Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Chapter twenty-nine
Aaron
Ineed air. No. I need to kill Mick. I also need to know what it is that Ashley really wants, and I’m not sure she can figure that out right now with me in her face. I pull her to me and kiss the hell out of her, and it’s all I have in me to part our lips, but I do it.
A means to an end needs to come sooner than later. I set her away from me, pulling my phone from my pocket, dialing Smith. “We both know you’re right across the street,” I say when he answers. “Come back. Stay with her.”
“Don’t do this,” Ashley says. “Damn it, Noah.”
I pull the phone from my ear. “Noah now?”
“Smartass. Aaron. Don’t do this.”
“Where are you going?” Smith demands.
“To take care of business,” I reply, refocusing on the call. “Tell Blake I’ll find him. You come here.”
“I’m at the door.”
I disconnect and look at Ashley. “He’s at the door. Let him in.”
She shakes her head. “No. I’m not letting in a man you think I want to fuck as you leave on some suicide mission”
“Sweetheart, I don’t die easily. Mick will though. Let Smith in.”
“Please don’t do this to us.” Her voice is low, rough, desperate in a way Ashley is never desperate. I did this to her. I won’t keep doing this to her. “Nothing you told me changes anything,” she adds.
“Until you get some space to feel the brunt of that blow.”
“I don’t need space. I had space while you were gone, and I can’t do that again. I need you. Please don’t go.”
Smith knocks on the door and rings the bell. Ashley’s jaw sets and she turns around, opens the door, looks at him, and says, “Leave.”
I don’t give her a chance to turn back around. I disappear. I’m gone around the corner, disappearing into the shadows of the house. Smith’s voice lifts. “Let him go,” he says. I press myself against the wall. “Let him do what he needs to do. We need to talk.”
“Don’t tell me what I need to do with Aaron, Smith. I love him. I love him so much it hurts, and if you speak a word against him, I swear I will hurt you.”
“You don’t know what he’s done.”
“I know why Mick hates him. He told me. He lied to me when it was his job to lie to me, but on this, on this very important topic, he told me about Mick’s family. So don’t tell me I don’t know him. I know him. And he needs me to know him and believe in him. The way I need him.”
Smith is silent. I’m fucking silent, but my heart is thundering in my ears. This woman loves me in a way I don’t deserve to be loved. But damn how I want to deserve her.
“He told you?” Smith asks, sounding shocked.
“Yeah. I think he wants me to hate him as much as he hates himself. Where did he go? I need to talk to him. Please call Blake.”
I don’t believe for a minute Ashley wants to be with Smith. Not now. I hope not ever. Right now, I need to make sure I keep her safe. If she decides I’m not right for her later, it will be her choice. I need to give her life and choices back to her. I walk to the back door then flip a switch I installed to make sure I could get in and out without notice. I exit before resealing the lock and arming the alarm system.
Once I’m outside, I have no intention of going far. Smith is no match for Mick. Blake Walker, yes. Smith, no. I locate Blake’s number and dial him now. “Coffee shop across from the house. I’m not leaving her alone.”
“Understood. I’m twenty minutes out.”
Exactly twenty minutes later, he joins me at a table. “I’ve got men covering the house,” he says. “You and I both know how dangerous Mick is and that he has good reason to kill you. Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you myself.”
“I fucked up and didn’t do the recon right. I didn’t know about his family being there. I couldn’t stop it. I tried. So my answer is you should kill me. I deserve it, but wait until I save her. She can’t be another innocent who dies. Not her. Not Ashley.”
He inhales and lets out a breath, cutting his gaze before returning his attention to me. “I’ve made some painful mistakes in my past. I lost a fiancée to one of those mistakes, and I couldn’t save her. It becomes bearable, but it never goes away. Guilt is punishment in itself. Revenge is dangerous. Mick wants revenge the way I wanted revenge.”
“Mick doesn’t want revenge. Mick just doesn’t like anyone to take what’s his. It’s about power to him. He’s dirty, but more so, he’s a monster. I can kill and not blink, but I kill monsters like him. I don’t laugh when I kill, but that man would chop off your woman’s head and laugh at your torment. I hurt his reputation. I made him look like he was weak. The family was a cover. Spend some time researching him.”