DANIEL
Daniel was furious. The compulsion to raze the whole world to the ground bit him hard when he saw handprints on Ashley's cheek. Her beautiful hair had been manhandled into a mess. Her eyes had swollen due to constant crying. She was terrified to the bone. Her trembling form and the way she was holding onto him explained how unsettled her state of mind was. He held her in his arms not caring what people would label them as. He tried to cool her nerves down while himself boiling from inside. And the message that doodled on the mirror didn't make the situation better.The incident had shaken her to the core. Her body craved protection. Yearned assurance. But was he in a position to give her assurance when he had failed her twice? Ashley placed her faith in him and he failed her yet again.Daniel and Ashley stayed like this for a while until Ashley felt a little less bad. She detangled herself from him and brushed her tears off. Daniel scooted over allowing her more spacASHLEYThe existence of the moon totally faded away when sun rose up in the sky with its bright glory indicating the beginning of another day. But Ashley was still a prisoner of the last night. Those memories had chased away her sleep despite how tired she felt. They haunted her like a relentless witch. She cried, sniffled, cursed, and fell silent after losing all her energy. It wasn't lost on her that Michael wanted her to pay for bringing him behind the bar. That is why he was so hell-bent on having her back so that he could torture her in the most inhuman way possible. The thought caused a shudder to pass through her body.The event had triggered chaos in her mind and she had been so engrossed in repressing it that she couldn't notice a silhouette sneaking in her room from time to time to check up on her throughout the night.Next morning, she woke up when Dayna came in with a tray of breakfast and gently nudged her shoulder to awake her. Ashley had given in to sle
ASHLEYAshley inwardly groaned when Dayna informed her that Jack is downstairs waiting for her. Her face twisted in displeasure as her body was still aching because of the hardcore training she was put through by him. By hardcore, she meant a few physical exercises. Ten days had passed by since the party incident and more than a week since she had been taking self-defense classes. Daniel insisted on her learning self-defense and had appointed Jack as her trainer. She was also excited to learn to fight on her own or may be able to defend herself when the situation demands.But her fiery spirit watered down on the very first day itself when her trainer told her to run five rounds across a vast ground. She did her best but couldn't make it after 3rd round. That night her body ached as if a car had run over it.Ashley strode out of her room after fixing her soured expression. It's not that she didn't like Jack. He was a sweet guy with an incredibly handsome face but one t
DANIELHe heaved a sigh of relief when his father slammed the door of his room shut and disappeared from his line of sight. Daniel couldn't leave the office at his usual time as his father had apparently planned a surprise visit to his office. Daniel pulled himself from his chair and shot a glance over his wristwatch. He had gotten late by half an hour. Without delaying any further, he made a b-line to the parking lot and pulled his car in motion after settling into it.He had made it a point for the last few days to return home early before Dayna's shift gets over. He would have gotten home in time had his father not come and gave him an extended lecture on the fatal consequences of taking a poor class divorcee in. Daniel's father had an obsession with money, status, and power. He had spent his entire life acquiring it and subsequently losing his family. It was his obsession that pushed Daniel's mother into depression. It was his obsession that ma
ASHLEYWho would have thought spewing out the content of her heart in front of "not really a stranger but not also a friend" would make her feel this good? After that little episode, she waited for embarrassment to coat her cheek or remorse to hit her conscience but nothing happened. On the contrary, she felt content and light. Not that she was complaining.It's not that her fear for Michael had vanished away like a cloud of smoke in the sky. No. She was still scared of him but now she had chosen to fight her fear head-on instead of cowering away before giving herself a try. She slept peacefully that night."Someone's looking very happy today. Dreamt of me last night?," Jack asked her with his ever mischievous smile.Ashley was doing some stretches when he made the comment. She rolled her eyes in a playful manner and said, "Ain't you full of yourself?""No, I am not. But girls want to be," he responded while throwing a wink her way a
DANIELAn innocent touch of her and all his carnal desire stirred back to life. That night he laid awake on his bed. His mind was intoxicated with her thoughts. A grin spread across his face every time he recounted their moment. The moment when she had willingly surrendered herself into his arms. Her body pressed hard against him. His member twitched zealously in his pants when he remembered how her soft breaths tickled his hard chest. How the alluring scent of her hair had sent his mind into a haze. How her plumpy lips were tempting him to devour them like an animal. And the strangest thing was that she had no idea what her proximity was doing to him. Daniel didn't want her to find that out either. That is why he shifted her a little so that she doesn't feel his arousal begging for her touch. But when the pressure became unbearable, he asked her for dinner. The billionaire immediately rushed to the bathroom to release himself after she let him go.He closed his eyes and h
DANIELDaniel paced back and forth across his study room. This new piece of information had thrown him completely for a loop. The words of his PI kept ringing through his head repeatedly making him more restless. He didn't know what to make of this new information. There was no denying that this new lead, which most likely was going to meet a dead-end, had only added to this puzzle.Daniel cudgeled his brain, trying to look for any incident or clue that he might have missed earlier but nothing came to his mind. He couldn't understand why would someone have a number on Ashley's name. What could be the intention?He didn't know who was playing this game and why but he knew one thing that Ashley had nothing to do with it. Even though he might not have known her for long, he trusted her.He slumped in a chair and rested his head on the back of it. He closed his eyes and a smile crept over his bow-shaped lips when her flustered face flashed behind his close-lidded eye
Daniel was too deep in haze to have caught on to Ashley's questioning tone. Driven by insecurities and a throbbing cock, he continued rolling his hot tongue over her delectable skin. His assault didn't stop even when Ashey turned around to face him. She was still locked between Daniel and the counter. By the look of things, Daniel wasn't in his senses to let go of her just now. He was growing hard and impatient with every second. Ashley wanted to talk to him but Daniel wanted to communicate through his body. He latched his hungry lips onto the crook of her neck to get a taste of her as soon as she swerved. His hands flew to grab her waist to pull her more into him. There wasn't an inch of gap between them. His restless arousal pressed against her stomach sent tingles down her spine."Stop it," Ashley protested and tried to push his chest away.He didn't. Just a few words were not going to get to him. He had waited for her for months. For this, the moment he laid his eyes o
"She thinks it's just a phase," Daniel chuckled. Pain shining through his glassy eyes.Steve remained silent, observing Daniel. This was the new side of Daniel that he was witnessing. He had never seen him this broken. This dejected.He knew something was wrong the moment he laid eyes on Daniel this morning. The bags underneath his bloodshot eyes, dispirited outlook, and ruffled hair told him that he haven't had a wink of sleep last night and he figured why, when Daniel told him about the conversation he had with Ashley last night. His ruthless friend was drowned deep in love.Rejection kept him awake the whole night. The whole night her words kept themselves playing in his head. The whole night he felt a crushing weight sitting on his heart. When the pain of rejection became unbearable, he resorted to alcohol to ease his agony. He took large swigs of the drink to chase away memories of their last encounter. He intoxicated his brain so that her words would stop making