“Thank God they showed up when they did.” I responded, holding her eye contact. “I’d be dead.”
She nodded. “I’ve never been more grateful for the police.”
I grinned. “I bet.” Afraid of revealing too much, I climbed out of the car and shut the door, and Callista was off without another word. I turned to face Ashton and swallowed hard. “Ash—”
“Get in the car.” There was no forgiveness in his voice.
It felt like I’d been pulled out of the frying pan only to be shoved in the fire my entire life. Every time it felt like I was getting a leg up, I was actually falling backward. The several times that I tried to start up a conversation as Ashton drove away from the safe house, out onto the road, and out of town fell on deaf ears. I couldn’t read his expression at all. Was he angry? Was he hurt? Was he going to kill me?
It was well past midnight, making it even eerier as Ashton drove further and further out of town where cars were few and far between, and any overhead lamps came every half a mile or less.
“Where are we going?” I asked, but I got no response. “Ashton, I swear to god, I didn’t know that it wasn’t you. I realize that probably doesn’t make you feel better. I should have known, but so much has happened, and—”
Ashton put his hand up, so I stopped talking. Maybe if I’d been more reasonable when a stressed, confused Ashton pulled a gun on me the day before, he’d be more reasonable with me now. I had only myself to blame for everything that was going wrong for me. If anything, I was anxiously awaiting the day when one of these people finally did get sick enough of me to sink a bullet into my chest. Everyone would be better off.
Chicago disappeared behind us as we drove twenty minutes, thirty minutes, forty-five minutes, an hour outside of town. Finally, when I was beginning to think Ashton was just driving me somewhere where he could easily dispose of my body, he turned into a hotel. He parked his car and got out. He didn’t wait for me. I climbed out on my own and followed as Ashton entered the hotel and marched right up to the front desk. He exchanged as few words as possible with the clerk in order to secure a room, and once again, he didn’t even look at me when he turned to walk down to the room he’d gotten.
I followed after him sheepishly, completely at a loss for what was going to happen next, but when he finally got to the door and used the room key to unlock it, he stood aside so that I could walk in. I looked at him as I passed, and our eyes locked for a quick moment until I had to break the gaze to enter the room. It wasn’t anything particularly special, a run of the mill, three-star hotel room with a couple of queen-sized beds, an entertainment center with a TV on top, and a desk with an old-fashioned cord phone sitting on top of it. As the door shut and locked, I jumped.
Was I about to die?
I turned to face Ashton and watched as he set his phone, wallet, and keys on the top of the entertainment stand. He peeled his jacket off, leaving only his tank top and bulging arms behind.
At least he’d be a nice final image.
Lastly, he pulled his black pistol out of his waistband and looked at me.
I nodded. “So I guess this is when you kill me?”
He set the gun down on the stand next to the rest of his stuff and then strode up to me. He led with his hands, cupping them on either side of my face, and pulled me into a kiss.
Chapter Fourteen:Ashton
As opposed to what I was expecting, Denise latched onto my wrists and pulled as close to me as she could. She was breathless as I kissed her, and though I was glad that she seemed fine with what was happening, after everything we’d been through, it was important to me to make sure.
She pulled backward toward the bed, but I resisted. She released herself from me and looked into my eyes. “What?”
“I hate to kill a mood, but are you…okay? You don’t feel—”
She pressed her lips against mine. “Thank you, but I’m fine.” She ran her hands through my hair. “Really.”
“Good,” I said, swallowing hard, “because all I can think about is his hands on you. I have to get them off.”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
Grabbing my hand, Denise pulled me down on top of her on one of the beds. The scene I walked in on flashed across my brain, and my hands moved on impulse, crawling around every place that had been tainted. I kissed her soft, supple skin as I felt my way over it, and when Denise lifted a bit and let out a hushed moan, my lower half begged to be released. I slid a hand up Denise’s collarbone and around her neck. I planned to continue upward, but she clasped my wrist and held my hand in place. I gave a loose squeeze, and her eyes flared with excitement. With my free hand, I grabbed the top of her sleeveless sundress and yanked it down her form.
She maneuvered so that I could pull it all the way off her, revealing her matching white lace bra and thong. I pulled my hand away from her throat, eliciting a small huff of disappointment, which morphed into a moan as my hands dragged over her breasts. Peppering kisses along her stomach, I squeezed on top of the fabric before ducking under to take the supple mounds into my palms.
I worked my way even further down until I could kiss at the flesh of her inner thighs. She squeaked as I ran my hand over her wet center. Her heat was so enticing that any hope I had of teasing her or staying away flew out the window. I hooked a finger under her underwear and pulled them to the side, then leaned in and took my first taste of her.
If I thought Denise was an addicting drug before, I’d just upgraded from the street version to the luxury. It was sweeter than anything I’d ever had before, and I found myself settling in for an elongated journey. My tongue traveled without much conscious thought, lining all the folds before searching out her sensitive spot. She combed her fingers into my hair as she moaned and arched into the feeling, and I made a personal goal right then and there to hear those sweet sounds at every available opportunity. I pressed a finger into her awaiting entrance, and her volume increased.
“My god,” she managed to scramble out between moans. “That’s amazing.”
Good. All I wanted was for her to feel good, so I pressed on. I imagined every horrible experience she must have had in the past few weeks, and I tried to erase each one of them with my ministrations. A string of approving exclamations skated out of Denise in uneven spurts.
“Don’t stop, Ash,” she hummed. “I’m so close.”
