Page 4

Asher

“I already told you what happened.”

I rub my temples as the bright lights beam down on me, causing my head to spin.

He won’t give me a damn thing for the pain.

I know what he’s doing.

Making me sweat until I’m so tired I’ll confess just to get the fuck out of here.

But, he’s wrong.

Dead wrong.

It will not make me say shit that didn’t happen.

I sink back against the cold metal chair and stare straight ahead. Being locked in this damn room has my teeth on edge. I’m used to sitting on the other side. Not the one being treated like an animal.

“Bullshit! You saw some other guy fucking her and couldn’t handle the fact that she needed to get it better elsewhere.”

Detective Norris slams down the pictures of Lauren’s lifeless body on top of the metal table. Ice pumps through my veins at the images before me, and I avert my eyes. “So you beat the shit out of her and when that wasn’t enough to satisfy your ego, you shot her in cold blood.”

I swallow down all my rage and anger, because it’s exactly what this prick wants, and meet his gaze head-on. “You’re wrong.”

He leans down until I smell the coffee on his breath. “Am I?”

His knuckle taps against the photographs but I don’t take my eyes off of him. Those images will haunt me until the day I die, and I don’t need to see them anymore.

Blood pounds in my ears and my vision narrows. I lose all sense of control. My fists clench and jerk forward, causing the metal of the cuffs to dig into my wrists. “I didn’t kill my wife!”

“Ash? Wake up, man!”

I jolt upright at the sound of my brother’s voice, sending papers flying across my desk. My heart pounds against my chest as a sheen of sweat drips across my forehead. The nightmares have haunted me every night and haven’t stopped. Being out seems to have made them worse.

I lean back against my chair and rub the sleep from my eyes. “Thanks.”

Zane leans his hip against the side of my desk and crosses his arms over his chest, watching my every move. He’s worse than the damn warden. Sometimes it’s a pain in the ass how perceptive he can be. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

I shake my head and go back to glancing at the file open on my computer, feeling his eyes on me the whole time. Numbers and names blur together causing me to stare at the same line over and over again. My muscles tense under his scrutiny and I wait for him to call me out on my bullshit, but he never does.

He sighs and lets it go. Zane knows when to push me, and when to back off. His chin tilts toward the screen. “Find anything useful on there?”

I relax at his change in subject. He’s letting me off the hook for now, but the look in his eyes promises we’ll be hashing shit out soon. I ignore the tightness in my chest and answer him. “Not much. There’s nothing directly tying Diego to Benny’s Automotive.”

“Maybe he used an alias?”

His dark eyebrows narrow together.

“I thought about that, but Diego’s one cocky son of a bitch. He thinks he’s untouchable. There’s no way he would hide. He’d flaunt it out in the open, seeing it as an opportunity to shove it all in APD’s faces.”

Zane scratches his beard and lets my words sink in. “Have you tried following the money? It might help to see where it goes.”

He leans in closer to the monitor and squints, attempting to make sense of it all. Judging by the look on his face, it might as well be in a foreign language. Give him a gun and he can have it disassembled and put back together in a matter of seconds, all while blindfolded. Numbers, however, are another matter entirely.

“There are a few minor discrepancies with certain accounts that run through there, but nothing major that stands out. Whoever Benny had doing the books was much smarter than him. Still, it doesn’t explain the large amounts of cash he’s been flaunting around. There’s no way he can afford half the shit he has.”

I’ve been coming around to the same conclusion for hours and it’s doing my head in.

“What about the drugs?”

“No damn clue. There’s a connection between this case and what happened to…”

It’s been years and I still can’t bring myself to say their names out loud. Not sure if I’ll ever get to that point. “I feel it in my gut. There’s more to this and I just need to keep digging.”

“You’ll figure it out. You always do.”

He pats me on the back and squeezes my shoulder. “How did it go last night?”

“I had Axel with me. How do you think it went?”

I shake my head and light up a cigarette.

Zane gives an understanding grunt. Not sure how he’s lasted this long without kicking Axel’s ass a time or two.

As if he has supersonic hearing, Axel pokes his head in and takes in the two of us. “What are y’all doin’ in here?”

“Talking,”

Zane says.

“Big brother telling you how awesome I was last night?”

Axel leans against the doorjamb and crosses his arms over his chest.

“Hooking up with her friend wasn’t part of the deal.”

I narrow my eyes, letting him see just how pissed I am that he went to Orphic without telling me. “Not to mention she’s the governor’s fucking daughter.”

“Relax. You needed a way in. I’m happy to take one for the team and I didn’t even give her my real name.”

His eyes light up like he did me a solid. He’s such a cocky little shit.

“By getting your dick wet.”

I exhale a cloud of smoke in his face and stare him down with the same one I used to use on my cellmates to keep them out of my shit. Of course, he ignores it for the warning it is and keeps on talking.

“Have you seen her friend? Legs for days, face of an angel, and a sassy as fuck redhead to boot. She’s the perfect package.”

He groans at the memory.

“Is that why you got jumpy and knocked over the library book last night?”

I cock my head to the side, daring him to argue my point.

His face turns serious as he shrugs. “That was an accident. Things worked out fine. She didn’t see me.”

“You’re lucky you move quick or else she would have.”

I shouldn’t be so hard on him, but he needs to understand what’s at stake here if he doesn’t take more precautions. We’re not untouchable like he wants to think. The thought of either of my brothers rotting in prison because of me is like a knife to my chest.

“Why are you on my ass anyway? You could have just taken her last night. She was alone and vulnerable. I don’t understand what you’re waiting for?”

A muscle in his cheek jumps as he throws all this shit in my face.

“It wasn’t the right time.”

My hand slams down against my desk, causing the computer to rattle. His words hit too close to home. I could have taken her last night, but a weird feeling—one I can’t explain—stopped me. I’ll be damned if I have to explain myself to him. I don’t like being second-guessed by anyone. He keeps this shit up and I’m burning his ass with the cherry of my cigarette.

Zane senses the tension building and steps in before anything can escalate. “If you’re thinking of changing the game, we have your back. We just need to know the new rules.”

“I’m not. We’re still doing it. Things just have to be in place is all. I’ve worked too hard to fuck this up by jumping the gun.”

I rub at the short hairs on the top of my head to soothe my rising temper.

“I don’t know. Sometimes jumping the gun can be fun.”

The gleam in my brother’s eyes gives away the direction of his thoughts.

“Ax…”

He’s being a serious pain in my ass.

“Whatever. I’m outta here. Got a hot date with a certain redhead.”

He flashes me a Cheshire Cat grin.

“You sure it’s smart for him to get close to the friend?”

Zane jerks his head in Axel’s direction.

“No,”

I deadpan.

“You two worry too much.”

Axel shakes off my attitude like it’s no big deal, but I can see in his eyes that it’s beginning to wear on him.

“We have reason to.”

I pinch my cigarette between my fingers and stare him down.

“Name one.”

Axel keeps pushing the issue and I can’t control how far I take this.

“Mary Stevens.”

That gets my point across but leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

All the color drains from Axel’s face and his whole body hardens. “That’s a low blow, even for you.”

He’s right. It was and I feel like shit for even saying it.

“Ax.”

I open my mouth to do something I haven’t done in years, but it’s my brother and he doesn’t deserve my wrath. “I’m sor—”

“Don’t wait up,”

he cuts me off. All I get is a hard stare as he walks out the door without another word, leaving me to feel like a complete fucking asshole.

“He’ll be fine.”

Zane squeezes my shoulder, but it does nothing to ease the sinking feeling in my chest.

“I hope you’re right.”

I run my hand over my face and let out a heavy sigh.

“Trust him. He’s not the same little kid you remember. Believe it or not, we did grow up while you were away, big brother.”

“How? He still thinks with his dick like a damn kid.”

“Don’t we all?”

He shoots me a knowing look and walks off.

I try not to think about what he’s implying and go back to my research. I’ve got enough on my plate right now. Shit will go as planned because I have nothing left to lose. And a man with nothing to lose is a dangerous thing.