Page 18 of Theirs to Keep

They ate and drank a few beers and as far as first dates went, this one was going well. Ash knew that things wouldn’t always be easy for them but if tonight was any indication, they were worried over nothing. Well, that was until a very drunk Katie showed up at their booth spilling half her white wine onto Regan’s lap.

Regan jumped up from the booth. “Hey, watch what you’re doing, Katie!” Ash watched as Regan stood her ground and he had to admit, it was pretty hot.

“You need to be careful, newbie. I warned you earlier this won’t end well for you, Regan, is it?” Katie was slurring herwords and Ash knew that nothing good was going to come from this little scene.

“Ladies, why don’t we just part ways and call it a night?” Regan nodded and turned to get her purse from the booth. Katie grabbed her arm and swung her around to face her again.

“Don’t you turn your back on me, you little whore. I’m trying to be a good person here, but you don’t know what one of those looks like, do you? They hired you to get into your too-tight, booty shorts, bitch.” Regan’s eyes widened as Katie drunkenly swung her limp fist trying to punch her. Regan ducked and Ash caught Katie’s arm, and she fell limp against Ash’s body. She practically threw herself into his arms and it was all he could do to keep her standing on her own two legs.

“Did you come here with anyone Katie, or should I call you a cab?” Ash wanted to shove her against the wall and beat the shit out of her for trying to punch Regan. If Katie was a guy, he would have done so already but with the entire bar’s attention, he played the gentleman. Travis pushed his way through the crowd and removed Katie from Ash, helping her into a chair.

“I’ve got her boss. I can make sure that she gets home safely. You two just get Regan out of here.” Ash nodded his thanks and turned to find Regan with her face buried in Jamison’s chest. Travis was right, they needed to get their girl out of there and home. Katie shouted foul comments at Regan as they tried to pull her from the bar.

“You’re just like all the others, honey. They took one look at your pretty face and hired you to be their sex slave. You think you're special but you’re not, they’ll just use you and throw you away.” Ash wrapped his arm around Regan and Jamison flanked her other side. Regan allowed a sob to escape as they helped her into the truck and it just about gutted Ash.

“Please don’t cry, honey,” Jamison begged.

Ash slid into the driver’s seat, “Sit in the back with her, Jamison. She needs one of us right now.” Jamison nodded and slid in next to Regan, pulling her into his body, and holding her close.

“She’s nothing, baby. You can’t let her upset you like this.” Ash watched her in the rear-view mirror, and he couldn’t get home fast enough. He pulled down their lane and watched as Jamison kissed her forehead, pushing her raven hair back from her face.

“I’m going to fucking kill Katie,” Jamison growled.

“She was drunk,” Ash said. “She won’t even remember the crap she said tomorrow.” Ash shook his head disgusted by the way their first date ended.

“Why did she have to make a scene like that? Everyone thinks that you hired me for sex now.” Jamison shot Ash a look in the rear-view mirror as if telling him to keep his fucking mouth shut.

“She’s just a nasty person, honey. Katie was looking for a way to tear down your defenses, she just said whatever she could to hurt you,” Jamison said.

“Well, mission accomplished. I’ve been here just a couple of days now and in that time, I’ve been attacked verbally by one of your crazy ex-lovers and made to feel like I was a common criminal when I tried to use your credit card at the grocery store. I just don’t know how to go forward after tonight.” Ash parked the truck in the driveway and got out to pull Regan from the backseat.

“You are not going to give up on us, Regan. We all agreed to try. You just need to ignore all the assholes in town. Give us a chance, don’t quit after just a few days.” Ash banded his arms around her body and hugged her so close, he was sure that he was crushing her.

“I know and I’m not giving up on what we have. I just don’t understand where Katie would even come up with the crazy ideathat you would hire me for sex.” Ash cringed, and he knew that Regan noticed.

“Is there something you need to tell me?” She looked between Jamison and him, a little fire back in her eyes.

“Nope,” Jamison said. Regan didn’t look convinced.

“We might have hired you because we liked your profile picture, that you sent online with your application,” Ash whispered. Jamison groaned and crossed his arms across his massive chest.

“Why the fuck would you tell her that Ash?” He knew that Jamison didn’t think it was a big deal, but Ash didn’t want any secrets between them. The fact that they hired her based on wanting to make her theirs felt like a huge omission. Hell- it felt like a complete lie they were living with.

Ash watched Regan, knowing that he had to just lay it all out there and hope that she would forgive them for not being completely honest with her.

“It’s not what you are thinking, Regan. Please just give us a chance to explain,” Ash begged.

She squinted her eyes. “Well then, by all means, Ashton, please explain to me how you two saw my picture on the job application and decided that I looked like a good fuck.”

“That’s not how it happened,” Ash yelled. “I got your job application and opened your file. As soon as I saw your beautiful picture, I felt this nagging feeling that you were supposed to be here, with us.” Ash ran his fingers through his overly long hair making it stand on end.

“Ash asked me to come in from the field because he was so excited about wanting to hire you, honey. He felt a connection and after I saw your picture, I know it sounds crazy, but I felt the same way.” Jamison reached for her, but she took a step back, staying out of his reach.

Regan barked out her laugh, “Yeah, I just bet you both felt a connection. Most people call that lust but you two like to sell the whole soul mate thing, don’t you? How could I be so stupid? Here I thought you hired me for my cooking skills, but you just wanted to pop my cherry.”

Ash felt his anger boil, but he knew that wasn’t going to win Regan over. He took a deep breath, trying to find his calm.

“We did hire you for your cooking skills, but you also lied about them. Your resume wasn’t exactly based on truth, baby.” Regan gasped at Ash’s words.

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