(Sorry if there's grammer problems I wrote this at like 11 o'clock last night )

(Also song the side is Ellie Goulding's 'Love Me Like You Do' I know it has nothing to do with the chapter but I was listening to it on repeat while writing this. I'm in love with it and I can't wait to see Fifty Shades of Grey!!!!! Enjoy ;) )

Picture on side of Ashton's car. Its such a nice car. ---->

Layla's POV

The hand came down and smacked hard against my cheek. My head snapped back and I could feel my cheek swelling and burning. Tears brimmed my eyes but I held them in, I couldn't let them see me cry or they would do it twice as hard.

"You are such a waste of space. I don't know why your mother and I even had you!" The voice of my father said as he stood beside me. Before I could even look up his fist connected to my stomach and I slumped over all the breath in my body escaping me. I fell to my knees trying to gulp in some air as my father stood over me with a cruel smile across his face. I knew my cheek would be bruised in the morning and that I would have a pretty good size bruise on my stomach. Although the pain was nothing new to me I never got use to it.

"I think it's time you learn what your place really is." He said and I saw his feet move away from me. Instead of relaxing I tensed up even more as what he said ran through my mind. A deep wrenching feeling wedged itself in my stomach as my mind came up with what he would do. I heard his feet shuffling back to me and my eyes shot up. I bit back a scream as my father held a big cooking knife in his hand. As he advanced on me I couldn't stop myself from moving backwards away from him. He really has lost his mind this time. I thought. Just as he stood a foot away from me I opened my mouth and let out a screamed.

I jolted awake as I felt arms shaking me. My eyes snapped open and I moved back on the bed.

"No, no don't hurt me!" I yelled as I kept backing up until my back hit something. Turning my head I saw it was a head board. I felt the bed dip and I felt my heart speed up.

"Layla it's okay, it's just me." A familiar soothing voice said. Once I heard Ashton's voice, my heart seemed to calmed down. I couldn't stop myself from going over to Ashton and wrapping my arms around him. His cologne surrounded me and I breathed it in deeply. "It's okay." He said as he rubbed my back in circles.

I haven't had that dream in almost 4 months. Why all the sudden? I thought as I calmed down. After I had calmed down I laid still in Ashton's arms not wanting to move incase it ruined the perfect moment.

"Are you okay?" Ashton asked as he still rubbed my back. I nodded into his chest starting to feel embarrassed. "Do you want to tell me what happened today?" I knew I had to explain what happened to Ashton but I knew telling him would wreck the peacefulness around us. I eventually sighed and pulled out of his embrace. My body seemed to go cold as soon as his arms fell from me and I had to stop myself from launching back into his arms.

"Well... I went to work today and everything was fine even after I had to take someone else's shift. It was getting close to the end of my shift when a guy smacked my ass. It's not like it hasn't happened before but this guy got up and kept coming onto me so I did the only thing that came to mind; I kick him in his... private area." I explained staring down at my hands. "My boss saw and told me to follow him to talk. Well long story short he wanted me to do something in order to keep my job and I said no and quit. Then I called you." I finished trailing off. I waited for Ashton to say something but he stayed silent. Maybe I shouldn't have told him. Does he think that's a terrible excuse to quit? I asked myself.

After about 5 minutes of silence I looked up not being able to handle him not saying anything. Surprised I saw him sitting there with his hands in fists and his jaw clenched almost painfully.

"Ashton?" I asked slightly scared. "Ashton?"

"Did he touch you?" He finally bit out, his voice hard and tight.

"What? No." That seemed to calm him down slightly but not much. "Ashton what's wrong?"

"I will destroy that man."

"Stop. Ashton it's fine. Nothing happened to me. Plus I quit. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"I don't care if your fine or not! That man has no right to ask or treat you that way. And yes you are never going back to that place." Ashton said. I wanted to argue with him but I knew that he wouldn't budge and it would only make things worse, so instead I stayed silent waiting for him to cool off. My stomach than took the opportunity to make mating calls. My cheeks flared up as Ashton looked down at me in amusement.

"Hungry?" He asked a small smile on his face. Seeing him smile made him instantly 100 times hotter. His blue eyes brightened up. I nodded not being able to find my voice. "Lets go make something." He got off the bed and held his hand out for me, I instantly grabbed his warm big hand and let him pull me off the bed. He kept his hand in mine as we made our way to his kitchen. Walking through the door I was once again hit with awe at his beautiful kitchen. "What would you like?" His voice interrupted me gawking.

"Um, how about spaghetti?" I asked hoping it wouldn't be to much trouble. For some odd reason it sounded good to me at the moment.

"Fine with me." He said as he started to move around the kitchen gracefully. By looking at him and seeing him grabbing what he needed I knew he was familiar with a kitchen. For some reason that surprised me. I never would have pictured Ashton Miller as a chef in a million years. Again it made him even hotter. I felt awkward just standing there and staring at him.

"Need any help?" I asked hoping he would say yes.

"Sure. Here is the pan, can you fill it up with water?" He asked handing me a pan. Smiling I took it and started filling it up. As I did my thing Ashton was opening cans of tomato sauce and pouring it into another pan.

"Are you making homemade spaghetti sauce?" I asked bringing the now almost full pan to the stove and setting it down.

"Yes. I think its better than a can."

"Me too." I agreed with him. "Where are the spaghetti noodles?"

"Over there top shelf." He said gesturing to a cabinet with his head.

Opening it up I saw the noodles and reached up to grab them but found I couldn't reach. I tried again and than tried hopping but my fingers barely made it. Suddenly I felt a warm body pressed against my back and an arm reaching past mine to grab a package of noodles. I felt Ashton's strong chest pressed against my back and felt my knees go weak. "Here you go." He whispered in my ear his voice low and husky.

He stepped away from me and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I was breathing slightly heavy and my knees felt weak as I walked over to my pan and set the package down. Something about Ashton made me want to jump him then and there. After cooling off, I turned around to see him stirring something and moving his head to an unknown beat. Smiling I slide up behind him and stood on my tippy toes to see over his shoulder.

"What you doing?" I asked into his ear. He jumped slightly but than pretended like he didn't.

"Mixing. Care to help?"

"Sure. What do you need?" I walk to his side and saw bunch of spices sitting around his bowl.

"Can you start putting some spices in here while I stir it?" Nodding I reached for the garlic first and starting sprinkling in. I never really measured stuff like this and it seemed Ashton didn't either for he didn't say anything about it. We did that in comfortable silence. After stirring in the spices I put in Ashton lifted the spoon to me. "Taste it." He said. Smiling I leaned towards the spoon but instead of licking the spoon I put some on my finger and tasted it. It needed something so I grabbed more stuff and put it in than tasted it again.

"Good." I said looking up at Ashton.

"Good." He repeated after me and went and put the pot on the stove warming it up. Following his lead I turn on the burner under the pot full of water ready to start the noodles. While waiting I leaned against the side of the counter and looked at Ashton. He was still in his work clothes but had his suit jacket off and his grey button up shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows showing his strong forearms, if that was even a thing. He had a slight stubble gracing his cheeks and his brown hair was messy like he had ran his fingers through it multiple times.

If you had to ask me why I called Ashton instead of Kacey I couldn't tell you. Even though I had just met him I felt like I knew him and could trust him. I knew I should be hesitant to do so because I didn't know what he true intentions were. Everything inside of me screamed that I should run away as far as I can before I get hurt, but I couldn't make myself. The longer I stared at him the more I felt insignificant. I felt so plain and poor against Ashton. He was so handsome and could have any girl he wanted, I couldn't wrap my head around why he would be wasting his time on someone like me. Someone so boring and broken.

"Layla?" Ashton's voice said my name breaking me out of my self-drowning thoughts.

"Hmmm." I shook my head and looked at him.

"Ready to eat?" He didn't bring up that I zoned out and I was glad. I didn't want to explain how I was thinking about how hot he is and how I am not.

"Yes, please." I nodded and took the plate he offered to me. At the mention of food again my stomach seemed to have awaken and was making gurgling noises. I blushed as Ashton chuckled at my stomach but he silently spooned a handful of noodles on my plate and sauce. It looked like a lot but I knew I would be eating it all. I stood off to the side waiting for Ashton not knowing if he wanted us to eat somewhere besides at the bar.

"We'll just eat here at the bar since it is only the two of us." He said reading my mind. As I walked to a seat Ashton grabbed up napkins and silverware.

"Sorry I would have grabbed some." I said apologetically as I slipped into stool.

"No your fine." He set down a napkin and fork for me and put his stuff down beside me. "Would you care for a drink?"

"Sure."

"I have beer, wine, water, or juice if you'd like." Deciding that beer didn't really go with out meal I opted for the wine. He shot me a smile as he grabbed an already open bottle from the fridge and 2 glasses. Once he was seated beside me he poured us some.

"Cheers." He said his blue eyes piercing my grey ones.

"Cheers." Our glasses clinked and we both took a sip our eyes not wavering from each others. After an intense eye staring we both turned to our food and dug in. Even though there was nothing special with the spaghetti it tasted amazing. Maybe it was because I was so hungry and hadn't eaten all day or that Ashton made it, but either way I had to stop a moan from escaping my lips as I ate.

We were silent as we ate but it wasn't an awkward silence. It seemed we were both comfortable with each other that we didn't need to fill the air with constant chatter. Every time Ashton would move I would catch a drift of his cologne. I don't know what he used but whatever it was it became my new favourite scent.

"So what are you going to do now that you don't have a job?" Ashton asked snapping me out of my thoughts. I found myself closer to him than I should and moved back. I took a sip of my wine before I answered hoping to win some composure back after practically smelling him.

"I don't know. I guess I better start job hunting tomorrow." I said and frowned at the thought. I've always hated job hunting and interviews. I was never really good at them and usually messed them up and wouldn't get a call back. I was actually surprised when I got a call saying I was hired at the River Cafe.

"Well... are you good at making phone calls?" Ashton asked suddenly.


"I-I guess." I answered caught off guard.

"How about running errands for someone, keeping track of schedules, following orders?" He listed off. The last one sounded very kinky to me but I quickly got my mind out of the gutter. I nodded still confused. Ashton leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hand across his jaw.

"Well it seems that I have an opening at my company. Would that be of interest to you at all?" I sat there in shock. Was he offering me a job?!

"I uh," I cleared my throat and continued when I found my voice. "Yes that would be great!" I practically shouted at him. I jumped out of my chair and wrapped my arms around his neck. "Ashton that would be amazing." Working at a company that large and well known would be amazing even if it was some low level job like being a receptionist. When Kacey and I were looking Ashton up we read about his company and I knew he paid his employees very well and everyone wanted at job there as well.

"But you haven't even heard what the position is." Ashton said in my ear as I tightly gripped him. Realizing he was right I pulled away embarrassed at myself for jumping to conclusions.

"Sorry." I got back in my seat and calmed down.

"I am looking for an assistant who will be able to handle all my appointments, take care of my schedules, do paperwork, come to meetings with me. They will practically be with me everyday and night. This person will have to know my company almost inside an out. Do you think you could do that?" He asked his voice serious.

I sat there and thought about it. I actually knew I would say yes the moment he mention having to be with him everyday and night. Other than being able to spend almost every waking moment with him; could I do the job? I think I could. I'm very efficient and when I set my mind to something I will do it wether it takes me forever or not. I knew it would be a lot of work and would be quite hard at time but I also knew I couldn't let this opportunity pass me either. Plus whenever I get another job this would look very good on my resume. I made my decision then and there.

"Yes I can." I said confidently or at least I tried to sound. Ashton stared long and hard at me almost making me squirm in my seat. Finally he nodded.

"Good. You start tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!" So soon?

"Yes. I want you there at 6:00 sharp." His voice was all business and I didn't even try to argue about how early that was. Looking up I saw it was 9 o'clock at night. Oh god! Kacey's probably wondering where I am. I thought. Seeing as the air had turned from fun and light to business I slide off my stool.

"I guess I better get going than." I said sending him a small smile. The feeling had changed drastically in just a short amount of time. Ashton just nodded and got up too.

"Oh wait what about the dishes." I said after I stood up.

"It's fine I'll take care of them when I get back." Ashton said.

"I don't want to leave you with all these dishes." I shot back looking at the pans and our dishes on the counter.

"Don't worry I'll have my maid clean it up in the morning. Lets go Ill drive you home." He said his hand pressed against my lower back. I finally caved as he lead me to the front door.

As we reached the front door I saw my bag hanging on a hook. Knowing that Ashton put it there sent a small smile on my face as I grab it and hung it over my shoulder. We walked in silence all the way down to the garage level and to his car. I tried not to stare in awe at his black 911 Carrera Porsche. I knew just a little bit amount of cars to know this was a very nice car and super expensive. Being a gentlemen he opened the door for me and I slide inside gawking at the interior. Black leather seats adored the seats and the state of the art stereo system was installed. People were right this car did scream luxury and sleekness. Ashton slide into the drivers seat and started the car. The engine purred to life and rubbled underneath me.

"Nice car." I commented as he back out and exited the garage.

"Thank you its a 911-" He started but I cut him off.

"Carrera Porsche." I finished.

"You know cars?" He asked his voice full of surprise.

"Only a little. My ex-boyfriend was really into them so I picked up on a few things."

"Oh." The mention of an ex-boyfriend seemed to shut Ashton up as he drove me back to my apartment in silence. Instead of wondering what pissed him off I stared at the window. How did he change from becoming happy to pissed off so fast? I wondered. Only after a few times being with him I've started to see he can change moods at the drop of a hat. Whether that's a good thing or not, I don't know. We pulled up to my apartment and I unbuckled myself. We walked inside and up to my door, it was almost like déjà vu as we stopped in the same spot as yesterday. It was hard to believe just yesterday I went on my first date with him and now here we are after him picking me up and consoling me, to offering me a job. What a change in only one day.

"Well thank you for everything today Ashton. Thank you for picking me up, listening to me, making me dinner, and offering me a job. I don't know how I will ever be able to repay you." I said sincerely. I seemed to shake him out of his weird faze and he turned to me with a soft expression.

"Your welcome Layla. You can always call me if you need anything."

"Thank you. I guess I'll see you tomorrow bright an early." I said with a grin.

"Yes you will. Goodnight Layla." Ashton said as he leaned down and kissed the top of my forehead. Even though it wasn't on my lips I could still feel my skin tingling. A lazy smile appeared on my face as he pulled away. "Goodnight." With that he turned and walked away.

I turned and opened my door and slipped inside. All the lights were off in the house so I quietly made my way to my room and set my stuff down. After plugging in my phone to charge I quickly washed my face and changed out of my clothes and into PJs. Setting an alarm for 4:45 am I slide under my covers. I quickly drifted off to sleep as I thought about Ashton and what would happen tomorrow.

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Hey sorry I haven't updated in alittle bit! My classes started back up last week and I've been busy adjusting from my long break and what not. I am super sorry this chapter sucks! I honestly dont like it but after seeing so many people reading my story lately and how last chapter got quite a bit of votes/reads I wanted to post something.

Please let me know what you think and if anything should be changed or added or even if you want something to happen in the next chapters. I love hearing what you guys think and if you have any ideas about anything feel free to comment them!!!

Anyways I hope you guys semi enjoy this, I will update in the next couple of days again :)

VOTE, COMMENT, and READ!!!

<3

-Kendoll