20. Charity Case
CHARITY CASE
A spen
A few hours before
I was sitting on my couch, sipping on a coffee that Ivy had brought me, whining.
“He wants you to stay with him?” she asked for the third time. “Like…actually stay with him? In his house? For an undisclosed amount of time?”
I nodded my head, refusing to voice it all over again for a fourth time. The first time was a brief run through that was really a rant. Then it was all the nitty gritty details. The third time was a repeat, only with Ivy’s commentary and questions.
“And you said…yes?” she questioned.
“Ugh. Did you miss the part where I was tied to the bed?!”
She smiled a strangely knowing smile. “Oh no, I very much enjoyed that part. I didn’t realize he had a kinky sex dungeon hidden in his closet. It’s pretty hot if we’re being honest.”
“Did you miss the entire rest of the story? Are we only going to focus on him being hot as hell?” I groaned.
“That seems to be the only part that mattered. The rest seems…lame. Your ex showed up and left you a threatening note, and you don’t want to stay with your hunky protective boyfriend? Lame,” she said with a shrug.
I laid down on the couch, setting my coffee on the floor next to me, and stare up at the ceiling. She wasn’t wrong. My phone started ringing, pulling me out of my whine fest as Ivy had started calling it. Landlord , displayed across my phone screen.
“Great. What now,” I muttered to myself before pressing the answer button and putting the phone on speaker. “Hello?”
“Hey. Aspen?” he asked.
“Yes. How can I help you?” I replied, my tone giving way to the annoyance I was feeling.
“It’s Damien, you know, your landlord, owner of the building.
” He cleared his throat and then continued, sounding more and more nervous as he went.
“It’s come to my attention that your floor has been having a mouse problem, so I’m asking everyone on the second floor if they can stay elsewhere for a bit while I get the exterminators in there. Shouldn’t be more than a week or two.”
I stared at Ivy, and she started laughing.
“Hi, Damien,” she said in the midst of her giggles. “A couple of weeks, huh?”
Damien was quiet for a handful of seconds. “Yeah, a few weeks, Ivy. I’m sorry again, Aspen.”
“Yup. I’m going to go now. Thanks, Damien,” I said.
“Uh, no problem. See y’all later.” He hung up, and we just stared at each other.
“This man has it bad for you,” Ivy said, a smile across her face.
I laid back on the couch, staring at the ceiling again. I needed to get dressed for work and maybe hit a cowboy right in the face.
Work was absolutely slammed, which was normal for a Friday, and normally I loved it. I loved the hustle and bustle of the restaurant. I loved staying busy and running around like a crazy person, keeping my mind off of whatever was happening in my life.
But tonight? Tonight, there was a giant hunky cowboy sitting at the bar with his brother.
A cowboy that was rocking tight Levi blue jeans, a backwards baseball cap, and a flannel that rolled up his forearms, showing off his tattoos and stupid forearm muscles.
But did I get to enjoy the view? No. Because tonight it was actually an arrogant, controlling asshole who casually strolled around with a direct line to my pussy in his back pocket, sitting at the bar in his place.
He knew what he was doing. I knew what he was doing.
It was just time for everyone else to catch up because what Rowan didn’t know was that I checked with my neighbor before work, and she didn’t get any phone call from Damien.
Which meant it was all bullshit, and he could bite my big ass if he thought I was going home with him.
Work was finally slowing down, and Ivy gave me a wink from across the bar.
She knew what I was going to do because she encouraged it once we talked to my neighbor.
I wasn’t going to back down. I brought drink refills to one of my tables and then walked over toward the bar.
Lucas saw me and immediately set a fresh glass of water on the bar top for me.
Sitting down next to the asshole in question, I took a sip of water before looking at him.
“I had the strangest call from my landlord this afternoon. Have you heard anything about that?” I asked him, hostility clear in my voice.
He arched a brow, staring right back at me straight-faced. “No? What did he say?”
“I feel like you already know. Apparently, I can’t stay in my apartment for a few weeks.”
“I thought you were already staying with me, little angel. Isn’t that what we agreed upon?” he asked me, his tone calm and collected. The opposite of how I was feeling at that moment.
I could feel the anger rising in my chest, and I knew I needed to get away from this man before I actually hit him.
So instead, I rolled my eyes and stomped away like a toddler.
I even slammed my glass down on the bar top.
I’d never had someone make me so…insane before.
Even when Sam made me angry, I never lashed out.
I just swallowed down my anger and moved past it.
It seemed to make Rowan almost happy when I lashed out, and I couldn’t make any sense of it whatsoever.
I walked back into the break room and paced, my hands on my hips, fingers digging into the waist of my black ripped-up jeans. I let out an audible groan just as Ivy walked in, her server tray in her hand, the other hand on her hip, staring at me expectantly.
“So, that went well,” she said with a small comforting smile.
“I just want to…to…I don’t even know! Where does he get off?!” I yelled.
Ivy brought her tray up in front of her and covered the bottom half of her face.
“What?” I asked, now feeling extremely exasperated. That was when I heard her laughing behind the tray. “You’ve got to be kidding me, what is so damn funny? You’re supposed to be my best friend! On my side!”
She stopped laughing abruptly and dropped the tray back to her side. “Don’t be crazy right now, Aspen. I am on your side, always. That’s why I’m laughing right now.”
“Explain. Please,” I half pleaded.
“From what I’ve gathered, both from watching you myself and what you’ve told me before, isn’t it obvious?
” I guessed from the look on my face that it was indeed not obvious to me.
“You’re comfortable with him, Aspen. That’s why you’re so worked up and angry.
Because you feel safe enough to actually express your emotions.
Did he cross a line? Absolutely. Make him grovel and plead on his knees for you, girl.
Make it good. But acknowledge to yourself at least, that what you’re feeling?
It’s good.” Ivy was smiling by the end of her little speech, and I sat down in a chair nearby, thinking over everything she said.
She walked over and pulled a chair in front of me, grabbed my hands, and sat across from me.
“When you were with Sam and he did something to upset you, what did you do?” she asked calmly.
I released a breath. “Nothing, Ivy. I did nothing. I just sucked it up because fighting with him…wasn’t an option.”
“Now, Rowan made you angry, and what did you do?”
“Ugh! I confronted him and called him out. I understand what you’re saying, okay?”
She gently squeezed my hands. “Good, now go make him wish he didn’t try to be a controlling alpha male.”
I let out a breathy half-laugh and nodded.
Ivy squeezed my shoulder lovingly and walked out of the break room, leaving me to sit at the table and have a moment to compose myself.
The sound of a door closing had me jumping up from the table and turning toward the noise.
There, standing where an open door should have been, was my arrogant cowboy—the one I was starting to believe I was falling in love with.
He leaned against the door, one foot crossed over the other, those damn forearms crossed across his broad chest, making the flannel he was wearing stretch in a way that had my brain going to much less appropriate places.
Ffffuck me, he was hot.
I forced out a huff. “I need to get back to work.”
He stared at me, his face expressionless, and nodded slowly. I took a step closer to him.
“Are you going to move?” I wasn’t sure what his game was, and I wasn’t even sure I gave a shit. Everything Ivy said made sense, and I knew she was right. But that didn’t change what he’d attempted to do, and I was still angry.
Rowan smirked and shrugged again, still not speaking. I rolled my eyes. “Fine, whatever,” I muttered. I started walking toward the door, fully prepared to shove him out of my way if that's what I needed to do, but I didn’t make it that far.
Before I could reach him, he took a step forward. A hand wrapped around my throat, and we were turned back around, my back on the closed door, my hands on his chest, and his thigh between my legs.
“You have quite the attitude this evening, little angel,” he growled as he leaned down, running his nose along the column of my throat.
I stood there, heart racing, mind blurred, speechless for a moment while he started nipping and biting my neck.
“No words now, Aspen? No quick-witted remarks or sass you want to throw at me?” His teeth sank into my pulse point, and I gasped. “Fuck, your heart is racing, angel, but I bet you aren’t scared, are you? I bet if I reached into those panties right now, you’d be soaked for me. Wouldn’t you?”
Fuck, I hated him sometimes because I knew he was right. My underwear was already feeling damp, and I was aching to start grinding against his thigh. Instead of confirming that, though, I willed my mouth to shut up for once around this man. He looked down at me, our gazes locked.
“Nothing to say now, huh?”
“I have to go back to work, Rowan.”
He chuckled, his hand tightening around my throat while the other skated down my chest, his fingers running over my breasts, and only stopping once he hit my jeans.