BEAST

by Measha Stone

  She put her brushes down and stepped out from her work space, taking the log from his hand and skimming it.

  “Is this my cell phone bill?” she asked, not an ounce of guilt in her expression. But she was. She had to be.

  “Who is Jason?” He demanded.

  She raised her eyebrows. “He works at the café with my dad. I’ve known him for years.”

  “You aren’t supposed to be talking with your father.” He ripped the bill from her hand and crumpled it up again.

  “I’m not. You blocked him from me in every way technology allows.” She folded her arms over her chest. “I ask Jason how my dad is, but I don’t talk to him. I figured you had my phone bugged.” She threw the accusation at him and turned away, picking up a towel and wiping her hands on it.

  “So why not just call Jason and then talk with your father?” He pushed.

  “I just told you. I figured you had me bugged.” She knitted her brows together. “But Jason said Dad’s thinking of selling the café. He wants to get the money he owes you.” This came out softly. Cautiously. As though she’d been trying to find the right moment to bring up the subject, and this seemed like as good a time as any.

  It wasn’t.

  “He can do whatever the fuck he wants, but it has nothing to do with you. That deal was already worked out.” He pointed a finger at her.

  She stepped back, as though his words slapped her across the face. It had been weeks since either of them made a comment on why there were together.

  “You’d get your money. And then—”

  “And then what? You leave?” Did she think he wanted that? Did she want that?

  “I didn’t say that.” She knitted her eyebrows together. “Jason said Dad hasn’t gone gambling. He’s getting himself together.”

  Ash saw the hope blooming in her eyes, the shimmering desire for her father to be exactly as every little girl wanted him to be. But her father wasn’t like that. Her father had gambled away life savings. Her father lied. Her father put himself ahead of everyone else. Always.

  “I’m not talking about your father anymore,” he decreed and headed for the stairs. He needed air. He couldn’t think straight with her staring at him with so much hope.

  “So, I’m just going to be your prisoner forever?” she called after him.

  He was halfway down the stairs when she had hurled the words at him. Five more steps and he’d be in the hallway, not hearing the pain, or the sob ready to break free from her chest.

  “Ash,” Peter called up from the open doorway. “You’re needed. Now.” Peter looked over his shoulder, and his eyes went cold. “Now.”

  Work would be good. Work would give him a minute to think. He didn’t respond to Ellie, just finished jogging down the stairs and slammed the door behind him.

  “What is it?”

  “Her dad’s here.”

  “What?” Ash’s hands fisted, his blood pressure rose, and if hadn’t been Peter standing in front of him, he might have punched the wall again.

  He couldn’t seem to get away from her father today.

  “You should talk with him.”

  Ash gave a nod and stalked off to his office. Better to deal with the ass while he was still angry. He might be able to let himself put his fist through his throat this time.

  “Mr. Stevens.” Ash stormed into the office, ignoring the panic in the old man’s face as he moved around to his chair. “You were told never to come back here.”

  “I have the money. I have all of it.” He dropped several stacks of bills onto Ash’s desk.

  Ash fingered the bills, taking several calming breaths.

  “We already settled your debt.” Ash pushed the money across the desk at him.

  “I need her back. I need Ellie,” her father stated, his eyes flashing between the money and Ash.

  “How’d you get this money?” Ash asked. The café hadn’t sold. He had men keeping an eye on the business. Ellie didn’t need to tell him it had been put on the market. He already knew. And so far, no one had even shown a second of interest.

  “I sold the coffeehouse,” he lied.

  Ash ran his tongue over his teeth.

  Something was wrong here. Very wrong.

  “To who?” Ash asked.

  “Um, well,”

  “To who?” Ash yelled.

  The old man shook. “Marcus Komisky.”

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  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  What an ass! She’d just had a few conversations with Jason over the past week. Wanting to make sure her father was okay, the business was doing well, and Jason himself was in one piece, she had called. She didn’t talk with her father. As much as she wanted to, Ellie only asked Jason about him. As far as she knew, her calls were being listened to. Why would she put her father in jeopardy?

  Deciding she wasn’t going to sulk in the studio while he just got to walk away, she marched down the stairs. The hallway was empty as usual, so she tried to hear if Ash was talking with someone down the hall.

  “I need her. I need Ellie.”

  Her father. Her father was here. In the house. She ran to Ash’s office. Surely that’s where they were.

  The door hadn’t shut all the way, It was open enough she could hear but not see them.

  “Who did you sell to?” Ash’s demanding voice asked.

  Her father’s voice shook as he responded. “Marcus Komisky.”

  “Komisky?” Peter’s voice entered the conversation.

  “You sold your coffeehouse to Marcus?” Ash sounded quiet, not angry. Which only meant he was scathing.

  “I… Yes.” Her father was lying. She knew that tone.

  “Or did you sell Ellie?” Ash asked.

  What?

  “I would never.” Her father lied again. What was he doing? Desperate to find out, she wanted to barge in and demand answers, but she held steady just outside the office.

  “You wouldn’t? You already did once, didn’t you?” Ash continued.

  “I didn’t sell her to you.” Her father sounded indignant, like he was covering up something he’d done.

  “No, what was it you said to me? You didn’t have to. You said she’d offer herself.”

  Ellie’s heart sank. That’s exactly what she had done.

  “You said she’d come here and offer herself. Then I could use her in the Annex to earn the money, and no one would have to force her. That’s what you told me. Isn’t that right?”

  Tears filled her eyes. This wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true. Her father wouldn’t do something so horrible.

  “I didn’t sell her. She sold herself.”

  “Just like you said she would,” Peter added.

  “Look. I have the money. I’ll buy her back now.” There was a slight pause before her father spoke again. “She’s still here, right? You didn’t sell her to someone who took her away?”

  She closed her eyes and sank to her knees.

  Her father used her. He knew Ash wouldn’t take her from him as payment, he didn’t work that way. So, he’d used her against herself. And like a moron, she came running to save him. Offering herself in exchange. She’d whored herself to save him, except it wasn’t that. He had sold her.

  Her father had sold her.

  “Did Marcus buy the shop or her? And don’t fucking lie to me again.” Ash’s voice ricocheted off the walls.

  Ellie pushed herself up to her feet and wiped her face with the heels of her hands. She wouldn’t be anyone’s pawn anymore.

  Shoving the door open, she stepped inside. Her father turned and blanched at seeing her. Ash’s jaw tensed, and his lips pinched together. Peter stepped away, giving her room.

  “You sold me?” She kept her tone steady, though her insides shook.

  “Ellie. No. That’s not what happened.” Her father reached his arms out to her but didn’t take a step.

  “You knew I’d find you. You knew I’d do whatever it took to save yo
u if I thought you were going to be hurt or killed. You sold me. And now?” She ignored Ash. If she saw him, she might throw up, and she needed to not throw up right now.

  “Ellie. Let’s go home, and we can talk about it.”

  “No,” Ash and Ellie answered at the same time.

  “I’m not going home with you. Ever. What’s the deal you made with Marcus? Did he give you that money in exchange for getting me out of here?” She jabbed a finger at the pile of cash on Ash’s desk.

  Her father’s eyes told her everything. She assumed he’d been weak, trying but failing to keep his gambling in check. She thought he used it to cope with the loss of her mother, of his wife. But now she saw him, standing before her, and the truth of his character shone through for the first time.

  “That’s it, right? Marcus came to you and offered you this money to pay Ash back so you could get me. And then he’d take me until you paid off your debt to him. Jason said you put the café on the market but no one had showed interest yet, so is this what the deal was?”

  Her hands fisted. Tears spilled down her cheeks but she couldn’t stop them, couldn’t contain the erupting anger from inside her.

  “You said need. Not want.” She took a shaky breath. “You said you needed me, not wanted me, but needed.” How could she have been so fucking blind for so long.

  “Ellie—” Her father dropped his hands and lowered his gaze. “I owe him a lot of money. More than I owed Ash. He said he’d wipe it clean if I could get you to leave here and go with him.” He quickly added, “Just for a week. Not forever.”

  “Not forever?” The floor weakened beneath her, or maybe it was her knees. Whatever it was, she could feel herself sinking. Maybe she could disappear altogether. She could just slip away into an abyss. Somewhere her father didn’t sell her to cover his debts. Somewhere where Ash didn’t just stand there and let her sink away.

  “You let him sell me to you? You said you didn’t take women against their will.” She turned her anger on Ash.

  He raised an eyebrow, but she ignored it. He and his eyebrow could go fuck themselves.

  “I didn’t take you against your will. You came here. You made the offer, and I accepted.”

  She pointed a finger at him, seeing her body shaking but unable to do anything about it. “You sent Peter to get him, knowing I’d come here. He told you, didn’t he? He told you that’s what I would do.”

  “I sent Peter to get the money from him. He was brought here the same as any other asshole who didn’t pay his debt. When he was here, then he told me. And not ten minutes later, Peter was walking to the gate to get you.” Ash’s voice remained steady. His expression relaxed, like they were just having a conversation and she wasn’t finding out everything about the last month of her life had been a humiliating joke.

  She took a deep breath, sucking in air, and spun around.

  “I’m leaving.”

  “Ellie,” Ash called to her.

  “No, Ash. I’m done. I’m not property. I’m not something that can bought and sold like an old fucking couch.” She glanced at her father, letting her heart crack another inch at just the panic on his face.

  “You aren’t worried about me. You’re worried Marcus will probably kill you now.” She rolled her shoulders back. “I hope he doesn’t. But I’m not letting you whore me out again.”

  Ash called for her again, but she was already running. She ran down the hall, up the large winding staircase, and to their room.

  She paused once inside and let out a scream into the empty room that gave some relief to the building bubble inside of her. Tears blinded her, but she didn’t care. She knew the room, knew every inch by heart. She moved around grabbing clothes, books, whatever she could stash in one bag she found in Ash’s closet.

  Almost nothing of hers remained in the second bedroom anymore. Piece by piece, she’d moved into Ash’s room, and his life. Let him into hers.

  She zipped the bag and swung it over her shoulder just as the door opened. Ash stood, his hands at his sides, his eyes wild with worry.

  “You’re still here.” He let out a breath, his wide eyes softening.

  “I’m leaving, Ash. You can’t stop me.” Of course he could, but she hoped he wouldn’t.

  He blinked a few times and for the first time since she met him, he didn’t have an immediate answer.

  “I don’t want to be here anymore.” It would have been more meaningful if she hadn’t sniffled right after saying it.

  “Ellie. I didn’t— I wouldn’t have—” He shook his head and when his eyes met hers, the fierceness she’d come to expect from him was there. “Marcus could still be a danger.”

  “I’ll handle him.”

  “Ellie. You can’t just run off.” His fingers rubbed together at his sides. The tattoos on his knuckles swayed with the movement.

  Couldn’t she do just that? Shouldn’t she have done that weeks ago?

  “I don’t want to be here, Ash. Didn’t you tell me you don’t keep women against their will?”

  “You’re not a girl in the Annex,” he stated with a harshness that penetrated through her anger. It wasn’t a demand she stay because he’d bought her fair and square. It wasn’t a reminder she’d given herself to him. It was a statement meant for her to understand she was different from the women in the Annex. They could come and go because he didn’t care what they decided for themselves. He cared about her.

  She couldn’t think that way. Especially not now. Not with her bag packed, her father downstairs, and Marcus Komisky wanting to use her against Ash. She needed to forget him. Forget this place, and forget how safe she would feel if she only closed the gap between them and buried herself in his arms.

  When she moved her gaze back to his, she found him glaring at her, his jaw clenched. The resolve she’d found down in his office returned with a vengeance. She would protect and shield, but this time it would be herself who benefited.

  If he was waiting for her to break and run into his arms and beg him to help her, to make her pain go away, he would grow old waiting. It wasn’t happening.

  “It’s dangerous—”

  “I don’t care. I’m leaving.” She took a step toward him.

  “Ellie—” He put a hand out to still her, but she sidestepped it. If he touched her, she couldn’t promise herself she’d be able to keep moving. And she needed to keep going, or she’d break right there in front of him.

  She waited for a reason to throw her bag down. Something to keep her there, something that told her he’d opened more than his bed to her. Maybe then she could release the ball of hurt from her soul.

  “What, Ash?” she asked when he still hadn’t said anything.

  His mouth opened and closed. A soft flare of his nostrils and after a grimace, he shook his head.

  “At least let Daniel drive you. He’ll take you to your apartment.”

  She tensed. “My father stays there.”

  “He won’t be an issue.”

  She readjusted the bag on her shoulder, the plea on the tip of her tongue. Don’t hurt him. Even with his betrayal, she couldn’t allow harm to come to him.

  “He’s safe here, Ellie. Don’t worry about him.”

  She clenched her jaw, tightened her joints, willing something more to come, something of substance that could make this moment more bearable.

  “Daniel will take you,” he repeated, stepping out of the way. He didn’t care. He’d finally be able to get rid of her.

  “Yeah,” she whispered and pushed past him, trying to ignore the scent of him, the feel of him when she brushed his chest.

  He followed her to the stairs but stayed at the top while she ran down them to the front door. Daniel was already there, waiting for her. He glanced up at Ash, and when he was given a nod, he opened the door for Ellie.

  He was behind her, staring. If she looked back, she’d see him. Maybe she’d see regret. Or she’d see hope. Maybe he’d tell her to stay.

  She didn’t look back
, though. Because, more than likely, she’d see a blank expression. And her heart barely beat as it was.

  She ambled to the car, and got into the back before Daniel had a chance to open the door. He seemed to know where to go, since he didn’t ask her when he pulled down the drive.

  Closing her eyes, she kept a focused eye ahead of her. Not allowing herself to see the estate fade into the distance. The tears fell faster, and the sob she’d been holding in burst from her chest. She tried to keep quiet as Daniel drove, but the dam had opened.

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  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Ash stood in the center of the studio, hands fisted and jaw clenched, staring out the window as Daniel’s car made its way down the drive and through the gates of the estate.

  Taking a few steps forward, he pressed his hands to the glass, watching the car Ellie sat in drive off. He could have made her stay. He could have reminded her she had agreed, had given herself to him.

  Dammit, she was his.

  But he hadn’t. He hadn’t forced her, hadn’t even tried to convince. He told himself she had been unreachable, her anger too consuming to let her listen to reason.

  How much pain could he cause her in one afternoon?

  He should have stationed a man outside the studio door to keep her from coming out. Especially when Peter told him it was her father in his office. Nothing good was coming next, he’d felt it in his bones. Yet he didn’t take the precautions to protect her. And now she knew the truth.

  Losing the ideal you’ve held your father to your entire life could only be compared to having one’s intestines laced through their nose. He remembered the feeling. The moment he realized how heartless, how unrelenting his own father was burned into his memory. He wouldn’t put that sharp agony on anyone, especially not his Ellie.

  So fucking pure. She had come to him, to his big mansion on the hill, demanding her father be returned to her. And when that didn’t work, she easily gave herself to keep him safe. And Ash had let her. Knowing full well she probably wouldn’t have done if it she knew her father had planned it. Or, maybe she still would have.