Chapter Sixteen
Ashton
Sadie’s scent has taken over my sanity. It infuses my nose with a subtle vanilla and a hint of citrus. She smells good enough to eat, and I’m so inebriated that I’m not sure I should be driving. The rest of the short trip to her parents’ place passes in a blur. I don’t recall getting from A to B—from that spot on the side of the road, where the sensation of her sex clenching around my fingers dragged me into a frenzy of lust—to her parents’ massive house on the outskirts of the city.
I’m downright dizzy from the scent of her arousal, and I’ve never wanted her more. Continuing this charade with Sadie is going to be nothing but pure, bittersweet torture.
Several luxury sedans are parked in the circular driveway of her parent’s place, and I can’t help but wonder if Jake swung by Sadie’s apartment, thinking he could weasel back into her good graces, or if he actually listened when she told him she wasn’t going to this dinner with him.
I know my presence is going to be a surprise because I’m certain she didn’t tell her father she was bringing a date, let alone me.
He’s going to shit bricks, and I’d be lying if the thought of watching him go red in the face as he tries to hold on to his precious control doesn’t tempt my mouth into a devious grin.
There is no love lost between her father and me. Joseph Sawyer has always looked down his nose at Sadie’s friends, and that’s especially true of Mandy and me. I can handle his dislike, but his obvious disdain for my sister is another thing. Mandy is the sweetest, most kind-hearted person you’ll ever meet. Sure, she can be a royal pain sometimes, but her gentle spirit puts my womanizing reputation to shame.
I can’t even claim innocence. Lord knows I’ve had my fair share of women over the years. I eye Sadie from the corner of my eye. But this fiery redhead is changing everything, and she doesn’t even know it.
No…she doesn’t want to know it.
Killing the engine, I let a few moments of solitude pass before I swing the driver’s side door open. Those stolen seconds of quiet will probably be the last for a while. This dinner has disaster written all over it.
If I have my way, it’ll be far worse than I’m anticipating. I want to buy a front row seat to watch Sadie put an end to this bullshit, once and for all. She shouldn’t accept the way Jake treated her just to appease her father, and she shouldn’t give two fucks about Jake. But that’s Sadie for you—too kind-hearted for her own good sometimes.
I pull her door open and offer her my hand. As she slides her palm into mine, her large, jade eyes look a little jaded. She’s skeptical of how tonight is going to end, and I can’t blame her. I meant every word when I said I’d punish her if she doesn’t have a good heart-to-heart with her old man. She’s not in high school anymore, and if she wants to continue to act like it, then I’m happy to punish her ass like the bratty, stubborn girl she is.
The bratty, stubborn, infuriatingly sexy girl I’m falling hard for.
Jesus, what am I getting myself into? If I thought I could go back to the way things used to be—to the time before she unzipped me and put her bewitching mouth on my cock—I would. I’d scroll through the hordes of women programmed into my phone and fuck this ridiculous fascination with Sadie Sawyer into oblivion.
The fact that I have no desire to do so says everything. Sadie has ruined me for all other women, and I haven’t even fucked her yet.
I say yet because I’m optimistic.
And fucking determined.
As we approach the double wooden doors to the place where she grew up, she squeezes my hand. Maybe the move is subconscious. Either way, it’s comforting to know that she needs me. After all, isn’t that why she came to me to begin with?
She wants me here with her. Maybe part of her actually wants me to step up and defend her since she’s incapable of doing it herself.
I’m expecting her to just open the door and walk in—like Mandy and I do when we visit our parents, or each other, for that matter.
But Sadie rings the doorbell.
That doesn’t just make me angry; it makes me sad. Suddenly, I want to whisk her away from here, want to save her from yet another episode of her father’s disapproval, and her mother’s acquiescence to Joseph Sawyer’s “my word is law” type of attitude. The only good things Sadie got from her old man is his strength and intelligence.
Mrs. Sawyer answers the door with a gracious smile plastered on her face. She’s impeccably dressed, as always, in a modest green suit that compliments her auburn hair. She draws her daughter into a hug, and Sadie’s hand slips free of mine. But at least the embrace is one-hundred percent genuine. I like her mother a little more in that moment because I can tell she really cares about Sadie.
“Thanks for coming, sweetie.” Mrs. Sawyer’s green gaze turn to me. “Hello, Ashton. I didn’t realize you were attending tonight.”
Before Sadie can speak up and make excuses, I jump in. “I’m her date.”
Mrs. Sawyer’s brows wrinkle in confusion. “That’s…a bit surprising.” She returns her attention to her daughter. “Jake’s been waiting for you. Your father is beside himself over this announcement.” Her mother takes her hands in her own and squeezes. “We’re so proud of you, Sadie.”
“Okay…Mom, is there something I need to know?”
“Don’t worry about a thing. You just enjoy this night.”
Before I can reclaim Sadie’s hand, if only to give her a lifeline of support, her mother whisks her into the hubbub of high-priced attorneys, overbearing parents, and one smug bastard ex-boyfriend who looks like he’s still got the feathers of a helpless canary in his disgusting mouth.
This doesn’t bode well.
No wonder Sadie pleaded with me to come with her.
I catch up to Hurricane Sawyer—as I’m starting to secretly call her mother—and grab Sadie’s hand again. She came here with me, and she’ll sure as hell leave here with me. Every person within these walls will get that through their thick heads.
Her mother introduces me as Sadie’s friend to several people, and Joseph Sawyer stops short when he sees me. His gaze lowers to our joined hands, and something dark flashes in his eyes.
“Sweetheart, can I have a word with you in private?”
“Of course.” Sadie lets go of my hand, and when our eyes connect, I issue her a challenge. She won’t find a better time than now to set her father straight.
“I’ll be right here waiting,” I tell her.
I watch her follow her father through the small crowd of people cluttering the immaculate living room. Her mother offers me another one of her gracious smiles before going off to see to her guests. As soon as Joseph and Sadie disappear into his office and shut the door behind them, Jake comes to a stop at my side.
“Ashton, right?”
I give him a side glance. “That would be me.”
“It’s good to put a face to the name. I’ve heard plenty about you and your sister.”
I bet he has, and he’s so self-involved that he doesn’t remember meeting me the first time a few weeks ago.
But I remember him.
“Did you hear about me from Joseph, or Sadie?” I look him up and down as I speak, taking in his slicked-back blond hair and perfect suit.
“Both, actually. It’s obvious you and Amanda are important to Sadie.” He shifts, hands going behind his back. Chest puffed out. “So that makes you important to me.”
I raise a brow. “And why is that? She isn’t your concern anymore, so you should have no vested interest in her friends.”
“Sadie is very much my concern.”
I want to stuff a dirty sock into his mouth to quiet that superior tone of his. Then I want to land a fist into his equally smug face. Fucking chump in a high-priced monkey suit. I can’t for the life of me see what Sadie ever saw in this self-important prick.
“She broke up with you,” I point out.
“That was a misunderstanding. We’re working through it.” He pauses a beat. “I want to make myself clear. You’re just a friend. I’m the man her father approves of.”
I can’t fucking help it. A grin twitches at the corners of my mouth. “Let me make myself clear. You’re just the asshole who cheated on her. I’m the guy she comes to for mind-blowing orgasms.” I stuff my hands into my pockets and finger her panties. “She’s quite insatiable, if I do say so myself.” I imitate his smug expression and give a mental fist-pump when the superiority melts from his face. “Nice catching up with you, Jack,” I say, purposefully using the wrong name. “I should probably mingle.” I turn on my heel before he can reply.
If I were wearing a tie, I’d have it removed by now. This place is suffocating enough all on its own. Caterers move around, preparing for the elaborate meal in the dining room, and this portion of the evening must be happy hour, Joseph Sawyer style, since guests are situated in small groups, nursing cocktails and beers as they talk about their importance in the grand scheme of things.
Jesus. I want out of here.
And I want to drill Sadie about every aspect of her relationship with that asshole. How far did she go with him? Suddenly, I want to know every detail. The thought of him touching her paints my vision with nothing but red.
I’m jealous as hell, and that doesn’t happen often.
A waiter passes by, and I grab a drink off the tray, unmindful of what it is I’m about to guzzle like a lifeline. But damn, a guy needs a drink to get through something like this. I settle against the wall in one corner of the room and down half the bubbly.
Definitely not my usual poison, but it’ll do.
Jake has reinserted himself into the crowd as the center of attention. But he’s not immune to me any more than I’m immune to him. Between sips of his drink, and gruff laughter interspersed with serious discussions of God-knows-what, he keeps shooting me death glares from across the room.
The hard lines on his pretty-boy face say it all.
I’m about as welcome here as the underbelly of this city.
A few minutes pass before Sadie returns on the heels of her father, and as she follows him like a sheep across the room to fucking “JJ,” I don’t miss the apologetic look she aims in my direction.
She didn’t stand up to her father.
I don’t have to ask to know it’s true. The guilt is written all over her beautiful face, her porcelain skin marred by self-disappointment.
Her father picks up a flute of champagne from a passing tray. “Attention, everyone!”
The room falls silent, and in that moment, I understand Sadie a little better because Joe Sawyer’s commanding presence is unshakable.
“I’d like to congratulate JJ on all the hard work he’s put in at Sawyer and Bennett these past five years. He’s the youngest to make junior partner in the firm’s history, and we’re all proud of him. To JJ,” he says, raising his glass, and everyone else follows suit, their voices a collective echo of Joseph Sawyer’s toast.
“Thank you, Joe. It’s an honor to have learned from the best.” The suck-up sidles up to Sadie and wraps an arm around her shoulders. “I have an announcement of my own to make. As most of you know, Sadie and I have been dating for the past couple of months, and though this might seem hasty, Joe has given me permission to ask for this extraordinary woman’s hand in marriage.”
People’s lips move. Glasses clink together. I hear none of it, and I suspect Sadie doesn’t either. She’s too busy staring right at me with that look I hate so much, her body rigid at Jake’s side.
There my girl is again, caught in the headlights.
Unable to stomach any more of this twisted game of elitist charades, I set my half-empty drink down and exit the room.
Because if I stay in there for another second, I’m going to lose my shit.