Mister Monster: A Hero Club Novel

by Desiree Lafawn

  “Now wait a minute.” I had to step in for a second because Ash’s misogyny was showing. “I get that there is more than one way to handle a situation. But are you going to tell me, if you were in her shoes, and someone assaulted you in a closet, you would have waited for a more opportune time to go get someone else to help you? And waited for them to take care of it? That wasn’t a verbal assault, Ash. He touched her. Tell me right now, with all honesty. If it was you, and someone got you alone and groped you, what would you do?”

  Ash sighed and tried his best to look serious. “I would have punched him in the dick and probably set his ass on fire. But I wouldn’t have punched the doctor that tried to help.”

  Mhmm…Ash probably would have punched everyone in the emergency room. I remembered what happened on the steps of that church. It seemed like forever ago and not less than a year.

  “So, our main concern is work, right? You need a new job that can work around your school schedule and allow for day care as well. It’s tough being a parent, I don’t think I could do it.” I glanced quickly at Ash as soon as the words were out of my mouth. He didn’t seem too put out by my admission. I liked kids, it was true. But I didn’t have any particular desire to have any of my own. I was young enough to change my mind in the future, I guess, but it wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have with anyone anytime soon.

  “I have an idea.”

  19

  Ash

  Caroline was amazing. The ferocity and zeal with which she attacked every problem in her path was truly mind-boggling. That I ever considered her an assistant is something that would forever haunt and embarrass me, because, truly, she was better than me at just about everything.

  Two days of brainstorming and writing up a mission statement. One phone call to Gabe Anderson that lasted about four hours. Two weeks of meetings, bank appointments and various city charity groups, and the Church House was formed. She could have called it the Gower Foundation, hell, she offered to let me put my name on the damn thing, but I couldn’t do that. This was her baby, start to finish, and it was amazing to watch her work. She didn’t want her family name attached to something that had absolutely nothing to do with her family, and the fact that she used my pet name for her did not go unnoticed. No, this was something she built from the ground up, based on a need, and her experience in such things was astounding.

  “I miss you at the office.” I tried to kiss the top of her head but she was bent over her kitchen table, papers spread all over and her laptop in front of her. She moved her head to grab a pen she’d dropped and I damn near kissed the table when I missed.

  “You miss this sweet ass.” She chuckled as I grabbed the back of her chair to steady myself.

  “That is correct. I thought I was busy before, but you are constantly working on this project. Not that I mind it, of course, but you’re still on the Anderson payroll, you know. It would be nice to actually see you at the company.” I was being a grump ass and I knew it. When she proposed to Gabe they start a charity home for women with children in recovery from drugs or abusive situations, he was all on board and immediately switched her job title. It came with a pay raise, but she didn’t need it. I got a glimpse of her net worth. If I was a less confident man, it might make me nervous. As it was, I just wanted to actually see my woman once in a while instead of having to make appointments to visit her at her tiny ass apartment.

  That last point hammered home as I straightened and smashed my head on her low hanging light fixture. “Fuck me.”

  Caroline finally looked up from her stack of papers on the table. Her reading glasses, I didn’t even know she needed until a couple of weeks ago, slid down her nose. Sexy librarian, I thought through the haze of my head injury. She’s a fucking sexy librarian.

  “I haven’t been ignoring you, this is just a crucial time for Church House. We need to make sure we have enough funding to keep going for the next three years at least. You always have to be ahead. You know, getting people to donate once is the easy part. Getting them to continue is hard, and for that we have to show them results. Right now I’m working on making some connections for job placement. That was Bev’s big problem, right? It’s actually a huge issue, and very common for women in her situation.”

  It was Bev’s issue. Until Church had the amazing idea to start the home and Bev became a tenant coordinator. The house was actually an apartment building Anderson Investments was renovating and it was perfectly located close to the city bus line and a lot of downtown businesses. Caroline had explained this was important for people that didn’t have their own cars or personal transportation, something she explained was very lacking in her experience. It doesn’t help to get a job if you can’t get to and from that job easily.

  She wasn’t wrong and it was something I never even thought of. She was still talking the whole time I was standing there watching her, marveling at the way she lost herself in a project and how damn smart she was, thinking about things I wouldn’t have in a million years.

  “We already have the child care set up on site, which is very helpful, especially with all these moms having different work schedules and all of the appointments needed. It’s round-the-clock child care, so those moms that work third shift, or have to go to school nights still have someone to watch their kids—and bonus they don’t have to take them out of the building. Those licenses were a bitch to get, let me tell you, but the staff we have is amazing…are you bleeding?”

  Was I? I hadn’t noticed until Church stopped her explanation and jumped out of her chair to touch the side of my temple, just under the hairline. Her fingertips came away with a touch of red on them.

  “Holy hell, sit down. This apartment is too small for you. Why didn’t you say you hurt yourself?”

  I truly hadn’t noticed, I was so entranced watching her work. I sat in silence for a moment with my eyes closed, letting her flit around me like a mother hen, wiping at my shallow wound with a wet cloth and trying to put a band-aid on it before realizing a band-aid would not stick to hair. She grunted and cursed over me for a minute before I opened my eyes and grabbed her hands.

  “Move in with me.” It was a simple statement. I don’t know why her jaw went slack and her eyes bugged out of her head so much.

  “Was that a question or a statement?”

  “What do you need it to be?” I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, especially if she said no. “This apartment is tiny and I hardly ever get to see you anymore. I’m busy with work and you’re busy with work, but it would be nice to have a place for us both to come home to where we could be in the same place at the same time. No overnight bags. No spare toothbrushes. Just our stuff. In our space.”

  “No one's ever asked me to move in with them before.” Her green eyes shone with moisture. Happy tears? Man, I hoped they were happy tears.

  “Would you have given anyone the chance to?” I don’t think even Caroline realized what a ball buster she was. I bet Dexter could tell some stories. If I felt like asking. Which I didn’t.

  “I’m not opposed, but I like my stuff.”

  “You don’t have a lot of stuff.” I looked around the small apartment, taking in the minimal decorations and the modest furniture. Her laughter took me by surprise.

  “Oh, Ashley, Ashley, Ashley.” I grunted at her use of my full name. She sure had been liberal with it lately, but since I loved her as much as my Gigi, I let her get away with it. “You have no idea, my love, how much I have in storage. Furniture. Artwork. Clothes, jewelry…shoes.” She had a faraway look in her eyes when she talked about her footwear, and a nervous wiggle started in the pit of my stomach.

  “How many shoes?”

  “I need no less than two walk-in closets and I’m here to tell you, your apartment, while really nice, cannot accommodate me.”

  Well. That was straight to the point.

  “I’m not kidding, Ash. An apartment is okay, and it’s functional for now, but everything, and I mean everything, I own is in
storage right now. I’m not saying I would keep everything, because trust me, if I can go the past year without a lot of those things, I can go without them forever. But my clothes, jewelry, and shoes are coming home with me as soon as I get a place big enough to hold them.”

  Okay, so my apartment was too small. It still wasn’t a no. “Then let’s move into a house. There are lots of big houses around. Hell, don’t like those houses? We can build one. Want two walk-in closets? I’ll give you four. Move in with me, Church. I want to see your face before I go to sleep at night and I want to wake up next to your snoring, mouth breathing ass every morning.”

  “I don’t snore or mouth breathe, you asshole.” The slap to my head wound stung, but it still wasn’t a no.

  “What do we need to make this a yes?” I waited patiently for an answer, but I held her hands in mine so I didn’t get smacked upside the head again. Self-preservation was key with Church.

  She pursed her lips and thought for a moment. She licked her teeth and clicked her tongue like she always did when she was thinking about something, which was always. “Come home with me. Meet my parents. I’ll take you around and you can meet some people and I’ll show you my storage unit. Units.”

  “Who are these people I have to meet? I don’t really want to meet people. I’ll meet your parents, though. I can show you where Gigi lived, since it’s obviously not far from where we’d be going.” I grimaced, thinking of how close it actually was. Who would have thought the woman I loved would come from a world I grew up hating? “I’d love to take Gigi home but with her current condition I don’t think travelling is the healthiest for her. I have to check on the property anyway. It’s paid for, and I keep up with the taxes and have a company come make sure it’s treated for the seasons changing every year, but at some point I’ll have to consider selling it. Honestly, I’d like to show it to you before that happens, and I’m sure Gigi would love to have some pictures of the place too.”

  “Okay. Let’s go, then.” Satisfied, she pulled her hands free of mine and went to the door to slip on her shoes.

  “What? Like right now? Don’t we need to get some plane tickets or something?”

  “No. When we go back home we’re going to drive, because we’re bringing home a trailer with my stuff. That will take a little planning, plus, I need some time to bring you to meet my parents. They’re…. a lot to deal with. Honestly, you probably won’t like them because they’re people you hate, but they’re my family so make an effort. Now, you said we’d buy a house so let’s go house hunting.”

  There was no way she was this impulsive. Not Church.

  “This isn’t the first time you’ve thought about this, is it?” I should have known. Her mind was constantly going, she left nothing to chance.

  “I have a couple of ideas.” She shuffled some more papers on the table before finding a red realtor’s folder and shoving it under her arm, she grabbed her purse in one hand and my arm in the other. “There’s four already built in different suburbs around the city I want to check out. I also have paperwork on empty land that’s ripe for building. We can talk about it in your car.”

  This was the woman I was contemplating spending the rest of my life with. I’d better get moving on the rest or she’d be popping the question before I could wrap my head around doing it myself.

  20

  Caroline

  Being in a truck with Ash for nine hours was distinctly different than being in a building with Ash for nine hours. We took turns driving during the trip from Toledo to New York, but I’m pretty sure he was going to wear a hole in the floor of the rental before we got there.

  “Stop smashing your feet on those imaginary brakes. I know what I’m doing.” What I was doing was holding tight to my patience while he suffered from a case of theatrics.

  “I should have made you go on a test drive before we left. I should have witnessed you behind the wheel before I put my life in your hands.” For a big man, he didn’t have much color. Looking paler than usual, he finally laid his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. Only for them to blink open again immediately as I jerked the truck over to the right to avoid someone merging like an asshole on the left.

  “A turn signal was made for a reason, asshat,” I mumbled under my breath.

  “Pull over, please.” I’d never heard such weak, wheezing coming from that man before.

  “No can do, Chief. We’re in Jersey now. It’s only going to get wilder from here. Why do you think everyone uses public transportation? Because everyone drives like an asshole here. You gotta adapt and overcome. Sometimes that means driving like an asshole too.”

  “Church, I’m going to throw up. This isn’t normal. I can’t even picture you pulling this thing with a trailer behind it. I’m going to die. We are both going to die.”

  “Sack up, my love. The navigator says another two hours and we’ll be at Gigi’s place, where you can kiss the ground, thank Jesus, barf or whatever. Until then, let the one with the experience do the driving.”

  I didn’t even have to glance over at Ash to know he was staring at me in disbelief. Honestly, I didn’t have time to placate his feelings at the moment. I wasn’t kidding about Jersey driving. Everyone was a dick on the road, including me. The only way to beat ‘em was to join ‘em. I hated it, which was why I rarely drove. Didn’t mean I didn’t know how to do it.

  Okay, so it was closer to three hours before we made it, because of traffic, but the navigator finally announced cheerfully, “Your destination is on the right.” And I pulled the truck to a stop outside of a lovely green yard with an adorable white cottage in the suburbs. A literal white picket fence surrounded the property, and there were fresh pink and purple flowers in pots hanging from the porch rails. I thought the place was supposed to be empty, but it looked like someone was decorating. At least hanging and taking care of plants.

  “Thank you, Jesus, for all of your gifts, including allowing us to keep our lives in the face of eminent danger.” I turned to find the drama king himself, leaning against the outside of the truck, his skin unnaturally white against the fire engine red of the vehicle.

  “Are you done?” I waited for him to catch up to me on the walkway and followed him up to the porch, taking in the charming atmosphere of his Gigi’s home.

  “Not likely. You are not driving home.”

  “You shouldn’t be such a wuss.” I had more to say but had to rear back on my heels to keep from smashing into Ash’s broad back. He stopped short on the steps and threw his arm out to keep me from going any farther forward. “What’s wrong?”

  “The welcome mat.”

  I peeked around his shoulder to see the offending square of beige decorated with sunny flowers and the word welcome in black script below. “The welcome mat? It looks fine. What’s wrong with it?”

  “The mat and the flowers. The fresh coat of paint of the porch rails. I have a company come take care of the grounds and make sure the pipes don’t freeze in the winter. I have a cleaning company come monthly to air out the place and make sure nothing gets moldy and dusty. I did not have anyone come to paint, to plant hanging flowers, nor to replace the welcome mat. It’s new. This is all new. I was here in the spring and it’s barely mid fall. None of this was here then. It’s all new.”

  Oh shit. Someone else was taking care of the property. Someone besides Ash. The bottom dropped out of my stomach as Ash turned the key in the lock on the front door and it opened smoothly. I was pretty sure I knew who was behind the sudden facelift. And I bet Ash knew too. Whatever he saw on the other side of the door was not going to be good.

  “Surprise!” A familiar face was sitting on the flowered sofa as soon as we walked in the door. To his credit, Dexter Truitt actually looked happy to see us, and not worried at all for whatever onslaught was coming his way from Ash. To my surprise, Ash didn’t miss a beat, just threw his overnight bag on the floor by the door and sank into a spindly, decorative chair with a purple embroidered throw cushion.
His legs splayed wide in front of the too small chair, he let his head fall back against the top of the chair and closed his eyes.

  “What are you doing here, Dexter?”

  Another person skidded round the corner, a wipe rag and a can of dusting spray in her hands. Having heard the noise, she must have been preparing for an onslaught of violence when Ash opened the door and found Dexter. Either that, or she was actually dusting, which I didn’t understand. There was also something else she was carrying that, while not obvious or very large, was certainly hard to ignore.

  “Bianca? No shit? Oh my God, congratulations.” Even though her light cardigan was loose and flowing, there was no way she could hide that little round bulge protruding from the front. She was pregnant. And dusting. In Ash’s grandmother’s house? I didn’t get it.

  “One. Before you get super mad, Suge said we could. She likes it when we come here because we take pictures of the flowers in the backyard and send them to her. We got her one of those digital picture frames for her birthday. You know the kind you can just upload pics to from wherever? Anyway, sometimes we come out here and hang for a couple of days and send new pictures directly to her frame. She doesn’t have to use a memory card or upload anything. No buttons, and nothing to remember. If you want, I can email you the link and you can upload pics too. She’d love it, I know it.”

  Ash didn’t even open his eyes. The trip must have taken more out of him than I thought if he wasn’t a raging lunatic at finding Dexter in his grandmother’s house. Either that, or he was finally acknowledging their familial relationship and just going with the flow. I wasn’t going to lay any of my money on the latter.