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“She can’t mean that,” I mumble as my friend drags me along.
* * *
From my place in the parking lot, I’ve seen several employees leave. Will exits the building alone at nine p.m. The parking lot is almost empty, but I don’t mind the audience. It’s likely I’m gonna get caught on camera. I climb out of my car and stalk toward him. He recognizes me instantly and tries to duck into his Maserati. Oh no, you fucking don’t!
In seconds, I’m on him, delivering a right hook. My fist makes contact, and his head snaps back. Like a fucking twig. A big man like Will should have taken it better. His grunts fill the air.
“Now that is for fucking my girl.” He staggers back. I hit the fucker blow after blow. “Ryder, no!” someone yells my name, but my fists aren’t done with this piece of shit. Blood pounds in my ears. Then I’m being dragged off Will James by security. His face is a bloody mess. Ash kneels on the ground beside him, making sure he’s all right.
“You two deserve each other,” I spit at her, shrugging off the guard. “I’m Ryder fucking Rothwell. Get your hands off me.”
They instantly step away. “Sorry, sir.” The two men look sheepish but uncertain, especially after the mess I made.
Walking away, I promise myself one thing. I will never look back on Asher Hawthorne. She is fucking dead to me.
ChapterTwenty-Three
ASH
It feels like I’m stuck in a haunted house, with new horrors emerging at every turn. I did what that vile bastard Coben wanted, I broke Ryder. The tape might have been staged, but after threatening to leak the incriminating pictures he took of me and Will when he drugged me in his office, I caved, playing along in this sick, deluded game.
“Are you okay?” Will asks when I arrive for work a week after the fight in the parking lot.
“I should ask you that,” I whisper. “I am so sorry you’re caught up in all this.”
“We both have people we need to protect, Asher. That is what matters. Nobody goes up against the Rothwells and wins. I can’t afford to lose this job.”
The door to my office swings open, and in walks a suit-clad Ryder. I wish I didn’t notice how fucking gorgeous he looks in Armani, and polished shoes. He looks between Will and me. I have no clue why he’s here but if the attire is anything to go by, he’s caved, much like Will and I did, and taken his place at his father’s side.
“No need to stop on my account,” he says.
“Can I help you?” Will asks, rising from his seat to face a smug-faced Ryder.
“You can actually, James. I’d like your monthly report on my desk by midday. You’ll be reporting to me from now on. Thought you should be the first to know.”
Ryder’s gaze meets mine, and it makes me shrink in size. So, he works here.
With that bombshell that leaves us both reeling, he stalks out of the office.
“This will not bode well for either of us.” Will says.
“We just have to do what we do, Will. Rothwell got what he wanted, and with luck, he’ll leave us alone.” Even as I say it, I know that an angry and vengeance-filled Ryder will be a whole new kind of evil. It hurts to have him look at me like I’m a stranger, but I did what I had to do to protect my aunt and my scholarship.
* * *
I’ve been summoned to a Rothwell’s office for the second time. Expecting the worst, I simply shake my head when I find a girl on her knees sucking Ryder off. His eyes meet mine and his hand tangles in her hair. “Come on in. Take a seat. We’re almost done.”
The girl tries to slide off his dick, only to be shoved down it until she gags.
“Oh, don’t let me stop you. It’s entertaining to watch you go back to your old ways.”
“On the contrary. This is simply me, being me.”
I cross my legs and stare straight at him. His eyes never leave mine as the girl’s head bobs up and down on his thick length. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t turn me on. My traitorous body misses him so much my thighs clench together. But as much as I desire him, and still love him, we don’t have a future. His father made sure of that. And he’s sealing the deal right now.
“Yeah. Fuck. Faster!” Ryder says, but there isn’t any ecstasy on his face. Just an indifference that makes him seem cold and hard. He pulls the girl off and sprays cum on her face without even blinking an eye. It’s so degrading that he did that to her in front of me, I have to look away. I hate how much it hurts. I realize he probably did this because of the way I’d confronted him almost a year ago about Cassandra. Maybe, he hoped to get a rise out of me. He won’t.
Our eyes meet when she leaves the room. “This is a place of business, you know, not a brothel.”
