“It doesn’t matter how many times I have to go through it, Asher.” She lifted up onto her tiptoes. “With you by my side, I could slay a thousand dragons. We’re a team. A team who conquers our demons together.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist, bringing her flush to me. I couldn’t stay mad any longer because she had a point. I’d tried to handle this alone, yet I’d told her time and time again that it was me and her against the world. I’d told her one thing but done the complete opposite. “You’re so damn sexy when you talk about dragons and demons.” She laughed, the sound a soft tinkle echoing through the halls of the courthouse. “But you didn’t need to do that for me.”
“I know I didn’t need to.” She pushed her face closer to mine, her lips only centimeters away. “I wanted to.” Her tongue swiped over her bottom lip. “What’s it going to take to make you realize you’re not on your own anymore?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged, smirking down at her. “Maybe a kiss would be the starting point?”
She huffed out a laugh but gave me exactly what I wanted. She sealed the deal with a kiss, a kiss I would never take for granted ever again.
ELODIE
Asher held my hand tighter than he ever had before as we drove away from the courthouse. The atmosphere in the car swirled, happiness surrounding all of us, and I suddenly felt a little bad for not telling him what I’d done beforehand. It had been weeks since I’d gone to Mr. Bennet’s office with Brody to make my statement, but I’d kept it a secret from Asher. Several times I’d nearly caved and told him what I did, but I didn’t want to give him the option of talking me out of what I’d done.
So, we’d all known he was coming home with us today, which was why we’d planned a party for afterward. It was yet another thing we could cross off our list, and now there was just one final date. One final court appearance and then we could put all of this behind us.
But I didn’t want to think about that, not right then. I wanted to bask in the way Asher’s fingers slipped between mine. I wanted to stare at the tattoos covering his body. I wanted to look into his eyes, knowing there were no secrets left between us.
“You’re heading the wrong way,” Asher told his dad. We were crammed in the back seat of the Mustang his dad owned, but I kind of liked it. It was cozy.
“We thought we could go back to our house for a little bit,” Lola said, turning in her seat to look at us. “That okay with you?” Her lips curved up, a telltale sign she was teasing him.
“I dunno, Lola. Maybe we should ask his permission. We wouldn’t want him to get all red-faced like he did back at the courthouse,” Brody commented.
Lola snorted. “He looked like a flamin’ hot Cheeto.”
I pursed my lips to try and keep my laughter in because she wasn’t wrong. As soon as he’d walked out of the room and saw us standing there, realization had clearly set in. I’d never seen him look like he was about to explode before, and any other time, I would have been scared, but I knew Asher as well as I knew myself. He’d never have taken his anger out on me.
“Ha, ha.” Asher shifted in his seat, his side pressing against mine. “You took me by surprise.”
“I know.” Lola winked at me. “Not nice being kept in the dark is it, son?” She paused for a second. “Taught you a lesson, though, huh?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Asher glanced down at me, his dark-brown eyes holding me captive. “Can we not talk about it anymore? I just wanna go home, get this damn suit off and—” He cut himself off as Brody drove on to their street and toward their house. Cars lined outside, and the drive was packed with several more as well as a couple of motorcycles. “What the…”
“Surprise!” Lola shouted, throwing her hands up in the air and nearly smacking Brody in the face.
“Jesus, woman. Give a guy a warning.”
Lola ignored him and clicked her belt off as Brody halted to a stop. “We thought you deserved a party.” She glanced over at me. “Both of you.”
“A…party?” Asher let his head drop back. “You know I hate parties.”
“I got red velvet cake,” Lola sang and opened the passenger door. “With cream cheese frosting.”
The silence stretched and finally Asher groaned out, “Well…I suppose we can’t let the cake go to waste.” His hand slipped from mine and he squeezed between the front seat Lola had moved forward and the edge of the passenger door. It was a tight fit, but he managed it just fine. He wrapped his arm around Lola’s shoulder and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Thanks, Mom.”
“You're welcome.” She stretched her arm around his waist and grinned up at him as they started to walk toward the front door, but I stayed exactly where I was, feeling a lump building in my throat.
Today was meant to be a celebration, but I felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. These people were Asher’s family, and without them, I wasn’t sure where I would be. Maybe I’d have escaped Knox, or maybe I would have still been tethered to him with no end point in sight.
“You okay there, darlin’?”
I jumped at the sound of Brody’s voice. “Shit, you scared me.” My heart pounded in my chest, and I placed my hand there, trying to calm it down.
“Sorry.” He crouched down near the open driver’s door and held on to the seat he’d pushed forward so I could get out. “It’s a lot to take in,” he murmured. I frowned, not sure what he meant until he tilted his head toward the house. “They’re a bunch of crazies if you ask me, but they’ll stand by your side no matter what.”
“I…I’ve never had that before.”
Brody nodded. “I get that.” He blew out a breath and stared up at the gray sky. “I was raised like you were. Trailer park. Deadbeat parents.” He paused and cleared his throat, the painful expression on his face obvious for me to see, but only because I understood it. “I could have easily gone down a different route—in fact, I did for a while—but then I was thrown into training and surrounded by people who supported me.” He shrugged. “I didn’t get it. Why would people want to help me? Why would people want to stand at my back and fight with me instead of against me?”
My breaths quickened the longer he talked because I felt exactly the same. I’d never had the support these people had, and now it was there, ready for the taking, but I was starting to wonder if it was too good to be true.
“It took me years to accept the people around me. But even now I still have the inclination not to trust. It’s built within me, just like it is with you.” His stare met mine, a silent conversation only I could comprehend shining in his eyes. “But this…” He pointed toward the house where the front door was still open. “This is the real thing.”
“I’m…I’m scared,” I whispered. “Scared the moment I get used to it that it’ll all be taken away from me.”
Brody shuffled forward. “I don’t make promises often, Elodie, because when I do make them, I have to mean them one hundred percent. But I’m promising this to you: even if you and Asher call it quits—which I doubt will ever happen—you’ll always have a place in this family.”
The thought of me not being with Asher had anxiety building up, but as Brody’s words sunk in, I relaxed a little. He understood where I’d come from. He understood the kind of life I’d led up until this point.
“Now, what do you say we head inside and get a slice of that cake before Asher eats it all?”
He held his hand out to help me from the car, and I didn’t hesitate to take it. I’d felt safe with Asher from the moment I’d met him, but I’d never for a second thought I’d gain a family from him too. They were here to support me, and if I were being honest, I was going to need their support more than ever when I had my day in court. Today felt like the prelude to the real event, a snapshot of how things were laid out, but I had no doubt it’d be entirely different too.
“If it gets to be too much," Brody whispered as we entered the house, “you can escape to Asher’s room.”
“Okay.”
I stood at the edge of the living room, not recognizing most of the faces, but as soon as a leather cut flashed in the corner of my eye, my lips split into a smile. That was one person from my life before all of…this. The one person who’d witnessed me trying to crawl out of the hellhole that was the trailer park. He hadn’t spotted me yet, so I weaved through the crowd and tapped him on the shoulder.
“What the…” He whipped his head to the right, then to the left, his gaze finally landing on me. “Well, shit, ain’t you a sight for sore eyes.” He didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around me and squeeze, just like he always did. My feet lifted off the floor as he turned me around and plopped me inside the circle of people he was talking to. “I heard you fooled Asher.” He smirked at something over my head and a second later hands grasped my waist. Hands I knew. Hands I’d felt over every inch of my body.
“You tryin’ to steal my girl, Jax?” Asher’s rough voice asked. My back met his chest and I dipped my head back, staring at him upside down. He looked down at me, placed a kiss on the tip of my nose, then moved his attention back to Jax.
“Nah,” Jax replied easily, wrapping his arm around the waist of the woman next to him. “Haisley’s all the woman I need.”
His hand lowered, and Haisley jumped forward, squealing at whatever he’d done to her. “Stop it, you caveman.” She narrowed her eyes at him and murmured, “I told you I wanted to make a good impression, and you’re ruining it with your goddamn antics.”
“What do you want me to do when your ass is right there?” He raised a brow, waiting for her answer, but all she did was huff out a breath as she turned to face me and Asher. Her cheeks were red from embarrassment, but her expression told us she was used to the way Jax acted.
“Hi.” She held her hand out to me and bit down on her bottom lip. “You must be Elodie.”
“I am.” I placed my hand in hers and shook it. Jax had told me he had a girlfriend, but the way he was staring at her with his chest puffed out and concern in his eyes told me this one was different. I’d seen him with plenty of women at the strip club, but he’d never once had that look in his eyes.
“I’m Asher,” Asher greeted, moving his hand from my waist toward her still outstretched one. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too.” She dipped her head and took a step back, so she was side by side with Jax. “I’ve heard a lot about the both of you.”
“You been shit-talkin’ me, Jax?” Asher asked, and I burrowed back into the safety of his chest.
“You know it.” He raised his bottle of beer and fake cheered the air. “I got loads of stories yet to tell.”
“Oh really?” Asher chuckled causing his chest to move. “You told her about the time we were on leave and road-tripped it to Florida, then?”
“Now, now, there’s no need to get nasty.” Jax’s eyes widened, a clear warning for Asher to stop, but I knew he wouldn’t. Once Asher got to talking about what he and Jax had done over the years they’d known each other, it was impossible to shut him up.
“What? I didn’t even say anything.”
“Come on, Hais, lemme introduce you to Brody and Lola.” He pulled Haisley to the side as he gave Asher a death stare. “Dick.”
“Love you, too,” Asher replied, laughing so loudly several people turned around. “Thank fuck for that. I thought he was never going to leave.”
I spun around in Asher’s arms. “That was you trying to get him to leave?” I asked, incredulous.
“Yep.” He pulled me flush to his chest. “And now I can do this.” He placed a soft kiss to my lips, causing my stomach to dip. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For looking out for me.” He pressed his forehead against mine. “For knowing what the best thing to do was when I clearly didn’t.”
“You’re welcome.” I paused, staring directly into his eyes. “Don’t leave me out of things again though, Asher. We’re in this together, okay?”
He nodded, his boyish grin making me melt as he whispered, “Okay.”
Chapter Sixteen
ASHER
“You sure about this?” I asked as I pulled up outside the tattoo shop. “I can get my kit and we can do it at home.” I kept the engine running, fully expecting her to take up my offer now that we were here.
“Nope.” Elodie unclipped her belt and opened the passenger door. “I want you to do this here.” Her shoulders were pulled back, her face not hiding a single thing, but I couldn’t help wondering if she was putting a front on. Was she doing this because she felt like she had to? “I can’t be afraid to come here anymore.” She pushed out of the car and dipped her head down to meet my gaze. “It’s time, Asher.”
I had to take her word for it, so I turned the engine off and got out of my truck. I’d planned to spend the entire Sunday in bed with her pressed against me, but Elodie had her mind set when she’d woken up a couple of hours ago. She wanted a tattoo but done in the shop like a regular paying client. My instincts told me to talk her out of it as soon as she’d vocalized what she wanted to do. She hadn’t been in the building since that night, and not knowing how she would react had me on edge. What if she walked inside and it all came flooding back to her? What if she broke down and I couldn’t pick up all of the pieces?
But I knew all she needed was me to be there. She needed my silent support and my arms to catch her if she fell. So, I was determined not to fail. I’d be there every step of the way, no matter how much I wanted to scoop her up in my arms and keep her safe from the rest of the world.
Elodie kept her gaze right in front of her as I pushed the key into the lock of the main door. The alarm system beeped, and I ushered her inside and then entered the code into the concealed box under the front counter.
“You blocked it off?” Elodie asked, her voice a mere whisper.
I knew what she was talking about without having to look up. “I…yeah.” I stood to my full height, not sure if I should go to her or let her process it on her own? “I didn’t want to look at it all day, so Mav blocked it off and created a new entrance for…upstairs.”
“Oh.” Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, and I couldn’t take it any longer. I had to make sure she knew I was here for her. She had to know she wasn’t alone. “I hadn’t realized.” She glanced up at me as I halted in front of her. “What’s upstairs now?”
“I rented it out to an art major from the local college.” He hadn’t asked any questions about the apartment, and I’d had the old carpet ripped up and a new one installed, so the evidence of what had happened up there wasn’t visible. Not to anyone else anyway. But to Elodie, it would always be there—a memory trapped between the walls.
“Maybe this wasn’t a good idea,” Elodie murmured, taking a step back. “I should have—”
“No.” I grasped her hand and held it just tight enough to stop her from moving away. “You’ve got this, sweetheart. The tattoo you want won’t take more than twenty minutes.” Her gaze slid to the blocked-off area and her muscles locked in place. I hadn’t been sure when she’d first told me what she wanted to do, but now that we were here and I’d witnessed her determination all the way up to this point, I couldn’t let her walk back out. If she did, she’d build it up even more in her head and it would be even harder for her to overcome. “You can do this.”
She inhaled a breath, held it for several seconds, then nodded. “You’re right. I can do this.”
“Hell yeah, you can.” I planted a kiss on the top of her head. “Let me get my station set up.” I’d never worked so fast in my entire life to get everything prepared, but within minutes I was ready and back at the counter where she hadn’t moved from. She’d already shown me what she wanted inked on her skin—a small outline of a lotus peeking behind a dotwork moon. The moon symbolized protection, and the lotus new beginnings. It was perfect for her, and small enough so she could hide it if she wanted to.
“Ready?” I asked, holding my hand out to her. She placed her palm in mi
ne, and I led her over to my station. “I’m gonna freehand it, okay?”
“Okay.” She pulled off her tennis shoe and sock, exposing the inside of her ankle. I cleaned the area with alcohol solution, then grabbed a couple different colored Sharpie pens. It only took a couple of minutes to get the basic outline down.
“Will it hurt?” she asked, grimacing as I turned my machine on and made sure my needle was in the right place.
“A little.” I poured some black ink into a small cup, dipped my needle in it, then swirled it in the beaker of water, preparing the needle. “It’s like a sharp scratch. Shading hurts the most because the skin is worked over and over again to get the right effect, but this is all outline.” I widened my legs on the stool to roll closer to her, dipped the needle into the black ink, and haloed the skin I was tattooing with my thumb and finger. “Don’t jerk away or make any sudden movements, okay?”
“Okay,” she breathed out, and I pressed the needle against her skin. I followed the first petal of the lotus, then glanced up to see how she was doing, but other than her eyes being closed, she gave no indication on how she felt.
“Going in again,” I warned her as I dipped the needle a second time. This time I didn’t stop at one petal, but I continued over to another one. She groaned as I went over the bony part where her ankle met her foot. “You good?”
“Yeah, just…that bit hurt.”
“Only be a couple more minutes,” I murmured, dipping the needle into the ink again. I didn’t like to tattoo these kinds of images because I preferred more realistic art, but when it came to Elodie and the meaning behind them, I would have covered her entire body if she’d asked me to. It took strength to go through what she did and start to come out on the other side. She was an inspiration to more people than she’d ever realize.
I got engrossed in the tattoo, making sure the dotwork on the moon was just right and wouldn’t drop out of her skin. By the time I was finished, she was relaxed back in the chair, her gaze focused on me. “You know you’re superhot when you’re tattooing, right?”
Deep Burn: (Asher & Elodie: Easton Family Saga) (Burned Duet Book 2) Page 19