Chapter 6

"God! How could I have been so stupid? I can't fall in love with him again." She paused. "Ah, hell, who am I kidding, I'm still in love with him." Ashley sighed her frustrations and decided to get into the shower. She thought back to the days when everything was simple.

Ashley had just had the worst day at work. Her boss was a complete asshole. If she didn't get out of there soon she would surely do something she regretted. She drove home and seethed about her boss. She stormed into the front door to find the lights out, and a table with two candles burning. There were two place settings and a rose sitting on the table. All of her frustrations melted away when Brian walked in with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

"Hey beautiful."

Ashley was still stunned with what she saw. Brian never did anything like this before in his life. "Hi." She whispered.

"Your mom called and told me about what happened today at work. I know this seems out of the ordinary, but I wanted to do something to take your mind off of it. Come on, come sit."

Ashley walked over and sat down at the table. Brian poured her a glass of wine and went back into the kitchen to retrieve the dinner. He came out with two plates of spaghetti. He sat down across from Ashley and started eating. Ashley ate the food and was surprised at how good of a cook he actually was. She had always bantered with him about it, but he was actually good.

They talked throughout dinner about her day and random other things. She laughed the entire way through dinner. When they were finished, Brian led her out into the backyard. There he had a blanket on the ground and more wine. They lay on the blanket and watched the stars, until they both fell asleep.

Ashley shook her head. "Those were the good days." She said to herself. She got out of the shower and got dressed. She put on a black skirt that went just to her mid thigh. She then put on her red tank top that had silver sequence going up the side and around the neck. She dried her hair and left it down. She put on more makeup than usual, some dangly silver earrings, and lastly, her black stiletto heels. She checked herself over once more in the mirror and then decided to go down and meet Brian.

Brian's breathe caught in his throat when he saw Ashley walk down the stairs. She looked beautiful. Grant it, she was before, but something about her was different and it made her more beautiful.

She looked at Brian as she made her way down and noticed that his eyes were about to fall out of his sockets. She half smiled to herself.

"Damn girl. You look fine!" said Tej.

"Thank you." She said with a smile.

"Yea, ugh, you look real nice." Said Brian softly.

Ashley just looked at him and smiled. "Thanks." They stared at each other for a few seconds until Brian broke the silence.

"We need to get going if we want to be there by midnight."

"Yea, yea we should. See ya later Suki."

"We'll be back later Tej."

They walked to Brian's car and drove to the club. When they arrived they were ushered in. Ashley looked around and noticed about a hundred skanky ass girls who were wearing almost nothing. She did notice a couple of cute guys here and there.

"Damn." She whispered. Brian looked over to her and felt a twinge of jealousy. But then again, he wasn't with her so it was alright. But he couldn't shake the feeling. Just then Monica came through the crowd. He heard Ashley grown with irritation.

"Hey. You guys did something right. Verone never socializes with hired help."

"Then what's that make you?" spat Ashley. Monica just gave her an equal glare back.

"Where's he at?" asked Brian.

"He's on his way."

"You and Verone don't go everywhere together?" asked Ashley.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothin." Monica just sighed and looked over to Brian. They were obviously making oogly eyes at each other. Ashley had to leave before she had a WWF smack down with this woman.

"I'm gonna go to the ladies room."

"You go do that." Spat Monica. As Ashley walked by, she glared vehemently at Monica.

"What is her deal?"

"She doesn't trust people that carry badges."

"So you talk like you know."

"Yeah. I'd been a cop about two months, when Ashley was busted in a garage raid. She had eight sets of wheels in her possession, each and every one of them were hot."

"So you busted him?"

"No. I didn't even know what was goin down. But, uh, that doesn't really matter to him. Basically once I became a cop, Ash started seeing me as a friend that became the enemy." Brian and Monica went over to sit down and wait for Verone. Ashley came back and noticed them flirting. She sighed in defeat and turned to find Verone looking over to her. She got a creepy feeling from him.

"Damn." She whispered. She walked over to where Brian and Monica were sitting.

"Hey Ash what's up?"

"He's here man."

"Where's he at?"

"He's over there. Don't look." They all turned to see Verone wave at them. A young woman told them to follow her to Verone's little VIP area. As Ashley walked in Verone spoke to her.

"Sit down; I'll deal with you later." He said with some sort of tone hidden behind. She couldn't tell, but by the way he looked over her as he said it gave her a pretty good idea. She sat down and waited while he interrogated Brian.

She noticed as Verone talked to him that he looked over to Monica. He talked about women as usual. She felt a little uncomfortable. Verone walked over and sat down.

"So, you, uh, lit my man's car on fire. Is that right?" asked Verone to Ashley. Ashley just glared right back at him. She leaned back and crossed her legs. She had an air of toughness around her, and she used it to her ability.

"Yeah. I did. You see, I got a problem with authority." Verone looked over her and smiled.

"I got that same problem. For me, it's cops, in particular." He looked over at Brian and ended up looking at Ashley.

"Let's take a walk. Come on."

"We just got here." Said Monica.

"And now were leaving. Come on." Verone stood and helped Ashley up. She felt a little creeped out by it, but she had to play along.

They walked back through the club to one of the VIP rooms. Brian and Ashley looked at one another and felt like something was wrong.

They walked in to find a flame torch, rope and something else on the table.

"What's all that?" asked Ashley.

"We're gonna have a little fun." Said Verone. He poured some Champagne into some glasses. The blonde women that Verone pointed out to earlier walked in with a short fat guy. Verone just laughed.

"Hey Carter." Said the guy.

"Meet, uh, Detective Whitworth. One of Miami's finest. Thank you, sweetheart." The blonde walked out. "Are you enjoying yourself Detective?"

"Yea. I was. I mean, you know me."

"Yeah, I do know you. You been on my payroll a long time."

"Verone, that aint right."

"Shut up. I got one last job for you detective. You hear me?"

"Look, we've been all through this."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I said I can't do it."

Hmm. That's the wrong answer. The table." The two men grabbed the detective and started to strap him down to the table. Ashley started getting really nervous and scared. She grabbed onto Brian's arm. Verone went to the pale and pulled out a rat.

"Sit down." He said to Brian and Ashley. They sat down and watched as Verone threatened the cop. Ashley started to fidget. She was really uncomfortable. She couldn't say anything. Monica came over and put her hands over his mouth to shut him up. Finally the cop gave in. Verone threatened the cop and what he said scared Ashley like none other.

"You betray me. And my rat here, is gonna visit your wife, Lynn, yeah, your son Clay, and your daughter Lexi. Do you hear me?"

Ashley went paralyzed. He couldn't hurt his family could he? The look in his eyes made her think otherwise. Verone let the cop go and took a sip of his champagne.

"Mm. You guys enjoy the show? Fifteen minutes, and then every cop in Florida is gonna be on you. Be at Versailles Café, 6:00 a.m., day after tomorrow ready to drive. You understand?"

"Yeah." Said Brian. Ashley just continued to stare. Verone noticed the anger in her eyes.

"Don't play games with me, your you'll be next, and your little girl Anna. All right? Help yourself to a little champagne. Let's go." Verone took one last glance at Ashley to see her shocked expression. He turned and strode out with Monica behind him. Ashley just sat there in shock. 'How had he known? How did he find out? Where they okay?' she just sat there. She felt Brian's glare on her. She knew he wanted to ask questions so she changed the subject. She looked over to him.

"That was a damn rat, Bri."

"What did he mean?"

Ashley got up and got some champagne. "What are you talking about?"

"What did Verone mean when he said your little girl Anna, huh?"

"Nothing, Bri, just let it go."

"Come on Ash. We used to be able to tell each other anything."

"Yes, Brian, used to. Past tense. Now just drop it and let's go home okay?"

"I'm not gonna leave this Ash. Tell me what he was talking about?" he yelled.

"He was talking about Anna! Our daughter!" she screamed. She broke down into sobs and went to sit down on the couch. Brian stood where he was. 'Did she just say our daughter?' He looked over to see Ashley crying on the sofa.

He didn't know what to say.

"What are you talking about?"

Ashley sniffed and looked up. She couldn't risk looking into his eyes. "A couple of weeks or so after you had left, I found out I was pregnant."

"Jesus Christ, Ash. Why didn't you tell?"

"Why? You wanna know why! Bri, I tried to tell you. I called your cell phone, I called the police station, I tried everything, and no one could get a hold of you. Your cell phone said it was disconnected. How the hell was I supposed to tell you you were going to be a father when the police couldn't even get a hold of you? Believe me, I tried. I felt so guilty when you left about you never seeing your daughter. I wanted you to see her, but I felt that you needed to be hurt too. Just like me, but I realized that that wasn't, that wasn't the right thing to do. So I tried getting a hold of you, and," she paused as more tears ran down her face, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry Ash. If anyone should be, it's me. I left the most valuable thing in my life for a job that I didn't even keep. I knew I should have gone back to you but I was afraid the cops would link me to you, so I ran and didn't come back." Brian stopped. "What does she look like?"

Ashley just smiled and pulled out a picture from her wallet. "See for yourself." Brian looked at the picture and noticed that she looked just like him. Now he realized why she had to tell him. She was reminded of him everyday from her daughter. Their daughter.

"She's beautiful."

"Yea she is. My little angel."

"Where is she now?"

"With my mom. Just until I get back. Then I can actually live in a house with her and be a normal family." Brian felt a tug at his heart. He knew she meant just Anna and herself, but something inside of him wanted to be apart of that family to. He nodded and gave the picture back to her.

"Come on, we should go home." Ashley just nodded. She noticed the coldness to Brian's voice. She knew he was angry. I mean who wouldn't be? She got up and they headed home. They both went to bed that night with dreams of the other and the little girl that they shared.