Can't Compete

zero

SHE STARED AT the male incessantly speaking before her. Her eyes lazily made its way to his face. Somewhat attractive, she thought. But not enough to stop me from thinking about him.

"You're still talking," she stated.

The red-headed male that stood before her jolted in shock and stuttered, "U- Uh, yes. I was going to tell you about my future business plans."

Her face remained passive, devoid of any emotions. It was a look she had perfected from young. It was a safety barrier for her, knowing no one could ever intercept her real feelings and make her vulnerable.

Unless it was him, of course.

"I am not your calendar. I have no interest in what you do ahead of time."

And with that, she stood from her seat and headed towards the back of the bar. She hated being here. She hated the dimmed lights, rowdy crowds and loud noise. But she'd endure it all for him.

At the back of the bar was a door with a muscular security guard blocking its entrance. Knowing full well who the small petite blonde was in front of him, he stepped aside and opened the door for her.

She nodded curtly in gratitude and stepped inside the adjoining club, where she was met with a sombre room filled with seductive music. The room bled red and exported nothing of innocence. In fact, was the opposite.

Entering from the side of the club, she could immediately see four female entertainers taking the main stage at the front of the room, which was to her left, and two in the centre — directly in front of her — on stripper poles. She looked around the room for her boyfriend amongst the crowd of males and females whose attention was directly on the half-naked women performing.

Finally laying her eyes on him, to the right of her, was he sitting stiffly at the back of the room in between two males. She made her way towards him, which caused him to lift his head briefly at the detection of movement, straying his attention away from the documents in front of him and smirked when his eyes landed on her.

His other two business associate noticed his distraction and both stood up in recognition as they spotted her.

"Ella Ashleigh," the male closest to her greeted.

She plastered a fake but convincing smile. "Sorry to interrupt. How much longer?"

Her boyfriend, who remained seated, looked down at his watch, then moved his eyes back onto the documents before him. Ignoring Ella, he proposed to his associates, "Seventy percent and you have a deal,"

"You already have sixty percent!"

The older male who sat on the other side of her boyfriend looked at his partner tiredly and sighed, "What's another ten percent. You promise you'll take care of it?"

"Consider it done by tomorrow morning," her boyfriend settled.

They shook hands and Ella watched their retreating figure leave the room. Before she had the chance to turn back to her boyfriend, he placed his hands on her waist and kissed her cheek. The designer white mini dress she threw on apparently was sheer in fabric because she could feel the heat from his touch. She was burning.

"Sorry it took so long, sweetheart." He murmured against her ear.

She turned back around and stared at him with the same cold, emotionless look she gave everyone else. However, she couldn't hide the glint of adoration in her eyes.

Ella wasn't sulking over the fact that she had to wait for him to finish his business meeting. The girl had the patience of a nun. She was only a tad salty from her own problems that happened without him by her side. But, of course, she wasn't going to tell him that.

He can figure it out on his own.

When he realised his girlfriend wasn't going to speak, his hands trailed dangerously lower. "It's not like you were completely bored. You had another guy's company,"

Her lips frowned. "You're teasing me,"

Ella knew him well enough to know that the man never was envious of anything. He had everything he could possibly want, and if he didn't have it, he would do whatever it took to make sure that it was his before the sun hit the next day.

After all, he was Ashton Fernandez.

"One of my security informed me of your presence and conversation with that boy at the bar. Should I be worried?"

"Yes." She crossed her arms. "You were still snooping. Just because you weren't physically there this time and had some hulk spy for you, doesn't mean it doesn't count as snooping."

"I just care about my sweetheart," he smirked. Ashton stayed silent for a moment, the wheels turning in his head as to why his girlfriend was visiting him at his club at one am. His playfulness dropped and eyes turned more gentle. "They didn't come?"

Ella both hated and loved the fact that Ashton knew everything about her without her having to say a word.

"Their flights must have been delayed," she shrugged.

"It's alright, sweetheart. Think of it this way; one more night of walking around your house naked without getting caught,"

She flung him an incredulous look. "You mean having sex in my room without my parents knowing,"

"Same thing." Ashton sheepishly grinned and cupped her private part. "I would like to f—"

She moved her lips to his mouth, stopping the next vulgar words from spewing out of his mouth. Their kiss synchronized with the beat that the club was currently playing. Slow and erotic. And it wasn't long till she was sick of it. Ella wanted to exert her dominance, but his phone rang before she could make anything happen.

He pulled away from the kiss and retrieved his phone that was sitting on the table alongside the documents.

"Yeah," he grunted into the phone, clearly unhappy that it ruined a moment with his girl. "Noted. Christian, the deal is complete with the Mayor. Take care of it,"

Ella raised an eyebrow. "I thought you just took care of the business deal,"

Ashton peered down at her, then looked away with a distant emotion on his face. She realised that his gaze was now on the stage filled with strippers, and like him, she didn't feel any sense of jealousy. His loyalty was something she always admired, and she knew if he were to hypothetically be placed in a room filled with naked females, he'd have no desire other than to find his way back to her.

She took the time to gaze at his features. She found everything about him attractive; from his tall height, black short hair, strong nose, to his thin but full pink lips. There was no one else she could ever find more handsome than him and could find herself staring at him all day long.

"Bye," Ashton said, hanging up and putting the phone in the front pocket of his black ripped jeans.

He lifted Ella up to wrap her legs around his waist, seeing that she was so short he was sick of tilting his neck downwards.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it," he pecked her lips, trying to convince her that everything was okay.

She pushed him back with a hand placed on his chest. "I'll worry about what I want to worry about. And that happens to be you,"

He smirked at her demeanour. His hands skimmed over her ass and rested there. Nuzzling into her neck, she could feel him place gentle kisses. "How'd I get so lucky with my sweetheart,"

The feeling of warmth and love coursed her entire body. She knew only Ashton had the power to make her feel this type of way, and she'd be damned if she ever let him slip away after knowing that she was able to exert emotions and still feel safe with him.

For a girl who never had the ability to openly feel much, this was everything to her.