Page 67 of Savage in the Streets
We watch the remainder of the interrogation in silence, until Brawner opens the door and prepares for the arrests to be made.
I thank him for his work, then leave to give Bailey the good news.
But before I do, I make one last stop to negotiate a contract I’ve been working on.
One that’s going to change everything.
* * *
Bailey
My momma once told me how important roots are. She said that without them, we’re just adrift in the wind, with nothing to anchor us.
It was true, and I’ve been adrift for far too long.
I hated Ashton Ward when we first met, though he was my lifeline at the time. I further despised him the more I got to know him, until one day, cracks began to form on his perfectly veneered surface, showing the man underneath.
A man I’ve since grown to love.
I’ve been waiting for him for hours without so much as a text. Mabel has been a source of comfort, keeping her arm around me, assuring me that men are just morons and that he obviously doesn’t realize he’s giving me an ulcer.
I can’t help but wonder if his silence is due to bad news.
Petunia, sensing my anxiety, stays near me, purring her little body against mine, the only way she knows how to calm me.
Her and Ashton have a truce of sorts. Every day he opens her wet food tin in offering to her, and she accepts his sacrifice, but looks at him as though he were a peasant.
She kind of runs the place now.
Finally, Ashton steps into the room, his face unreadable.
I hop up from the couch and rush to him. “Well—what happened? Did they bend?”
“Break, Bailey. Did they break…”
“There’s no need to get all technical. Just tell me if they talked.”
Ashton’s face cracks a smile. “They sang. Both mother and daughter. Your father will be charged. We’re going to have to work to get your brother, but I don’t think that will be hard.”
“Am I uncharged?”
His body shakes as laughter rips through him. “The charges have been dropped, if that’s what you mean.”
I snake my hands behind his neck and pull him to me for a series of thank you kisses that start at his lips, and once Mabel leaves, will migrate down to his perfect cock.
A thank you he most certainly deserves.
“There is one more thing.” Ashton sets his briefcase down, taking out a stack of papers.
I thumb through what looks like a real estate listing. “What’s this?”
“I bought up some commercial property in Highland Meadows, and I was thinking that this little spot right here,” he points to a picture of a storefront with no sign, “would be perfect for Savage Beauty. The only thing is, I have this bum of a friend, her name is Mabel, and she’s gonna have to be your new business partner.”
“Oh my god—you actually did it!” Mabel screams in elation.
My eyes light in surprise. “But this is in Highland Meadows. The rent will be at least ten times what it was at the old shop. There’s no way—”
“Did you miss the part where I told you I bought up some commercial real estate?”
