Chapter Thirteen

Ashley

 

“I want to go to see Lady Liberty!” Bella squeals.

“Yeah! Me, too!” Tristan agrees.

“Oh! And I want to go to American Girl!”

“No! I don’t want to go there. I want to go to the big Toys ‘R’ Us.” Tristan shakes his head in disagreement.

When we told Cooper and Liz we were going to spend the day checking out New York, they decided to join us. Hayley, Caleb, and Marco flew back this morning with Alex and his wife, Jessica. We are all going to fly back tomorrow afternoon.

“How about we take the ferry around the statue of liberty, then while Bella goes to American girl, we can take you to the toy store?”

“Yes!” Tristan and Bella both yell in unison jumping up and down.

“You and I are going to come back here, just the two of us, one day.” Kaden says into my ear. “I want to show you central park, take you shopping, and spoil you with fancy eating.”

“You already spoil me. I don’t need any of that; I just need you.” I turn around and give him a quick peck on the lips. He pouts when I pull away, pulling me toward him, deepening our kiss.

“Eww! Mom! Kaden! I thought you were just playing pretend for Grannie. That’s not pretend!” We both stop kissing, and turning toward Tristan, we see his cute little face all scrunched up in disgust.

“Yeah, Guys. Thought it was pretend…” Cooper adds in laughing.

“Oh. My. God!” Liz shrieks, grabbing my left hand narrowing in on my engagement ring. “This ring is most definitely not pretend!”

“Yeah, about that…” I begin to think of a way to explain to my almost seven-year-old about our engagement but Kaden beats me to it.

“Remember you said it would be ok if I married your mom for real?”

“Yeah.”

“You still cool with that, bud?”

“Yes!” Tristan runs to Kaden, giving him a hug. Kaden picks him up and hugs him back, before setting him back down.

“So, when’s the wedding?” Liz asks.

“We haven’t picked a day…” I say, but Kaden cuts me off. “As soon as possible.”

“I guess as soon as possible,” I repeat laughing.

We spend the entire day experiencing New York. After we take the ferry around the statue of liberty, we go to the nine-eleven memorial site, then while Bella goes with her parents to American Girl, we take Tristan to the toy store. Kaden buys him tons of toys, Tristan swears are only available in New York. Afterward, we all meet up to eat dinner in town square before heading back to the hotel for the night. It was a great day, one I won’t ever forget.

 

It’s Monday night and we are back home and jetlagged, laying on the couch watching TV. Tristan passed out the minute we walked through the door. Kaden’s phone rings alerting him of a Facetime call. “It’s my grandmother.” He swipes accept then her face comes onto the screen. “Hello, Grandmother. How are you?”

“I’m good, sweetie. I just wanted to check in… any news?”

Kaden chuckles. “Real subtle Grandmother.” Taking my hand, he puts it up to the camera for her to see. “Oh! Yay! I am so glad you are wearing my ring.”

“It is gorgeous, Rose. Thank you for passing it down to us. I will always cherish it.”

“And when is the wedding?”

“We haven’t picked a date, yet,”

“How about a spring wedding?” Kaden looks to me for my approval. A spring wedding in his hometown sounds beautiful.

“I think that would be wonderful.”

“Victor! Did you hear that?” Rose calls out moving out of the line of the camera.

“Yes, Rose, honey. I heard; A spring wedding. Congratulations, you two.”

“Thank you, Victor.”

“Thank you, Grandfather.”

“I’m going to call Giselle and let her know we need to start planning a wedding. Ashley, dear, would it be possible for you to visit soon so we can go dress shopping?”

“I’ll have to look at my work schedule, but I should be able to make it work.” Kaden glares at me and then it hits me, my work schedule. I am engaged to be married to Kaden and I am still a stripper.

After we say goodbye, I address the elephant in the room. “I will speak to Caleb about only managing the club. I am still going to pay you back, though, Kaden.”

“No, you aren’t. You are my fiancée, soon to be my wife, and hopefully soon to be the mother of my children. You aren’t paying me back a damn dime. Part of being in a relationship means everything separate comes together as one.”

“Kaden, I can’t just take thousands from you and not pay you back…”

“It’s ours, everything is ours. And once we are married, you will be an extremely wealthy woman so you better get used to it. I’m not going to stop you from managing the club, but once you are pregnant, I hope you will consider taking some time off. You said before you had to work while Tristan was little, you don’t have to work, baby.”

Kaden takes my hand in his, squeezing it lightly. “Just think about it, ok?”

“Ok, I’ll think about it. Do you think we should wait until after we are married for me to get off birth control?”

“Hell no. I researched it on the plane and it can take months for the hormones to leave your body. Tristan is already almost seven years old. No more pills, and if you get pregnant, great. We will be married soon anyway.”  Kaden leans toward me, our lips meeting for a moment before he pulls back. “Let’s go to bed. I think we need to practice making a baby. Practice makes perfect, you know.” He shoots me a flirty wink before standing up and taking my hand in his, guides us to the bedroom where we practice making a baby… three times.

* * *

“No. No. No. No!” My foot presses the brake while my hands hold tightly onto the steering wheel. Cars are honking and flying around me as I try to steer my car to the side of the road. I finally get it out of traffic, and turn it off. Stepping out of the car, I smell something burning, and before I can pop the hood, a loud booming sound goes off and my hood is in flames.

My phone, purse, and keys are all in the car so calling nine-one-one is out of the question. It’s a busy street and luckily someone pulls over. A gentleman who looks to be in his mid-thirties gets out of his sports car and comes jogging over to me. I recognize him from somewhere but I can’t put my finger on it.

“Your car is going to explode, you need to get back,” the gentleman screams to me. Grabbing my body, he drags me away from the car and a few seconds later, my car does indeed explode. The entire car is in flames. Black smoke is rising from the hood, and the windows are shattering from the force of the heat.

The man who saved my life, calls the fire department and gives them our location, then after he hangs up, he hands me the phone. “I’m thinking you might need to call someone to let them know.”

“Thank you. How did you know my car was going to blow up like that?”

“My name is Benjamin Fields. Racing is a hobby of mine. Cars are my life. I saw the color of the smoke coming out of your hood and knew immediately it would blow. I’m just glad I got to you in time.”

“Thank you for saving me. My name is Ashley Myers. Do I know you from somewhere? You look so familiar.”

He gives me a sheepish smile before he says, “Yeah, I am friends with Caleb, your boss. I have been to Assets a few times. I am interested in doing business with him. I’ve seen you dance.”

Ok… and now it’s officially awkward.

We both stand at a distance from the car in silence watching the fire engines and police pull up. They work together to put the fire out. I finally break the awkward silence. “I’m going to call my fiancé.” I hold up the phone he handed me a few minutes ago. He’s probably at the gym and doesn’t have his phone on him, but I try anyway.

After the third ring, Kaden answers. “Kaden Scott.”

“Hey… Kaden, it’s Ashley.”

“Ashley? What number are you calling from?”

“Umm… well it’s a long story but I’m using Benjamin Fields’ phone…”

“Who the hell is Benjamin Fields?”

“A man.” I mean, really, how the heck else do I answer that?

“Ashley, why the fuck are you using another man’s phone to call me?”

“Kaden! If you would stop cutting me off, I can explain.” I whisper-yell not wanting Benjamin to think Kaden is crazy.

When Kaden doesn’t say anything, I continue. “My car kind of had an issue, and I need you to come get me.” Benjamin chuckles next to me at my downplaying of the vehicle blowing up.

“What kind of issue, Ash? You were supposed to bring it to my mechanic.”

“I know but we got busy with going to New York. I might have forgot… and umm… well… it may have caught on fire… and blew up.”

“WHAT. THE. FUCK. WOMAN! WHERE ARE YOU?”

I give Kaden the location of where I am and he tells me he is on his way before hanging up.

“Thank you,” I say softly handing him back his phone. “You don’t have to stay. My fiancé will be here shortly.”

“That’s ok, I think I will wait here with you. He sounded kind of pissed on the phone,” Benjamin says worriedly.

“Ok, if you want.”

We both have a seat in the grass and watch the firemen continue to work on containing the flames that are still rising from my burnt hunk-of-junk, as the police direct traffic away from the scene.

“So, you want to invest in Assets?” I ask trying to make conversation.

“I have spoken to him a few times. I would like to buy Assets from him. I am waiting for him to get back to me. I own several clubs in the UK, one in California, and one here in Vegas. I would like to purchase Assets from Caleb and expand it. I love the concept he has created.”

A few minutes later, I see Kaden pull up. “Oh, my fiancé is here.” I point to his car stopping right in front of Benjamin’s car.

“Your fiancé drives a fucking Aston Martin while you drive that piece of shit?” Benjamin looks from me to Kaden’s car incredulously.

“Yeah, well, I am a stripper, remember?” My hand goes to my mouth to stop the word vomit.

Benjamin shoots daggers at Kaden as he comes running over to us.

“Baby, are you ok?” Kaden pulls me into his arms, planting kisses all over my face and neck.

“She would have been killed by fire in that death trap if I hadn’t pulled up and got her away from the vehicle,” Benjamin booms out.

Kaden stops kissing me and turns to Benjamin. “Thank you for saving my girl’s life. I owe you one, for sure.” Kaden assesses Benjamin for a moment before extending his hand to offer a shake.

Benjamin glares at his hand. “Why the fuck is your girl driving around in that death trap while you are driving that.” He points from the scraps of my burnt-to-crisp car to Kaden’s vehicle that I am sure is worth more than most people’s homes.

“Trust me when I tell you she won’t be driving around in a piece-of-shit like that again.”

“She shouldn’t have been driving around in it in the first place, let alone working at a strip club.”

“I thanked you for saving my girl, but now I am going to ask that you mind your own damn business.”

The guys stare each other down and I swear I can smell the metaphorical piss running down my leg as Kaden takes me into his arms.

“Ok, well, Benjamin, I appreciate you caring about my well-being but since you don’t know us, you wouldn’t know that I chose to drive this car. I don’t accept help very well. So, let’s all calm down.”

“It looks like the fire is close to being put out. I will let them know I was here when it happened in case they have any questions. I’m sure I will see you around, Ashley.”

Benjamin gives Kaden a curt nod before walking toward the police officer.

“How the fuck does he know you work at a strip club?”

“He has been in there before. I guess he wants to buy the club from Caleb.”

“First, we are going to go get Tristan from school, then we are going to buy you a new car, and I don’t want to hear a single complaint out of your mouth.” Kaden grabs my hips and gives me a kiss that makes me want more.

“Ok.”

“And Ashley…”

“Yes?” Kaden looks me in the eyes. “Please, baby. No. more. Stripping.”

“Ok.”