After a lengthy cry, one that left Ashe's chest moist with Riley's tears, sleep claimed her like it always did - fast. It began as one long yawn and as she apologized (and Ashe saying there was no need to apologize), she lay her head on his shoulder and fell promptly to sleep. Unfortunately, at that moment, sleep was the furthest thing from Ashe's mind. It eluded him now, and ten minutes later, assured that she was alright, he slipped out of the covers, showered in the guest bathroom and slipped on a pair of gray sweatpants and a white shirt.

Since Riley started staying over more often, leaving her cat, Miss Bailey, in the care of her next-door neighbor, Wayne, Ashe's two bedroom condominium seemed much more livable with her light touches here and there. Before he'd met her, he merely had a place to live, primarily filled with boxes. He was never home long enough to unpack, not even his favorite books or vintage records, which he collected. The only staple for him then was his bed where he primarily just slept every chance he got in between his hectic traveling and shooting schedule. If it weren't for his parents and niece visiting in March, he'd have given up the place.

But then Riley came into his life. And the moment he brought her home to his condo, she'd helped him fix it up. At the very least, everything that had been in boxes were now in their proper places, on bookshelves, kitchen cupboards, or wherever they were meant to be. She'd also added some indoor plants arranged by the patio door, which got most of the sun every morning and since then, they'd been thriving. The cat castle tree thing - he couldn't remember what it was called - was Ashe's idea. One day, he'd finally convince Riley to move in with him, and with her, Miss Bailey, of course, and the poor old cat wouldn't have to squeeze her big behind on her narrow window sill just to look outside. The cat tree thing was set close to the window, next to the indoor plants.

Ashe actually didn't mind staying in Riley's small studio apartment, but after a few months of trying to make 300 square feet of space comfortable enough for two people to live in, even for just overnight or a day or two, it was difficult to do much of anything without being in the others' face all the time. Besides, he couldn't deny how Riley always brightened up his condo just by being in it. She belongs here, he thought, now more than ever.

As Ashe stood facing the sliding glass doors leading to the patio, now covered in snow, he loosened up his neck with a few stretches, followed by his shoulders and then his torso. Then his hips and legs. He felt stiff, as if he'd just ran a few miles even though he hadn't been anywhere close to a treadmill in days. He'd been too busy practicing sword fighting scenes and the katas - the steps - that made each series of moves look as fluid as they did onstage. If he made just one misstep, it was a whack to the torso or an arm or a leg with metal weapons that, though they weren't sharp, were still dangerous enough to cut through skin. The katas required focus, one that Ashe knew he needed a lot of in the coming days and months.

He took in another deep breath, exhaled, and began running in place, allowing his legs to move like he were a boxer warming up for his next fight. It was enough to get his blood pumping, and the moment he felt warmed up enough, Ashe threw out a left hook, followed by a right undercut, his bare feet dancing the boxer's dance on the hardwood floor. He hated being his neighbor below him right now, but at the same time, Ashe couldn't allow himself to worry too much about that. He had other, more important, things to worry about and as he threw his punches in the air, his imaginary opponent dancing along with him, Ashe knew he simply had to work it all out of his system.

Fifteen minutes later, Ashe threw one last set of jabs against his imaginary opponent before doing a final set of stretches, pulling the back of his upper arm to stretch his triceps and then, shaking his wrists. He was barely perspiring, though he felt warm, his heart racing. Still, Ashe was no longer worried about his body, at least not at that moment. His thoughts were on other things, like the things that happened last night between him and Riley, as well as Catriona's reappearance back into his life. And then there was the revelation about the man who drew the pictures on Riley's story book.

He'd have to tackle each development one at a time, he thought, as he grabbed a towel from the bathroom, draping it over his neck and shoulders and made his way into his office. He sat down in front of his laptop, flipped the monitor open and switched it on. Ashe hoped that his suspicions were simply the product of an over-suspicious mind, and that he was merely over-reacting.

Catriona's presence at the restaurant may have simply been a coincidence, Ashe thought, but her dining partner remaining seated at the table with his cell phone in his hand surely wasn't. Ashe rarely ever followed up on her career since he'd walked out on her five years earlier, dragging a protesting Hazel through the crowd of Club Fet. She'd just turned eighteen then, of legal age to enter a fetish club, so it wasn't as if she shouldn't have been there. She'd even been dressed in a latex maid's outfit complete with a white apron, an alice band cap, even thigh-high stockings and four-inch high heels.

It was a surprise, darling, Catriona had told him when he first realized who her maid was for one of her nights at Club Fet as Mistress Cat. She was curious about the lifestyle. So I told her that I'd show her just how amazing it is - but only after she turned eighteen. She is old enough to be in here, you know. You can't keep her sheltered forever.

Ashe closed his eyes, forcing the memory away. He didn't want it to linger longer than necessary, though it was exactly what he needed to think clearly. Anger usually forced him to focus on things more sharply, like a hunter honing all his attention on his prey. And it was something he'd need to do from here on. He'd need the focus.

For if Catriona Marks was intent on tackling Hollywood, then Ashe knew what she was going to do next. She'd already made the first step at the restaurant, her claws already sharpened. So like Cat, Ashe thought. How he ended up with her so many years ago had mystified him after it was over, though he also had to be honest with himself, and admit that it was his hunger for fame and success that made him stay with her for as long as he did.

He even loved her enough to keep coming back to her after every argument they had, arguments that would end up in the most amazing sex, without needing whips, chains or latex costumes to give both of them what they wanted, Ashe thought, swiveling the chair so that he was facing away from the desk and looking out the window instead. There was something calming about watching the snow fall outside, something he needed to do to calm the rapid beating of his heart. For while anger was good in that it would allow him to focus on what to do next, it also meant that he was on the defensive. And it was one position that Ashe didn't want to be in, not against Catriona.

But it wasn't a position that Ashe wanted to be in either, not with Riley by his side. She'd simply become a casualty of friendly fire, just like Hazel had been.

Back then, he'd hinted to Catriona that he no longer derived any pleasure from their roles, for it had stopped being a game between them a year into the lifestyle. When she interpreted his lack of interest as boredom and brought two new slaves for him to play with, he walked out of the house they shared in Primrose Hill and slept on Ben's couch for four days till Catriona begged him to return home, promising never to do it again.

But she did do it again, though this time, it was taking in Ashe's sister, Hazel, as her latest maid-in-training. Ashe knew Hazel had always been curious, a rebellious teen-ager who kept their parents busy with her antics, like almost running away with a traveling circus because she fancied herself in love with the trapeze artist, and shaving off her hair in a mohawk because she had decided to relive the punk rock days that she felt was sorely missing in Yorkshire.

Ashe's phone rang then and swiveling his chair back around to face his desk, he smiled when he saw that it was Lance.

"Gran' mornin, 'a eur theur!" Lance exclaimed.

"It's just me, Lance," Ashe chuckled. "Riley's asleep."

"Poor lass be needin' her beauty sleep after all," Lance said. "Especially after meeting you-know-who last night."

Ashe sat up straight. "What do you know about it?"

"Let's see," Lance sighed, and Ashe could hear tap on a keyboard. "There's a blind item. Something about a British Dominatrix and her boy toy getting together, with possibly a submissive to share between them. Or should I just read your the headlines so far? I mean, they're just gossip and not the main story - not with this snow storm, but still -"

"Read them."

"Ashe Hunter and Catriona Marks Back Together? is the first one. Here's the second. Party of Three Perfect For NY Snow Storm. And the third which worries me and I hope you understand why, Ashe Hunter Enlists Mistress Cat For Love Lessons?"

"The only person who cares that Catriona Marks is, or was, a Dominatrix is Catriona Marks," Ashe said through gritted teeth. "She must have fed those headlines to those gossip sites herself."

"I agree," Lance said. "But she had help, and you won't be happy knowing who."

"Who?"

"Your former manager, Collette Williams," Lance replied. "One of these articles states that Collette is now managing Catriona's career, something about her realizing that, quote-unquote, 'she now needs to focus her efforts on making sure women, especially older actresses who are more likely to be passed over in favor of someone much younger, succeed in Hollywood,' end-of-quote."

Wonderful, Ashe thought. While Collette wasn't exactly lying about the truth behind what Hollywood executives preferred regarding actors in general, he knew it was more a ploy to make Catriona's plight more sympathetic. Collette's involvement also made the whole thing involving Catriona more complicated.

He had fired Collette the day after learning that she had been responsible for moving Riley out of the apartment she and Gareth used to share together three years earlier. When Riley returned to the apartment, all that was left was a mattress and a bag with $20,000 in cash. It had all been Collette's doing, choosing to keep $80,000 of $100,000 Clint had intended for Gareth and Riley to make a new beginning in Los Angeles, all planned behind their back after Clint discovered that Gareth fathered the triplets. Clint's desire to have the source of the money hidden from both Riley and Gareth gave Collette the perfect reason to pocket majority of it, reasoning that it was her "babysitting fee" if she had to get rid of the girlfriend to get Gareth Roman to the top of every director's list. Unfortunately, it also meant that Riley return to live with her father in Jackson Heights with disastrous results. She overdosed on heroin almost a year later, with Paige finding her on the bathroom floor unconscious and Sid sitting in his regular chair in the living room, oblivious.

"So, current manager, what do you have in mind?" Ashe asked. He still had to take care of telling Riley what her father told him. And he wanted to do it as soon as she awoke.

"I don't really know," Lance said. "How bad do you think this Dom thing will affect your career? Being your manager, I have my answer, but I still want to know what you think."

"It doesn't matter how it will impact my career, for good or bad," Ashe replied.

"Any publicity is good publicity."

"Exactly," Ashe said. "What matters to me is that Riley will not end up being in Catriona's sights in the process. Collette must already hate Riley for being the reason I let her go."

"So I gather Riley knows then?" Lance asked. "About your past with Cat."

"She does now."

There was a pause. "And?"

"Let's just say that I was almost back on the market this morning," Ashe said as Lance cursed under his breath. "But it's part of my past, Lance. I can't exactly erase it."

"I know that, but does she know about Hazel?" Lance continued. "Does she know how Cat has no qualms about who gets hurt as long as she gets what she wants?"

"No," Ashe said, exhaling. "But just as Cat didn't get what she wanted then, she's not getting whatever it is she wants now either. Not if I can help it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Oh my, is Mistress Cat making her move already? Ashe better have all his ducks in a row! BTW, Just wanted to let you guys know, too, that from here on the journey will get a bit edgier. Also, if you've already read Loving Ashe, you'll notice that there's a lot of rehashing of events from that book and that's only keep everything else happening in perspective - and to jog my memory just a bit.

Thank you so much for reading and if you enjoyed this and other chapters, please do vote or comment. I'd love to know what you think. Did you know that every vote you cast for a story helps that story reach more readers? In this case, your own followers get to see what you think is read-worthy!