Asher gazed at me. “Those words, babe, they mean everything,” he began roughly. “You’ve always been everything to me. It. My Old Lady. Whatever shit we went through to get here was worth it tenfold to hear you utter those three words.” He brushed a wayward hair out of my face. “They mean nothing is keeping us apart now. It’s you and me, flower, shit out there,” his eyes moved to the door, “that’s shit we’ll face together. You’re not facing that alone, never again,” he promised.
I blinked at his words, at the fact somehow this man who was rough and brutal on the outside softened for me. Normal, boring Lily.
“Okay,” was all I managed to choke out.
Asher didn’t seem bothered by my lack of response, his eyes crinkled at the side and he pressed a light kiss on the edge of my nose. After pulling out of me and cleaning me with a tenderness that matched his previous words, he gathered me in his arms.
“That said,” he continued, “the shit out there is serious. I need you to take it seriously. I know you’re concerned about your friend, I also need you to be concerned about you,” he instructed. “‘Cause this,” he squeezed my body, “is precious to me. Every time this knows pain, mental or physical, I feel it too. I want you to remember that. Take care of yourself, Lily. You’re taking care of me at the same time,” he told me softly.
I glanced up at him, the beauty of his words wrapping around me and lifting the weight off my chest.
“I will, Asher,” I promised.
He kissed my nose. “Good,” he said simply. “As much as I want to stay, talk to you about why we were separated yet again, I’ve got to go and knock some heads together,” he declared.
My stomach dropped. “Carlos?” I questioned.
He nodded.
“Be careful,” I whispered. “What you said to me, it holds true with me, too. If you hurt, I hurt. I couldn’t survive another person being taken away from me,” I admitted quietly.
Asher’s body tightened. “Nothing’s gonna take me away from you, flower. Not while I’ve got breath in my body,” he promised.
I sank back into his chest. I knew he was telling the truth. What worried me was the things that had the ability to take breath from his body.
“We can’t just roll into Carlos’s and try to reason with him. The man’s a worm. His brain mirrors the size of that,” Cade addressed the table, leaning back in his chair.
“Who said anything about reason?” Asher asked him, twisting his knife into the wood of the table.
His Prez regarded him. “I get what you want, brother, I do. But this could get messy. Bloody. We’ve had enough of bloody.” He glanced over at Bull.
He was right. It seemed the club never caught a moment of respite the past few years. Bull’s woman was kidnapped most recently, though that wasn’t anything connected to club shit, when someone hurt a member of their family, they all bled. They struck back. The shooting before that had rippled through the club, they’d lost a brother. They’d bled. Though, again, they struck back. Hard.
“We could blow up the fucker’s club,” Gage suggested. “I’ll light that place up like a Christmas tree. Say the word.”
The entire table stared at the crazy fuck. He was serious.
Cade’s face was blank. “We’re not blowing up a building,” he told him firmly like a father would tell a child they couldn’t play with fireworks.
Gage’s face mirrored that of a sulky child.
Cade focused on Asher once more. “They hurt your woman, they’ll bleed for that. But Carlos is connected to the Tuckers—”
“Loosely,” Lucky interrupted. “Only the stupid fuck we winged a couple of weeks back. Family hardly flinched at that. Shit, I wouldn’t be surprised if they sent us a thank you card. Fucker’s a spoilt little shit. Not popular within the family.”
“But he’s still family,” Brock cut in, leaning forward. “Meaning if we push hard enough, they’ll push back. They can’t afford to look weak.”
“Let them push, we’re a lot stronger than those fucks,” Lucky replied with a glint in his eyes.
Brock raised a brow. “Yeah, we are. But we’ve also got women, children to think about. We’re not risking them,” he replied firmly.
Asher clenched his fists. “I’ll go in alone, no colors, no bike. No blowback for the club,” he declared.
Lucky’s eyes met his. “No way you’re doing this alone. I’m in too,” he told him.
Gage leaned forward. “If I don’t get to blow anything up I’m at least coming on the field trip,” he growled.
“I’m in too,” Bull muttered, his eyes hard.
Cade leaned back. “Club’s in on this,” he told Asher. “Carlos has always been a pain in my ass, and he’s a sick fuck. He also has big aspirations, ones that would mean shit for us down the line. Best to address it now,” he decided.