Ashley's Bend

by Roop, Cassy

  “Don’t you think that sort of thing can just be said over the phone instead of you having to pay a visit to the club on a Friday night?”

  “I was in the area, and thought I would just make a stop to let you know. We haven’t given up. It was probably some punk kids anyway.”

  Knox rolled his eyes at the officer and I could tell by his stature that he was feeling irritated. Knox and I had grown to be pretty good friends in the time I had been involved with Dominic, so I had learned to read him well.

  “Some punk kids who just happen to leave threatening notes?” he bit out in frustration. This revelation was news to me. Not one time since the incident happened had I heard anything about any notes.

  “What notes?” I asked angrily that this news had been kept from me.

  “Fuck.” I heard Knox mutter under his breath as he ran his hands frustratingly through his hair.

  “What notes, Knox?” I asked again when he did not answer.

  “Well, I think I will be on my way. I’ll be in contact, Mr. Tanner if we have a break in the case,” Officer Russell said. “Good evening, Ms. Woodson, I’ll be in touch.” And with that he turned and left the club but not before looking back and giving me one more warning glare. I shivered, not out of fear of him, but out of fear of what I was going to have to do.

  I turned to face Knox, placing my hands on my hips in that you better tell me now kind of way. He sighed deeply and looked around at all the people surrounding us.

  “Let’s go up to the office, Ashley.” I held my hand out for him to lead the way and I followed him up the stairs and into the office. Memories of Dominic taking me on the desk flooded my thoughts as I entered the office and I had to fight back the tears that threatened to form.

  “Fuck, I’m dead when Dominic finds out about this.”

  “Finds out about what, Knox? Quit beating around the bush and tell me what the fuck is going on!” I demanded as I slammed my hands down on the desk in anger. The sting of the wood hitting my palms did nothing to dissipate my anger and frustration from being left in the dark by two men that I trusted.

  “When the club was vandalized, they left a note. Since then there have been several more, but none in the last week.”

  “What did the notes say, Knoxville,” I said sternly.

  “Stuff about revenge and bitches. That they would have...you.” He said the last part hesitantly and in a near whisper.

  “They were about me? And you and Dominic saw it fit to keep that from me?” I was nail spitting angry. To know a guy that I fell in love with and a guy I considered to be a friend kept something so vital as threatening letters that were directed at me had my blood boiling. I knew the answer to the next question that I asked Knox, but I needed to know if they knew it.

  “Who sent them?”

  “We don’t know, Ashley,” he said as I paced back and forth in the office. “Nic seems to think it was your douchebag ex.”

  “Jared?” I squeaked out in a high pitched voice. I was shocked to discover that they would think that Jared was the culprit behind the incident and the notes, but I needed for them to keep on believing that, for their sake.

  “We were concerned for your safety, so we chose to keep it from you. We didn’t want you to worry, Ashley. We’ve had Drake following you for a few weeks now to make sure that you stayed safe.”

  I thought about what Knox said. They’ve been having Drake follow me for weeks now? Well then where the fuck was he when he came into the Laundromat and turned my whole world upside down?

  “We haven’t been able to locate Carter to find out if he was the one behind all of it,” Knox admitted.

  That’s because he was in rehab.

  “I don’t appreciate information being kept from me like that, Knox. Especially since it directly concerns me.”

  “I’m sorry, Ashley. We thought it was for the best.”

  I took Knox’s words to heart. He and Dominic did what they thought was best for me, just like I was going to have to do for them. I couldn’t be mad at them for keeping information from me when I, myself, had a dark secret that would be revealed in only a matter of days.

  I walked over and wrapped my arms around the big muscular teddy bear. He may be a dominant in the bedroom, but he was sweet, kind and very protective of his friends outside of it. My heart was aching so badly with the misery that I was going to cause him.

  “Just don’t keep anything from me anymore, and I won’t tell Dominic that I know, saving you from getting your ass kicked.”

  He laughed and I felt it vibrate through his whole body. I pulled back and joined him to the point that my side was in stitches. I laughed so hard I had tears coming from my eyes.

  “Come on, let’s get back downstairs before they lose it without us down there.” I nodded and followed Knox back out of the office so that he couldn’t see that the tears of laughter I had only moments ago, were tears of pain now.

  Knox walked me out to the Aston Martin after we closed the club to make sure that I made it out safely. He offered to follow me back to the apartment, but I told him that I would be ok with Drake following me. I thought he was using it as an excuse to see Kelly, but he just said ok and left once I pulled out of the parking lot.

  The whole drive home, all I thought about was how Officer Russell was involved in this now and how I despised him because when he became a police officer, he vowed to protect and serve, not cheat and blackmail. The nerve of the man coming into the club to threaten me. He must have thought that I was a threat if he was constantly calling me and sending people to put me in my place. I knew the consequences of what would happen if I didn’t comply, but I also knew the consequences of what would happen when I did.

  I parked the car in front of our apartment and made sure it was locked up. Not that Dominic would get much use out of his car when he got home, but I still didn’t want to take the chance of someone stealing it. With my head down looking into my purse for the keys to my apartment, I wasn’t expecting to collide into a solid mass of muscle. I looked up and my eyes met Drake’s.

  “Oh God, Drake. You scared the shit out of me,” I confessed as my hand clutched my chest, only he didn’t smile or be friendly with me like he normally did. Instead, he produced a small revolver from behind his back and aimed it at me nonchalantly. I froze out of both fear and shock that he was pulling a gun on me. What the fuck was it with me and bad guys? Did I have some fucking criminal radar attractant or something?

  “Mr. Walker just wanted to make sure you were still following orders. He thinks that you have confided in Knox and now you have some type of a plan.”

  “Oh my God! Drake you can’t seriously be in on this too? Why? Why would you betray Dominic and Knox like this?”

  His sadistic grin made me want to punch him in the face and my hands clenched so tightly, I could feel my fingernails digging into the skin of my palms.

  “Money talks, Ashley.”

  “Is that money worth betraying your friends?”

  “They were never my friends, Ashley. Mr. Walker has given me security for the rest of my life. I like you. You are a sweet girl, but that doesn’t mean that I will let you get in the way of this. Do what you were told to do, because if you don’t, if Mr. Walker doesn’t kill them, I will. Mark my words.”

  He holstered his gun behind his back and his shoulder hit against mine violently as he walked past me nearly causing me to stumble backwards on my ass. I finished searching for my keys with shaky fingers and finally entered the safety of my apartment. Kelly was most certainly asleep seeing as how it was nearly four in the morning. I tiptoed down the hall and into my room not even bothering to turn on the light. I threw my purse on the bed and I crashed onto it myself. I stared up at the ceiling for what seemed like hours before I stood up to remove my clothes.

  A blue flashing light broke through the darkness from inside my purse, so I reached inside to pull out my cell phone. I swiped my finger across the screen to find a text message wa
iting for me from Dominic.

  Dominic: One more day. I cannot wait to be buried inside of you when I get home.

  A strangled sob broke out and I had to cover my mouth to keep from waking up Kelly. One more day. Dominic would be home on Sunday afternoon just as the club opened. That would also be the day that his world, and mine would come crashing down. I crawled into bed and cried so long it gave me a headache. I finally fell asleep with the ache in my head, nothing compared to the ache in my heart.

  Saturday was uneventful. Kelly spent the morning with Knox, and I spent the morning in bed curled up in my own misery. My body ached and my eyes were swollen from crying. I was glad that I didn’t have to face Kelly that morning, because my forced mission was likely to crush her just as much as it would me.

  I had never felt darkness and despair like I was feeling then. Where my heart should have been now sat a vacant pit of sorrow, so strong that I felt it pulling me down, until the only pieces of me that were left were also broken.

  Sunday came too quickly. Kelly was already awake when I got up to get ready for the worst day of my life. I robotically went about making coffee. It was the only thing that I could seem to stomach at the moment. I felt like I could lose the contents of my stomach at any time as anguish flooded my body.

  “Ashley, are you ok? You look white as a ghost,” Kelly said with concern written all over her face. I couldn’t tell her that my present state of paleness was due to the impending misery that I was going to cause everyone today.

  “I’m feeling a little sick, nothing to worry about. Probably just a bug or something.”

  “Well, sweetheart you better perk up. Your man will be home in a few hours.” She smiled. For a few more hours, he would be my man. Even though I couldn’t wait to see him, a big part of me wished he would just call and say he wasn’t coming home today.

  Deciding that I needed to change the subject, I took a large sip of my coffee welcoming the burn on my tongue.

  “You and Knox seem to be getting close.”

  She smiled a wide, full toothed, cheeky grin.

  “We have. God, Ashley that man makes me lose all coherent thought when I am around him. He makes me feel things I never have before. I find myself wanting to be with him, instead of trying to get away from him like I do other men I have dated before. I have never been happier.”

  She seemed so completely fucking happy. So much for me getting my mind off of today. Talking to Kelly about Knox only made things worse because unbeknownst to her, her happiness was going to come to a screeching halt along with mine.

  Rising up from the table, I told Kelly that I was going to take a shower. I turned the water on to a scorching temperature welcoming the stab of pain that the scalding water brought to my skin. I tried to erase the internal pain of my heart with the physical pain of my body, but it was no use, I was going to end up shattered anyway.

  I couldn’t wait for the plane to land so that I could get to the club to see Ashley. I had plans of bypassing everyone and grabbing my girl to head straight to the Rapture Room. It had been nearly seven days since I had indulged in her sultry body and I planned on staying there for a long time.

  New Orleans was a clusterfuck. They were allowing all kinds of shit to go down at the club and I ended up having to fire a majority of the staff. It kept me busy, and I didn’t get to talk to Ashley as much as I wanted to. I found myself wanting to hear about her day, how her classes were going and if work at the club was going ok.

  I found out that her ex had been hauled up in some rehab center out of state for several weeks. This meant that he was there when the incident happened at the club. He was also there when the subsequent notes arrived as well meaning he wasn’t the one who was behind it unless he had someone doing the work for him.

  The cab couldn’t get to The Celtic Knot quick enough. I was buzzing with nervous anticipation and need. I craved Ashley like I craved the air I breathed. She had breathed new life into me and I had never felt freer and happier.

  I haphazardly threw a wad of cash at the driver of the cab before bolting out of the car to get inside to find my girl. Late Sunday afternoons had become a pretty busy time for the club lately, so I was hoping I could sneak in and surprise her.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I knew who it would be before I even looked at it. I snuck off into the bathroom and locked myself in one of the stalls. Bringing my phone to life, I stared at the screen unblinking for several moments until my eyes burned and tears formed.

  Mr. Walker: It is time, Ashley. Dominic has arrived.

  I slipped the phone back into my pocket and placed my head between my knees trying to fight back the nausea. Taking deep breaths, I reminded myself that I was doing it to protect them because I loved them. I am not doing it to destroy them. I am not doing it to destroy them.

  I walked out of the bathroom and stopped in my tracks when I saw Dominic leaning up against the wall with his ankles crossed and his arms across his chest, staring at me. His hard muscles bulged out from the sleeves of his shirt and his tattoo peaked out, teasing me, reminding me what it looked like beneath the clothes he wore. It was the same shirt he wore the night he called me on stage and tied the ropes around my body in the first lesson I ever participated in. His smile was devastating, and I felt my body react to being in his presence.

  He pushed himself up off the wall and walked over to me. My legs felt like rubber and I had to hold onto the door frame to keep them from giving out from underneath me.

  He reached me in just four quick steps and his hands were instantly in my hair gripping my head to crash his lips to mine. I opened up automatically wanting to indulge in one last, heated kiss. I wanted to memorize his taste and the feelings that I would always carry with me. I wanted to memorize the feel of his lips, and each line of his face as I lifted my hands to either side placing them on his jaw. He looked like he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days and the scruff on his face was devastatingly handsome. My heart ached with desperation to get the one last moment with him and I entwined our tongues together, lapping, sucking and making love to him with my mouth one last time.

  We broke away gasping for air and he leaned his forehead against mine.

  “God, I have missed you so fucking much, Ashley.”

  I didn’t say anything in return, just clutched him tighter to me trying to say with my body, what I couldn’t say with my words.

  Knox came strolling up and interrupted the last moment I probably would ever have with him.

  “Welcome home, brother.” Knox said and he clasped Dominic on the shoulder. Dominic turned around and gave him the manly half-hug with one arm thing that guys always do.

  “Thanks, man. It’s good to be home,” he replied as he looked back at me.

  “If you are done sucking the face off of Ashley, maybe you could let her breath and you could…”

  Knox never got to finish his sentence, because a loud noise came from the entrance to the club and in walked six police officers, including Officer Russell, Drake, and him.

  “What the fuck?” Knox said as he took in the approaching men.

  Dominic turned around and saw what the commotion was all about and in no time at all started to make his way over to the group with seething anger written all over his face.

  “Asher fucking Walker, what the hell are you doing here? You know you are banned for life from this club. Get the fuck out,” Dominic sneered with force.

  I swear I thought Dominic’s teeth were going to break with how hard he was clenching his jaw. Knox was next to him in a heartbeat putting me behind him and Dominic.

  “Dominic Michaels, Knoxville Tanner,” Officer Russell stated in mock professionalism,

  “You are under arrest for operating a private club under false pretenses and for illegal prostitution.”

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, right?” Dominic asked. “Under what pretenses do you have? You have no proof of anything. We run this club professionally. I told you on
ce before, Officer, that no goods or services were sold here.”

  “That is where you are wrong,” Asher said piping in on the conversation. I strictly remember paying several of your subs money in exchange for services.

  “Well then that was your mistake, and your disgusting ass needs to go to jail. Officer Russell, are you going to arrest us due to the word of this fuckwad?” Dominic asked jabbing his fingers in the direction of Asher.

  Kelly came bounding into the club and came to a halt when she saw what was taking place.

  Great. Just what I needed, for her to be a witness to what I was about to have to do.

  “What’s going on?” she asked in shock as she walked up next to Knox.

  “These assholes seem to think we are running a prostitution ring. All because Asher didn’t get his way and now he thinks he can get back at us by having us arrested under false pretenses,” Knox explained to her.

  “That is where you are wrong, we have another witness. Someone who claimed she was paid money in exchange for sex here at the club.”

  “Really?” Dominic said in disbelief. “And just who the fuck would that be?”

  “Turn around,” Officer Russell said, “She’s standing right behind you.”

  My world had finally bottomed out. I knew that if I didn’t do this convincingly, their lives would all be in danger.

  Gasps of shock could be heard all around the room as all eyes turned to me.

  “Ashley?” Dominic turned and stared at me in disbelief, “What the fuck is going on!” he yelled and I jumped at the angry tone in his voice.

  “Ashley, tell the officers what you told me,” Asher urged me on. I drew in a shaky breath. My heartbeat pounded in my ears so loudly, I almost didn’t hear Asher’s command. I would give anything to pass out, or vanish into thin air so that I didn’t have to do what I was about to do.

  I looked at each of the face of the people who mattered to me most. Kelly had her hands up to her mouth and tears glistened in her eyes. She was shaking her head side to side. Knox was looking at me like I had grown two heads. I could see him worrying his jaw back and forth and his fists were clenching and unclenching in a nervous rhythm. Asher and Officer Russell both had smug smiles that they weren’t even trying to hide, and Drake was pretending to take everything in.