Chapter 33
Ashley
We arrive at my beach house and Nolan shuts the car off. Noah’s still out cold but his breathing is deep and even, not shallow and shaky. Nolan turns around in the seat and looks me over. A mournful smile is on his lips, he’s trying to reassure me, but he can’t find the words. Rush is still staring straight ahead, into the dark night, not saying a word.
“I’m going to get Ashton and Harris and do a sweep. Stay in the car until we come out to get you. Ramirez and Marks will remain out here on guard until we come back.” Nolan says.
I can’t answer, all I can manage is a nod. If I talk, then I’ll break down and weakness isn’t something I can afford right now. I don’t notice Nolan getting out of the car. The adrenaline that was engulfing my veins earlier has disappeared, leaving me drained and my shoulder is aching deeply. My hands are shaking as I push the hair back from Noah’s bloody forehead. He shifts a little and mumbles something under his breath. I can’t make out what he’s saying. I notice the dried blood on his forehead from the accident, I need to clean that up when we get inside.
Suddenly there’s a tap on Rush’s window that causes both Rush and I to jump. We look out the window and see Hotflash standing there, grief etched on her face. She’s motioning for Rush to roll his window down. His fingers slowly push the button and it rolls down. The night ocean breeze drifts into the car, calming me. He doesn’t say a word as she leans into the car.
“How’s he doing?” she asks.
“He’s OK. He moved and mumbled something just before you came to the window,” I speak quietly. She turns her attention to Rush and rests a palm on his cheek.
“This isn’t your fault, Rush. Shaun is un idiota. A dickhead. None of this is your fault.” Hotflash reassures him.
He doesn’t answer, just continues to stare out into the darkness. Hotflash gives him a small, sad smile. Nolan and Ashton return from inside the house. He’s put a black t-shirt on and strides towards us.
“C’mon, let’s get Noah inside,” Nolan suggests, opening Rush’s door.
Rush gets out of the car on unsteady legs and Hotflash is there in an instant to help him. He drapes his arm over her shoulder and she wraps her arm around his waist as he limps towards the back door. My crew, my family, is suffering so badly right now and I don’t know how to fix it. Nolan pushes the passenger front seat up and Ashton does the same for the driver’s seat. Once Ashton’s massive body is part way inside the car, he carefully lifts Noah up from my lap and hands him over to the waiting arms of Harris, Ramirez, and Marks. I watch as they carry him into the house. He hasn’t moved except that one time a few minutes ago.
“C’mon Ash, let's get you cleaned up,” Nolan gently says.
He holds his hand out and helps me out of the car. My shoulder is screaming at me in protest and I feel so dirty. I need a shower, but I need to check on Noah and Rush first. We walk into the house and the familiarity of my home immediately relaxes me. My eyes become heavy as we step into the living room. Rush is sitting on the floor; his knees are up, and his head is dropped between them. Hotflash is sitting next to him, rubbing his back, whispering something in Spanish to him.
“Where’s Noah?” I ask.
“In the second room upstairs,” Ashton answers from the window.
There’s something in his tone that catches my attention. I glance over in his direction, but he’s facing the window, watching and waiting. I follow him with my eyes as his slide to Rush and Hotflash for a second then he looks back out the window. I see him do this a few times when he thinks no one’s paying attention. Ashton releases a deep breath and leans his head against the window. Hotflash is keeping him in her sights while she’s talking to Rush and a wistful expression passes over her face. She shakes her head and turns away from Ashton.
I walk over to them and sit down next to Rush. I force him to disentangle his arms around his knees and grab his hand.
“Rush, look at me,” I demand. He ignores me and keeps his head down. “Rush, none of this is your fault. Please look at me.” He finally picks his head up and he has tears rolling down his cheeks.
“This is my fault, Ashley.” He whispers and wipes his tears away.
“No, it isn’t. You’re not the one who ran me off the road, you’re not the one who chased us down the freeway. You. Are. Not. Responsible.” I reassure him.
“If Noah doesn’t pull through,” Rush says, and his voice drops off. He can’t finish the sentence.
“Noah will pull through. He’ll be stronger than before. We have to think positive, Rush. We won’t lose him like we did Austin, I promise. Come on lets check on him.” I stand up carefully.
Rush and Hotflash follow me up the stairs and I take a deep breath before opening the door. We walk into the room and I practically drop to my knees. Noah is laying on the bed, dried blood is caked on the side of his face, his chest is moving up and down and he has cuts and bruises all over his pale skin. I shuffle into the attached bathroom, turn on the water and wet the washcloth. Fire shoots through my shoulder from moving my arm, but I force the pain away, walk back to Noah and begin cleaning him up. I wipe away the dried blood from his forehead and in his black hair carefully. Rush is sitting by Noah’s chest, gripping his hand. He doesn’t say a word as I continue to clean Noah’s wounds.
Hotflash also left to get a towel to help me. She’s working on one side while I’m on the other. Nothing appears to be broken. We quickly change his clothes to make him more comfortable. We sit there for a while, watching and waiting. Finally, after what seems like hours, but is only a few minutes, Noah starts moving. He opens his green eyes and blinks a few times.
“Hey, don’t move too much, Noah,” I suggest putting my hand on his chest.
“What happened?” he whispers.
“You were in a car accident,” I explain. “Do you remember any of it?” I ask. He shifts slightly and covers his eyes with his arm.
“The light hurts my eyes,” Noah whispers. Hotflash gets up instantly and turns the dial to dim the lights.
“Is that better?” she asks.
Noah removes his arm and blinks a couple of times. “Yes, much better. Thanks.” he whispers. “My head is killing me.”
“You have a concussion and have been unconscious for a while. Does anything else hurt?” I ask.
Noah slowly moves his feet, then his legs, arms, and body. He moves his head and then shakes it. “No, just my head. Can you help me sit up? I don’t have the energy.”
The three of us help Noah sit up on the bed and he leans against the headboard. Hotflash leaves the room and comes back a few minutes later with a glass of water and some aspirin. Noah takes the water and aspirin from her and swallows them.
“Thanks,” he says handing her back the glass. “Where’s Redline and Quickshift?”
“We don’t know. They’re not answering my calls or texts. I have Ashton working on tracking their cell phones. Right now they’re off, but once they come back on, we’ll find them.” Natalia answers.
Fuck. I forgot Redline and Quickshift were there too. I recall driving down the road, watching for them and for Rush’s car.
“I think they went after Shaun,” I reply quietly.
“I hope they’re OK,” Noah says. His voice is getting stronger. He faces me, and a smile appears, lighting up his green eyes. “Ash, I hate to mention this but, you look like shit. I’m fine. Why don’t you get cleaned up?”
“Boy, I’ll kick your ass back to sleep,” I tell him jokingly.
We all laugh a little and the room grows quiet. Noah takes my hand and gives it a good squeeze. He draws a breath and releases it. “Seriously, I’m good. I want to take a shower too. So, unless you want to see your little brother naked, go get yourself cleaned up.”
“He’s right.” Nolan deep voice responds from the doorway. “You need to take care of yourself and I need to check your shoulder.” His brown eyes are following me, and I swallow hard. No matter how many times I search his eyes, he still makes me all hot and bothered.
“What happened to your shoulder?” Hotflash asks, looking me over. I don’t answer so Nolan does for me.
“When Shaun rammed us off the road and threw us into a hunting cabin, her shoulder dislocated. I had to pop it back into place and it’s been hurting her ever since.”
“You had it worse than I did Nolan,” I whisper. Memories of the accident come roaring back and I do my best to lock it away.
“I’m fine. Nothing broken or bleeding. We need to get cleaned up and I’m sure Noah wants too as well. Natalia and Rush need to get some rest too. Come on, Ash. I’ll help you.” Nolan says walking into the room.
He holds his hand out and I accept it with my good arm. Pain shoots up my left shoulder when I stand up from the bed, but I hold back my cry. Nolan is staring at me and his forehead has a crease in the middle. He’s concerned about me, but I’m too worried about the rest of my crew. I’ve never had someone worry about me the way he does, and it causes my heart to skip a beat when I search his whiskey colored eyes. Something occurs to me and I need to talk to Ashton. We walk out of Noah’s room together, but instead of heading to my room, I turn and walk down the stairs.
Nolan follows me with a questioning look. I don’t answer until I find Ashton. He’s still standing at the window, studying the dark street. No one else is in the room, but there’s a laptop sitting open on my glass coffee table.
“Ashton.” I say getting his attention. He twists away from the window and peers over at me. “I had an idea about Redline and Quickshift. Hotflash said she asked you to track down their cell phones, but they’re off.”
“Yeah, I can’t even turn them on remotely. That means the batteries are removed.” Ashton answers.
“What about their GPS tracking systems? I had them installed in each car, but none of my crew knows about it. I wanted it for reassurance. I’ve never used them, I’ve never needed too. Can you do that?”
“Yes, I can. Give me the information for them and I’ll start a trace.” Ashton says.
He moves away from the window and there's a light in his eyes. He’s taken our abduction hard and must have felt useless, I’m happy I can make him feel useful again. I rattle off the information for each car and he types it on the laptop.
“This might take a while, depending on how far away they are. Why don’t we leave and get cleaned up?” Nolan says, placing his arm around my waist.
“OK,” I answer.
Nolan gives me a brief kiss on the lips and leads me up the stairs. I shut my bedroom door and check out Nolan as he removes his shirt and drops it to the ground. He has dried blood on his chest that wasn’t from the woods.
“Shit, Nolan. You’re bleeding,” I say, racing over to him and examine the cuts marring his chest.
“Oh. I’m fine, honestly. I cut myself getting Rush and Noah out of the car. Let’s get you cleaned up.” He pulls my body flush against his, the heat radiating from him sends a shiver down my spine. He tightens his hold on my waist and I raise my arms up around his neck. White, hot pain shoots across my left shoulder.
“Fuck, I forgot about my shoulder for a minute.” I hiss, gently lowering my left arm down.
“Let me see it,” Nolan replies.
I remove my tank top carefully with his help. I sit on my bed and Nolan sits next to me. His fingers knead my shoulder carefully, hitting all the right spots, and I let out a low groan. His fingers pause for a second and then continue. They dig into something in my shoulder and I let out a whimper.
“Fuck. That hurt.” I say through clenched teeth.
“Your shoulder didn’t set right. That’s why you’re still in pain. I need to pop it back in properly before further damage is done. It’ll hurt worse than before and I’m going to need someone to hold you down. You might want to put a shirt back on unless you want someone else staring at your chest.” Nolan gives me a quick kiss on the forehead, gets up from the bed and leaves the room.
He arrives back a couple of minutes later with Rush in tow. I threw on a button-down flannel, it was the only thing I could put on myself. I lay on my stomach, pain shooting out from my shoulder when the bed dips.
“Here, bite down on this again,” Nolan says, handing me his belt. “We don’t want you to bite your tongue. I might need it later.” He gives me a wink when I shift my head and glare at him.
“The only action you’ll be getting from my tongue will be when I cuss you out, ass,” I answer, taking the belt from him.
“Oh, feisty. I like it when you use your tongue and your mouth.” Nolan smirks. I whack him with the belt. “Ouch. Ok, Ok. I’ll stop for now, but the pain went away for a minute didn’t it?” Nolan says, with his hands in the air.
“Yeah, it did. Thanks.” I answer. “Hey Nolan,” I add still looking at him. “Thanks for everything. I really appreciate it.” He leans down and kisses my lips gently. When he pulls back, there’s something in his eyes I can’t quite figure out.
“I’d do anything for you, Ash. But you’re going to hate me in a minute,” he whispers.
I take a deep breath and put the belt in my mouth. I turn my head into the pillow and a set of strong hands hold my back onto the bed. Nolan’s hands pick up my left arm.
“Hang onto her. She’s going to buck and try to get up. Don’t let her move until I’m done.” Nolan says to Rush.
“Ok, here we go.” Nolan lets out a deep breath. “On the count of three. One, two, three.”
I brace myself for the pain. Nolan yanks my left arm backwards and fire races through my shoulder. He keeps pulling and Rush is holding me down as I struggle to buck off the bed.
“Keep ahold of her, I almost have it.” I can hear the pain in Nolan’s voice.
“Fuck." The belt muffles my scream.
I bite down as hard as I can, my teeth sinking into the leather. Tears spring to my eyes when I feel a popping noise and relief fills me at once. Nolan carefully sets my left arm on the bed and helps me sit up. Rush is backing away quickly like I’m going to kick his ass.
“Thanks, Rush,” I reply. “If you didn’t hold me down, I would’ve hit Nolan.”
“You’re welcome. Can I go back to Noah now? Are you done with me?” he asks.
“Yeah. Do you want to talk about it?” I ask him.
“Not right now. After you shower and get cleaned up, we will.” He offers me a small smile, but it doesn’t quite reach his dark eyes.
This accident really affected him, and we need to talk, just the two of us. He runs a hand through his black hair, making the blonde highlights messier.
“Ok, I’ll see you in a few,” I answer.
Rush leaves the room quickly. It’s just Nolan and me now. He stands and helps me up. We walk quietly towards the bathroom.
“I’m going to give you a few minutes. Then I’ll be in.” Nolan says, giving me a quick kiss. There’s something he wants to say but doesn’t. There’s something weighing on his mind, but I have to believe he’ll tell me when he’s ready.
I watch as Nolan leaves and shuts the door behind him. I take a deep breath before looking into the mirror. My reflection staring back at me shocks me. I have dark purple marks under my eyes from lack of sleep. There’s dried blood on the side of my forehead and down the left side of my face. My blonde hair is dirty and next to my scalp is more dried blood. The bruise from when Shaun knocked me out earlier is dark against my tanned skin. I have Noah’s blood from his head wound on my chest and arms.
Tears spring to my eyes when all the past couple of days events catch up to me. I turn on the shower, making it as hot as I can stand it. When the bathroom fills up with steam, I strip my clothes off and step into the shower. I stare at the dirt and blood swirl around my feet, cleaning away everything that’s happened to me and my family in the past. I speculate as I watch the water turn clear if all of the pain and suffering is worth it. I wonder if I shouldn’t just give up and let them force me out. There’s too much shit that has gone down the last few months, I feel emotionally and physically drained.
The memories of the night my parents died flash in my mind and I begin to weep. What I wouldn’t give for the advice from my father, the bright smile from my mother. I would give up everything to watch my little brother grow up and become a man. See him go to his first dance, have his first girlfriend, receive his first taste of independence. I feel so broken and drained.
Suddenly, strong arms wrap around my waist and Nolan’s naked body is flush with mine. He moves my wet hair back and kisses the side of my neck, gently.
“Everything will be OK, Ash. We’ll get through this together.” Nolan whispers in my ear.
He helps me shower, washing my hair and body. Erasing all the ghosts and demons of my past. Realizing he’s here for me, helping me, strengthens my resolve and the heartache I’m suffering eases a little. I can do this, I can deliver justice to my family, to my crew, to my parents and little brother, whose life was taken way too soon.