Page 18 of Ashes’ Addiction

Winter parked in front of the clubhouse and they both headed inside, still laughing and giggling. Miranda went in first, turning to hold the door for her new friend. Once Winter was inside, Miranda released the door and turned to scan the room, searching for Ashes. She was eager to see what he thought of her new look.

Her heart did a swan dive out of her chest when she spotted him. Ashes sat at a table with a man she recognized as Mayhem. But that wasn’t what sent her heart headfirst into the floor. It was the floozy next to him. From where she stood it looked like the woman, whose name Miranda didn’t know but she could tell by the way she was dressed, if you could call it that, in little more than a string bikini and body glitter, that she was club ass. And she sat close enough to Ashes that all it would take was a deep breath and her barely covered boobs would be rubbing against Ashes.

Miranda thought he was interested in her. But if he thought he could have her and any woman who threw herself at him, he had another thing coming. She was tempted to march up to Ashes, throw his credit card in his face, and tell him where to shove it. But she wasn’t the kind to be that brash or blunt. Besides, the last thing she wanted was everyone’s attention on them.

Instead, she calmly went to his table, laid his credit card down, and turned on her heel without saying anything.

“Hey, Tiny Warrior, you’re back.”

Damn him. He sounded glad to see her. Not at all like he’d been waiting to get rid of her so he could screw around with the floozy.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” An arm came around her belly, stopping her from walking away. Before she could register that it was Ashes and he wouldn’t hurt her, she panicked.

She fought, using what little she had in the way of nails to scratch at the band around her belly, she kicked, threw her head back, anything she could think of. Somewhere, someone let out a bloodcurdling scream, and it wasn’t until a hand covered her mouth that she realized it had been her.

“It’s okay. I’ve got you. It’s just me. Come back to me, Tiny Warrior,” Ashes’ voice in her ear gave her something to focus on, something to draw her mind out of panic mode. He continued to murmur soft words in her ear until she’d calmed down.

“What’s going on in here?” Bulldog asked, drawing everyone’s attention. Ashes slowly released his hold and Miranda turned to find the club president standing in the opening to the hallway, a scowl on his face as he scanned the room, looking for troubles.

“I’m sorry. I panicked. It was just a misunderstanding,” Miranda said, wanting to sink into the floor as he stared at her, as if trying to decide if she was telling the truth or not. After a moment, he nodded, then turned and disappeared down the hall. “Please let me go. I want to go upstairs.” She whispered so only Ashes would hear her.

“You sure you’re all right?”

She nodded, not wanting to say more than she had to. She didn’t want him knowing how much he’d hurt her. Not physically. As always, Ashes’ touch was exceedingly gentle, even when he was holding her still and she fought back. She realized now she’d misread his interest in her and that was what had hurt. Now she just wanted to get away.

After a moment, Ashes released her. Miranda forced herself to stay where she was, at least for a moment. She drew a deep breath and held it as she straightened her back and squared her shoulders. Winter had been right. She was through being a victim.

“I’m tired. I think I’ll go rest for a bit.” Miranda didn’t wait for anyone to say anything more but turned and headed for the stairs. She needed some time alone to deal with this. She needed a good cry and to think about it then she could move on.

Chapter Seventeen

Ashes scowled as he watched Miranda head for the stairs. Something was wrong and he had no clue what. He turned to Winter.

“Any clue what’s wrong?”

Winter tilted her head to one side and stared at him with an expression that told him she thought he was an idiot.

“Let me lay this out for you, since you’re struggling along with damaged, testosterone-soaked brain.” She lifted one hand and held up a finger. “First, you pulled her out of that hellhole. You were nice to her, you made sure she had food and clothes. Second,” Winter lifted another finger, “that didn’t stop when you got here and someone else could step in. Third, you put her in your room. You have done everything you could to make sure she’s happy and comfortable. Even going so far as to arrange for the hair trip we just got back from. All that together is enough to make her fall for you. If she’s not falling, she’s damned close. Then she walked in here and saw a mama all but sitting on your lap. While I think you’ve got an idea how I would have handled that, Miranda isn’t me. She’s been through hell and she’s still rebuilding her self-esteem. I saw her face the moment she spotted you and that slut.” She flung an arm in the direction of the table.

Ashes opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. What could he say that didn’t sound like an excuse? And if he was going to say anything about it, it wasn’t Winter who deserved to hear it. He turned and looked back to Hammer, who sat leaning back in his chair watching them all.

“I’ll be back later. I have something I need to do.”

“I’m not saying you have to start a relationship with Miranda,” Winter said even as he turned toward the stairs. “But you need to be honest if that’s not what you want. Talk. I know it doesn’t come naturally to the testosterone in your blood but do it anyway. She needs it.”

Ashes paused long enough to turn back and frown at Winter for a moment then continued to the stairs. He assumed she’d gone up to their room. That was where he would look for her first.

He was surprised to find the bedroom empty. He even checked the bathroom. Nothing. Where else would she go? Especially up here? He turned to leave, to search for her, when he noticed the closet door ajar. He would have sworn he’d closed it when he’d gotten dressed this morning. Inching closer, he eased the door open, not wanting to startle Miranda if she was in there for some reason. Why would she be in the closet?

Sure enough, there she was. Sitting on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest, her face buried in her arms as her whole body shook.

Ashes lowered himself to one knee as he gently touched her arm. “Tiny Warrior, are you okay?” Her newly purple hair was mussed, and he had to fight the urge to smooth it into place. Not now, not yet. He needed her to know it was him first. “Miranda?”

She took a deep breath and her entire body trembled but she didn’t speak or acknowledge him.

“I’m going to lift you out of there, Tiny Warrior,” he said. Wrapping his arms around her torso and legs, he lifted her off the floor. Kicking the door closed behind him, he carried her to the recliner and sat. He held her on his lap as she cried. He wondered if it really had been seeing Velvet try to get his attention? He’d noticed when the club slut had come around, he’d told her he wasn’t interested then he’d ignored her. It was how he normally dealt with the sluts, or at least those that would let him ignore them. The ones who didn’t take that for an answer, well, he’d gotten less than nice some time ago, so they only approached him when he told them to. He wished all of them were that way.

“I really like your new hair, Tiny Warrior.” He smoothed the stray strands so they lay with the rest in a spiky pixie cut similar to what the girl from Harry Potter had in that wallflower movie. It wasn’t something he’d wanted to see, but he’d come into the clubhouse last week to find Winter watching a movie on TV in the common room. He hadn’t had anything else to do, so he’d watched it.