Owned by Him (8 page)

Ashley’s mouth opened wide,
staring at her. The silence started and kept going putting Amber on edge.

“Say something. You’re the
only one I’ve ever told.”

“I’ll say something when I’m
ready. You’ve been fucking Heather’s brother?”

Amber nodded.

“The guy
with the long hair and the well-built bod?”

“Yes and yes. What’s the
matter with you? I need to speak to someone about what’s going on, and you’re
the only one I can trust.”

“You want me to keep this
from the others?”

“Yes. I’m not stupid,
Ashley. I know you keep shit from us. I could never talk about this with
Heather or Connie.”

“I don’t feel comfortable
keeping something like this to myself,” Ashley said.

“Please, let me finish, and
then you can comment all you want.”

Amber went into a long
explanation detailing what happened between her and Elijah. She didn’t leave
anything out other than the more sordid, twisted bits. Amber opened up about
the domination and her part with Club Kink. The blonde and the weekend she
spent with him were also discussed.

By the end of it, Amber was
in tears and in Ashley’s arms.

“I agreed to a date with
Dale, and Elijah says he loves me. I don’t know what to do. I can’t tell
Heather, and I’m totally screwed. I hate this. I hate feeling like this.” She
sobbed out the words, wishing something would happen that would take her away
from all the pain and the heartache.

“Look, you’ve never been on
a date before, and Elijah’s never asked you out on a date, right?” Ashley said.

“No, he hasn’t.”

“This Dale knows the score.
Go on a date with him. God, get him to feel you up and kiss him. Take full
advantage of the date.”

Ashley wiped the tears away.
Amber felt like a child and pulled away. “What about Elijah?”

“Bastard had his chance.
He’s done nothing but use
you,
and I don’t like to hear
about my friends being used.”

“I love him as well,
Ashley.”

Her friend shrugged. “Dale
is not expecting anything from you. Go, date, have fun, and do everything you
should have done before being Elijah’s woman. You’re acting like he has some
prior claim over you, and that’s not the case at all. He has no claim at all.”

Amber agreed. Lying down on
the sofa, Amber rested her head on her friend’s lap. “Stay here with me
tonight?”

“Of
course, on one condition?”

“What condition?” Amber
asked.

“The instant you know how
you feel, you tell the others. I’m not keeping a secret for Elijah. He doesn’t
deserve it, and I’m pissed at him.”

Amber agreed with her friend
and closed her eyes.

****

Ashley left her friend’s
apartment early the next morning. She put a note on the fridge under a magnet
so Amber wouldn’t worry. There was no judgment for Amber’s secret relationship
with Elijah. No matter what Amber thought, there was a relationship going on
between the two.

Hitching her bag high on her
shoulder she headed toward the bar where she worked. Wade had offered her a job
at his bar, but she didn’t fuck and work in the same place. She picked guys up
from Wade’s place on a regular basis. There was no way she’d work in a place
where her exes could find her when she wasn’t prepared for it.

After listening to what
Amber had to say, Ashley knew she needed to do something about her own problem.

She’d been working at Flirt
for a few weeks now, and she loved it. The people were friendly, and the guards
at the door did a great job. It was closer to being a nightclub rather than a
bar. The women were young, thin, and wore barely any clothes.

Last night, before Amber’s
phone call, she’d met her real boss and the guy who owned Flirt. The guy was
none other than Jonathan Cook, the football captain who’d taken her virginity
and broken her heart in high-school. She recognized him instantly. The years
hadn’t changed him at all. Jonathan was still good looking, only now, there was
a maturity to his boy-next-door looks.

Wiping at her eyes, she
forced the tears down. Seeing him for the first time in over seven years had
sent pain spearing through her heart. Staring into his eyes she’d felt like she
was drowning with no way out.

Ashley had quit on the spot
and stormed out. Working for an ex who humiliated her in high-school and hurt
her deeply was not something she’d ever do for kicks.

The problem was
,
she needed this job. Going back to work as a secretary or
an assistant would drive her crazy. She needed the buzz of working behind a
bar. Smelling like alcohol wasn’t nice, but it was better than being in the
tight formal clothing that was demanded of her.

She walked the whole way to
Flirt. Outside the front, the path was a mess. She knew, come night, the place
would be immaculate.

Opening the door, she
stormed inside to confront the man from her past. Ashley found the barman
filling up the counter.

“Where’s the boss?” she
asked, startling him.

“’Round
back, in his office.
He’s not in a
good mood.”

“Then he matches my fucking
mood.” She didn’t wait and stormed toward the general direction. Her feeling
toward Jonathan was purely hatred. The bastard had ruined high-school for her.
He’d said things that made her believe she was so special, and then, he’d
crushed her into dust. Since that day, she’d never been the same carefree
Ashley. There was a time when she’d need more than a smile and promise to get
her in the sack.

The men she fucked now only
ever needed to promise a good time for the night, and she was happy. She’d lost
count of the number of men she’d taken to bed.

Slamming the door of his
office open, Ashley stopped and looked at him.

Jonathan looked up, glaring.
The instant he saw her, his gaze changed.

“You came back.”

Stepping into the office,
she closed the door then took a seat opposite him. “I need this job. I don’t
want to go back to working in an office. Flirt suits me. It’s what I want, and
I don’t want to change.”

“I was going to call you to
make sure you didn’t regret your decision.”

She held her hand up. “I
don’t like you. I want nothing to do with you. The way I see it, I’ve avoided
you for the last few weeks, and I can go on avoiding you.”

“I’m your boss.”

“You’re a fucking heartless
bastard, Jonathan. I want this job, but you can get someone else to give me
messages. After the way you treated me it’s the least you can do. It’s all I
ask.”

Ashley met his gaze, feeling
nothing but contempt when she looked at him.

“I’m sorry about what
happened.”

Standing up, she slammed her
palms on the desk and shook her head. “No, you’re not going to fucking start
that shit. Your time for apology was in high school. I can’t get that time
back. Do this for me, and leave me the hell alone.”

She left with her head held
high.

****

Jonathan watched her go. He
felt sick to his stomach. When he’d learned of Ashley applying for a job, he
should have nipped it in the bud. He couldn’t do it. Back in high school he’d
been a total douche-bag to her even though he had feelings for her. The peer
pressure had been too much for him. He was the captain of the football team,
and he shouldn’t have been crushing on the curvy blonde in their year.

Ashley was right. He was the
one to pursue her. From the first look he’d fallen for her. A lot of the guys
had found her attractive even though at the time they’d never admitted the
truth.

Staring down at his
paperwork, he shook his head. He couldn’t focus anymore. When she’d quit last
night he thought all hope was lost. Seeing
her
stood
in the doorway, the hope to rectify his wrong had started to fill him. She’d
crushed that hope the same way he’d crushed all feeling from her.

Ashley may think this was
the first time he’d seen or heard from her, but it wasn’t. Her name got around,
and she’d built herself quite a reputation. Jonathan knew her reputation was
entirely his fault. He’d been the one to drive her to become the woman she had,
and he would live with that for the rest of his life.

Chapter Seven

By Friday Amber was on tenterhooks
over her upcoming date. Dale had given her the afternoon off to get ready. He
would be picking her up from her apartment at seven. She’d spent an hour going
through her wardrobe before settling on a deep blue cocktail dress and black
heeled shoes to match. The color wouldn’t contrast too much with her red hair.

She laid out the clothes
then started to pamper herself. Filling the tub with smelling salts, she took
her time washing. Amber shaved her legs and under her arms before soaping her
hair.

In an instant the time was
gone, and she applied a layer of lipstick to her lips. Smacking them together,
she heard the door sound. Her heart galloped inside her chest. Walking to the
door, she wiped her sweaty palms down her dress and opened it. Dale stood with
a bunch of red roses.

He wore a suit, black, that
molded to all his hard muscles.

“Good evening,” he said,
gazing up and down her body. “You look absolutely beautiful.”

Her cheeks heated at the
compliment.
“Erm, thank you.
You look very handsome.”

She smiled at him. This felt
wrong. Amber belonged to Elijah.

“These are for you.”

Accepting the roses, she
invited him into her apartment while she set about putting them into a
measuring jug. She’d smashed the vases, aiming them at Elijah’s head and
missing.

“This is a nice place,” he
said.

He’s trying. This is my first date. Try!

“I love this place. I’m
hoping to get more pictures up someday of my friends and stuff. So far, I’ve
been working.”

She put the roses away and
met him in the sitting room. He kept staring at her. “Are you ready to go?” he
asked.

“I’d love to.”

He’d not told her where they
were going. The less she knew the better. She found herself getting anxious,
and knowing would give her more reason to cancel on him.

They walked silently down to
his car.

Dale stopped as they hit the
fresh air. “You’re nervous, and I don’t want you to be nervous.”

“You’re my boss. It sort of
goes hand in hand with nervous.”

“Will you think of me as
your boss when I do this?”

His lips were on hers in the
next second. She tensed up at the feel. His kiss was strange. Elijah’s lips
were commanding whereas Dale’s kiss was passionate yet different. There was no
underlying control or domination.

Breaking from the kiss, she
looked at him. “It helped a little,” she said, smiling.

“Good. Come on.”

She didn’t ask any questions,
and when they got into the car the conversation started toward work, their only
neutral ground.

He pulled up outside of
Wade’s place, and Amber’s heart leapt in her chest. “You’re taking me to
Wade’s?”

“You know this place?” he
asked, parking up.

“I know Wade, and I come
here with my girlfriends regularly. It’s a great place.”

“I love this place as well.”

They headed inside, and she
held onto his arm. Wade was serving up at the bar, and she saw her girlfriends
in their booth. She gave them a wave, following Dale toward the bar.

Dale was served by one of
the part-time barmen.

“Hey, Amber, I didn’t see
you come in with the others,” Wade said, flagging her down.

She stopped with her drink
in hand. “I’m on a date, Wade.”

He looked at Dale then at
her. “It’s nice to meet you, man.” Wade shook his hand.

Rolling her eyes, she tugged
Dale away from the bar.

“What was that all about?”
he asked.

“I knew Wade in high school.
He’s being protective, and he has the biggest crush on one of my friends.”

They found a seat away from
the dancing. So far she hadn’t seen Elijah, which she was thankful for.

Once they were seated, Dale
reached across the table to grip her hand. “I’ve wanted to ask you out on a
date for some time.”

“I’m here now.”

“We are.” He raised his
glass, and she joined in.

“Can I be honest with you?”
she asked, feeling the awkwardness of the moment.

“Sure.”

“This is my first date. I’ve
not really been on a date before.”

His eyes widened as he
looked at her.

“No, I’m not a virgin, but
the guy I was with, he’s not really into dating or anything apart from the
obvious.” She groaned
,
mortified by what she was
revealing. “Why don’t you tell me to shut up?” she said.