Chapter 40 Asher
CHAPTER FORTY
ASHER
I’m fucking seething as we leave the restaurant.
Our girl went from enjoying her pasta to being deflated within seconds, and it’s all thanks to those stuck-up snobs.
We knew people would judge us because we know more than one relationship that isn’t just made up of two people, and we’ve seen the way they’re perceived. But it’s different now I’m in their shoes. It’s different now that Hannah is the one being stared at and judged.
I wrap my coat around her shoulders and guide her toward Rowan’s car. The idea of leaving her right now to drive myself home has unease rolling in my gut, but he’s better to help her through these insecurities than I am.
He’s steady in the face of adversity, whereas I want to beat the shit out of anyone who so much as side-eyes my girl, and right now she needs that steadiness. She needs to be reminded that no matter what other people see when they look at us, the only thing that matters is that she’s happy.
I open the door for her and help her slip into the passenger seat. She doesn’t need the help, of course, but helping her do basic things comes so naturally, I struggle to turn the instincts off.
“Thank you,” she murmurs.
“I’ll see you at home, okay?”
She nods, and I drop a quick kiss to her lips before closing the door behind her. If I give myself even another second, I’m at risk of fucking her right here and now. Going a full week without being inside my girl is making it hard to do much of anything other than rectifying that situation.
As if sensing my train of thought, Rowan pats my shoulder and rounds the car while I start toward my own.
Going from fucking Hannah at least every other day to a week cold turkey has been a lesson in control, but it’s what she needed, and I don’t begrudge a second of my blue balls.
My phone vibrates in my pocket as I reach my car, and I groan when I see Kovu’s name. He’s at the club tonight, and he knew I was taking Hannah out.
He might be a psycho fuck, but after falling for Camilla, he understands how important date night is.
“Hey, man,” I answer, slipping into the driver’s seat.
“We have a problem.”
I groan. “What kind of problem?”
“The kind where Jeffrey fucking Malone is sitting in the office waiting to speak to you.”
I drop my head back against the seat. All I want to do is go home and fuck my girl. Is that really too much to ask for? “He asked for me? Not Rowan?”
“Nope. He wants to talk to you and is spewing threats left, right, and center.”
“Brave man.” I chuckle.
“If he didn’t bring the cops with him, he’d already be at the bottom of the Hudson.”
“I’m on my way.”
I end the call and dial Rowan’s number as I pull away from the curb. The last thing I want is for Hannah to hear any of this, but she’ll worry if I don’t pull up at the house shortly after them—the lesser of two evils and all that.
“What’s up?” he answers. “You’re on speaker.”
“I need to stop at the fight club quickly. Kovu called, and there’s a hiccup I need to sort out before I can come home.”
“Is everything okay?” he asks.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” I’ll send him a text once I park, but for now, all that matters is setting Hannah’s mind at ease. “I’ll make it as quick as I can.”
“Be safe,” Hannah’s sweet voice says, and a smile tugs at my lips.
Fuck. I thought I knew what it felt like to be happy, but nothing compares to Hannah being mine. She’s a little ray of sunshine in the darkness.
“Always am, Little Doe. I’ll see you soon.”
By the time I reach the club and park, I’m even more annoyed that for a second night in a row, I’m stuck dealing with Jeffrey instead of home with Hannah.
It’s a short-term problem, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying.
I make my way past the guards at the door, giving them a quick nod as I make my way to the back of the warehouse where the offices are.
People cheer, drowning out the sound of skin hitting skin.
I used to live for that sound. For the cheers. For the applause. For the shouts. It was my entire existence for years, and while I won’t lie to you and say I don’t miss fighting some days, there’s nowhere I’d rather be than here building a new life.
Kovu stands beside the office, his back against the wall and his phone in his hands as he watches something intensely.
“Hey.”
He glances up at me, not bothering to hide the fact that he’s watching Camilla work on her laptop at the kitchen counter. “You made good time.”
“Don’t want to keep him waiting for any longer than necessary if he’s got cops with him.”
“Good call. You need backup, or you good?” His brow tugs up in question.
“I’m good.”
He turns to leave as I push the door open, plastering a bored expression onto my face.
The fact that he’s getting the satisfaction of me coming when summoned is enough. He doesn’t need to think I’m happy about it.
“Took you long enough,” he huffs from where he’s perched himself behind the desk.
Assholes like Malone think they can position themselves wherever the fuck they want, and because they have money and perceived power, they can get away with it.
“You’re in my seat.”
“Should have been here on time.”
I glance at the two police officers standing behind him and roll my eyes. Does this motherfucker think I’m stupid enough to kill him knowing the two of them are here? Or does he think it makes him look more powerful?
“Can’t be on time to a meeting I wasn’t told about in advance.”
“You’re just as rude as I remember, Asher.”
“We met one time, Jeff. Don’t think you’d remember much, seeing as you were too busy eyeing up women your granddaughter’s age at the time.”
The same night I met Hannah, I had the misfortune of meeting him, and let me tell you, only one of those meetings left a positive impression.
“And your father with my granddaughter is any better?”
“The difference is Rowan loves Hannah. You just want to prove to your limp dick you’ve still got pull with barely legal women,” I growl.
His laugh fills the room, and I grasp onto the back of a chair to stop myself from throwing myself across the room and killing the fucker.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t a bad idea for him to have these cops here.
“Ah, love. What a pointless emotion. A lie, really.”
“Said by a man who has never felt an ounce of emotion in his miserable life.”
“Watch your mouth, boy.”
“This is my office, if you recall, so I’ll say any damn thing I want,” I snap. “Why don’t you tell me what it is you want, I can tell you to go to hell, and then we can both get on with our nights?”
He glares across the desk, his hands clasped together.
“You and your father are going to leave my granddaughter alone. She has responsibilities to this family, and whatever fucked-up sideshow the three of you have going is only going to ruin her reputation and make her undesirable to the men I have picked to marry her.”
The laugh that spills across the room takes me by surprise, especially when I realize it came from me. “That’s a funny way of saying Hannah making her own choices is inconvenient to you and your buddies.”
“I can ruin you.”
“You can try.” I shrug.
“I can ruin her.”
My stomach drops at the words. Would he really go so far as to hurt his own flesh and blood? But then I remember how he’s always treated her. How he’s stolen everything from her and never once regretted it.
He would absolutely go to the ends of the earth to get what he wants, and that’s exactly why we’ve been preparing to take him down for years.
“Won’t that just make her look undesirable to whoever it is you plan to marry her off to?” I challenge.
He shrugs. “It looks far better for me to destroy her career and make her a failure than for her to be a whore for her stepfather and his degenerate son.”
I’m bent over the desk with my hand fisted in his shirt before he can take another breath. “You ever speak about Hannah like that again, and you won’t live to tell the tale.”
“You can’t threaten me!”
One of the cops looks like he wants to intervene, but I have a very public reputation from my years of fighting, and few men are brave enough to challenge me.
“But you can threaten me? Listen here, you old fuck, you are going to leave Hannah alone. You’re going to stop showing up here with your bullshit threats, and you’re going to pretend the three of us never existed.”
“Or what?” He sneers.
“You ever seen what Kovu can do with a knife?” I ask quietly, keeping my voice low enough the officers a few feet away won’t hear. “It’s truly artful…provided you don’t have an aversion to blood.”
I shove him back and stalk toward the door. I’ve said everything I need to say, and now I want to get home to Hannah.
But as I reach for the handle, Jeffrey’s laugh has me stopping in my tracks.
“You’re not the only one who can dish out threats, Mr. Cane. If you let her go now, I’ll ensure she marries someone who will treat her right, who will come to love her. But if you resist, Trent will look like Prince Charming compared to who I choose.”