Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
AISLING
I’m frozen in my seat as I watch Hash get up from his table and saunter over, his eyes never wavering from me.
“Oh God,” I whisper as I quickly turn back around and grip the edge of the table in hopes of it steadying me. Or maybe the ground swallowing the whole thing up, me included.
It would be just my luck that this night would get even worse. As if this shitty date wasn’t enough. The universe hates me. There’s no other explanation.
My heart is pounding in my chest at the confrontation I know is about to happen.
Hash doesn’t look happy.
In fact, he looks fucking pissed.
“You know that guy or something?” Jason asks, not hiding his disgust as he watches Hash approach.
Of course he would think Hash is beneath him. If only he knew Hash would wipe the floor with him and not think twice about it.
This is going to be bad.
So fucking bad.
“Um…” I trail off as I try to think how I can explain this insane situation in thirty seconds.
“Aisling.” Hash’s rough voice cracks like a whip against my skin, making my brain short-circuit and lose any sort of game plan I had.
Not that I had much of anything.
“Hash,” I greet, my words rushed. I’m unable to look at him as I grab my wine and down the rest of the glass.
“I’m assuming that’s a yes,” Jason concludes with his lip curled in disgust as he looks Hash up and down.
I don’t need to look at Hash to know he’s wound tight. Anyone in this restaurant can feel the anger radiating off his body.
“Something like that,” Hash responds, his voice hard. “Care to introduce me, baby doll?”
“Baby doll?” Jason echoes, sounding shocked.
Where is the waiter?
I look around the restaurant praying I see him to flag him down for another glass of wine. I’ll take any distraction I can get from this shitshow. Hell, at this point I’ll take a bottle of tequila. If I black out, I won’t remember any of this, and I can go about my life as if this never happened.
“Are you two together?” Jason presses.
“No,” I say at the same time Hash says, “Yes.”
“Alright, look.” Jason throws the napkin that was in his lap onto the table.
“I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but I didn’t sign up for this.
In fact, I’m actually pretty pissed off you let me take you to this expensive place after we’ve been talking for over a month, and not once have you mentioned you’re with… him.”
“You’ve been talking to this tool for over a month?” Hash asks, his tone dangerously low.
I’m going to kill Frankie.
“No.” I sigh as I slap my palm against my forehead.
“No?” Jason echoes, voice rising at the end. “I have the screenshots to prove that. Your girl has been stepping out on you, dude. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but maybe she finally woke up and realized it was time to scrape off the trash and upgrade.”
Oh my God, he did not just say that.
I remove my palm from my face as I lift my head and stare at him in shock. Hash looks like he’s about two seconds away from dragging Jason out of here by the collar of his shirt.
Hash throws his head back and laughs a humorless laugh, sending a chill down my spine.
My eyes widen as I take in Jason, who, stupidly, doesn’t look fazed.
“Look, how about you go back to your table and let us enjoy our evening. If she wanted to be with you, she would, dude.”
I wince.
Wrong thing to say, Jason.
“I’m not your dude, and she sure as hell isn’t your girl,” Hash says, his voice low before turning to me, his green eyes swirling with anger. “Get your shit and let’s go.”
I look between Hash and Jason, trying to weigh my options. Do I want to get my ass chewed out by Hash, or do I want to continue to drag out this awful date any longer?
I think I’ll risk my chances of being chewed out by Hash. Reaching over to the chair next to me, I grab my purse.
Jason’s mouth drops open. “You’re seriously going with this guy?”
“I’m sorry to cut this short,” I lie. I’m really not. “But I think it’s best if I leave before there are any problems. Thank you for dinner.”
“Oh, there’s already a problem. I took a whore out for dinner. Is it because you can’t afford this place on your own and wanted to use me to get a taste of something you’ll never have on your own?” Jason sneers.
I gasp, and my cheeks flame from embarrassment because he’s partially right. I can’t afford this place without planning it out in advance and saving for it. Other diners are openly staring at our exchange now.
“I’m not a whore,” I hiss at the same time Hash’s hand reaches out and grabs onto the back of Jason’s head before I can blink, smashing it down, Jason’s face bouncing off of his plate, hard.
The plate cracks, echoing throughout the now-silent restaurant.
Hash crouches down, so he’s level with Jason’s face before he leans in and growls in his ear, “If you call my girl a whore again, we’re going to have a problem.
” Jason tries to lift his head back up, but Hash grips his hair in his fist, pressing his face down harder into his food, holding him in place.
“And for the record, she can afford anything she fucking wants. Want to know how?” Hash pauses, waiting to see if Jason is stupid enough to answer. “Because I’ll fucking get it for her.”
Jason makes a gurgling sound in the pasta sauce as he tries to get his head loose.
“Jesus, Hash. Let him up!” I exclaim, and I wrap my hand around Hash’s wrist, trying to pull his arm away, but it doesn’t budge.
Hash’s glare turns to me. “Get your shit and let’s go. I’m not going to repeat myself again.”
I shake my purse in front of his face. “I was ready before you smashed his face in.”
Hash roughly grabs my hand, dragging me towards the door. A man laughing hysterically in the back corner of the restaurant makes my head turn. Five scary-looking men are all smirking at us. Hash flips them off without faltering a step.
“Was that really necessary back there?” I ask once we’re outside as I rip my hand free from his hold.
Hash whips around, making me take a step back. “Was that really necessary? Are you shitting me right now, Aisling?”
“No, I’m not shitting you! I didn’t do anything wrong!” I exclaim, throwing my hands up.
“Stop talking. You’re digging yourself a deeper hole.” Hash grabs my hand again and drags me toward the parking lot.
“A deeper hole? There is no hole! We aren’t together!” I’m full-on yelling now.
“Will you shut the fuck up?”
“Don’t tell me to shut the fuck up!”
“Do you want everyone in Ravenna Heights to hear you carrying on?”
Hash abruptly stops without warning, making me slam into his hard back. My body responds to the contact, heating in places where no one has been since him.
“I’m allowed to go out with other people, Hash.”
Hash opens the passenger door of an older black Mustang. This must be the car he was talking about working on the other night.
“Are you trying to piss me off even more? You know damn well what’s going on here.
I’m giving you one pass because I know we’re new again and you don’t know what it’s really like to be with a man like me.
But baby doll, mark my words, if I see you out with another man again, I’ll fucking kill him. Audience or not.”
My brow hits my hairline as my eyes widen. “We’re new again? We aren’t together!”
“Did you not just have my baby?”
“Our baby,” I correct. “I can’t believe I have to be the first person to tell you this, but two people can have a child and not be together. Crazy, right?” My tone is dripping with sarcasm. I know I’m pushing it, but right now I don’t give a single flying fuck.
“Watch it,” Hash warns.
“Or what?” I snap.
Hash looks at me for a beat before saying, “Fuck it.”
He swoops down, tucking his shoulder at my waist and throwing me over it.
“Hash!” I scream as I feel a breeze on my bare ass from my dress bunching up. “People can see my ass!”
His palm comes down on it with a hard slap that echoes throughout the parking lot. I try to contain the moan that comes up my throat, but I fail as it slips through my lips.
“That’s one for wearing this dress for another man.”
“What—” I get out before his palm comes down in the same spot again, dragging a louder moan out of me.
God, what is wrong with me?
Maybe I am a whore. A whore for Hash because only he can get this response out of me.
“That’s two.”
“What’s the second one for?” I ask, not even the least bit ashamed of how breathy I sound.
“Wearing this dress with a thong for another man.”
Hash swings me back over, setting me down on the cool leather seat of his car before slamming the door shut.
I’m no better than a man as I watch him saunter around the front of the car to the driver’s side, biting my bottom lip as I take note of the way his dress pants cling to his ass and muscular thighs.
He has the sleeves rolled up on his dress shirt and the top three buttons undone, revealing just enough ink to make you wonder if it trails all the way down.
Hash slides into the driver’s seat; his scent of motor oil and cedar mixed with a faint weed smell fills the interior. The engine roars to life, rumbling loudly all around us.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Who’s watching Cormac?” Hash asks, ignoring me completely.
“Frankie,” I answer, biting my tongue on telling him that it’s none of his business who’s watching him because in reality, it is his now.
“Is he at her house?”
“No. I wasn’t planning on being out all night, so she is watching him at my place until I’m back.” My answer seems to release some of the tension because his neck and shoulders fall slightly. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”
“We’re going home.” Hash shifts gears as we speed out of the parking lot.
I sit silently in my seat as I watch Hash’s large hand flex on the shifter. My body has a mind of its own as my thighs rub together trying to ease the ache that’s building between. I hate that I can’t seem to resist him.