Figure Eight (Celtic Knot Book 2) (21 page)

I sank to the floor from off of the table. I couldn’t take anymore. I had been brought to the brink of erotic pleasure only to be rejected and refused my release so many times, that it was no longer pleasurable and downright painful. My body no longer held the heat that Dominic had earlier assembled in me. Instead of the raging inferno of fervor, I now felt chilled to the bone-encompassed by a frosty glaze that doused any remaining flames of desire and want. My emotions ran rampant through me, playing tug of war with my mind and my body. I knew it was a form of punishment, a sick form of penance for everything I have put him through.

My body quivered as chill after chill rippled through me like an avalanche trying to escape down a mountain. My head felt dizzy, everything around me spinning like a tilt-a-whirl at the fair. My stomach turned as bile tried to rise up in my throat. I tried to swallow back the bitter taste as my mouth began to water. I willed, begged myself not to get sick. I was angry, hurt, and damn near destroyed by what he had just done to me, even though I knew deep down I deserved it.

I felt his presence next to me before I looked up at him. He reached out to help me up from the ground, but I quickly pushed up on my hands and feet and crab crawled a few feet away from him. I didn’t think I would be able to feel his touch anymore tonight. One more brush of his skin against mine, and I would lose it-I would completely break. Everything flooded in at once. The divorce, meeting Dominic, Asher, and the hurt I caused everyone by my false accusations. Frantically I looked around for my purse. The key to getting out of this mess was in my bag, and I wasn’t about to let it slip through my fingers.

“I think you better go, Ashley. I-fuck…” Dominic said as he ran both hands through his hair, gripping it at the sides and pulling it out of frustration.

“You aren’t going to call the cops on me?” I asked meekly trying to put courage into my voice so that he didn’t notice just how far gone I was feeling.

“You said that if I…”

“I know what I said, dammit! Just-just get the fuck out of here, Ashley, before I change my mind.”

He reached down, picked up my discarded clothes, and tossed them to me. Grabbing them, I quickly rose to my feet trying to fight the waves of dizziness that flooded me. The shirt having been ripped down the middle was now rendered useless, but I slipped it on to my shaky limbs anyway. Carefully I stepped into my pants and pulled them up around my waist not forgetting that I no longer had any underwear to sport underneath them. I pulled my ratted hair back as best I could and placed it back into the ball cap, all the while Dominic was pacing the floor of the stage.

“I can’t find my purse,” I said as I frantically looked around for it. I had to get that CD so that I could turn Asher’s blackmail around on him.

“I’ll have someone bring it to you tomorrow, just go.”

“No!” I yelled loud enough for my voice to echo throughout the club. Dominic stopped pacing the floor and rose his head to look at me.

“Why? I’m not lying to you. I will have someone return it. Why are you so concerned with it?”

I froze for a moment. I couldn’t tell him the truth because then he would know that I broke into his office. He would then find out it was me who planted the evidence against him, and if he found that out and I ended up not having the cd with the video of Asher’s attack, he could be in even more trouble.

I tried to hide the panic in my eyes, hoping that he was not able to see my fright in the candlelight that still bathed us. I looked around at our surroundings on stage and tried to imagine what it would feel like if this were a romantic setting, where Dominic and I could enjoy each other’s bodies-enjoy the love that I knew he still felt towards me even though he was desperately trying not to. I loved him so much; I found it hard to breathe. He was like a constant gulp of air I needed to survive. I had to trust that we would make it out of this situation unscathed.

“It has all my money and ID’s and everything. I don’t have much anymore since I…”

“What? Since you lied and shut down my club? Since you ripped my heart out of my fucking chest the moment I surrendered it to you?” he said as he stood with his hands on his hips staring at the stage floor. He didn’t raise his voice like he was angry, but said it with hopelessness enveloped in his words. My heart ached even more. I wanted more than anything to help him, to tell him the truth, but to risk his life as well as Kelly and Knox’s wasn’t something I was willing to do.

“Your sugar daddy, Rownan, isn’t paying you enough? He’s pretty fucking loaded, babe. Maybe he isn’t as fucking dumb as I am just to hand over everything to you.”

His words stung me. I knew Dominic thought that money was the reason behind my lies, and even though I knew the truth, it still hurt me to know that is how he saw me.

“I’m working for him yes, but nothing more,” I said sternly. I didn’t want to keep on letting on that Rownan and I were together. Now that I had the CD, I wanted to try to correct anything I could between Dom and I so that in the end maybe there would be enough of us left to start over.

“Until you wave your fucking voodoo magic under his fucking nose and he falls just as hard as I did. You are like a fucking poison that slowly enters the system, only to hit hard at the perfect moment until there is nothing left of your control anymore. I feel sorry for the poor bastard when that finally does happen. It’s not fucking fun.”

“Nic, I...I” I stuttered, the truth hanging on the tip of my tongue like a sour taste I wanted to get rid of.

“Save it, Ash. I don’t need any more lies from you. I am about two seconds away from calling the cops. Get. The. Fuck. Out.” His words in a staccato as he enunciated each one. He bent over and reached for something on the other side of the table, and the breath left my lungs when I realized it was my purse. If he chose not to give it to me, I didn’t know what I would do. I needed it. I needed that bag to be able to get back to him.

Relief swam over me as he reached an arm out to hand me my bag. I padded over cautiously as the split down my shirt flapped in the wind exposing me in my bra. I reached him in a few steps and we stood there with the table between us. I extended my hand to reach for the bag, only to find Dominic keeping a secure grip on it. Our eyes connected as we stood with the table acting as a barrier between us, a representation of everything we have been through thus far. The barrier that Dominic himself had placed between us when he denied his feelings toward me, the barriers I held when I wasn’t sure I wanted to jump into something so soon after Jared, and the barrier of blackmail that was now keeping us apart.

Our hands were mere millimeters apart as we stood there in silence, letting our eyes say everything that our mouths would not. My heart was beating frantically in my chest, squeezing it dry, and sending stabbing pains through me. It physically hurt to not be with the man I loved the way we should be, the way I wanted to be.

The moment passed quickly as Dominic let go of my purse and I clutched it to me like a lifeline.

“Go.”

I stood there for a few moments longer hoping to silently communicate to him my inner thoughts and turmoil about all the vile things I did to him. I knew I couldn’t be with him, but I was doing what I had to do. I just didn’t know how to let him go.

“Go, I said!” This time his voice broke into my thoughts causing me to startle. I squeezed my eyes shut trying to hold on to just a few more seconds of being with him, before I turned away and all but stumbled my way toward the back door of the club. I looked back one last time and was startled again, when the loud clanking of the metal container that Dominic had the ice in went barreling against the back wall of the stage. The image of Dominic leaning his hands down on the table with his chest heaving was one that nearly broke me and wouldn’t leave my memory any time soon.

I escaped into the warm May air of the Chicago night, trying to get away from Dominic and The Celtic Knot as fast as I could before I turned around and told Dominic everything. Every part of me was breaking having to witness the anguish and turmoil he was going through.

I barely had enough time to shut the door behind me and try to wrap my torn shirt around me when I was forcefully yanked aside and a hand clamped over my mouth.

“Shut up.” Asher’s voice said in my ear. His death grip on my mouth would no doubt cause bruises later. My arm was twisted painfully behind me, as I was drug away and thrown into a car that was waiting at the curb. Inside, Drake waited and the driver quickly sped off as soon as Asher followed behind me.

“What the fuck happened in there, Ashley? We saw Dominic enter from across the street. Did he catch you? I swear to God if you fucked up I will beat you until you will not be able to sit down for a week. I have wanted to for so long anyway.”

      
One whiff of the sickening smell of his cologne and my stomach protested. I placed a hand over my mouth trying to hold back what I knew I was not going to be able to stop this time.

“Stop. Pull over. I’m going to be sick.” I begged as I pulled at the door handle of the car while it still sped down the road. Asher gave the driver orders to pull over and just as we disappeared down an alleyway, I flung the door open and lost the contents of my stomach. It went on forever until my stomach had nothing left to expel and all that was left was dry heaves. I used the torn part of my shirt to wipe my mouth before closing the door and leaning my head back against the back seat of the car wishing that everything would stop spinning. Both men were grumbling about how “disgusting” and “gross” me getting sick was. I wanted to cock punch both of them, even more so than before.

“I’ll ask you one more time, Ashley. What the fuck happened with Michaels in there? Don’t tell me you fucked him because that would piss me off even more.”

“Well, I won’t tell you then.” I bit out sarcastically. I was sick, tired, and overwhelmed from everything that had happened tonight. I was losing all patience with him and everything. A hand clamped around my throat and squeezed, blocking my airway. I gasped, trying to suck air into my lungs, but it was no use.

“Listen you fucking whore, you will respect me. I told you that I was going to own you. You just wait. Now, one last time. What. The. Fuck. Happened?” he said getting right up in my face. If my airway weren’t compromised, I would be turned off by the pungent smell of his closeness, but instead, I lifted my hands to try and pull his from around my throat. Everything started to fade around me, narrowing my vision so that the only thing I could focus on was the one bastard who I hated the most. My brain became fuzzy and my arms grew weak as each moment went by that I couldn’t breathe.

“Let her go, man. She’s gonna pass out,” Drake said from the seat next to me. Instantly, Asher’s vice relented and I coughed as air burned my throat and lungs as I gasped for breath. Asher sat back with his arms across his chest waiting for me to answer. After a moment, the blackness that began to surround me slowly started to fade, as I began to regain my normal sight.

“I did what you told me. I put the file in the green cabinet and put the key back in the drawer when I was done. Dominic didn’t catch me in the office, I was caught downstairs in the Common Room on my way out the back door,” I explained. It wasn’t the full truth. If I told them that I took a pit stop to nostalgically remember my first night at the club, then it would only piss him off more. They would probably think that I intended to get caught.

“What happened when Michaels caught you?”

“What do you think happened? He got pissed. Wanted to know why I was in the club. I had a hell of a time trying to come up with an explanation. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell him anything.” I said as I gripped my bag closer to me. If either of them knew what I had in there, it would all be over and the last chance I had to fix everything would go out the window.

Asher slid his hands up my thigh, and when I tried to buck it off, he clutched it painfully in his hand. His bony fingers pinched my flesh, causing me to cry out.

“Drake, I think maybe you should step out. I need to teach Ashley here how to properly address and speak to a man, right before I make her suck me off,” Asher said still keeping a grip on my thigh.

“No!” I yelled and I started to thrash around in my seat to get away from him. Heat, pain, and shock rippled through me as the back of Asher’s hand collided with my cheek, knocking my head sideways. The forceful slap caused my face to engulf in a fiery burning sensation and my ear began to ring.