Figure Eight (Celtic Knot Book 2) (11 page)

I stared at the text messages on my phone with a huge smile on my face. The message was right. It couldn’t have been better if we planned it ourselves. Things were falling in to place, and with little effort at that.

I couldn’t wait to rip more of Dominic’s heart out of his chest. I wanted to destroy him further, but I was told I couldn’t. Offering Drake money to help us had been my idea, and it was almost turned down until I reiterated how he could help us tremendously. He was easily manipulated into doing our bidding; making it well known, he would betray Dominic and Knox easily. The conspiracy surrounding Dominic was phenomenal. People that he trusted, loved even, were betraying him behind his back. I got a hard on just thinking about it.

When Dominic banned me from the club, I was going to just let things fucking slide and find another club to be a member that would be more accepting of my...
tastes
. I like to fuck, and fuck hard. Nothing turned me on more than to pound as forcefully into a woman as I could. I liked to leave my marks upon her body; I liked the punishment. I crave it, and I had never craved it more than when I saw Ashley at The Celtic Knot.

So when I was approached with the idea that would not only let me exact revenge on Dominic, but have Ashley as well, I jumped at the opportunity. When she denied me at the club, it only made my craving for her more intense. She was a compulsion to my system, a poison to my desires. I would make her mine. She would become my pet and I her master. No doubt with a bit of training, I would have her begging to please me; begging to fulfill my every sadistic desire I have had since I first laid eyes on her. I wanted Ashley, and someone else wanted Dominic. It would be a win-win situation for the both of us.

A picture came through on my phone of Ashley and Rownan dancing together at Intentions. As much as it raged me to see my pet dancing with another man, the thought of what it must be doing to Dominic right now, made the sacrifice worth it.

Downing my glass of scotch, I reached for my suit jacket and slipped it on with practiced grace. I placed my phone in my front pocket and grabbed my keys. I needed to get to the club to bear witness to Dominic losing his shit right there in the middle of that dance floor.

Several shots, the pulsing beat of the music as it pumped into the air, and the company of a gorgeous, sweet man had made my birthday almost tolerable. Sweat was running down my back and causing the fabric of my blue tunic dress to cling to my skin, soaking up the moisture. Rownan had sweat on his brows as he moved smoothly to the beat of Enrique Iglesias’ “I’m a Freak” pummeling through the club. He honestly did have some “mad skills” as he put it. How in the world a man of his height could move like he did was beyond me. He was graceful, the way his tall muscular body swayed to the beat of song.

I began to relax more as the alcohol began circulating through my veins and found myself laughing and having fun with Rownan. Even though Dominic wasn’t far from my mind, I enjoyed the fact that the devastation I felt was currently at a dull roar instead of screaming at me inside of my skull.

The song changed beats, becoming the more sensual, sultry pulse of R. Kelly’s “Bump and Grind.” Rownan reached for my hand, pulled me closer to his body, and began to gyrate his hips against mine. The move was intimate and sexual, and I felt my traitorous body respond to his movements. I stiffened slightly feeling like I was betraying Dominic all over again by allowing another man to put his hands on me, but Rownan just edged me on and soon I joined him matching him move for move. We smiled at each other as we lost ourselves into the moves and the music. The hair of my side ponytail clung to my cheeks as the heat in my body began to build.

Without warning, Rownan spun me around to where I was now facing the direction he once was and my gaze fell upon Asher. He was perched upon a barstool with his drink in hand staring at me with something that looked like rage and heat in his eyes. I continued dancing with Rownan, hoping that he didn’t notice the falter in my step by the unexpected surprise of seeing Asher in the club. As the song came to an end, Rownan squeezed me into a quick chaste hug before leaning in to me.

“You up for another drink, love?” he asked as I kept my eyes pinned on the sorry excuse for a man behind him at the bar. Asher stood up from the stool and nodded his head behind him toward the hallway that led to an exit and the bathrooms, signaling me without words that I was to follow.

“Sure,” I said smiling up at him. “I’ll take a beer this time, but I need to hit the ladies room first. Grab one for me and I will meet you at the bar?” I said as I plastered on a fake smile. Rownan squeezed my hand before letting it go and walking over to the bar to order our drinks. I drew in a shaky breath before I looked to make sure that Rownan didn’t see who I was about to meet up with and set off toward the hallway.

I tried to conjure up the bravery that people said you got when you were tipsy or drunk, but I was finding it harder and harder to do as I approached Asher. Dread filled my stomach to the point of sickness, causing my steps to falter slightly.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I bit out through clenched teeth. I had followed his orders; I did everything he asked me to, including destroying my love, my best friend and my own heart. His constant need to check up on me was sincerely beginning to piss me off more than I already was.

“So happy to see me, Ashley. I would watch your mouth if I were you, or I will take the privilege of talking away from that pretty little mouth of yours,” Asher said sardonically. He grasped me by the upper arm and began to drag me toward the hallway. Flashbacks to the night at the club when he forced me into the Rapture Room at The Celtic Knot and tied me to the bed against my will flashed into my mind. Bile began to rise into my throat and my heart beat wildly in my chest as panic began to set in. Was history about to repeat itself?

“You don’t have to manhandle me, Asher. Fucking let me go. I will follow you willingly,” I growled at him as I tried to yank my arm away from him. He tightened his grip painfully into my arm to the point I could feel his nails biting into my flesh.

“I have no doubt, Ashley. There will be other things that you will be doing
willingly
soon,” he said as he spun me around and slammed my back against the wall knocking the breath out of me. I tried to remain unphased by his brutal tactics, but I was barely hanging on by a thread. He lifted his hand to stroke my cheek and I flinched from the disgust of even a mere touch from him.

“You are exquisite, Ashley. Mmm. I cannot wait to make you my pet.” He said in a husky voice while leaning in to smell the curve of my neck and I shivered with repugnance. I summoned all the strength I could find and shoved him as hard as I could, sending him stumbling backward.

“You will never own me. You will never have me. You may think you have won, but mark my words, Asher, I will find a way out of this. I won’t let you harm my friends or Dominic.”

“Watch your fucking mouth, Ashley. I would hate to see something happen to your friends. Oh look, here is one now,” he said as he showed me a picture of Kelly on his phone. I noticed that everything around her was purple. The walls, the couches, and I gasped when I realized she was in the club.

“You better not harm a fucking bone in her body. I have done everything you have asked me to do. I have given up everything you sadistic son-of-a-bitch!” I yelled with fierce anger. A few people that lingered in the hall turned their heads in our direction at my heated outburst.

I narrowed my eyes at him in warning. I was tired of being pushed around, but I needed to play along while I developed a plan. I needed to find help, but I couldn’t allow anyone close to me to intervene for fear that they would face a threat from Asher as well.

“I’m warning you, Ashley,” he said as he jabbed his hard, bony finger into my chest, “don’t fucking play games with me. This is bigger than you know and if one wrong thing happens, not only will your friends suffer, but I’ll take you down with me.”

“Fine, whatever,” I said as I tried to walk away.

“Oh, and Ashley?” he said grabbing my attention as I finally broke free of him and the sickening smell of his cologne that unwillingly invaded my nostrils. I reluctantly glanced over my shoulder in mock interest.

“You are going to have to testify in court.”

What!?!

And with that, he walked away leaving my heart at my feet and my stomach turning.

I wasn’t in a party mood anymore, so I left the hallway to go find Rownan to ask him to take me home. Just as I rounded the corner, I felt a hand grasp around my arm in the same place that Asher had moments before. I spun around quickly to confront him yet again.

“I said let me go you fucking…”

I didn’t finish my sentence. No sound protruded from my mouth as I stood there in stunned silence looking at the searing eyes of Dominic.

The tumbler in my hand slipped to the floor sending liquor, ice and shards of glass scattering to the floor. Heat rose in my face and my body began to tremble as I looked down on the dance floor to see Ashley grinding on Rownan. Rage, violence and pure unadulterated madness didn’t begin to even touch the feelings I was experiencing at the sight of her in the arms of another man only a few days after she ripped my world apart.

“What the fuck is going on?” Knox asked as he walked over to me and the mess that I had made on the floor. One of the servers was working furiously to clean up the glass around me as I continued to watch the horrid sight in front of me. When Knox reached me, he looked to me, then to the image on the dance floor.