“Ashley!”
I heard Jared’s plea for me to stop through the door as I shut it closed behind me. The sound of rustling clothes and belt buckles followed me down the hallway as if chasing me, taunting me. I reached the elevators and pounded my finger into the down button like it would make the car arrive faster. After what seemed like forever, the car finally arrived and I stepped into it, still not able to believe what my eyes saw. It was like I was in some parallel universe or someone was playing one hell of a sick joke. I turned around to face the hall where my heart had been left behind. The last thing I saw, before the elevator doors closed, was Jared scrambling down the hall towards me.
Once I finally made it to the car, I let it all out. I screamed and banged my fists angrily into the steering wheel. How dare he do this to me? To us? What am I going to do? I placed the keys into the ignition, my shaking and now bruised hands cranked the car to life. The pain in my hands was nothing compared to the pain of my now bleeding heart. It felt like someone had ripped my chest opened and exposed me. I could feel every beat of my heart as it angrily circulated the blood through my veins. As I drove the car down the road, I had no destination in mind. I pulled over into a gas station and sat silently in the car. I could see the glow of my cell phone in the seat next to me. I had long ago switched off the sound not wanting to listen to Jared’s repeated attempts to get me to answer. What does he think he could say to make me feel any better about what happened?
I reached over and grabbed the phone and rolled down the driver’s side window. I was just about to chuck it out of the window when I suddenly stopped. It was the picture of my best friend and me staring back at me from the home screen. I slid my shaking thumb across the screen and typed in Kelly’s number.
“Ash? What’s up girl? Trinity and I are getting ready to head over to The Celtic Knot,” she said with excitement.
“Does your invitation still stand?” I asked her through a fit of sniffles. I knew she would be able to tell something was wrong the moment she heard my voice. We had always been in tune with each other.
“Something is wrong, Ash. What is it? Do I need to come over?”
“No, I will come to you. Are you and Trinity still at your apartment?”
“Yes, but Ash, I wish you would tell me what is wrong. I’m worried,” she said nervously.
“I will tell you when I get there. Give me about fifteen minutes.”
I put the car in drive and headed across town to Kelly’s apartment. I knew I couldn’t go home, because Jared would find me there. I had no desire to see him or talk to him. If he were going to go around fucking everything with legs, then he could do it without a wife at home. I couldn’t believe that, after seven years of marriage, this was what my life had become. I was broken, bruised. How would I ever recover from this? How can someone heal after having their heart shattered into a million pieces?
I didn’t even have time to make it out of the car before Kelly was running in her stilettos down the pathway to my car. I looked up through my mascara stained eyes from the driver’s seat. She was engulfing me into a tight, suffocating hug within minutes of taking in my appearance. Kelly grabbed my hand and led me back up toward her apartment. Shutting the door behind us, she led me over to the couch and I sank into it allowing the softness to consume my heavily burdened body.
“What the hell happened?” Kelly asked. Gone was carefree, bubbly Kelly and in her place was protective, worried, best friend Kelly.
“I went to Jared’s office to surprise him with dinner,” I said through hiccupped sobs, “but the surprise was on me when I walked in and found him fucking his secretary.”
Kelly and Trinity’s simultaneous gasps did not surprise me. Hell, after what I witnessed tonight, I didn’t think anything could surprise me anymore.
“That rat bastard!” Kelly exclaimed, “I should go there right now and rip his balls off!” I snorted a very unladylike laugh. If only it were that easy. I watched as the anger turned to sympathy on Kelly’s face before she folded me into her arms. I heaved heavy, ugly tears and was sobbing so hard, I could barely catch my breath.
“What are you going to do, Ashley? Please do not tell me you are going back home to him,” Kelly begged.
“Hell no! He lost his privilege to call me his wife the moment he stuck his dick in someone else,” I muffled into her shoulder. I pulled away and tried to gain control of my breathing. I angrily wiped the tears from my eyes. As I looked down at my mascara and tear stained fingers, I was angry with myself. Angry because I was shedding tears over an asshole whom I had given my entire young adult life to, angry for allowing him to constantly walk all over me while he got to live his dream while I sacrificed mine, and angry for not noticing the signs that he was changing and withdrawing from me.
I looked up into the eyes of my best friend Kelly, who had been a constant need of support for me since I pretty much moved to Chicago. I decided right then and there that I could move on. I could live my own dream, and I would not allow anyone else to get in the way of that ever again.
“Does that invitation for the club still stand?”
“Ashley you can’t possibly be serious? You really want to go? Maybe we should all just stay here, eat some ice cream, and watch some awful reality TV to make us feel better about ourselves.”
I know she was trying to distract me. However, if I was serious about moving on with my life, then it had to start sometime.
“No Kell, I am tired of putting things on hold. I am ready to live. I am ready to experience things instead of always being in the background. Tonight, I start living.”
“Hot damn! Then we’re going? We are actually going to The Celtic Knot?” I nodded my head in agreement.
“Ok, well first things first, we have to get you cleaned up and turned into the hot sexy woman I know that is in there.”
Kelly and Trinity lead me to the bathroom and began their magic. My hair was hot rolled while Kelly did my make-up. She gave me a dark purple smoky eye that really brought out the color of my green eyes. When the rollers had cooled, Trinity removed them and ran her fingers through my blonde hair, creating soft waves that cascaded down my shoulders and upper back. I was squeezed into a little black dress with a semi-circular neckline and long narrow sleeves. The hemline fell to just above my knees and the body hugged every single one of my curves. They topped off my look with a gorgeous pair of black lace stilettos. I have never been that dressed up before, and as I gazed at the stranger in the mirror, I felt beautiful and sexy.
“Holy shit, Ashley, who knew there was a gorgeous, sexy bombshell hiding behind that bastard of a husband of yours. You are going to have the guys drooling all over themselves tonight,” Trinity said. She was dressed in a dark plum sheath dress and her shoulder length hair was slicked straight. Kelly looked equally stunning in a sparkling gold sequin cocktail dress. Her red, wavy curls were pulled in a side ponytail that cascaded over one shoulder like a beautiful red waterfall.
“You ready, Ash?” Kelly asked as she approached me where I was staring at myself in the mirror. I spun around, gave her my biggest smile and said, “Absolutely.”
I would become a new person. I was not a woman who had caught her husband and high school sweetheart banging his secretary. No, I was ready to explore who I was and who I wanted to be. I wanted to be free.
We hailed a cab to go to The Celtic Knot. We all planned on a few drinks (ok a lot of drinks) and did not want to have to worry about a designated driver. I wanted to forget about the troubles I would have to face the next day; I wanted to let loose and have fun. If the result was total inebriation, so be it.
The entrance to the club was packed when we arrived with hopefuls trying to buy their way in. The club had dark, blacked out windows and a large entry door made of solid, dark wood. It was completely closed off, making one wonder what secrets it held inside.
“So exactly what kind of club is this, Kelly?” I asked as we stepped out into the warm Chicago air.
She grinned sheepishly at me, and I knew then it was going to be no ordinary club. We walked over to the front door that was being guarded by two very large, very scary looking men dressed in black. I swear one of them had biceps bigger than my waist.
The one with the bulging biceps held his hands up as we approached. “Sorry, ladies, invitation only.” His voice boomed with authority as his eyes raked over the three of us from head to toe. One side of his mouth tipped up into an almost smile as he looked at me before setting back in a hard line again.
“Well, lucky for us, Sir, we have our invitations right here,” Kelly said as she produced the crimson covered envelope. I saw the man’s eyes go from nearly passive to heated in about two seconds flat. His gaze bored into Kelly with a look I could only attune to as desire. Whoa. What was it she said that made him look so...so turned on?
“Right this way, ladies,” bicep man said as he opened the heavy wood doors and guided us into the club. Disappointment flooded through me when we entered and walked into what looked like a reception area. A beautiful woman dressed in black leather pants and a corset top peered at us from behind a large desk. Her hair was a gorgeous chestnut color and dark brown eyes stood out from behind impeccable makeup. Her lips were painted blood red, she looked beautiful.
“Good evening, ladies. Welcome to The Celtic Knot,” she said pleasantly. The three of us walked over to where the woman was as she reached beneath the desk and produced three clipboards.
“These documents, ladies, are our non-disclosure agreements as well as liability release forms. If you wish to gain access to the club, you must sign these first.” My mouth dropped opened. What kind of club needed a non-disclosure agreement and liability release forms? I looked over at Kelly who was signing the documents with an earnest I had never seen before. I think I could see the smoke coming from the pen from how fast she scribbled her name on the line. Trinity was nearly as eager as Kelly. What the hell kind of place is this?
“Excuse me, ma’am, but I am not sure I understand why such documents are needed for us to access a club.” She laughed obviously amused by how naïve I was. Her eyes met mine and I saw something flash across her face. She walked around the counter to where I was standing. She came up behind me and trailed a finger across my back where the skin was exposed in my dress. I tried to suppress my shiver, but failed. I felt her breath in my ear as she leaned in close. Too close. What the hell is going on?
“You are absolutely exquisite. Novice. I love that. It gives me the opportunity to break them in. Show them the ropes. Find me later if you want to play,” and abruptly she moved away from me. She reached for the clipboards and I quickly signed my name to them, not knowing what I was getting myself into. Was she hitting on me?
Kelly and Trinity both looked at me with stunned smiles. She was hitting on me! And my two nut-ball friends just stood there gaping at me. Another woman came in through the other door behind the desk. She was a tall, statuesque blonde in a tight, short sleeveless white dress with matching heels. The odd part about her ensemble was the large black collar she wore around her neck. She came next to the woman behind the desk and dropped to her knees next to her with her gaze to the floor.
“Rebecca, would you please show our guests around the club? Give them the full tour. Permission to speak.”
“Yes, Madame V,” the blonde woman replied.
“Good. Dismissed.”
What the hell just happened? Madame V? Permission to speak? My nerves started to get the better of me as the blonde approached us to lead us into the club. I looked at Trinity and Kelly, who were eagerly following the blonde toward the door. My steps faltered slightly and I was reluctant to follow. Just before I took another step I turned to the woman who the blonde addressed as Madame V.
“Just what kind of club is this exactly?” I asked a little breathlessly. I didn’t know if it was from fear, anxiety or pure curiosity. She smiled a devilishly seductive grin.
“My sweet innocent girl. You are at the most exclusive, luxurious, bondage club on the planet. Welcome to The Celtic Knot.
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Wasted Love Page 25
