by Sarah Bailey
Ash made me so fucking happy. My light in the darkness. My little northern star. She got me on a level the boys never had. She knew exactly what I needed and when, like she’d become completely in-tune with my emotions and moods.
“Ready to spend the day with me?”
I nodded. An entire day with Ash. I’d savour every moment.
Quinn unlocked the door and walked in, followed by Eric and Xav. Ash hesitated by my side before visibly steeling herself. We strolled in together, finding the boys already dragging Carlo up off the bed and sitting him down in the metal chair in the middle of the room.
“Stay,” Quinn said before stuffing a gag in Carlo’s mouth and giving him a hard stare.
Carlo did nothing but look at him with disgust. I’d quite happily wipe it off his face if the others let me. Nothing would please me more than to see this fucker dead and gone. He’d hurt me and Ash.
Xav fiddled with the camera and I pushed Ash closer to Quinn. Her hands shook at her sides. She hated this room and I could hardly blame her. The memories she associated with it weren’t exactly the best. She was trying not to show it, but I could read her all too well. Quinn squeezed her shoulder with one hand when she arrived next to him. Eric and I stood behind Xav, who’d got the tripod set up and gave Quinn a nod.
“Ready, little girl?”
Ash nodded and turned to the camera. Her eyes grew determined and her stance relaxed a little. I kept my eyes on Carlo because I didn’t trust the man at all. He looked like he wanted to strangle Ash and that couldn’t be a good sign at all.
“Okay, recording… now,” Xav said, giving them a thumbs up.
Ash shifted on her feet before staring at the camera.
“Hello, Papa… I got your message loud and clear. You say you’re going to find me, but I’ve been sitting right under your nose for months. So I ask myself… you and what army? I’m waiting. We’re all waiting. I guess we got a little bored because as you can see… I have Carlo here.” She waved at Carlo with one hand. “You took my mother so I thought I’d repay the favour.”
Quinn moved forward, coming to stand next to Ash. His eyes were dark as he stared at the camera too.
“Our demand is simple. Return Isabella to us and we will set Carlo free. If you do not… well… we’re not above disposing of him.”
“He’s expendable, Papa. After all, he tried to kill me.”
It was at that exact moment I realised in hindsight we should have tied Carlo to the chair. He launched himself out of it, his hands extended, and barrelled into Ash. She crashed onto the floor with him on top of her. We were all so shocked, no one else moved as Carlo gripped Ash around the neck and started trying to strangle her.
Quinn was the first to move, grabbing Carlo by the shoulders and trying to haul him off Ash.
“Let go of her,” he ground out.
Eric was moving next, slamming down on his knees and grabbing Carlo’s hands, ripping them off Ash’s neck. Quinn pulled Carlo back, shoving him against the chair. I couldn’t see his expression, but I imagined he was furious. Ash put her hands to her neck, trying to breathe in deeply as Eric pulled her head into his lap and stroked her hair back.
“Shh, beautiful, I’ve got you… just breathe,” he murmured.
I didn’t give a shit if I’d been told not to go near Carlo or hurt him. He’d tried to strangle our girl. Before Xav had a chance to stop me, I strode forward, grabbed Carlo by the head with both hands and kneed him in the face. The crunching sound of his nose shattering rang through the room. I got dragged back by Xav, who shoved me up against the wall and held me there.
“What the fuck?” Carlo moaned, putting his hands to his face as blood dripped down from his nose.
“Well, it’s no less than you fucking deserve,” Quinn stated through gritted teeth as he hauled Carlo up and sat him back in the chair. “You fucking touch Ash again, it’ll be more than breaking your nose, you hear?”
Carlo didn’t even acknowledge Quinn, merely groaning at the pain.
“Let me go,” I hissed at Xav who raised an eyebrow at me.
“Are you going to attack him again?”
“No… I want to go to Ash.”
“E’s got her covered, man.”
I glared at him. Ash was curled up in Eric’s lap now, breathing in and out whilst he stroked her hair and held her.
“Let me go to her.”
“Get him out of here, Xav,” Quinn said without looking at the two of us. “And her too, E. I’ll deal with this mess.”
Xav pulled me out of the room and I didn’t fight him. He let go when we were in the hallway, his eyes on me, checking to make sure I wouldn’t do anything stupid.
“What the fuck was that?”
“He tried to kill her.”
“And you just kneed him in the face? Since when did you stop caring about human contact?”
It occurred to me I hadn’t even hesitated, acting on instinct. The instinct to protect my girl at all costs. So I hadn’t exactly given a shit about touching him. All I’d wanted to do was hurt the fucker.
Eric came out the next moment, carrying Ash in his arms. She had her face buried in his neck, her arms wrapped around him. I was about to open my mouth when he shook his head and walked away towards the living room. Xav and I followed after him. I needed to know if she was okay or not. My beautiful girl who I never wanted to see hurt again. She had to be okay.
Eric sat down with her on the sofa. She refused to let go of him and he didn’t try to pry her off. I sat next to them and stroked a hand down her back.
“Little star.”
Eric looked up at Xav.
“You should get Quinn the first-aid kit.”
He shrugged but ambled out of the room. That fucker, Carlo, didn’t deserve to be tended to. I hoped he was in pain. I hoped he fucking regretted trying to kill Ash again. If I had my way, he’d be dead so he could never get his hands on her.
“Ash, you need to give us a sign you’re okay,” Eric murmured in her ear.
One of her hands lowered from his neck and found its way into his hand, squeezing it. Both Eric and I let out a breath.
“Do you just need a minute?”
She nodded against his neck.
“Okay, beautiful, take all the time you need.”
He kissed the top of her head, tangling his free hand in her hair. Then he turned to me, his green eyes searching.
“That was a rather dramatic response from you.”
I shrugged. Ash brought out things in me I never knew I possessed, such as the need to protect her at all costs. And exact revenge on anyone who harmed her.
“I love her,” I muttered.
“Oh, trust me, I can see that.”
He grinned. I scowled in response. This lot pissed me off with their taunting over my feelings for Ash. I might have come out of my shell and changed since she’d been in our lives, but to me, it was all for the better. She made me a better man. I could only be grateful to her for her patience and understanding. She never once made me feel inadequate or broken for the way I was.
“Leave him be, E,” came Ash’s voice.
We both stared at her. Ash had a habit of defending me when the boys were giving me too much shit.
“Little star…”
She lifted her head and turned to me. Thankfully, there weren’t any marks on her neck as Eric and Quinn had gotten Carlo off her pretty quickly.
“I’m okay.”
I reached out and stroked her cheek. She gave me a tight smile. A need to have her close pounded within my veins. I wanted her pressed against my chest, my arms around her. She must’ve seen it in my eyes because she shifted off Eric’s lap and crawled into mine, cupping my face with both her hands.
“Thank you,” she whispered before pressing her mouth against mine.
I hadn’t kissed Ash in front of the boys, but I got so distracted by her body against mine, it barely conce
rned me.
“Well, I was going to check to see if you were okay, but I can see you are,” came Quinn’s voice from behind us.
Ash pulled away and looked up at him over my head.
“I am… What are we going to do about the video?”
“Xav thinks he can use what we recorded, cutting it before Carlo attacked you.”
I glanced back, finding Quinn right behind us, looking over Ash with a concerned expression on his face.
“Oh… that’s good, I don’t want to go in the cell again.”
He reached down and stroked her hair.
“You don’t have to, little girl. We’ll take care of it from here, okay?”
She nodded then shifted down, resting her head on my chest with her hands on my shoulders. I wrapped an arm around her.
“Would you like me to read to you?” I whispered.
She nodded again. She’d done it enough times for me and now I was feeling a hell of a lot better than I had been since the accident, I could do it for her. Pulling out my phone from my pocket, I set about looking for a book.
Eric got up and he and Quinn retreated from the room, leaving Ash and me alone together. I could take care of her whilst they dealt with everything else.
“I feel so stupid… here I am, trying to be strong, and yet I fall apart whenever something goes wrong.”
“Carlo just tried to kill you, little star. None of us are expecting you to bounce back from that straight away.”
“You and the boys always seem to have to take care of me though.”
“It’s what we’re here for… we love you so all of us will do anything in our power to make you happy.”
She stroked my neck with one hand.
“I don’t know where I’d be without you.”
“You never have to find out.”
We both got a little more comfortable on the sofa. I laid out across it and she curled herself up against my side, resting her head on my chest as I started to read to her. Books, comics and graphic novels were our thing. So getting to show my little star my appreciation for her looking after me all this time? I’d do it in a fucking heartbeat.
“I love you, Ror,” she whispered at a pause in the story.
I kissed the top of her head.
“Love you too, little star.”
Chapter 22
Xav was busy working on the video at the desk whilst Quinn paced his office like a caged wild animal.
“How’s our prisoner’s nose?” I asked, taking a seat in a chair opposite the desk and eying Xav. The little furrow of concentration in his brow was so fucking cute. I wanted to kiss it away, but not sure Quinn would appreciate me getting all handsy with Xav right now when he was in a mood.
“Fine or as fine as it can be after Rory decided to break it.”
“You sure about that?”
“Yes, I can set a fucking broken nose, E, I’m not that inept. He screamed fucking bloody murder about it, but hey, he’s properly secured now and feeling very sorry for himself.”
Quinn glared at me. Being used to his moods, I merely grinned at him, which I don’t think helped matters.
“Can you blame Rory for doing it?”
“No, I can’t. I’m not mad. Cunt tried to kill him and Ash, so he deserves what’s coming to him.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“And what is coming to him?”
Quinn merely dragged his finger across his throat.
“Hey, man, we did not agree on the killing him part,” Xav interjected.
“You think there won’t be a shit ton of bloodshed before this over? We’re going to kill Frank. People are going to fucking die so we can get to him.”
Quinn had a point and I’d resigned myself to it. None of us relished the prospect of murder, but we’d all done it. For our own survival and for each other. So us having to get rid of Carlo seemed a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.
“I know that, but if we kill him, Russo will retaliate and it’ll get worse.”
“It’s going to get much worse before it gets better, Xav. This shit is a gamble and it could backfire. He might kill Isabella and where will we be then, huh?”
Xav rubbed the back of his neck before concentrating on the screen again.
“Ash might break completely if that happens.”
We all knew it had to be a possibility, but none of us wanted to bring it up to Ash. The last thing we wanted was for Isabella to die, no matter how we felt about her. It was also a little too obvious. I didn’t think Frank would dispose of his wife. He’d want to draw it out, torture Ash for as long as possible. The thought of it made my fists clench. It didn’t matter so much he wanted me dead, but the fact he’d kill me with the explicit reason of torturing the girl he thought was his daughter sickened me to my very core.
“We don’t need that happening. I’d rather our girl be healthy and whole instead of a shell of herself. We need her if we’re going to win this fucking fight.”
Where would we even be without Ash now? All of us might have gone through a shit ton of emotional turmoil with her, but she completed us in a way nothing else had. Having her made us more focused. We had a future to fight for and one that looked bright rather than dark and depressing. Before Ash had come along, none of us cared if we lived or died, only that we got rid of Frank Russo. We had meaning again. So we owed it to her to save her mother.
“Do you think she’s okay out there with Rory?” I asked, rubbing my chin.
“If you haven’t noticed how much he dotes on that girl, you must be blind. She’s fine. Those two are like two fucking peas in a pod sometimes… and to think, I wasn’t sure she could handle him… turns out I was very fucking wrong. He’s changed and, in my opinion, for the better.”
Quinn admitting he was wrong about anything was a turn up for the books.
“Hold on, did you just admit to being wrong about something?” Xav asked, his head whipping around to Quinn and his eyes wide.
Quinn shrugged in a manner that could only be described as nonchalant.
“Yes… and?”
“Excuse me whilst I savour this moment in time… it may never happen again.”
Quinn stuck his middle finger up at Xav.
“And there we go, the real Quinn emerges from his cave of darkness.”
“Oh… just shut the fuck up and get that damn video done.”
I snorted. Those two would never change.
“It is done, I was working on something else.”
I saw the glint in Xav’s eyes. He was blatantly saying it to wind Quinn up further. And unsurprisingly, Quinn’s expression turned murderous.
“Are you serious right now?”
Xav winked and went back to fiddling with the computer.
“No, but it was worth it to see your face. It’s still rendering so be patient.”
“Asking Quinn to be patient is like buying a lottery ticket, the chances of you winning are slim to none,” I said with a smirk.
“You two can both fuck right off,” Quinn muttered, giving us evils.
“You’re right, Xavi… totally worth it.”
If Quinn stormed out of the room, it would hardly surprise me. He paced away again, crossing his arms over his chest and huffing noisily.
“When I’m done, we can go spy on Ash and Rory.”
“For what purpose?”
“Those two are cute as fuck when they think no one is watching. They get all cuddly and shit. Seeing Rory actually give a shit about another human being is seriously like the most fascinating thing happening in this household.”
I rolled my eyes. I had no idea what his obsession with Rory and Ash was. It was kind of cute how he got all protective over her, but I was no way near as invested in creeping on them like Xav. Sometimes I wondered about my boyfriend and his quirks.
“You are seriously fucking weird,” Quinn muttered before throwing himself down in a ch
air next to me.
“Are you grumpy because Ash didn’t put out last night?”
“What? How do you know that?”
Xav smirked.
“Lucky guess.”
“She was tired.”
“And this morning?”
“Fuck off.”
Xav waved a hand at him.
“You get moody when you don’t get to stick your dick in her.”
Quinn got extremely irritable if he didn’t get laid regularly. We’d all noticed it.
“Can we not talk about my dick right now?”
“Why not? Not like I haven’t seen it enough times already.”
“Jesus Christ, is that what gets you off, huh? Staring at my cock?”
“Nah, man, only E’s does it for me.”
I couldn’t help it. These two were killing me. The peal of laughter erupting from my lips had the two of them looking at me. Xav with amusement and Quinn with a scowl.
“Look what you did to him!” Quinn waved a hand at me.
“Me? It was you going on about me wanting to stare at your dick… I won’t lie, you have a nice one, but I’ve told you enough times I don’t want to have sex with you.”
“I don’t want to have sex with you either.”
“You two need to stop,” I choked out through my laughter. “I’m dying.”
After all the tension from earlier, I needed this. When Carlo had his hands around my girl’s neck, all I’d thought about was saving her and making sure she was good. The way she’d clung to me as if reassuring herself she was still alive almost damn near broke my heart.
“Glad someone finds it amusing,” Quinn muttered, still glaring at me.
“Right, it’s done. I’ll just pop this over to Geoff and we’re good to go,” Xav said with a grin.
“Finally.”
“Hey, man, this shit takes time. Jesus, you really need to get laid.”
They set me off again. I clutched my chest as it started to hurt from all the laughing.
“For fuck’s sake, you’re breaking Eric.”
