Savage Love (Wet & Wild 2)

Kallie pulled up a text message to Ash and quickly typed him a note. She was in no condition to talk with him on the phone. Tears were seeping from her eyes and, for all she knew, he’d already seen the articles and was ready to unleash on her. She sent off a quick message telling him she couldn't get together tonight, and he called her phone.

He called and he called, and he called some more.

“Ash, I’m at work. I can’t talk right now,” she said.

“What’s going on?” Ash asked. “Talk to me.”

“I can’t. I have quotes to send out and a meeting to get to soon.”

“Kallie, don’t do this. Something’s wrong. I can hear it in your voice.”

“I’m in my office, Ash! It doesn’t matter if I’m my own boss, my hours are my hours!”

Then she hung up the phone and placed her shaking hands in her lap.

Kallie rushed down to the Post Office drop box in the front of the building. She peered out the front doors and didn’t see anyone congregating in front of the building, but she could see some of the looks people were giving her. Snickering at her. Shaking their heads at her. Looking upon her in disgust.

She rushed back up to her office and closed the door behind her, but she should’ve known Ash wouldn’t have left it alone.

Kallie put her head in her hands just as her office door opened. She whipped her red gaze up to whoever was coming in and she saw him slip into her office. Ash, with his comforting stare and his freckles that made him look as boyish as he acted somedays. He had a scowl on his face as he locked the door behind him, and Kallie leaned back into her seat.

“What part of ‘I can’t talk right now’ don’t you understand?” she asked.

“Then clear your schedule and talk to me,” Ash said. “Explain to me what’s going on right now.”

“You don’t command my life.”

“But I do care about you. And when you cancel a dinner date on me and then pick up the phone with tears in your voice, I make it my duty to make sure that whatever’s going on with you can be fixed. Now clear that damn schedule of yours and talk.”

“Do you really not know?” she asked breathlessly.

“Know what?” Ash asked.

Kallie pulled up the Daily News on her computer and turned the laptop around to Ash.

His eyes fell to the screen and Kallie held her breath. She watched his beautiful hazel eyes brew with anger as his gaze dropped to the screen. She watched him take in the sight. Take in the picture of her kissing her ex. She had no idea where to start. No idea how she was going to explain this to him without him getting upset with her. She brought her trembling hands to her mouth and closed her eyes, her breathing becoming unstable. Her chest hurt and her legs locked up, and suddenly her heart started beating wildly in her chest. The room tilted. Her chair felt unstable. She gripped tightly onto the arms of it and held on for dear life. She felt like she was on a roller coaster she had never consented to getting on, and she wanted off.

She wanted out.

She wanted Ash gone.

Chapter 19

Ash

“What the fuck is this?”

Ash saw red dripping through his vision. That picture, clear as fucking day, with his hands and his mouth on his beloved Kallie. His beautiful, wonderful, Pretty Kallie. His eyes whipped up to her and he saw her struggling in her chair. Struggling to breathe. Struggling to cope. Struggling to stabilize herself.

Tugged between anger and fear. An irate heat that consumed his entire form. He slammed her laptop closed and he watched Kallie jump, her eyes whipping over to his. Her entire body stilled, and he raked his hand through his hair. He was going to strangle that pointless little asshole.

“It wasn’t consensual,” Kallie said breathlessly. “It wasn’t. I went there and gave him the necklace and words were exchanged. I told him it was over, then I stormed out of the restaurant, but he caught me and pulled me in for a kiss. I shoved him away and tried to get away, but he kept pulling me back to him. I thought he was never going to let me go, Ash. You have to believe me. I hailed a cab and the driver helped me get in. He was out of control that night, Ash.”

Her voice sounded far away. He could hear her, but only in spurts. His anger was getting the best of him. He wasn’t used to feeling like this. So out of control and possessive and filled with a rage he didn’t know how to dispel.

“Is that why you didn’t call after dinner?” he asked. “Because you were too busy fucking your ex?”

His eyes whipped over to Kallie and she recoiled. Physically stood from her chair and backed away from him. The grimace on her face and the redness of her cheeks. It was like he had reached out and slapped her. Instantaneous guilt pooled in his chest, furthering his conflicted emotions. Why the fuck did she have to go to that damn dinner anyway? Why the hell couldn't she have pawned the necklace? Donated it? Regifted it to a friend of hers? Why did she have to meet that asshole for dinner and give it back to him?