36. Asher
Asher
Iwas deep in my spreadsheet when my cell rang. I was working on some stuff for the new club, getting a list of positions that HR was going to need to fill. Normally Noah handled all the club stuff but he was focusing on construction so we were all helping out.
“Lawson,” I grunted out, not looking at my phone, annoyed at being interrupted.
“Is this a bad time?” Sutton’s voice was like a soothing balm.
“What’s wrong?” I fired back, sitting up with my spreadsheet forgotten. Her laugh through the phone helped calm the tension.
“Nothing, don’t worry. I was just having lunch and didn’t think before calling. We can talk later.”
“No, I want to talk to you.” I sat back and looked out my window.
“Are you sure? Because this isn’t urgent at all, it was just on my mind. So I can just—”
“Sutton,” I cut her off. “What do you need? Because even when I’m busy I want you to interrupt me for anything, big or small.”
“You are the sweetest man, Asher Wyatt Lawson.” I could hear the smile in her voice.
“Don’t tell anyone.” I couldn’t help the small smile on my lips. I could talk to this woman about nothing and be thrilled.
“I just wanted to talk something out with you…see if you could maybe help me?”
I frowned at the hesitation in her voice. “Anything.”
“I did some reading that babies can start daycare after one. I think a year and a half would be ideal because it would give Sophie some good social interaction. It’s important.
I’ve been looking into daycares. I wanted to maybe try putting her in a few days a week to get her used to it.
Then Iris could have a break and Soph can socialize. ”
I grunted to let her know I was still listening but I was stressed.
Loving a child was fucking hard. She was talking about having someone neither of us knew or trusted watch her.
How was I supposed to allow that to happen?
My mind started tossing scenarios around about how I could manipulate this to make sure she was safe.
“I found some places that look pretty good, and I wanted to see if you would come with me to check them out. It would have to be during the day so if that doesn’t work I totally understand.”
“You want me to come with you?” I sat there a little stunned she had asked and I didn’t have to force my way there.
“Yeah…when I said I loved you and you said it back I figured it was obvious that I wanted you in both of our lives.”
I let out a big breath and smiled. “Sophie is already mine, sweetheart, has been since she rubbed her cute little hand on my face. I’ve been trying to respect the fact that you’re her mum.
I didn’t want to overstep.” When silence met me on the other end of the line, I waited. I was the quiet one. Not her. “Sutton?”
“Sorry! I’m sitting in the office kitchen so I had my head back trying not to cry.”
“You really have to work on the happy crying, baby, it hits me in the chest.”
She let out a laugh. Did she realize it was my favorite thing?
“I’ll work on it but I don’t think it’s going to change. You are the person Sophie deserves in her life, Asher. I couldn’t have dreamed of someone better.”
I didn’t know if I had ever felt more proud or in love than I did at that moment.
“Why the hell are we having this conversation over the phone when I can’t kiss you?” My voice was firmer than I meant it to be. Sutton never balked at it.
“So you’ll come with me?”
“Nowhere else I’d rather be. Let me know when.”
“Thanks, Ash. I’m scared about putting her in daycare but it will be easier with you helping me.”
Glad I wasn’t the only one terrified.
“You guys are staying at my house tonight?”
“Yeah, I’ll grab her from Iris and then head home.” She said it so offhandedly, I didn’t know if she heard it. But she called my house home and truer words couldn’t have been spoken. She and Sophie were my home now too.
“I’ve got stuff to make chicken parm for us tonight.” I’d never been more thankful to Jane for teaching me how to cook. I could make Sutton anything and it always made her eyes light up. So, my plan was to cook for her for the rest of our lives.
“Sounds perfect. Love you, Grizzly.”
“Love you back, sweetheart.”
“You summoned us,” Jaxson said as he and Will came walking into my office. It had been three hours since I’d gotten off the phone with Sutton.
“Will told me he wanted to talk.” I shut my laptop to give them my full attention. Will had texted me twenty minutes ago asking to chat. His PI had found something more.
“You’re not going to like this,” Will muttered as he took a seat. I had been friends with him for over a decade and yet his expression was completely neutral. He had his lawyer face on and when that happened it meant he had something big.
“His jaw has already tensed,” Jaxson commented as he watched me closely. I raised an eyebrow and focused on Will.
“Her ex comes from money.”
“What kind of money?” It surprised me given the shit lawyer he’d hired.
“Nothing even close to us. But his father was an executive at a mining company. It’s kept his family comfortable.”
“So why the bad lawyer?”
“Well, it seems that he’s gotten in some trouble that his family buried. My guess is that they’re either over his shit or they have no idea what’s going on.”
“How buried?” My hackles were up and I could feel my anger burning.
“I told you I had the best guy on it,” Jaxson assured me. “He was able to unbury it.” I narrowed my eyes when Will didn’t continue. “I think you should keep going and not poke the bear.”
“He has two prior charges of assault and one charge of stalking.” My stomach tightened at Will’s words as I imagined Sutton being with him.
He may be Sophie’s biological father but I would replace him in that role in every way that counted.
“All the women were paid off, given nice settlements, and threatened if they ever tried to come forward.”
“Payoffs were under the table, I take it.” Jaxson rubbed his jaw, the tic reflecting my own anxiety. I knew he had something in his past that made him especially angry about stuff like this but he’d never said exactly what it was.
“Yes. Charges were dropped with no explanation but we found the money.”
“There’ll be more women who just haven’t come forward.” I ground my teeth together.
“I agree and we’re working on that. We don’t think his family has any idea what their son is up to and the drama we’ll bring to their lives. They would know better than to fuck with Knight Enterprises.”
“Good, then go to his family with the information, see what they do,” I fumed, venom in my voice.
“We don’t want to give him a chance to worm his way out of this.
We want him cornered, which means we have to be smart.
” I saw the logic Will was laying out, but it didn’t mean I liked it.
“I have to ask this so don’t bite my head off, yeah?
” Will held my gaze but I said nothing. I would be pissed off with whatever he was about to say and he knew that.
“Was I brought here just to help hold him down if he loses his mind?” Jaxson questioned. When I still didn’t say anything and just raised an eyebrow, Will gave in.
“Do you know if he ever assaulted Sutton?”
Fire snaked up my veins and I was about ready to kill someone. Though the answer was no—she had told me he was manipulative but hadn’t hurt her physically—it didn’t mean the idea of it didn’t make me sick.
“She told me he didn’t,” I ground out.
“Does someone not in a relationship with her need to check, in case she’s afraid to tell you?”
“She trusts me with her secrets; she would have told me.”
“Okay.” Will held up his hands. “I had to make sure we have the full picture.”
“We confirmed he’s still in Vancouver and I have someone watching him, but his track record makes me concerned he won’t let this go easily.
” Jaxson rubbed his jaw again. When we met at university he was winning underground fights.
Not because he needed the money but because he needed somewhere to channel his aggression.
He did it for the first two years we knew him and then he gave it up.
But he had always had a drive to take care of those around him, to protect them fiercely.
When he started with Knight Enterprises the first thing he proposed was the security division of the company.
His goal was to see us have private security that would ensure our safety and that of our companies, and for us to invest in security technologies, all of which had paid off.
Knight Enterprises Security was now one of the most sought-after security firms. Celebrities and politicians paid a lot of money to have our people guarding them.
“What do I need to do?” I asked Jaxson. I could tell from the look on his face he already had a plan.
“New alarm system at the house and at her apartment if she plans on staying there.”
“She won’t be staying anywhere but my house. But we need to install something at Iris’s since Sophie spends her days there.”
“Her building isn’t the best,” Will mused with a frown.
“I know.” If I had my way, she would have moved in with me already.
“But if we owned it we could upgrade the locks, get that fucking elevator working, and get the security upgraded at once.”
I locked eyes with Will. Why the hell hadn’t I thought of that myself?
“Same thing we did with Quinn’s building.”
“Call Oli and Noah, get it done today.” It was three o’clock—still plenty of time to buy the place.
Will nodded, already on his phone and walking out of my office.
It likely wouldn’t be a large enough cost for us to call all the guys in for a vote, and either way they would all say yes. “What else?” I asked Jaxson.
“Aside from that, get her to share her location with you just in case,” Jaxson said with a rare dark frown on his face.
“There isn’t much else. Everyone’s seen a picture of him—show one to Iris too so everyone is on the lookout.
I have an alert set up on my phone to notify me anytime he goes more than ten minutes from his house.
We let Maya do her thing and we can all help keep tabs on her if we need to. ”
I let out a sigh and rubbed a hand over my head. I hated not being able to do anything right now, absolutely hated it.
“One thing.” I pushed a page over to Jaxson.
“Daycares?”
“Sutton picked these out to tour for Sophie. I’m assuming she went medium budget but I want to know everything about these places and everyone who works there. And if there’s somewhere better I want to know.”
He looked up at me and smirked. “Full dad bear mode, huh?” I glared at him as he laughed. “I’m joking. I would never use Sutton’s nickname for you nor allow Soph to end up somewhere we haven’t vetted either. I bet we can find somewhere better and not let Sutton know about the cost.”
I nodded. “Get me a list.” I knew that I couldn’t relax unless both my girls were safe.
Finding Sophie the best daycare in the area was what I could do right now so I would be doing it. If we didn’t find one that matched up to my expectations then I would be opening my own fucking daycare to make sure she had the best.