Page 29 of Beaten

What the fuck, is he into Ashley? Why did it sound like he would’ve said yes if it weren’t for me? And why does it bother me?

“It was good seeing you again, Ash.”

“No one calls me Ash anymore.”

“Sorry, Ashley. Emily, call me if you need anything, okay? I’ll be right outside.”

“Are you really going to sleep in your SUV all night?” My voice sounded small and shaky, guilty.

My emotions were all over the place, and being drunk wasn’t helping me sort through them.

“I won’t be sleeping. But yeah, as long as you’re here, I’m here.”

I opened my mouth to apologize, but he cut me off. He must have known I was about to apologize because he took one of my hands.

“No apologies. It’s part of the job. Now go have fun with Ashley. You deserve a worry free night out.”

I wasn’t expecting that. I’d expected him to be mad, tell me to be more responsible, tattle on me to Chris, but he didn’t do any of those things.He said have fun.

Ashley didn’t wait for him to get out the door before saying, a bit too loudly, “He’s hot and sweet. I’d totally hit that.”

I saw Jamie shake his head and was glad I couldn’t see his expression. I was sure he’d lose his patience soon if she didn’t stop acting like a gushing school girl. At the elevator he turned around and waved, I could see him chuckling; relief flooded my system as most of the worry drained from my body.

“Remember to lock the door. Goodnight ladies.”

“Goodnight Jamie.” Ashley and I said in unison. We looked at each other and started laughing. I was laughing because I was so embarrassed at how we’d acted, and relieved that Jamie wasn’t mad, that I couldn’t do anything else. I didn’t know why Ashley was laughingso hard.

She locked the door and secured the door chain, then turned to look at me. “Let’s get into pjs and watch a chick flick while we eat cold Chinese and drink more wine.”

“Ew, cold Chinese does not sound good to me right now.”

We scrounged up some snacks instead, poured more wine, and plopped down on the couch to watch a rom com. A movie we both loved and pretty much knew by heart. We talked throughout the movie, quoting our favorite lines along the way.

We giggled, a lot, and I cried a little. We also finished our fourth bottle.

Despite taking Jamie’s advice and drinking water, we’d probably still have nasty hangovers in the morning.

Before going to bed, I called Jamie and put him on speakerphone. I was drunk enough to not care about the rules anymore.

Of course, his first question was, are you okay? I told him we were fine, to which Ashley and I both giggled. Ashley told Jamie she insisted he come up and sleep on the couch instead of in his truck.

“I won’t be sleeping.”

“You could if you’d stop being stubborn and just come up here.”

“Ashley, I can’t sleep because I’m working.”

We rolled our eyes at him.

“You can be Broody McBroodypants Bodyguard from the comfort of my apartment.”

I hiccupped. She giggled. We really shouldn’t have called him. I apologized and Ashley threatened to keep calling him until he gave in.

Jamie said he recognized a losing battle when he saw one and said, “You win. I give up, I’ll come up when you’re ready to go to bed.”

“We’re ready now, so come on up.”

Chapter 14

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