I was in such a hurry to get away from Sean that I completely forgot my cell phone, keys, and purse in his car. I stand in front of Kyla's office, I hate to ask her for another favor but I don't really have a choice. I knock.
I hear the door unlock and it swings open but Kyla is sitting at her desk, I walk inside. Ashley is sitting in a chair near the door. She must have opened it. Aiden and Madison are standing nearby. I can tell I'm interrupting something. The room is tense.
"I finished all my tickets, and clocked out," I tell Kyla. "I hate to ask, but I was wondering if you could call me a cab. I can pay for it, I just-"
"What happen to your arm?" I'm interrupted by Ashley's voice. What is she talking...Oh, I look down to see my arm is swollen, I can see a faint red handprint where Sean grabbed me earlier. He grabbed me up pretty hard but I didn't think it would leave a mark.
"That wasn't there when you came in, Spencer." Kyla rushes to my side, taking my arm. "Did a VIP do this?" She looks at the bruise.
Aiden peers over, "Ouch, I'll go get you an ice pack,"
I start to tell him that's not necessary but he's gone before I can say anything.
"Does it hurt?" Madison asks, her tone more curious than concerned.
"No, I didn't even notice it until now," I stare at my arm in disbelief. What the hell, Sean?
"Spencer, What happen?" Unlike Madison, I can tell Kyla is genuinely worried.
The best thing I can do is keep things vague, "I got a ride here from a friend tonight, we got into a disagreement and he grabbed me, I rushed out of the car but I left my phone and bag. Which is why I was hoping you could call me a cab."
"Here ya go," Aiden reappears handing me an ice pack, he must have ran. I place it over the swelling and thank him.
"I just need to get home tonight, I can sort things out from there," I tell everyone.
"The cab isn't a problem, I just want to make sure you're ok," Kyla assures me.
"I'll take you home," Ashley interjects.
Immediately alarms go off in my head, but Sean's voice is louder than all of them.
"Maybe you should lean into it." He said in the car earlier.
I don't have to flirt with Ashley but I can lean into this situation. Use it to my advantage.
"We need to finish our Conversation." "Yeah, Ash. We were kinda in the middle of something." Madison and Aiden protest.
I stay quiet. I don't think I should say anything to push her either way and besides it wasn't really a question. She didn't offer to take me home, she just said she was.
"We'll finish our conversation tomorrow, help Kyla close up," Ashley instructs Madison and Aiden.
Kyla pulls me into a half hug, it takes me by surprise but I let it happen. "Remember what I said about the hooks," She whispers in my ear before letting me go. No one else hears her. "If you can't make your shift tomorrow night let me know I'll have someone cover you," She says aloud.
"I should be fine but I'll keep you updated." I nod letting her know I heard her and I remember our conversation earlier too.
"I'm parked out front," Ashley says leaving the office.
I follow her out and the wind nearly knocks me over once we're on the street. I feel my shoulders pull together, it's cold. Ashley's parked right in front of the club so we don't have to walk far at all. I watch her unlock the car and grab something out of the backseat.
"Here," She hands me a jacket.
"Oh, no. I'm ok." I decline the gesture.
"You're shaking," She opens it up for me.
Ugh, she's right. It really is cold tonight. I slide my right arm into the jacket and she places it over my left shoulder. This way I can keep icing the swelling. The silk lining of the jacket feels nice and it's a good weight too, much nicer than the old leather jacket I have at home. Ashley opens the passenger door for me and I slide in. I thank her before she closes it and rounds the car to the driver's side. The engine practically roars when she starts it up. I don't know much about cars but it sounds…expensive.
"Gonna tell me where I'm going?" Ashley pulls off smoothly.
"Sepulveda and Albright," I tell her.
"Nice area," Ashley reaches over and pops her glove compartment, she feels around and eventually pulls out a pack of spearmint gum. "Want some?" She holds the gum out.
"No, thanks." I shake my head. "You know, I'm surprised you're driving me home. I didn't think you liked me very much." I turn slightly to face her.
"You called me a bully," she reminds me of our first encounter.
"Did I?" I tilt my head slightly. Playfully pretending not to remember our first conversation.
I watch the corners of her mouth turn up. It's kind of a smile, we're getting somewhere.
"It's not that I don't like you, I just don't know you." Ashley shrugs, "Kyla and I hired everyone from the original staff together. We were close, all of us, kind of like family. Now I walk in and I barely recognize anyone." She explains her indifferent behavior.
A family? Clay's face, his body, the blood all over the FADE dance floor. Is that how you treat family? I push the thoughts away. I have to focus.
"Does it bother you that so much of the original staff didn't come back?"
"I'm not surprised. That night the club got shut down they saw a side of me they'd never seen before. I wouldn't have come back either,"
So the witnesses were telling the truth, they saw you murder my brother. They saw the killer inside of you and ran as far as they could. Why did you do it? What happen that night?
"Why do you still come to the club?" I ask a question I've been wondering about. "Kyla doesn't seem to like it, and yet you still hang out there." What were you up to in VIP tonight? I think about the closed privacy curtain.
A flicker of something crosses Ashley's face at the mention of Kyla. I can see Ashley trying to shake off whatever it is she's feeling. Anger? Annoyance? Perhaps.
"I think it's my turn to ask you a question," Ashley looks over at me, her eyes settling on my arm and the ice pack. "What kind of disagreement led to that?" A disagreement, that is what I called it earlier, huh? She pays attention.
I didn't realize we were taking turns but it's fine, I finally got her talking. Give a little, get a little, you got this, Spencer. Thinking about Sean exasperates me, the shit he pulled at the office, then grabbing me up in the car. Working so closely with Sean was showing me a very different side of him.
"A guy who can't take no for an answer, nothing new there." I lift the ice pack slightly, there's been no real change to the swelling, so I place it back on my arm. The look of surprise on Ashley's face tells me I could have found a better way of phrasing that. "Oh, no! It wasn't anything like that." I clarify.
Ashley's face relaxes, "So what's the plan? You said you left all your stuff in his car so I'm guessing you don't have your keys."
I groan, she's right. Sean really screwed me.
"I hadn't thought that far, I guess I can wait until the leasing office opens. Use their copy of my keys." I try to think things through.
"What time do they open?" Ashley looks at the time on her dash.
I follow her line of sight, it's 5:12 am, and the leasing office doesn't open until, "10," I say, mentally kicking myself.
I'm sure Ashley can read the stress on my face, I'm not hiding it.
"I can get you inside." a sly half smile crosses her face.
The alarms sound off in my head for the second time tonight, but once again Sean's voice is louder, "Maybe you should lean into it." So I lean.
"Thank you, that sounds a lot better than sitting in the hallway for 5 hours." I look out the window and we haven't reached my neighborhood yet. Maybe I can squeeze a bit more out of this conversation before we get to my apartment.
"So, VIP 3. They must be really good friends of yours." I keep my voice light, this is casual conversation, not an interrogation I remind myself.
Ashley's brows pull together, "What makes you say that?" she searches my face for something. What is it she thinks I know?
"They ran up a $15,000 tab and you paid it without blinking an eye," I turn as much as I can toward her, letting my head rest against the seat. "You don't even pay for your own bottle service."
Ashley's eyes dance briefly over my legs, she catches herself quickly but I've already caught her. Seeing her checking me out, feeling her eyes on me, puts a pit in my stomach. How long am I going to have to play nice? How many weeks, how many months? I swallow hard. I can do this. For Clay.
"Erick isn't a friend," her tone is dismissive, not of me but of the idea that she would be friends with Erick. "But maybe I should start paying for the club services Aiden, Madison and I use." Ashley contemplates.
"I'm sure Kyla would appreciate it," I quirk a brow at her and she laughs.
Paying a $15,000 tab for someone who's not a friend? Somethings there. Kyla was surprised Erick was even in the club, she told me Ashley reserved the room with her earlier but never said for who. Why would she be rolling out the red carpet for the club's alcohol vendor?
"I'm missing 2 boxes of Whiskey. The soft opening is tonight. Fix this Erick!" I remember hearing Kyla yell into her phone.
The whiskey. The missing boxes weren't a mistake, he screwed up FADE's alcohol order on purpose. At Ashley's request. Why do something so trivial? Was it just to throw Kyla off the day of the soft opening? Are your feelings that hurt that Kyla was able to reopen the club without you?
Clay, Carmen, and her brothers, Kyla, my head pounds.
Ashley turns the corner onto Albright, "It's the second building," I direct her.
She nods, pulling the car over and turning it off. She grabs something out of her glovebox, I can't make out what it is inside the dark car but it's too small to be a weapon. I watch her round the front of the car to get to my door but I don't wait for her, I let myself out. I lead her inside the apartment building and when she has to catch up to me at the elevator, I realize I've been walking quite a bit ahead of her.
"Everything, ok?" She asks sensing that my mood has changed.
Shake it off, Spencer. You've made it this far, get something useful.
"Yeah, sorry. My head is just pounding." I pull the hair tie out of my hair and shake it out.
She nods, "It shouldn't take long for me to get you inside,"
The elevator doors open and I walk Ashley right to my front door. There are certain rules when going undercover. I'm about to break a big one.
"This is me," I point to the door.
Ashley takes a pair of small tools out of a leather booklet and takes a closer look at the lock on my door. It's a lockpicking kit. She gets down on one knee and pushes her hair back, then gets to work on the lock. It's less than two minutes before she turns the knob and pushes the door inside. Ashley finding out where I live is one thing, but me bringing her here and watching her pick the lock is another thing entirely.
"Can I get you a bottle of water? Or a beer?." I step inside holding the door open for her.
Ashley stands awkwardly in the doorway, it's a new look for her. "Do you know who I am?" She cocks her head to the side.
I tilt my head motioning for her to come in, she crosses the threshold and I close the door behind us.
"You are my boss' sometimes gruff sister," The ice pack Aiden got me is almost completely melted at this point. I toss it in the freezer and grab a beer and bottled water from the fridge.
I hold the drinks out for Ashley to choose from.
She takes the beer, eyes set on me, "Spencer." her voice is firm, it's my name, but also a command. Cut the shit.
"Just the same rumors I'm sure everyone else has heard about the big bad Ashley Davies," I play dumb.
I open the bottle of water and take a few sips, Ashley doesn't take her eyes off me.
"Where's your bathroom?" She asks and I point to a closed door behind her.
Ashley disappears into the bathroom, I hear her rummaging around the drawers and cabinet. Then I hear pill bottles shaking. There's nothing in there that would raise suspicion, I take another couple sips of my water. She returns, turning her palm up at me, two pills in her hand.
"Tylenol for your headache." Our eyes lock briefly. She watches me throw back the Tylenol, washing them down with my water. "Did you just move in?" She looks around, walking from the kitchen to the living room and back.
"No, why?" I pull myself up onto the island counter. The brief pressure on my arm causes it to sting.
"Your apartment, it's…empty." She leans on the counter next to me, taking a swig of her beer, she makes an unimpressed face at the beverage but continues drinking.
"I guess I never decorated," I shrug, suddenly uncomfortable with her being in my space. Judging me. The feeling is fleeting.
Ashley smiles shaking her head at me, "You don't have chairs" pointing out how I've hoisted myself up onto the island. "Or a couch." she points behind her to the living.
"Well maybe," I slide my hand into my bar and Ashley looks away, confused. "If I keep making tips like this, I can afford a couch, and some chairs." I pull out all the money I've shoved in my bra throughout the night at FADE.
"Wooow," Ashley says playfully pushing around the wads of money on the counter, "How much did you make?" She drinks her beer.
"I don't know, haven't counted it yet. It's way more than I made the first night though I can tell." I think about how quickly I'm finding my groove at the club.
"Let's count it up then," Ashley starts unfolding and separating the bills, counting them as she goes. "500, 600, 7," She says to herself, my eyes widen.
"You're joking, stop it," I nudge her shoulder.
Ashley shakes her head no and continues to count, "$732, and Kyla hasn't had the actual grand opening yet. You'll be making twice that on a regular basis." She hands me the money.
These are just the cash tips from tonight, which means I must have made over a grand in total not including commission. Wow.
I pretend to take a whiff of the stack of money, "Mm, smells like a couch" It's a bad joke but she laughs. Now is my chance, "Hey, do you mind if I use your phone? I want to call that guy I told you about, set something up for me to get my stuff back from him."
Ashley thinks about it for a moment, I can see the wheels turning in her head. Come on, I'm just a harmless bottle girl. Give me the phone.
"Sure," She pulls her phone out of her pocket and unlocks it for me to use.
The way Sean's been acting he's too much of a wild card to actually call. I don't trust him right now, not until we talk about the way he acted in the car. I call Erin instead and leave a message.
"Hey, it's Spencer. I know things went left earlier but I really need to get my stuff back from you. I can meet up with you tomorrow. I'll drop by your job. Oh and uh, don't call this number back I'm borrowing a friend's phone." I hang up.
I watch Ashley unfold a piece of paper I didn't notice dropped on the counter with the money. Shit, Carmen's number.
"You got a number too?" She smirks. "I guess, Carmen was very happy with your service tonight." I reach for the paper but Ashley pulls it away, like a kid playing a game.
Wait I can use this, I focus back in. Kyla said Ashley really put Carmen through the wringer. "Uh no, I didn't get that from the club. Kyla took me to this restaurant-"
"The Cantina?" Ashley cuts me off. She drops the small piece of paper on the counter as if it burned her. The look in her eyes is deadly. "I didn't know Kyla still went to that place."
"Yeah, she and Carmen seem pretty close." I twist the knife. I hope this doesn't get Kyla or Carmen in any trouble but I need to push Ashley just a little.
"Of course, they are. They share a mutual hate for me." Ashley finishes off her beer and looks at the door. "I should get going"
"I don't think Kyla hates you," I hop down from the counter.
"That's nice of you to say, but I know how Kyla feels about me. She didn't even want me taking you home, she thinks being alone with me even for a short time is enough to poison you." Ashley walks to the door and I follow her.
Kyla describes it more as hooks, not poison, but tomayto, tomahto. Ashley's right Kyla did seem worried about us spending time together alone.
"Unfortunately for her, we're family. So she can't get away from me."
Unlike Carmen, What did it cost her to get away?
There's something dark in Ashley's voice. She doesn't even try to hide it, it burns bright behind her brown eyes.