AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“These, the two at the dance last night, and the ones already in jail,” Asher replied.
“Got the ones you left at the dance already, they’re in lockup,” he said plainly, still studyin’ us both.
It was a long silence until finally Hank broke the quiet.
“Well, you gonna help me get these four into the back of my vehicle so I can leave you two be sooner rather than later?” he asked.
The relief I felt couldn’t ever be described, not really. I’d anticipated the very, very worst, and was bein’ offered another chance. An opportunity.
I stepped away from Asher, closer to Hank, “And then what?”
“Don’t you worry none, Shelby,” Hank said as he began to pull one of the thugs up from the ground and push him towards the vehicle. “I’ve kept this place safe for longer than you know. They won’t be back to trouble us again,” he said, getting some renewed struggle from the man which earned him a belt in the back of the head.
I looked to Asher, still feeling stunned by it all. The lack of sleep, the panic, the fighting...
It was like everything in my body was turning electric.
By the time they’d got the bikers loaded up, the day was fully begun and bright. Hank stopped before pulling out entirely.
“Keep yourselves safe and quiet here, y’hear?” he said, and that was that. As if we weren’t caught up in some ridiculous train wreck of life. Between gangs and cops.
* * *
With everything done like that, we didn’t know what to make of right away.
Was it enough?
Could Asher stay?
It seemed like we had all the answers we needed, but they weren’t enough. Not close to being enough.
But for the moment, it was just us. Everything out on the table, what he was running from, all of his secrets, finally exposed. And it was a lot to digest, to understand.
We sat across from each other at the table, and it was like a weight was lifted and a boulder was placed on us at the same time.
We studied each other in silence a while, until finally Asher spoke up, his deep voice breaking the peace.
“I want to stay. Continue my work. Be with you,” he stated so succinctly. So firmly.
Before I could even respond, he rose up from his seat and moved before me. He extended his hand, took me by my own and pulled me to my feet against him.
I stared at him, hope bubblin’ up in my chest, though I couldn’t really believe my ears. The things he was sayin’, they were what I wanted so badly to hear...
I looked at him, though, and his eyes were earnest.
“I want that more than anythin’,” I murmured softly.
He swept one of his big strong arms around me, and it was like the comfortin’ sort of hold I’d not known in so many years, only different. Special in its own way.
“Maybe the cops come for me again someday,” he said, looking down at me as he raised his free hand and stroked his fingertips along my cheek, and back through my hair. “But I’ll take the chance to stick around with you, Shelby. As long as you’ll have me.”
My heart thud louder in my chest as I listened to him, watched him, feeling his hard flesh press against mine, and I knew I didn’t ever wanna be without him. Even if that were the selfish thing of me to do, and to want.
I licked my lips, looking at him seriously, “You sure about this, Ash?”
His big hard body was so still, his jacket off, leavin’ him in that worn sleeveless shirt. His hard muscles bulgin’, skin tanned and marked with the dark ink of his tattoos. He was like a rock, sturdy and dependable, I felt like he weren’t goin’ nowhere, ever again, then.
“I am,” he said, right before he dove down and pressed our lips together in an intense kiss, like nothin’ I’d ever known. His tongue workin’ its way into my mouth as we stood there in the kitchen.
