Ashley's Bend (32 page)

I cracked open the door to find Ashley hugged up against a large pillow. I took a deep breath, letting her scent fill my nostrils. Her blonde hair was fanned over the pillow. I relished in the view of watching her chest move up and down with life. To think she could have been hurt, or worse dead somewhere had me damn near shaking.

I took tentative steps over to the side of the bed she laid on and knelt down in front of her. Her long lashes fanned her rosy cheeks as she slept. I reached out to move a tendril of her hair from her face and her eyes flew opened. Like a scared rabbit, she sat up straight and scurried up against the headboard to protect herself. Her breathing was rapid, and her eyes were unfocused.

She blinked a few times and finally she adjusted to her surroundings as her eyes focused on where I still knelt beside the bed.

“Dominic?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” I replied.

“What are you doing here?” she questioned me in a defensive and apprehensive tone.

“I took off from the club tonight. I wanted to see if you wanted to spend the evening with me, but I couldn’t reach you on your phone and Dra…” I stopped before I said the remainder of Drake’s name. The last thing I needed to do was to scare her even more by alerting her that I had security following her around.
Speaking of, when I find Drake…

“And what, Dominic?” she asked as she tried to smooth her hair down that was ruffled up on the side of her head with nervousness.

“Nothing. I just came over to see if it was something you wanted to do. I thought we could go out on an actual date. You know, boy-takes-girl-to-the movies and they make out in the back row the whole time.” I said as I playfully tried to distract her from my near panic of not being able to find her. She turned her head away from me as she picked at the comforter on the bed removing imaginary lint from it. I sensed an unease coming from her and her brows were knitted together in worry.

“Ashley, is everything ok? We can go out another time if you aren’t feeling up to it,” I said sincerely but hoped she wouldn’t turn me down.

She turned her head toward my direction and smiled, although it didn’t reach her eyes like it normally did.

“No, it’s ok. Let me get dressed.”

I nodded my head and left her room to allow her to get ready. Kelly was in the living room texting someone when I walked in. She saw me and threw the phone down on the coffee table like it had burned her.

“Kelly, I know you were talking to Knox. You don’t have to hide it from me.”

“What about the rules?”

I laughed.

“Knox is part owner of the club, Kelly. He can do what the fuck he wants to. Who am I to tell him that he cannot see you?”

“But it was you and him who made up the rules to begin with. Why make rules if you are going to allow people to break them?’

“We made those rules for
other people
, Kelly, not us.” She stared at me strangely for a moment before she nodded her head at me. I noticed that she didn’t pick up her phone to tell Knox about what we just discussed, and I made a mental note to talk to my best friend about it later. He wanted to butt in on my love life? I was going to do the same to his. Right now, I wanted to talk about Ashley.

“Kell, you said that Ashley seemed different today when she came back from the Laundromat. Did you notice anything strange about her?”

She lifted her head in thought before she turned to me and answered.

“Nothing weird, she just looked tired, defeated. I thought maybe it had something to do with you. Did you guys get into a fight?”

“No, we last parted on
good
terms,” I answered as one of the corners of my mouth tipped up into a smile.

“Oh my God, TMI, Dominic!” I don’t need the visuals of you and my best friend getting it on. Hell, if you are anything like Knox…”

“Whoa,” I interrupted her, “don’t even say it! I understand, I’m sorry.”

We both chuckled. I liked Kelly. I liked her for her fun personality and her no holds attitude, but I loved her to death for the fact that she loved Ashley. The one thing I knew without a doubt was that we would both protect her, no matter the cost.

Ashley emerged out of her room wearing a tight, black knitted sweater and a fucking rocking pair of skinny jeans. The black patent leather pumps she wore made my cock stand at attention. My thoughts wandered off into an image of her wearing those sexy as sin shoes with her legs wrapped around me, and nothing else.

“What’s so funny?” she asked as she brushed her long blonde hair away from her shoulders.

“Nothing, Dominic and I just came to an understanding is all,” Kelly chuckled again.

“You ready?” I ask her.

“Yeah, let me just grab my purse.”

In the car, Ashley was still very quiet and distant. She only participated in a conversation when I engaged her in it. I needed to get her to open up. Something happened today, and she wasn’t telling anyone. Just as I could read her body sexually, I could also read it when she was thinking about something too.

“I thought we were going to the movies?” Ashley asked in surprise as I drove past the theater.

“Change of plans,” I said as I continued driving. She opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but decided against it. The rest of our ride was spent in silence as I pulled into Grant Park.

“Where are we?” she asked as she looked around.

“Grant Park. I wanted to show you something. You mentioned a few weeks ago that you have yet to experience all of Chicago’s famous spots. This is one of them.”

The Buckingham Fountain was one of the places I had always come to when I needed to think or relax. We walked hand in hand through the park until we reached our destination. Ashley looked at the fountain in awe.

“Every hour on the hour for twenty minutes, the fountain produces a major water display and the center jet shoots one hundred and fifty feet into the air. It is one of the largest fountains in the world. Built in a
rococo
wedding cake style and inspired by the
Latona Fountain
at the
Palace of Versailles
,” I explained to her.

“Wow, it is beautiful,” she said as she stood staring at the beautiful work of art.

“Starting at dusk, the water display is accompanied by a light and music display. It really is quite extraordinary to watch. The first show should begin in about ten minutes. Want to wait for it?”

“Yes, of course she smiled, and this time it was her true, heart stopping smile. I reached out for her and brushed the back of my hand down her cheek. I had never been tender with a woman. I had always worked hard and fucked harder. But Ashley coming into my life had changed me. Something I thought that I never wanted, was something I craved more than anything. When I looked at Ashley, I saw a future with her.

“How is it that you have broken through to me when no one ever has? What is it about you that has me letting go of all my control?”

She looked at me through glistening eyes. When she closed them, a small tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. I caught it with my thumb before I leaned in and ever so gently touched my lips to hers before I leaned my forehead against hers.

“I think I’m falling in love with you, Ashley.”

Buckingham Fountain had to be the most romantic date that I had ever been on. What made it even more special was that Dominic was the one who took me. It was no question that I had fallen head over heels in love with him. I never thought that I would want to be in a relationship again after what happened with Jared, and to meet Dominic on the same night of Jared’s betrayal was even more unexpected.

I was prepared for the consequences of what would happen if I allowed my heart to get involved with Dominic, but I was not prepared for the consequences of what would happen when Dominic’s heart was involved, as well.

I had been distant from him since he showed up at the apartment with fear written all over his face after he said he couldn’t locate me. I took a nap trying to recharge my batteries after my visit at the Laundromat. I needed to prepare myself for what I was going to have to do, but when he showed up at the apartment unexpectedly, I was not prepared like I thought I would be. I had to do it, I had to pull away.

“I think I’m falling in love with you, Ashley,” Dominic admitted to me in front of the fountain just as the music and lights began. What should have been one of the greatest moments of my life, turned out to be one of the worst. The lights and music sent a crescendo into the dark Chicago night. Inside I should have been exploding with joy, but I was feeling darkness, and pain. How was I going to force my head to let go of a man that my heart screamed out to me that I loved?

I had to keep telling myself that I was doing it
for
him.

Dominic and I sat and watched the fountain show from the grass. He sat behind me with me placed between his legs. I leaned into his chest and let my head fall back to rest against his shoulders. Dominic wrapped his strong muscular arms around me and held me tightly, lovingly. The changes I had seen in him were nothing short of phenomenal. This dominant, control freak of a man, had surrendered himself to me. He had offered his heart to me, and I had to destroy it.

We walked hand in hand back to the Aston Martin after the fountain show concluded. I never said anything back to Dominic after he confessed to falling in love with me. If I told him that I felt the same way, it would only cause him more pain in the long run, and I needed to do this as cleanly as possible.

We pulled up to Dominic’s apartment and he walked around the car to open my door for me. After extending his hand out to help me out of the car, he wrapped his arms around me and buried his face into my neck.

“Stay the night with me,” he said. It was his way of asking me to, but the man who had a need for control said it as a demand. I looked at him and tried to put on the best game face I could. I would allow him and myself, one more night. I wouldn’t be able to express my feelings for him verbally, but I could show him with my body.

“Okay.”

He smiled his glorious, panty melting smile and then took me by the hand up toward his apartment. Walking in, I took in my surroundings once more. I knew it would be the last time I would set foot in there. I knew that it would be the last night I would ever get to spend with Dominic, and my heart physically ached. I clutched my chest in a desperate appeal to ease the ache, to ease the hurt that began to take over me.