Seduction (Club Destiny) (14 page)

More than once,
she’d figured this was all her fault. First of all, she hadn’t told him that
she was a virgin, and when she’d seen the recognition on his face, she’d nearly
cried. He didn’t cringe, he didn’t panic... no, something very possessive had
flashed in his bright green eyes, and it had shot an arrow straight through her
heart.

On top of that,
Ashleigh had been hiding who she was as an author, worried it would make people
think of her differently. She was beginning to think that was the case with
Alex, only he was thinking that she didn’t want any of those things she wrote
about. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

She should’ve
known better. After that one night at the guest house, Ashleigh should have
seen the signs then. He was treating her like she would break if he handled her
too roughly. She might break some other things if he didn’t get that out of his
head.

A decade ago,
Ashleigh had seen the prelude to what they shared the other night in his bed,
but Alex had apparently been scared that long ago night. She remembered the
argument he’d had with her, the way he had cut her to the bone with his words.
Words she was pretty sure he didn’t remember.

“Ashleigh,
wait.” Alex’s deep voice reverberated through the room as he pulled away from
her.

He was on top of
her on the couch, her shirt was unbuttoned, her bra unhooked, and he had been
doing wondrous things to her nipples with his skilled tongue. And she had
innocently weaved her hand between them, wanting to touch him, wanting to make
him crazy with need, the same way she was. And since
he
was on top
of
her
, she wasn’t so sure why he was telling her to wait. He had all the
power.

“What’s wrong?”
She asked, staring up into the glowing emeralds in his eyes.

“How can you ask
me that? Fuck.” He pushed himself up, a little unsteady, but he finally made it
to his feet.

“Did I do something
wrong?” She asked, fumbling to get her bra hooked and holding her shirt
together, trying to cover herself.

“No. And that’s
the problem. You’re doing everything right, but we can’t do this. We, Ashleigh.
You and me.”

“Why not?” For
the life of her, she didn’t understand, but she knew from the glare he was
pinning her with that he was about to tell her.

“Because you’re
too damn young for me. Too sweet. Too innocent. You can’t handle a man like me,
Ash.” With that, he stormed across the room.

“And what makes
you think that?” Fury ripped through her gut. What the hell made him think she
couldn’t handle him? From the looks of it, she was doing a damn good job so
far.

“I know you,
Ash. You need someone to love you. Someone to make love to you. I’m not that
man.”

“And what do you
need?” She asked, figuring since he thought he’d pegged her it was only fair
she understand where he was going with this.

He surprised her
when he walked back toward her, roughly pulling her against him. The force of
his movements had her stumbling into him.

“Baby, I need a
woman who will go to her knees and let me bury my dick down her throat without
needing meaningless words.”

A sharp bolt of
lust burst from her core, radiating downward. Something about the graphic image
he put in her head made her want to do just that. But apparently, according to
Alex, she wasn’t that type of girl.

Not that she
even knew what type of girl she was when it came to sex. She’d never been with
a man before. Not like this.

“You’re not
ready for that. And I’m not ready for you, Ash. No matter how bad I want to
fuck you, it’d never be enough.”

Ashleigh pulled
away from him then, shocked and hurt by his statement. She prayed it was the
booze talking, but something told her that the truth was coming out. She wanted
him to go, but he was too drunk to drive, so she did the only thing she knew to
do.

“I’m taking you
home. My brother can bring your truck to you tomorrow.”

“No.” He
insisted, but stumbled as he tried to make it to the door.

Ashleigh grabbed
her keys from the table; pocketing his while she was at it so he couldn’t get
to them, before following behind him. It took a little manipulation, but she
finally got him into the passenger seat of her car and gratefully he closed his
eyes and passed out.

The memory still
pissed her off and made her want to hit him. Apparently ten years didn’t change
his mind because Alex was still treating her like fragile porcelain.

She needed to
come up with a plan to change his perspective, to educate him a little more.
She didn’t want to be the dominate one in the relationship, she wanted to be
dominated. She wanted to relinquish control to this man.

The stories she
wrote, and the stories that Sam and Sierra had told her were what she wanted.
She only wondered how hard she would have to work to penetrate his thick skull.

~~*~~

“Alex?” The
timid voice on the other end of the phone had Alex stopping abruptly. He had
just walked out of Xavier’s office and was heading to his car, hoping he could
stop by Ashleigh’s for a little while when his phone rang.

Stopping
midstride, he asked, “Jessie? What’s the matter?” Alex wasn’t sure he wanted to
know the answer to that question.

“Can you come
over? I think he’s –” The words were cut off and a gruff voice erupted in the
background seconds before the call ended.

Alex took off at
a run, dialing the number back and praying Jessie would answer the phone. When
she didn’t, he focused on getting into his truck and getting out of the damn
parking garage.

By the time he
was on the highway, at least another fifteen minutes before he could make it to
her house, Alex had a pretty good idea what the hell was going on. He tried
dialing her phone again. This time someone answered, but it wasn’t Jessie.

“What the fuck
do you want?” The angry words were slurred, but Alex heard them loud and clear.

“Where’s
Jessie?” He asked, putting his foot to the floor.

“What the fuck
do you care, McDermott?”

Fuck. The
irrational voice was all too familiar, and Alex still couldn’t understand what the
hell was wrong with Jessie that she would let the bastard keep coming back.
“Jeff,” Alex tried for calm, “where is Jessie?”

“Hell if I know.
The crazy bitch took off.”

Alex gunned the
engine, gritting his teeth to keep from swearing. It would only piss Jeff off
more and not being able to come between him and Jessie at the moment, Alex was
at a loss.

“Did she leave?”

“Fuck if I know.
Why don’t you come over and try to save the day like you always do, McDermott?
You know that bitch just eats it up, you always coming to her rescue and all.”
Jeff rambled.

Alex wanted to
hang up, but at least with Jeff on the phone, he knew where the man was at. “Is
she hurt?” He had to ask the question, although it would likely set Jeff off.

“What the fuck
do you care?” Jeff repeated himself, obviously good and drunk which was when he
usually went on the rampage and found himself over at Jessie’s despite the
restraining order.

“Did you hurt
her, Jeff?” Alex annunciated slowly, hoping the man would answer. Taking a hard
left, Alex pulled into Jessie’s neighborhood.

Jeff still
wasn’t answering him, but now that he could see Jessie’s house from his truck,
he didn’t have to keep him on the line. Without saying a word, he disconnected
the call before pulling into the driveway and throwing the truck in Park.

Jessie’s car was
there, but he didn’t see her outside, so he went to the door, knowing he’d
better gear up for a fight because if the past was any indication, it wasn’t
going to be pretty.

“Jessie!” Alex
called out to her when he walked in the open front door. He glanced over at
Jeff but didn’t speak to the man. He was sitting on the couch, acting like he
owned the place.

That definitely
wasn’t the case because Alex knew who owned the fucking house. He did.

“Where is she?”
Alex stopped short, staring at the skinny bastard lounging on the couch. What
the hell Jessie ever saw in the man, Alex would never know.

“Fuck, dude. Are
you stupid? I told you on the phone I don’t know where she’s at.”

Alex wandered
through the small two bedroom house, glancing in both bedrooms, the bathroom,
but Jessie wasn’t there. He didn’t figure she was, but he had to try. Going
through the kitchen, he walked out onto the back steps, glancing at the
separate garage.

“Jessie.” He
called out to the only other place for her to have possibly gone.

When he opened
the door, he found her lying on the floor, curled into a ball, crying.

“Damn it,
Jessie.” Alex said without heat as he went to her and cradled her in his arms.
“What the hell did he do to you?”

She was bruised
pretty badly, but some of them were already fading, so Alex knew they weren’t
all from today. But her lip was split and bleeding, and there was a gash above
her right eye. A red haze clouded his vision, long since forgotten memories
rising up from the ashes, and for a fraction of a second, he considered going
inside and kicking the living shit out of Jeff.

Instead, he
inhaled slowly, the scent of gasoline and mildew filling his lungs. He could
think of so many other places he’d rather be.

“Jessie, I need
to get you up.” He needed to check for any other wounds, see if she needed to
go to the hospital.

When he reached
for her hand, he found her wrist contorted at an odd angle, and she was holding
it close to her body. Son of a bitch. The bastard broke her fucking arm.

Pulling out his
cell phone, Alex did the only thing he knew to do. He called 911 and gave them
the address. He informed them to bring the police because Jeff was violating
the restraining order against him. When Jessie started to grumble something, he
ignored her.

Half an hour
later, the ambulance was taking Jessie to Baylor of Dallas and Alex was talking
to the officer on the scene. Jeff’s drunken ass had been hauled away after a little
bit of a scuffle, which would hopefully keep him in protective custody for a
little while.

As soon as Alex
pulled off the street, heading to the hospital to take care of the paperwork
for Jessie, he dialed Dylan’s phone number.

“Hey.” Dylan
greeted. “Where are you?”

“Sorry, man. I
was handling a personal matter when you called earlier. What’s up?”

“I wanted to see
if you’d be up to meeting Jake tomorrow morning in the office.”

Alex had to think
about who Jake was, but then he remembered Dylan was in the process of hiring a
couple of sales people for the home security side of the business. “I’ll be in
early, but then I have to head out around noon. Cole and I have to go talk to a
guy in Austin. What time will he be there?”

“I’ll have him
come in around eight if that works for you.” Dylan told him.

“Sounds good.
See you at eight.”

“Hey, Alex. Is
everything alright?” Dylan asked, obviously picking up on Alex’s frustration.

“It will be.” He
said vaguely. “Look, I gotta go. I’ll see you in the morning.”

With that, Alex
tossed the phone in the passenger seat and focused on getting to the hospital.
This was fast becoming the worst part of his week.

***
~~ *** ~~ *** ~~ ***

Ashleigh was
sitting in a booth, in the far back corner of the small diner, across from Sam.
She had suggested a different place than their normal steakhouse lunch, hoping
a change of scenery might do her some good.

“Where’s
Sierra?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know.”
Ashleigh said looking up from her menu. “I thought you would know.”

Confusion
backlit Sam’s celadon green eyes before she glanced at the door. “I talked to
her this morning. She said she wasn’t feeling well, but that she would try to
meet us. I guess when I didn’t hear from her, I thought that meant she’d be
here.”

“Did she say
what was wrong?” Ashleigh hadn’t talked to Sierra in a week or so. The woman
was busy with her interior design business, and between that and juggling two
men, apparently she didn’t have much free time to talk. Aside from their weekly
lunch dates.

“No, she didn’t.
But, you know, she hasn’t been feeling well for a while now.”

“Do you
think...?” Ashleigh let the question die off. She didn’t want to stir up
gossip, especially where her friend was concerned.

“Do I think
what? Spill it, Ash.”

Leaning over so
only Sam could hear, Ashleigh glanced at the door and then back at Sam. “Do you
think she’s pregnant?”

“Oh my God!” Sam
exclaimed sitting upright. “I hadn’t even thought about that.” A mischievous
smirk split Sam’s pretty face and made her eyes dance with happiness. Who
would’ve thought?