Stay

by A. L. Jackson

  Confident.

  Strong.

  Gorgeous.

  He tossed one of those grins at me from over his shoulder. “Right this way, darlin’. And you need to take a breath and relax. Don’t pretend like I can’t feel you shakin’. Promise you, my friends don’t bite.”

  Little did he know I was shaking for an entirely different reason.

  His grin widened to one of those arrogant smirks. Pure flirt and tease and sexy temptation.

  “I mean, they might look like it, but you’ll be completely safe just as long as you’re at my side.” He spun around, dipping down so his mouth was near my ear. “Thinking you better stick close, anyway…you do look delicious tonight. Someone’s bound to want to eat you up.”

  Tingles coated my skin.

  A flash of attraction.

  A rush of need.

  He led me to a secluded horseshoe booth hidden at the very back. Extra chairs had been set up around it to give more seating for the large party that had taken control of the area.

  As if they owned it.

  Belonged.

  The men of Sunder were kicked back against the plush maroon cushions. An intensity unlike anything I’d ever seen surrounded them.

  An unmistakable aura.

  Severe, dark, and deep.

  Each of them had an arm draped around a beautiful woman, pressed to their shoulders as if they’d been carved to fit.

  All except for Zee, who was the only one I’d previously met.

  Nerves skittered through my body, and I sucked in that breath Ash had suggested I take. Turned out I needed it after all.

  What I hadn’t anticipated were the smiles and the welcome that moved across their faces, even if there was no missing the curiosity in their eyes when they looked back at me.

  Ash made quick introductions, helped me into a seat beside him, and ordered us drinks. All the while excitement gleamed from him, getting just a bit brighter as he peered over his shoulder into the throng. “Can’t wait to get on that stage.”

  His friend Baz took a sip of the amber liquid that swirled in his tumbler, his hand curled around the glass as he pointed his index finger at Ash and spoke to me. “Did you know your boy here always gets his way?”

  Baz sent an affectionate look in Ash’s direction, and Ash just smiled back.

  That was all it took for me to be thankful I came.

  We’d shared a couple of drinks. The mood had grown rowdy, the group of friends having the best of times.

  I thought I’d feel awkward.

  Out of place.

  As if I didn’t belong.

  I’d been completely wrong.

  I tried to hold back the riot of laughter that wanted to burst free as I watched the man who was sinking deeper and deeper into my bones tell a story.

  Clearly, he was buzzed.

  His grin was messy, and his voice was loud enough for everyone at the table to hear since he was standing beside the booth rather than sitting.

  “And Baz boy here, he just starts running down the alley, bare ass shining in the moonlight, trying to keep his pants from falling down around his knees.”

  Lyrik pounded his palm on the table, cracking up.

  “Hey, man,” Baz defended, hugging his wife a little tighter. “That was totally your fault. You’re the asshole who let those chicks on the tour bus in the middle of the night.”

  Ash shrugged. “What? I figured you could use a little unwinding. You’d had a really long day.”

  A brow quirked, and Baz took a swig of his beer before he pointed the neck of it in Ash’s direction.

  “And I needed ten chicks to do it? Here I was, fast asleep, and my eyes dart open to a herd of screaming girls jumping on the bed in the back of the bus. Felt like I had a hundred hands on me, yanking and tearing at my fly, trying to get my pants down. Woke up to squeals and smeared lipstick and fangirl eyes. Freaked me the fuck out. I went flying down the aisle and out the bus door.”

  He hooked a thumb in Ash’s direction. “Of course, this punk right here, he’s standing right outside the door in the parking lot, laughing his ass off like it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen.”

  “It was the funniest thing I’d ever seen. You seriously should have seen your face when all ten of them came running out after you. Dude, the whole lot of them might have been ghosts with the way you went running. Might have told them you like to play chase.”

  Shea pressed her hands over her ears. “Eww…eww…eww. Stop right there, Ash. I don’t want to hear anything about my man and a bunch of girls trying to get him naked. You should know that subject is totally off limits.”

  Ash feigned offense. “Oh, come now, Beautiful Shea, that was long before you went and broke my heart and started keeping this sucker warm at night. Had to have been at least ten years ago. Ancient history.”

  “Um, news flash, no woman wants to hear about her husband’s conquests…like…ever.”

  Sebastian buried a kiss in the curls on her head. “Don’t worry, baby. Didn’t let any of them touch me.” He lifted his brow at Ash. “Although, if I remember the story correctly, Ash was all too happy to step in and take my place.”

  “Hey, I didn’t want to go disappointing any fans. That’s just not cool. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Sacrifice and all.”

  “Oh my God.” Ash’s younger sister, Edie, covered her eyes with both her hands from where she was sitting on her fiancé, Austin’s, lap. “My brother. Sometimes I can’t even,” she said.

  Zee flicked a bottle cap at him. “Always such an asshole.”

  Ash swiveled to the side and deflected it like an old pro. I was betting that was the case.

  “What?” he defended, totally playing the serious card even though everyone who looked at him could see the smile pulling his lips.

  Tamar rolled her eyes and snuggled closer into her husband. “Uh, how about the fact you throw out these stories like they’re normal behavior?”

  Ash held his hands up in the air. “Hey, these were normal, everyday occurrences until the two of you”—he pointed at Tamar and Shea—“came barging in and busted up all the good times. Couple of sexed-up fun suckers, that’s what you are. Bewitching my boys with all that hotness, taking them by the dicks and bagging their balls. So not cool. Not cool at all.”

  A part of me wanted to cringe at the way he talked about sex so casually. As if it meant nothing. But a bigger part of me couldn’t find it tonight. I was too wrapped up in the easy affection that passed between them all.

  The comfort.

  The loyalty.

  The way it was supposed to be.

  That kind of devotion was precious. Priceless. And it was so vivid in this side of him, even if it was done with all his reckless, gorgeous ease.

  “I keep Lyrik’s balls zipped up in the front pocket of my purse, thank you very much,” Tamar taunted with a red-lipped, sassy smile she canted at her husband.

  He looked over at her. The guy looked so bad. Almost mean. But there was no question this woman was the center of his entire world.

  My chest clutched in old agony. In loneliness. I shoved off the depressing thoughts. I wanted to experience this. To be in this moment rather than in the one’s threatening to drag me down.

  Lyrik shot a menacing smirk at Ash. He lifted his chin, flashing the tattoo stamped on his neck. “Kinda like my girl’s hand on my dick, anyway, so don’t really have too many problems with her leading me around by it.”

  Baz busted up laughing, spewing beer across the table. Shea leaned around Lyrik, hand going up for a high-five with Tamar. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

  Ash smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand. “Every last one of you have lost your damned minds. Someone save me from the madness. Now all I have is Zee in my corner, and since the guy is some kind of celibate or some shit, he’s of absolutely no help.”

  A giggle slipped free. I tried to cover it. But it was there. My teeth raked back and forth on
my bottom lip, fighting the smile that wanted to break loose beneath his brilliant light.

  Because he looked over at me.

  Smiled this smile that cut me to the core. One that was soft. Kind. Almost adoring.

  My stomach twisted and flipped, and a lump grew heavy in my throat.

  Without a doubt, the ground beneath me was getting slippery.

  Perilous.

  Baz drained his drink and slammed the empty down on the table. “All right, if we’re actually gonna do this, we need to do it.”

  All the guys followed suit and downed their own drinks.

  Ash smacked his hands together. “Hell yeah, it’s on. Time to give the paps something to actually talk about.”

  A surprise show.

  That’s what Sunder had planned. This was a band that typically sold out shows around the world and, here they were, taking the stage in front of an unsuspecting bar crowd.

  All the guys climbed out from behind the booth. Adorning the cheeks and foreheads and mouths of their women with tender kisses.

  I looked down. Away. Feeling as if I were violating something private.

  And then he was there. That powerful man stood in front of me, hand stretching out to help me to stand.

  He palmed my cheek.

  Softly.

  God.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  “Thank you for being here, darlin’. Means more to me than you know.”

  I nodded against his touch.

  Fire and light.

  I fought the well of consuming emotion that threatened to take me hostage.

  Shackle me.

  Chain me.

  A willing prisoner.

  Zee clapped Ash on the shoulder, breaking up the moment. “Let’s go, man. You wanted this and we delivered.”

  “Coming.”

  Reluctantly, Ash began to back away before he pointed at me. His expression quickly morphed into something cocky and sure, a contradiction that seemed to be the heart of this confusing, chaotic man.

  “You are in for a treat tonight. Promise you, you won’t regret stepping through that door.”

  I could only muster the smallest nod as I watched him disappear into the fray. Uneasily, I settled back down onto my chair.

  In that moment, I could feel the quiet sanctity of my world crack as I fell into another. It was a world of mayhem and confusion and lawlessness. A world that belonged to Ash Evans.

  Warily, I peeked over to the three women left at the table with me.

  All three stared back as if they’d witnessed a miracle.

  Edie was the first to break as she shifted forward. “I’m glad we have a minute alone. I want you to know how thankful I am for what you did for my brother.

  Bright blue eyes, so much the same as her brother’s, glistened beneath the lights.

  “I was just doing what any other person would do.”

  “We like to think so, don’t we?” She shook her head. “But we know that’s not always the case. This world can be so cruel. I think that was evidenced by the ruthless jerks who left him there in the first place.”

  Tamar and Shea grunted their agreement.

  My eyes narrowed in sincerity. “I could never look away from someone who needed my help that way.”

  The memory of his words I couldn’t shake pushed into my mind.

  “And now it’s really fucking hard to look away.”

  God knew I’d spent more time than prudent trying to decipher what they meant.

  Wondering why I felt the exact same way.

  How I’d become inexplicably tied to a stranger I felt desperate to know.

  Shea smiled. “That’s why we’re all so thankful it was you who found him. That it was you who was there at the right moment. Our lives are an endless string of what-ifs and what could have beens, and the reality is that you saved him.” She angled her head. A soft, prodding question. “And now you’re here…with him.”

  I fidgeted again, glancing to the riot that had struck up at foot of the stage. All the guys climbed the two stairs to the right of the risers. It ignited a ripple of interest and excitement in the dense, hazy air.

  “He asked me to.” It almost sounded like a defense.

  Tamar grinned. “He seems to be asking you to do a lot of things lately, doesn’t he?”

  The implication was clear.

  My brows squeezed together. “It’s nothing like that. We’re just…he went through a lot. And I’d be here for him even if he weren’t doing what he’s doing for me.”

  The truth of the matter? I’d needed a little saving, too. And somehow in the process, I felt like he was offering me something different than just the cash flow to save my business.

  It felt like more.

  Shea smiled a genuine smile.

  These women were so different than what I’d anticipated when I’d seen their pictures. So different than the tabloids made them out to be.

  Apparently, it was true what they said. You shouldn’t believe everything you read.

  “That boy’s a handful, though, isn’t he?” Shea asked, affection in her tone.

  I stared in the direction of the stage.

  It seemed impossible to look away.

  “That he is,” I mused, mostly to myself. I was distracted by the crush of the crowd that seemed desperate to get closer. By the vibe that lit in the air. Intense and severe.

  Ash bent over, fiddled with something on the stage.

  I struggled to breathe.

  I tore my attention away, catching the grin that played across Tamar’s face. “Do we need to rein him in for you? Because I’m pretty sure that boy is more than just a handful.”

  Redness flamed on my cheeks.

  Instant.

  Unstoppable.

  Just as unstoppable as the salacious fantasy that took hold of my mind.

  It came unbidden.

  Unwelcome.

  All except for that hidden, secret place inside that simmered and shook with dark curiosity.

  “Ohhhhhh,” Tamar drew out. Her mouth stretched into a perfect ‘o’. “So that’s how it is, huh?”

  So maybe I wanted to crawl under the table and hide.

  Shea’s eyes widened, and she jumped in with the ribbing. “No need to get self-conscious about it, Willow. The boy does love to brag about it. If you hadn’t noticed, the guy isn’t exactly shy or modest.”

  “Pssh, he likes to brag about everything,” Tamar added, laughter in her voice. “Ash’s ego is as big as his—”

  “Gah!” Edie slammed her hands over her ears. “I think this conversation might be as bad for me as Ash talking about Sebastian in front of Shea. Stop right there, thank you very much.”

  “I was going to say his heart, Edie. His heart. Your brother has a really big heart. Almost as big as my husband’s.”

  Tamar winked at me when she said it.

  Pure innuendo.

  Redness flamed and heat licked across every inch of my body.

  Oh my God.

  I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or cry.

  If I wanted to get up and run for dry land or cling to these women forever.

  If I wanted to freeze up behind my fears or for a few blissful minutes let go.

  Allow myself to live. To feel. I hadn’t felt much of anything but pain and sorrow and worry in so very long.

  “I…I don’t…”

  Sobering, Shea sat back in the plush booth. I thought maybe she was able to read every single one of the insecurities that had flashed through my mind.

  “Hey, it’s okay. Honestly, Willow, we get it. It’s scary to feel something we aren’t sure we should feel. Scary to feel something new. Especially when we know it might just break us even though our heart is telling us to give it a shot anyway.”

  “Ash isn’t—”

  She cut me off with a sharp shake of her head. “Ash picks up women, Willow. He doesn’t bring them with him. Not in all the time I’ve known him. Not once.”

&nbs
p; I struggled to process what she was implying.

  Her smile was nothing less than a sympathetic frown. “And Ash…there’s a complicated man underneath all that happy-go-lucky, easy-going guy. He doesn’t show it to a lot of people, but I know it’s there.”

  Her frown deepened. “But the one thing you should know, he does have a huge heart, Willow. Ash just might have the biggest heart of them all. And I think maybe that’s what terrifies him most.”

  Her words felt like both a buoy and a warning.

  Encouragement and caution.

  He might wreck you but it just might be worth it.

  A deep voice was cleared in the mic.

  The crowd thundered and stomped their feet. Whistles and cheers ricocheted from the old wooden walls of the massive building.

  I expected to see Austin out front.

  But no.

  Standing out front and center was the man I couldn’t expel from my mind.

  One I could feel slowly but surely seeping into my skin, soaking into my spirit, where he would take me whole.

  Invade and inundate.

  I knew if I let him, I wouldn’t ever be the same.

  “How’s everyone doin’ tonight?” Ash’s rough voice tremored over the space, shackling every soul with his words. He pushed a casual hand through the long pieces of his hair, his grin wide.

  Though something about it held a predatory vibe. Body so big. Strength bristling in every bulging muscle.

  No doubt, it was the warrior who had taken to the stage.

  “Oh my God,” I heard Tamar mutter from behind me. But I was too entranced to look for her reaction.

  Instead I watched his gaze skate across the enraptured faces who stared up at him.

  “Seems there’ve been some rumors about my well-being floating around. So yeah, I might’ve gone and gotten myself into a bit of trouble after leaving this fine establishment a few weeks ago.”

  He chuckled low, and I thought he was going to play it off as something simple with the way he smirked at the crowd.

  Insignificant.

  The incident just another blip in his day.

  But instead those blue eyes raced across the faces gathered at his feet until his steely gaze tangled with mine.

  Turbulent.

  Relentless and sincere.

  The room spun.

  “Now I know I’m usually the one standing up here, livin’ life large and without a whole lot of thought about the consequences. But I want to be real for a second.”