Page 21 of Dirty Deadly & Mine
I roll my eyes, accelerating the car forward faster than needed, and he chuckles.
It’s at that moment that his phone rings, and Asher takes it out of his pocket, answering the call… from my son.
For Christ’s sake.
It’s a reminder ofwhohe is. Jude and Ronan’s best mate.
What the hell was I thinking last night?
Yes, he’s extremely attractive and unbelievably good at turning me on. And yes, I find myself extremely comfortable in his presence, even with what happened between us last night. But it doesn’t change who we are to each other. It doesn’t change the fact that what we did last night was wrong.
The drive to the salon is easy once Asher is distracted by Ronan on the phone. I zone out from listening to their discussion and force myself to calm the hell down and prepare for a busy day of clients.
Once at the salon, I park the car, dashing from the confined space and telling Asher quietly that I’ll see him later, before practically running inside The Chic Strand like a coward.
No, notlikea coward. Iama coward.
A coward who’s terrified of her sons’ best mate.
How the hell did I get myself in this position?
It takes everything in me to force my thoughts away from Asher Scott to focus on my job, but somehow, I manage to do it.
My morning is busy with foiling, a full bleach and treatment, and a couple of haircuts. I use my apprentices to assist me so I can fit it all in, and by the time I take a break at lunch, I’ve only thought about Asher about a thousand times, as opposed to ten thousand.
“You feeling okay today, Lily?”
I glance up from my phone, watching Bonnie flop into the chair across from me in the staff room, her blue eyes raking over me in concern.
“I’m fine.” I smile, and she narrows her eyes.
“Liar. Has Tamara been giving you more grief?”
Tamara. Alexander’s side piece. Well, at least that’s what she was for our entire marriage, until I found out that he knocked her up and had a kid with her. It explained the large sums of money that would go missing from our bank accounts over the last few years of our marriage.
Alexander and Tamara had a thing together back in the day. Then I came along, an Aussie tourist travelling the UK on a gap year and looking for a good time. The arsehole cheated on Tamara with me, which I didn’t know at the time, and when I realised I was pregnant and went to him for help, his familyfound out, and three days later we were married and my life as I knew it was over.
Well, there was a little more to it, like the lack of assistance from my family, and basically being cast aside, but I tend to avoid thinking about that too much these days.
Nothing good ever comes from thinking about the Marx family and the man that rules over them all.
When I found out I was Alexander’s side piece at the time, I was so upset. I ran off to the airport, trying to buy a ticket to head home despite the fact my family demanded I abort the pregnancy. But then Alexander showed up, falling to his knees and begging me to stay. He seemed sincere at the time. Hell, he drew a crowd and people cheered when I accepted his hand.
What a fool I’d been. So young and naïve.
I was too dumb and caught up in the romance of it all to see that Alexander’s proposal was forced. His mother put him up to it, wanting to save the family’s reputation. That was something I didn’t find out until the twins were five years old.
It was then that I realised my marriage was a load of bullshit. Alexander had never stopped seeing Tamara. He may have come home to me most nights, but any true love and passion he saved for her.
Now, they live together, and although the twins know about her, they don’t know they have a little sister, Melanie. That’s a secret I hate carrying. One I’ve asked Alexander to reveal to them numerous times, yet the coward still remains tight-lipped about it to his sons.
Fucker!
Shaking my head at Bonnie’s question, I pick at the salad I’m pretending to eat. “I haven’t been harassed by Tamara for at least a week.”
“Then what has my Lily flower so distracted?”
I’d love to tell her about Asher. She’s always trying to find me new dates, telling me I need to get laid more. She’s especially on my case about finding a date to bring to her wedding later this year. I told her that I’m coming solo, but she refuses to accept it.
