Page 33 of Ashley
"It should be a lot of fun. I heard he's taking us to a VIP event."
"I wonder what kind. You don't think it's just a club, do you? That would be boring."
"Knowing Tony, he's got something up his sleeve." She paused, seeing the man stride into the hall and nodded at him. "Speak of the Devil."
"All right, my little darlings! Time to go out on the town. Out front, all of you, and on the double." The man held his arms out and beckoned them toward the front of the building. A ripple of excitement went through the room, the production crew and dancers unable to hide their curiosity. The man's energy was infectious, and Ashley found herself swept up in the power of it as she hurried after her colleagues and emerged from the building to see a long black limo waiting for them.
"Now, you all might be thinking oh, great, Tones is taking us to a club, right?" The man asked, walking ahead of them and opening the limo door. He looked back at them with a smirk and gave a little tsk-tsk. "Wrong! You should know me better than to assume I would do something so basic as that. We are going to a night of debauchery and mayhem, bloodshed even awaits us, and all done at our pleasure."
"What?" Natasha bit her lip, wondering what it could be. "What's he talking about?"
"I'm talking about a fight. An exclusive fight, my little dancer," he pointed a finger at Natasha. "We are about to take a walk on the wild side, with one of New York's premier underground fighting circuits."
"I have a bad feeling about this," Natasha murmured, giving Ashley a concerned look.
"Why?" Ashley asked, following the crowd forward and into the waiting limo. "Isn't this just one of those UFC events? I'm kind of relieved we won't be at a club."
Natasha worried her lip and slid into a seat next to her friend. "I just…you don't think this is the circuit Silas and James fight for, do you?"
Ashley paused in lifting the glass of champagne she had just been handed. "No, no way." She shook her head. "That would be too much. There has to be more than one circuit in the city, right? What are the odds?"
Natasha nodded, but she didn't look convinced. "Right, what are the odds?"
"Don't worry. Just relax." Ashley handed her friend a glass of bubbly and gave her an excited smile. "It'll all be fine. You'll see."
And for a while, thingswerefine. They pulled up at a perfectly nondescript building in Queens, one that had Natasha squinting at it in confusion but saying nothing as she downed her glass of alcohol in one long pull that impressed Ashley. She'd never known her friend to drink whatsoever, but she supposed people changed, and she hurried to follow suit, downing her glass in a similar fashion before exiting the car after Natasha.
The second they hit the door, things became a little less fine, and that was because Natasha was suddenly groaning and yanking at Ashley's arm. "We have to get out of here," she whispered to her friend with a frantic look on her face.
"What? Why?" Ashley asked, accepting a glass from Tony, who was now going around handing out drinks to everyone in attendance. You had to give it to the man. He knew how to host an event, and she smiled as she sipped her drink.
"Because those odds you were talking about are not in our favor! We are neck deep in shit right now, and we need to get out of here before they see us.
"They? Who is they?"
Natasha swore and then nodded behind Ashley's shoulder to a massive stage that was smack dab in the middle of the chic interior of the building. "Them."
Ashley turned, following the nod, and paled when she saw James and Silas standing in the center of the ring and staring back at them with similar expressions. "Oh."
James's eyes narrowed, and suddenly, Ashley felt the pressure from his gaze in a new way, in a way that made the air in her lungs feel constricted, like every part of her was on display and she was unable to move. "Fuck."
"Yeah, big time. Double time, really, if you think about it." Natasha laughed and then took the drink Tony was handing her with a shrug. "Forget it. They saw us, so we are already in deep shit. May as well earn it."
"Earn what?"
"You know what."
Ashley shook her head in confusion, but she was unable to look away from James, who was glaring at her, his jaw clenching and hands curling into fists as he continued to watch her. "I don't know what."
"Our punishment," Natasha replied, seemingly unbothered by their situation or by the fact that her fiancée was shooting an angry look her way. "Silas is going to put me over his knee doubly for this one, so I may as well enjoy myself."
"His knee?"
Natasha hummed. "It's okay. I like it, and you will, too. I'm in big trouble for bringing you down with me, so drink up, will you?" The redhead nodded at the drink in Ashley's hand and polished off hers with a satisfied sigh.
"Is Silas spanking me?" Ashley gasped, hating the thought. She didn't want him to spank her, even if it did go along with the new dynamic she was trying to explore. In all of her time with the couple and them answering all of her questions, it had never come up that Silas might ever dothatto her.
Natasha held up her hands, now that they were drink free and waved them at her friend reassuringly. "Oh goodness no, don't even think that. I promise that's not what I meant. Booze goes right to my head and I'm not explaining myself clearly." She winced and shot Ashley an apologetic look. "I'm really sorry."
