“I heard you might be willing to trade.” He nodded toward where Elena stood.
No. I wasn’t doing this here. Sure, Elena knew what I did, but this was my time. We were on a date, for fuck’s sake. I worked hard to keep that side of my life contained. There was no way I was letting it spill over.
Not now.
Not ever.
Letting go of her hand I took two steps forward, putting myself directly in front of him. I had at least a few inches on him and by the looks of his scrawny figure, there would be no contest. He was the kind of guy I usually punted to Brock.
“Listen here you motherfucker, I have no idea who you’re talking about but if you don’t get out of here in the next five seconds, I’m going to consider it a threat. And trust me when I say you do not want to threaten a guy like me.”
His eyes went wide and his body jerked. I went to open my mouth but he’d vanished, racing off into the night. My body still on alert, I looked around but there was no one else there.
With an effort, I unclenched my fists. I needed to see if Elena was okay.
She was white as a sheet, trembling from head to toe. I reached out my hand but she recoiled, which hurt worse then I’d imagined it would.
“Elena, look at me.”
Her eyes panned up to mine, unfocused, and I knew nothing would get through to her. I had to get her home, away from the bullshit.
I placed my hands on her shoulders and gently maneuvered her into the car. She didn’t speak a word as she mindlessly buckled her seatbelt and waited. I stood at the back of the car, whipping out my cell and shooting a text to Brock.
Me: I need a favor. Meet me at mine in 20?
Brock: I’ll be there
His reply didn’t surprise me. I paid him and paid him well to be available wherever, whenever. Palmer would understand how to contact me correctly by the time Brock finished with him. Under normal circumstances, I’d do it myself. If he’d stopped when I’d asked him to I would have let it go, but he pushed it. There was nothing I’d enjoy more than seeing to it that the guy never upset another woman as much as he’d upset Elena, but my attention needed to be with her, so Brock would have to relay the message on my behalf.
Hurrying around the front of the car, I peeled out of the parking lot. Concern pulled my attention to her. She sat facing forward, her hands clutched in her lap. Taking her hand, I moved it to my lips, placing a soft kiss on it.
“Elena, talk to me.
“No.”
“What can I do?”
She swallowed hard. “Does stuff like that always happen?”
Everything in me said I wanted Elena to stay after the three months was up. To do that, I not only needed her to leave her husband, but to feel comfortable with me. I couldn’t lie to her. “It’s happened once or twice before. Most of the clients know and understand the rules before they borrow the money. And if they don’t, we remind them.”
She shivered and I squeezed her hand tighter.
“I don’t hurt them—not right away at least. So far most have obeyed the rules after the first conversation. Those that don’t are no longer an issue.”
She didn’t reply, but I could see her lower lip trembling.
“I’d never hurt you, Elena. You have to know that. It’s just business.”
“Is it? You told me earlier in the night, you only work for your dad because you feel like you have too.”
I groaned. It was supposed to be the perfect date, not an analysis on wants and desires. “And I do. Me enforcing the rules doesn’t change anything.”
“Maybe for me it does.”
I slammed my fist into the wheel. “You knew what I did when you first climbed into my bed.”
That snapped whatever had been keeping her temper in check. “So that makes it okay for me to have it thrown in my face that I’m your latest fucktoy?”
And there it was—the comparison to Tolley. Because he treated her as nothing but a slave, that’s what I was going to do, no matter what I did to prove I wasn’t the same man.
What was the point? I’d worked my ass off to show her that I wasn’t him; that I could offer her more. I hadn’t been that guy ever. Hell, I was a better guy for her than I’d been to any woman. She saw Ashton Hawes 2.0—the nice guy. So why, after everything, would she think me a liar?
I didn’t know why she thought that way, but I’d be damned if I would let it continue.
CHAPTER 19
Ashton
“Goddamn it, Elena. Why would you say that?”
I pulled into the drive and slammed on the brakes, sending us both flying forward.
“Ashton,” she screamed, grabbing the belt.
I turned toward her, grasping her chin to move her head to face me. “Do I have your attention now?” I snarled.
“What?” she snapped.
“I have never, nor will I ever consider you a fucktoy. If that were the case, I’d use your body for what I needed like your piece of shit husband suggested instead of having you sleep in my bed because I like you there. I would not set up auditions for you. I would not take you to dinner. And I would never sit through a movie with you, no matter how good you were at giving head.”
I didn’t give her a chance to think, much less to reply. Lowering my head, I took her lips in a brutal kiss. I needed her to believe me. I needed her to know that what we had was no longer a product of circumstance. I put everything into the kiss.
I claimed her.
And with each passing moment she slowly tempered, her lips molding to mine, her body going limp in the seat. I broke away.
“I want you to be so much more than a temporary distraction. It’s why I’ve done everything I can to bring out the real Elena—the one who stands up for herself. I want you to make your own choices. I want you to choose me. I don’t care how you came to me, I just want you.”
She stared at me for a beat then left the car, walking into the house, leaving the door wide open. I went to follow but was stopped by the purring rumble of Brock’s ’69 Chevelle SS. I climbed out and leaned against my door, needing the conversation with Brock over and done with.
“Ashton, what’s up man? It’s not like you to call out of the blue.”
“Drake Palmer has become a problem,” I growled.
“You had a drop tonight?” His brows dropped down over his, dark, almost black eyes.
“No.” I began to pace the driveway. “Fucker approached us outside the movie theater.”
“Shit. Wait—us? Elena was with you?”
“Unfortunately, because not only did the asshole bring up business in public, he also made it very clear he knew about my deal with Tolley.”
“What the fuck?” Brock’s shoulders rolled back like he was bracing for a fight. “You want me to handle this?” The drop in tone of his voice signaled he was done talking unless I reined him in.
“I want you to go have a chat with Palmer. Make it clear he’s one tiny slip up away from spending months not hours in the hospital, and if that happens, it’ll be me who deals with him. While you’re there, find out who told him about the deal.”
“Who else besides us and Tolley knows?”
“No one. I know it was that prick, but I need to know how far that shit’s spread. Elena is pissed and I don’t like that. The other thing I don’t like is weak little piss-ants like Palmer thinking they can buy time by pimping out their girlfriends. Before you know it, every one of them will have some ridiculous reason why they can’t pay and offer something equally as stupid. We can’t have that shit.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Brock crossed his arms over his massive chest, a move design to intimidate, but I knew better. “You sure she’s strong enough for this? I know I said I thought she was tough, but maybe—”