Page 23

23

ASHER

I stared at the double doors, clenching my fists as I waited to be let back to see Holly. I had calmed down considerably since I drove up and saw her being beaten on the side of the road after being dragged out of her window. I didn’t even think twice about what I did next. Beating the shit out of that guy and sending him to the intensive care unit was the least of his problems because if he could ever walk again, he’d end up right back in the hospital from an unknown fall down a flight of stairs.

“Mr. Stone,” the cop said, drawing my attention back to him. “You were saying?”

I shook my head and focused on his curious face. “I drove up and he was attacking her.”

“Yeah, you said that. What happened next?”

I shrugged. “I intervened.”

“Uh-huh. What I need to know is how he ended up nearly dead.”

“We fought. It was self-defense.”

“You’re not injured.”

I pointed to the bruising on my knuckles. “I’m injured.”

He raised an eyebrow at me.

“I’ll swear to it in court.”

He sighed, putting away his notepad. “That’s all I have for now, but I’m sure it’s not the last you’ll hear from us. Do yourself a favor and have a few more bruises for the next cop that shows up.”

“I’ll do my best.”

He slapped me on the arm and walked away, leaving me pacing the hospital waiting room by myself. I couldn’t believe I was here. I shouldn’t fucking be here, not with Holly. She wasn’t supposed to end up in the hospital—not her. She was innocent. So fucking innocent.

I sat down and tucked my head into my hands, trying to push away the memories of a life past. I couldn’t go there. She wasn’t Jade. She didn’t do this to herself, and there was nothing I could do about this. Well, that wasn’t completely true. There was a hell of a lot I could do. I could drive her to work. I could make sure she had security at the shop. I needed to install an alarm at the house. I needed to think about getting her some self-defense classes and?—

“Hey, is she alright?”

Surprised by the voice, I looked up and stared at my boss for a moment.

“Holly. Is she alright?”

“You’re here.”

“I know that. You called and sounded like you were about to murder someone.” His eyes wandered over my hands and he sighed. “Did you murder someone?”

My jaw clenched as I remembered tossing that fucker against the SUV and the sound of his bones breaking as I twisted his arm behind his back. “Not yet.”

He huffed out a laugh and sat down. “Well, I guess I should be relieved to hear that. Can’t lose you to prison.”

“I should have fucking killed him.”

“So, what stopped you?”

“Holly,” I muttered.

He nodded, not saying anything else.

“What are you doing here?”

“Like I said, you sounded like you were about to murder someone. I figured you might need someone around. Just in case…”

“In case what?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, Asher. Do you know another fucking person around here?”

“Yeah.”

He shot me a skeptical look. “That you speak to regularly? Like a friend, Asher. Not the person you see in the grocery store every week.”

Well, when he put it like that… “Shit, I need to call Holly’s parents.” I went to stand, but he put a hand on my shoulder, pushing me back down.

“Relax. I’ll talk to the nurses at the desk. I’m sure they would have contacted them already.”

I was fucking losing it. What I really wanted was to grab my gun and kill the son of a bitch who put his hands on Holly, but that was a past life—a different Asher. But he was begging to come out and play. Still…there was part of me that wanted to call Chase right now and tell him how much I needed him. He would know what to do and say right now. He would have my back and understand the need to kill someone and not ask me stupid questions—like if I had murdered someone.

“They already called her parents. You need to just relax. I’m sure she’s fine.”

I huffed out a laugh. Yeah, I was sure she was fucking fine. He didn’t see her face. He didn’t see her lying on the ground after that asshole dragged her through the window. I saw it. I was there just a few minutes too late. I should have been there.

“Hey, calm down, man.”

I brushed him off as he tried to comfort me and stalked away. I needed to get some fresh air and get my head on straight before I beat the shit out of someone because I was really fucking close to losing my shit right this second. I pushed open the doors and got to work the only way I knew how. I found the best security company in the area. It didn’t take long for me to get them set up. After all, I already knew all this shit like the back of my hand. I explained to them exactly what I needed, told them about my experience so they didn’t try to fuck me over, and made sure they headed out to Holly’s shop immediately to get that squared away. And while I was at it, I gave them Noelle’s information and made sure she was taken care of as well. I couldn’t stand the thought of her being alone and unprotected.

Was I going overboard? Perhaps. But better safe than sorry.

“Asher!”

I was just hanging up with the security company when Carol and Nicholas came running up. “Carol?—”

“Tell me my baby girl is okay.”

“They won’t let me back to see her.”

Her spine stiffened and her nostrils flared. “Well, I’ll fix that right now.”

She marched past me as Nicholas shook his head. “Bet they didn’t see her coming.” He glanced at me and then down at my hands. “Is he dead?”

“Not yet.”

“That’s a shame.”

“He’s in the ICU.”

His lips twitched slightly. “What did the police say? Are you gonna have problems?”

“They asked what happened. I said it was self-defense.”

This time, his face broke out into a full-blown grin. “Self-defense, huh?”

I shrugged. “He swung at me.”

“That’s good enough for me. Did he hurt her?”

I nodded.

“Then I hope he dies.”

I felt the same way. I hadn’t expected this side of Nicholas, but I couldn’t say I blamed him for being so blunt with his opinions. If it was my daughter, I’d feel the same way.

And now I was thinking about my children with Holly and what I would do to protect them. I slid my fingers through my hair as I blew out a breath. Hell, having kids was gonna be hard as fuck.

“It never gets easier, son.”

“What’s that?”

He shot me a knowing look. “You know what. Come on. Let’s go check on our girl.”

I nodded and followed him inside. I really didn’t want to see Holly for the first time with her parents, but I was desperate to lay eyes on her just to know she was okay.

“I’m her mother and I’m not waiting any longer to see my daughter!” Carol argued with the nurse.

“Ma’am, we’ll let you know as soon as the doctor clears her to see visitors.”

“Well, it had better be in the next five minutes or I’ll be marching down that hall with or without you to guide me. Am I making myself clear?”

Wyatt walked over, giving me a chin lift. “I have to head back to the shop. I left Grady in charge.”

I winced at that. “Yeah, I hope everything’s still running when you get there.”

“Me too. Take your time and let me know how she’s doing.”

“I will. Thank you.”

“You got it.”

He held out his hand for me to shake. It was the strangest sensation, having a friend to rely on like this. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed that or even wanted it. I was so sure I needed to push everyone from my life to avoid reminders of the past that I forgot what it was like to have a friend around.

“Hey,” I said, stopping him as he headed for the doors. “I mean it. Thank you.”

He shook his head as he smiled as if to say It’s about time you figured it out.

Maybe I didn’t need to shut everyone out. But I’d think about that another time. Right now, I had other things to worry about.