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He let out a soft sob and then was pushing into my arms. I held him while carefully maneuvering us until we were lying down again. “I don’t give a fuck about Billy trying to come after my business. The asshole doesn’t know shit about fighting. Not with his body and sure as shit not in the court of public opinion. And after what we just saw, I think he’s got his hands full trying to save his career. So don’t you ever apologize to me again about that, you hear me?”
Ash nodded against my chest.
“Now do me a favor and stop fighting the meds, okay?”
Another nod. “Don’t go anywhere, hm?” he murmured tiredly.
“I’m right here, baby,” I said. I waited until he settled, and while I could tell he wasn’t asleep yet, I knew it wouldn’t be long.
I looked back up at the television to see the tail end of Sienna’s interview. Joe was asking a question.
“According to reports, you’ve brought charges of physical abuse against Bomber. Apparently there is surveillance video of a physical altercation that took place between the two of you in the lobby of his apartment complex, is that correct?”
My heart rate picked up. So, I’d been right. He’d hurt her too.
Sienna looked down at her lap and I wondered if she’d been through even a fraction of what Ash had.
“Yes, sir. But my attorney has advised me not to discuss it publicly.”
I reached to grab the remote from where it had fallen between us on the bed and turned off the TV. I pulled my phone up and dialed Chase. It didn’t matter that it was the middle of the night, I wanted to let Chase know that Ash was with me, not to mention I was dying to know the story behind that interview.
“Chase Parrish,” he answered groggily. In our line of work, middle of the night calls were a part of doing business.
“It’s me. I wanted to give you a heads-up that Ash is with me.”
“He is?” Chase said, sounding more awake. “Oh, thank god.”
His relief caught me off guard. “What?”
“I’ve been looking for him everywhere… okay, not everywhere, since I don’t know all that much about him.”
“Why were you looking for him?”
“Because I wanted to talk to him about… um, something, and I wanted to try to convince him…”
My brother’s voice fell off.
“Did the ‘something’ you wanted to talk to him about have anything to do with Sienna playing the betrayed lover in Joey’s interview chair?”
Silence for a beat.
“Yeah, ah… about that…” he began. I glanced at Ash and could tell by the look on his face that he’d woken up enough to hear what my brother was saying. “I may or may not have asked Joey to offer Sienna a chance to throw Bomber under the bus. That fucker deserves it. No one fucks with my brother and gets away with it.”
“He hardly fucked with me,” I said with a chuckle.
“I wasn’t talking about you, Aiden,” Chase said softly. “I was talking about Ash.”
I felt Ash shift against me and realized he was looking up at me with tears in his eyes. The lump in my throat made it hard for me to talk, but I managed anyway.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “I owe you one.”
“Take care of him, Aid.”
“Always.”
It wasn’t long before Ash had succumbed to the lure of the pain medicine and fallen back asleep. I took the opportunity to text Tomás and ask him to try and track down Ash’s guitar the following day. I knew Ash had taken the guitar to the coffee shop with him the day of the attack, so it seemed reasonable that he’d pawned it somewhere around the shop or on the straight stretch of Central Park West and 8th Avenue between the hospital and Port Authority bus station. I made sure to mention the faded Vulcan sticker on the outside of the case in the hopes that would help him find the right guitar. I told him to also check around West 54th Street, since that was close to the police station Ash had gone to in order to rescind the restraining order against me.
My gut clenched as I realized that even in his state— hurt, confused, and walking four miles to catch the bus— he’d been thinking of me. He’d made sure I wouldn’t get into any trouble when he showed up.
Fuck. I had to stop thinking about his awful trip if I was ever going to be able to calm down.
A few hours later, when the morning sunlight began streaming in through the large windows, Jake arrived to check on Ash. He approached the bed with a small smile and reached out to shake my hand. The movement jostled Ash enough to wake him back up, and he gave Jake a wave before stretching and snuggling back against me.
