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“Don’t come any fucking closer!” I snarled through Vanessa’s open window.
One of the guys had a lazy, long-legged gait that reminded me of a cowboy. He stopped and put both hands in the air, shocking the shit out of me. “That’s a fine thank you if I ever heard one,” he called out to us.
The voice was playful and slightly familiar, except I couldn’t quite place it. “Do I know you?”
“Not biblically, but we have met.”
The amusement in his voice threatened to piss me off. Four men had just tried to kill me and my woman and this dude was being a joker.
“Sadie rang up the Prez and said you might need some help out here, so here we are.”
I frowned as I tried to process his words.
“Sadie?” The dark haired man who couldn’t be older than his early twenties nodded. “So, Sadie sent you and knows your President?”
And then it clicked. “Reckless Bastards?” I said, getting out of the car.
“Got it.” He took a few steps closer and held out a hand. “Jameson and that’s my brother Charlie. Maisie’s cousins, in a way.”
“Maisie?” At the familiar name Vanessa popped up. “You’re related to Maisie? From Texas?”
“No. Mayhem.” The one called Charlie grinned. “We’re happy to help. These assholes have been causing a lot of trouble around Mayhem.”
I nodded. “I heard they were trying to take over your territory.” Another piece of info from Agent Beck.
“Trying is the key fucking word,” Charlie growled, his good natured grin replaced with a deadly one. “Looks like you managed to take down a couple before we got here.”
I nodded and raked a hand through my thick hair. “Thanks for the assist, man. We really needed it.”
“No problem, man.” Jameson clapped me on the back. “Anything to help out family, right?”
“Right.”
They were Maisie’s family. She hadn’t been part of the Ashby family long, but she fit right in, and soon she would be an Ashby in every sense of the word.
“Plus you saved me from an afternoon of tux fittings. I’d much rather be disposing of dead bodies than having some old dude handle my junk. Come on.”
“Glad I could help,” I grunted and stepped away from the car, casting a quick glance over at Vanessa.
“I’ll be fine,” she insisted. “You boys need some help?” She stepped from the car with a wide, willing-to-help smile and her hands fisted at her hips.
“In those shoes?” Charlie laughed. “No thanks. Anyway we’ve got a cleanup crew on the way, we need to get these fuckers off the highway before any traffic comes through.”
We spent at least thirty minutes moving the bodies off that bare stretch of highway before the van showed up with more Reckless Bastards and cleaning solution. Twenty minutes later we said another round of thanks and goodbyes before Vanessa and I made our way to Ashby Manor.
I spent the drive home thinking about Charlie’s words. Family. In a strange, twisted, unconventional kind of way, we were family. But the Ashbys? They were as much my family as Terry. Sadie had taken me in and encouraged me to reach for more. Colm had taught me how to fix cars and never back down from a fight. They’d given my brother a way to use his love of kicking ass and make a living at it.
I wasn’t an Ashby in name, but I was in all the ways that mattered. Each of us had our flaws. We were loud and abrasive, reckless and spontaneous. Each of us had our strengths and weaknesses, but at the end of the day we had each other’s backs. Whether it was supporting me after I left the military or finding a place for Maisie to use her brand new college degree, or letting Cal explore options with his tech work, we supported each other.
We encouraged each other to do better. To be better. And at the end of the day, each of us were better because of it.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Vanessa’s voice held a smile and I reached for her hand.
“Just a penny?”
She shrugged. “I only have plastic on me, but I’m pretty sure there are a few coins in the ashtray.”
“I was just thinking about what Charlie said about family and realizing that I had a damn good family. They aren’t perfect, but they are my family, and that includes you, no matter what happens between us.”
“You mean that?”
I nodded. “Absolutely. I care about you. A lot. And I want to keep you safe.”
It was time that I stopped fighting with the other side of myself and started to embrace it. If it meant keeping Vanessa safe, I would be the standup citizen, the veteran and the good guy when I needed to be, and the bad ass, take no prisoners motherfucker when he was needed.
“I can take care of myself, you know?”
