I was dumbfounded. First the relationship status, then the handbag and then the modeling? “Ashton, that’s a very gracious offer, but I don’t want to be accused of dating you for your money and opportunities. Please give it to someone else.”
He looked offended. “I don’t really care what other people think and neither should you! I insist that you be the next model for my logo.”
“I really don’t know…”
“I won’t take no for an answer,” he continued while leaning in to softly kiss my neck. The temptation became nearly uncontrollable the moment his lips touched my skin. He kissed me more and more. The next thing I knew, we were naked and writhing around on the king sized bed.
“Fine, I will do it,” I caved in breathlessly. His touch was irresistible. It was as if he had a spell over me that I simply couldn’t deny.
Chapter 4
We were still in London when the media went crazy. We couldn’t even walk through St. James Park without a camera crew following us.
“Is this what you have had to deal with all the time?” I asked him.
He smiled greatly. “I have had to deal with it in small does, but ever since the divorce and our relationship, it has exploded to new realms to anything I’ve ever experienced before. Needless to say, this attention will be good for our brand. So, it isn’t something to fret over too much.”
He bought me a new wardrobe from all of the best designers in London. I had never been lavished with gifts in my life. As we were standing in line at Heathrow, I noticed another tabloid magazine that had our faces planted on the cover.
Ashton J, the hot billionaire, shows off sexy girlfriend half his age. Was she the reason for the split?
It made me sick to my stomach. I didn’t like the negative attention.
“Oh, don’t pay attention to that crap,” he tried to assure me. “Besides, any attention is good attention when it comes to business. Attention is great for business.”
His words didn’t ease my concerns. We boarded the plane back to North Carolina and I tried to take my focus off of everything. Ashton browsed the Internet and emails while I savored the view out the window.
“Oh my! Our Double A DVD sales have tripled in the last week! Everyone wants to see you in it, Alexis! Everyone is curious about you!” Ashton exclaimed in pure excitement. He was acting like a reality show producer.
“That’s great about the sales, but I don’t want to be a celebrity or anything,” I chuckled nervously.
“Oh honey, you already are!” His eyes twinkled with dollar signs.
“Ashton, don’t you have enough success? Don’t you have enough money?”
He didn’t like my remark. “What’s wrong with you?” he curtly asked.
“Nothing,” I replied, chastened.
The plane hit turbulence. It jolted all of us in our seats.
“Please buckle your seatbelts,” the captain commanded over the intercom.
“I guess that means you should probably take your eyes off of the sales,” I joked.
“The turbulence will make me seasick while staring at the laptop screen,” he winked at me. Looking through the window, I could see rough seas beneath us. In combination with the plane being tossed around, it made me slightly uncomfortable. “Are you okay?” he asked after a long pause.
I sighed. “Yeah, just noticed that the ocean beneath us looks rough.”
“How can you see that much detail from way up here?” he looked surprised.
I stared at him, speechless.
“Oh, I see. It’s those young eyes of yours,” he grinned. “Don’t worry, gorgeous. This airplane can easily handle storms, high winds, you name it.”
“What if we have to land somewhere but there’s nowhere to land?” I could feel myself starting to panic.
“If you study the map, we are close to Greenland. That’s where we would land if need be. Canada is not too far beyond that, but we are okay. There’s always turbulence over this part of the Atlantic.”
“Just like it was in of the Atlantic that the Titanic sank?”
He stared at me with humorous but respectful eyes. I knew it was a struggle for him to not laugh at me in that moment. “We aren’t in any danger, doll. Trust me.”
“Okay,” I replied like a young schoolgirl. Regardless, it made me nervous. I knew that I wouldn’t feel better until I saw clear land and no turbulence.
“Take this. It will help you sleep.” He handed me a pill.
“What’s that?” I asked, curious. Medicines scared me when I didn’t know what they were.
“It’s a motion sickness pill. It will help you sleep until we get across the Atlantic.”
I didn’t trust it. “I’m okay, Ashton. Thank you though.”
“You’re not panicking on me, are you?” he looked concerned.
“Of course not. Although, I do think that I will lean back and close my eyes. Wake me up when we can see New York City from the sky,” I chuckled. I wasn’t about to admit to him that I was having issues. Nope, wasn’t doing it.
“Okay then. Well, we can probably take our seat belts off in the next few minutes.”
“That’s fine. If I’m asleep, I won’t have to worry about it, will I?” I smirked flirtatiously.
“True,” he smiled.
I leaned back and closed my eyes. I wanted to drift far away from turbulence, wild seas, news stories and the climbing sales of the Double A DVDs. The thought of my small, cozy apartment in Hillsboro, North Carolina brought me immense comfort.
Chapter 5
“It’s so nice to be home!” I exclaimed to Jessica. “Oh my word, I thought I was going to crash over the Atlantic. We hit crazy turbulence and the ocean waters were white capping beneath us. It was crazy. I didn’t know if we were approaching a storm or what.”
She was laughing wildly at me. “Alexis, that happens all the time on airplane flights. You’d be hilarious to fly with.”
I shook my head. “You’re so mean!” I chuckled. I cozied into the sofa and its pillows. “I’m so glad to be home. The next time, Ashton can go by himself. That last flight was torment for me.”
“How was the trip overall? I noticed that the paparazzi didn’t back off of you over there.”
I cringed at the subject. I didn’t even want to talk about it. “It was weird. How am I all of a sudden someone that people are interested in? Why don’t they date the Yoga billionaire?”
“You don’t like the fame?” she asked in shock.
“Heck no! My family is flipping out, and I’m flipping out. I’m starting to wonder if it’s the worst thing for my reputation.”
“Well, it may actually help it,” she suggested. “People dream of being in your shoes every day.”
I gave her a look of disgust. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Those people have no idea what they’re dreaming of. The lack of privacy sucks!” I buried my head into the pillows.
“Do you think that you can love him?” she asked randomly. It was a question that I wasn’t expecting to hear from her.
“I don’t know, Jess,” I replied. “He has a very pushy side that bothers me. Yet, he has a very romantic side that allures me.” I wanted to ask her about Seth but the thought itself was too painful.
“Well, you know my thoughts,” she added. “I think he is a male chauvinistic pig who flaunts his wealth.”
“Have you heard from Seth?” I was almost afraid to ask.
“Why would I hear from him?”
“You’re always at the coffee shop visiting your lover boy. I know that Seth is always down there as well. Have you seen him?”
She hesitated to answer. That worried me. Why was I still worrying about Seth when I committed myself to Ashton? “Alexis, I’ve not seen the first sign of him at the coffee house. Like, I think he has totally fallen off of the face of the Earth since you chose Ashton.”
“Jess, he told me to give Ashton one last chance! He said that he felt that he wouldn’t have all of me until I got
Ashton completely out of my system. Then, once I got Ashton completely out of my system, he would be there waiting on me.”
“What the crap? What is this, The Twilight Zone?” she had a bizarre, disgusted look on her face.
“He had a point,” I responded. “I have some type of soul tie with Ashton that needs to be broken before I can give someone else all of me. The only way that can happen is if I know that I’ve tried my best to make something work and if it still fails. Then I can break the soul tie,” I carefully explained. It sounded so messed up after I described it to her.
“That’s too complicated. Girl, you may need a psychologist to help you discern what’s going on with your rationality,” she said with sass. I laughed at her tone of voice.
“It is what it is. I just fear losing Seth while I’m trying to figure out this other part of my life.”
“Well, you can’t have both. You’re taking a risk,” she replied.
“Yeah, I know that I am.” I flipped the television channel with the remote control and immediately regretted it when I saw my face on the screen.
“Is that how you want to live the rest of your life? As Ashton J’s woman?” Her question was valid. The sex was great, the opportunities were nice but the attention wasn’t the most ideal. I didn’t want to be painted as a mistress, but, I asked for it when I kept pressuring him to stop hiding me. Perhaps I was becoming the hypocrite. Maybe he was shielding me from all of this the whole time.
“Maybe this is what he was trying to shield me from,” I told her.
“I don’t know. Something still seems shady to me,” she thought out loud.
My phone alerted me with the text message sound. I caught myself hoping that it was Seth.
“It’s Ashton,” Jessica noted, seeing my phone screen before I could. All hope I had in it possibly being Seth was shattered. I didn’t like that feeling. It was horrible.
“Oh,” I replied.
“Don’t you want to see it?” she asked.
“Can you read it to me?” I asked, unenthused.
“You’re in love with Seth,” she replied sternly. “You don’t love Ashton. I don’t see it happening.”
“Jessica, please,” I begged her to stop with the dramatics. She opened the text message and read it.
“He wants to buy you a house in Hillsboro and insists on it.”
“What?!” I quickly jumped up from my comfortable perch.
“Yep. Read it for yourself.”
I snatched my phone from her hand and sure enough, it was true.
I typed back. I seriously appreciate the thought and offer, but I’m very happy in my tiny, cozy apartment. Please don’t think about buying me a house. You’ve given me enough.
I purposely dropped my phone on the couch. “This is exhausting,” I exclaimed.
“The up and down roller coaster ride?” Jessica asked in an amused tone.
“Yes!” The fact was, it was too soon for him to buy me something that big. He was very generous with his money and opportunities with me, but in my opinion, there were some lines that he was trying to cross too soon.
Chapter 6
The candles flickered as the bed rocked back and forth. Ashton’s hot, muscular body moved smoothly above me. The sounds of his deep moaning growl encouraged me to work the movement even more. As his climax approached, he pulled out and released the tension.
“Did you get what you needed as well, beautiful?” he breathlessly asked me.
“Oh yes,” I glistened in the soft light.
“Good,” he muttered, falling over to my side. I watched him as he caught his breath. For a fifty year old, he moved like a thirty year old. His fitness served him well. “Oh, all I need now is a good, strong beer and a nap. You’re wonderful, Alexis. Just wonderful.” I sat up to take a sip of cool water from the glass on the bedside table.
“Babe, you’re phone is lighting up. Someone is trying to call you.” I handed him his phone. After my last encounter with answering his phone, I wasn’t about to risk that happening again.
“Oh, thanks.” He took the phone to see who it was. “I don’t recognize this number,” he said. He sat up, cleared his throat and answered it. I watched him from my peripheral vision. “Hello, this is Ashton J.” It was then that I saw him turn pale. If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve guessed that he had just seen a ghost.
“Excuse me?” he asked the caller in a confused tone. I decided to leave the room and give him some privacy. I nipped into the bathroom and cleaned myself up, in hopes that when I walked back out, he would have settled the phone call. After ten minutes, I returned to the bed. He was sitting up in a daze.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. He looked like he was going to be sick. “Are you okay?” I rubbed his bare backside and tried to comfort him.
“I don’t know,” he replied in a zombie mode.
“What was that all about? Did sales numbers drop or something? Come on, Ashton. Talk to me.”
“I don’t know how to tell you this without it causing major issues again. You’re not going to believe this. I’m afraid of your reaction,” he confessed. In that moment, I knew it was going to be another ordeal. I braced myself.
“What was it?” I asked again.
He stuttered. “That was the most unexpected, bizarre phone call that I think I’ve ever had.”
“Ashton! Tell me. The suspense is killing me.” I tried to pull him out of his trance. He couldn’t look me in the eye.
“That was my thirty-year-old daughter that I didn’t know that I had,” he replied in a monotone voice.
I was stunned. Like him, I was frozen in shock.
“She was calling to ask if she could meet me for the first time.” He continued to speak in a monotone voice while looking straight ahead.
“Oh my word,” I managed to utter in shock. By his reaction, the phone call truly seemed to take him off guard. “Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, I will be okay. I'm just trying to let this settle. That pulled the rug out from under my feet.”
“I can only imagine. Wow. You have a daughter,” I was shock. In fact, his daughter was five years older than me! That was awkward. Then the doubt and fears set in. Was it another secret that he had purposely kept from me? Was he really that great of an actor? He appeared to be in shock, but this was the man who had lied so elegantly about never being married. “What’s her name?” I was curious but also wanted to investigate through social media when I was on my own.
“Rebecca,” he answered, finally rubbing his face with his hand.
“Who’s her mother?” I pressed on gently.
He became stressed. “I don’t know, Alexis. Can you just ask me that later on?”
I was perplexed and suspicious. “I’m not trying to stress you out, just asking the same questions that you would ask.”
“She’s the daughter of my first true love,” he relented.
“The one that got away?”
“Yes, the one that left me during our engagement,” he held his face in his hands. I rubbed his back to bring some comfort and almost felt guilty for wondering if he was conning me again.
“Do you need some time alone? What do you need?” I asked softly. I didn’t know what to do. The news was completely out of left field, and I knew that I would need to process it as well.
“I will have Jeffrey drive you home. I think I need some time to process all of this. Do you understand?” he looked at me with solemn eyes.
“I understand,” I replied, concerned. “Take all the time that you need.”
“Good,” he smiled. “I will call or text you tomorrow. I think a nice walk and a hot shower will help me more than anything right now. Let me alert Jeffrey through the intercom. Hold on.” He reached over to the wall phone on the side of the bed and announced to his staff. “Jeffrey, I need you to pull the car around for Ms. King. She needs a ride home, please.”
I was already dressing when he hung up the intercom phone. I didn’t k
now how I would react until I left his presence. A part of me hoped that Jessica was home because I needed someone to vent to. It was also something that I would have to eventually bring to my family’s attention.
“Take care,” I told him sweetly.
“Thank you. You, too,” he solemnly answered with a forced smirk. I closed his bedroom door and walked downstairs to the limo.
Chapter 7
I was relieved to see Jessica’s car in the parking lot. A thousand thoughts crowded my mind as I tried to find the apartment key. Finally, Jessica opened the door for me.
“Having trouble finding your key?” she asked sarcastically, staring at me with a perplexed expression.
“I guess so,” I mumbled. I followed her as she walked away from the door and plopped my purse and keys on the breakfast table.
“Okay, what’s wrong now?” she asked flatly.
I shook my head in disbelief. “I would say that you’re not going to believe this but at this point, nothing may surprise you.” joined her on the couch.
“You’re probably right,” she smirked.
“So, we had been having a very sensual night, if you know what I mean,” I started.
“Mmhmm…” she sounded unsurprised.
“We had just finished when he received a strange phone call.”
“Oh?” she perked up.
“Immediately, his face turned pale. I watched him for a moment, but realizing it was a serious the phone call, I went to the bathroom to clean up so he could have some privacy. When I returned, he was sitting there zombie-like. He looked ghastly pale and shocked.
“Okay…” she listened intently.
“I asked him what was wrong, and he dropped the bombshell.”
“What?!” she asked eagerly.
“It was his thirty-year-old daughter,” I said in a monotone voice. Jessica’s jaw dropped. “Yeah. Apparently, he didn’t know that he had a daughter.”
Hang Em' Up: A Bad Boy Sports Pregnancy Romance Page 148