Figure Eight (Celtic Knot Book 2) (13 page)

I tucked my still hard as granite cock back into my pants and began to pace the tile floor in the bathroom. Ashley still hadn’t moved, only enough to close her legs and cover her now swollen core with her dress.

“Ashley...I…shit,” I said as I frustratingly ran my hands through my hair. In one quick motion, Ashley hopped off the counter, allowing her cowboy boots to collide with the tile on the floor. She walked over to me and with strength I never knew she had, spoke to me in a tone I had never heard from her before.

“Thanks for the fuck, Nic. You really are good in the sack and all, but I am moving on to...greener pastures now. Thanks for being the one person in my life to make me feel like a whore.”

She stared at me for just a brief moment more, before shoving past me and throwing open the latch on the bathroom door, sending Knox, Toby, Victoria, and Kelly pushing their way into the bathroom. Ashley walked past every one of them without even acknowledging their existence.

“What the fuck have you done?” Knox asked me with extreme panic on his face and in his voice.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I thought that I just sealed our fate right there in that bathroom.

Tears were now streaming down my face as I walked past everyone that pummeled into the bathroom. I imagined all of them now having a good laugh at my expense as I tried desperately to find Rownan. I had been gone for a long time, first with the confrontation with Asher, then with my encounter with Dominic. I pushed through people to get to the bar where I said I would meet Rownan and I saw him chatting with Jake the bartender while two shots waited in front of him. As I approached, I reached for one and slammed it down my throat. Barely giving myself time to swallow, I grabbed the other one and downed it as well.

“Whoa, killer slow down there…” Rownan chuckled, but it was short lived when he took in my disheveled appearance and tear-ridden face.

“What is wrong, love? Are you alright?” he asked concerned.

“Fine. Can we just...go? Will you take me home?”

“I-yes, of course. What happened, Ashley?” he asked as he placed his hands on my shaking shoulders as I struggled to hold in the sobs that desperately tried to escape from me. I kept my head ducked, not wanting to have to look him in the eye for fear he would know my shame. The shame wasn’t for
what
I did in the bathroom with Dominic—it was for what I was going to have to do to him, to Knox and The Celtic Knot. Having to say the words that I said to Dominic after our passionate encounter, had left me feeling gutted and defeated. I have been trying to remain calm and devise a plan that would help me to be able to get out of this mess, and back into the arms of the man I loved so desperately.

When I didn’t look at him, Rownan pulled me into him encircling his arms around me. The dam broke loose and the floodgates opened as the uncontrollable sobs I barely had a hold of poured from my body. I had cried many, many times since the devastation I had caused happened, but somehow right here in Rownan’s arms, it was different. I was crying harder than I ever had in my life because this man that was holding onto me, when the one I wanted and should be with was letting me go. My heart ached and I was so close to hyperventilating, I started to feel dizzy.

I felt Rownan go stark still so much that his already hard body felt like a solid mass of steel. I slowly lifted my face up to look at him through my tear stained, mascara smudged eyes and found him glaring at something behind us. I hesitated momentarily because I knew deep inside what I would find if I turned around. Drawing in a staggered, shaky breath, I took the chance praying that I would be wrong and it wouldn’t be what I thought it would be.

As if everything were in slow motion and time stood still, I craned my neck around and felt my heart drop to my feet. Dominic was charging his way toward us with Knox and Toby holding onto each of his arms trying to keep him pulled back. Knox looked at me with a look of desperation as if trying to silently communicate to me that I needed to go. Toby was unsuccessfully trying to reason with Dominic as he tried with all of his strength to pull him in the opposite direction. Kelly came running around to stand in front of Dominic, begging him to calm down.

I was gently set aside by Rownan as he began to make his way over to Dominic. Panic began to set in as I watch the distance between the two men close.

“What the fuck did you do to her, arsehole?” Rownan demanded when he stopped just inches in front of Dominic. Knox made his way between the two of them as Kelly came over to me and for the first time since my betrayal, wrapped her arms around me in comfort. If I weren’t on the verge of losing my shit from the sight before me, I would have started crying all over again from the wonderfulness that it felt to feel close to her again.

“What the fuck are you doing touching her?” Dominic seethed, “You keep your fucking dominant wanna-be fucking wanker hands off of her, do you hear me?” Knox still stood between the two and I was completely thankful because the way the two men were staring at each other, I have no doubt in my mind that they would be throwing punches.

“Kelly, we have to stop them. If Dominic and Knox get into a fight, they could go back to jail,” I said with trepidation. She looked at me as tears pooled in my eyes, begging her to help me.

“Ashley, you still love him, don’t you?” she asked as she looked from me to the scene before us and back to me again. I couldn’t answer her. I had to maintain my facade to protect her, to protect them all.

“You don’t have to answer me, Ashley, I know you do. I know you are keeping something from us. I’ve known you for almost eight years. You wouldn't have done what you did if you weren’t pushed to do so. Let me help you please.”

We were interrupted by the raised voices of Dominic, Knox, Toby, and Rownan. I had to stop this. There was no way I was allowing Dominic and Knox to go back to jail, over me again. The only way would be to get Rownan to take me home. I walked away from Kelly and approached the heated episode playing out for all the club to see. I scanned the room in a panoramic view and noticed several bodyguards heading in our direction. I needed to act fast.

“Rownan,” I said as I placed my hand in his, “can we please go?” I tried to sound seductive. I could get Rownan to leave and at the same time, drive a nail further into the coffin of Dominic’s heart by letting him think that I wanted Rownan to go home
with
me. I pressed myself up against Rownan, allowing my breasts to brush against the side of his body as I placed my hand on his chest. I turned my body to where I was facing toward him more than I was Dominic, trying to get Rownan to react to my fake advances. He tore his seething glare from Dominic and looked at me. I saw the moment his features turned softer as he looked at me with a small sparkle in his eye. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders drawing me closer to him and I risked a glance at Dominic. He stood motionless, his face beet red with anger as his stare bore into Rownan’s arm that was around me.

I snuggled in a little closer to Rownan, knowing it would piss Dominic off more.

“Please, let’s go. Take me home?” I asked in a low, sultry voice. I didn’t have to try very hard due to my nasal passages being clogged from all of the crying.

“Ashley, what are you doing?” Kelly whispered from beside me. I didn’t look at her or answer her as I waited for Rownan’s answer. Rownan looked at Dominic with a satirical look before looking back to me and delivering a panty melting, sexy grin. I knew he was doing it to taunt Dominic; to make him feel like he had won a bone that two dogs were fighting over. I was the meal and Rownan was making sure Dominic knew that he would be the one with a full stomach tonight.

“Sure thing, love. Let’s go,” he said as he pulled me with him toward the exit.

“Ashley!” Dominic roared so loud, that his voice carried over the loud music of the club. I stopped in my tracks before we got too far away and Rownan stopped with me. I looked over my shoulder, keeping my back to Dominic as I lifted the hammer to drive another nail.

“Greener pastures, remember?” I said shrugging my shoulders. Turning my head away from him, I allowed Rownan to accompany me to the exit.

The drive to my apartment was filled with mostly silence. Rownan drove the car with one hand, while the other one strummed his fingers against his muscular thigh. I knew he wanted to ask me what happened at the club, but he did not want to push me either, and I was very thankful for that. My body was still buzzing with adrenaline as I sat in the seat of the car thinking about how things played out in the bathroom with Dominic. It also crossed my mind what Asher said to me just before I ran into Dominic.

We are going to need you to testify.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Hadn’t he done enough damage to him? When will enough be enough? I was more determined than ever to end this fucking blackmail.

Rownan’s hand left his leg and placed on mine. I hadn’t even noticed that my leg was bouncing up and down in a furious state until his hand landed upon it.

“Want to talk about what happened?” he asked cautiously. I sat facing away from him and I momentarily paused my bouncing leg to try to find the courage for what I was about to say.

“I wasn’t prepared to come face to face with Dominic again today,” I admitted, lying my head back against the headrest of the seat trying to keep my emotions under control.

“Again, today?” Rownan questioned and I could see him raising an eyebrow to me in my peripheral vision. I blew out an exasperated breath from my lungs, begging some of the torment and emotional stress I was under to escape from my mind and body.

“Yeah. He came to my apartment this morning, and we got into a
heated
discussion.” I said closing my eyes so that he couldn’t see through me to discover just how
heated
that discussion really was.

“So he came to your home this morning? What did he want, love?”

I pondered Rownan’s question for a few minutes. What did Dominic want besides the obvious? Apparently, he was having just as hard of a time keeping his emotions in check as I was. It made me feel even more awful to know that I had turned this dominant, controlling man inside out. He had worked so hard to avoid any more devastation in his life after witnessing his mother’s murder and his father’s suicide.

“He wanted to know why I apparently lied about accepting sexual favors from him and Knox. He said he wanted the truth,” I admitted.