Page 13 of Dirty Desires
Chapter Six
Ashton
I couldn’t stop staring at my face in the mirror. Even with my reflection fogged up from the hot shower I’d just taken, I could see I didn’t look quite as good as I had before.
Not at all what I wanted for this weekend.
I wondered if Artimus would see fit to have a masquerade party instead of whatever he had planned. At least then I could hide my face behind a mask.
The thought that I’d come on to Nina while in this state had me feeling more embarrassed than I had ever been.
No wonder she had nothing to say back to me when I told her I liked holding her. I look like a beast!
How could I face her now? How could I fix this whole situation?
On top of looking like I’d been in a fight with Mike Tyson, I had a raging headache too. When I looked through the drawers of the vanity I found all kinds of things, but no pain reliever of any kind.
Going back out to the bedroom, I spied something on the floor by the door. When I walked over, I saw that it was a little note and a sleeve of some pills. Nina had slid them to me. The note said to take two and come down to the patio out back, as Artimus was barbecuing.
Wasting no time, I punched two of the little blue pills out of their aluminum pouches before going to the mini fridge to grab a bottle of water to wash them down with. I decided that lying down on the bed for a little while might help. It would definitely give the pills some time to kick in. And with the bag of ice placed back on my face, I would hopefully get back to feeling and looking kind of human soon.
I hoped.
I must’ve dozed off because the sound of knocking woke me up. “Ashton, are you okay in there?” came Nina’s voice.
Blinking a few times, I finally woke completely up. “Yeah. I’ll be down soon.”
“Okay,” she said. “Just checking on you. It’s been over an hour.”
I had no idea it had been so long. “I fell asleep. I’ll get ready and be right down.”
“Did you get the pills I put under the door?” she asked. “They should help with the pain.”
“I got them and took them, thanks.” I had laid down without a stitch of clothing on and sat up a bit too fast in my effort to put something on and join them. “Whoa!”
“Whoa, what, Ashton?” She tapped the door once more. “Do you need my help?”
In more ways than you know.
“I’ll be okay. I just moved too fast is all. I’ll be right down, Nina.”
“Okay, then.” I heard her leaving and finally got out of bed.
When I looked in the mirror, I was still unhappy with my appearance. A bruise had begun to form underneath my right eye, which seemed to have gotten the brunt of the ball.
“So, stay on her right. Then all she’ll see is your left side.” I turned to see how that would look in the mirror and thought it wasn’t the worst idea I’d ever had.
With a plan in mind, I put on some shorts and a T-shirt, then padded out of the room in my bare feet. Shoving my hands through my hair, I felt like I was as presentable as I could manage to get myself, given the circumstances.
The sound of laughter and clinking glasses easily led me to my friends on the back patio. The smell of the pit helped me find my way too. “There he is,” Duke said as he came to me. He stopped to grab a beer out of the cooler and brought it to me. “Here ya go. I bet you could use a nice cold one, Ashton.”
“I could.” I opened it and took a long drink as I scanned the area for Nina. But she wasn’t there. “Do you happen to know where Nina is?”
He jerked his head toward the right. “She went to check out the flower garden. It’s that way.”
So that’s the way I went. “I’ll be back.”
Duke called out after me, “No need to rush back. The food won’t be ready for quite a while.”
