AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Let’s go make that pizza and then I’ll eat you again for dessert.”
I laugh. “I don’t know if I can take it.”
“We both know that’s not true.” He winks and pulls me into a sitting position, giving me a sideways look. “It’s good to be with you, Ashley.”
“It’s good to be with you, too.”
“I never wanted to leave you. You know that, right?”
I think of the gifts he sent me before I went into hiding. “You sent me flowers.”
He turns to look at me. “What?”
“You sent me flowers. I was shocked. You sent me a note. You said it was all lies. You said—”
“I didn’t send you flowers. I wouldn’t have done anything to make them think they could use you as bait.”
“But someone did and the note said it was from you.”
“Someone,” he bites out and then he’s pushing to his feet, his body stiff, ready for attack.
I grab his hand and stand up. “Wait. What’s happening?”
“It’s time to wake Edward the fuck up and find out what kind of game he’s been playing with us.”
Chapter twelve
Aaron
The flowers say it all.
Someone wanted her to end up in protective custody. This knowledge has me on my feet and walking toward the kitchen in about three seconds. Edward is somehow behind this. He did this. I know he did, and I want to know why one of the only people I have trusted in years fucked me and my woman over like this.
“Noah!” Ashley calls from behind me and that name, my real name, the name she knows me as, but I can no longer use, hits ten nerves.
I lied to her.
She’s going to struggle to get by that, but I’m going to make it easier. I’m going to get us the answers we need to move on. I enter the kitchen and move the table. “What are you doing?”
I glance up to find Ashley in the doorway, once again dressed. “Getting answers.”
“No,” she says, running forward to stand on top of the basement door. “Right now, you’re angry and emotional. That’s not the time to deal with this.”
Angry and emotional.
I don’t get angry and emotional, at least not when it comes to business, and Edward was always business. He taught me that. No friends. Only enemies. That’s what being an agent is all about. That’s how you survive. That’s how I make sure Ashley survives. I pull one of my guns and hand it to her, pressing it into her palm. “I’m not going to shut the door. Shoot anyone who comes into the cabin and shout for me.”
Her eyes go wide. “How would anyone get in here in this storm?”
I stroke her face. “I’m not emotional or angry, but when I’m down there, and you’re up here, I’m paranoid as fuck. I’ll leave the door open. Stay right here where I can get to you and shout out if you need me.” I move to the stairs. “Don’t come down here.” I don’t give her time to reply. I need those damn answers.
Two steps down, I pull my other weapon because, yes, Edward is tied up and knocked out, but I take nothing for granted. I reach the basement, scanning the area, the crates to my left and right are filled with an excess of weapons. Edward is as I left him, in a corner on the floor, chained to a bar, his body slouched over. I call upstairs. “Ashley!”
“Yes? I’m here.”
Relief washes over me that I didn’t realize how damn much I needed to feel. There is unease in me, a sense of more happening than I know, right here in this moment. “Everything okay up there?”
“Yes. Everything okay down there?”
