CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT ASHTON
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
ASHTON
We pulled up to Detective Worthing’s place, and I called first.
“Yeah?”
“You have her?” I asked, looking toward his building.
Getting a call from Jake Worthing after threatening him, then asking him for a favor, wasn’t what I had expected for the night, but when he told me the events of the evening, I was thankful he’d stepped in.
Again. Even though, there was a part of me where I wondered, really wondered, if I was good for Molly.
This war would pass. She wouldn’t be in danger at that time.
She’d be normal, could be normal. Live a normal life, but not if she was attached to me.
I brought this to her. Guns. Wars. Mafia. That was me. That was this life, so while she ran from me, while I was worried to the point that I wanted to strangle someone, there was a deeper part of me that had to ask the question: Would she be better with someone like Jake Worthing?
Or someone else. Someone normal.
I thought about it and felt like I gutted myself.
I was so far in, too far in. And that was on me because I was too dark, too selfish to let her keep running. That was on me, would be on me. God. I really hated that she’d called him. Though I understood it, I still despised it.
“I do. Gotta say, not liking how she was looking when I mentioned your name.”
My lips thinned. “Can I come up?”
He snorted. “Sure. I mean, what’s the point of hiding our connection anymore? Just come on in. Let’s have a Sunday barbecue while we’re here.”
I ignored the sarcasm. “She spooked before, and I don’t know why. Let me come up and talk to her.”
I heard rustling from his side of the phone before his voice came back, clearer. “I’ll come out.”
Great. Fucking great, but he ended the call, and I couldn’t do anything else except wait and twiddle my fucking thumbs.
Molly was upstairs, in this building. In his apartment.
She’d had the police call him.
I never usually cared about women, about this game, but yeah ... with Molly, I cared. And she’d called him .
The back door to his place opened, and he came out, a hood pulled low over his head. He was hunched down, in case of security cameras, but cut past the dumpsters, through his parking lot, and into the alley where we were parked.
I got out as he neared the vehicle and motioned for Elijah and Derek to stay inside.
Worthing paused, looking to me, his head craning to the side before he identified me and came the rest of the way. He stopped a few yards away, his eyes smug.
“Is she okay?” I hated that I had to ask him, and I couldn’t ask her.
He laughed. “You are hating this, aren’t you? You actually care for her, don’t you?”
I didn’t answer. I wanted to punch his face but didn’t think that would be wise right now.
He laughed again, shaking his head, but came closer. “She’s okay. You know what happened?”
“No.”
“She was in a car with some of your employees. Two vehicles came up, blocked them in. She recognized they weren’t your men, and said that she yelled for them to drive, while she ran out into traffic.”
My heart stopped. I ceased breathing.
She ran into traffic? Into traffic?
I grated out, repeating, because it was taking everything in me to keep myself here, and not tear into his building, destroying everything in my way until I got to her, “She’s okay?”
“She’s okay. Really. Pissed, but she wouldn’t tell me why. Said it was none of my business, but I swear, Walden.”
I stilled.
He was shaking his head, and the anger was coming off him in waves now, tightly reined in.
“If you fucking hurt her, I’m moving in.
I never took my try before but fuck you.
Fuck you for whatever you did to move in on her.
She doesn’t deserve your criminal ass, and you know it.
I know it. The only one who doesn’t know it is her, because she’s got no idea how much better than you she is.
And she is. Mark my words. She’s better than both of us.
You and her, you’ve got something. That’s obvious from both sides, but the second you mess up again, I’m coming in. Consider this my warning.”
I really, really wanted to hit him, but he was right. About all of it. Still, she was mine. I wasn’t a good enough guy to walk away when I knew I should, he knew I should, and Molly probably knew in her subconscious that I should.
I was all fucking in, and it took until today for me to realize it.
“The men after her, they were your cousin’s?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’d assume. At this point, who else is going against you? But I’ve not seen any security footage yet. Things take time on our end. I’ll let you know when I do.”
That surprised me. “You’re suddenly on my side?”
“Fuck no, but Molly’s a game changer. My cousin goes after her, and I’m not okay with that.”
“What about what I told you earlier?”
He looked ready to pull my head off my body, but that made two of us here. I wasn’t happy about this either. Not anymore; the game changed with Molly. Everything changed with Molly.
“It’s under advisement. That’s all I can tell you, but don’t ever call me to a meeting with Trace West present. I’m aware of your brothership with him, but I loathe him. I loathe Montell.”
“You blame Jess for Justin leaving?”
“ Trying to leave, remember?” he bit out.
Yeah. He blamed her. “She’s not the reason he was going.”
His jaw clenched, and he shoved his hands into his hoodie’s front pocket, hunching over again. “Doesn’t matter. He never told me he was leaving. She’s the one who told me. Logical or not, I’ll always hate her for that.”
Fine. Fuck. Whatever. “I want to see Molly.”
He shook his head. “Not at my place. No way can you come in. It’s too risky, but I’ll bring her here.”
“I don’t like that. I don’t like waiting.”
“I don’t give a shit. You fucked up. She ran from you for some reason. I’ll go in, talk to her, and bring her out—”
“I’m here.”
We both shifted backward, seeing Molly darting out from behind a bush.
A bush. She was hiding behind a bush.
I’d never get a read on her. It hit me then. Never. She was made up of some DNA that didn’t make sense to me. I couldn’t understand how her brain worked, her psychology, but there she was.
A fucking bush.
I almost started laughing while Worthing was sputtering. “Wha—Molly! You can’t—”
She scooted around him, coming to me but stopping a foot away. “I’m sorry, for earlier. I’m sorry.”
I could touch her if I wanted. She was letting me know that, and I wanted to do that. I wanted to do more than touch her, but she ran. From me. And I had no idea why.
I sighed, giving in, but not even knowing what I was giving in to. “Get in the vehicle.”
She nodded before moving to hug Worthing. “Thank you, Detective.”
I growled. She was touching someone who wasn’t me.
He shot me a look over her head before softening it when he said to her, “It’s Jake by now, Molly.”
“Jake.” She nodded, stepping back from him. “Thank you for coming and getting me.”
He nodded. “It’s no problem.”
She looked my way before giving him a half grin, and then darted inside, scooting to the far side. I shut the door behind me.
“She’s yours.”
“You’re stating the obvious.”
“You’re such a dick.”
I shrugged. “The war is here. We’re in a remission right now, but that’s going to end. Second act is coming. I suggest you make up your mind which side you’re on before that happens.”
He clamped his mouth shut, but he didn’t have a reply to me. He knew. I was reminding him again. I motioned toward my SUV again. “Thank you.”
He gave me a small nod. “Treat her right, Walden. My last warning about her.”
I flicked him off before getting inside.
“Take us to Nancy’s Diner.”
I felt Molly’s gaze on me, but I wasn’t ready. Not yet.
I wanted to question her where we wouldn’t be interrupted for a long time. A very long time. And I shared this with her through a heated look. Her lips parted, reading me right, and she slumped down in her seat, a soft sigh leaving her.
She knew what was coming.
I didn’t know if I was looking forward to it or not ... that was a first to me too.