Chapter 32
ASHER
Barrett comes charging in, his gun raised, his glare savage, looking fucking unhinged, but the moment he scans the room and only finds us, he relaxes and quickly holsters his weapon.
“Shit, Lily… I thought,” he sighs, shaking his head. “First the salon and now The Rough House. We need to get you out of here.”
“What? No,” Lily snaps, glaring at her cousin from beside me. “How did you know I was at The Rough House?”
“I didn’t until Shiv sent me this.” He holds up his phone, showing us a slightly grainy picture of Lily running into the cage, fear etched across her face, and there in the bottom corner is me, out cold on the mat.
Fuck. She really was worried about me.
And fuck… I won. That fucker was trying to kill me on Monty’s order, but I fucking won.
“Of course you know Shiv.” Lily rolls eyes.
“I made it my business to know him after you sent me to babysit your toy boy,” Barrett snaps, bobbing his head towards me, and I grit my fucking teeth.
Why does everyone keep calling me that? I’m not her fucking toy boy.
I’m her man.
“Come on, Lil. Be smart,” Barrett sighs, stepping closer, his eyes raking over the patch-up AJ did before they shift back to Lily. “It's time to go dark.”
“No,” Lily snaps without hesitation. “The funeral is tomorrow, and I still need to find the stalker.”
My brows nearly leave my fucking head.
“Stalker?” I ask, but Barrett speaks over me.
“Don’t you mean stalkers? Plural?”
The fuck?
Lily’s blue gaze darts to me briefly, even as she shakes her head.
“I think it’s only one.”
“Why? What’s going on?” Barrett’s dark brows furrow. “And whose car is in the driveway?”
“Nothing,” Lily waves him off. “And I borrowed the car to get Asher back here.” She lies, turning to help me maneuver off the table.
“Nothing? That’s bullshit. Has the text stalker reached out again?” Barrett surges forward a few steps. “Have you received a new picture?”
“What text stalker?” I ask, and finally, Lily’s eyes lock with mine.
“It’s nothing.”
She’s fucking lying again.
Why the fuck does she do that? Doesn’t she trust me?
Clearly she doesn’t, so instead of talking to her about it, I glance at Barrett.
“Let me get this straight. Lily has two stalkers, and a hit out on her?”
Barrett’s dark eyes flare before shooting to Lily.
“You told him?”
“It’s been a little hard to hide, what with getting attacked after work and then the shooting at the salon,” she snaps, and Barrett sighs, resting his hands on his hips as he falls silent, clearly thinking.
“Can we talk in private?” he asks Lily as he glances up from staring at the floor.
“No.” Lily shakes her head, tugging me across the room and insisting I sit in the armchair as she gestures to it.
“I’ll get blood on it,” I remind her as she fluffs one of the cushions.
“I don’t care,” she mutters. “You got stabbed, Asher. You need to rest.”
As a hot sweat bursts across the back of my neck and pain starts to throb through my body, I give in and sit, noticing Barrett frown as he assesses me.
“If he got stabbed, he’ll likely need stitches,” Barrett grumbles.
“Already sorted,” I say. “AJ—”
“I did it,” Lily interrupts. “Not the best job, but he’ll be fine.”
Barrett frowns again. “You did it?”
Lily throws up her hands in a huff, moving across the room to the kitchen.
“I raised twin boys, Barrett. You don’t think I learned a thing or two over the years?”
When he turns his confused glare on me, I just shrug, realising that Lily doesn’t want her cousin to know about AJ. It’s probably because of what I overheard. Stuff about Barrett’s dad, and how AJ wants him to pay.
Filling a glass with water, Lily brings it over to me and hands me a couple of over-the-counter painkillers that’ll likely do nothing, but I take them, not wanting to argue with Lily right now.
“We need to talk about… family stuff,” Barrett grumbles as Lily sits on the arm of the chair and looks up at her cousin.
“Asher knows who I am.”
Barrett’s brows hitch while mine tug in.
“Do I?” I ask, gaining those blue eyes again.
I haven’t had a chance to wrap my head around everything I heard. In one night, I discovered she’s related to the Marx family, whoever they are. I thought her maiden name was Tipping, but given the things I overheard tonight, I’m gonna assume that’s a fake name.
She still has secrets, though. So many fucking secrets.
“Seriously, Lil… What are you gonna do when he blabs to the twins?” Barrett juts an accusing finger in my direction, and I straighten in the chair, puffing my chest out, ready to go a few rounds with him.
“I’m no fucking snitch,” I snarl, pointing my own fucking finger back. “Lily’s secrets are safe with me.”
“Until whatever the fuck this is fizzles out,” Barrett seethes, balling his fists. “Then what?”
“Who I share my secrets with is not your business,” Lily hisses, leaning forward as she scolds her cousin. “He knows I’m a Marx, and he knows what our family does.”
Fuck… I don’t really know that but I’m not about to bring that up.
“Secrets are what destroys a family and relationships, so I decided to be honest with Asher.”
Fuck, she lies so well.
“You should know how much they ruin, Barrett,” she snaps, and they have a silent stare off for a moment.
“Family secrets need to stay in the family,” Barrett mutters.
“Asher is my family.” Lily holds up a hand when Barrett’s lips part to protest. “He’s always been around.
Grew up in this house in a way. Now, his role in the family has changed, but it doesn’t stop him from being a part of my family.
So, he knows my real maiden name isn’t Tipping.
He knows I’ve stayed away from Australia and my family because it was the only way I could keep my pregnancy and raise my sons,” she sighs, and fuck, she’s saying all of these things so I learn what she needs me to know.
“He also knows my uncle Ewan wanted me to abort the pregnancy and have a hysterectomy.”
Fuck. It really is true. I was piecing all of that together while she and AJ spoke, and I was pretending to still be out of it, but it hits differently to know she’s saying it out loud so I know.
“Well, I guess he knows everything then.” Barrett throws up his hands in defeat.
“Was I the only one?” she asks, and Barrett’s dark gaze flicks from me to her.
“What?”
“Was I the only one Ewan wanted to sterilise?”
For a long moment, Barrett stares at Lily, a dumbfounded expression written across his face.
“What the fuck do you mean?”
“You know what I mean,” she snaps, standing from the chair and taking a step closer to him. “Has Ewan threatened a hysterectomy or arranged one for your sisters or mine?”
His frown deepens.
“What? No,” Barrett snaps. “Bernie had one years ago, but that was for medical complications with her labour, and her baby died.”
Bernie? My mind flicks through the stuff AJ said, and I come up with the name Bernadette. He said she fell pregnant to a family rival and ran off with him, and when Ewan found her, the baby had been born, only two weeks old. Said Bernadette was urged to have the procedure.
Urged meaning forced.
“And Cassie? Fallon?”
Barrett shakes his head at Lily’s question.
“No, Cassie doesn’t want kids. And Fallon… well, she doesn’t have a maternal bone in her body.”
“And what about my sisters?” Lily asks, crossing her arms over her chest. “Do they have children?”
“No. Jen and Ell have said they don’t want kids either.”
“And you don’t think that’s strange?” Lily snaps. “That not one Marx daughter has had children?”
Barrett sighs, shaking his head as he steps back and rests his arse on the end of the couch.
“I’ve never really thought about it.” His eyes flick to me for a moment and then back to Lily. “What are you getting at?”
Lily is quiet for a long moment as she regards her cousin, and I know she’s trying to figure out who to believe. Who to trust.
“Gracie’s twenty-first is coming up soon,” she says when she finally breaks the silence.
“It is.” His eyes narrow on his cousin, and I can tell he knows she’s up to something.
“You were invited,” she reminds him, and he fights back a cringe.
“Doesn’t mean I’m going.”
“Yes, you are,” she says matter-of-factly, turning to face me and shooting me a wink as she comes to sit back on the arm of my chair.
Fuck, I love how she gravitates towards me all the time. It’s like she can feel this magnetic pull between us.
“Says who?” Barrett snaps, and the mortified expression he’s wearing has me sucking my lips in, trying not to laugh.
“Stop being a big baby, Barrett. You need to face your fears head on, and the twenty-first is the perfect time to do it.”
“Un-fucking-likely.” He stands, moving across the room to the fridge and taking out a beer.
“You have to go, and take a plus one.”
Barrett swings back from the fridge, his fingers frozen on the lid of the bottle.
“And who the fuck is my plus one?”
“Me,” she says smugly, which has him staring blankly at her before he throws his head back laughing.
I can’t help but join too, but not for the reason he’s laughing.
I’m laughing at him because he has no idea how serious she is.
But he will soon. Any moment.
“When you’ve gotten that out of your system,” she mutters, rolling her eyes at both of us. “Send me the dates so I can make plans.”
His laugh cuts off abruptly, his eyes snapping back to her.
“You’re serious?”
“I am.”
“But… why? You’ve been dead against returning for twenty fucking years.”
I glance at my sexy little redhead and wonder how she’s going to play this without giving herself away, and she shrugs, her gaze dropping to the floor like she’s struggling with her emotions.
Fuck. Is she really or is she acting?
I kinda hope she really is struggling, because the more I learn about how well she lies, the more I worry I know nothing about the woman I care about.
“Hearing Devon’s voice the other night was… it hit, you know?” she glances up, and from where I’m sitting I can even see tears in her eyes. “I miss my family.”
“Fuck, Lil.” Barrett steps forward, wrapping her in his arms. “You really want to go back?”
“Yes,” she mutters against his chest before pulling back and staring up at him. “And you should too. It’s time for you to sort out your own problems.”
“How about we just focus on you?” He chuckles before his eyes flick to me. “Will lover boy watch the house while you’re gone?”
The fuck?
My back stiffens, and I lock eyes with Lily as she turns hers to me, shrugging.
“Maybe. I haven’t got that far yet. Send me the dates and I’ll organise things here.”
She doesn’t actually want to go back and see her family. She’s doing this for fucking AJ, who by the way, I have no fucking clue who he is.
But what I do know is going back and facing Barrett’s dad is a huge fucking deal, and there’s no way in hell I’ll ever let her go without me.
What if the family turns on her?
Or what if they don’t, and she never comes back?