Page 46 of Down & Dirty: Rage

All in all, it turned out to be a fun night and a great way to celebrate her birthday, but it would’ve been better if Ash hadn’t disappeared for the rest of the night.

Chapter Nine

Lyric blewout a shaky breath and squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to settle her churning stomach and spinning thoughts.

The kiss with Ash had opened a door. Now she just needed to walk through it. But it would also help if he opened his own door first.

After missing a whole day of appointments yesterday, she couldn’t afford to skip out on any more today so she needed to get to the shop before her first client arrived. For this reason, she stood in front of his apartment super early in the morning.

She knocked again and listened for his footsteps.

She had no idea where he went last night after their kiss but figured he either felt guilty about it or regretted it. Otherwise, why would he skip out on a club party?

She was tempted to call out his name but really didn’t want him to know it was her.

Because then he might not answer it.

And she certainly didn’t want to have this conversationwith him downstairs at Heaven’s Angels after she was done with her day. No, she wanted to have it when he wasn’t distracted and they weren’t surrounded with people. Especially nosy people.

“C’mon. C’mon. C’mon. Answer the door, Ash,” she mumbled under her breath after knocking on the door for the third time.

Of course, managing the strip club, he regularly went to bed late. Or early, depending on how one looked at it.

Realistically, he could be still passed out from a long, exhausting night. Gabi once mentioned that the Heaven’s Angels dancers would drive him nuts with their cat fights over petty shit. The previous night could’ve turned out like a pay-per-view wrestling match with him as the referee.

Or…maybe he wasn’t home at all.

She glanced down at the employee parking area behind the strip club. His sled was parked in the lot and so was his truck.

Other possibilities for him not coming to the door could be that he had a “guest.” Or he’d gone home with a woman in her cage instead of his.

Shit.She might be standing there for nothing. But if she left now, she might not have the nerve to come back.

Anyway, she’d prefer to know if he was with a woman. If so, then that kiss didn’t mean as much to him as it did her and she could be fooling herself.

With a sigh, she pressed her forehead and a palm against the cool, painted steel door.

When the door abruptly flung open, she lost her balance and stumbled forward. Luckily, Ash caught her before she tumbled to the ground at his feet.

Once she was upright, her knees wobbled. Not because she was still unsteady, but because he only wore jeans. Jeanshe hadn’t bothered to zip or button closed. Not that she hadn’t seen most of his body while filling his skin with ink, but history had proven that the tattoo gun didn’t give him a hard-on.

Unlike the one he sported now.

He released her elbows and stepped back, a frown marring his forehead. “Whataya doin’ here?”

The Viking braids on top of his head were a mess with stray hairs escaping. His voice was more gruff than normal. His deep brown eyes bloodshot. And he smelled a bit like cheap perfume, cigarette smoke, and whiskey.

Actually, more than a bit.

Crinkling her nose and rubbing it didn’t go unnoticed.

“Passed out. Didn’t get a chance to shower yet.” He took a step back.

Whether that was an invitation or not, she took it as one and crossed the threshold into the darker interior. She’d never been inside his apartment before, but he took it over when he began running Heaven’s Angels after the former manager and DAMC member, Moose, died years ago.

Looking around, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be in it right then, either. It was a disaster.

Unfortunately, that was being kind.