CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO | ACE
I found Asher working in the garage.
Sienna was on my mind. After that night out in the canyon, fucking her like that on the bike…there wasn’t much else I could think about.
But we kept leaving things off without actually talking about what was going on.
What was really going on was that we were using each other—she needed me to get her job done and I needed her to remain married to me so she couldn’t testify against me.
Once the job was done and she’d busted the guys she wanted to bust; we’d stop needing each other and we could go back to being the strangers we really were. Two people from two different worlds who found themselves thrown together somehow.
Sienna couldn’t get out of this fast enough.
Had to keep reminding myself it was all just temporary.
And now Asher was refusing to talk to me.
I crouched down under the car to find him there, spanner in hand and not really doing much.
“You wanna pull out so we can talk?”
He gritted his teeth at me like there were thoughts in his head he wasn’t willing to share.
“Busy,” he snapped and I kicked the side of the car. Half playfully, half meaningfully.
“Get out here, Ash. I didn’t come here to waste my time.”
I knew no matter how much he hated my guts right now, he would have to obey my orders. He was a good kid. We just needed to have a heart-to-heart. Something I wasn’t sure either of us were fully capable of.
Eventually he did slide out from under the car and stood up, dusting his crummy hands on his oil-stained overalls.
“Yeah?”
He looked at me like I was the Avon lady or some shit.
“Sit down, Asher, and listen to what I have to say.”
He walked ahead of me and we pulled two rickety stools out. He sat down on one and I put one foot up on the other, facing him, towering over him. I needed him to know that no matter what liberties I gave him today, I was still the older one. More experienced. The guy he’d have to listen to.
“It’s difficult to know what to do with yourself as a man when you’ve grown up the way we have,” I began.
It wasn’t an ideal place to begin this conversation but I didn’t know how else to start.
Were we supposed to hug and cry? Fuck that shit.
Either way, the tone of my voice was strange enough to surprise Asher. He stared at me like he had no idea who I was.
“You mean because of our dad?”
“Or the lack thereof,” I replied and he gulped and looked away from me.
“Look, man, I didn’t think I would ever see you again. Till I did. You did good by looking for me. For finding me here. We are the only family we have now.”
I was continuing to speak, trying to get it out in the open before I clammed up shut again.
Asher searched my eyes, not sure of where this conversation was headed.
“And because you’re the only family I have, and because you’re still a kid…” his eyes shone with defiance when he heard that word. I held a hand up for him to shut up so I could continue. “I admit I’ve been a little overprotective of you. Can you blame me?”
Asher shuffled his feet and ran a hand through his bushy blond hair.
“It’s been good enough for you, this life,” he said, almost in a murmur. I nodded.
“You’re right.”
Clearly, Ash wasn’t expecting to hear that. He was expecting to having to put up more of a fight.
But I’d given this a lot of thought. He didn’t deserve to be treated like a child anymore, but the man that he’d become.
I had to hand it to him. He’d been through a lot by himself at a very young age.
He managed to make it alone, live through the system after our dad died, and he did whatever he had to do to find me.
If I was being honest with myself, Asher had probably been more courageous and achieved more than I had when I was his age. As much as I wanted to protect him and keep him safe from harm, it was time to admit that I wasn’t his keeper.
He stared up at me, blinking and waiting to hear more.
“Welcome to the family, little brother,” I told him with a knowing smile.
From the pocket of my leather jacket, I pulled out the prospect badge of the High Rollers MC. It was the first step towards membership, something I had the power to present to him. Something I knew would make him proud.
He jumped up from his chair.
Disbelief marred his face.
For a few beats he just stared at me, like he couldn’t move his limbs. Then he blinked and lunged straight at me.
We were hugging.
I ruffled his hair and he snatched the patch out of my hands.
“Is this really mine?” he asked in a mixture of delight and amazement.
“This isn’t a joke, Asher. It’s yours because you deserve it.”
And of course, I wanted him to be a part of the MC so I could keep a close eye on him. He was going to do what he wanted to do. The truth was there was very little I could do to stop him.
He might as well do it under my nose.
Before he could add anything else, we were interrupted by the roar of Bingo’s bike.
He cruised straight into the garage driveway and I walked out to greet him.
As he pulled his helmet off, I could sense something was wrong. Bingo didn’t exactly have a smile on his face. He looked solemn.
Cagey.
Like he would rather not meet my eye.
“What’s going on, man?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
“I have something to tell you, something that Daisy thought you should know,” he said.
“Daisy?”
Since when did anything concerning me have anything to do with Daisy?
“What’d she say?”
Bingo finally met my eyes and he shook his head with concern.
“It’s about that chick, Sienna. This isn’t going to be easy,” he continued.
My first thought was something had happened to her.
“Is she okay?” I growled, taking a few steps towards Bingo and he shrugged.
“I don’t know, there is very little I do know…” he began.