───────────────

Asher

 

My focus is on Payton. The fear in her eyes, the gash above one, dripping blood. Her body is shaking. An arm wrapped around her waist, holding her tightly.

Looking back at the person holding her, the air is sucked out of my lungs. Anger I’ve never experienced vibrates through my body. This mother fucker. I’m staring in the eyes of the man who killed my parents. The man who now has his arm around my girl. Fuck this, he’s already took two people I love, he’s not taking my heart.

“You mother fucker,” I growl, running toward them.

Lifting his arm, he presses a gun to Payton’s temple and I stop dead in my tracks. Holding up my hands to let this piece of shit know he’s in control. For now.

“My fiancee here, doesn’t need you anymore. You’ve had your fun, but that shit is over,” asshole says.

Fiancee? She’s engaged to this guy? What the fuck? She’s engaged to the man who killed my parents, who destroyed my life.

“I should just shoot you now for screwing what’s mine,” he says, pointing the gun toward me.

“Jake. No,” Payton screams.

Yanking her head back by her hair, he gets right in her face. “Shut the fuck up.”

“You might as well fucking shoot me, because once you’re man enough to get your hands off Payton, I’m going to fucking kill you myself,” I say, seeing red. I’m hoping if I push his buttons he’ll let her go.

Tsking, he points the gun at my face. “Watch who you’re threatening. I’m not a man you want to fuck with.”

Every word out of his mouth has the anger vibrating through my body. “Believe me, it’s me who you don’t want to fuck with.”

“Asher, even if I don’t shoot to kill, I will destroy you. This has nothing to do with you,” he says through clenched teeth. The cocking of the gun, echos in the empty apartment.

“Jake, please,” Payton cries out.

I snap my eyes to hers, trying to calm her. I need to fucking do something, because as much as I want to kill him for taking my parents from me, my heart is breaking looking at the fear in her eyes.

“Do you always hit women? Too much of a pussy to get your ass kicked by a guy?” I need to get him to let her go. Pushing his buttons might be the only way. If I need to take a bullet for her, I’ll fucking do it. I’ll do whatever I have to, to make sure she’s safe.

He laughs and waves the gun around. “You don’t know shit about me. But considering I’m the cop in the room, no matter what happens, it’ll be my word they take.” Wrapping his hand around her face, squeezing her cheeks, he turns her head to face him. “Isn’t that right, Payton?”

This piece of shit. “Video evidence proves differently, you fucking murderer,” I bite out.

His face pales and he knows I saw the tape. He’s visibly shaken, but it does nothing for me. He needs to pay for what he did, and causing a bit of fear is nothing. He might be the one holding the gun, but I’m the one who’s got the upper hand.

“Murder?” Payton whispers, trying to search my eyes, but her one eye is starting to swell. She doesn’t know, she couldn’t have been with him.

“Shut the fuck up,” Jake yells, tossing Payton to the side.

She hits the corner of the wall, and my heart shatters when I watch her go down. I snap my head to him and see he’s watching her. I take the advantage and rush at him, knocking him to the ground. The gun slides across the floor, and I take my first punch. Right in his fucking jaw. Watching the blood run out of his mouth, just fans the flames.

When his fist connects with my mouth, I lose it. Every hit. Every grunt of pain. It’s for my parents, for Payton, for all the lives he’s destroyed. I can’t stop, even when his fight starts to slow.

I’m not focused on anything but his face when I finally say, “It was my parents. The car you ran off the road. The bodies you saw. Steven and Connie Kilby. He was a mechanic. She was a teacher. They were real people, with real lives, you pathetic son of a bitch.”

“Fuck you,” he grunts, spitting blood out of his mouth.

Grabbing onto his shirt, he tries to pull my hands away, but I glance over at Payton whose eyes are slowly opening, and he’s no match for my strength. “You hurt my girl, and now I’m going to fucking enjoy watching you take your final breath.”

As his head connects with the hardwood floor beneath him, I’m ripped off of him. Trying to fight and pull away, that’s when I realize it’s Brett.

“Asher, stop. It’s over man,” he calmly says, holding his arms tightly around me.

Turning my head, I search his face. “What?”

He tells me to relax before he lets me go. That’s when I notice the cops all over. Two are checking Jake and another one is checking Payton. Fuck, Payton.

Rushing over I drop to my knees. “Payton, look at me baby,” I plead, as my heart stops beating.

“Asher, we need your statement,” one of the cops says.

“Baby, I’m right here,” I say to Payton, completely ignoring the cop. “Someone call a fucking ambulance,” I yell, gently touching her cheek.

“Asher, let’s go,” another cop says.

“Until I know she’s good, I’m not fucking leaving,” I roar.

I gently run my hand on her cheek, her arm and move down to her hand. Wrapping mine around it, my head drops to her shoulder and I break down. I haven’t felt this devastated, this vulnerable, this wrecked, since my parents died.

“Please don’t leave me too,” I whisper over and over.