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Ricki
Istareddownathim, the man who had haunted my life for the last few months, his words and actions causing me nothing but grief and pain.
Now, here he was, a sniveling mess slumped in my chair, barely able to hold his head up, never mind cause me any harm.
I knew he was experiencing some pretty shitty symptoms right now. One of the hallmark signs of Belladonna poising is disruption to the involuntary processes of your body, like your breathing and heart rate. At the moment, I expected Javier felt like someone had hooked his heart up to a car battery, causing it to beat at probably double its normal pace. Not to mention the blurred vision and hallucinations. Add to that the disorientation, slurred speech, sweating, and loss of breath, and Javier was one sorry son of a bitch.
“Help... me,” he gasped, his lips now a startling shade of purple.
“I want to, Javier. I do,” I said, and Asher huffed behind. “I can call an ambulance and they can give you the antidote and you’ll be totally fine.” I paused, considering. “I mean, you’ll probably be fine. But, before I do, I need to know that things are finished between us. That you’re going to go on with your life, and I’ll go on with mine, and we’ll never have to see each other again as long as we live. Can you do that?”
“Fuck...you...bitch,” he hissed, his too large pupils rolling from side to side as he tried to speak.
“Ricki,” Asher cut in, moving me back from where I stood, apparently too close to Javier for his liking. “Let’s just call the police. This guy deserves jail time, not a discussion on right and wrong.” Looking back over his shoulder to where Javier was still slumped in the chair, Asher frowned. “I doubt he’d learn anything anyway.”
Sighing dramatically, I threw my hands up in the air.
“Fine!” I looked past Asher to stare at Javier again. “But I want it to be known that I tried to be nice about this. I took the high road, Javier, and you refused to meet me on it.”
“Ricki,” Asher called as I turned away, drawing my attention back to him. Looking me up and down, Asher walked toward me, cupping my face in his hands. He leaned close, his eyes sweeping over me, assessing and concerned.
“I’m fine, Asher,” I insisted, and watched as his whole body slowly relaxed.
“Thank fuck,” he breathed before a slow smile spread over his face. “I was so goddamn worried, Betty. You shouldn’t have come. This maniac,” he added, indicating Javier where sat, staring once again at his own fingers. “He jumped me in my truck. I made sure we got as far away from you as possible, and then you just walk your ass in here all alone, with absolutely no regard for your own personal safety and I was about to lose my fuckin’ mind, Ricki.”
Well, I hadn’t been completely alone; I’d had a little help from my friend Agatha.
“Asher Dunn,” I said, fisting my hands in the flannel shirt he wore—the same one he was wearing on Halloween, I noticed with a grimace. “If you think for one second that I was just gonna sit at home and wait while you or some other man figured out how to fix my problems, then you don’t know me at all.”
“Ricki—”
“I mean, this whole thing was my problem to begin with, not yours.”
“Ricki, I just—”
“It’s not as though I was incapable of protecting myself. I managed to subdue him all on my own, Asher,” I insisted, giving that flannel shirt a shake. “I don’t need you or any other—”
“Enrica!” Asher shouted, and I froze. It was the first time he’d used my full name, and I couldn’t say I hated it.
In fact, if the hardened peaks of my nipples were any indication, I liked it a whole hell of a lot.
“I know you’re able to look after yourself, baby,” Asher said, his tone softening. “I know you are strong and capable and more amazing than any woman I’ve ever met.” Reaching out, Asher wrapped one hand around my back, drawing me close as he stared intently into my eyes. “I’m not trying to hold you back, baby. I’d never, ever try to stand in your way. I just want to stand beside you as you conquer the world.”
I blinked, taking in his words as my brain attempted to get on board with what he was saying.
I’d never had a true partner in life. Aside from Violet, I’d been alone for a really long time. The thought of Asher being that person, the one who stood side by side with me as we helped each other live our best lives, was pretty fucking amazing, if I was being honest with myself.
“Now,” Asher continued, cutting into my dreamy, sappy thoughts as he let a smile spread across his face. “Are you gonna kiss me or what?”
I paused, realizing that, with Javier incapacitated in that chair, Asher and I were, essentially, safe. I had done what I intended to do, protected someone I cared about—maybe more than cared about, but we’d come back to that particular line of thought—and I’d done it all by myself.
Not wanting to seem too eager, I scrunched my nose as though I was considering, and Asher rumbled out a protest.
“I mean, I guess I will. But only if you make it worth my while,” I teased, and he laughed.
Grasping my cheeks again, Asher pressed his lips to mine, his kiss all consuming as he poured every worry and concern he’d carried for me over the last few weeks into it. Needing to be closer to him, I rose onto my toes, my arms going around his shoulders as I clawed at him, trying to touch him everywhere at once.
It was a kiss unlike any I’d ever had, because it was the most honest and real kiss of my life.
