The sun shown brightly in her face as Ashli slightly opened her eyes. She could feel the movement of someone next to her but she had too much of a bad hangover to figure out who it was. All she remembered was a fight, a taxi ride, and one hell of an orgasmic night which she had with the stranger next to her. As soon as he gets up, he must go, she thought before getting out of bed. Pulling the sheets closer to her, she picked up her glasses from the night stand and put it on. She scratched her head and turned to the figure next to her who was shifting in his sleep. She rolled her eyes and roughly pushed him off the bed. He hit the ground with a loud thud and groaned painful.
"Mornin'," she said dryly.
The man got up from the floor and went back to his position on the bed. "What happened?" he asked dumb-founded.
"It's 8:00 am and if you wanna live, you might wanna hurry up and get dressed. My husband should be home any minute now."
The
man shook his head to wake himself up. He stood and headed to the
bathroom but Ashli snapped her fingers at him.
"Sorry, no time.
Just get your clothes and leave."
The man squinted at her, but quickly obliged. He grabbed his things from the chair and without so much of a word, quickly exited the apartment. She sighed and headed into the bathroom to get ready for work.
After taking a 30 minute shower, Ashli rushed into the living room to hide the evidence of last night. As she picked up the empty bottles of Jack Daniels, she began to remember what happened last night between her and Dave. She remembered them getting into a heated argument and him threatening her never to bring another man in the house…
"See, this is the shit I can't stand about you Ash!" he yelled.
Ashli smirked. "Sweetie, whatever to do you mean? I didn't have anyone here last night. Now this morning…that's a different story."
"You're admitting to cheating in our house?!" he asked now furious.
"Technically, I'm admitting to fucking a guy in my apartment. Remember, you kicked me out our house three months ago Dave."
"And I told you that if you didn't get your shit together, you'd never move back in! Don't you care about Brittany?"
"Obviously you don't. That's why you kicked me out right?"
Dave chuckled to himself then gave her a stern look. "I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. Stop bringing random guys around here."
"Or else what David? Gonna hit me again?"
"You know you enjoy it. That's why you're always brining guys in here."
"Well, do what you feel you have to do David. I'm going to the club with Trish."
"Over my dead body," he growled.
She laughed. "Oooh Dave, now you know you should be careful what you ask for. You just might get it."
"Listen to me-
"No, you listen to me. Now, I'm going to the club and I'm going to find a hot random guy to fuck the shit out of me in our bed. Hope you're here when I get back. It's gonna be one hell of a show." She blew him a kiss, grabbed her purse and left him standing in her living room, fuming with anger.
Ashli was never one to break her promises. She found a guy within the first ten minutes of her search. A tall, auburn skinned man with ocean blue eyes, that called himself "God's gift to woman," he said seductively to her last night. She wasted no time in convincing him into a one night stand and like most men, he accepted her offer. They had sex from the front door, to the stove, in the shower and finally making there way to the bed. The only regret Ashli had was not video taping the scene for Dave who sadly, did not stick around like she expected. She scanned the apartment front to back for used condoms which she knew were all over the place. She found five and threw them in the same plastic bag with the empty bottles. Heading to the door, her phone began to ring and she excitedly answered, hoping it was Dave.
"Hello?" she answered sexily.
"Gurl, who are you trying to impress?"
"Sorry Trish, I thought you were Dave."
"Please tell me you didn't go to the club last night."
"Oh you know I did. And you went a long with me."
"Why are you always putting my name in the middle of things? You know damn well I did not go anywhere with you."
"Oh well. Don't you wanna hear about my night?"
"Not really. I know you and the things you do with these men. Do you really think sleeping with them is helping the situation?"
"What situation? Look, the only situation I have is which club I'm hitting tonight."
"What about Britt? When was the last time you saw her?"
Ashli shrugged. "Who knows? Dave won't let me see her. How old is she, about 12?"
"I can't believe she's that old. Just yesterday she was two."
"Yeah well she sure doesn't act two. She acts like my sister instead of my daughter."
"That's because ya'll are close in age. You had her when you were thirteen, right?"
"Don't remind me. Anyway girl, I gotta get my ass to work. John hates when I'm late."
"Alright, are we meetin' for lunch?"
"Nah, I got something else in mind. I wanna meet up with Dave."
"Alright, so I'll catch you later."
"Alright bye." Ashli hanged up and made sure to give the apartment one last check for her orgy before leaving for work.
"Mr. Bautista, you have a call on line three," Layla called from the intercom. Dave turned in his chair and picked up the phone.
"This is Dave Bautista."
"Good morning lover. Where were you last night?"
Dave smirked at the voice on the other end and sat back cockily in his chair. "I was out. I had some things to take care of."
"But I missed you."
"Sorry to hear that love. But I-"
His other line began to flash and he immediately recognized the number to be Ashli's.
"Hold on for a minute Dawn." He clicked over.
"What do you want?"
"Now is that anyway to talk to your wife?"
"I'm in the middle of a very important phone call."
"I know. Let's see, it's now 9:15. It's Dawn right?"
"I'll see you at home Ashli."
"I want you to meet me for lunch."
"I can't. I have to meet a client."
"Well then I'll come over there and wait until you're finish. We really need to talk."
He sighed and shook his head. "Fine. Meet me in the lobby at 12:00 sharp."
"I'll be there at 11:55. Tell Dawn I said hello."
"Yeah, yeah."
He
hanged up the phone and looked up when he saw someone entering. Layla
walked in with a folder full of papers. She rested them down on the
desk and smiled.
"Here are the documents you asked for. Will
there be anything else sir?"
"Yes, reschedule my appointment with Mr. Fitzgerald for tomorrow at noon and please get Ms. Walden back on the phone."
Layla sat down and began to dial Dawn's number. Dave stopped her.
"Better yet, excuse me for a moment while I call my daughter."
Candice nodded and went back to her desk. Dave pressed one and waited for Brittany to pick up.
"Hello?" an innocent voice answered on the other end.
"Hey sweetie. Getting ready for school?"
"Yeah dad. You know you don't have to check on me all the time."
"Yes I do. I'm your dad."
"Have you spoken to mom lately?"
Dave shifted in his seat at the mention of Ashli. "Um, yeah. I saw her last night."
"Is she coming to see me soon?"
He sighed, not knowing how to answer that. He knew in his heart that Ashli had no interest in Brittany. But he'd never tell her that.
"Yeah, she might come and see you tonight."
"Good, I want her to see my pink ends."
He laughed. "Alright sweetie. I'll let you go back to getting ready."
"Thank you. Bye dad."
"Bye." As he was hanging up, his other line began to beep. He snapped his finger, annoyed that he forgot to call Dawn back.
"Sorry about that Dawn. I just had to take care of some things."
"Do these things have anything have to do with Ashli?"
"How'd you figure?"
"Look Dave, I know that's your wife and everything but you need to kick her ass to the curb. She's never around for you or her daughter. And instead of trying to make things better, she's sleeping around with other guys."
"I know Dawn-"
"This girl is dangerous. You need to leave her alone. This is get-"
Dave moved the phone away from his ear, not in the mood to hear one of Dawn's lectures about how bad a mother Ashli was. In his opinion, Ashli was a good mother because she had enough sense to leave Brittany with someone who cares instead of passing her to foster care. He had to admit that things were getting out of hand and everyday it was becoming clearer that he and Ashli would never be the way they were before. But somewhere deep inside, he wished that she'd get up one morning and want to come back home and be with her daughter and home, instead of playing these mind games with him. It was bad enough that he agreed to marry her after learning about her family's background. But now that he was trying to get pass that, she keeps finding a way to hold it over his head.
"DAVID! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!" Dawn screamed over the receiver.
Dave shook out of his thoughts and cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm here. And I heard what you said. Listen, I have to go to a conference meeting now so, I'll just see you tonight."
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine Dawn. Bye." He hanged up without allowing her to say good-bye. The door knocked again and Layla walked in with a sly grin on her face. She locked the door behind her and walked around the desk where Dave was sitting. He looked up at her and watched as she undid her neat bun, letting her hair fall on her shoulders.
"You look different," he stated as she positioned herself on his lap.
"How are you?" she pouted.
"I'm fine. Is the cost clear?"
"Everyone's meeting in the conference room as we speak." She kneeled down and slowly unbuckled his belt. He raised her up and sat her back on his lap.
"Hey, you okay? Your usually a bit more excited," she questioned.
"It's nothing. I'm just not in the mood okay? I'm meeting my wife here in a while."
She rolled her eyes and got off his lap. "I see. I guess I'll just come back later?"
"That'll be fine. Bye."
Layla fixed herself properly before exiting the room. Dave sighed and turned his attention to the view from his office window. Looking down at the people twenty stories lower than him, he thought about the one girl that he'd never give up on, even if it meant risking his life or his daughter's.