The next evening, her fiancé, Shawn, returned and she tried to forget the episode, or at least only thought about it when she was alone.
He returned, and the next minute he had her pinned against the door, pulled up her short beige pleated skirt, ripped off her panties and penetrated her without foreplay. She arched her back against him, biting her lips, clutching her fiancé as if she'd never let him go. It was quick, dazzling.
They exchanged an eager kiss, then fell back against each other.
"I've missed you," Ashley whispered, nibbling his ears.
He leaned even more against his woman and kissed her throat fiercely.
"You too, and that's not about to change."
"I hope not."
They readjusted their clothes and headed for their bedroom, a luxurious but sober room decorated in light tones and with classically styled furniture.
Ashley looked at her beloved and recognized how handsome he was.
"I'd like us to try sodomy," she said suddenly and all at once, before her hesitations got the better of her.
The young man stopped short and turned to his fiancée, studying her for a moment before hugging her.
"You wish for anal sex?"
Ashley pressed her lips together as she nodded slowly.
"Why all of a sudden?"
He squinted his eyes.
"Don't tell me you get bored during our..."
She shook her head vigorously.
"No, and you know it perfectly well! But I heard someone talking about it recently, and this person says it's great. And I thought I'd like to give it a try."
He studied his fiancée again for a moment, then nodded.
"Then we'll do it, but not right now. I've got to get ready first. Because if it goes wrong, you can leave me!" he added humorously.
She put her arms around his neck and rubbed her mouth against his.
"You'd better be perfect then..."
***
A week later, the couple prepared to go to Shawn's half-brother's birthday party.
These two weren't particularly close, not even close. The only time they saw each other was during the annual party.
The young woman had only met him three times. That Rick. And the third time was while he was putting on a most daring and unforgettable show. A little shorter and less handsome than his younger brother, he exuded more authority.
He owned the family business, having saved it from bankruptcy after buying up most of the shares.
Shawn now owned just ten percent.
Fortunately, he too had inherited the Grant bloodline. He had what it took to succeed, and he did. He was one of the most experienced and mirifically paid lawyers in the city.
His older brother refused to hire him, but it didn't matter. With his talent, other firms were vying for him.
Ashley approached him slowly with an enticing smile.
"We don't have to go to this party. I feel like we've got better things to do," she said, arranging his bow tie.
Shawn rolled his eyes while wearing a mocking expression.
"And miss this evening, the only one during which my dear brother tolerates my presence? No, I can't do that."
She now threw her arms around his powerful neck.
Her beloved was truly handsome, with his sparkling brown hair fashionably cut, his fine, angular face betraying his firm, determined character and finally, his slim, muscular, perfect body wearing with class that tailored iron-gray suit, capable of bringing her all the pleasure she wanted.
How lucky she was to have him. And how she loved him. How he loved her. What more could she ask for.
"You could always sell him your shares in the business," Ashley suggested without really thinking what she was saying.
"It's true he wants them. In fact, they're the only thing I own that he's ever coveted."
"But you won't sell them."
"No, I won't. Because it's a constant way of irritating him."
And also because it was the thing that bound him to this brother he wished he had in his life but wouldn't let him.
Rick had lost his mother when he was only five, his father remarried less than a year later, and had Shawn. Sheila wasn't a fairy-tale stepmother, but she simply cared only about her own son, and to please her, her husband did the same, totally neglecting his eldest son. This obviously destroyed ties, irreparably.
Their parents were now trying to rebuild those lost ties, but Rick wanted nothing more to do with them. What remained were these actions and this annual party.
Shawn should have stopped being invited a long time ago, except that the big man's current mistress happened to be Ashley's best friend, so there was no way he could pass over the young couple. Or so he made it seem. Ashley had the feeling he didn't care after all, or was amused to see his brother trying to forge ties that would never exist.
Anyway, so they made their way to the grandiose penthouse Rick had given Emma, and the latter greeted them with a luminous smile almost as bright as her gold lamé jumpsuit and diamonds and her fiery hair, which she had let float freely down her back in an unruly curl, while her friend and guest wore a blue dress with a silver floral pattern that enhanced her almost moon-like blondness.
She had pulled her hair up into a sophisticated chignon at the crown of her head.
The two friends hugged tightly before the latter complimented her on her outfit and led her to her lover and protector, who was chatting with a woman, a judge, while discreetly sipping a glass of champagne.
He kissed Ashley's hand and shook hands with his half-brother, all with a rather polite and distant smile.
"I'm glad you're here tonight."
"Really." couldn't help but pick up Shawn with an ironic smile.
"Of course you are. Why shouldn't I be?" replied his brother, impassively.
"Why indeed, since this is the only time you deign to accept my...presence."
"You're telling me. Enjoy yourselves."
"You know Father's still waiting for you to visit him."
"I will when he's dead. Tell him," he ordered.
"You just tell him yourself!"
"No."
"You really don't have time to visit him at all.
"I have time," he corrected, "but I don't feel like it. Anyway, leave me now. I'd like to continue talking alone with my friend here."
And he pointed to the judge.
"I'll see you later, Emma," he said, but this time more tenderly, bending down to kiss his mistress's cheek.
The latter nodded and walked away with her two guests.
"Help yourselves, the buffet is well stocked.
"I'm sure it is."
There were fewer guests than they'd expected. And among them she found Ted, the owner of a posh club and also a mutual friend with someone she'd written out of her life and hadn't heard from in years. Ted was her mother's Latin type, and always wonderfully dressed like Shawn. He was accompanied by a man as blond as Ashley.
"Ah, I knew I'd see you here, beautiful," Ted said as he joined them and kissed Ashley's cheek, then gave Shawn's hand a friendly squeeze.
"I'm the mistress of the house's closest friend so..." she quipped, returning his kiss.
"Well, introductions since I can already see your eyes shining brightly. James darling, this is Ashley and Shawn, two of my closest friends, Ashley, Shawn, this is James, my man."
"Wonderful."
"Nice to meet you." the half-brother grinned openly.
"Oh, if I wasn't so in love with my Ted, I'd have gladly taken a chance on you."
"The opposite would have vexed me." replied Shawn with a most charming laugh that made James's eyes sparkle.
"Take it easy," said his fiancé, taking him by the arm, "you're already committed and strongly committed, so forget everything but me."
"I'll do my best."
"And you, too, darling," Ashley did the same. "You're straight, but you never know."
"But I have no fears about Rick," the beautiful redheaded stewardess grinned confidently.
"Tell me about it." replied her friend with an affectionate grimace.
"After you know what, he's too washed up to have the strength to look anywhere else again."
They all burst out laughing.
"And so," Ted continued, grabbing a glass from the tray of a passing waiter, "how's it going with the big boss, still on the fence?"
"Alas, nothing new. My father despairs that he'll ever forgive him, or at least pay him a visit."
"Sad indeed. But let's face it, he reaps what he sows."
"I know." quipped Shawn irritably, "but he's old. And he's trying to make amends. Rick can try a little harder."
"Everyone does what they want," Ted concluded, shrugging and draining his glass. "But I have to admit," he added all the same, that for the past few years, "your long-stuck, all-powerful brother seems to be living his life well. I don't know how to put it any better."
"It's all thanks to me," his mistress finally interjected with a happy, triumphant smile.
"That must be it," admitted Ted, but with an air of disbelief. "Anyway, we're here together and might as well celebrate."
The champagne flowed, the buffet was constantly replenished and the music was varied.
Everything was in place for a great evening.
Shawn and Ashley slow-danced as if they were alone in the world.
But at some point, even this couple, so in love and oblivious to each other, noticed their hostess's expression. She looked frustrated, angry and unhappy all at once.
"What's the matter, darling?" inquired Ashley, approaching her and taking her in his arms.
Emma shook her head, but her friend insisted.
"Emma, please! Don't be stubborn and tell me."
"Do you remember what the five of us were just talking about. That for the past few years, Rick seemed to like living."
"Yes. And that it was thanks to..."
"Not me, no." the mistress refuted, sniffing slightly, "I lied, it's not thanks to me. And even I'm not stupid enough to believe it. And worse, I know exactly who is the origin."
"Who?" inquired Shawn, looking at her sympathetically.
"The person he's expecting tonight."
They turned together to the king of the evening and indeed noted that he was staring ostentatiously at the door as well as at his gold watch.
He clearly seemed to be waiting for someone.
And that long-awaited someone didn't come until long after the candles on the enormous cake had been cheered and blown out, and almost all the guests had left.
The couple of Ashley and Ted stayed out of curiosity, to see this person who means so much to the great Rick that he loves life so much.
And that person arrived. The person Rick loved and Ashley had once loved.
Randal.
He was handsome, even more handsome than before, with his jet-black hair, his silver-gray eyes both cold and intense, hidden behind sublime glasses. His body was tall and slim, even more so than Shawn's, and he wore that custom-made steel-blue suit with elegance. And he was accompanied by a dazzling brunette woman he was holding by the hand.
Ted, too, saw him and stepped into his path.
"Randal."
The latter stopped dead in his tracks as he moved toward Rick. It took him a while to recognize his friend.
"Oh, Ted! Sorry I didn't see you," he said, giving him a light hug.
"I couldn't have said it better myself."
His friend frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean! Has it been so long since I've seen you?"
"Oh, do you know him, darling?" interjected James, studying the newcomer with very curious eyes, brighter than ever.
"This is Randal, a very old friend of mine."
"Pleased to meet you." quipped the latter.
"Likewise. Well, I think..."
"You see, Randal, even my darling man has no idea who you are. You've been gone so long, you don't even know anyone I know anymore."
"You're exaggerating as usual. What's it been, seven, eight months?"
"It's been eight years!" corrected the club owner forcefully. Ashley gasped at this news.
At their separation, the young woman had forbidden to speak of him for any reason, so never again did Ted, who was their only mutual friend, speak of him, so she knew nothing more about him, never saw him again until today.
"Eight years!" he exclaimed with a big smile but a cold look on his face as if none of this mattered to him, "well tell me about it, time flies."
"And so, the lovely woman who accompanies you is your fiancée?" inquired Ted, no doubt sensing the same thing as Ashley.
Randal turned to the young woman and smiled before returning to Ted.
"Stacy? I guess you could put it that way."
The latter pinched his arm, biting her lips with an amused smile.
"Naughty."
"But you like this side of me so much, don't you."
"Even more than that." she made in a most eloquent whisper.
They looked at each other for a moment, then the young man looked around, and it was only then that Randal noticed Ashley and Shawn, who were holding hands. He winced, and his expression touched his ex more than she could have wished.
Then, after a slight nod, he walked away with this Stacy. Rick was waiting for him and opened his arms.
"Randal, you came."
Rick's face altered and took on an expression unlike any they'd ever seen.
"How I've missed you."
He kissed this Stacy warmly, too, and as for the judge, she literally threw herself into Randal's arms. Then they chatted as if they were alone in the world.
Ashley and Shawn exchanged a meaningful glance, veiled in indecision.
"Who'd have thought..." Shawn finally uttered with a fierce sigh.
Emma took her friend aside and whispered resentfully.
"The dear friend has finally arrived. Now no one else will exist but him."
"That's him, isn't it?" the young woman inquired but didn't need to, "the tattooed man from the show."
So that's why Ashley had found him so familiar. Which was strange, considering their past relationship, its nature and its end.
"And not just a little. Everything he does, Rick does too. Only to please him and be with him."
"How long have they known each other?"
"Before me, anyway. And believe me, it was a shock, because I guessed immediately that if my darling had any chance with him, I wouldn't be here."
"I think you underestimate yourself," Ashley said distractedly, without much conviction, so absorbed was she in her ex, his existence, his looks, everything.
"Alas, no. I'm not the smartest woman in the world, but even I know when I'm only filling a hopelessly missing slot."
"A replacement, what." concluded Ashley nonchalantly, earning her an incendiary look from her hostess.
"Well, thanks for your support. Now I feel much better."
"Don't be upset, darling. I'm sure you're irreplaceable to Rick."
Although less, so much, so much less than Randal, obviously, she finished to herself.
Ashley and Randal were only together for seven months. It was wonderful, but it certainly wasn't meant to last.
Ashley was nineteen and Randal seven years older. She was a virgin and he hadn't been for a long time. And yet, he was somehow even more innocent than she.
They never did it. There were kisses, caresses, but they never went beyond that. Ashley always wondered why. The person who deflowered her was the person he left Randal for. Shawn. Who had had no qualms about taking her innocence and introducing her to the world of the senses. A wonderful world. She couldn't have wished for a better lover or a better love. Until now.
She'd left Randal for Shawn, for love. Or so she thought. But looking back now, she couldn't remember much of what had actually happened.
When Ashley and Shawn returned home that evening, there was a palpable tension between them, a tension that only grew with the hours. A tension the likes of which had never existed between them, along with that deep, heartbreaking silence.
Shawn was the first to break it.
"Well?"
"So what?" replied Ashley to buy time.
"How do you feel about seeing him again."
"How do you want me to feel." straightened Ashley, facing her fiancé.
"I don't know. Nostalgia, desire, regret, .... love?"
"If it were, I'd never have left him. And I left him for you."
"Why again?"
"You know very well."
"But tell me again anyway so I can be sure."
Ashley remained silent.
This time, Shan studied her attentively with eyes filled with various emotions, each more poignant than the last.
"You don't want to."
"I left Randal for love, for you."
Shawn continued to study his fiancée's face intensely, to read her gaze to the depths.
"You promise?"
"I promise."
Shawn finally nodded, but deep down he wasn't totally convinced, and they both knew it.
They kissed and made passionate love that night like never before. At one point during the act, Ashley thought that Randal too must be making love to this beautiful and beloved Stacy. Then she ardently closed her eyes and fiercely drove all thoughts of him and his other women from her mind.