would comment on the changes from the PlayStation original.
"There is where we saw the Licker for the first time. Remember?"
"Yeah. Interesting there's nothing here this time."
"This trip down, at least. Who knows what'll be here next time?"
Several more minutes and a couple of in-game rooms later, he found himself in the middle of a boss battle. As it got really tense, Steve would quickly wipe his sweaty palms on his jeans before returning them to the controller.
Ashley reached down and pushed the controller from his hands.