Ripple Effect (Effect 1)

“I’m okay. There were some drunk guys, and no one was at the door. I’m okay.”

He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Ainsley, that’s why I asked that you always tell me before you come, so something like that wouldn’t happen.” His voice was laced with agitation.

“I had your cell phone, and I didn’t have the club number. I honestly wasn’t thinking.” My tone was tired. I had messed up, and I realized the gravity of the situation.

The wig was starting to itch my head, so I took it off and threw it to the couch. It really didn’t matter now anyway.

“I obviously made the wrong decision, and yes, before you ask, I slipped with my name. It was my fault. Trigger asked what to call me, and I answered with my name.”

His phone vibrated again. As Adam read the text his face darkened into a glare at the screen. He typed back a message.

Adam walked toward me, his face softening instantly. “Are you okay? Don’t give me the surface answer. Are you really okay? Trigger said you looked shaken on the video when I asked them to re-watch the footage.”

That’s what he had been texting about. I took a deep breath. “I was nervous. I’m okay now, I promise. I’ve handled worse.”

Triple shit.

I had slipped again. Adam’s brows drew together, and I avoided his penetrating deep gaze.

I continued, “I’m tired. I shouldn’t have come. I was trying to help, and I keep making a mess of everything. I’m going home now.”

He took a deep breath. “I still need to handle a couple of things. I can’t follow or take you home right now.”

I started to speak, but he raised his hand.

“I know you’re capable, but I have other plans for us, if you’re game. What time do you have to be at work or school?”

Adam appeared as tired as I felt when I looked into his eyes.

“I don’t have work or school. It’s Saturday.”

He gave me a small smirk. “Finally, something has gone our way. Do you want to come with me? Or would you like to sleep in the back room? I should be less than an hour.”

If I went back to his room, I’d toss and turn. “I’ll come with you.”

Adam nodded and then looked down at my wrist. “Where’s your white band?”

Sighing heavily, I responded, “I left it in my car. I can’t believe all the mistakes I’ve made tonight. I just…I thought…I wanted…I don’t even know what I’m trying to say. I’m normally not like this. I woke up, and I was trying to help. All I’ve done is make mistake after mistake.”

He walked over to his desk and sternly spoke, “Ainsley, the rules of the club are to keep you safe, too. I don’t want you to deal with unnecessary shit. Keep that in mind anytime you come. I know our agreement altered today, but nothing with the club has. Do you want to put your pink wig back on?”

There was that word—agreement. Part of me hated how that sounded. After he’d come to my place earlier tonight, I’d started acting like a girlfriend. He would have figured out where his phone was. He had my number, and he could have called it when he realized.

I am such a moron.

I’d sort through everything and compartmentalize it all later.

“Honestly, I’m tired of wearing that wig. I don’t want to be anonymous anymore. I’m horrible at lying, and if someone did call me something like Tooty Fruity, I’d never answer. I’ll go by Ainsley and not share my last name. It’ll make things easier.” I ran my fingers through my hair to untangle it.

“I think you’d make a great Tooty Fruity.”

The smirk on his face let me know that we had moved out of the tense waters of this conversation. That was definitely a benefit of our agreement.

I mockingly hit his shoulder as he handed me the white bracelet.

“Be quiet. Tooty Fruity is much too bland for my taste. I think I’d go by something like Sparkling Candy Apple.”

We were smiling at each other, and he leaned down to kiss me. My body began to respond when the kiss deepened. His tongue worked my mouth. He had a powerful presence that overtook me.

He pulled back. “I need to go home after this to check on my dog. Do you want to come home with me since you don’t have anything today?” He looked down at my right hand. I followed his gaze and saw I was playing with my ring. “What’s going through that beautiful mind, Ainsley? Talk to me.”

I searched his eyes as his searched mine. The straight honest truth was always best. “I don’t want to come off as clingy by saying yes. I don’t want you to think it’s expected. I truly understand what this is, and I don’t want you to feel obligated to invite me if you want to keep your personal space…well, personal, for lack of a better term.”

His hand came on top of mine. “I wouldn’t have invited you if I wasn’t comfortable doing so. I wouldn’t have redrawn the boundary lines if I didn’t think you could handle it. If it gets to be too much for either one of us, we can talk about it and change it as needed. This isn’t meant to stress you or me out. It should just make it easier to have fan-fucking-tastic sex.”

I bit down on my lip. “I like your plan. I have plans this evening with Nora. She’s picking me up at eight. My group project plans were cancelled.”

A brief look of disappointment flashed across his face, and then it was gone. I would be lying if I said I didn’t like that look.

“What time do the different clubs of Club Envy close? I’m curious since it seemed like the place was thinned out.”

He took out his phone and began texting someone as he spoke, “Through the week, the dance side closes at two, and the sex-club side closes at three. On weekends, the dance side closes at three, and the sex-club side closes at four.” His phone beeped. “That’s Brandt. He’s got things under control. We can go ahead and leave.”

“Okay, sounds good.”

We both walked out of the club. It was after four, and the place was vacated. I could hear cleaning machines working in the background.

“Is anyone still here?”

“Snake is on this side, making sure the place is locked up. Brandt is meeting with Jethro on the bar side to make sure all the paperwork was done from an incident that happened earlier over there. I thought I was going to need to do that, but they’re handling it.”

We passed through the door, and Adam locked it behind him. Quickly, I searched the parking lot, but there was no one there. The guys had left.

Adam mumbled under his breath, “Good thing those assholes left.”

Part of me warmed at his possessive side, but I was still leery, wondering if Adam could really control his anger. My dad had imprinted a fear on me, and I was afraid of repeating my mother’s mistakes.

I focused on Adam’s earlier words.

I would never hurt you. I’ve been in fights and broken up fights, but I’ve never nor would I ever hit a woman.

As we stepped into the street, I asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, what incident happened?” I pulled my keys out of my purse.

Adam took them and unlocked the door. “Some guy got pissed when our bartender cut him off. He threw a glass at her. She’s okay, but the cops had to come, take a report, and all that shit.”

Just thinking about the fighting had my stomach turning a little.

Adam continued, “I’ll program my address into your GPS in case we get separated as you follow me to my house.”

I nodded as he sat down in the car, cranked it, and began typing what I assumed was his address into the portable GPS on the dash of the car. Getting

out of the car, he stood beside it until I was seated and buckled in.

He pointed toward the club. “My motorcycle is parked right across the street in the same lot as the club. It should be easy for you to follow me at this time of night. I’m about ten minutes away. You know you can park next to the club, right?”

“Yeah, I like this spot. I’ll see you there.”

For some reason, I liked parking in the second parking lot across the street. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me why I preferred this, but I was too tired to think about it. Adam gave a quick kiss and took off across the street and threw on a black helmet prior to revving the engine and pulling out. He looked my way and nodded. There was something hot about a man with tatted arms on a bike. I followed him and watched him drive it easily, commanding the machine between his legs. Just seeing this side of him had desire blooming through me.

The GPS said we were less than a minute away when we pulled into a neighborhood with nice normal-sized houses.

Turning left onto Lilly Drive, we pulled into the last house on the street. It was a brick home with a landscaped yard. Adam pulled his bike into the garage, parking next to a black Camaro. There was a canoe mounted on the far wall.

Adam was organized, and I was impressed.

I parked behind his car in the driveway, grabbed my purse, and made my way over to where he was hanging up his helmet. I watched him from behind. My body was alive and on fire with want as we entered his home. He turned around to speak to me, and I was unable to control myself as I launched my body into him. I began kissing him, and he picked me up as I wrapped my legs around his waist.

“My body needs you, Adam.”

He groaned in approval. “I’ll take care of you, baby.”

I loved how I didn’t feel self-conscious around him, especially after riding his face as if I would never get an orgasm again. Adam brought out an uninhibited side I hadn’t known existed.