Ash's Darling | ✔

Chapter 47

~Esther~

"How are you, gorgeous?" A deep gruff voice, one I didn't recognize, asked when I walked into Ash's building.

After Ash's mom left yesterday he had to work and today he asked me to come see him at his office since he hadn't seen me at all yesterday except when he came home last night and by then I was already sleeping.

I turned to look at the man who spoke to me and found a man who stood around six feet tall and looked like he lived at the gym. Tattoos spiraled down his arms though I didn't get a good look at what they were of. The man in front of me was the most intimidating man I had seen since I met Roy who literally looked like a bodybuilder even when he had never talked about going to the gym.

I hesitated, not knowing what to say and the man took that as the chance to speak again. "My name's Dallas. Can I have yours?"

I shook my head, still not being able to speak while I looked around the small hallway of the building. Nobody else was around, I knew most of them were probably in the lunchroom which was where they normally hung out when they had nothing to do and if I could just get into there I could get away from Dallas. I knew they would tell Dallas off and possibly even get Ash's attention. The only problem was that Dallas was standing in front of the lunchroom door like he had just walked out of it.

I changed my plan and tried to turn away from him and walk upstairs to Ash's office like I had done so many times before but Dallas stopped me by grabbing my wrist before I could make it upstairs. Immediately a feeling of fear shot through me and I tried to take my hand out of his grasp only for him to hold it tighter. I don't like him. He gives me bad vibes. "Let me go." I finally found my voice.

"I just want to know your name, Sunshine."

Sunshine. I knew that voice. He was the friend I never saw. The one friend of Matthew that wouldn't come near me. He would stand in the shadows while the rest of Matthew's friends would attack me. He was the friend that told the other ones what to do. He told them when to stop or, more frequently, when not to. The only thing I ever saw of him were glimpses of his back as he was leaving the room I was kept in.

He seemed to be the leader when Matthew wasn't around. For the most part the friends would do what they wanted to me but quite often he, the man who stood in the shadows, would give them more ideas of how to hurt me.

He only talked directly to me a few times when the others were outside of the room, that's when he would try to intimidate me, and when he did talk to me he called me that name, they all did. I may not have ever seen him but I could recognize that nickname from his voice any day.

"Just leave me alone, I don't know you." I lied, trying to plead with him as his grip started to hurt my wrist. I wasn't sure if he recognized me or not but I knew I needed to get away from him before he did or before a panic attack set in.

I was surprised none of Ash's men had come out of any rooms yet. Normally they would come out when they heard voices. Of course the one time I need them they're not here.

"We could fix that, you know." Dallas suggested, a smirk playing on his lips.

His grip loosened just slightly and I twisted my wrist once more, finally getting it out of his grasp and I ran up the stairs and into Ash's office. He was standing up to put some papers in his filing cabinet when I barged in.

"Hey, dar-" He stopped as I ran towards him and used his body as a shield to hide behind, forgetting to close the office door behind me in my rush. "Woah, what's wrong? Are you okay, Mae?" He spun around to face me.