Page 45 of Mafia Rules

I hold back a smile that's itching to show. The thought of sharing a home with Ash makes me happy. But I still feel raw. I sit at the edge of the couch, as far away from him as possible. I don’t want to give in to him, but I know I will.

“Talk to me, Eve.” His hand falls from the back of the chair to my butt. “This is driving me fucking crazy.”

“I hate Sasha,” I blurt.

“Me too. Okay, we are on the same page.” He rubs my back. “What else?”

“I didn’t appreciate getting dismissed today.” I lowered my gaze, unsure of how he would respond to that. Being this close to Ash made it hard to be mad at him.

Ash sits up next to me, his arms encircling me, pulling me back on the couch onto his body. “I should have said something. I regret not doing anything. My father just has this control over me.” He pauses.

“I hated how happy Sasha was,” I whisper in a hushed tone, hesitant to raise my voice for fear of crying again.

Ash lets out a sigh, then kisses my cheek. “Sasha is not going away. My father slipped her into every one of my business aspects.”

As I sit up and prop my back against the side of the couch, I stare directly at him. I wasn’t sure I could deal with him working closely with her.Would I lose him to her either way?

“I can’t do anything about that. But I can control her contact with me.” I could feel the warmth of Ash's hand on my stomach, his fingers sliding over the smooth material of my dress.

“What if I won’t accept that?” I push his hand off me, scared of his response, but needing to know.

He looks at the ground, takes a large breath, and lets it out. “I don’t know what to say. I have little control over business affairs.”

“What if she gets you to fall for her again?” My voice is low and tears fall uncontrollably. I wasn’t ready to let him go, but I didn’t want to feel the pain of him working with her and falling for her later.

“That will never happen. No one can take me from you, love.” He leans in and kisses my lips softly. When I don’t reject him, he kisses me again, this time hard and deep. His hand is on my knee, and he slides it slowly up my inner thigh. “I’m all yours. No one can control that.”

Just as we were lost in the moment, the sound of keys jingling in the lock brings us back to reality. Ash reclines on the couch, and I hastily fix my skirt just as Macy enters.

Macy steps in with bags and freezes when she sees us both on the couch, clearly interrupting something. “Hey, guys...”

“Hi, Macy,” Ash says, getting up to take the bags from her arms. “Kitchen?”

“Yeeahhh.” Macy watches Ash's backside as he walks away toward the kitchen.

“What the fuck?” Macy mouths as she sits next to me on the couch. Then she notices the boxes in the corner. “What’s all that?”

“Don’t get mad at me.” I lift my hands up and take a moment to pause.

“Get mad at her,” Ash infiltrates our conversation as he returns and sits in the chair beside me.

I roll my eyes in Ash’s direction, then take a deep breath to confess to Macy where I went tonight. “I went back to my old apartment to get the rest of my stuff.”

“You what?!” Macy yells, looking from Ash, then back to me. “Why didn’t you ask me to go with you?”

“I don’t know. I was out walking, and I ended up there. I was going to leave and come back later, but Dereck came home. He had already packed my stuff, so I took it.”

“How? You don’t have a vehicle. You can’t Uber all that shit.” Macy points to the large stack of boxes.

“Dereck brought them here, and we said our goodbyes. He’s not drinking anymore, so it was fine, and there’s no reason for me to see him again now,” I say as fast as I can and take a deep breath when I’m done.

“And you're done with him?” Macy asks.

“Yes. There’s no chance anything would happen with him. I swear.” I hold my hand up.

“That’s good to know,” Ash says, smiling, lounging in the chair, with legs spread apart, arms casually draped over the sides, exuding an irresistible allure—and sexy as fuck.

“We should get going. We have plans for tonight.” I glance at Ash, not forgetting about the ropes and how deeply I was craving him on top of me.

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