Southern Secrets by Natasha Madison
Chapter 15
Asher
She looksstraight in my eyes, her voice never wavering as she says the words that I know hurt her. "And I’ll never go through that again."
I want to ask her all the questions, but I know there is a time and place for that, and it’s not that time. I also know that if she gives me her truth, I have to give her mine. "I have to take a shower," I say, looking down at myself. "Are you going to be okay for ten minutes?"
"I’m going to bed," she says, sinking into her bed. "Can you turn off the lights out there?" she asks, and all I can do is nod at her. Even if I wanted to tell her no, the lump in my throat at seeing that she is okay stops me. I didn’t know what I would be walking in on. The last time I saw her, she looked scared.
"Chelsea said I have to wake you up every two hours," I say, and she rolls her eyes. I watch her turn on her side in a fetal position and bring the covers under her chin. "Good night, Amelia," I say softly, turning and walking out of the room.
My whole body on alert, I walk to the front door and lock up. Turning off the lights, I walk to the back door and make sure that it’s locked also. I walk to the bathroom, taking off the dusty clothes and dumping them in the corner. Getting into the shower, I hang my head as the hot water washes over me.
Leaving her in that ambulance and not going with her shifted something inside me, and I knew then and there that whatever this shit was had to stop. I worked side by side with Jacob the whole time. My only focus was finding out what happened to her.
The phone in my back pocket felt heavier and heavier with each message. My ability not to want to kill someone slipped away, each time. Jacob had to send me away from a couple of the guys we were interviewing because if one of them said again that she was smoking hot, I was going to throat punch them.
I get out of the shower and slip on a pair of boxers and shorts. I walk back to her bedroom and see she’s still sleeping. I think about walking to her bed and lying down beside her just so I can make sure she is okay all night long. My heart pushes me to go, but my head, my head moves my feet away from her door, and I walk over to the couch to lie down and set my phone alarm to go off in two hours. I turn on my back and look up at the ceiling, my eyes never closing to sleep when I hear the soft alarm. I get up and walk to the bedroom. Her eyes open slowly when I walk in. "Did you set an alarm?" she asks me softly.
"Yeah," I tell her and see that the sun is coming up. "Go back to sleep."
"Turn off your alarm," she grumbles out, "or I’ll break the phone."
I laugh. "How is your head?"
"It’s not my head that hurts. It’s the pain in my ass in front of me that’s bothering me." She turns in her bed. "Now, let me sleep."
"Call me if you need anything," I say, and I want to just sit and make sure she is okay, but instead, I walk back to the couch, and this time, sleep comes and takes me. The sound of movement makes my eyes fly open, and I see that the sun is streaming into the room. "Hey," I say, getting up seeing her in the kitchen.
"Why are you sleeping on the couch?" She looks over at me, and she looks tired but still so beautiful that she takes my breath away.
"I was scared I wouldn’t hear you," I say, getting up as she walks to the cupboard and gets two mugs out. She wears another pair of shorts and a long-sleeve sweater. "How are you feeling?"
"Annoyed," she says, pouring coffee in the mugs and then putting the pot back. "I got seventeen voice messages from my grandmother." She hands me a cup of coffee. "One text from my grandfather." She goes back to her mug and smells it right before she drinks it. "A text from every single cousin and my mother should be here any minute."
I walk to the fridge, grabbing some milk and putting a splash in my coffee. "Are you hungry?"
"My mother is coming, and I’m assuming from the voice mails from my grandmother, she has cooked everything that I’ve ever said I liked since I was a little girl," she says, and I smile.
"Nothing wrong with family loving you," I say, taking another sip, and I see her face soften just a bit.
"I didn’t mean," she says softly.
I shake my head. "You don’t have to apologize." It looks like she is going to say something else, but the front door opens.
"Incoming," Amelia says to me, holding her coffee cup in both hands.
"Good morning." I look over my shoulder and see Kallie standing there with her hands full of food. "Oh, good, you had coffee." I laugh and then look down when Amelia glares at me. "Good morning, Asher," Kallie says.
I walk over to her to help grab some things from her hands. "Here, let me help you there, Mrs. McIntyre."
"Suck-up," Amelia grumbles when I walk back with all the food in my hands. Placing the food on the island, Kallie walks over to Amelia and holds her face in her hands. "I’m fine."
"When aren’t you fine?" she asks her daughter and then turns around. "What do you want to eat?" she asks, grabbing plates out of the cupboard.
"If you guys are going to be okay," I say to them, "I’m going to go and meet up with the guys." I look at them, and Amelia just stares at me.
"You can do whatever you want," she says, her eyes going down to the food in front of her. I look over at Kallie, who smiles at me, and I see tears in her eyes. "I’ll be fine."
"Oh, we know," I say, turning and walking back to the bedroom. I slip on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. When I walk back out, Kallie is the only one there. "Where is she?"
"She went to lie down," Kallie says softly.
"I won't be long," I say, and she looks down at her hands and then looks up again.
"Asher," she says my name, and I look over to where Amelia's bedroom is. "She isn’t good with people helping her."
"Yeah, I got that pretty loud and clear," I say and she smiles and a lone tear escapes.
"She’s worth it," she says and then walks toward Amelia’s room. I want to tell her that I know she’s worth it. I want to tell her that I’m the one who isn’t worth it. All the support that this family has given me and I’m not worthy of any of it.
I grab my keys and walk out to the truck, the phone ringing in my hand. I see it’s Ethan. "Morning," I say, getting into the truck and starting it.
"We are at the clubhouse," he says.
"Be there in ten," I say and disconnect. When I get there, I see more cars than are usually there. I walk in, and the door is buzzed open right away. I look around and see that some of the guys are here.
Ethan sits at a desk with a cup of coffee in his hand, leaning back in the chair. Jacob stands with Casey beside him. "Morning," I say, walking toward them.
"Just in time," Casey says to me. "We were just going over the camera feed."
I sit on one of the desks while the screens fill with the back of the bar. "Nothing is out of sorts," Casey says, and then I see the door open and the light comes out from inside, showing Amelia walking out carrying the garbage bag.
She walks with her head down but something in the corner makes me sit up. "Stop it,” I snap out. "Go back a couple of seconds and look at the side corner." I point and Casey goes back and starts it again. You see a dark figure, but if you weren’t looking for it, you wouldn't have seen it. What caught my eye was the orange dot. "That’s a cigarette," I say and we all watch as the man steps out of his corner, flicking his cigarette. He moves behind her and lifts his hand, hitting her over the head. My hands go into fists when I see her fall. The figure stands over her, not moving. He turns and just walks away from her, his head down with a hoodie blocking his face. "We can’t see anything." I shake my head. "But.” I look up. "He left his DNA."
"I’m going to go out there and see if I can find it," Ethan says.
"He wasn’t there for ten minutes," I say. "He was camping out there, so chances are there are more than a couple to choose from."
I look back at Jacob, who shares a look with Casey as Ethan walks out of the room. "You were right," Casey says, shaking his head. "You lost me a thousand dollars." He walks over to me and slaps my shoulder. "Glad I lost this one."
"What are you talking about?" I ask, and he smiles. "I’ll let Jacob talk to you. I’m going to go and help my father."
I watch Casey walk out of the room and then turn to Jacob. "What am I missing?"
He stands there tapping his finger on the middle of table. "Have you ever thought about what you want to do in life?" I just look at him.
"To be honest, I don’t even know if I’m staying," I say, admitting it finally, and he just looks at me. "My whole life I went from place to place. I figured if I was supposed to be in one place, the universe would let me know." I fold my arms over my chest. "The fire burning everything I have was a sign I should be moving along."
"Or it could be a sign that you were wasting away at working on a farm when you should be following what you’re good at."
"And what is that?" I ask.
"Seeing you at the fire and then again last night. And here this morning proves to me what I’ve thought all along. You were made for this," he says. "Let's just look at what we just saw. Hell, I didn’t even see the guy in the corner."
"That doesn’t mean anything," I say. "I’m observant."
"You are more than that. You have good instincts," he says. "You had the scene of the crime closed off even before I got there last night. You are protective, you have problem-solving skills, and you have the heart for it. That’s not something that you learn. That’s something instilled in you."
"I never had anyone in my whole life care about what I did," I say, and I know I should stop. "Never had a father figure guide me toward the right path. Never had anyone give a shit at what I was good at. It’s a lot to take in and think about."
He comes to me. "That’s all I can ask you," he says. "It’s time to set some roots. Maybe you were led here for a reason." He slaps my shoulder. "I want you to think about it, and I want you to know that I’m here for you regardless of what you decide. You’re one of the good ones, Asher."
He walks out and leaves me alone, my eyes looking up at the black screen. "Would he ask you to stay if he knew the truth?" I ask myself.
