Fifteen
Veronica
Slamming the car door, I began walking down the street to the restaurant where Ash was supposed to meet me. My stomach was in knots. I didn’t know what exactly he wanted when he texted for me to meet him. My heart leapt at the thought he may be wanting to get back together.
But more than likely it was about Vitalife. I’d been feeling terrible about buying those shares out from under him. I knew he wanted that company and my father would only sell it off piece by piece. But I had to do it to get him back in my life. Even if I was engaged to someone else, I just couldn’t go through the rest of my life without knowing if Ash and I had any chance of being together.
As I walked into the restaurant, I spotted him right away. He was wearing the same type of Italian designer suit he always wore. With his dark hair styled to perfection, he was the epitome of the bad boy in a good suit. Several women in the restaurant were looking at him as always.
I’d donned a tight fitting dress in blue, Ash’s favorite color on me. I wore my hair long and loose, just like he liked. My perfume was the one he’d selected for me years ago. I had never worn any other scent since then.
And I wore the locket necklace he’d given me.
Mine.
Ever the gentleman, he stood up as I approached the table. He pulled out my chair with his characteristic wicked grin.
“Thank you.”
“You’re gorgeous as usual, Ronnie. I’m so glad you decided to meet me for dinner.”
I sat across from him the candlelight casting an intimate glow across his face.
“I’ve taken the liberty of ordering you a drink. Macallan is still okay, I assume?”
“Of course.” I sipped the drink as I crossed my legs. Just being near him made me ache to feel his hands on my flesh. My pussy tingled in anticipation.
“So, Ronnie, I assume you’ve thought about our discussion regarding Vitalife?”
I nodded. I was hoping this would be more personal.
“And?”
I finished my drink and folded my hands together on the table.
“You know I need those shares. Vitalife is very important to me for more than one reason.”
“Your father.”
A brief flash of pain clouded his eyes.
“Yes. Vitalife is the only company currently producing the drug that will help alleviate the suffering of some symptoms by cancer patients. It’s been particularly helpful to those with pancreatic cancer.”
My heart ached for him.
“The kind your father had. I know, Ash. And I’m not keeping Vitalife from you.”
He finished his drink giving me a quizzical look.
“I don’t understand, Ronnie. You told me the other day you couldn’t sell them back to me.”
“I know, but I talked to my father.”
His eyes brightened.
“So you will sell those shares back to me?”
I bit my lip. If I told him I would now, would he still be interested in reconciling with me? Or would he still tout the same song and dance—he couldn’t love me?
“Perhaps. I need to know something first, Ash.”
Ash signaled the waiter for another Macallan.
“And a bottle of your finest champagne as well,” he instructed as he pressed a hundred dollar bill into the waiter’s palm. The waiter nodded clearly ecstatic to be waiting on such a well tipping customer.
Evidently, he expected we’d be celebrating momentarily.
“What, Ronnie?” His hand reached beneath the table to brush my knee. I jumped at his touch feeling the electricity between us still strong after all these years.
“Are things still the same with you? I mean, with us?”
Withdrawing his hand from my knee, he leaned back looking down.
“I’m glad you brought that up, Ronnie. Ever since we broke I’ve been wanting to explain something to you. I think I was unfair to you, and I’m sorry. You see, it has to do with my mother.” He stopped as the waiter sat the silver bucket of champagne on the table along with his glass of Macallan. He finished the scotch quickly as the waiter popped the cork on the champagne and poured two glasses.
I sipped my champagne waiting for him to finish.
“You know that I lost my mother when I was young. Lost meaning she left us.” He cleared his throat looking very uncomfortable. I could tell how hard this was for him.
“I know, Ash. I’m sorry.” Setting my glass aside, I reached across the table for his hand. As I attempted to touch him, he jerked away.
“I…I don’t like to talk about her. One morning when I was around seven years old, I went into my mother’s bedroom. My father was often out of town, so I had gone into her room wanting her to play with me. As I slipped unnoticed into her room, I caught her in her bedroom with a close friend of my father’s, a man I called ‘Uncle’ Mike. They had obviously been fucking as he came out of the bathroom and kissed her. He didn’t see me there. Horrified and confused, I ran from the room.”
My mouth fell open. Ash had never shared anything with me about her except to tell me she had left him when he was young.
“Oh, Ash,” I whispered. His hands began to tremble as his face turned pale. When he spoke, he voiced cracked with emotion.
“She had bought me a train set like I’d always wanted. It was an antique train set and quite valuable. It was identical to the one my father had had as a child. The next day she gave it to me calling it an ‘early’ Christmas gift. She said I could have it if I didn’t tell my father what I’d seen. I didn’t understand what she’d done at the time, but I knew it wasn’t right. After she left the room, I shoved the train set underneath my bed. I never touched it again.” Tears welled in his eyes. I ached for him.
A sob caught in my throat.
“I’m so sorry, Ash. That’s terrible.” Again, I reached for his hand. This time he allowed me to hold it.
“It’s fine. I just wanted you to know. It’s been such a long and lonely road when you know you’re walking alone.” He took a deep breath.
I glanced around the restaurant. Many customers had already left and it was nearly closing time.
“You aren’t alone, Ash.”
He nodded blinking back tears. Then he rubbed his hands across his face.
“I’m not telling you this to feel sorry for me. I’m telling you this because that’s why I didn’t think I could love you. I never allowed myself to feel anything after that.”
“Are you saying you think you can now?” Anxiously, I leaned even closer.
“I’m not sure, but I think it’s a possibility. I care for you so much, Ronnie. I wanted you to know that it wasn’t because I didn’t love you years ago, it was because I couldn’t. I didn’t want to face up to the trauma my mother caused me. It hurt too much, but now I think I’m ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“To share my life with you. Veronica James, I love you.”
I nearly fainted in my chair. My heart leapt with joy. He was mine! Finally, he was mine! I thought I was going to have to pinch myself to prove I wasn’t dreaming.
“Ash, I love you too. What does this mean?”
He finished his champagne and smiled.
“I see you still wear the locket. That pleases me so much, Ronnie, but to answer your question it means we get the fuck out of here.”
“And go where?”
“My place is near here. Let’s go.” He stood up and deposited a wad of cash on the table.
Without a word, we raced out of the restaurant to a limo he had waiting. My heart was so full I was soaring.
Less than an hour later, I found myself just where I wanted to be. Ash had a ‘dungeon’ constructed in his apartment. It was more lavish than the one he’d had at his house in Hyannis. The walls were covered in the same dark red silk damask similar to the previous dungeon he’d had at his house in Hyannis. The lighting was dim with lantern sconces decorating the walls. There was a black lacquered St Andrew’s cross in the center of the room. He had an assortment of whips, restraints, riding crops, and nipple clamps. There was a leather bench and a spreader bar as well.
“Ash, you never change, do you? Ever the dom.” I smiled as I ran my hands over the St Andrew’s cross.
“Of course, you wouldn’t want me any other way, would you?” He smiled unbuttoning his shirt.
He was exactly the same man I’d fallen for years ago. But this time he was mine.
Ash pushed me back against the wall pressing his lips to mine.
“Just like the locket says. You’re mine, Ronnie, and you always will be.”
Melting into his arms, my flesh ached to feel his strong hands. My pussy tightened and immediately became wet. Slight pulsations filled me and he was nearly making me come just by the touch of his lips.
“Have you been a good girl, Ronnie?” he whispered, tracing his fingers along my collarbone down to my cleavage.
“No, Ash, I’ve been a very bad girl. I need you to correct me.”
“I can tell now that you’re here.” He spun me around to unzip my dress. It spilled around my ankles as he grabbed me by the back of the neck. He forced me to my knees and gestured for me to get on all fours. Whipping off his shirt, he tossed it aside not taking the care he used to with laying it on a chair. Ash took a leather flogger from the wall and swished it through the air. My back arched as I eagerly awaited the whip’s sting against my flesh.
Swack!
“I want you to dance for me, Ronnie.” With that, he lashed me again as he picked up his iPhone to set the music.
The pulsating, driving beat of a song I’d only heard once before, ‘Third Day of a Seven Day Binge’ by Marilyn Manson reverberated throughout the dimly lit room.
I stood up and began to sway to the beat swishing my hips back and forth. Slowly, I undulated before him reaching up to unhook my bra dropping it to the floor.
Ash stood back shirtless with the whip in his hand with a wicked grin on his handsome face. I hadn’t felt this alive in years as I danced before him. I had nothing on but a black silk thong and my red high heels. As I reached back to slide them down my legs, Ash lashed out with the whip biting into my flesh sharply. I winced, but the pain quickly turned to ecstasy.
I spun around to face him as the music changed to ‘Desire’ by Meg Myers, a song I loved. I began to slowly dance around him poised to remove my thong.
Baby, I want to fuck you….
“Keep them on.” He commanded as he grabbed me taking me over to the St Andrew’s cross.
“Are you ready, Ronnie? I want you to place your palms against the cross and arch your back.”
Wet with anticipation, I did as he commanded arching my back and thrusting my ass out. Ash knelt down behind me. My body quivered just waiting to see what he would do to me.
His hands slid slowly up my legs as he pressed his lips against my upper thigh. His tongue and lower lip dragged across my leg sensually tracing a line up to the curve of my ass. His hands ran up to my waist caressing the small of my stomach before he wrenched my panties down to my ankles. I sucked in my breath holding it my body tensing for the whip.
“Step out of them,” his voice commanded.
I lifted both feet as he grabbed them tossing them aside.
“Keep your hands against the wall.”
He parted my legs as I heard a familiar vibrating noise. He pressed a huge, cold object against my pussy. The vibration drove me wild. I was drenched already from anticipation as he slid the vibrator between my slick lips. Teasing my clit, I began to shake.
“Don’t come, Ronnie, not until I say so. Control it.”
I bit down on my lip. It was so hard to remain standing with my hands against the wall! I wanted to come so badly as he continued to rub the vibrator against my clit pressing against my ready opening.
“Ronnie, are you coming? It looks like you are.” He noticed my pussy starting to pulsate. I clenched myself inside as tightly as I could. I tried counting to ten.
“Stop it, Ronnie. I thought I’d trained you better.” He withdrew the vibrator. I took a deep breath as I readied myself for what he might do next.
Swack!
The whip crossed against my flesh so sharply I had to grip the edges of the cross with all my might to keep from falling.
Again and again, he brought the leather whip down against my flesh.
Each time I felt myself dizzy with ecstasy longing for him to enter me. I hadn’t felt him inside me in so long I could hardly stand it.
Beads of perspiration began to trickle down my back. The music was still pulsating throughout the room. It was a song I had never heard before. The air was thick with my own musky scent mixed with the masculine aroma of his cologne.
Finally, he stood back. My legs still shook as I steadied myself against the pillars of the cross.
“That was ten lashes, Ronnie, one for each year we’ve been apart. Now that you’ve been corrected we can have some real fun.”
He reached over and removed my hands from the cross. Lovingly, he caressed my deliciously sore bottom. His fingers traced each whip mark. He swept me up in his arms carrying me over to the leather bench.
“I’ve missed you so much, Ronnie.” He whispered into my ear his lips trailing against my neck.
“I missed you too, Ash. I can’t tell you how much I wanted this.”
“You have a lifetime to tell me, Ronnie. I’m never letting you go again.” His words were music to my ears. I could hardly believe I wasn’t dreaming. This man who was everything I’d ever wanted was saying the words I’d been longing to hear for ten years.
But there was one problem.
Bryce.
How could I ever tell Ash about him? Being with Ash made me realize I never really loved Bryce. Now more than ever I knew I wanted to end things with him. But there was also my father to consider. What would he do if he knew Ash and I were back together?
I knew exactly what he would do and it wouldn’t be pleasant.
Looking into Ash’s eyes, I forgot about all that. All I could do was revel in the love I felt between us.