Ashley's Bend (28 page)

Knox was waiting for us when we got downstairs. Two of the large windows at the entrance to the club had been shattered, large cinder blocks having been thrown through both of them. The front door had the words
bitch
spray painted across it. Several cops walked around and took pictures of the crime scene. Ashley’s audible gasp caused every head in the area to turn and look at us.

“Ashley, there is a full bathroom in my office. You can go on up and wash up a bit if you like while I try to take care of this.” I suggested to her to try and get her away from this situation. She glanced around at the scene before her with uncertainly for a few moments.

“Are you sure? I can help if needed.”

“Positive, princess,” I assured her.

She nodded at me and turned to leave but before she walked away, I gave her a smack on her delectable derriere. She jumped with a squeal and her cheeks went crimson red at the act that I committed in front of all of those people. I smiled as I watched her scurry off faster towards my office.

“Dude, you are so fucking gone,” Knox said as he watched my whole interaction with Ashley. I turned around and glared at my best friend. All he did was shrug his shoulders and give me a shit eating grin in that
I told you so
way. I was in no mood to deal with his smug self.

“What the fuck happened here, Knox?” I asked him as I glanced around at the mess of glass on the floor. Two police officers approached where Knox and I were standing. Reaching out to shake each of their hands they began to brief me on what they thought could have happened.

“The cinder blocks were thrown through the windows sometime in the middle of the night. Your partner here told us that you spent the night here at the club. Did you hear anything, Mr. Michaels?”

I didn’t dismiss the accusatory tone in his voice. Why the hell would I want to damage my own, very popular, very profitable club?

“No, sir. A friend of mine and I were in a location inside the club that was soundproof. No sound comes in or out.”

“Why would there be a soundproof room in this club, Mr. Michaels?” the officer asked me.
What the fuck? Was he some investigative reporter or something
? This was a BDSM club why wouldn’t I have a soundproof room? I glanced at the name under his badge.

“Look, Officer Russell, we have soundproof rooms for...
entertaining
. We do not want any interruptions for the guests that use the special privileges that specific room entitles them to.”

Officer Russell narrowed his eyes at me speculatively. There was something irritating, and off about the man. All his questions had me on edge and wondering about his intentions.

“We are trying to look through security feeds of the perimeter of the building to see if anything was caught on camera. Just as this vandalism is a crime, so is prostitution, Mr. Michaels,” he said snidely
. What the fuck does this guy have against me
? I was the one who was vandalized and yet the asshole was questioning me about the practices of my reputable club.

“I am very aware of that, Officer. I assure you there are no goods or services sold here other than memberships,” I replied.

“Good, let’s keep it that way, Mr. Michaels. Now, can you tell me what this could mean?” he asked as he handed me a folded up piece of paper. I opened it to discover that it was the note Knox mentioned when he phoned me earlier.

Revenge is a bitch, just like her.

Someone must think they have an awfully large set of balls to send something like that to me. Knox said that he thought it was in reference to Ashley, but it could be any number of the girls at the club. Madame V, Rebecca, and any of the other house subs could be the reason for the letter.

My thoughts went back to the conversation I had with Ashley’s ex-husband Jared after he paid Ashley a visit at her work, threatening her. I found out that it was indeed he who told her employers about her affiliation with the club and got her fired. I made it painfully clear that he was to never make contact with Ashley ever again. If he so much as looked in her direction, he would live to regret it. I gave him the one thing I knew would keep him out of her life for good−money. I told him to leave and go off somewhere and to never come back. If he was stupid enough to make the mistake of coming back, he had a hell of a hurt coming to him. Ashley did not know about my visit with Jared and I made Knox promise to keep it between us.

So if it wasn’t Jared, even though it could very well have been, who then? I folded the note back up and handed it back to Officer Russell. Choosing my words carefully, I replied to him.

“I have no idea. Could be in reference to a number of people at this club.”

Ashley came down the stairs just as the officer stowed the note into the evidence bag and handed it to his partner. I was thankful that she hadn’t been around to see the contents of that letter. I looked at her as she cautiously approached where Knox and I were standing with the two officers. Her long blonde hair was pulled back from her face into a high ponytail. Her face was sans makeup, and she had on one of my dress shirts that I kept upstairs in my office. It was tucked into the waistband of her black skirt from last night and a little baggy on her frame, but I had never seen anything look sexier. All four of us stood and stared at her while she approached. I swear Knox and the two officer’s mouths were damn near hanging opened. I wanted to punch every one of them in the face, even my best friend.

“Everything ok?” she asked timidly. Her eyes darted to the two officers standing next to me and Knox.

“Probably just some punk kids vandalizing stuff,” Knox said before I had a chance to respond. It was hard to pay attention when I was too focused on the way that Officer Russell was staring at Ashley. He looked like he wanted to eat her alive and it sent my blood stewing in my veins. I shocked both Ashley and myself when I possessively snaked my arm around her waist and pulled her into my side. Knox smiled at me and I gave him a
fuck off
look.

“Hello, Miss…” Officer Russell said as he extended his hand to Ashley.

“Ashley Woodson” she replied using her maiden name as she shook the officer’s hand. Jealousy consumed my thoughts when Officer Russell held onto Ashley’s hand a little too long for my liking.

“I was just speaking to Mr. Michaels here about the incident,” he said as he gestured toward the broken windows and glass, “do you know who could have done this, or heard anything?”

Ashley’s hands fidgeted for a moment before she replied. “No, sir. I was here at the club last night, but I was...uh...upstairs. The room was soundproof so we didn’t hear anything.”

“We?” Officer Russell questioned. My fucking God. Did she really have to spell it out for him?

“Yes, we,” I interrupted before Ashley could explain. Ms. Woodson and I were upstairs
together
last night in the
soundproof
room.”

Ashley blushed red. Like fire engine, crimson, stop sign red. I loved how she wasn’t shy in the bedroom and could give as well as she could take, but I also loved the innocence about her. The innocence that having other people
know
what she was doing in that bedroom that had her blushing right now.

“I see,” Officer Russell said, “and did Mr. Michaels pay you for any
services,
ma’am?”

Ashley gasped. She looked angry, as if she wanted to claw this man’s face off.

“What? No! It was completely consensual and completely
free.
How dare you accuse me of being a hooker!”

I pulled Ashley into my side as Knox placed a hand on her other shoulder to try to calm her.

“Listen, Officer, I don’t appreciate you coming into my place of business, where you are supposed to be doing an investigation on the vandalism, but instead accuse me of running a prostitution ring and calling my girl a whore. I suggest you do your job and find out who did this to my place.”

“My apologies. I intend to do
just that
. Good day. We will be in touch.” He turned on his heel and his partner, who had remained silent the entire conversation, followed him like a lap dog.

I sighed, “I’m sorry about that, Ashley. If he wouldn’t have been a police officer, I would have punched him in the fucking mouth for talking like that.”

“It’s ok, Dominic.”

“No, it’s not, Ashley,” Knox insisted, “I wanted to punch him too. Who the fuck does he think he is, Sherlock fucking Holmes?” We all laughed.

The cops were at the club for over two hours trying to piece together who would have caused the damage. Ashley, Knox and I all answered the same questions about ten times apiece. When everyone started clearing out, I started to turn to Ashley to see if she wanted to get out of there. Just as I turned to speak, Officer Russell yelled out from the front door holding up a clear plastic bag.

“I’m taking in the note to our forensics department to see if we can get some fingerprints,” he said before he turned and left.

I barely had the time to process the possibilities of the consequences of his words before Ashley turned to me and asked, “What note?”

“What note, Dominic?” I asked when he didn’t answer me the first time. The look on his face told me that there was something he was keeping from me. I started to feel a little anxious as a small sheen of sweat developed on my body. This was looking more and more like a purposeful act of vandalism, as opposed to some random kids looking to have a good time.

“There was a note attached to one of the cinder blocks when it was thrown through the window,” he confessed to me with trepidation. My eyebrows arched in surprise. A note definitely suggested that the damage was done on purpose. Dominic seemed to hesitate for a moment.

I gestured for him to carry on when he seemed to not want to elaborate about the note.

“It said,
Revenge is a bitch, just like her
.” He sighed sounding defeated.

I swallowed an audible gulp.
Revenge is a bitch, just like her.
Holy hell, was the note about me? Was I the reason that the club was damaged? Dominic must have sensed my internal battle with myself as I sorted through the questions revolving around in my thoughts, because his arms snaked around me, pulling me into his chest.

“No, don’t do that, Ashley. You don’t know that the note was about you. It could have been in reference to any of the girls that attend or work at this club.”

He gripped my chin to tilt my face up to meet his eyes. I knew he could see the fear and worry in them and I fought not to look away. The sudden change in Dominic astounded me. He went from a closed off husk, to being comforting and gentle with me. I relished in the thought that I was the one who was responsible for the change in him. I was the one who got him to open up to me and I sighed into him feeling empowered and happy.

“Go upstairs and get your things and I’ll take you by your apartment. We can go get some breakfast if you like,” Dominic said as he ran the palm of his hand up and down my back in a soothing gesture.