Chapter 35
35
Asher
Three days later…
It had been nineteen years since the last time I’d been in the Tatum house.
I remembered how Sienna used to drag her hand down the wall every time Jillian made her go to another room the minute I got there.
Sienna wasn’t Syla anymore. Though it was her real first name, that version of her was long gone. Only pictures of who she’d been growing up, that blonde hair she’d changed to black, remained.
I remembered the blonde-haired girl, but it was the version with raven-black hair I’d fallen in love with. Her dad had come to terms with that too.
We’d gotten him out of the hospital yesterday… Well, Liam and I had. Sienna didn’t want her father to see her bruises, not while he was in a public space like that. There had already been too many questions. The mark on her cheek didn’t need scrutiny. We’d stayed with the Hell’s Guardians for two days while we pulled ourselves together.
There’d been a trail of dead bodies to contend with.
And the magnitude of how that had to happen had weighed on us all. But I couldn’t regret a second of it, especially after discovering what Diesel’s true intentions had been. She’d wanted to spare me knowing that, but there was no room in our relationship for secrets anymore.
How close I’d come to losing her. If I could go back and put more bullets in that bastard, I would.
The information of what Diesel had planned didn’t sit well with the Hell’s Guardians. They’d been dealing with trafficking to a point that I didn’t even want to explore. It was easy to turn a blind eye to the evils infecting this world, never acknowledging that the things of books and movies actually existed.
Liam and I now stood on our father’s front porch, knocking. After a few minutes, reality once again came into view. The man who had not been there for us most of our lives was once again absent.
It was disappointing but equally relieving. Some things were best left alone.
“When’s your flight?” I asked him.
Liam tucked his phone in his pocket. “Four hours.” He tossed his chin at Dad’s front door. “Glad he’s not here.”
I squeezed his shoulder as we walked back to the driveway to the car the club had loaned us.
“What a fucking week,” Liam breathed out. He reached out a hand; I pulled him in for a quick hug.
“Thanks, Liam.” I slapped his shoulder.
“Zip, Brother.” He slapped me back. “You’re the only one who gets to use that name.”
He stepped back and nodded his chin towards Sienna’s house. “Who knew the love of your life would be so fucking close.” He spun and faced the house on the other side of Dad’s. It belonged to Mrs. Bartoni. She was old and mean.
“Nah,” we both said together.
“There’s always the next street over.” I pointed.
“Headed back to Wyoming. Need to put space between all of this.”
I knew what he meant. Although our darkness was different, we were both equally violent men; each for our own reasons. And covering tracks… it still didn’t eliminate six bodies. I was eager to leave town too.
“Hunter would like a man with your skill set,” Liam added.
I shook my head. “He said the same to me. Not interested. When he needs something I can help with, we can talk then. I know I owe a debt. Until then, I’ll stick to putting out the fires.”
My days of blowing up shit were behind me. If my team back home only knew this shit, my firefighter days would be over quickly. What had transpired on this trip would go to my grave.
Liam nodded at Sienna’s house. “You wife that. Quick.”
I smiled. “Plan on it. We got a bit of shit to deal with before that happens. She’s gonna need time to heal.” I watched him take that in. “I think it’s time to settle though. Maybe have a few kids.”
He raised a brow at me and then laughed as he opened the driver’s-side door. “Good luck with that.”
I shoved my hands in my pockets. “You’d make a great Uncle Zip. Nashville does have fantastic weather.”
He laughed again and took one final look at Dad’s house. “I’m thinking Arizona again. We’ll see.”
“Love you, Brother.”
Liam froze. He exhaled hard. “Love you too. You tell anyone I said that, I’ll cut you.”
I watched my brother drive off, leaving me standing here with an ache in my chest.
Yeah, it was time to start healing.