Donovan pushed past Pagan and stood at the back of our chairs, resting one hand on Ash’s shoulder and the other on mine.
He didn’t say a word, but he didn’t need to; his actions spoke volumes.
Pagan’s eyes narrowed on Aislynn, and his hand reached toward her. “Last chance, baby. Come with me and talk it out, or I'll take this shit into my own hands.”
Ash let out a brittle laugh. “I don’t think so.”
Pagan dropped his hand and turned his back on us, then he jerked his head to summon his men as he stalked toward the doors leading to the parking lot with his boys taking his back.
A weird feeling slid through my belly, and I knew it wasn’t over. Pagan wasn’t the type of guy who took no for an answer, and he really wouldn’t have liked being publicly told to fuck off—especially by a woman.
Donovan leaned down and asked, “You okay, Sis?”
Aislynn nodded, but I could see she was rattled. Her eyes were fixated on the door Pagan had just stormed out of, and her face was devoid of color.
“Yo! Ash,” Callum called over. “You good?”
She flashed him a fake smile.
It was obvious Ash was wound up and close to tears. Pagan was a scary bastard; to take him on in front of a crowd of people took a lot of bravery. She needed to collect herself and get her head straight, which meant one thing.
We needed an impromptu girls’ chat in the ladies' room.
“Wanna go to the restroom to freshen up?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she replied. “I need to regroup.”
I stood, gently pulling her to her feet.
“I’m coming,” Kennedy said, draining her glass.
“And me,” Maeve added, standing from her chair.
“I’ll get the Pornstars ready,” Tristan called out, already heading toward the bar.
Donovan’s fingers curled around my nape, and he angled my face toward his. “Look after her, baby,” he murmured before kissing me softly on the lips.
I gave him a reassuring smile and bent down to grab my purse before heading toward the bathroom. Our procession of women hit the corridor that housed the ladies' room, surrounding Aislynn like a protective cocoon.
“I had a confrontation with Pagan when we got here,” Maeve said quietly. “I almost peed my pants. I can only imagine how you feel after that just happened. He looked mad as hell.”
I pushed the ladies’ room door open and ushered the girls through it.
Kennedy went straight to the basins to check her hair, glancing at us all through the mirror that spanned the wall. “I thought he’d go after Callum at one point, and props to your guy,Rosie, he waltzed straight past Pagan to stand at yours and Ash’s backs.”
“I thought Pagan’s head was about to explode,” Maeve said, her eyes rounding.
Aislynn’s expression was genuinely confused. “I don’t get why. It wasn’t like he gave two shits about me. If he did, he wouldn’t have dogged me. Pagan was right in what he said; we hadn’t hadtheconversation, but I was open and didn’t hide the fact that I was into him, and he didn’t hide that he was into me, either. That was why it was so shocking to be confronted with Saskia getting him off. But what sent me over the edge was the fact that it was her he did it with. I told him the first time we went out what she’d done to my brothers and what a bitch she was to Maeve in the past. Then, as soon as my back was turned, he stuck his dick in her mouth.”
“Savage,” Kennedy cut out.
“Totally,” Maeve agreed.
“My point is,” Ash went on, “I obviously didn’t mean that much to him, or else it wouldn’t have gone down like that—excuse the pun. So why’s he so pissed?”
I dug inside my bag for my lipstick. “Seems to me like he’s suffering from a classic case of ‘don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.’”
“I hear ya, sister,” Kennedy agreed. “He fucked around, and now he’s finding out. Girls like you don’t come along often, Ash, especially not in his world. You’re special, and he knows it.”
