NIKKI'S POV
Ok, so I deserved that. Actually, truth be told, I deserved way more than a tequila marinated crotch. I'm pretty surprised the girl hadn't slugged me yet. I had gone out of my way to be terrible to her since the day she started working for Tommy. It wasn't her fault. Ashten had done nothing to warrant my nasty attitude towards her. I just couldn't help it. Something about her just did something to me. I just didn't know what or why.
After she threw her drink at me and stormed off I jumped up and started wiping the frozen cocktail off my jeans. I exchanged glances with Tommy who looked about as pissed as I was.
"Dude, what the fuck?!" He exclaimed, motioning after her.
I shrugged. "I don't fucking know, man. I was trying to apologize to her and I guess it just came out wrong."
Stella jumped out of her chair. "Uh, guys, she's pissed off and she's got quite a few drinks in her. Don't you think maybe one of us should stop her from driving?"
Tommy glared at me as he reached in his pocket to take care of the tab. "Yeah, ONE of us should, shouldn't he?" he remarked, slapping a few bills on the bar.
"Pass," I replied, cleaning margarita mix off my thigh.
Tommy and I began to argue when Stella slammed her fist against the bar. "Enough! I'll take care of it. God forbid either one of you ever have to handle your own dirty work."
"What did I do?" Tommy asked, giving her a puzzled look.
Stella snatched her purse off the bar and glared at Tommy while pointing at me. "Nothing. You've done absolutely nothing and that's the problem. You've sat back and allowed Ashten to be tormented by this......humongous jackass!"
She then turned to me and poked her finger in my chest, hard. "You're lucky she hasn't clocked you."
I sighed in frustration. I couldn't argue with Stella because the bottom line is she was right. I made this bed and it was time for me to lie in it. "Fine," I tossed the bar towel I was using to dry off. "I'll go."
I turned and quickly made my way out of the bar, silently praying I hadn't caused Ashten to do something stupid. When I got out to the parking lot I saw her black Lexus still parked in its' spot but she was nowhere to be found. The sun was already almost gone and the only thing I could think was she maybe took off on foot.
"Son of a BITCH!" I screamed aloud.
"Oh God! What now?" I whipped around when I heard Ashten's voice. She sat on a bench just outside of the bar, smoking a cigarette and glaring at me. She took a long drag, exhaled, and put out the rest of the butt. "Did you really think I was dumb enough to drive?"
I couldn't believe the feeling of relief that suddenly washed over me. It was weird. I hadn't realized it until then but my heart was pounding out of my chest. I looked at her and nodded. "What were you going to do?"
Ashten shrugged. "Sit here and sober up, I guess. Or call a cab. I hadn't really thought about it."
I nodded and motioned towards the direction of my car. "Come on."
"With you?! Are you serious?!" She looked like she would rather sit on a rusty spike.
"Well, Princess, it's either that or take your chances walking down the Los Angeles highway at night. I'm sure some lonely trucker wouldn't mind bending over a sweet piece of ass like you." I couldn't believe I had just said that.
Ashten just shrugged again. "I like getting bent over."
Holy shit! Did she really just say THAT? I sucked in a breath when I felt her words make their way into my pants. It didn't help that I now had a mental image of Ashten face down and ass up. Except in my mental image, it wasn't a trucker pounding into her. For the first time since I could remember, I was speechless.
Ashten, obviously sensing my unease, raised an eyebrow. "What's this? Nikki Sixx has nothing to say?"
I quickly snapped back to reality. "Are you gonna get in the car?"
"Do I have a choice?" She replied, showing no intention of moving.
"No. Come on, we need to talk."
Ashten looked around as if to find any other alternative. At a loss, she let out a deep sigh and finally nodded in agreement. "Fine."
She followed me to my Denali and slid in the front seat. I started the engine and headed left out of the parking lot towards Tommy's house. The silence in the car was deafening. The worst part was I had no clue what to say. I couldn't tell her why I was being such a douche because, in all honesty, I didn't know. All I could do was glance at her sideways. She had on a fitted red t-shirt that hugged her very nicely. I couldn't help but notice her tits jiggle whenever I hit a bump in the highway. I suddenly found myself wondering what they would look like while she was bouncing up and down in my lap.
"Fuck," I muttered under my breath trying to get the thought out of my mind.
"Excuse me?" Ashten said, not even taking her eyes off of the road.
"Nothing," I replied, my knuckles almost turning white as I gripped the steering wheel harder.
Ashten just shrugged and leaned her head back on the headrest. Man, that girl hated me. She still hadn't taken one glance in my direction since we got in the car. I could tell she had no intention of being the first one to speak. But as we approached the 101 and got caught in dead stop traffic she must have realized we weren't going anywhere any time soon and bit the bullet.
"So?" She finally spoke.
"What?"
"You said we needed to talk. I'm waiting."
"I was waiting for you to apologize," I shot a smirk at her. "I mean, you did ruin a perfectly good pair of jeans."
I expected her to snap, but to my surprise, she actually let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I guess I did. But I'm sure you can afford a new pair."
"True," I nodded. "I did deserve it."
"Yes, you did," she actually looked over at me and gave me a small smile before looking away.
"I haven't been very fair to you."
"No, you haven't," She shifted in her seat to face me as she folded her legs Indian-style. Clearly, she did not intend to make this easy on me. "Can I ask why?"
That was a good question. I wasn't completely sure about that myself. I nodded and released a breath as traffic moved forward. "It's hard for me not to question other people's motives. That, and Tommy's history of bringing around bimbos who cause trouble.....I don't know, I guess I just......."
"Made a snap judgement and assumed the worst?" Ashten interrupted.
"Yeah, I guess."
She nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. I mean I assumed you were a rude, arrogant, controlling prick and look how wrong I turned out to be. Oh, wait...." She shot me a sideways glance along with a sarcastic smirk.
I let out a surprised laugh and looked over at her, my right hand up in surrender. "Fair enough, smart ass," I conceded. I shot a look at her and she smiled at me again which made me suck in a breath.
"Look, if we are at each other's throats we are going to make Tommy's life miserable. He already has enough women in his life that do that just fine. Think we can call a truce?
"I think so." She turned and looked at me long enough to reveal a beautiful smile complete with two cute dimples. One on each cheek. I love dimples. So much so that I hadn't realized we were already back at Tommy's and sitting in the driveway.
"Nikki?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you gonna let me out of the car?" She asked pulling on the door latch to show me she was locked in.
"Shit," I exclaimed and quickly hit the button to release the lock. "Sorry. Childproof."
"Right," she replied, opening the door and sliding out, which gave me the chance to see how well her ass filled out a pair of jeans. Before closing the door she turned around. "Nikki?"
"Yeah?"
"It's none of my business but I'm sorry about you and your wife. I know it's not easy." She gave me a sympathetic smile and looked like she genuinely meant what she was saying. That was the moment I knew I didn't hate this girl. Not at all. Not even a little bit.
"Thanks," I replied, clearing my throat and turning off the ignition.
"You know, I'm not as bad as you'd like me to be."
"I know that, Ashten." I replied, actually looking at her, this time with a smile.
She smiled back at me again. I hadn't noticed before, but her blue eyes had a little green in them. "I think that's the first time you have ever said my name."
"I think you're right."
"Goodnight, Nikki." She closed the door and I sat and watched while she walked towards the guesthouse. I took another opportunity to check out her ass and couldn't help but think it looked like it could use a nice spanking. The mere thought made my mouth go dry.