Ash's Darling | ✔

Chapter 13

~Esther~

I woke up on the couch in Ash's office but Ash was nowhere to be seen. I didn't remember falling asleep. The last thing I remember was laying on top of Ash cuddling with him, trying to ignore the pain from my stomach. Where is he?

I got up and walked towards the door but as I passed his desk I saw a note with Ash's writing on it. I walked over and picked it up. "I had to go do something for work, I should be back in a couple hours. Stay in my office, I'll come right back when I'm done and we can go to my house if you want.               -Ash"  

Setting the note back down, I grabbed my phone and checked the time, 2:50pm. Thunder boomed outside and I realized we were in a thunderstorm. Ash really had to go out in this weather? I hoped he was okay.

Trying not to worry about him, I pulled out my phone and scrolled through Tik Tok to distract myself from thinking about the fight with my mom that had happened a few hours ago. My black eye wasn't bad enough to swell much but it was definitely noticeable without foundation on.

After scrolling through Tik Tok for a few minutes I heard voices downstairs talking and I could tell they were trying to keep their voices down.

Hoping that Ash was back, I took the blanket that had been laid on me and folded it up. Laying it on the back of the couch, I sat back down and waited for Ash to come up to his office.

I decided to scroll through Instagram for a while as I waited and before I knew it twenty minutes had passed. Ash still hadn't come up to his office. I stood up and walked towards the door, pulling it open and walking towards the stairs.

I saw Seth and Tim talking about something as I walked downstairs but they stopped when they saw me. "Hey, Esther. I didn't realize you were up." Seth spoke up.

"Yeah I've been up for a while. Where's Ash?" I leaned against the railing as I spoke.

"He had to go take the stalker we were after to the police station, he should be back soon. He's probably filling out paperwork for them right now."

"Stalker?" I echoed. I couldn't help but remember everything that happened to me any time someone mentions a stalker and it's not something I wanted to remember again but I couldn't stop myself from asking about it.

"Yeah, some guy had been stalking a girl for a while and the police hadn't been able to catch him but Ash caught him before he could run this time." A small smile pulled onto my face, happy that they were able to catch the guy since the police couldn't catch the guy that was stalking me before he took me, or even after. At least that girl can sleep at night now. I sometimes have a hard time sleeping knowing that the guy who tortured me is still loose.

I snapped myself out of it, knowing now wasn't the time to get caught up in all of the horrible memories. "Oh ok, thanks." I turned to walk away as Seth started speaking again.

"Do you need anything else before you go back upstairs?"

I started shaking my head 'no' but stopped as quickly as I had started, realizing I was a little thirsty. "Do you guys have any water here?"

Seth nodded and pointed at the first door on the right. "That's the kitchen and dining rooms. There's all kinds of drinks in there."

I thanked him as I walked past him and Tim, walking into the room Seth pointed me to. It was bigger than the rest of the rooms I've gone into. This apartment was two rooms instead of just one room like the others. The walls were painted an off-white and it had no decorations, just like the rest of the building. This place seriously needs some decorations. It feels like no one spends any time here.