Figure Eight (Celtic Knot Book 2) (9 page)

“Damn, Nic, don’t take it out on her,” Toby said in chastisement. I scooted over to Victoria and wrapped my arm around her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Vic, I didn’t mean to take it out on you,” I said as I squeezed her against my side. I have always felt comfortable around Victoria; we became great friends over the years. We hired her on at the club in Reno, and that is where she transformed from the sweet Victoria, to Madam V. Being Dominant helped her get over the years of abuse from her ex, and now she was a natural and very well sought after by men and women at the club.

I polished off my second beer in a matter of minutes, and thought it wise to get some food in me. I took a heaping bite of rice and turned to Toby.

“So where do we go from here?” I said while I tried to chew my rice. Toby sat his plate down and reached for a napkin to wipe sweet and sour sauce that had dribbled down his chin.

“First things first, we need to have a meeting with all the staff. Decide who would be willing to testify on your behalf. Maybe we can interview some of the members as well and see if any are willing to help.”

He paused as he took a swig of his beer before setting it back down onto the coffee table. Knox and Victoria were taking in his suggestions along with me.

“Knox, you should get with your security guys, look through footage and see if there is anything we can find on camera that might be damaging. I don’t care what it is. The prosecution will use anything and everything they can to make you look guilty.” Toby looked out the window and opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again as if he were struggling to say his next words.

“What, Toby?” I asked him impatiently. Knox and Victoria had stopped eating and focused all of their attention on him.

“I think, I think one of us needs to talk to Ashley.”

My face went stark white and the fork I was holding fell to clank against the hardwood floor, breaking the silence that had strewn between us. I watched in slow motion as all three of their heads turned to look at me and Knox’s eyes narrowed at me suspiciously.

“Dominic, I can talk to her if you want,” Toby suggested.

“You didn’t…” Knox chimed in, “Tell me you fucking didn’t. Dammit, Nic! I knew I shouldn’t have left you today.”

I placed my elbows on my knees and fisted my hair in my hands as I hung my chin towards my chest. Victoria placed her hand on my knee, trying to grab my attention.

“Nic, tell us what happened,” she said in a reassuring voice. Knox stood up so fast he nearly knocked over the food on the table. Memories of how I had fucked Ashley only hours before flooded my thoughts—the feel of her skin beneath me as I pressed her up against the door. My dick twitched in my pants just from the thought of it. She was the only person that could heal the broken parts of me, only she could heal what no medicine could fix. I have been completely taken by her the moment she walked into my club, she was both a relief and a curse.

“Dammit, Nic, you went over there didn’t you?” he asked as he paced back and forth in front of all of us. Toby and Victoria’s heads both snapped in my direction.

“Is that true, Nic? Did you go see her? What did you say to her? You should have known better. Anything you said to her could be used against us,” Toby said. I looked at him and then to Victoria who had a weird expression on her face. I couldn’t tell if it was anger or what.

“I did, not much was said,” I admitted. I rose from the chair, walked over to the pool table, and started to rack the balls. I needed something to keep my hands busy or I was going to fucking lose it.

“You’ve probably scared the shit out of her. I still have this feeling that she didn’t do it on purpose. Talking to Kelly, she said that this is completely out of character for her. She has always been trustworthy and someone who is loyal to those she loves.”

“So says her
best friend
, Knox. If she didn’t do it on purpose, then why did she do it? Not only did she hurt Nic, but also she put us all out of a job. Are you forgetting that it is your ass on the line too, or are you too pussy whipped by her friend to see who she really is?”

“That is crossing the line, Vic,” Knox snapped. Being a man who shaved his head, you could see the blood vessels on his crown as they forcefully pumped the blood through his veins. I watched him trying to keep his emotions under control after Victoria’s insinuation. For the moment, the spotlight was taken off of me and my indiscretion this afternoon.

“Alright, look guys. We need to keep level headed about this. Fighting with each other will not do you any good. We need to stay together in this if we want to get past it all,” Toby said interrupting us.

I leaned over the pool table, lining up the cue ball as I stroked the smooth wood of my pool stick. I gave it a few priming swipes between my fingers before pulling back and ramming it into the white ball, sending it barreling down and colliding with the triangle stack of balls at the end of the table. I couldn’t help but watch as it hit the stack, sending each ball flying off in opposite directions and how much it reflected my life at the moment. One ball—one object that sent the others off into motion upon impact. Ashley was the white ball, and each colored ball was a piece of me, that was now left scattered upon a landscape of green felt.

Knox approached and put his hand on my arm.

“Nic, what happened?” he said in a low voice that Toby and Victoria couldn’t hear. I turned to the living room to find them clearing the mess of food containers off of the table. I couldn’t look Knox in the eye, so I busied myself lining up my next shot.

“I went to get answers, Knox. I’m going fucking crazy. I can’t stop thinking about her—I can’t get her off my fucking mind. I can’t stop hating her, but worst of all I can’t stop loving her,” I admitted as I shot the cue into the three ball letting it fall into the corner pocket.

“What did she say?” he asked me curiously. This was not going to go over well.

“Not much. I really didn’t give her much of an opportunity. I-I kind of lost control and then went off on her before we…” I trailed off not wanting to admit what I had done. I lined up the ball once again to take my next shot. Knox’s hand came down on the stick stopping me from completing my task.

“Before you what, Nic?”

“Before I fucked her.” I admitted as I leaned my forehead down on the smooth velvet of the pool table.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Dominic!” Knox roared. I threw the pool stick down on the table as Toby and Victoria both looked in our direction.

“What is going on?” Toby asked.

“Oh, nothing. Our boy here may have just sealed our fate by going to visit Ashley today and fucking her!”

Toby just sighed and Victoria looked half disgusted. I stood there with my hands on my hips as I remained under scrutiny from my friends.

“Ugh, enough of this crap. I think we need a break. What do you guys say we go out tonight?” Victoria asked us all.

We all looked at each other, and I nodded in agreement. I wanted to get Ashley off of my mind even if I had to go out and get shit faced drunk to do so.

I walked statically into the studio for class with a heavy heart. Dominic’s presence still felt like it lingered on my body and I involuntarily touched my hips to feel the marks that I knew existed there. It was bad enough seeing him this morning, knowing how angry and closed off to me he was, but also to be reminded by my best friend, who was also mad at me, that it was my birthday.

The studio was already abuzz when I entered. Rownan was already there in a robe talking to Ginny, and I chuckled because I knew that was the reason why everyone was talking at once. I took a brief moment to pause and examine his profile. His soft wavy dark hair was a tad too long, but somehow worked on him. Even from a distance I could make out the beautiful length of his eyelashes; eyelashes that any woman would kill for that made his blue eyes even more prominent. He was tall, so tall in fact, that Ginny looked like a child next to him, barely having the top of her head reach his chest.

I don’t know how long it was that I stood there admiring his beautiful features, but I was embarrassed when Rownan looked over and saw me gawking at him. He flashed me a beautiful smile that had all the blood rushing to my face, making my cheeks ten shades of red. I smiled warmly in return before ducking my head and walking over to my stool at my station to get my stuff ready to finish the abstract.

“Good morning, love,” Rownan’s smooth British accent came rolling over my shoulder causing me to startle and drop my brushes and palette tumbling to the floor. Thank God, they were clean this time.

“Good morning,” I replied as I bent over to pick up my mess. Rownan bent his long legs and squatted down next to me, helping me retrieve my items.

“Thank you,” I said appreciatively.

“My pleasure, love. You look to be in better health today,” he acknowledged.

“I am feeling much better. Thank you, Rownan, for helping me. I-I don’t have many friends right now,” I confessed as I focused my gaze on the ground instead of the seam in his robe that was now a little more giving than moments before. My face flushed once more at the thought of him being naked under the cloth.

“Again, my pleasure, love. I better get back to Ginny so we can get started with class.”

“Oh, okay.”

He went to find Ginny as I sat down at my stool and uncovered my picture. I sighed as I looked at the picture of Dominic I painted on Monday. I took in each hard line of his jaw, his dark chocolate eyes, and the muscles I painted of his chest. Even though I was looking at Rownan when I painted it, I painted everything before me from memory. Every feature, every line, every shadow, were pictures that I had carried in my mind since the day I met Dominic.

“Good morning, class!” Ginny said cheerfully as she addressed us all. Her hair was tied up in another one of her colorful scarves, and was in deep contrast with the bright red peasant skirt she wore. The patterns and colors reminded me of a Mexican style rug.

“Today we will finish up our abstracts so that they will have time to dry. Rownan here has a wonderful surprise for all of you.”

Mumbles came from the class as Ginny directed Rownan to address the class.

“A week from Saturday, my gallery will be hosting an art showing and gala. I am going to be displaying all of your pieces at the show and you are all welcome to attend.”

Excited cries and ahs came from the class while all I could do was sit there with my mouth hanging open. He wanted to display our work? I looked at my painting and to several others around me, although their pieces didn’t look exactly like Rownan, mine looked
nothing
like him because it wasn’t him.

“Ok, get started. Mr. Kleinfield, strip,” Ginny said as she clapped her hands together with animation. I got to work mixing my colors. I only needed to add a few details and finishing touches to the piece, so I stayed with dark colors to provide some contour and contrast. I tried not to glance too often at Rownan’s naked form, but every once in a while, my gaze lingered.

It felt like only moments had passed as I worked on my painting. I became so focused on the image of Dominic in front of me that everything else just existed in my peripheral around me. I didn’t realize just how much time had gone by until I heard Ginny’s voice interrupt my process.

“Ok, put on those finishing touches, class. Time is almost up,” she announced as she made a circle around to each of us, giving her critique. I washed all of my tools and then went to retrieve my purse from the rack where we kept everything out of the way. As I lifted the leather strap off the hook, the buckle holding it to the side gave way and broke, sending the entire contents of my bag scattering on the floor.