Figure Eight (Celtic Knot Book 2) (25 page)

“She safe worded? She fucking safe worded? Goddammit Dominic! There is no telling what you have done to that girl. You realize what the consequences of that could be right?”

Yeah, I knew. I knew that not only could I have compromised her trust in me, or other men in general, but also that she could possible use that against me in court and that could have dire consequences.

“Someone had to have let her in right? I mean the security system has to have that key card swipe thingy and a regular key to gain access, right? Oh, God! I have to find her. There is no telling what she is feeling right now.”

Kelly grabbed her purse and took off out of the backdoor of the club. Something she said grabbed my attention. She was correct when she said that someone had to use their keycard as well as a regular key to gain access into the club. Even though Ashley was an employee of the club, I never gave her a keycard. Since I wasn’t here to let her in and Knox was with Kelly at her apartment that meant that only four other people could have given her access. Only four other people possessed keycards other than Knox and myself.

The security team.

Knox approached me cautiously. I could tell he was holding back his anger and to keep from giving me a piece of his mind. How could I not have thought about that before?

“Knox,” I said as the epiphany suddenly came to me.

“What?” he bit out.

“Kelly is right. Someone had to have let her in. There are only six of us who hold key cards.”

Toby looked up from having his head down on the table. He used his index fingers to rub at his temples indicating his frustration.

“What does that mean?” he asked as he continued his clockwise motions.

“That means all we have to do is find out from the security company whose card was swiped last night to let Ashley into the club.”

“Yeah, but she could have stolen it from someone,” Toby suggested.

“True, but it’s a start.”

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and brought the touchscreen to life. Just as I was about to hit send, Officer Russell and the other officers entered the Common Room.

“Well, did you find or not find everything you were looking for?” Knox asked sarcastically having the same disdain that I shared for Russell.

Russell’s sardonic chuckle had me pulling the phone from my ear. I clenched it in my hands with enough force that I felt like the plastic covering could shatter apart in my hands at any moment.

Control your anger, Nic.

“Oh, yes,” he said as he approached us. “These should come in handy for the prosecution,” he said as he tapped a manila folder against the palm of his hands. “You actually should have done a better job about hiding the financial records for all the money you two were making selling your whores.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I said as my body vibrated with anger. Russell approached and held out a stack of papers he pulled from the folder. My eyes scanned over them, not believing what I was seeing. Line after line of records indicating sales of girls, how much they made, and how much money it appeared that Knox and I made from those sales.

“This is all bullshit!” I yelled at Russell. The papers were yanked from my hands as Knox and Toby both rushed to my side.

“Well, we will let the judge be the
judge
of that,” Russell said as he and the other officers turned and walked out of the club.

I was so angry I couldn’t move. My body vibrated with rage.

All thoughts of calling the security company and everything else faded into the back of my mind.

“Ashley, do you think you are pregnant?” Rownan asked me, only he seemed far off, like there was a great physical distance between us. I was having an out of body experience as it felt like I was floating above where I sat, looking upon my life happening in slow motion.

Pregnant?

It was very possible. Dominic and I had had unprotected sex around the time that I was on antibiotics for a horrible sinus infection. The idea kept swimming around in my head.

Me.

A mother.

Did I want to be a mother? Without a doubt. Jared and I were married for seven years. I begged him nearly every day for us to be able to start working on a family. He always gave me the same excuse that he wanted to finish school and start his career first.

I remember not too long after I caught him cheating and moved in with Kelly, that I sat at our dining room table and watched as a mother played with her children at the park across from the apartment. I remembered the envy and jealousy that I felt when that mother lifted her child into her arms and held on with all the love I knew she was feeling in her heart. I wanted that. I wanted that more than anything in the world. Am I thankful that it wasn’t Jared that I had children with? Yes. But if I were pregnant, how would I feel about Dominic being the father? How would he feel about being a father?

My head was spinning from the thought. There was no way that I could bring a child into this world with all the shit that is going on around us. I needed to get that video to the police before the trial started in a few weeks.

I moved to stand up and Rownan stopped me before I could make it to my feet.

“Where are you going?” he asked with concern.

“I need to get that video to the police, Rownan. I have to stop this. I have to put that monster away before he gets away with anymore of this blackmail.”

“I agree, love, but if you think that there is even a slight chance that you could be expecting, don’t you think you should go find out?”

He had a point, but I wanted to get this over with. I was tired of this blackmail hanging over my head and tired of worrying whether Asher was going to make good on his threats to hurt my friends.

“Please, Rownan. I just want to get it over with,” I begged. He nodded his head and rose reaching his hand out to help me to my feet and steadying me once I got there.

“Tell you what. Let me take you to your apartment so you can get cleaned up and I can run to the drugstore for you while you are getting ready. If you are indeed carrying a wee one in this gorgeous flat belly of yours, then you need to start taking care of yourself now,” he said as he placed his hand on my belly. It was a very intimate gesture, and if it would have been anyone else, I would have been offended, but it was Rownan. The same man who had done nothing but care for me pretty much since we met. I would be forever thankful to him for all he has done for me.

“Deal,” I smiled.

I climbed into the shower almost immediately when I got to the apartment. I was thankful for the warm water as it coated and caressed my body, washing the grime of yesterday away. What happened between Dominic and me at the club kept playing like a movie over and over in my mind. I felt broken and used by the way that he treated me, but at the same time, I felt as if I deserved it. I scrubbed at my body with the loofah until my skin was red and angry. No matter how hard I tried, it seemed I could never get clean enough to wash away the sins that I have committed against everyone.

After rinsing off, I turned off the taps and reached for the towel on the bar hanging from the wall. I fought back a wave of nausea as I dried myself off. After wrapping my hair in another towel and brushing my teeth, I padded to my bedroom to get dressed. It was starting to get hot outside being the end of May, so I settled for a light pink paisley print sundress. It was comfortable and easy to wear, and made me feel a little pretty even though I was not feeling pretty at the moment.

After sipping on the dress, I placed my hands over my belly in a warm, comforting gesture. Was there actually a baby growing inside of me? A little life that Dominic and I both created? I imagined my belly growing as it swelled with a life that I created. I envisioned Dominic and I both together, happy, and raising our little boy or girl together. I was no longer sitting at the coffee table peering out the window at the mother across the street at the park. I was her. I was the one who got an emotional joy out of watching her child run around with laughter and pink cheeks.

I was brought out of my fantasy when the sound of the doorbell interrupted my thoughts. Thinking that it must be Rownan back from the store already, I scurried down the hall to let him in. I unwrapped my hair from the towel quickly, and threw it on the back of the couch before trying to run my fingers through my long blonde hair before I answered the door.

The doorbell rang repeatedly with impatience from the person on the other side.

Why is he in such a hurry?

      
I chuckled. “Coming!” I yelled as my small snicker continued. Grabbing the handle of the front door, I yanked it open.

“What are you so…?” I began, but the question died on my lips. The person on the other side of the door wasn’t Rownan. It was Madam V, Victoria, as I had become to know her.

What the hell is she doing here?

“Hi,” I said, surprise evident on my face. Victoria and I hadn’t had very much interaction since I started going to The Celtic Knot and seeing Dominic. We didn’t even converse much after I became an employee either, so her showing up to my apartment had me both intrigued and nervous.

“May I come in?” she asked as she tossed her dark ebony hair over her shoulder. Her dark eyes smoldered and her lips were her usual blood red. She was always so immaculately dressed even when she was in casual attire.

“Yes, of course,” I replied as I stepped back to allow her to enter the apartment. She sashayed into my place with an elegant, confidant grace. If I would have been wearing the six inch stilettos that she wore with her skin hugging skinny jeans, I would have fallen flat on my face. Her grey, low cut tank she wore showed off the creamy white toned skin of her arms. She was beautiful, I felt small and homely compared to her.

“Nice...place,” she stated and I didn’t ignore the snootiness in her tone. She glanced around mine and Kelly’s place with distaste, like just being in the room was beneath her.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her nervously. The lack of interaction between us had me questioning her motives for being here. I have always felt uncomfortable around her. Especially the night that I first went to The Knot when she inspected me head to toe. I thought that night she was flirting with me, but after I thought about it, she was just sizing me up. That is what she did as the head Mistress of the club. It was her job to scope out the members and see if they were dominant or submissive. She was also responsible for matching up said submissives with a dom.

“I think we better sit down,” she suggested. I nodded my head and motioned for her to join me over on the couch. I scooted all the way against the arm of the couch and hugged one of the throw pillows in front of me like it would act as a barrier between Victoria and me. The vibe I was getting from her was not a pleasant one, and I knew she wasn’t here for just a social visit.

She sat straight, poised and with an atmosphere of dominance and her hands placed in her lap like a debutante. Her eyes took me in, as if sizing me up and I began to feel a little uncomfortable with the silence that stretched between us.

“Send a man to do a woman’s job,” she stated slightly shaking her head.

“Excuse me?” I asked as I tilted my head, not understanding what it was she was trying to say.