Chapter 36
ASHER
This isn’t how I wanted Lily to find out, but I couldn’t stand back and let those fuckers kill her. I’d been trying to figure out a way to get closer before they attacked, but I was too slow, and now she’s hurt. Bad.
“What do you mean she’s hurt?!” Barrett yells, the speaker on the phone crackling.
“Just fucking tell me where I can take her to get the help she needs. I don’t know how to contact the guy who patched me up after the fight.”
“What guy? What the fuck do you mean? Lily said she did it,” Barrett snaps, and I grit my fucking teeth.
“She lied, okay. But fuck that doesn’t matter right now. Lily needs help.”
“Fuck!” Barrett yells before telling me an address and that he’ll meet me there.
A faint groan comes from the back seat of the car Lily drove to the church, and I glance over my shoulder as I steer to see Lily still practically unconscious.
“Stay with me, Lil,” I rasp, feeling a lump form in my throat.
I just got her in my life. I don’t want to lose her now.
Speeding through the quiet streets of Hedgwick, I hope like hell the cops aren’t out patrolling. That’s all we need.
It takes me ten minutes to get to the address Barrett gave me.
It’s a fucking warehouse.
Shit. Is this right?
As I slow, a door opens and Barrett appears, along with two medical staff and a gurney.
I punch the brakes, slamming the car into park before cutting the engine and leap from my seat as Barrett opens the back door.
“What are we dealing with?” one of the masked medical staff asks.
“Gunshot wounds to her arm and shoulder, and the rest, I think, is from the beating they gave her,” I rush out, my eyes staying on my battered Angel as they lift her onto the gurney and rush her inside.
I go to rush after them, but a rough hand shoves me back before Barrett is hissing in my face.
“Start fucking talking!”
“This can wait. I need to make sure Lily is alright.” I snarl in his face through gritted teeth, and he grabs me by the back of my neck and shoves me towards the door.
“Get the fuck inside.”
I stumble, but manage to right myself, my eyes darting around to see that we are in a dimly lit passage.
Barrett storms past me, leading me into a room at the far end.
I have no fucking idea where Lily is, but I’m not concerned about her safety here.
Only that they might not be qualified enough to help her.
The door slams behind me, and I turn in time to see Barrett stalking towards me with murderous intent.
I take a step back, holding up my hands.
“Just wait,” I snap, and Barrett stops his pursuit, but curls his lip.
“Fucking talk.”
“I followed her,” I admit, knowing this is going to sound bad.
“She left home a little after three and went to the warehouse she always goes to. Then she drove to the old church on the corner of Shepard and Dayble Streets. By the time I parked my bike and got to the church, I heard multiple voices, which is unusual. It’s normally just Lily and her victim. ”
I take a breath as Barrett’s scowl deepens, and keep going.
“I found a broken window to peek in, and that’s when I knew she was in real danger. There were four of them. It was a trap.”
Barrett is staring at me with a look that’s a cross between anger and bewilderment, but I continue, needing to get this out so he’ll let me see Lily.
“Anyway, when they started attacking her, I ran to find an open door. A way in. It took me a bit to find one, and when I went in there, she was on the floor…” A fucking lump forms in my throat, and the backs of my eyes start to burn as the fear I felt reaches me again. “I thought I was too late.”
“How is Lily still alive right now?” Barrett asks, and I shrug.
“I managed to kill two, but one got away. The smaller one bolted when I took the first guy out.”
“You said there were four. What about the fourth one?” he asks.
“Lily took him out before the others got to her.”
For a long moment, Barrett just stares at me, his eyes dark and accusing, his stance ready to pounce.
“Tell me something.” He steps closer, his tone fucking lethal. “How the fuck did you kill two of them?”
“I’m not without skill,” I admit, puffing out my chest, because fuck him. I can fight.
Barrett regards me for a long, drawn out moment, his jaw ticking before he speaks again.
“I’m a little fucking confused as to why the fuck you were following her. How the fuck do you know she’s normally only with one victim? And how the fuck do you know about her victims?”
Shit. This is the part I wanted to tell Lily myself.
“I can’t tell you,” I admit, and Barrett lurches forward, grabbing the neck of my t-shirt and tugging me forward until we are nose to nose.
“You will fucking tell me, kid, or you can start saying goodbye to body parts.”
“I wanna fucking tell her first.”
It’s in that moment that a medical staff member enters the room, and Barrett shoves me back as he spins to the man.
“What?” he seethes, and the guy doesn’t even flinch at his abrupt snap.
“She’s lost a lot of blood, but she’s stable. She’ll recover as long as we can avoid any infections.”
We both sigh at the doctor’s words before I push past Barrett.
“I want to see her.”
“No!” Barrett barks. “You don’t get to see her until you tell me fucking everything. Every. Fucking. Little. Thing.”
The doctor doesn’t speak again, turning on his heel to leave us to our discussion like he’s used to this sort of crap.
For fuck’s sake. I need to see her.
Taking his phone out, Barrett makes a call for a cleanup at the old church, and when he’s done, his piercing eyes lock onto me with disdain.
“So your family is like some sort of mafia, hey?” I snap, waiting for Barrett to respond, but he doesn’t. “Do you have clean-up crews on every continent?"
“You don’t get to know a fucking thing until you tell me why the fuck you were following Lily,” Barrett snarls, widening his stance and crossing his arms over his suited chest.
“Fucking fine!” I snap, glaring at him as I fight not to try and punch the fucker. “I’ll tell you everything, but you have to promise to let me talk. Let me explain everything so you get the whole picture before you respond.”
Barrett’s dark gaze drills into me, making me feel an inch tall, but then he nods, so I take a seat on the old metal chair, and I reveal the truth.