Chapter 23
Doc
I slowly rub my thumb over my bottom lip as I watch Brit’s chest move up and down, her breaths even.
It’s early, but if I’m being honest, I haven’t slept much, too busy keeping an eye on her with her concussion, while my mind has gone into overdrive.
She remembers, she fucking remembers everything.
I expected her to run, to tell me she never wanted to see me again, but she didn’t. Instead, she held me tight, she fucking told me she loved me.
She stayed.
A knock on the door gets my attention, I swallow hard as I push off the doorframe and leave my girl to sleep.
As I get downstairs, I find that my parents have let themselves in. I go to my mother, gently taking my daughter from her, and I murmur, “Hello, my precious darling, were you a good girl for your Grammy?”
“She was an angel,” mama whispers, but I don’t look at her, instead I maneuver my daughter so her body lies long ways on my arms, her head cupped in my hands. We lock eyes, her chocolate ones just like mine staring back at me, all full of innocence, and a smile appears on her beautiful face.
“She’s a daddy’s girl,” my dad says, and I hum, not denying his words.
She always settles with me, and considering I don’t produce milk like her mama, it’s a big feat.
“How’s Brittany doing?” Mama asks, and I swallow hard.
I don’t really know, we didn’t speak after her revelations, instead I took her to bed and kissed her until she fell asleep.
“She has her memories back,” I admit quietly, “She feels guilty about Bailey.”
“Damn Thunder, he couldn’t have made sure to only knock half her memories back?” Dad jokes, and I smirk as Mama gently smacks his arm.
Like father, like son, I had the same fucking thought.
“Will she want to leave now?” Mama asks with concern, and I shrug before admitting, “Maybe, but she isn’t leaving. I won’t allow her. Instead, I’m putting my ring on her finger and my leather on her back like I should have done when we met.”
Mama nods, and I look back down at my daughter, who is now snoozing on my arms contentedly, and I smile softly.
“Dirty finally found some stuff,” Dad admits after a few minutes of silence, and I look at him.
He explains, “Anchor was driving past an alleyway and found Jacob Smith beating the shit out of some woman. Dirty managed to find the cameras in the area and downloaded them before they could be erased, and guess what,” I raise a brow and he smirks, “He was wearing a denim cut.”
“Mother…” Mama cuts me off and growls, “Don’t even think about it!”
I glare at my mama just as a sweet voice behind me says, “I second that.”
I turn as Brit walks up to me, wearing only my shirt that looks like a dress on her, and gently takes our daughter.
I smile as she gently places Bailey over her shoulder, and I wrap my arm around her shoulders as she leans into me and we lock eyes.
“You’re supposed to be resting, baby,” I whisper, and she smiles gently.
“I’m okay,” she reassures for what has to be the hundredth time, but I still don’t believe it. I see the pain in her eyes. I just don’t know if it’s physical pain or the pain I put her through.
“I’m sorry, son,” my dad says, gaining my attention, and I look at him. He smiles sadly and admits, “I still felt like I had time left as being the president, even though you earned that role, showed everyone you can be both a doctor and a president, bringing in more money than I ever could.”
I swallow hard as I grip Brit tighter to me and remind him, “You threatened to bring in a club vote.”
“I know,” he whispers, “and I was out of line. Everything that happened with Brit, everything that happened with your relationship, it was all my fault and I’m so sorry.
I hope one day you will be able to forgive me,” he looks at Mama who looks at him full of love which is just fucking weird before he looks back at me and admits, “After the senator is dealt with, after Cynthia is out of the way and I know you and your girls, my family, is safe. I’m taking your mama away for a while on the back of my bike, just her and I, to reconnect and find what I threw away. ”
Fuck me, I did not expect that.
I nod because, fuck what else can I do or say, he’s shocked me.
He smiles softly as he wraps his arms around Mama, which again is fucking weird, before he states, “We’ll need to interrogate the fucker first,” Mama slaps the back of his head, and I roll my eyes.
“She’s not even six weeks old yet, Mama,” I state, and Mama shrugs and reminds us, “Your first word was the C word.”
“What’s the C word?” Brit asks with confusion, and Mama spells, “C-u-n-t…”
“Your first word was…” Brit chokes out a laugh, and I squeeze her with mock warning before I look at Dad and state, “I’ll make sure when Tank picks him up not to kill him straight away.
We need to find out if he had anything to do with Brit losing her memory or if it was his daughter because I swear, Dad, it was one of them, I can feel it.
If she was coming out of the doctor’s office like we believed… ”
“I was,” Brit chimes in, gaining our attention, and she admits, “I was walking home with the pills in my hand and wasn’t far from the doctor’s when I was hit, and the EMTs never mentioned finding pills on me.”
“So they could know about Bailey,” I growl, then look at dad and order, “Call Tank, tell him to follow the senator, get his every move, and next week we’ll pounce.
Dirty can set up the video evidence of him beating up a woman and make it look like he went on the run and hopefully by the time we nab him, he’ll have more concrete proof. ”
Dad nods while Brit murmurs, “Asher…”
“Don’t tell me not to do anything to him, he attacked you or his daughter did.” I growl, and she quickly says, “I’m glad I lost my memories!”
Mama, Dad, and I look at her like she’s crazy, and Dad chokes, “How hard did Thunder hit your head?”
“Hard,” she admits, “My head still hurts, but I’m still glad I lost my memories.”
“Tinkerbell –” she cuts me off and reminds me, “I was going to abort her. My mind wasn’t in the right place at that moment.
My heart was hurting, I didn’t see things from your point of view, and I know you never told me things, but I could see you were struggling.
In that moment, I was going to take those pills and I hate it because I think it was more to punish you, which just makes me a bitch. ”
I sigh, “Don’t go calling yourself a bitch. Your head was all over the place, Tinkerbell, and deep down, you know you wouldn’t have taken them,” she doesn’t look convinced and I shake my head before confirming, “Let me guess, you want me to spare him?”
“Son, no,” my dad jumps in, but Brit ignores him and scoffs, “God no, he’s beating women and threatening children and will most likely come after our daughter because he’s clearly desperate.
You can do your worst, all I’m saying is, I’m glad I lost my memoires, especially when I know for a fact, I wouldn’t have heard you out. ”
I smile softly and kiss her head before Mama asks, “Why would he beat up women, knowing it’s one of the main reasons that he’s losing the town's backing?”
I frown, and so does Dad, because Mama is right, it doesn’t make sense.
“Because he’s clearly getting hush money from someone so they can do whatever they want,” Brit says, “Someone who is clearly pretending to be a part of the Cannibals, maybe a traitor in their group. He probably didn’t think the town would blame him, so why not try and partner up with a club the townsfolk love to gain their backing again while getting hush money on the side? ”
“He’s money hungry,” Mama adds, and I nod.
“We have smart women, son,” my dad announces, and I snort, yeah, we do.
“Right, we’ll leave you two to it,” Mama says, and I nod as I look at my girl again to see her eyes on me. Even as my parents say goodbye and we hear the door shut, I don’t look away from those beautiful sapphire eyes that suck me in every single day.
“I’m okay,” she whispers, but I shake my head.
“I’m scared, Tinkerbell, and not just because I could have lost you yet again,” I admit, and she frowns, but her eyes soon widen when I confess, “I’m scared you’ll try and leave me, then hate me when I won’t let you. I treated you shitty.”
“No, you didn’t,” she tries, but I cut her off and remind her, “I got engaged on our first anniversary.”
“Okay, yeah, that was shitty, but you didn’t really have a choice,” she says firmly as she cups my jaw with her free hand.
“I never told you that I loved you,” I choke as I grip her hip, my pain, my guilt coming out.
I treated her like shit.
“You did,” she lies and I open my mouth to call her out on it because after she lost her memory doesn’t count but she quickly puts her fingers over my mouth.
I kiss it making her smile before she whispers, “Every look, every touch, every gesture, you were showing me without words that you loved me. I just didn’t want to see it, I wanted the words.
I was being selfish. I knew something wasn’t right, but I ignored it, only thinking about me.
” Brit raises to her tiptoes and places a gentle kiss on my lips, then whispers, “I love you, Asher, my Doc.”
“I don’t deserve you,” I choke, and she murmurs, “Yes, you do,” and I smile against her lips as she demands softly, “Now tell me you love me and that you’ll spend the day with me and our daughter.”
I hold her tighter to me, our daughter between us and I whisper, “I love you, baby,” before pressing my lips against hers and nothing but love and relief fills me as she kisses me back while our daughter snoozes on her mama’s shoulder.
Fuck I’m one lucky fucker.
I break the kiss and gently run my fingers through her long caramel hair as I place my forehead against hers before asking, “How about a day at the beach?”
She smiles the biggest smile as she nods her head, and I chuckle as I move back, wrap my arm around her shoulders then guide her upstairs so we can get ready as I say, “Then, on our way home, we’ll begin packing your house up,” and she looks at me.
I ensure to keep eye contact, and I show her my nerves. She nods and says just one word, and everything inside me settles.
“Okay.”