Chapter 37
THIRTY SEVEN
ASHER
I sit in Daylan’s Porsche with the engine off, my fingers frozen solid as we watch Mr. Walker meet with an older woman from the street beyond the restaurant.
It is so cold; my balls might freeze. I will kill Mr. Walker if he is the reason I can’t have babies with Rue.
I sit imagining what our children would look like, how much of her light would burn through whatever fucked genetic rubbish I’d pass on.
I hope they take after her. I hope my blood dies here and now.
I know it’s a stupid thing to imagine after what I did.
I have a huge hill to climb to try and rebuild the trust I smashed to smithereens.
A mountain in fact. But no matter how long it takes or what hardship she throws my way, I am determined to be the person she needs me to be.
We have both been through so much already with our pasts, we are bound to mess up along the way.
It’s not like either of us have had any great role models when it comes to love, but I intend to always fix what is broken when it comes to us.
I know Ruella is it for me, and I am going to prove it.
“I really don’t think this is our guy,” Daylan announces from beside me.
“How’s that?” Jacob inputs from the seating behind. “My uncle said his name was passed around in connection with bids,”
“I find it really hard to believe that this man sitting before us has the power and brains to run a sex trafficking ring from within a highly sought after establishment, when he can’t even pick out matching socks,” I look to his ankles through the floor to ceiling windows and sure enough they don’t match.
“Plus, every time he speaks, he turns red and when she touched his arm, he dropped his fork from all his flustering,”
“He has a point,” I sigh. “I think this one is another dead end,”
Jacob protests shaking his head. “It doesn’t make any sense,”
“Unless his name is a decoy,” Daylan turns to face the backseats. “Think about it. If anyone ever spoke up within their ring, then the name given out would never link back to the right person, but it would link to someone really at the academy just in case,”
Jacob sits back and runs his hands through his hair. “Fuck,”
“I’m calling Rue,” I grab my phone and call her number, but it rings out and goes to voicemail.
I check the time. 10:15pm, it’s late enough for people to be asleep but not Ruella.
She never sleeps easily without me by her side.
When I slept outside her room for the past couple of nights, I could hear her tossing and turning well into the morning.
I try Piper but again no answer.
I try Rue again and a third time but get nothing.
“No one is answering the phone,” My gut starts to churn as a horrible feeling takes over me.
"Get us back to the Academy,” I demand bringing up Piper’s camera feed from her hallway. Why the hell did I not put them outside of Ruella’s door as well.
Daylan throws the car in reverse, backing out of the restaurant carpark as fast he can, while Jacob tries Piper again.
“Anything?” I shout as I call Rue.
“Nothing,” Jacobs panicked eyes find mine.
I pull up Corden’s number to try him but his name flashes across my screen before I press call.
“Hello. Asher,” His voice is gritty but hysterical.
“What’s going on. Is Rue there? Put her on the phone,” I demand.
“That’s why I am calling. They’re not here,” My stomach drops. “They’re all gone,”
“What the fuck do you mean they are all gone?” I shout down the phone as Jacob and Daylan snap their head towards me.
“Deena, Piper and Rue. They are not here but all their phones are, they didn’t leave a note and.,” He sounds confused. “And I think I was drugged,”
“Call your brother now and get him to come to you,” I hang up.
“You have the guns in the boot yeah?” I ask Jacob with a shaky voice.
“Yeah, all of them,” I am so thankful for his uncle and the training he forced on Jacob, who then forced us to train. If it wasn’t for him, Piper wouldn’t be here today, and we wouldn’t have a boot filled with everything we could need to get our girls back.
“The church. Fast as you can!”
Daylan puts his foot flat to the floor as we race back through the country roads in the dark.
I just pray we aren’t too late, and we catch them before they get transferred.
If I miss it like I did the last time, I won’t only kill a few, I will hunt them all down one by one and dismember them little by little until I get them back. Maybe even after that.