ASHTEN's POV
"Uh....." Stella cleared her throat while looking back and forth between Nikki and me. Obviously feeling the intense tension, she attempted her escape. "I'm just gonna leave. Abruptly. For no reason whatsoever."
"Good idea," Nikki said, not tearing his eyes away from me.
I narrowed mine at him and felt myself begin to sneer. "No."
Stella's eyes widened. "Ash, really, I should go."
My heart began to pound as I felt the rage serge through my veins. I snapped my eyes to her. "There is nothing I'm gonna say to him that I can't say in front of you and I'm not feeling too fucking shy right now."
"Stella, would you just go for fuck's sake?" Nikki closed his eyes in frustration and ran his hands through his hair.
"Don't yell at her!" I growled at him.
"I'm not yelling at her! I'm just want some damn privacy!"
I raised my eyebrows. "Oh, well in that case, you can have all the privacy you want. Choke on it," I spat as I stomped out of the kitchen and made my way towards my bedroom. Nikki was right on my heels.
"I don't want to talk to you," I announced as I entered my room. I gripped one of the bed posts and bent down to remove my shoes.
"I don't give a shit," he declared, invading my space and slamming the door behind him, "you're going to."
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I shouted as I lobbed my left platform pump at his head. Unfortunately, he ducked in time to miss it. So, I chucked the right one, too. Bulls eye. Right in the gut.
"Ow, FUCK!," Nikki whined, doubled over. "Why the hell are you throwing shoes?!"
"Because I don't have a gun!"
"Oh please," Nikki rolled his eyes, still holding his stomach. "It's not that bad."
"It's not that bad," I mimicked. "Really?! You told your best friend to dump me and it's not that bad?!"
"It's not like that," Nikki defended
I sucked in a breath and sat down on the edge of my bed, resting my feet on the frame. I glared at him and lowered my voice which took on a poisonous tone. "Then why don't you tell me what it IS like? Why the fuck would you do something like that?"
"Because I want you, ok?!" Nikki bellowed at me, his voice full of rage and emotion. "I've ALWAYS fucking wanted you!"
I raised my eyebrows and my heart began to pound in my chest. It wasn't the worst thing anyone had ever said to me. On the contrary, it was pretty wonderful to hear, considering I felt the same way. But, it wasn't good enough. There was no excuse for his behavior. I jumped up, rage taking over again, and started to yell.
"That doesn't make it alright! You can't just fuck with my life because you have a goddamn crush!" I fell silent again, trying to get the fire to cool down. But the realization of Nikki's manipulation was too much. "Every conversation! Every interaction! It was all bullshit!" I looked down at myself in the dress HE had arranged for me to have. I stomped into my closet, quickly pulled the dress over my head and threw it to the floor. "THIS was bullshit, too!" My breath hitched as I threw on my robe and felt tears begin to prick the back of my eyes.
NIKKI"S POV
She came out of the closet in nothing but an untied robe and a lacy black corset and panties. I had been dreaming of seeing her like this for so long and I should have enjoyed every minute of it. But, I didn't. She folded her arms across her waist and bit her lower lip, obviously battling tears. Feeling like shit, I did the only thing I could think of. I moved in and put my arms around her.
"No," she protested as I pulled her close. She resisted at first. Then, out of either fatigue or just plain surrender, she relaxed against me.
"Shhh," I said, quietly as I heard the first sniffle, indicating tears had started. "I'm sorry." I ran my left hand up her back and rested it on the nape of her neck as she leaned against my shoulder.
"Why didn't you just tell me?" She uttered, just above a whisper.
"Because I'm a giant pussy," I confessed, running my hand through her hair. "Big bad Nikki Sixx was afraid of the pretty, blonde girl."
"What were you so afraid of?"
Fuck, I'd gone this far. Might as well go ahead and let it all come out. "That you wouldn't feel the same way. I've wanted you since the first time I ever saw you. But, I was married at the time so I couldn't think about you. Couldn't look at you. I even started to convince myself I hated you. But then the divorce happened and I got to know you more and you are just so amazing......I started falling in love with you. Then you were interested in James....I couldn't help it."
"You should have said something."
"Would it have made a difference?"
Ashten lifted her head from my shoulder and locked her eyes with mine. She looked at me in silence for what seemed like forever, like she was searching for something deep inside of me. Finally, she cupped my face in her hands and gently planted her lips against mine. She parted her mouth slightly enough to capture my lower lip. Then, as soon as she started it, she untangled herself from my grip and side stepped me.
"I guess you'll never know," she motioned towards the door. "Good night, Nikki."
Fuck! She couldn't be serious! She finally fucking kisses me and then does that?! Like fuck!
I grabbed her by both arms and pulled her, roughly, to me. I tangled my hands in her hair and crushed my mouth down on hers. She held her arms against my chest and tried to pull away as I pried her lips open with my tongue. Finally, her body relaxed and she moaned lightly as her tongue found its way to mine. Fucking hell, her mouth was so hot and DJ was right, the girl knew how to kiss. My hands moved down to her hips and I pulled her closer, grinding my hips into her. Suddenly, again, Ashten released her grip on my mouth and pushed me away.
"God dammit," she hissed, wiping her mouth as she chastised herself. Then me. "You are such an arrogant prick! You have to learn you can't have everything you want! Even if I did want this, it can't happen! You KNOW Tommy will fire me. Actually, that's probably why you want me, isn't it? Because you know you can't have me?! You fucking spoiled brat!."
She was pissing me off and this was getting old. I moved in close to her again, pinning her against one of her bedposts. I placed my index finger on her lips and slowly grazed her skin as I traced a trial down her body. Her breathing became full and her eyes filled with lust. Damn, I was fucking panting, too. Then I stopped just below her belly button, my lips so close to hers I could feel her breath. "You want this as badly as I do and you fucking know it."
"Don't tell me what I want," Ashten stubbornly pushed my hand away, her chest still heaving. Her eyes dropped to the floor as she attempted to calm and collect herself. "Look, Nikki, we have a shoot tomorrow, and...." She fumbled for words, trying to find excuses to get me to leave,
"Oh, who's the pussy, now?" I smirked, actually enjoying getting under her skin. Finally.
Ashten grimace and then flashed a death stare at me, her eyes still sprinkled with lust. "Get out."
"Fine," I surrendered. For the night anyway. Granted, I was walking away with a hard on from hell, which sucked, but progress had been made. I had to take a flight to Cabo after the shoot the next day, which would give her a few days to stew on things. By the time I got back, she would be mine.
I opened her bedroom door and was greeted with the delicious scent of apples. And victory.
"I think your pie is ready," I said, curtly as I shut the door.
ASHTEN's POV
You have no idea, I thought, exhaling and leaning against my bed.
THE NEXT MORNING
"Honey, do you want something from the coffee cart? A muffin or a latte?" Julian, the very flamboyant hair and makeup artist, asked as he pinned my hair up in hot rollers.
"Are you crazy? I have to squeeze my ass in leather pants in a few short minutes. No extra calories for this girl," I replied, scowling in the mirror.
I sat in the makeup room at the photo studio and was ready to kill for an iced white chocolate mocha latte. I'm not a morning person on a good day and this was not a good day. Thanks to Nikki and his drama the night before I barely got any sleep and was jonesing hard for a caffeine fix. I frowned at myself in the mirror when I started to think about him.
"Nice pout you have there, sweetie," Julian caught my eye in the mirror.
I smiled and rubbed the skin under my left eye, taking notice of the dark circles I had because of my fatigue. "Just checking out the set of baggage I'm carrying here."
"No worries," he replied, "we're going to use smokey eye shadows so they won't show at all. I hope he was cute."
"He?"
"They guy who kept you up all night, of course," he winked.
As if on cue, the door to the makeup room opened and in walked Nikki. I figured he would be at the shoot but didn't expect him so early. His hair was flat on his head and he wore faded jeans and a black t-shirt which read "Fuck off, I'm in the band." He looked good. Too good. It pissed me off.
I sighed and looked at Julian. "He was."
"Good morning, Princess," Nikki greeted me with a smirk and flopped down into the chair beside me. I folded my arms across my chest and ignored him.
"Good morning," Julian replied, smirking at Nikki as he rolled another strip of my hair. "I'll get you started in a minute while she's setting."
Nikki nodded and pulled out his phone. Start on him? As in, HIS hair and make-up too? I jerked my head in his direction. "They're taking shots of you, too?
"Yep," he replied, nonchalantly, "shots of me, shots of you. Probably shots of me WITH you." His lips started to curl into a small evil grin as he caught my eye in the mirror.
Mother Fucker, he set this up, too. I lifted my eyebrow suspiciously "Probably?"
"We'll see what happens," he shrugged, sipping his iced coffee. The label on his Starbucks cup practically smacked me in the face. Iced white chocolate mocha. I clenched my jaw, salivating for the white chocolatey goodness.
"You really are Satan Sixx, aren't you?"
Nikki glanced at me sideways. "Actually I prefer the title "Ruler of all that is Evil", but Satan Sixx is good, too."
Jesus Christ. It was going to be a long fucking day.