Ashley's Bend (16 page)

I woke up too damn early the next morning. As promised, Dominic had a car waiting out front to take me home from the club the night before. I finally pried Kelly away from being Knox’s shadow to get her to come home with me. I was so confused by Dominic’s mercurial attitude that I took out my frustrations with a bottle of Jose, and Kelly had to damn near carry me to bed. All of the fucked up events in my life over the last month had me binging on liquid memory eraser and I found myself feeling good once the bottle was gone.

This morning, however? Not so much. I tried to sit up in my bed only to crash back down once the room started to spin. All I could see were a kaleidoscope of blurry images as I tried to focus on the objects around my room. The pounding ache in my skull felt like a thousand jackhammers breaking away concrete at once. I could damn near feel the vibrations, as they rang through my brain and made my teeth chatter.

Suddenly, my bedroom door flew opened and Kelly in all her bouncy, redheaded glory came dancing into my room. Literally dancing. Her attempt at some Thriller-like pirouette had me yanking the covers back over my head and groaning.

“Gooood moooorning, sunshine!! Wake your sexy ass up Ashley!” she sang. I groaned in response, only that didn’t deter her. She walked over to the windows and yanked the curtains back to allow the piercing Saturday morning rays of sunshine filter into the room. Even with my head under the covers, I still felt the horrible blinding effects of the bright light and I winced in pain.

“Go the fuck away, Kelly. It’s too early! Let me stay here and die in peace,” I begged. Kelly just laughed at me.

Some best friend she was.

“You see, Ash, I would do that, but it is not early. It’s one in the afternoon. You are going to get your skinny ass up out of the bed and go eat lunch with me, then we are going shopping.”

“Ugh, one really? I hate you, you know that right? How in the hell are you so perky this morning? You drank just as much as I did.” I grumbled at her attempting to bring my head back out from under the covers.

“Yes, well you, my dear, are a lightweight, where as I am an experienced connoisseur. My job requires me to experience the nightlife remember?”

“Fine, but if I puke, you are cleaning it up.”

That last statement earned me a disgusted look from her and I knew that I had won. Kelly was a weakling when it came to things like blood and regurgitated stomach contents.

Half an hour, one shower, and three Advil later, Kelly and I were walking down the streets in the warm Chicago breeze. Spring was one of my favorite seasons of the year, but I was having a hard time enjoying the blinding rays of the damn sun with the monstrosity of a hangover. Even after my shower, I could still feel the tequila evaporating from my pores.
Ugh...I am never drinking again.

Kelly and I went into one of our favorite little deli shops ran by one of the sweetest old men you would ever meet. Giovanni was a short, plump, balding man with a heart of gold and a contagious laugh. Every time we came in, he always had some corny joke to tell us or some story about one of his crazy grandkids. Grandkids that he reminded us that are our age. He had tried to fix Kelly up with his grandsons numerous times.

“Gio!” Kelly greeted the old man as we entered the deli. His eyes brightened and a warm smile spread across his face.

“Ashley, Kelly my two most favorite customers, how are you?” he said as he approached us from behind the counter. Kelly and I both had to lean down to kiss his cheeks. If I had a grandpa, I would want to imagine he would be just like Gio.

“Ashley here needs one of your famous hangover fixes,” Kelly said with an evil grin as she crooked her thumb in my direction. I gave her a
go to hell
glare before looking back at Gio and smiling.

“Tie one over good last night, huh? I remember those days. Sit down ladies. I got you gals covered,” he said as he pointed to a booth up front with a window that faced the busy sidewalk and Kelly and I make our way over to sit in the vinyl covered table. Giovanni being of Italian heritage, had the entire restaurant decked out in red, white and green. A not so subtle hint at a homage to the Italian flag.

“So what do you actually think happened with Dominic last night?” Kelly asked me as we settled into our seats. How exactly was I supposed to answer her? One minute he’s hot, the next he was cold. I saw the desire and heat in his eyes every time we were close, and then he pushed me away any time things seemed to be going great.

“He is so confusing Kell. I—ugh−I don’t know which way is up with him,” I tried to explain as I sighed deeply, sinking down into the squeaky vinyl of the booth.

“Knox said that he doesn’t do relationships outside of the lifestyle. He has never had a girlfriend or anything.”

I stilled in my seat as I soaked in her words.
He’s never had a girlfriend
. Well, I’ve only had one boyfriend in my life and I ended up marrying the cheating bastard. Seven years down the fucking drain. Did I want to even attempt to get involved with another man? I’ve only been separated from Jared for nearly a month. Was I stupid for wanting to be involved with a man that had commitment issues? No, but I couldn’t deny the unbelievable pull that I felt towards Dominic. It was enthralling, fascinating and alarming. I loved Jared, but never in the seven plus years that we were together, did I feel the dynamically explosive connection that I did with Dominic.

“I say just have fun, Ashley. Experience things that you haven’t been able to, just go with the flow and be free,” Kelly suggested interrupting my thoughts.

“You and your hippie ways, Kelly.” I giggled. Gio approached our table and delivered two Philly cheese steaks with cheese covered fries.

“Here you go lovely ladies, two heartbreakers,” he said as he winked at us and scurried off to help other customers.

“Do you think they call these the heartbreakers because of all the cholesterol that will clog our arteries when we are done eating it?” Kelly teased.

I laughed. Man it felt good to just let go. Even though I had one hell of a hangover, and all the drama of my life was still hanging over me, I was just going to sit back and enjoy the time with my best friend. I glanced out the window onto the busy street. My eyes scanned the throws of people as life passed by before my eyes as I sat in the booth. For an instant I swear I saw Jared standing on the opposite sidewalk, glaring at me. I closed my eyes and shook my head. When I opened them again, he was gone.

After lunch at Gio’s, Kelly insisted we go shopping. She said
new life, new wardrobe
rules were in order. They last thing I wanted to do was walk all over Chicago in my hung-over state, but I decided to humor her.

“Ashley, what about this?” Kelly asked as she held up a triangle looking piece of sequined material.

“What is it, a thong?” I asked as I arched my eyebrow at her. Seriously? Women wore that kind of stuff? I was used to my t-shirts and jeans. Comfortable and reliable.

“Ha ha, funny Ash. It’s a cute top. And look, you can pair this skirt with it,” Kelly said as she modeled the clothes in front of her.

“Kelly, I cannot wear that. There is nothing there.”

“Exactly. Didn’t the rules of the club say no pants, only skirts and dresses? I bet you Dominic would like it.” I stood motionless in between the flowing sea of clothes racks at Kelly’s mention of Dominic. I had been fortunate enough not to think about him for the last−hell who was I kidding. I was constantly thinking of him. The memory of his touch and the way he could play my body like a finely tuned instrument played on repeat in my mind like an overplayed song on the radio.

Hmmm
. The rules did say no pants. It was slutty, inappropriate, and completely out of my comfort zone.

“Put it in the cart,” I said to her. Now, it was Kelly’s turn to be surprised. I could almost see the excitement vibrate off of her. She really was enjoying it
way
too much.

Three stores, five new outfits, and enough lingerie to last me a week straight without doing laundry later, we were back at the apartment surrounded by dozens of shopping bags
      
Ready to wash the grime of the day away, I told Kelly that I was going to take a soak in the tub before I got ready to go to the club. The steam rose from the tub as I turned the faucets on as hot as I could stand. I was feeling better after my horrific attempt at drinking the memories away the night before, but the bath would make me feel that much better. After pouring in some vanilla scented bubble bath, I climbed in allowing the warm water to caress my body.

I laid my head back on the edge of the tub, closed my eyes and tried to relax. Sinking deeper into the tub, my mind started to drift to Dominic and the way his fingers felt inside of me. I instantly felt a tingling sensation in the pit of my stomach. I lifted my hands and touched my tender nipples from where the clamps were on them the night before. I recalled the electric shot of heat that they sent to my clit as Dominic clamped them onto me.

I was now lost in sensations as I relived every erotic memory of Dominic’s hands on me. Slowly my hand drifted down my wet body, to the spot where I was aching for him most. My fingers found my sensitive bud of titillating flesh and I began to stroke it in a slow circular motion. As I imagined Dominic’s long dexterous fingers stroking my intimate flesh, euphoria began to expand and spread through my body. My back arched, lifting away from the back of the tub as I continued the slow torture on my clit with my fingers. I was riding a wave of pleasure imagining that Dominic was there, touching me. I felt the wave build and build as each sensation pulsed through my core. Soon, I was crashing down and splintering into a million pieces as my orgasm overtook me.

I relaxed back into the tub as I tried to gain control over my breathing. I couldn’t believe that I had masturbated in the bathtub thinking about Dominic. As satisfying as it was, it still did nothing to quell the ache of wanting to feel his length inside of me. Yes, I was in a sub training program, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t show assertion for something I wanted.

A plan started to form in my mind as I rose from the now cooling bath water. I dried off and made my way to my bedroom in search of a certain sequined top and black mini skirt. Since the top didn’t leave me with an option, I decided to go sans bra. Hell, I’m going sans panties too. I was not going to give Dominic a choice. I would get him to want me, badly.