Breaking His Rules Read online

  In an instant, the music was back up and the crowd dispersing, back to their dancing, drinking, and cavorting. “C’mon. Let’s go get you cleaned up.”

  With her words, I became aware of my appearance. Glancing down, I found my white shirt splashed with speckles of blood. A pain in my hand pulsed to life, stinging near the knuckles. I ran one hand through my hair, smoothing it back into place. She was right. I was a mess.

  I resumed following her, cutting through the remaining people who’d watched the fight. I heard a chorus of men hollering things out to me like, “You kicked his ass, man,” and, “Bet he won’t mess with her again.” I was unable to share in their celebratory remarks, but a small part of me was satisfied with the pummeling I’d laid on Marcus. Then there was the other part that wanted to go find him and beat the crap out of him again, even if it was barbaric.

  We made it to her office, climbing what felt like a million metal stairs after I had the fight, such as it was. Funny how the day before, it hadn’t felt like such a heavy lift. Terra closed us into the room that seemed larger than I recalled. Pretty sure I hadn’t been thinking at all yesterday. My mind had been on her and those boots, my new favorite thing I’d ever seen her in. After the beautifully vivid red dress. But nothing beat the sight of her naked. I really loved the way she looked with nothing at all on her body. Apparent, since I’d just tried to pummeled that pisser to a pulp moments before.

  I took the couch. It had been years since I’d fought anyone, but little had changed. You still realized all kinds of hurts from the fight as your adrenaline waned. You still were on ten, edgy and nervous. Hard to believe that just moments before, I’d been on my way to her office for a very different reason. Calming down had definitely not been on the table. My erection was gone, replaced by my need to support her.

  Terra came over and took a seat beside me, leaning back and resting her head on the couch cushions. “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect things to escalate so quickly.”

  “So, obviously you have quite the history with him?”

  “He’s my ex-husband.”

  “Yeah, I gathered from his little outburst. Surprising, though. I didn’t know you were married before.”

  “Yup. And things were good, too, until the club started making money. Marcus was really into the money. I mean, a lot. If he wasn’t taking it for drugs, he was taking if for girls. It was a”—she released a sigh as if she’d been holding her breath for hours—“really bad breakup.”

  “It’s not a great postbreakup, either, I must tell you Terra.”

  The goal had been to make her laugh. She leaned over and rested her head on my shoulder, and when she began sobbing, I realized I’d failed miserably.

  Wrapping an arm around her, I pulled her closer until her head pressed against my cheek and her breath came out in soft, choked sobs that were hot against my throat. “Shhh,” I whispered into her hair.

  “He’s just so horrible.” She could barely get the words out, her voice strained and words clipped.

  The only thing I knew to do was rock her in my arms, as if she were a baby. For some reason, whether it was the contact with someone who she knew wasn’t going to hurt her or the listening without interruption or inference, the sobs began to slow. The sounds coming from her that had been so close to hiccups were becoming more like choking sounds. That was progress. But I still refrained from commenting.

  “He used to be kind. I thought we were in love. We’d been together for nineteen years. Nineteen…And he threw it all away for drugs and women. It’s crazy when you think you have your life mate and he turns out to be a monster.”

  I responded with a stroke on her arm and by pulling her closer into my body.

  “I met him when I was nineteen. I was probably too stupid to know he was worthless. There had to be something, you know? Something I missed. A psychological glitch. Some kind of telltale sign about his weak mind and sex addiction. I just didn’t…”

  “There’s no way for you to know something like that,” I said before kissing her on the top of the head.

  “No, people, friends, always said they knew. But no, not me. Not me.” Her voice had taken on something new. Anger, perhaps?

  “It’s okay, Terra. We all have people and things in our past that we regret.”

  “Really? Because the way I see it, we pick who we love.”

  “No, no…everything happens for a reason. And everything that happens is fate. I do believe that. Otherwise, you become too cynical,” I said.

  She pulled away and sat up beside me, her mouth opening to say something—

  “Terra…” The door across the room opened and Gloria poked her head around it, worry in her eyes. “Hey, honey. The police are downstairs with Brice. They want to know if you’re pressing charges. Apparently Marcus told them he was assaulted here. But hey, what do you know? He left out the part about him pushing you down. C’mon, honey,” she said. Gloria had the same anger and concern in her eyes that I’d seen in the bouncers, and hell, that was probably in my own eyes. You had to be an A-1 asshole to hit a woman.

  “Okay. I’ll be right there.”

  “Where’s Gary?” I called out.

  “Oh, he’s going to head out soon he said. Enough excitement for one night I guess. We’re going back to my house for some wine.” Even though she wasn’t smiling, her voice lifted on the end as if she would have under different circumstances. “Unless, you want me to stay, Terra?”

  Terra just shook her head.

  Picking up on her cues, I stepped in. “Tell him don’t worry about me. I’m going to stay with Terra, then I’ll grab a U-ride.”

  “Nonsense. Tell him I’ll take Ashton home,” Terra replied.

  “Terra, I’m not going to put you out tonight. You’ve already—”

  “I won’t take no for an answer. Now,” she stood and smoothed her hair. “I need to get downstairs to see the police. Will you wait for me, Ash?”

  I couldn’t be sure what it was, but something about the way she said my name was different from everyone else. The way her mouth curved over the vowels and consonants made me a little crazy. I wanted to protect her. To be by her side in a way I’d never been with any other woman. “Yes. I’ll be here when you get back.”

  Terra blinked a couple of times, then wiped away tears that I couldn’t tell whether they were new or old. “Thank you,” she said before leaving.

  “You know,” Gloria said when we were alone, “I really appreciate what you did for her down there. While she would never ask anyone to defend her, I’m sure it was good for her to see that someone was willing.” When she fell silent, I just nodded. Still somewhat at a loss for words. Probably sensory overload, since I routinely kept family and friends at arm’s length. “Want me to bring a drink up here before I go? A vodka?”

  “Yeah, actually. But whiskey. I’m not really in the mood to see the police tonight since I’m covered in blood and look like someone hit me with their car.”

  “Coming right up. Just stay here. I owe you for taking care of my bestie. And don’t worry, Brice told him he hit him. Said that Marcus was just high and making stuff up to plead his case. They won’t be looking for you. Now just stay right here. Back in a flash.”

  With that, she was gone, and I leaned back to allow the exhaustion from the fighting and the stress of the evening to wash over me. I don’t think I nodded off, but she was back before I knew it. She had a rocks glass of something brown with a giant square block of ice in it. I was every bit the purist who preferred it neat, but who was I to shrug off a stiff drink after a bar brawl?

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. I’m sure Terra will be right back, but would you like Gary and me to wait with you?”

  “Nah. You kids go ahead. I’m a big boy. I’ll be fine.”

  “Okay. Well, thanks again, Ashton.
Really…”

  I raised my glass to her and took a solid shot of the booze. It was some of the good stuff, but it could have been Armor All for all I cared at the moment.

  “Night.” She pulled the door tight behind her, a click sounding after it settled into the door jamb.

  A part of me wondered how I’d gotten into this situation. I’d never been in a fistfight over a woman. I also hadn’t ever seen a woman get pushed down in that way. Guess I was just lucky like that. But I couldn’t be sure I’d have reacted so violently for anyone else.

  The universe sure had a weird way of fucking with a person, because at that moment, my father’s voice popped into my head. And not just any old thing. It was a memory of the old guy sitting in front of a fireplace, shitfaced and listening to Motown records. Smokey Robinson was his favorite, and the song was “Tracks of My Tears.” My mother had been gone for about two years then and he was in the full-blown neglect phase. I was lucky back then that my friend’s mother would let me eat dinner with them.

  I’d just come back from dinner, and instead of him asking why I was just coming into the house at ten o’clock in the evening, Dad just turned to look at me, bleary-eyed and barely conscious, and said, “You’ll know you’ve met the woman of your dreams when your choices are no longer your own.”

  The twist in my gut after she’d bared her soul and scars to me shifted again. Sitting on the couch, I had to face whether my excuses for wanting to find her, to be with her, were even relevant anymore. Whether we were becoming something more than I ever had with anyone else. Maybe not love yet, but certainly not one of the things I’d convinced myself was driving the incessant thirst for her. It wasn’t ego. It wasn’t just another conquest. I wanted to protect her.

  I hadn’t thought about my father much in the last year and had been to visit him in the lower east side nursing home even less. But for the first time, something he said to me actually rang true. More true than I was comfortable with.

  Chapter 14

  Terra

  The noise from the crowd continuing their merriment for the evening seeped into the kitchen area. I preferred to focus on them rather than the officer in front of me. I had too much history with the police because of my ex. “Just let me go over this once more and we’ll get out of your hair, Mrs. Dyland,” Officer Burrows said. He was a younger cop with a clean-shaven face and an aggressively starched uniform. Thick fingers held one of those police officer notepads that was longer than necessary. He was pale in the Michigan way during years with particularly short summers. Another officer stood off to the side. She was an official silent type. A petite woman who seemed very self-assured and had a strong presence.

  “It’s Ellis. Miss Ellis.” I wasn’t even sure what that sounded like. I hadn’t been Dyland for a long time, and something about Marcus’s surname made my flesh crawl.

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Ellis. So, Mr. Dyland came into the club, approached you with aggressive behavior, demanding money…” and then blah-blah-blah, he droned on.

  I could no longer hear him speaking, my thoughts taking me back to those very embarrassing moments. The last thing I wanted was to drag Ashton into my crazy drama. It was one of the reasons I’d been so reluctant to date, after all. Marcus was insane. He stalked me and was forever in my face for money. Since I’d just given it to him the previous week, the last thing I expected was for him to show up at Ivy with his damned hand out again. He was such a prick. I was happy that Brice had told the cops he was the one who punched Marcus. I didn’t want Ash in any more of my shit.

  “…that about right?”

  “Huh?”

  “That’s what happened, right?”

  “Oh, yes. I’m so sorry. Yes, that was it in a nutshell.”

  “Okay. Well, thank you for your statement. We’re gonna take him in tonight, but after he has an arraignment in the morning, he could get out on bail pretty early if he has no outstanding warrants. He’ll be pretty angry. You may want to think about coming down to the station and filing a personal protection order against him. Given your history with him, I’m sure it will be expedited. Just an added layer of protection, ma’am.”

  “Yes. I will. Tomorrow.”

  “Okay then. Well, we’ll clear out of here now. If you have any questions, here’s the precinct telephone number and my extension. Just give me a call. Sorry for your troubles, Ms. Ellis.” He passed a card across the small wooden table where we sat.

  “Thank you, Officer.”

  After a quick nod, he was on his feet and walking out of the downstairs kitchen space, where we usually held staff meetings. The policewoman who had been remarkably quiet nodded in my direction, then followed him out.

  “You okay, Terra?”

  I turned to Brice, as stoic as ever, and realized I hadn’t really paid much attention to him. Attention to him as a person. He was just as large as ever, close to six foot three, smooth brown skin, and young enough to be my son…Okay, more like a nephew. Cute as the dickens, too. I wondered whether he was just a touch younger than Ashton. Maybe five or six years? He seemed older somehow now. Yet I’d never have considered dating him.

  It was a ridiculous notion. But now, being with Ashton and imposing all my shit on him, I thought about how no one needed that kind of crap dumped into their life. I would never have done that to Brice. I shouldn’t have entertained it with Ashton, either. “You know…as good as I can be, I guess.”

  “He’s an idiot. You’re a great person. Don’t let the Muggles get you down,” he said with a laugh.

  “I can’t with the Harry Potter references. I didn’t even know you were a fan.”

  “You’d be surprised what people like. Sometimes it’s all about giving them a chance. I’m like an elder with that shit. But that’s another story for another time. You know, you should take off. I’ve got this. Go and try to enjoy yourself.”

  I knew he was referencing my lack of a life and the fact that there was a man upstairs waiting for me. For the first time, I was okay with my employees knowing something about me. “Yeah. Okay,” I said. It was all I had the strength for. My energy was sapped and I was growing more tired by the minute. Probably wouldn’t be much fun for Ashton, but I dragged my ass up out of the chair anyway. “Have a good night, Brice.”

  “You too, boss lady. Take care of yourself.” He walked to the steel kitchen door and held it open for me.

  “Thank you.”

  I thought about what he said, sure he hadn’t meant to be philosophical. He was most likely just being nice. But the part about giving people a chance rattled around in my mind as I made my way up to see Ashton. Since divorcing Marcus, I hadn’t really given anyone an opportunity. Maybe he was right. Perhaps it was possible for people to fall for someone without getting hurt. I certainly wasn’t anywhere near the big leap with Ashton, yet the niggling thoughts in the back of my mind made me wonder if I was open to the possibility.

  I walked into my office to find Ashton. His head was back against the back of the couch and a half-empty glass of whiskey was in his hand on his lap. He was a gorgeous man who had defended me when he had no obligation to do so. It made me like him just that much more. “Ashton,” I called out gently. I didn’t want to startle him and have him spill his drink on his suit. It was fine material, and his shirt was already speckled with blood.

  “Oh, hi there,” he said, sitting up. His accent was beyond sexy, his mussed hair and shadow of a beard making him look as if he might have been fresh off an MI6 mission.

  “Hi.” I closed the door behind me and walked over to where he sat. “Ready to get out of here?”

  “How’d it go with the police?”

  I took it to mean he wasn’t quite ready to leave. Maybe he was having second thoughts about going home, or anywhere else, with me. I wasn’t exactly a catch, with a deranged ex lurking about ready to pounce. He’d been exposed
to Marcus twice, and neither episode had been the worst of them.

  I sat beside him, his scent filling my senses. I hadn’t noticed earlier, but he smelled so very masculine, making me tighten deep inside. “It was okay. They just took my side of the story and left. It’s not the first time I’ve…” A dull ache grew at the base of my skull. Instead of going further, I took a deep breath and leaned back.

  “I’m sorry you have to deal with him. Listen, I understand if you don’t want company tonight. I don’t want to put you out. I can certainly take a U-ride home.”

  “Honestly, Ashton,” I started, unsure whether I could go on and be as up front as I wanted, speak as freely as I wanted. But what the hell else did I have to lose? “I just don’t want to be alone tonight. I would like for you to come over, if that’s okay.” I took a shot, not entirely comfortable exploring my vulnerability.

  “Yes, I’d love to come over. I mean, anytime…all the time…but I don’t want you to feel like you have to invite me back. You don’t owe me anything. I wanted to help you tonight. I’d do it again.”

  “I may not be up for sex or anything, but…someone to talk to isn’t a bad thing.”

  “And I’m here for that. People tell me I’m an okay candidate for that type of thing. C’mon. Let’s get out of here.”

  Ashton grabbed my hand and squeezed. The simple gesture was completely reassuring. The last tiny bits of insecurity and fear drained from me as he comforted me.

  “Okay, but um…you wanna drive my car? I don’t feel up to it right now.”

  “The Hellcat?”

  I gave him a nod, watching as a sly smile formed on his lips.

  “I normally don’t drive American, but you know…I could be persuaded.”

  I laughed, his light humor making my headache at least a little forgettable.

  We made it to my townhome in record time, Ashton obviously enjoying the the 707 horsepower that came with my car. Even in the snow, he handled the wheel like a professional driver, the mastery of it making me think of him in bed for some reason.