“So, you helped her?”
“Yeah. I…” I ran my palm through my hair. “We kind of knew each other before that. She works for Jax, and I…fuck…I…we kissed and—”
“Yeah, I get it,” Dad interrupted. “You don’t need to say anything else.”
I shuffled my feet on the floor, waiting to hear what else he was going to say, but when he was silent, I asked, “Where is she now?”
“In your room,” Dad answered. “Fuck, Asher. Why didn’t you tell me what the hell was going on? I could have helped—Ford could have helped.”
I let my head drop back. “It wasn’t my place to tell you. And it’s not something you tend to say when you introduce a girl to your parents. Fuck.” I slapped my palm on the wall. “None of this was meant to happen. I promised to keep her safe and then left her there because fuckin’ Jax called me.”
“It’s not your fault,” Dad ground out, but he could say that all he wanted, and it wouldn’t make a lick of difference. I always walked her up to her apartment, and if I would have, this probably wouldn’t have happened. But then her ex had been determined, that much was clear. If it wouldn’t have been then, it could have been anywhere, anyplace, and I may not have been able to turn up. It could have been worse…so much worse.
“You know who the ex is, don’t you?” Dad asked, his tone lower now. I didn’t bother answering him because I didn’t give a flying fuck who he was. “His dad is a judge.” My back straightened at his words. “I’m guessing you’re listening intently now,” Dad commented, and I could just imagine his brows raised. “I’m in touch with my contacts, but I have no doubt if this judge has his way, you’ll go down for what you did to his son.”
“He fuckin’ deserved it,” I growled. “He fuckin’ raped her, Dad. Raped her. He took her choices away. He’s been taking her choices away for god knows how long.”
“I get it, son, I do. But you need to be real goddamn clever right now. You have people on your side and evidence to back you up, but I need you to be prepared for what could happen. You might not get out of there this week.”
“I have to,” I gritted out. “I can’t stay in here. Elodie needs me. I…I can’t fuckin’ stay in here, Dad.”
“I’m working on it, Asher,” Dad said, his voice tired. “I’m not gonna let you go down for protecting what’s yours. You should know that by now.” He cleared his throat. “Ford just pulled up. I’m about to fill him in.”
“Dad…” My eyes widened. “You can’t tell him what happened to Elodie. It’s not your place to—”
“Elodie has already said she’ll do anything to help.” I heard his breath over the line and then a car door closing. “That was before she went and got into your bed.” I frowned at the way he was talking. “She’s not doing good. She hasn’t moved out of there since we got home early this morning.”
“She just needs time,” I said, hoping that was all it was. She’d been through so much in the last twenty-four hours. She needed to process it all. She needed to heal. And I was stuck in here, not able to do anything but rely on my mom and dad to take care of her the best they could. I was trapped inside this damn place with no idea when I’d be getting out.
“That’s what your mom said too, but fuck, I’ve never been good at this kind of stuff, and now I gotta sit back and let Ford try to handle it and—”
“Really, Dad?” I shook my head but couldn’t help the quirk of my lips. “I’m stuck in this place and you’re complaining because you gotta let Ford handle this instead of you?”
“Shit, yeah, you’re right.” He chuckled and the sound relieved some of the tension in my body. I wasn’t sure whether I felt better now that I’d spoken to Dad and knew Elodie was safe at their house, or worse because I couldn’t get to her. “I’m gonna fill Ford in. When you calling next? I’ll try and get Elodie on the phone.”
“Tomorrow.” I glanced over to the last room on the bottom row and saw Artie standing there watching me. There was an edge to him, but for some unknown reason, I trusted him. I knew I shouldn’t, not in a place like this, but my instincts were never wrong. “Look after her, Dad.”
“I will. Make sure you look after yourself.”
“I will.” I placed the receiver down on the phone, sauntered over to my bed on the floor, and scooped it up. If being in here longer than a few days was a real possibility, then I may as well get comfortable in a room instead of the open floor.
Chapter Three
ELODIE
The sun shone through the gap in the curtains. Birds chirped outside the window. Voices drifted from downstairs. The world was still spinning. Life was continuing. But I didn’t move from the position I was in. Asher’s childhood ship bed had become my safe haven, and I was afraid to leave, even to use the bathroom. It had only been days since Asher had brought me in here while the cookout was happening, and I tried to keep my mind occupied with the memory—anything to not remember what happened after we’d left.
“And this is my bedroom,” Asher said, his large hand encasing mine. It was so big and strong, and the calluses on his fingers scraping against my palms had me shivering. There was something about the smooth mixed in with the rough that ignited a fire within me.
I smiled up at him, still not taking in the room we’d walked into. I could have been in the most beautiful place in the world, but it wouldn’t have compared to him. Big, protective, handsome, and sexy. He was the full package—the perfect package—and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was an illusion. Was it all a trick? No. I shook my head. My gut told me what you saw was what you got with Asher.
I’d always known there was something eerie with Knox. There was a darkness to him, even when he was a kid. I should have known back then that it didn’t matter what I did and how much I followed Knox’s rules. I should have known he wouldn’t let me walk away from him. I’d been too stupid and blind to see it—no, I hadn’t been blind, I’d chosen to ignore all the warnings. It was my fault. I’d allowed him to continue. But then I’d tried to put a stop to it. I’d been on a mission to escape the bad in my life, but I hadn’t entertained what would come from it. I hadn’t thought it through the way I did with everything else.
I’d acted on my instincts, and now I was paying for it.
I’d chosen the short straw in life, and this was what I had to deal with. Everything happened for a reason, right? I’d suffered at the hands of people who should have loved me the most, and it had all led me to Asher. So maybe he was my end point. Maybe all roads led to him and the happiness I craved but had never gotten.
“So, what do you think?”
I shook my head, trying to concentrate on what he was showing me. He pointed to the bed, and my lips lifted into the biggest grin. “It’s a ship.” My eyes widened, and I stepped away from Asher, letting his hand whisper across mine until we were no longer touching. When he’d said downstairs that he had a pirate bed, I didn’t know what I imagined, but it wasn’t this. There was a literal ship in the middle of the room and a huge mattress inside it. “Holy shit.” I paused at the edge and moved my fingers across the smooth wood. There were three steps which led onto the bed.
“Cool, right?” I turned to face Asher who was also grinning. “Me and Belle used to use it as our pirate ship when we were kids.” I raised a brow, and he must have known what I was thinking because he said, “Fine, we used it as adults too.”
“When was the last time you did that?” I placed my hand on my hip and tilted my head to the side, waiting for him to answer, but when he looked to the side and focused on the wall, a laugh escaped my throat. The kind of laugh which spoke of freedom and happiness. Asher did that. Asher made me happy, and he had no idea, not until I blurted out, “You make me happy.”
He whipped his head around to face me, his brown eyes darkening at my words. “Say that again.”
“You make me happy,” I repeated, leaning my back on the side of the ship.
He sauntered toward me, slow and intent, an
d my heart sped up. No one had made me feel the way he did, not in that moment, and not in any moment since.
The voices downstairs became louder, but still I didn’t look away from the gap in the curtains. The sun shone high in the sky, so I was guessing it was the middle of the day. I wasn’t sure what day, but I knew every moment which dragged by was another moment Asher was in county jail and I was here, in his childhood bed, his comforter wrapped tightly around me. I was safe here, in this room. Asher surrounded every inch of the place, which was why I didn’t want to leave.
It was dangerous out there. Scary and dreadful. But inside these four walls, nothing could touch me. Nothing could hurt me.
Not physically anyway.
Memories threatened to haunt me, but I tried my hardest to push them all back and only think about the good things. To only stay in my bubble and let happiness consume me.
His hand slipped around my waist and he pulled me against him. “Fuck,” he whispered and bent down, so his face was level with mine. “You turn me upside down, Elodie.” I placed my hand on his chest and felt his heart racing. “I’ve never felt like this before.” It was a fact—a confession.
“Neither have I,” I told him because it was the truth. We’d both been skirting around our feelings because it hadn’t been the right time. But now…now it was our time. Our time to be with each other. Our time to show each other how we felt. Which was why I lifted up onto my tiptoes and pressed my lips against his. I knew we couldn’t go too far, not with his family downstairs, but his tongue swiping over my lips demanded more from me, and I was willing to give it to him. I’d give him every piece of me knowing he’d handle me with care.
“Asher,” I groaned, letting my head drop back and relishing in his lips as they fluttered over the soft skin on my neck.
“Yeah, sweetheart?” he murmured in my ear, and I shivered from his warm breath.
“I need…” I wasn’t sure what I needed, but his fingers flipping open the button on my jeans and undoing my zip was enough for me to realize exactly what it was I wanted. I wanted him. All of him. But most importantly, he wanted me too.
His hand slipped down the front of my jeans and my eyes fluttered closed as his finger connected with my clit. The bundle of nerves pulsed with each of his flicks, and I knew I wouldn’t last—couldn’t last—not when he was touching me. Not when he was playing my body like a seasoned musician.
Footsteps echoed up the stairs, and my pulse raced at the sound. Logically I knew it wasn’t anyone who had come to hurt me, but that didn’t mean I could control my body’s reaction. My anxiety was at an all-time high, and I had no idea how to make it go away.
I moved my hand to my chest, trying to calm my beating heart, and winced from the move. My body ached in places I had no idea it could, and the bruising marring my skin was dark and deadly looking. But I couldn’t think about that right then. I couldn’t remember the way it disrupted my pale tone and drew a map of the violence.
“That’s it, sweetheart,” he ground out, his voice low and gruff, and it was all I needed to let myself go. To let myself feel every ounce of the pleasure he’d given me. I clutched on to his shoulders as he slipped his hand free and wrapped his arms around me, and then my back was hitting the mattress and my jeans were being shucked off me and thrown across the room.
I chuckled as he struggled to get one of my tennis shoes off. “Fuck it, they can stay on.” I glanced down at him and my bare legs complete with shoes on my feet, and even though the sight was comical, I didn’t laugh because he was yanking down his jeans and moving on top of me. “I can’t get e-fuckin'-nough of you.”
“Good.” I gripped on to his shoulders and sighed as the head of his cock met my entrance. “Show me how much you want me,” I whispered, and his eyes darkened a second before he plunged inside me, pushing all the way to the hilt, and showing me exactly what he felt.
Knocking rang out and I gasped. It had only happened once since I curled up in Asher’s bed, and it had been Lola trying to get me to eat something. But I hadn’t been able to stomach it. I hadn’t been able to face her after what she’d witnessed in the hospital room. She’d seen me at my worst, and now I was afraid what she would think—how she would treat me.
“Elodie?” a soft voice asked from the other side of the door, and my muscles locked. That wasn’t Lola, it was— “It’s Belle.” I stayed perfectly still, too scared if I made only the smallest of noises that she’d know I was awake and come inside.
The door handle creaked, and I snapped my eyes closed. Lola hadn’t walked inside, not without me answering her. But Belle’s footsteps got closer and closer until I could feel her looming over me. I squeezed my eyes shut as tight as I could and counted in my head. Each number felt louder and faster than the last, and I made it all the way to twenty-two until she said, “I know you’re not asleep.” She paused, waiting for me to answer her, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t face it. Not right then.
“You need to eat, Elodie.” A couple of soft bangs rang out and then the sound of metal cutlery pinged. “I brought you over some soup and fresh bread—okay, so I didn’t actually bake the bread because we all know I can’t bake. But I went to the store and bought it fresh, so I’m calling it a win.” She chuckled and the bed dipped beside me. What the hell was she doing? “I know you feel like you’re alone.” She let out a sigh. “I remember a time I felt like that too.”
I slowly opened my eyes but didn’t turn to face her. I was listening, and I had a feeling she knew it.
“You’ve probably seen my scar. It’s not exactly hard to miss.” Her body moved, and I wondered if she was touching her neck. I’d seen her touching it and wasn’t even sure she was aware she was doing it. “I was twenty-one when I fell in love for the first time.” She chuckled. “Real love. The kind of love that consumes you entirely and refuses to let go.”
I knew that feeling. Knew the way something—someone—consumed every inch of you. I hadn’t known what it was, not at first. But I was sure of it now, surer than anything else in the entire world. It may have felt fast, but I couldn’t deny how deep it was.
“Only I would fall in love with the man sent to protect me. Oh, and of course, my mom and dad’s best friend.” Her hand moved to my shoulder, and I winced from her touch. “Shit. Sorry.” She cleared her throat. “What I’m trying to say is that I’ve been through pain too, and I came out on the other side.” I could never have predicted what she said next. “I killed a man.”
My eyes widened and I couldn’t help but blurt out, “You killed someone?”
“Aha! I knew you were awake.” She laughed but it soon turned to a sad sigh. “I was pregnant with Leo, and let’s just say a whole load of drama was taking place, and in the midst of it was someone who killed the people closest to me.” She paused, and I shivered from the silence.
“Then he came for me. It was kill or be killed, and I chose me and Leo. I chose us. And I didn’t regret it, not even when the man’s dad got ahold of me and slit my throat.” The bed moved again, and her weight drifted, so I knew she’d stood up. “Pain is part of the process of life, Elodie. We all have it, but it’s important to deal with it and not push it aside. Feel everything you’re feeling and don’t be sorry for it, not even for a second.” Her footsteps echoed as she moved back. “I’m here if you need me. I’m only a call away.”
I nodded, hoping she could see me, and as soon as the door closed, I shut my eyes, and drifted off to a dreamland where nothing hurt and all that surrounded me were smiles. It wouldn’t last long before the memories and nightmare would ensue, but even a short while of happiness was better than none.
ASHER
My chains clinked as I shuffled down the hallway behind the row of other inmates from county jail. Each of us had cuffs around our ankles and wrists and were all attached to each other so no one could escape. People walked past us, their gazes anywhere but on us, and it was the first time I felt ashamed to be where I was. But as soon as the feeli
ng took me over, I pushed it aside. In their eyes I may have been a criminal, but in mine I was not. I’d protected someone I cared about, and there was no shame in that. None at all.
“In here,” one of the guards said as he unlocked the gate to an open square cell. We all filed in, and finally our attached chains were undone, but not our cuffs. Our cuffs stayed firmly in place, tight and unyielding. Several of the inmates scattered to find a seat in the cell on the two benches, but it left at least six of us with nowhere to sit.
“Hey! When do we get food!” one of the inmates shouted as the guard locked the gate, and my stomach rumbled in response. I hadn’t eaten since last night. It was Tuesday morning at the crack of dawn, and my body was rebelling against the awful goddamn food and lack of sunlight.
“When it comes,” the guard replied, no help whatsoever. He sneered and sauntered away, and I curled my lip in response.
“Dick,” the inmate spat, then moved to a corner and closed his eyes. There was no way I was letting myself become vulnerable in that way, so I stayed near the gate, waiting for my name to be called. A clock on the wall read 6:02 a.m. and I huffed out a breath. Court didn’t start until nine, so why the hell were we here so damn early? They’d ushered us onto a bus outside the county jail before it had even gotten light, and it had only taken minutes to arrive at the courthouse.
More inmates were brought in and packed into the cell like sardines, mixing our orange jumpsuits with their blue ones, and I felt uneasy about the entire situation. I hadn’t been able to talk to my dad last night because I’d run out of money on my number, and I didn’t want to do a collect call. All I could hope for was that I wasn’t going back to that fuckin’ place today.
Deep Burn: (Asher & Elodie: Easton Family Saga) (Burned Duet Book 2) Page 4