Chapter 13
LILY
Asher Scott has unleashed a ravenous beast inside me, and right now, I don’t even hate it.
He’s something else. Even though I’ve known him for years, I never saw him coming. I never imagined I’d find myself attracted to the adult version of him. Part of me is reeling about what’s going on between us, and part of me feels like he is the only person on the planet to really get me.
Which is scary.
I’m thirty-seven years old, and I don’t think I’ve ever had sex so many times in one day.
It’s like we can’t get enough of each other.
Like we need each other to breathe. To live.
We’ve barely eaten. Every time we fall asleep in each other’s arms, we end up waking up and fucking again. And again. And again.
I’m sore all over, but mostly between my legs. Asher isn’t small. He’s definitely bigger than Alexander and knows how to use his dick better than my ex-husband ever could. We’ve fucked in so many positions I’ve never tried, since Asher is determined to keep away from the standard missionary.
It’s not like I hate that position, it’s just that it’s all Alex ever offered.
He took me from behind once. I’d asked him to take my back passage, but he chickened out and just fucked me doggy style. Even though he didn’t do what I’d asked, I liked being on my hands and knees, being fucked from behind.
Being taken.
Asher did that with me too, but he didn’t just fuck me. He used his fingers to stimulate my clit at the same time. I don’t think I’ve ever screamed as loud as I did.
It’s well into Sunday now, and I’ve been watching Asher sleep. It’s hard watching him like this, his relaxed features making him look so innocent. It reminds me of the boy I took under my wing. The boy I fed, clothed, showered and tucked in at night when he stayed over.
There’s nothing innocent about Asher Scott now, though. He’s pure sin delivered to me by the devil himself. I’m sure of it.
“I can feel your eyes on me.”
I stiffen at hearing his voice, and I bite my lower lip as his lids blink open, his lazy gaze finding mine. “Hey, Angel.”
The grin that spreads across my face is ridiculous, but I can’t help it. I’m under his spell, and I never want to leave.
“I’m no angel,” I whisper, despite the fact I’m called the Crimson Angel by the press. But he doesn’t know that.
“Yes, you are.” He grins, those lips I kissed until they were swollen, spreading wide until his teeth show. “You’re my Angel. My Angel of Sin.”
Sliding his hand over my side, he hooks it around my back and tugs me flush against his body, and even as I giggle, I relax against him.
“That sounds more fitting, given what we’ve been doing.”
“Hmmm.” He moans into the crook of my neck, his deep voice raspy and sinful. “Let’s do it again.”
“You’re insatiable.” I arch my neck, giving him better access as his lips sear a trail over my skin. “I’m not as young as you, remember?”
He chuckles, pulling back to look me in the eye. “You’re as young as the guy you fuck.”
A laugh bursts from me, and I feel Asher’s rumble as he ducks his head and nuzzles my ear.
“You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”
“When it comes to you, yes.” He nips at my lobe, and I’m already aching to have him again, even though I feel like it should be physically impossible.
My smile is huge. I feel so happy I can hardly believe it.
Asher Scott is in my bed. Nibbling on my ear, our naked bodies tangled together.
Pinch me!
“I have a question.” His husky tone does all sorts of things to my body that I didn’t know were possible, and I instantly miss his lips on me as he shifts back, propping himself up on his elbow to rest his head on his hand.
“Shoot.” I smirk, my eyes travelling down to his chest, and the tattoos painting his skin.
As if he knows just how turned on I am by the sight of him, Asher leans in, pressing his soft, swollen lips against mine for a brief teasing nibble before drawing back, and for a moment, I chase his lips, already missing them.
“Focus, Lily.” He chuckles, and I roll my eyes, shifting back so he can speak. “The day you confronted my old man, and I was meant to stay in the car… I saw you saying something to him. What was it?”
My face drops.
Shit.
I can’t tell him exactly what I said. Aside from the fact it will make me seem more unhinged than I already do, if he ever finds out the truth, he’ll likely never speak to me again.
“I can’t remember.” I play dumb. “It was so long ago.”
His sleepy gaze dances between mine, clearly trying to read if I’m being honest or not.
“He stopped being a prick for a while after that day… Until he couldn’t hold back anymore.” His eyes drop to the mattress between us, and I can tell he’s remembering the awful things his father did. “He vanished after he relapsed into his old ways.”
His eyes flick up to me expectantly, like he’s waiting for me to confess to killing his dad.
Does he know?
No… he can’t, yet his almost accusing eyes are unnerving.
“He was an alcoholic and drug addict. God only knows where he ended up,” I counter calmly, and Asher nods, brushing my hair back off my forehead.
It still feels a little weird to be here with him like this. Naked. Cuddling. Intimate. I know it’s stupid to think there could be anything more than just sex and a good time between us. After all, what on earth would a thirty-seven-year-old and a twenty-year-old have in common?
Besides my sons.
Shit.
Don’t think of them.
“Why did you come to see me in prison every few weeks?”
His question takes me by surprise, and my brows shoot up as I inch back to study his face.
“I promised I would. Wasn’t I meant to?”
“No. Of course it was okay for you to come. I just want to know why you did. Was it just because you said you would or…”
Is he feeling insecure? Or fishing to see if I’ve been crushing on him all of these years?
“Asher, you’ve been a big part of my life. I wasn’t just going to abandon you. You’re fa—” I stop myself before saying family, because even though he is to me, I just don’t know how to feel about that right now, so I change tactics. “I knew your mother wouldn’t visit.”
His brows dip in a frown, and a flash of hurt flickers across his expression. “So you came out of pity?”
“What?” I frown, shaking my head. “No. It wasn’t like that.”
“Then what was it like?”
Staring at him, I see the younger version of him behind his eyes, desperate for acceptance. The vulnerable boy, who just wanted a safe place to land.
I hate his mother for loving drugs more than she loved him.
“Like I said before,” I say, needing to clear the emotion from my throat. “You’ve been a big part of my life. You are… were like a son to me. I cared for you very much.”
For a moment he just stares at me, his expression so neutral that I can’t read him, but then he speaks.
“Am I still like a son to you?”
I shake my head quickly. “Heck no. That ship sailed the moment you walked out with no shirt on.”
Asher grins, his mood instantly lifting. “I’m irresistible, aren’t I?”
I laugh. “You’re cocky. That’s what you are.”
“So, you never looked at me any other way until my first night back? Even when you came to visit me?”
My cheeks heat at his question, and I know I should just be honest.
I noticed things… like how he started to get bulkier. I tried not to notice because he was Asher.
“I did notice you were no longer a boy,” I admit and shrug. “I might have wondered if there were any men my age like you.”
He beams. “Oh yeah? You were checking me out, weren’t you?”
I slap his shoulder playfully. “I never said that.”
“Yeah, you did.”
I’m about to protest again when Asher pulls me close and plants his lips on mine, stealing another kiss.
And just like that, I’m under his spell again.
The next time we come up for air, it’s like an ice bucket getting thrown on me when Asher’s phone rings, and Jude’s name flashes across the bloody screen.
I usher him out of my bedroom so fucking fast, throwing his clothes out in the hall as if the twins are here in person and about to pop up in my bedroom.
Jesus… I’m too old for this.
The twins invite him to a Sunday uni party, and when he goes to decline, standing naked out in the hall, I shake my head and mouth. “Go have fun with your friends.”
He looks wary as he agrees, listening to Jude give him the details as I close my door so I don’t have to keep looking at him in all his naked glory while my son is on the phone.
When he leaves later, he kisses me thoroughly as if to remind me not to start freaking out about this thing between us while he’s gone. It’s like he already knows me so well.
After doing some housework and washing some clothes and bedsheets, I sit down in my empty house and contemplate giving Barrett a call.
I haven’t told him about the message thread between me and…
well, whoever it is that thinks they can get me to help them bring the Marx family down.
I can’t tell Barrett everything, like the fact that this person knows I have a lover, but perhaps the fact that he or she is watching me should have me more worried.
They haven’t threatened me. Just made me aware that they know my bloodline.
Scrolling through the messages, I decide to call my cousin. This is family business, not Crimson Angel business.
Getting my iPad, I bring up the secured app so I can video call Barrett instead of just voice calling, because right now, I really need to see his face. How else will I gauge his reaction to this news?
The video call rings for a bit, and I almost think Barrett isn’t going to answer, my eyes flicking to the time. It’s early Sunday evening, but he travels all around the world, so I suppose he could be sleeping.
“Good morning.” His deep voice comes through the speaker as his frozen image turns blurry on the screen before it clears.
“Morning? Where are you?”
He grins. “New Zealand. Just ordered my morning coffee.”
I snicker. This guy. He’s never in one place for long, and seen the world more times over than anyone I know.