Chapter 104: Chapter 104

Ash carries me up the stairs and doesn't let go, even when I tell him I'm okay and can walk, still he doesn't allow my feet to touch the ground. I try to tell him that carrying me - bridal style - will only slow us down but he's not having it.

He's fast on his feet, I must admit but that niggling fear is sitting pretty on my chest once again and not allowing me to breathe well. As soon as we get up the stairs and into a hallway, he slows down and looks left and right. His eyes have gone keen and sharp and I don't need to be told we're both in danger. If they see him carrying me out of here, we're both dead.

At least I will be.

The scorned woman will forgive Ash. . . maybe.

I watch his face as he watches the surrounding before moving stealthily. I feel his muscles flex and bunch as he carries me. His strides eat up the floor as he moves toward a door at the far end. I slide my eyes from his face and toward the door but someone's already standing in front of it. It's obvious from the look on the person's face, he didn't come to say hi.

"Put me down, Ash, I'll just go back to the-"

"Shhh!" He shushes me with one hand against my lips and in one swift move, moves me from his arms and onto one of his broad shoulders so that half of my body is hanging off it.

He goes still and I would have sworn, if it isn't for the rise and fall of his back as he breathes in and out. I'm wondering what he's up to when I hear him release a chuckle. I strain my ears to hear but at this angle, I'm flying blind.

"So what's it gonna be, buddy? The easy or the hard way?"

I don't hear what the man at the door says. I mean we're still a distance away from him, but it's either Ash has grown telepathic or the man has been shouting and I've grown deaf. I feel some movement from him and before I'm able to crane my neck, I hear a pop and Ash is swinging me into his arms- bridal style - once again, and running like the hounds of hell are after him.

I'm confused. Like. . .what just happened?

"Ash, what just happened?"

"Later!" He says as he rushes through the door, but not before I see the man sprawled on the floor, blood flowing from his head.

I feel a rush of dizziness assail me but I'm not able to ponder on the man's death because Ash is carrying me outside. I barely register it's dark outside before Ash is placing me inside a vehicle and belting me up. I watch as he goes around to the driver's side. He wastes no time in starting it and driving away lightning fast. I heave a sigh of relief that we're in the clear but it's time for some questions.

I turn to him, thinking of how to word what I'm about to say but after a whew minutes of silence, I decide to just go for it. "Why did you have to kill him?"

He doesn't say anything except to dart his gaze at the rearview mirror and then the side mirror. What he says next sets my heart beating a tambourine. "I'm sorry to bust your bubble because of the way I see it. . . I'm definitely going to be killing more people. He points to the mirror and I brave a glance at it when I see a black unmarked jeep with tinted windows following us. Actually, two of them.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" My heart is thumping away and that damn tightening around my chest feels like a clamp.

He shoots me a crooked smile. "Chill out, will you? This is probably where the fun begins."

He takes one look at the rearview mirror before putting his feet on the accelerator. The car shoots forward and I'd forgotten how much of a daredevil Ash is. It's not until he begins overtaking cars at a neck-breaking speed that I know he's got a death wish. I brave a glance behind me and my eyes go wide when I see a man - now two - on either side of the windows, holding guns and pointing them at our car.

"Ash, they're gonna shoot at us."

Ash chuckles but it's devoid of mirth. "Here's where the fun begins." And he slows the car down to a crawl.

"What?" I screech. "What are you doing? Do you wanna get us killed?"

He doesn't say anything. He doesn't need to. I can see why he slowed down. The two black jeeps behind us speed past us and Ash swings into action immediately as he brings out a gun, cracks down the window, and pops their back tires. As I watch, the cars aren't able to move fast any more. I watch in horror as one of them flips over and over until it hits another car and combusts. Luckily for the other car, it stops on the side of the road.

And Ash. . . this is when he decides to pick up speed and drive past the occupants on the road who have begun videoing the whole situation with manic glee. I can never understand people. There are no more incidents on the road and Ash drives always on the freeway in relative peace. There's still a lingering fear in my mind that something else may happen. After a few more minutes of continuous driving, I'm able to breathe a sigh of relief. It's silence for a while until I ask the one question that's been on my mind since the incident on the road.

"So, what now?" I'm petrified at his reply but I must know. I need to know if I'm going to constantly look over my shoulder for the rest of my life. "If this is how it's going to be every time, then it's best you take me back to the basement because I don't want to live this way."

Ash shakes his head and turns his head to look at me. "If you mean being a prostitute to several nameless men, forget it. Even if we don't get to be together anymore, I won't subject you to that kind of life, so don't say things you can't even follow through with."

He's right. I'd rather commit suicide than have various disgusting lecherous men paw my body.

He's quiet for a while but then breaks it. "Next time you pull this kind of shit by not listening to me, I won't take it lying down, Hazel eyes. Next time, if I tell you to stay put, you fucking do so, capishë?"

I want to argue, to tell him to go fuck himself but I can't because he's right. Damn it, he's always right. Instead, I lace my fingers together on my lap and ask. "How did you know she took me?"

He tells me how he got some men from someone and they combed several areas in search of me until he had the bright idea to go back to Rita - the real name of the scorned woman - to beg her to him back, under the guise of finding out where I was. He had to act like he didn't care for me anymore in my presence to get me freed. His story humbles me. They say action speaks louder than words. Ash has shown that he will literally do anything for me and for once, I'm happy that he came back into my life.

The question is - how am I going to keep my life, because Rita, the scorned woman - AKA Dominatrix - is not going to stop until I'm dead.