Page 61 of Savage in the Streets
“After Carolyn died, I was a wreck, but I threw myself into my work. Liz, my sister, fell into a downward spiral. For a long time, she seemed like a lost cause, but recently, she got clean.”
“That’s great!”
“She met this guy that helped her turn her life around. She’s still on thin ice. The slightest gust of wind could send her into a free fall.”
“And what does that have to do with me?”
“Your brother, her former drug dealer, has threatened to be that gust.”
I shouldn’t be so shocked. My brother is a rabid animal, willing to hurt anyone to get what he wants in life. But the fact that he’d hurt someone Ashton loves leaves me numb. So out of sorts, I don’t know how to respond.
“I am so sorry.”
“You have no reason to be. Honestly, my sister carries the blame. She caves into her demons more than she overcomes them. I can’t say I blame her, though. Our father was…brutal.”
“And yet you were going to have him represent me?”
“Make no mistake, he’d be your best chance at going free. The way he works a courtroom is akin to Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel.”
“Ash, I’m sorry I doubted you. At first, I didn’t understand what was going on. Right as you gave me those pamphlets, the police came for me. Then there was my brother’s message, and I didn’t know how you were connected. To top it all off, evidence was found at my apartment, which you had been at.”
“That wasn’t me.”
“That’s clear to me now.”
“Your father really decided to screw you over.”
“I want to say I can’t believe he would do something like that, but I’m not surprised. What’s shocking is that I’m pretty sure my father and brother came together to do this, when they hate each other.”
“The more I look at your case, the more confident that I become that this was all to remove Bruce from the picture, and you were considered collateral damage. You wouldn’t agree to the relationship, so they had to make you desperate. Then, as you’re staring down felony charges, they tell you that by aligning with Bruce, they can make it all go away, when in reality, they’re just trying to entangle you with him so they can take him down in the process.”
It all makes sense. My father was using me to take down his rival. He didn’t care that I’d be caught in the crossfire, so long as it saw him seated on his Harley throne.
My face twists in contempt. “My mother always told me that family was where we plant our roots. She was wrong. I’m not planting my roots in toxic soil. I’d rather not have any roots at all.”
Ashton’s hand envelops mine. “Maybe your roots belong here.”
I begin to roll my eyes, but the look on his face is dead serious.
“I know things got really intense between us, but do you think it was just the situation?” I ask. “I mean, it can’t be real, can it?”
“I don’t know.” Ashton brushes flyaway strands of hair behind my ear. “You tell me.”
“Ash, I’m from a fallen criminal empire. I don’t belong anywhere near—”
His lips press against mine in a deep, sensual kiss that sets my body ablaze.
How is he able to do this to me? I’ve always been strong, but this man makes me weak. He makes me reckless. He makes me feel things I shouldn’t feel.
He’s the one man capable of undoing me because he’s the only person I’ve ever trusted.
Our kiss breaks and his forehead connects with mine.
“We’ve both had to contend with shitty parents. Let’s not become them.”
Then it hits me.
“I could get put away.” I pull away from Ashton in a panic. “I might never see you again. With the crap found on that USB…it could be decades that I’m in for.”
