Chapter 23 Asher
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
ASHER
Maybe I shouldn’t have said that, but the way her cheeks heat at the words does shit to me.
And the fact that she doesn’t immediately try to run?
Fuck. It just proves how perfect she is for us.
I choose not to point it out to her because I’m certain the fleeing will come soon enough, but when I meet Rowan’s eye over her head, his lips are tipped up in a slight smile.
“I’ve divested from a lot of the illegal shit I was once involved in, but the fighting will always be on the wrong side of the law. If it would make you more comfortable, however, I’d be happy to consider retiring.”
Hannah’s eyes flash with surprise. “You would give up what you’ve clearly been building since Asher was a baby for me?” Her words are soft and uncertain, and I can’t help but chuckle, earning me a glare from my father.
“Don’t you get it, Little Doe? We’d give up everything to make you ours.”
Rowan sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose with exasperation. He was supposed to do the talking because I’m not exactly the most tactful person in the world. But she’s so fucking cute staring up at him like he hung the damn moon just for her.
She’s going to deny it, because it’s in her nature to do just that, but I can see how badly she wants this. The way her body relaxes into ours, how the wall she usually keeps between her and anything that could hurt her crumbles before our eyes.
Hell, I admitted that we’ve been stalking her for years, and she barely blinked an eye. If that’s not proof of how comfortable she is with us, I don’t know what is.
“None of this makes any sense,” Hannah murmurs to herself, her brow dipped the way it does when she’s trying to solve a problem.
“We had hoped to ease you into this, starting with that night at the club, but your grandfather has sped up the timeline,” Rowan explains.
Her eyes flash to me, guilt etched into the green pools. “I’m sorry, Ash. He insisted I go out with Trent, and I said I would do it this once. I was going to tell you. I swear I wouldn’t have kept it a secret.”
I squeeze her foot. “Hannah, it’s fine. I know exactly what kind of man Jeffrey Malone is, and we knew he would pull something like this sooner or later. We just hoped we would have more time.”
“Oh.” She frowns. “He’s going to be so mad I didn’t finish dinner.”
“You don’t need to worry about him. We’ll take care of it.”
“I can—”
“No, Hannah,” Rowan cuts her off. “We will take care of this and anything else that will bring you any kind of stress or anxiety.”
She opens her mouth but snaps it shut again. She doesn’t understand yet, but she will. Soon, she’ll understand that we’ll do anything to ensure she lives her life happy and stress-free.
“I brought over some of your stuff, but the rest will be here in the morning. Why don’t you head up to bed, and we can finish our chat tomorrow,” I suggest. We’ve already thrown so much at her. It wouldn’t be fair to keep piling on top of her.
She needs time to digest everything we’ve told her.
“How did you get into my apartment?”
I chuckle. “I’ve had a key since the first time you invited me over.”
She stares at me for long seconds, a mix of anger and annoyance swirling around her eyes.
“We wanted to make sure we could get to you if you were ever in danger,” Rowan adds helpfully.
“So you just cut yourself a key?” she snaps.
“Yep.” I shrug. She may as well find out now that there’s no line I won’t cross in order to have her. We’ve spent enough time lying to her to last a lifetime.
She shakes her head and scrambles off Rowan’s lap.
“What are the chances the lock on the bedroom door will keep you out?”
“Zero,” I reply with a smug grin.
“You’re an asshole.”
She turns on her heel and heads toward the stairs, picking up the leather bag on her way past.
It’s not until the bedroom door slams on the other side of the house that I move, stretching out my sore muscles. I haven’t had a chance to have a proper workout today, and my body is punishing me for it.
That’s the thing they never tell you about being a professional athlete. You can never just stop. Your body is conditioned to train, and it will punish you if you don’t do just that.
“Well, that could have gone worse.”
Rowan scoffs. “Could have gone better if you’d let me explain.”
“She’s going to find out eventually that we’re a little crazy when it comes to her. We may as well show her that side of us sooner rather than later.”
“And give her more reasons to run?”
“We both know she’s not leaving this house until she can prove to us that she’s not planning on going anywhere.”
He brushes a hand down his face and sighs. “We can’t keep her prisoner here if she doesn’t want to be with us, Ash. You know that as well as I do.”
We’ve spent years talking about this moment, and Rowan always gets stuck on all the things we’ll be taking from her if she decides to be with us.
He thinks their age will be a problem in the long run, that she’ll miss out on a real wedding, and that she’ll crumple under society’s pressures for a normal relationship.
But I know Hannah.
I’ve seen how she looks at the Scarlet Lounge owners and their wife. It’s with longing, even if she doesn’t realize it.
Elias and Wyatt have a similar age gap with Leighton that he does with Hannah, and as far as I can tell, it doesn’t cause any issues in their relationship. So why would ours be any different?
“I guess we have to give her every reason to stay then, won’t we?”