Chapter 2
Five years ago, before I had a thing with Ashe, I was a college girl who was struggling to make ends meet and get a stable source of income, so I started baking and learning different cuisines.
Now I was well-to-do and about to become the wife of a very wealthy, fine man.
When I'm away from work and have no events to attend to, I come over to bake and talk with Elena, who has become my best friend.
And now, as we drank wine and baked cookies, we gossiped a lot.
It was enjoyable and more fun than sitting with the stuck up wives of rich men who gave strict instructions on how many olives are suitable for a salad and how many thousands of dollars they had to spend to get them the latest unreleased version of any dress they wanted.
I just wanted to bake and stay at home with my family.
"Last I heard they were getting a divorce", Elena said.
We were talking about the Rochesters, who had become the talk of the town after the wife cheated with their Gardner.
"It's not like we didn't expect it. The man was always intolerable. I always told Jacob I couldn't stand him." I told her.
"Good riddance, I'd say. By the way, how is Jacob?" Elena asked me.
"Fine as ever" I said with a smile as I mixed the dough. "He's been out of town for business for a week now, and I miss him like hell." I said and paused as I slowly mixed the dough and smiled too big for my face. "I haven't felt in love like this in a long while, he just makes me feel complete and loved and…" Elena interrupted me.
"Uh… Addy, we have a visitor", Elena said, and I raised my head up to the figure standing inside the shop, at the entrance.
He was here.
Again.
"Hello Adeline, a beautiful day to be in love, isn't it?" Ashe had heard everything I said about Jacob.
I stood transfixed in total shock and anger. How did he find this place, and why was he here?
"We're not yet open" I said, my hands still stuck in the dough angrily.
"Why does that matter? I was in the area and I decided to stop for a visit. You look beautiful." He said and started advancing towards us.
"Addy?" Elena called me.
I pulled my hands out of the dough and carried a towel.
"Uh, meet Elena Johnson. Elena meet… Ashe" I said with no interest as I focused on wiping my hands.
"Ashton Lockwood, nice to meet you Elena", he stretched his hand to Elena, and she took it smiling.
He also smelled extra nice today, just like Jacob.
What was I thinking?
I quickly shook my head to clear that thought and pulled their hands away from the handshake in a flash.
Ashe chuckled and Elena quickly disappeared into the back door. I hoped she was not eavesdropping.
"What do you want?" I had gotten used to that question whenever he was around.
"I had hoped by now you would stop asking me that question. You clearly know what I want" he said.
"When will you stop being delusional, Ashe? That's not happening, and I want you to stay away from me, or I'll get a restraining order against you", I warned him, and he gave me a lopsided grin.
"Don't you think all this would be easier if Jacob knew? Maybe he'll make it easy for the both of us", Ashe suggested, and my heart skipped a beat, when it resumed it was too loud for my ears.
My mouth opened and closed, no words came out.
"You haven't told him, have you?" Ashe said, with a mocking surprise look.
I wanted to go back to the beginning, how he managed to get a hold of me after five years of a one-night stand, trying to change the subject.
"How did you find me?" I asked and picked up a rolling pin, trying to look busy.
"I heard Jacob Ford was having a wedding and what is a ceremony like this when family are not involved?" He said, and I froze, my head whipped back at him.
"Pardon?" I asked quickly.
"Jacob Ford is my half brother". He said like he had not just dropped the biggest news of the century.
"What?" I asked in shock as I calmly dropped the rolling pin.
"We're related but distantly, it's a whole long line of family tree, we would not finish if I started" he waved this shocking news away with his hand.
"Tell me", I forced him.
Ashe nodded and started.
"His father and my father fell out after they both fell in love with the same woman", he said, and I waited for him to continue.
"And now look at history repeating himself. End of story", I groaned and rolled my eyes.
I was going to ask Jacob when I got home, but how do I start?
"Hey, the father of my son is back and guess what? He's your brother. Can you please tell me how your family fell out?" I thought to myself.
Ridiculous.
Wait! I froze again.
If he was family with Ashe, that meant my husband was all a werewolf, along with my son.
Jesus! I screamed mentally.
I couldn't have Ashe knowing I knew his secret, so I maintained composure.
"I have no issues with Ford, we used to be friends of family. He made the decision to become a foe of me and the Lockwoods are good reciprocal of boundaries", Ashe was saying, and I went back to listening to him.
He finished talking, and I was still frozen looking at him.
"Adeline" he said my name softly and my insides heated up immediately.
What was wrong with me?
"Your air, your beauty, those pretty sounds you make when you cum" he leaned in and whispered to me, and my eyes shifted to the back door.
"Stop it Ashe. I'm engaged to someone else", I warned, also looking out for Elena.
I could not have something like this coming out in the open. It would ruin my husband's reputation.
And Elena was a tattletale and a talkative.
Ashe continued, like he did not hear me, "I need to know how they feel again, and I need my family back, and that includes you. And trust me baby, when I say all hell's gonna break loose if I don't get what I want, and you don't know the extent I would go if someone tried to steal what belongs to me. I want you, Adeline, and I will have you and my son back" he finished.
My resolve was breaking. I needed to get him away from here. "Is that what you want?" I asked him.
"Yes. I want to make you come four more times again." He answers, and the fact that he knows the exact number does weird shit to my heart. Shit I consented to.
I exhaled shakily and stuck my hands in the dough again, setting it on the table and close to the rolling pin.
"I'll help you with that" he pointed to the mixture.
Unperturbed, Like he had not just delivered the most delicious threat ever.
"Aren't you leaving?" I asked.
"Why should I?" He replied. "Let me help you with that."
"No Ashe, I can…" I started to say, but he interrupted me.
"Unbutton my shirt" he said.
"Ashe, I don't…"
"Make me ask again and see what happens" he warned, and I did exactly as he asked.
I walked to the opposite side of the counter where he stood, grabbed his shirt at either side and ripped it open with all my light.
The tiny button hits the floor with a small clang and my hands froze.
What have I done?
Ruined his shirt.
He chuckled and took off his shirt before walking to where I stood before.
The audacity of this man.
"Cojones" I muttered in Spanish.
His lips curled with a grin as he bent to look at the dough mixture.
"Cabrón" I cussed him again, and he looked up at me.
"That's not very nice Chica" he folded, his arms.
"It was not supposed to be", I said, and walked to meet him and stood next to him.
"I like the way you look when you're mad and how those words roll off your pretty tongue" he said, and I rolled my eyes.
"Is that supposed to make me feel special?" My expression was full of mockery and sarcasm.
"I wouldn't mind if it did," he shrugged.
I wanted to hit him, but my hands were covered in dough and that action might ignite something in him and Ashe was unpredictable.
Maybe he could take me against the wall in front of anyone who would walk in here or pull me by the hair while, looking his length down my throat or worse, still hit me back and drag me back to his place.
"How is Jacob?" He interrupted my thoughts.
"Hmm?" My eyes snapped back at him.
I could not have possibly been thinking about this daredevil of a man when I had the ring of another on my finger.
I needed to get a hold of myself.
"Uh..." I thought of what to say to him.
"Is the speechlessness an effect from me?" He chuckled as he asked.
"What was your question?" Dealing with this man is stress. He was a psycho but an intriguing one that made my blood boil whenever he crossed my mind.
"How is Jacob?" He repeated.
"Why do you care?" I snapped at him.
"He's family" he said
"Did he tell you how we were inseparable when we were kids?" He said and started rolling the dough with the pin while his muscles flexed.
I looked away and picked up my own pin.
"No. He's never mentioned you" and that was in fact true.
"We would go partying and hang out with boys and girls bigger than our age" he continued like he didn't hear me.
All of a sudden, he stopped talking.
"What happened?" I urged him to continue.
"He left after an incident" he said, all his focus on rolling the dough, and he was doing a very good job at it.
"What incident?" I asked.
"It doesn't matter now, it's gone" he said, and I wanted to hit him.
Before I could insult him again, he dropped a big news on me.
"Did he also tell you he was terminally ill?"
My hand left the rolling pin, and it rolled away to the jar of tip close to it.
The falling of the jar and shattering was the next thing I heard.
Dollar bills flew everywhere.