“This pisses me off.” She paused. “I won’t say anything—as long as you promise me that if this guy tries to hurt you in any way you’ll call and I’ll come get you.”
“I promise. Thank you. Look I have to go. Ashton wants to show me something. I’ll call you later.”
“’Bye, Elena. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I do.”
“Be safe.”
The call disconnected. I was just about holding it together, nearly succumbing to the tears, when there was soft knock at the door.
“Elena, is everything okay?” Ashton called.
Putting on a brave face, I stood and opened the door. “I’m fine.”
“Good,” he said softly. “Now, let’s go. I have a surprise for you.”
I was hesitant to say the least. The last time someone surprised me, I’d ended up tied to a stranger for three months. I’d had enough surprises to last me a lifetime. But it didn’t seem like I had much of a choice.
Ashton led us through the house until we reached a door.
A garage.
He grabbed a set of keys off the hook by the door and opened the passenger side of a sports car for me. I climbed in and waited.
Ashton backed out of the garage and down the drive. I was so nervous my hands were shaking and I gripped the sides of my seat, my fingers biting into the soft, supple leather. “What kind of car is this?”
He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “It’s an Aston Martin DB9.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
I twisted my hands around in my lap. “Where are we going?”
He smirked. “You don’t like surprises?”
“Not after the last one. I thought Dominic was taking me out to dinner. He told me to pack a bag. He hadn’t had to correct me very much lately. I thought he might be rewarding me. Not once did I expect to be traded for his debt.”
I couldn’t believe I just admitted all of that to a stranger; a man I’d only met the day before. Dominic didn’t like me to talk to other men, so I wasn’t normally that comfortable around them, particularly in such close proximity. Yet, for some reason, I found Ashton easy to open up to.
“I’m sorry I didn’t think about it that way. I’m taking you to a spa. Figured you’d never had the chance to be pampered.”
“A spa day? You don’t have to do that. We already owe you enough money.”
“I’ll say it again, Elena.” His voice was firm. “Your husband owes me the money, not you. Besides, this is something I’m doing for you. Did you pack much in that bag of yours?”
I looked out the window, embarrassed at not being prepared. “Just what I have on, plus the dress from yesterday.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Yeah, I’ll need to use your washing machine tonight after you go to bed, if that’s okay?”
“No.”
My eyes opened wide as I turned my face to him. “What do you mean? What am I going to wear?”
“I’m having a personal shopper meet you at the spa. She’ll take your measurements and have clothes sent over to the house for you to try on later.”
“Ashton, please, you can’t keep spending money. I won’t be able to pay it off.”
“I don’t expect you to pay it off. These things are for you, nothing to do with the money Dominic owes.”
The car came to a stop outside what looked to be a residential address, the tall pillars on either side of the heavy wooden door giving it a grandiose feel. Reading the name on the brass plaque to the left of the door, I realized where Ashton had brought me. I’d read about it in magazines at the diner. Celebrities had been spotted here. It was one of the most expensive places in the city.
“Here?” My voice was incredulous. This was too much.
“Yes, here. Come on, I’ll walk you in.”
On legs that felt like jelly, I climbed out of the car and followed Ashton inside. My shoes clicked against the marble floor of the foyer, and pictures of models sporting different hairstyles lined the walls. At the counter stood a woman, dressed in a tan business suit, her long hair hanging loose. Soft music filled the air.
“Hello, we have an appointment scheduled for Elena.”
“Let me check,” the receptionist said. “Ah, yes, here we are. Full session?”
“That’s correct.”
I noticed the way the girl’s eyes focused on Ashton every time she thought he wasn’t looking. It wasn’t hard to see why she was staring, with his neatly styled blonde hair, and green eyes hidden behind his glasses, Ashton was absolutely gorgeous. Wait. “What’s a full session?”
Ashton smiled at me. “It means the works. You’ll get all of the services today.”
“All of them?” I knew I was just repeating what he said, but I needed to make sure I’d heard him correctly.
“Yes. Now promise me something.”
“What’s that?”
It was hard not to smile back at him when he was being so sweet. Last night he scared me when he’d hurt the other man and he could have used me, done what he wanted then discarded me, but he hadn’t. Instead, he’d put me in a beautiful room, told me to go to bed and get some sleep, and now he was sending me to get pampered for the day.
“Promise me you’re not going to worry about any of the bullshit with Dominic. Relax and enjoy yourself.”
“I’ll try.” I faced the receptionist. “Okay, I’m ready.” My heart raced, but it was hard to keep the grin off my face.
“Great,” she said, her bubbly personality shining through. “My name’s Lisa, and I’ll show you around before getting you ready for your first appointment.”
Ashton leaned forward, his mouth dropping down to my ear. “Lewis will be here to pick you up later. Remember, relax.”
I nodded and clasped my hands together to keep them from shaking and said, “Thank you. I’ll see you later.”
Following Lisa back through the door, I embarked on my first day of being pampered. Why would Ashton set this all up? Did he want me to sleep with him? No, that was stupid. I’d tried last night and he turned me down. There had to be a reason, but until I figured it out, I’d been brought here to be pampered.
Might as well enjoy it.
CHAPTER 5
Ashton
Seeing the look on Elena’s face, I knew I’d made the right decision in getting everything set up the night before. The way things were, Elena couldn’t see her worth, but I intended to change that. It would have to happen slowly, though. Her low self-esteem, no doubt ingrained by her husband, had been given years to take root. Changing the way she saw herself was going to take time. I needed to do it slowly.
First things first, I had to stop by my dad’s house and let him know what had happened. He’d be looking for the money sooner or later. I figured a face-to-face explanation was the way to go.
The drive to his place gave me an opportunity to plan what to say. While I preferred a house outside the chaos of downtown, Dad liked living right in the middle of things. Fucking stupid, if you asked me. With all the pies my father had his fingers in, surrounding himself with law enforcement was asking for trouble.
So far, Dad was off grid as far as the police were concerned. To the community, he was nothing more than a local businessman, and that was by design. He was clever. Regardless of their suspicions, the cops could walk into any one of the four car dealerships he owned tomorrow and demand to see his books and wouldn’t find anything. It helped that he had a forensic accountant on his team. Tired of working for the government, he helped disguise any wrongdoing, keeping it away from prying eyes. My father paid him handsomely to make every transaction look clean.
My brother, Miller, was not so invisible. Sports betting was harder to hide. He’d had a few run ins with the police, but lucky for him, he had a few politicians in his pocket and having them owe him favors helped to make any potential problems disappear. Miller got smarter after one instance. He went to ground for a while and came back having created a system that eliminated the need to use the back room of a bar to place the bets. Lately, he’d also been helping Dad at one of the dealerships. I couldn’t deny the business was a great cover. It didn’t do too badly either.