Ashley's Bend (10 page)

It was a steady, not slow, but not busy evening and Kelly had come in to have a few drinks with Trinity after they got off work.

“So you start tomorrow?” Trinity asked.

“Shhhh, but yes. I start tomorrow. I don’t want anyone to know,” I replied.

“Who would have thought that our girl would have a kinky side,” Kelly said as she clinked her glass with Trinity’s in a toast like manner.

“I don’t have a kinky side,” I chastised, “I am just simply curious about it is all.”

“Hell, I don’t blame you girl. Dominic is crazy hot. The girls are constantly trying to get him to take them to The Hall or The Rapture. Although I had only seen him do lessons and demonstrations in the Common Room,” said Trinity as she took a long appreciative sip of her cosmopolitan.

I felt a little better hearing her say that they didn’t see Dominic with a bunch of girls. The thought made my stomach turn with jealousy. I mentally chastised myself for the thought. I had no claims to Dominic. Hell, my divorce was just recently finalized. I have no right to be having jealous feelings in my situation.

“Well, I for one am fucking excited about you joining. I will be going with you. I have my eyes on a sexy beast myself,” Kelly said as her eyes sparkled. I have never seen that kind of expression on her face when she talked about a man.

“Who would that be?” Trinity teased.

“I don’t know his name. He works security sometimes, but he looked like a dominant to me. He has that sexy
I-want-to-tie-you-up-and-fuck-you-sideways
vibe about him. Besides the bald head and tattoos are fucking sexy as hell.”

“Oh, that’s Knox. Rachel said he is co-owner of the club with Dominic and also
very dominant
,” Trinity revealed.

These girls tripped me up. They talked about the BDSM world like it was a normal everyday thing that people did. It was like it came as natural to them as trying on a bathing suit.

“I am so nervous,” I admitted. Kelly reached across the bar top and clasped my hand in hers.

“That is part of the fun, Ash. The anticipation, the desire it gives you. Trust your trainer, Ash. He will take care of you.”

I was a little stunned by her words. Trust my trainer? I assumed that Dominic would be my trainer, now I am hearing that some random man may be introducing me into this world that I am completely foreign to.

“I thought Dominic was going to be my trainer,” I said nervously. Shaking her head and setting her glass down Trinity spoke and my heart dropped into my stomach.

“Nope. He doesn’t do the trainings. I think Knox and two other guys do the female subs and Madame V and two other mistresses train the male subs.”

I never thought about the possibility that it wouldn’t be Dominic training me. I was even more apprehensive about the decision I had made. The chime of the door had me lifting my eyes up to see the customer who had entered and my breathing hitched.

Jared.

Kelly and Trinity both turned around to see where my gaze was fixed. Their simultaneous gasps proved that they were just as surprised to see him here as I was. Jared started to approach the bar, and he looked awful. He looked like he hadn’t shaved in a week, and his clothes were wrinkled and stained. I couldn’t disregard the angry scowl that he had on his face. Trinity and Kelly both stood up as he approached and Kelly stepped in front of him to block his path.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she reprimanded. Jared’s eyes raked Kelly from head to toe like he couldn’t believe she was standing up to him. His look said disgust and irritancy.

“I’m here to see
my wife,”
he said vindictively.

“She stopped being your wife the moment you shoved your dick into your secretary,” Kelly said jabbing a finger in his face.

He narrowed his eyes at her. There was a wicked gleam in his stare and it had the hairs on the back of my neck standing to attention.

“Stay out of this bitch! If it weren’t for you and your influence on
my wife
, we would have worked things out. I would have gotten her to forgive me and things would be back to normal.”

I had never seen Jared act that way and it was certainly disarming. He was usually a very calm and mellow man, but I assumed that the loss of his job and our divorce was starting to take a toll on him. I needed to step in before the situation got out of hand.

“Jared, what are you doing here?” I asked him to try and get his attention away from Kelly.

“Like I said, I’m here to see
my wife
,” he repeated.

“Jared, I am not your wife anymore. The papers are final. Why can’t you just let it go? What’s done is done. You made that choice.”

“No, No! You have to listen to me. We need to talk,
alone
,” he said as he peered over at Kelly, “Have dinner with me tomorrow night so we can talk,” Jared begged me. Only my thoughts weren’t on him and having dinner. No, my thoughts were now on a brown-eyed, gorgeous Adonis whose club I would be at tomorrow evening.

“I can’t Jared,” I finally said breaking from my trance. Jared’s disposition went from desperate to angry, fast. He gripped my upper arm and squeezed it so tight, I feared my circulation would cut off. I could feel his fingernails gripping into my skin and winced at the pain it caused.

“I am not leaving here until you agree to talk to me! Do you hear me Ashley! We are going to talk!” He was yelling now, and soon the attention of all the patrons in the bar was fixated on us
. Great, I just started this job and already I was going to lose it for making a scene.
I tried to yank my arm out of Jared’s grip, but it only caused him to squeeze tighter.

“Please let me go Jared, you are scaring me,” I whispered trying not to cause any more of a scene than what was already going on.

“Not until you agree to have dinner and talk to me,” he gritted out through clenched teeth.

“I believe she asked you to let her go,” a deep, familiar voice bellowed. My body went rigid and I looked up to see the murderous look of Dominic staring at where Jared had my arm in a vice grip. I was so distracted by the situation with Jared, that I did not even see him come in. Jared turned to look and see who was speaking to him as Dominic stepped closer to us.

“Who the fuck are you, asshole? I am talking to my wife. Butt the fuck out,” Jared said to a now very large, very pissed off Dominic.

“I said let her go before I
make
you,” Dominic said a little too calmly only I could see the anger in his face. His stare still hadn’t left where Jared’s grip was on my arm, “Last I heard, divorce papers mean that she
isn’t
your wife anymore.”

Before I knew it, I was being shoved aside and landed on my ass, hard. Jared was face to face with Dominic. My boss, Andrew, had come out from the office to see what the commotion was all about. When he saw me on the floor, he rushed to my side in an instant. I think he was asking me if I was ok, but my eyes were glued to Jared and Dominic.

“How the fuck do you know our business?” Jared asked Dominic. He then turned to look at where I was still perched on my ass on the floor, “Are you fucking this douche? I always knew you were a fucking whore!”

The horrible sound of bones crunching was the next thing I heard and I blanched as I was spattered with blood all over my white blouse. I looked over to see Jared who was now on the ground with his hands clutched to his face and Dominic leering above him with a look of rage.

This was not happening. This was not happening.

I let Andrew help me to my feet as Dominic looked down at Jared and said, “Get the fuck out of here and don’t bother Ashley again or next time you will have more than a broken nose.”

Jared scrambled to his feet and looked at me through narrowed eyes before turning to leave. A chill came over me knowing that that was not the last time I would see or hear from Jared.

“Are you ok?” Dominic asked as I watched his anger dissipate and be replaced with concern.

“Yes, I’m fine,” I replied embarrassed as I looked at my boss, Andrew. I couldn’t meet Dominic’s gaze right now.

“Andrew, I am so sorry. I did not know that he would come here or cause a scene like that. I have never seen him act like that before,” I explained. Andrew knew that I had just recently filed for divorce and that was the reason I needed a second job.

“Ashley, that was not your fault. You had no idea that was going to happen,” he reassured me.

“So...I’m not fired?” I ask shyly.

“Heavens no girl, I have gotten so many compliments from the customers since you have been here. You aren’t going anywhere,” he said with a smile, “but I must suggest that you may want to get a restraining order against your ex-husband. I fear for your safety.”

“He
is
right Ashley, in fact, I
insist
you do,” Dominic interrupted.

“Dominic Michaels,” he said as he extended his hand to Andrew.

“Andrew Long,” Andrew replied shaking Dominic’s hand, “Hey you are the new owner of that club, what’s it called?

“The Celtic Knot.”

“Yes, heard business was booming, but haven’t heard much about the place,” Andrew stated

“We like to keep things...
private
,” Dominic iterated.

“Understandable. So how do you know our Ashley?” Andrew questioned. I froze.
Oh God
! I did not want my boss thinking I was some kind of sex crazed freak because of what I had agreed to with Dominic.

“Let’s just say we are doing some business.”

Oh. Business? Did he see me as some kind of transaction? My heart dropped at the thought. Even though I was not ready to be involved with another man romantically and he didn’t do relationships outside of a dom/sub agreement, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed by his answer.

Andrew nodded and smiled. ‘Well, Ashley, do you need to take the rest of the evening off or are you ok?” he asked with genuine concern.

“I am fine Andrew, but thank you.” Andrew nodded before telling me he would get me a new shirt to replace my blood spattered one and then made his way back toward the office. I was now left standing with Dominic. Kelly and Trinity had not said a word since Dominic punched Jared. I think they were both surprised by him being here and his actions. Kelly approached me and gave me a hard, squeezing hug.

“Are you sure you are ok? I’ve never seen Jared act like that before,” she said with worry.

“I’m fine, I promise. You and Trinity head on home, and I will see you at home tonight.” Kelly agreed with me only if I promised to call her if anything else happened or if Jared returned. After Trinity and Kelly left, I walked back around behind the bar, apologizing to the customers who had to witness the whole ordeal along the way. Dominic walked up to the bar and took a seat on a barstool. He was gripping his right hand in his other hand and I could see that his knuckles were big, swollen and starting to bruise. I walked over to the ice machine and placed some in a towel before walking over to Dominic and handing it to him.