Page 26

Asher

Charlee never lets go of my hand as I lead her down stairs, and I do my best to keep my eyes off of her tits. That outfit may have been a mistake and I’m going to kick Axel’s ass for telling me to buy it. The soft material hugs all of her curves, drawing attention to her phenomenal body; a body my tongue had licked and fucked every inch of. Traces of her sweetness still linger in my mouth and I have to think about something else before I walk into the room, my dick trying to jump out of my pants.

All conversation dies as we enter the dining room and rain continues to ping against the roof. My brothers take us in, stopping on our joined hands. Zane meets my gaze and winks, but doesn’t say anything, which is good because he’d get another ass beating if he did.

Charlee hangs back a step, shuffling from side to side. She’s no doubt nervous and assessing Axel’s mood today, which is unnecessary. He has one of the shortest fucking attention spans I’ve ever seen and was over what happened the second she found out about Diego last night.

Her hand squeezes mine and I hear the slight intake of breath as she gets a look at the bruises on Zane’s face that I’m sure match my own. My fingers curl deeper into hers, reassuring her without words that he’s fine and that’s not me being a cold-hearted prick. He really is.

As brothers, we fight and we forgive. It’s what we do.

Speaking of the bastards, both of them are cocking their eyebrows, watching us and our joined hands. Bits of our earlier conversation roll around in the back of my mind, but I do my best to forget about it. It doesn’t stop me from hearing them gloat from here.

Axel kicks out a chair with his foot and lifts his chin to Charlee. “Y’all gonna sit down or stand there and stare all day?”

Charlee spares him a glance but her feet stay firmly planted on the floor, so I make the decision for her. I tug on her hand, pulling her forward, and plop her tight ass in the chair. I loosen my grip to take the empty one next to her and immediately feel the loss of her warmth.

“You doing okay, Charlee?”

Zane asks. I sit up tighter in my chair as he does. It’s the first time he’s really initiated any type of contact with her and I’m wondering if the talk in our basement was as much about me as it was about him.

Charlee ducks her head down to the table as she nods, a gesture that doesn’t sit well with me. She’s always been so full of fire that I hate seeing her this way. My thumb lifts her chin until she has no choice but to meet my gaze.

“How do you really feel, Princess?”

“He was my dad.”

She shrugs as tears pool in her eyes. Her words hang in the air between us like dead weight.

I drop my hand over her chair and rub small circles against her back. There’s nothing we can add. I hated the bastard for what he did. If he hadn’t ended up dead I was planning on ending him myself, but she knew an entirely different version of him that she’s mourning the loss of.

“Did the article say if my stepmother was found with him?”

Her voice cracks at the end of her question.

“No, but I have a friend looking into it for me. I’ll let you know what he finds out.”

She nods and hangs her head once again. The three of us just sit there and stare at each other like a couple of idiots. We’re at a loss for what to do. If it were one of us we’d beat it out of them, but this requires a different approach altogether.

Axel breaks the silence, snapping his fingers like he’s just come up with the best fucking idea ever. “You know what you need? A nice traditional southern dinner.”

“You can cook?”

Charlee’s head tilts up as she asks and the look on my brother’s face is priceless.

“My mama taught me. A boy’s gotta eat things other than pussy once in a while, Hellcat.”

He winks as Zane smacks him over the head.

“What the hell, man?”

He rubs at the sore spot and shoots Zane a death glare.

“You’re a fucking idiot.”

Zane shakes his head. “Ignore him, Charlee. We dropped him on his head as a kid.”

Axel flips him off. “Just for that, I ain’t feeding your ass shit tonight.”

Zane just rolls his eyes. He isn’t even fazed. Neither am I. Axel’s made the same threat for years and we know enough to know he’s bluffing.

“What’s a traditional southern dinner?”

Her dark eyebrows pinch together.

“How the hell do you live in Georgia but you ain’t ever had one before?”

Axel damn near falls out of his chair at this news.

“I wasn’t born here. We moved here after my mother died when I was a teenager.”

Charlee chews on her bottom lip, causing my dick to take notice. I adjust myself as nonchalantly as I can and do my best to focus on this little bit of information she’s sharing. It was in the file I have on her, but it’s different hearing it from Charlee herself.

“That’s an outright crime.”

Axel shakes his head like it’s the end of the world and strolls into the kitchen.

Charlee shrugs and continues to fidget with her fingers. Axel’s trying to put her at ease, but she’s still on edge and unsure around us. Not that I blame her. We’ve done much to convince her otherwise.

“No one should ever go without tasting the deliciousness of soup beans, greens, and cornbread with onions and ketchup.”

Axel rubs his hands together like he’s just solved world hunger. “Why don’t you grab the greens out of the fridge and help me, Hellcat?”

he asks, as he begins to dice an onion. He’s playing it smart for once, distracting her and not pushing for more details.

“Um, sure.”

Charlee makes her way to the fridge and my eyes stayed glued to her backside the entire way there. When her ass bends over in those tight as fuck yoga pants, everything inside me stirs.

Why did I buy her the damn things?

The sound of Zane clearing his throat has my eyes shooting up to meet his.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

He shakes his head and gives me a knowing look that I want to smack off his face as he takes out a cigarette and lights up.

I do the same, and we sit at the table for a few minutes enjoying the show of Charlee and Axel cooking. It’s obvious Axel’s enjoying playing teacher, but he’s getting too handsy for my liking. If his hand ‘accidentally’ brushes up against another part of her I’m going to chop it off. Brother or not, he’ll make do with one.

“You think whoever took out her old man could be after her, too?”

Zane asks as he pinches his cigarette between his fingers.

“It’s a possibility.”

One I’ve been rolling around in my head over and over since we first read that damn article. Something about it isn’t sitting right with me, but I just can’t figure out what.

“What are we going to do about it?”

“I don’t know.”

I scratch the side of my face and shift in my seat. Having this wrench thrown in my plans has me at a standstill. “We’ll wait and see what Carl finds out. Then we’ll go from there.”

“Ash, you can’t keep her locked up your prisoner forever. And judging by the way you keep eye fucking her I’m thinking our talk was somewhat effective?”

He exhales a cloud of smoke and flicks his head in Charlee’s direction.

I blow mine in his face without answering him. It’s nobody’s business but my own what I do with her. He may have given me the push, but I’ll take the steps on my own, in my own fucking time.

“That’s it, Hellcat. Now we need to let it sit for a couple of hours.”

Axel’s voice brings our attention back to them. The little shit is giving me a smug grin as he wraps an arm around her neck in a hug.

My fists clench as I struggle to keep from hopping the counter and beating his ass. He always has to push my buttons. The fucker. He’s lucky Charlee’s standing next to him because I wouldn’t hesitate to do it otherwise, but I won’t risk having her hurt in the crossfire.

Then another thought comes to me. Whoever did this could be coming for her next, which means she’s even more vulnerable without Diego’s protection. Without a word, I put out my cigarette, shove my chair back, and walk over toward them.

Axel wears a shit-eating grin the whole time he watches me and whispers something in her ear that has her throwing her head back in a laugh. That’s it. He’s gone too far. I grab the thumb of the hand braced against the counter and pull it back.

“Ow, fuck!”

He yelps like a little bitch and drops his arm. I may have pulled harder than necessary, but it’s not like I broke it or anything. He’ll live. He’ll also remember to keep his damn hands off her.

“You okay?”

Charlee looks up from what she’s doing at the sink.

“He’s fine.”

I answer for him and take her by the hand. “Come with me.”

“Where are we going?”

Charlee’s wary eyes meet mine as she stumbles to follow me.

“Basement.”

Guilt seeps into my gut the second I feel her hand stiffen in mine. “Relax. You’re safe, Princess. I promise.”

Granted, the last time I took her down there it wasn’t under ideal circumstances. Things are different now. I’m hoping she’ll trust me a little bit. I need to convince her that I’m the monster she’s safer with at the moment. Convince her that things will be different starting now. For both of us.