Thank you to all who read/review/alerted…truly you guys are amazing!

Your Relentless Lover – Drama you say? Hmm stay tuned…oh and stop reading my mind lol

uluvme – Thanks! Yeah Tilly and Ashley are very much so the pants wearers in their relationships lol. Well Spencer needed to wake Evie up somehow lol. I agree there should be no stealing of the head tilt, which is why I had Spencer comment on it lol, you don't see Spencer stealing the nose crinkle lol

Ambeezy – Wow that's awesome, glad you liked it so much, I had fun writing it. oh man burns hurt so bad!

hphglover – Hehe thanks! I love this Spencer, she is fun to write and I get to put a lot of myself into her, unpack the mystery that is my brain lol. Thanks again!

LoveAsh87, ashikinz, ebonyedlove, imaferrari, bethers85, DarceLynn, hugbuddy13, mutt009, Tear-Storming Sea, Irishgrl33, Harley Quinn Davidson – Hehe thank you!

shayer – Thanks sweetheart, glad I could make you laugh. Ah yeah I have never done yoga in my life…I goggled it lol. The dynamics between our 4 ladies are fun to write about so thank you!

Usual disclaimer – SoN not mine, all the original characters are though…so no stealing Evie!

Worlds Away

Chapter Twelve – Where's My Benefit Of The Doubt?

We headed into the office and greeted Hilary who sat behind the reception desk. I led the other three back through the building towards our meeting room and then, as per Ashley request, went and brushed my teeth to get rid of the vomit taste and smell.

While I was in the bathroom I took the opportunity to shed my yoga clothes and put on a deep plum skirt and a black, lacy tank top. I slid my feet into a pair of black, peep toe heels and touched up my makeup. I figured it would be a bad look to rock up to my meeting still in my yoga clothes.

Feeling much better I headed down the hall to my office to get my folder and notes for the meeting. I stepped inside and walked over to my desk, jumping when the door was slammed shut behind me.

I spun around to find a smirking Ashley leaning back against the door gazing at me in a manner that could only be described as predatory. I gulped a little and let my folder and notes fall back to the desk. Ashley pushed herself off the door and stalked towards me, like a lion would stalk a gazelle.

Ashley stopped mere inches from me, her smirk widening as she watched my eyes dart back and forth between her lips and her darkening brown eyes. She leaned into me, her lips a hairs breath from mine and whispered, "Did you brush your teeth?"

I nodded, too transfixed by her to speak. Ashley let out a low chuckle before covering my lips with hers. She kissed me slowly, languidly, while her hands made their way to my waist. I sighed happily against her lips and moved my hands to tangle them in her luxurious curls. I would never get tired of the feeling of her hair in my hands and her lips on mine.

She pushed me back until I was perched on the edge of my desk with her standing in between my legs. She leaned fully into me, bringing our bodies so close together there was literally no space between us.

I wrapped my legs around her waist which was a challenge in the skirt I had just changed into. Ashley slid her hands up my thighs, pushing my skirt higher to give my legs more room to grip around her. Both of us groaned sensuously as my legs pulled her body forcefully into mine.

Ashley was just moving her lips in a hot trail down over my exposed throat when my office door was throw open and Eva groaned, "Oh come on you two! We have a meeting in like two minutes! Keep it in your fucking pants til afterwards! Sheesh!" Eva stormed out, slamming the door again and I quickly unwrapped my legs from around Ashley and stood up beside the desk.

We flashed each other sheepish smiles as we began to straighten our clothes, hair and makeup. "We good?" I asked Ashley, motioning at myself.

Ashley giggled and reached up to run her fingers through my long blonde hair, which I am guessing was pretty mussed up. I smiled at her and reached over to wipe a smear of lip gloss off the skin above her top lip, of course letting my thumb stroke her lip at the same time.

Ashley smiled coyly up at me and let her teeth gently take my thumb in their grasp. I smirked at her and then had to groan as her tongue began teasing the tip of the digit caught in her teeth. And action I had felt her tongue do more than once on another area of my body…I don't need to tell you which.

I was about to remove my thumb and replace it with my lips when my office door was thrown open again and a distinctly Scottish voice bellowed, "Damn Spencer I see some things never change, still got the audacity to get off with your bird in your office when you should be in a bloody meeting!"

I spun around and then let out an excited squeal when I saw the tall auburn haired woman in the doorway smirking at me. I bolted across the floor, after reclaiming my thumb from Ashley's teeth, and jumped up into the taller woman's arms as she pull me into a warm hug. I wrapped my legs around her waist, again not so easy in my skirt, and laughed.

"Mazzy! What the hell are you doing here?" I shrieked excitedly as she spun me around, with my legs still wrapped around her.

The redhead set me on my feet and beamed down at me, her big green eyes twinkling with mirth, "Well your mad business partner called me the other day and told me about this business venture you two are embarking on. I couldn't not be involved so I here I am, that alright with you love?"

I laughed and pulled her into another hug, "Yeah that is more than alright you crazy Scot!"

Mazzy pulled back and playfully swatted my arm, "Hey now none of that lass, now why don't you introduce me to this girl you were about to do ungodly things to while we were all waiting for you to join us?"

I giggled and stepped over to pull a slightly frowning Ashley forward, not to sure why she looked so unimpressed. "Ashley this is Mazzy Phillips, she was at UCLA with Evie and I, and she is also a kick ass entertainment lawyer. Maze this is Ashley Davies, rocker princess and my girlfriend," I introduced with a beaming smile.

"It's lovely to meet you Ashley," Mazzy said holding out her hand and flashing my girl a friendly smile.

Ashley smiled thinly, the smile not quite reaching her eyes and took the offered hand. "Nice to meet you too," Ashley said in a tight voice.

I looked at her with concern, asking silently is she was ok. Ashley mustn't have read my expression, that or she was ignoring me. Ashley took her hand back from Mazzy and smiled thinly again, "So let's get to that meeting."

I scowled a little in confusion and looked to Mazzy who just shrugged. I picked up my folder, notes, glasses and pen and went to take Ashley's hand in mine only to have her stride out like I wasn't even there.

My scowl deepened and I looked over at Mazzy who asked, "Did you do something to piss her off?"

"Not that I'm aware of, fuck… I guess I have some grovelling to do later then. Come on Maze, let's get this meeting over with," I grumbled.

Mazzy chuckled sympathetically and looped her arm through mine as we strode out of my office and into the meeting room. As we stepped in I caught Ashley glaring at us, her eyes narrowing dangerously. I tilted my head and looked at her in confusion. Ashley just turned her face away and started chatting to Kyla who was sitting next to her.

"Glad you could finally join us Spence," Eva called out sarcastically, a smirk on her lips.

"Yeah Spencer was trying to get to second base with her girl and I interrupted them," Mazzy said with a grin making everyone but my girl laugh. Ashley flashed both Mazzy and I an annoyed look before staring down at the table.

"Spencer you need to stop doing that before meetings! Didn't we get caught doing that on numerous occasions?" Sarah Foster asked with a laugh from her seat across from Ashley.

I took my seat between Ashley and Eva, laughing at Sarah until I saw the death glare Ashley was sending me. Oops, I guess I was in trouble! In hindsight, laughing at that was probably not very sensitive of me considering I was sitting right next to my girlfriend.

"Um did you two date?" Ashley asked me under her breath while Eva set up and handed out updated proposals and plans to everyone. Oops, I forgot that she didn't know about Sarah and I, my bad.

"I'm not sure you could call it dating exactly," I murmured back, starting to finally clue onto the reason why Ashley was looking less than thrilled.

"Well then what would you call it Spencer?" She muttered through gritted teeth. Unfortunately our conversation carried and was overheard by Sarah who took it upon herself to answer. Her blunt honesty was going to get me killed! That or make me single.

"It's nothing to worry about Ashley, Spencer and I were never more than friends with benefits, it was just a sex thing right after her and Toni broke up," Sarah let her voice trail off as she caught the hard glare coming her way from Ashley and the panicked freak out expression coming from me…this was going to end badly I just knew it.

Sadly for me, Mazzy did not pick up on the tension and then blurted out with a small chuckle, "Really though Spence besides the boys at the table and Kyla over there you have at least kissed the rest of us at one point or another."

I slammed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. Maybe if I hoped hard enough then the last ten minutes would magically not have happened. Yeah I don't really believe that either.

I inched my eyes opened to glance over at Ashley who was scowling something fierce. She kept her eyes purposefully off me and just glared down at her notes as everyone shuffled around in their seats nervously. Clearly they had all picked up on the fury radiating off my girl.

Eva cleared her throat and shot me a sympathetic look before she started the meeting. "Ok, um well welcome everyone. I'll just do some quick introductions as we have some new people here today. Next to me is Spencer Carlin who we all know," Eva began.

I faintly heard Ashley mumbled, "Yeah and apparently everyone knows her in the most intimate of ways as well."

I bit my lower lip and looked down at my hands, which were wringing anxiously in my lap, not quite liking the tone of her voice.

Eva caught Ashley's mumbled words and continued quickly, "Then we have Ashley Davies, who will be heading up the record label side of the company as well as being an artist signed to the label." Ashley glared around the table before staring back down at her notes.

Eva sighed and continued the introductions, "Next we have Kyla Woods who will be on our board of directors and will also be heading up the philanthropic part of the company and managing the mentor program and internships. Next is Ethan Marks, producer for the label, Kyle Schultz lawyer extraordinaire, Mazzy Phillips our second lawyer superstar, Next up is Jill Carlin out PR guru, Sarah Foster who will be our second director on the film side of things, Lily Zee who will be a producer on the film side of the company, Harrison Devon who is our go to for all things fashion and of course Tilly Kline who will be signed to the label and consulting in the expansion and I am Eva Reynolds, in case you didn't know."

There was an awkward silence after the introductions, broken only by the sound of Ashley grinding her teeth. I sighed and slid my glasses on before getting the meeting underway. The sooner it was over, the sooner I could start grovelling and explaining.

Despite the angry silence from Ashley and the occasional daggers she glared at me, Sarah, Mazzy and for some reason Lily and Jill, the meeting went well. We had a solid plan in place and now were going to begin construction on the label side of things. Eva also told them about Karen Cho, the new receptionist we had hired to help Hilary.

Things were going great. Well on the business side of things anyway.

As soon as the meeting was done Ashley grabbed my hand and dragged me forcefully into my office, slamming the door behind her roughly. It was so not the kind of dragged into my office I liked.

I bit my lip and stared down at the floor as I felt her gaze burn into me. Ashley was far from happy to say the least.

I shuffled nervously on my feet until I heard her sigh sadly. I raised my eyes to meet hers and found Ashley fighting tears. "Ash, don't cry." I murmured as I stepped closer to pull her into my arms.

Ashley shoved my hands away and folded her arms over her chest. "Is it true?" She snapped harshly.

"Is what true Baby?" I asked confused.

"That you have at least kissed every woman in that meeting except my sister," Ashley practically shouted at me.

I frowned at that, I never threw her past back in her face so I kind of resented what she seemed to be implying. "It's not like that at all, you should know me better than that Ashley," I said in a careful voice, folding my own arms over my chest.

"Then what is it like Spencer? I mean Mazzy comes in here and suddenly you're in her arms like she is a long lost love or something and then in the meeting I find out you were fucking the woman who directed the most personal music video I ever made. Hell it was about you and us and your fucking ex directed it! So how many women in that meeting have you fucked Spencer? I mean did you fuck your sister in law, test her out before your brother married her? Or was all that bullshit about you and Eva never being a more than friends just a lie?" Ashley screamed at me as angry tears fell from her eyes.

I felt my eyes narrow in anger, she did not get to judge me on my past and assume the worst of me. After everything we had been through I figure I should have earned the benefit of the doubt from her. I was no angel, but I wasn't the whore she was painting me as either.

"I can't believe you Ashley! After everything you and I have gone through shouldn't I deserve your trust and, hell, maybe just a moment to explain before you assume the worst of me?" I yelled angrily, my own tears starting to fall.

"Oh great so go and throw the past in my face, that's great Spencer! Is that what's going to happen every time we have a problem, my past mistakes are thrown in my face?" Ashley screeched, her hands balling into angry fists.

"Oh fuck no, you do not get to be angry and me considering you are doing the same fucking thing! You don't want your past thrown in your face then don't throw what you assume I've done in mine!" I spat out through gritted teeth.

"You should have told me! You should have told me that you had a relationship with Sarah! You should have told me that the majority of people now involved in this company have seen you fucking naked!" Ashley yelled as she gestured wildly with her hands.

I stared at her for a moment through watery eyes and muttered, "You're right, I should have told you about Sarah and I am sorry I didn't. What I had with Sarah was literally friends with benefits. I was hurting after Toni and I needed someone. It ended after a few weeks and there has been nothing but friendship ever since. It was over almost before it began, but yes I should have told you about it when I realised we were going to all be working together."

I paused and took a deep shuddering breath, "But with that said I am so beyond hurt that you could just so easily assume the worst of me Ashley." I looked down at my hands before angrily swiping at the tears on my cheeks. I looked back up at her and in a dead, emotionless voice said, "You want to know what happened with those women?"

Ashley went to speak and I quickly silenced her, "No you said you wanted to know so now I am going to tell you. Eva and I, as I have already told you, kissed once in college. Mazzy and I have kissed a total of two times, the first time she was drunk and kissed me on a dare, the second time was at my graduation party to help me get rid of a rather persistent girl who wouldn't take no for an answer, Mazzy is 100% straight and engaged to a lovely Scottish guy. Lily I dated for a grand total of…a week in my senior year of college, I was her rebound after she broke up with her girlfriend. She soon realised she wasn't ready for a relationship and we went back to being friends. We never even slept together and kissed maybe four times total. I have never kissed Tilly or Jill in a way that wasn't purely platonic, so no I did not 'test out' my brother's wife before he married her."

I strode over to my desk and leaned heavily against it. I couldn't even look at her, I was so hurt and so angry. I had been expecting to have to come in here and grovel and now I felt like the wronged party. How could she have assumed that I was some slut who just slept around? How could she think that of me?

I glared down at the floor as I spat out, "So to answer your question Ashley, of the people in that meeting, I have 'fucked' two. Sarah and you. Are you satisfied now?" I will admit that I put sarcastic finger quotes around the word fucked, I was pretty fucking hurt and pissed off at this stage.

Ashley took a hesitant step towards me and opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally choking out, "I uh, I'm sorry Spence…I don't know why I got so crazy about all this…"

I cut her off with a whispered, "It's because you don't trust me."

I looked over at her as she struggled to find something to say. She couldn't.

I sighed sadly and grabbed my purse and yoga bag before quietly walking out and leaving her in my office.

It wasn't until I got outside that I realised I hadn't driven that morning so I stomped over to Starbucks and slumped in a booth in the back, far away from the windows so no one would see me if they glanced in.

I was there about five minutes when Eva and Tilly came in and immediately found me. I did not acknowledge them as the slid into the booth with me, I just kept staring down into my coffee.

"Spence are you ok?" Tilly asked softly as she leaned in to look into my eyes.

"No I'm not as it happens. How did you guys know where I was?" I said softly, playing with the rim of the paper cup in my hands.

"Well after you snuck out the back door I went into your office and found Ashley crying. I asked her what was wrong and she just told me to go to Starbucks and make sure you were ok. I guess your girl knows you pretty well," Eva said with a little shrug.

I scoffed, "Actually she doesn't know me well at all apparently." I took a sip of my lukewarm coffee and kind of wished it was a cup of some kind of alcohol. Its not every day your girlfriend pretty much calls you a slut.

"What happened Spence?" Tilly asked as she laid a gentle hand on my forearm.

"Well I don't even fucking know. I mean one minute Ashley and I are making out in my office and then Mazzy came in and I gave her a huge hug, haven't seen her in ages, and then Ash started acting all weird. Then in the meeting, granted it would have sucked to hear about Sarah and I like that and then Mazzy joking that I had at least kissed all the other girls not good," I took a pause from my rambling so I could breathe, apparently that is kind of vital or some shit like that.

"Yeah I mean, it would have been hard for Ashley to hear about you and Sarah like that, especially after Sarah directed that video for What I Didn't Say. That was some personal shit Spence," Eva said with a slight frown knitting her brows.

"I know and I get that. I should have told her, but what happened between Sarah and I was such a non-relationship I totally spaced on it. That's not even the bad part. Once she dragged me into my office after the meeting she started attacking me. She asked me how many people in our meeting I had fucked and accused me of lying when I told her Evie and I had never slept together. Oh and get this, she accused me of 'testing out' Jill before Glen married her! I guess I just expected that given our history that she would at least give me the benefit of the doubt before accusing me of being the fucking town bike," I shrugged as a tear made its way down my cheek.

"Oh Spence…" Eva said as she wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. "And wait…she seriously thought you and I hooked up? That is just nasty…" Eva trailed off when Tilly shot her a 'shut the fuck up' look, "Um I mean…that sucks Spence," Eva lamely corrected herself with a shrug for Tilly.

I sighed and leaned into Eva's side heavily, "I just…I mean I have never given her a reason not to trust me. I have always been up front and honest with her and I have never thrown the past in her face. I mean she broke my heart guys! Ashley broke my fucking heart and I was able to forgive her and give myself to her again. I trust her, even when she has given me so many reasons not to and yet she can just so easily think the worst of me? I just don't understand."

With that I started to cry in earnest. Eva held me tight against her as Tilly rubbed my forearm comfortingly. We sat like that for a little longer and then I raised my head and asked them in a choked up voice to take me home.

Eva helped me to my feet and wrapped an arm around my shoulders while Tilly scooped up my yoga bag and my purse. We strode out of the Starbucks and over to Eva's car. Eva helped me in, kissed Tilly good bye and climbed into the driver's seat.

Tilly leaned in through my open window and placed a gentle kiss on my cheek, "It will be ok Spence, after everything you two have been through this is just a little bump in the road and you two will sort it out."

I nodded numbly and murmured, "Make sure she's ok for me?"

Tilly nodded and stepped back from the car. Eva smiled at her girl and then drove off in the direction of my house. She knew me well enough to know I didn't want to talk. I just needed to process everything.

Eva flicked on the radio and, of course, the song playing was one of Ashley's.

I'm so sick of fights, I hate them
Lets start this again for real

So here I am I'm trying
So here I am are you ready
So here I am I'm trying
So here I am are you ready

Come on let me hold you, touch you, feel you
Always
Kiss you taste you all night
Always
Come on let me hold you, touch you, feel you
Always
Kiss you, taste you all night
Always

I reached over and flicked of the radio letting the car fall into silence for the rest of the drive back to my house.

Song used in this chapter

Always by Blink 182