At the beginning there is a little....incident. So if you do not like anything sexual than I advise you skip the first beginning to almost Ashton's POV. I didn't make it too bad but just for those light hearted people.

Song on the side is amazing! I'll fight by Daughtry. Thought it fit Ashton's thoughts towards Layla :)

HAPPY READING

Layla's POV

"Miss excuse me!" A voice yelled two tables down from where I currently was. Sighing under my breath I turned and shot a smile at the customer.

"Yes? How can I help you." I asked acting polite when all I wanted to do was yell. It was 11 o'clock and I was ready to go home.

"I ordered medium rare for my steak and it is well done." The man said holding up his plate and staring at it like it was a live octopus or something. He wasn't even my table. I thought bitterly.

"Oh I am sorry sir I will go and get you another steak properly made." I said grabbing the plate.

"Yes you will and I will not be paying for it either." The man said rather rudely. I just nodded while biting my tongue. I walked to the kitchen and asked the cook to make me another steak and made sure it was medium rare. 5 minutes later the bell rang and I grabbed the steak. After dropping it back off at the rude mans table I made my rounds again seeing if anyone needed anything. Just when I thought I had a few minutes of freedom Kayleen, the hostess, called my name.

"Layla I hate to do this to you but Kim can't come in today. I need you to take her shift." Kayleen said her eyes pleading for me to say yes.

"Whats's her shift?" I asked sighing.

"11 to 4." I inwardly groaned. Great just great.

"Yeah fine I will." I said even though I knew I would regret it.

"Thank you Layla you are the best! Her tables are 2, 4, 6, 14, and 17." Nodding at her I wrote them down my little notepad and got back to work.

4 hours had past and I was so ready to go home. My feet hurt and my head was pounding. Taking a deep breath I picked up my tray full of food and left the kitchen heading to my table. Just as I set the food down and was heading back to the I felt a big hand grab my ass. Whirling around I saw a man at one of the tables smirking at me. I narrowed me eyes at him. He wasn't to bad looking with dark brown hair, brown eyes and a strong jawline but there was something about his smile that wasn't right.

"Excuse me." I bit out and turned back around. Inside I was fuming.

"Little lady where are you going?" The man called out. I ignored him and kept walking. I didn't get too far until a hand wrapped itself around my wrist. The man spun me around and pulled me right up against him. "You can't walk away from me pretty little lady."

"Let me go." I hissed out feeling people starting to stare at us. I didn't want to cause a scene so I tried pulling away from him but he had a good grip on me.

"You can't go walking around in those sexy little shorts and not expect someone to notice." These kinds of moments really made me hate my job. I felt like I was a stripper at some club instead at a expensive restaurant. With the guys hold on me tightening I could feel myself starting to panic. I did the only thing that came to my mind even though I knew I would get in trouble for it. I brought my knee up and kneed the man in the groin. His hold instantly let me go as he fell to the ground holding himself. I took a step back feeling myself shaking slightly.

"Don't ever touch me!" I hissed loudly at the guy. As I opened my mouth to say something else a loud voice boomed over everyones sudden chatter. I gulped and turned around seeing my boss, Joseph, standing there and glaring at me. Shit. I thought. With a jerk of my bosses head I knew he wanted me to follow him to his office. Putting my head down I weaved my way through the tables and to his office. Out of all the days to be here Joseph had to come in. He held the door open for me as I slide inside an took a seat in a chair.

"Ms. Kingston, or can I call you Layla?" Joseph asked sitting down across from me behind his desk.

"Layla is fine." I almost stuttered out.

"Layla, what you did back there was unprofessional. We do not hurt our customers." I opened my mouth to protest but he lifted his hand to stop me. "I don't care what he did, you should not have kneed him. Now 1 of 2 things can happen right now." He said looking straight at me. I watched as his eyes traveled down from my face to my chest; and if the desk wasn't there probably even lower. He flicked his eyes back up to my face and leaned back in his chair.

"You need this job pretty bad don't you?" He asked intertwining his hands in front of him.

"Y-yes sir." I stuttered out.

"Well in order for me to let you stay here after hurting a special customer I'm going to need you to do something." The longer he stared at me the more uncomfortable I felt. Something didn't feel right about this. "You see...I am a lonely man and every once in a while I need someone to take care of me." He said drawing out the 'care' part. I instantly knew where this was going from the hungry look in his eyes.

"Are you asking me to sleep with you?!" I asked curling my hands into fists in my lap. This man really wanted me to sleep with him to keep my job?!

"I wouldn't say it that way more of a agreement to help one another out." The way he said it was like he was proposing a deal to a big investor. Suddenly a wave of anger washed over me. I quickly stood up feeling my face turning red with anger.

"Listen to me Joseph" I spit out his name "I will not sleep with you to save my job. I don't need it that bad. I am done with this place. I don't need some disgusting, fat, old, perv trying to make me sleep with him just because I was defending myself from being touched. I quit!" I yelled at him. Turning on my heel I stormed out of his office and towards the workers lockers to grab my stuff.

My body was shaking from how anger I was. Ripping open my locker I grabbed my bag and slammed it shut. To mad to say goodbye to my friends here I walked out the door glad to be done with this place. The further I walked the more my eyes started to water and before I knew it I had tears rolling down my cheeks. With shaky hands I reached for my phone. For some reason I called the person I least expected to call. I tried to stop my crying as my phone rung but they wouldn't stop.

"Hello?" Answered a familiar deep voice.

"A-Ashton... I need you."

**************

Ashton's POV

I got up the next morning and headed to work slightly later than normal. The whole ride there I kept thinking of Layla and what I'm going to do when I see her next. I was seriously tempted to drop by her work today and talk to her but I knew that would just piss her off even more by doing that. Since when have you cared about other people beside yourself? A voice in my head asked. Ignoring my thoughts I walked onto the level where my office was.

"Good morning Mr. Miller." A feminine voice said to my right. Standing next to me was a small blonde women who I think worked in marketing but I had no idea.

"Good morning." I greeted her. She was wearing a very tight pencil shirt and a almost see through white blouse with a bright pink bra underneath. Her face was caked in makeup making her look like a stripper or something. Normally I would flirt and sleep with her before ignoring her but ever since I met Layla I couldn't look at another woman without comparing them to Layla; and none seemed to match up. Walking past her I headed to my office.

"Morning Judy." I said smiling at my receptionist. Judy has been my receptionist since I came on board at the company. She was in her late 50's and had a few strands of grey in her hair. She was like a mother to me, making sure I was on time for everything and always keeping me in line.

"Good Morning Ashton." She was also the only person I let call me Ashton at the office. "How are you?"

"I am doing good. How are you? How is Bill?" I asked. Bill was her husband and they have been married for 45 years. They met in high school and married soon after graduating.

"I am good as is Bill." She said smiling up at me. "Oh you have a board meeting in 15 minutes."

"Okay thank you Judy." I smiled back and headed inside my office. My office was pretty big and had an incredible view of downtown New York. The view was even better at nighttime when the whole city was lit up.

The day flew by pretty fast and soon enough it was 3 o'clock. I had meetings after meetings all day and each one was something different. I finally sat down at my desk and rubbed my forehead. I could feel a headache forming. I looked down and checked my phone wondering why I haven't heard from Layla today. All day I kept glancing at my phone making sure I didn't miss anything from her. Maybe she is really mad at me. I thought to myself. Just as I picked up my phone to send her a text my phone starting buzzing in my hand. Seeing Layla's name pop up I answered it.

"Hello?" I answered. I heard sniffling through the phone and immediately straighten up.

"A-Ashton...I need you." Layla whispered. Instantly I was up and out of my chair grabbing my suit jacket.

"Baby where are you?" I asked not liking the sound of her crying.

"Outside of w-work."

"I'm on my way." I hung up and left my office. "Judy I need you to cancel anything else for the rest of the day." I said over my shoulder as I walked to the elevator. Pressing the button multiple times it finally opened. Not giving a chance for anyone else to get on I pressed the close button and waited as it carried me down to the lobby. On the way down I called Clark and told him to meet me downstairs in 2 minutes. Once the doors open I walked briskly to the front doors and saw Clark waiting there. Sliding inside I practically shouted at him.

"To The River Cafe and hurry." Clark nodded and drove to Layla's work. I ignored the annoying voice in my head telling me I am stupid for rushing for to see if Layla is okay. Before I knew it Clark came to a stop in front of The River Cafe. I jumped out and looked around trying to find Layla. I turned to my right and saw a little bit ahead of me was a hunched over figure. It moved and I saw a flash of brown hair. Next thing I knew my legs were carrying me over to Layla quickly.

"Layla!" I shouted as I got nearer to her. Just as I was a foot away from her she ran over to me and practically jumped into my arms. Her arms wrapped around my neck as mine went to her waist. I felt her body shaking as she started crying making my neck wet. "Shhhh." I said rubbing her back. I have never in my life comforted a crying woman but with Layla it seemed to come easy to me. "It's okay, love."

As we stood there for a little while I felt her tears coming to a stop. With her arms still wrapped around my neck I swung her up into my arms and carried her bridal style to the car. Clark stepped out and opened the door for me. It was awkward getting into the car with her in my arms but I made do. Laying her in my lap I mouthed to Clark to take us to my apartment. Gently rubbing her back I felt her body relax. As we crossed the bridge into downtown we hit traffic but that was okay with me. The longer Layla was in my lap the more I felt complete, a foreign feeling to me. I looked down at her and saw she was asleep. Seeing her looking so peaceful pulled at my heart strings. She looked so innocent, and delicate as she laid in my arms. Her cheeks were stained with tears and her hair looked like she had pulled it but to me she looked even more beautiful.

I moved away a loose strand of hair that fell from her pony tail. What happened to make her cry? I wondered. Whatever or whoever it was I will make sure pays. No one will ever make Layla cry. I said to myself. The longer I looked down at her the more I became certain that I will not let any harm come to Layla. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I updated again!! Wow thats twice in like a week I think :) I hope you like this chapter. I kind of dont like the beginning but towards the end I really like it. I know I made Ashton a little girly but in the next chapters you will see how he acts one way with Layla and how he acts around others aka work or other girls. Let me know what you think!!! :)

If anyone comes up with who could play or thinks would be good to play Layla just tell me, I could use the help!!! Also if people find good songs to fit the chapter I will love to hear them! I always have a hard time finding songs for some reason :)

VOTE, COMMENT, AND READ!!!!!!

<3

-Kendoll