Chapter 44
LILY
It’s been twenty-four hours since we left the warehouse as AJ’s men set it alight. They took Monty, and the MacKenzie twins back to my private warehouse that AJ apparently knew about and secured, making sure it wasn’t on the bobbies’ radar.
I don’t know how he does it, but that man has contacts everywhere.
My brothers and Griffin took Barrett to get his leg patched up, and then they went to my warehouse to watch over our prisoners, since they didn’t trust AJ’s guys to do it properly.
Not that they know AJ was behind it, but still.
Griffin had given me the key to the house they were staying in while here in England, which is just a block away from the safe house I’d been staying in with Barrett and the twins.
So Asher and I went there, making ourselves at home where we fucked in the shower, the blood painting our skin washing away as we claimed each other several times over.
My bullet wound was nothing but a graze, and Asher cleaned me up before he ate me on the bathroom benchtop, and I repaid the favour, falling to my knees on the cold tiles where he choked me on his dick.
It was brutal and beautiful.
Even now, as I rouse from sleep, my lips lift as I feel Asher’s hard length sink inside me.
“You really do love to wake me in the best ways.” I grin, blinking away my sleepy haze to see his smile.
“It’s called worshipping.” His voice is husky with lust, and as he drags himself slowly out and plunges back in, we both moan loudly, my back arching as he hits deep.
“Do I feel good buried inside you, Angel?” he rasps, his silver chain dangling down between us as he holds himself up over me.
“Yes,” I pant. “The best.”
“Did you see me kill yesterday?” he asks, and I grin as his pace picks up.
“Yes. I saw you shoot some of the Black Taipans dead. It was hot.”
He chuckles. “From the way you just got slicker, I believe you.”
“You should.” I purr as my hands glide down his back to palm his arse. “You had me so turned on the night you beat that guy across the street from your mum’s house.”
He stills, his brows hitching, but I dig my nails into the globes of his arse and moan. “Don’t stop.”
He moves again, this slow thrusts a beautiful torture. “You were there at the same time I was?”
“Yes. You’re so fucking hot when you kill.”
“Actually,” he rasps, his voice strained as he pistons inside me. “I didn’t mean to kill him.”
“Well, it was hot either way.”
“Yeah?” he asks, and I nod.
“Hell yeah.”
He claims my lips again in a kiss that brands my soul, and I meet his thrusts with my own as the images of him inflicting his brutality on others flashes through my mind, sending me over the edge.
I come hard, my cries are loud until he swallows them with his kiss, right before he stiffens over me, a grunt flying from his lips as he joins me in the land of ecstasy.
It feels like forever before the sex high wears off. Not that I’m complaining. I’d happily stay in that place with Asher Scott forever.
“Just so I’m on the same page as you…” Asher eases out of me, propping himself up on one elbow, looking down at me as his fingers draw lazy circles around my navel.
“This is you accepting that I love you, right? Accepting that I’m a twisted fucker who has stalked you for years. Gotten off on watching you kill.”
I smile. “Yes.” But then I falter, and Asher doesn’t miss a beat, sitting up with a frown as he hovers over me.
“What’s wrong, Angel?”
My gut twists with sick fear, knowing I have to tell Asher the whole truth, and that it may very well destroy what we have together.
“I…”
“Lily,” he whispers, his brows creasing as his whisky eyes study me. “You’re scaring me.”
I drown in the concern swimming in his gaze, drawing me in like a magnet, and I can’t bring myself to turn away.
I need to do this, though. He deserves to know the truth about his father. About all of my secrets.
“I killed your dad,” I whisper, hot tears pricking the backs of my eyes as I speak the words that have the potential to end us.
Asher’s eyes dance between mine as he studies me, taking in my words. He doesn’t flinch or even act surprised, and a smirk spreads his delicious lips wide, while I frown in confusion.
“Asher. Did you hear what I just said?”
He nods as his smile grows wider.
“Asher. I killed your dad. Aren’t you mad? Or surprised?”
He shakes his head. “When that piece of shit vanished, I told myself that he was dead, and that it was you who killed him. I never knew for sure, though, and was worried he’d show up one day. But fuck, Angel. Having you confirm it, and knowing it was you, is such a fucking relief.”
“So… It’s not a deal breaker?” I whisper, and he shakes his head.
“Fuck, no. There isn’t anything you could do to scare me away, Lily.”
“What if I told you I’m going back to Australia… for good?”
His brows shoot up, and I know he’s remembering what Griffin said.
“It’s time to come home… back to Australia.”
“You want to go back to your family?”
I shrug. “Yes, and no.”
He frowns. “Please give me more than that.”
I bite my lip, wondering if he’ll think I’m a traitor for what I’m about to admit.
“Remember the night AJ patched you up?” I ask. “The conversation you overheard?”
Asher nods. “I remember. He spoke about your uncle, and how he forced your sisters and cousins to have hysterectomies.”
“That’s right,” I sigh, a little relieved that he remembers so I don’t have to go over it again. Every time I think too much about it, I want to kill someone.
“I want to return to Australia to make my uncle Ewan pay for that and… so many things. Things Barrett doesn’t even know about.
AJ wants my help for some reason… and since Lily Tipping-Bennett can’t stay on British soil, and neither can my sons now that the country knows I’m the Crimson Angel, I don’t think I have any other choice. ”
His concerned eyes dance between mine. “You’re right. You can’t stay in the country.”
He looks sad and goes to move back from me, but I fist my hands in his hair and drag him close.
“Come with me. Please. Once we kill Monty and the MacKenzie twins, we can get your mum the help she needs. Hell, she can come with us if that’s what you want. I know it’s a lot to ask, but—”
His lips smash against mine in a claiming kiss, and I sink into the mattress as tears run from the corners of my eyes in relief.
When we break apart, Asher leans in, pressing his forehead to mine. “So let me ask you again. This is you accepting us, right?”
More tears escape my eyes, and Asher pulls back to wipe them away.
“Yes,” I say softly. “This is me accepting us. I’m not going to fight my feelings for you anymore.
I’m not sure what you want the future to look like, but I’ll be in your life for as long as you want me.
” I divulge my heart and soul to him, biting my lip before I reveal the next part.
“I’m not sure that I can give you children, though.
That part of my life has come and gone. I’m not interested in having more kids. ”
Asher chuckles. “All I need is you, Angel. Nothing else.”
“That’s good, because I’m pretty sure you’re the only person walking this planet who speaks my language.”
Asher snickers. “Is that the language of filth? Because hell yes, I talk it, walk it, fucking live it when I’m with you.”
I giggle. “Yes, that’s the language I’m talking about.”
Asher rises up over me again, his whisky eyes dancing with mischief.
“Fuck, I want to do every filthy thing imaginable with you, Lily Benn—” he cuts himself off before correcting, “Lily Marx.”
My brows hitch. “Lily Marx… I haven’t called myself that in years.”
Asher grins wickedly. “About time you owned your past, Angel. I’m not sure what happened in it, but I sure hope you tell me all about it one day.” Then he dips down to nip at my lips before speaking against my mouth. “I’ll call you Lily Marx until the day I make you Lily Scott.”
My cheeks flare at his declaration, and my insides turn to a thousand butterflies at the thought of one day becoming Asher’s wife. It may never happen, what with the twins and all, but a girl can dream.
“Why do you call me Angel?” I ask, steering the conversation in a different direction. “Is it because you’ve always known who I really was?”
Asher grins wickedly. “Yep. That, and to me, you are an angel.”
I frown. “I’m more monster than angel.”
Asher growls. “Don’t say that. You are no monster, Lily. Hell, look at this.” He shifts so I can see his ribs and abdomen and points to the tattooed angel with fiery red hair. “This is you, Lil. You’ve always been my Angel. Does that look like a monster to you?”
Reaching out, I run my finger over it, finally getting confirmation of what I’d wondered.
“Is this really me?”
“Yes. I’ve been loving you for a long time.” He leans forward and cups my face. “My Angel.”
I melt. My eyes blur with more tears, and as his warm lips press to mine, we find our way back into a heated session of worshipping each other.
When we eventually drag ourselves out of bed, we reluctantly shower and dress before we finally leave the rental, well fucked, and utterly in love.
As we near the warehouse, a thrill rushes through me, knowing I’m about to kill with Asher beside me. I want to share this with him. I want to share everything with him. Something I’ve never felt with anyone before.
On the drive over, I call AJ, who has been secretly monitoring things inside my warehouse so he doesn’t run into my family members, and he fills me in on the progress his hackers have made at funnelling the MacKenzie fortune out of their bank accounts and into the accounts of some of their known victims and families.
I’d asked him to do that for me when we spoke on the phone his guy gave me at the Taipans’ warehouse. I’d conceded that I do need to leave, and the fact that my brothers and cousins think it’s because my Crimson Angel identity has been outed just works in my favour.