Chapter 45
ASHER
It’s now a week since we bathed in the blood of Monty and the MacKenzie brothers, and I’m now on the doorstep of my mum’s shitty little house, fucking nervous to see her for the first time in a few years.
I turn back to glance at Lily, waiting in the car Barrett acquired for us, and she gives me a reassuring smile and nod that warms my fucking chest.
Shit. This woman.
Clearing my throat, I face the flimsy door and pound my fist on it, feeling the fucking thing rattle with each thump.
Anyone could kick it in. The fucking thing is barely in place.
The click of the lock has me stiffening, and I take a step back, my palms sweating as the door slowly creaks open.
There before me is my mum. Five-foot nothing with the same shade of dark hair as me, her strands long, limp and lifeless.
As she stares up at me, her pale skin flushes a little, and her brown eyes fill with tears.
Shit… are they for me, or because she knows Monty died?
“Hey, Mum,” I rasp, emotion thick in my throat.
“Asher,” she sobs, falling to her knees, her hands cupping together in front of her chest. “I’m so sorry. I tried, Asher. I really did… but Monty, he… it was the drugs. I couldn’t stop. I can’t stop.”
A strangled cry rips from her lungs, and I fall to my knees too, reaching out and pulling her to my chest.
“I know, Mum. I know.” Fuck, now I’m crying too.
“I didn’t know how to escape him.” Her cries are muffled against my chest as she grips my shirt like it’s her fucking lifeline. “I don’t know how to escape the drugs, Asher. They have a hold on me.”
Pulling back, I cup my mum’s face, staring into her eyes and seeing the pain and conflict she’s suffering.
She’s not just saying words she thinks I want to hear. She’s telling the truth.
“But you want to get off them, right?” I ask, and her face contorts with pain, even as she nods.
“I have tried, I swear… but the sickness. It feels like it’s going to kill me.”
“Let me help you,” I say, brushing her hair back as I speak.
“I’m not talking about the other times we’ve tried, Mum.
No more cold turkey and needing to lock you away.
I’m talking about a top facility that will help you wean off them safely.
You’ll get all the help you need, and I swear, you won’t be tempted again. ”
Even as I say those words, I don’t know how true that is.
The only thing I’ve ever been addicted to is Lily, and there’s nothing on this Earth that could ever stop me craving her.
Fucking nothing.
“We don’t have that sort of money,” she sniffs, even as her eyes brighten at the prospect.
She’s right, we don’t have that sort of money. But Lily does, and she’s insisting on paying.
If it were just about me, I’d say hell no, but this is my mum. I’ll happily take charity or even work it off until my dying day if it means she can get the help she needs.
“It’s already paid for, Mum. All you have to do is agree, and come with me. Leave this shit hole town, and this shitty fucking life, and come and start over somewhere else.”
Her eyes widen, and she pulls back, sniffing.
“Where? In London?”
I shake my head. “Not in this country.”
She frowns. “I don’t have a passport.”
“Do you trust me, Mum?” I ask, and she nods quickly. “Then just say you’ll leave with me. Say you’ll come. I can’t tell you where to yet, but I promise you’ll love where we are going. We can start over. You, me, Ronan, Jude and… Lily.”
“They’re coming too?” she asks, and when I nod, she frowns. “But Asher, I’ve seen the news. The police are looking for Lily.” She leans closer like she’s about to tell me a secret. “She’s the Crimson Angel.”
“You can’t believe everything you see on the news.
” I chuckle, hating that I need to lie to my mum about this, but she’s better off not knowing.
“Someone has a grudge against Lily, so they’ve dobbed her in for something that is absolutely ridiculous.
Even the police haven’t found any evidence that Lily is the Crimson Angel when they searched her house.
Her name has been run through the mud because of hearsay, and nothing more.
But it has destroyed the life she built here with her sons, so they are leaving, and we all want you to come with us. ”
I shift back, jutting my thumb over my shoulder to the car parked at the curb, and my mum’s gaze follows, spotting Lily in the car.
“Oh, of course. You’re right. Lily wouldn’t hurt a fly. That woman is a saint.”
I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing, because my Angel is definitely not a saint.
But she is everything.
“So you’ll come?”
Her eyes return to me, and a smile brightens her face.
“I’ll come.”
“Good.” I stand, bringing her with me. “Let’s pack. We leave in fifteen minutes.”
She’s a little thrown off by the fact we are leaving right now, but we deliberately left this visit to the last minute because we couldn’t risk her telling anyone.
So I help her throw a travel bag together, telling her we will buy everything else when we get there, and we pack her stash of drugs, since she’s going to need them until she gets to the facility in Australia.
Thanks to the Marx family, we are travelling on a private jet, so smuggling my mum and her drugs out of the country will be easier than normal.
When we board the plane, Lily introduces my mum to her brothers, Devon and Warrick, and her cousin Griffin from Australia.
They all know the deal about her. Lily worded everyone up while we were making plans to leave the country a few days ago, and I was pretty fucking surprised about how supportive they were, more than happy to help.
Once we’ve gotten ourselves seated, my mum sitting up front with Griffin, who seems to have taken it upon himself to be her escort, I realise why the moment Barrett steps onto the plane.
Jude and Ronan are trailing him, their faces sour the moment their eyes land on me sitting next to their mum, and I glance at the two empty seats across from us.
Well… this is going to be fun.
“Looks like they still hate me,” I mutter quietly, and Lily reaches over the armrest, taking my hand in hers and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“They just need time and some answers.” Her eyes are soft as we stare at each other before her gaze shifts to Barrett and her approaching sons.
“Does he have to be here?” Jude snaps, curling his lip at me.
“Yes,” Lily snaps back, shifting her focus to her son.
“Why?” Ronan hisses this time. “He’s not part of this family.”
“Maybe not by blood, but Asher has always been a part of this family, Ronnie.” Lily’s tone is stern, and all mum-like. “The only reason I’m alive is because of him, so you should show him more respect.”
They continue to glare at me, ignoring their mum’s words, as Barrett sighs, pointing to the two vacant seats across the table from us.
“Sit,” he barks, and when they open their mouths to protest, Barrett’s glare turns lethal. “You can always get the fuck off my plane and stay here. The choice is yours.”
Lily stiffens at her cousin’s words, but the twins huff, giving in, and slipping into the seats, trying to look everywhere but at us.
Too bad we are directly across from them. They can’t ignore us for the entire flight.
Gritting my teeth, I work hard at keeping my fucking poker face in place. I don’t want them to see how it affects me. How their clear hatred for me has my gut twisting in an agonising knot of despair.
They are the only close mates I’ve ever had, and while I have a few others, they are nothing compared to the twins.
Not to mention, we are all moving to an entirely different country together.
Fuck… we are fleeing to Australia. How fucking wild is that?
The private jet takes off without a hitch, and I can hardly wrap my head around the fact we are actually flying. I’ve never been on a plane before, but fuck, a guy could get used to this.
Lily is quiet, her eyes trained on her sons who have headphones on, their eyes closed, doing everything they can to shut us out.
About an hour into the flight, her leg starts jigging up and down, her glare harder as she stares at her sons like she’s waiting for them to give in and pay her some attention.
I want to get out of my seat and rip their headphones off, but I also don’t want to make matters worse, so I stay put, my eyes tracking across the aisle to Devon and Warrick who are playing cards, and then up front to Griffin as he cuts a line of white powder on a small table before offering my mum a rolled note to take a hit.
Fuck… I hate seeing her do that, but I know she needs small hits until she gets into treatment.
Barrett stands from his seat, which is behind the twins, his jacket off, black shirt unbuttoned a little and sleeves rolled up. He kinda looks like how I’m dressed now, in clothes he purchased for me, telling me I need to try to fit the mould of a Marx man.
Fuck if I know what that means, but these mafia men have style, and I can’t say I hate the way I’m dressed. Especially with the way Lily had been eye fucking me when I stepped out of the bedroom this morning.
She may have dropped to her knees and given my cock a good hard suck until I came down her throat.
Fuck, that thought has me grinning.
When Barrett goes to move past us, heading to the back where there’s a private room and toilet, he stops, glaring at the twins who still have their eyes closed, and growls.
“For fuck’s sake,” he mutters, reaching over to pluck off their headphones, making them both gasp in surprise. “Talk to your mother and be fucking respectful. Marx men don’t fucking sulk and don’t treat their mothers poorly.”
Jude’s lips part to protest, but Barrett bares his teeth. “Or you want to try skydiving… without a fucking shute?”
Ronnie is the first one to sigh, dragging his eyes from their uncle to us, pain evident in his stare. He swallows, his Adam’s apple rolling like he’s trying to clear a lump, and fuck, I wish I could read his mind.