Burned Duet: Asher & Elodie: Fast Burn & Deep Burn (Easton Family Duet Boxsets Book 4)

by Abigail Davies

  So, with renewed energy, I quickly showered, brushed my teeth, and dressed in one of Asher’s T-shirts and a pair of dance shorts, which came to mid-thigh. It was the most skin I’d shown since before that night, but as I made my way to the kitchen, I was hyperaware of it.

  Asher stood at the counter, pouring himself a coffee. He turned at the sound of my footsteps, and his gaze traveled over my legs, causing his brows to jump a little, but it was the fire lighting in his eyes at the T-shirt I was wearing that had my own smile turning into a grin.

  “Morning,” I greeted, stepping forward and taking a deep breath. I’d been the person to kiss him out on the boat, but since then, I hadn’t made a move. It had been different with us when we were out on the water, almost as if we were in a different world.

  “Morning.” His voice was rough, not so sleep-deprived, but I could tell I’d had an impact on him. “You look…” He stepped forward, his gaze not leaving mine. “Beautiful.”

  I felt the burn of a blush on my cheeks, and my instinct was to look away, but as soon as I turned my face, he closed the small amount of distance between us and grasped my chin with his thumb and finger.

  “You never need to look away from me, Elodie.” His voice was lower this time, rougher, causing goose bumps to prickle over my skin.

  I dipped my head farther back to meet his stare, and I swallowed at the fire behind his eyes. There was no mistaking how he felt. He showed me plain and simple. No hiding. No pretending.

  “I…” I didn’t know what to say, but what I did know was that I wanted to get closer. I wanted to feel his body pressed against mine. I wanted to relish in his arms as they wrapped around me. So, I stepped toward him.

  He didn’t hesitate for one second as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him. I sighed at the feel of his embrace and wished he’d never let go. It wasn’t about feeling safe with him. It was something more, something that couldn’t be explained. He made me feel things I never thought possible, and even now, through all the darkness, he was my single beam of light I veered toward.

  He bent at his knees, so his face was level with mine, and I felt his breath flow over the side of my neck. “So damn beautiful,” he murmured.

  Butterflies took flight in my stomach, and I gripped on to his biceps as he placed a gentle kiss on my cheek. But he didn’t stop there. He continued his path down to my lips, pausing for a second as his gaze met mine. He was waiting for an answer, one I gave him by closing my eyes. And then his lips connected with mine. Soft, gentle, coaxing. It was so different to the kiss we’d had on the boat. This one wasn’t closed-mouthed. Instead, I ran my tongue over his lips, begging him to part his mouth, and once he did, I moaned.

  It had been two weeks since we’d last kissed like this. Two weeks since I’d given my body over to Asher so freely. But it had also been two weeks since I’d had my choices taken away. Now though, I was pulling them all back, regaining everything I’d lost, and that included time with Asher. Time where we could have been getting to know each other without everything hanging over our heads.

  I lifted up on my tiptoes as the kissed continued, then pushed my hands into his hair. The soft strands flowed between my fingers, longer than they had been when we’d first gotten here. Neither of us took it further than the kiss. We just enjoyed it. Relished in the embrace. But no sooner had we pulled away did the sliding door to the kitchen whoosh open.

  “Happy day before Thanksgiving!” a female voice shouted, followed by, “Oh shit. Did I interrupt something?”

  The blush on my cheeks burned hotter than it ever had, and I spun around to open the refrigerator. I needed something to cool me down, but also somewhere to hide.

  “Belle,” Asher greeted, his voice still having an edge to it. “What are you doing here?”

  “Thanksgiving, duh.” I grinned, imagining she’d rolled her eyes, but I still couldn’t move from the open refrigerator. The few bits of food we had in here were fascinating. “Leo and Ford are getting the things out of the—”

  “Elodie?” I spun around at the sound of Leo’s voice, and gone was the embarrassment. I hadn’t seen him since the cookout at Lola and Brody’s house. It felt like such a long time ago, yet in reality, it wasn’t. His lips pulled into a tentative smile, his apprehension clear as day. He was so different from the men who surrounded him in his family, and yet so alike them all at the same time. He protected the people he cared about.

  “Hey.” I closed the refrigerator and moved around the middle island past Asher. His hand trailed over my arm, comforting me, but at that moment, I didn’t need it. Leo was my friend—my only friend. I flung my arms around him, swaying us side to side. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”

  “Same,” he whispered. Neither of us let go for several extra seconds, and when he did pull back, he placed his hands on my shoulders. His gaze met mine, searching for something. Deep down, I knew what it was, but I did nothing but smile. I’d promised myself today would be different—positive, happy. “You okay?” I nodded, not willing to verbalize it and jinx how I was feeling at that moment.

  Asher groaned from behind me, and both Leo and I turned to face him, Leo with a grin and me with a raised brow. “Seriously? Mom and Dad are here too?” His attention was on the window that looked out onto the lake, his hand pushed into his hair as he gripped it. I turned to see what he was looking at, and sure enough, Lola and Brody were flanked by Ford as they all made their way up the walkway, which led to the back of the house.

  “It’s Thanksgiving, Asher.” Belle moved toward us and pulled me out of Leo’s grasp. “Did you really think we’d spend it apart?” She winked at me and placed her arm around my shoulders. “You look hot in my baby brother’s T-shirt.” My eyes widened at her words, but her chuckle had my shoulders relaxing.

  “We didn’t spend it together the year you ran away,” Asher quipped back.

  “Oh, you did not just go there.” She turned to face him completely, taking me with her.

  “I did.” Asher wrapped his arm around my waist from the other side. I was stuck between the two of them with no possible escape in sight. “What you gonna do about it?”

  “You just wait, caveman.”

  “Waiting…” He raised a brow at her.

  “I’m telling Mom—”

  “Asher!” Lola shouted as she darted inside. She threw her bag on the dining table and ran right for Asher. I tried to move aside as Belle let go of me, but I didn’t make it in time, and the way Lola wrapped her arm around me and then Asher told me she had no intention of letting me move. She mumbled something, but I couldn’t quite hear her until she pulled back with the biggest grin on her face. “You two look so...happy.” She sighed and placed her hand on her chest. “Don’t they look happy, Brody?”

  “Yeah, darlin’, they do.” Brody placed some bags near the door, then moved toward us. “Our son also looks like he needs a shave.”

  Belle snorted from behind us, but Asher just grinned and stroked his new beard. “I kinda dig it.”

  “You have half of it missing. You can’t even grow a proper beard.” Belle tugged on it, and Lola batted her away. “What? He can’t. Look.” She prodded his cheek, and Asher growled.

  “Stop it, Belle,” Lola said, but her voice was light as if she was used to the back-and-forth between them.

  Everyone started talking amongst themselves, Leo took his bag upstairs, and I tried to listen in on everyone’s conversations, but I couldn’t quite get the gist of it until Lola said, “Cade and Aria will be here later tonight.” Her attention moved to Asher. “Why don’t you go out on the lake with Dad and Ford, and we’ll head into town for food supplies?”

  Asher glanced over at me from the other side of the counter, his eyes darkening, and I knew he was keeping something from me. I’d felt it the day he’d had the call with his lawyer, but something told me not to push. We’d already confided so much in each other, and I knew when he was ready to tell me what
ever was going on, that he would. I had to trust in whatever he was doing.

  “I dunno.” He frowned. “I think I’ll go with Elodie and—”

  “She’ll be fine with us,” Belle told him. “Right, Elodie?”

  “I…” I bit down on my bottom lip. I hadn’t been far away from Asher since the moment we’d left his mom’s house to come to the lake house, and the idea of us being apart had nerves flowing through me at lightning speed. But with an encouraging nod from Lola and a smile from Brody, I told him, “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

  His nostrils flared, and I knew he didn’t believe me, but he nodded anyway, resigned to the fact that it wasn’t just him and me any longer. We were surrounded by his family, just when we’d wanted alone time.

  ASHER

  My heart raced as Dad pulled the boat loaded with roads and supplies away from the dock. I didn’t want to leave Elodie alone, whether she was with other people or not. I could still see the shadow of Elodie through the kitchen window, and the farther away we got from her, the more I regretted agreeing to go out on the boat. Would she be okay? Would she need me? What if something happened, or she remembered something from that night and—

  “She’ll be fine.” I turned my head to face Dad, not believing his words. My nostrils flared, and I clenched my hands. Every fiber of my being was telling me to turn the boat around and go back to Elodie. He must have seen the way I felt from my expression because he continued, “Your mom is with her. Nothing will hurt her.”

  “Belle’s with her too,” Ford supplied as if I didn’t already know that.

  “You don’t get it.” I pushed my shoulders back. “She’s—”

  “Strong,” Dad interrupted, his brows raised. He looked cool as a cucumber, and I wondered if it was because he’d worked his entire life as a DEA agent or if it was because he wasn’t worried. “Your mom has been filling me in each night after talking to Elodie.” Dad paused, glanced out onto the open water, and turned the boat a little to head to his favorite spot on the lake. “Which is more than we’ve spoken to you.” His stare didn’t move from mine, and I heard what he was silently getting at. He’d told me to call him after the lawyer had spoken to me, but I hadn’t. I knew if I’d told him, I’d have to lie.

  “I’ve been busy.” I shrugged, acting like it was no big deal, but I knew it was. We were a close family—always had been. We never kept secrets, not many anyway. But when we did, it was to protect everyone, which was what I was doing now. I was making sure Elodie survived and came out on the other side without any more scars. I was doing it for her, but they didn’t need to know that, not until it was final, and they couldn’t sway the situation.

  Neither Ford nor Dad said anything as we dropped the anchor of the boat into the water. We all worked on automatic, loading our rods with bait and casting out into the water. The air swirled with unsaid things, the tension increasing. I hoped they wouldn’t talk much more, but I should have known better. Dad wasn’t the kind of person to think something and not say anything. He spoke his mind, much like Belle did.

  “So…” Ford leaned back and opened a can of beer, his gaze meeting mine. “You gonna tell us, then?”

  “Tell you what?” I asked, not moving my attention off the water. I’d spent the last two weeks in an almost impenetrable bubble, but now it had been popped with them turning up out of the blue. They were putting a wrench in the works, and I hated it. I had a plan, one that would mean everyone would be okay. But now they were here and—

  “You realize you’re talking to an ex-DEA agent and a current DEA agent, right?” Dad supplied, and I could just imagine what the look on his face was. He was connected, as was Ford, so there was no doubt in my mind now that they’d heard about—

  “The DA wants to charge you with attempted murder.”

  I blew out a breath and let my head drop forward. My muscles tensed, and already I could feel my first tension headache in weeks. “I know.”

  “What did the lawyer say?” Dad asked, his voice closer now.

  “He’s gonna talk to the DA, see what he can do.” I lifted my head, meeting his stare. “Just gotta wait now.”

  Dad didn’t turn away from me, but I wasn’t prepared to tell him more than that. What was said between me and my lawyer was private. I didn’t need to explain to anyone else what was going on and what my plan was. All they needed to know was that things were in motion, whether that motion was good or bad didn’t matter. It wasn’t like they could do anything about it. I’d beat Knox to within an inch of his life, but now he was awake, it meant he could answer for what he’d done to Elodie. And right then, that was the most important thing. She needed justice for what she’d been through.

  “You heard anything about Elodie’s case?” I asked.

  “They arrested and questioned him,” Ford said, taking a swig of his beer. “Last I heard his dad was pulling strings to get him bail.”

  I ground my teeth together at the idea of him being out on the streets—the same streets as Elodie. “You think he’ll get it?”

  Dad snorted. “You want the honest answer, son?” I raised my brows at him, waiting. “His dad knows people. He’ll be out on the streets again if he isn’t already.”

  “Fuck.” I kicked my foot out, my boot connecting with the side of the boat and causing it to sway. “Elodie isn’t safe—”

  “We’ll make sure she is.” Dad stood, planted his hands on his hips, and stared out at the lake, then back toward the house. You could just about make it out from here, and I wondered whether Elodie was still there. I glanced down at my watch. We’d been gone almost an hour now. “She needs to get back to her normal routine,” Dad continued.

  “No.” My nostrils flared, and I reeled my line in. I wasn’t in the mood for fishing, I hadn’t been since the moment it had first been mentioned. “She could run into him anywhere. The school halls, the—”

  “Nope.” Ford reeled his line in and threw his empty can in the trash bag we attached to the edge of the boat. “He won’t be allowed back there. He’ll have to keep a certain distance from Elodie.”

  I laughed. “You think that’s gonna stop him?” I shook my head, feeling my anger bubbling beneath the surface. “He doesn’t care about the goddamn rules.” I wanted to scream and shout to make them understand Knox wouldn’t just give in. “If he wants to get to her, he will. I’m not takin’ that chance—”

  “Is that what Elodie thinks too?” Ford asked, raising his brows at me. “Have you even spoken about when you’re coming back home? You can’t stay here forever. You both have lives. She has her school year to finish out—”

  “Mom is making sure she’s got all the schoolwork she needs—”

  “So, you’re just gonna hide away here until your court date?” Dad asked. “I suppose it makes sense.” He reeled his line in too, obviously seeing that neither Ford nor I wanted to continue fishing.

  “It does make sense,” I fumed, pushing my shoulders back. I was always the one person in the family who wasn’t taken as seriously. I was the youngest, and no matter what I did or said, I was always viewed as the baby. But I didn’t need any of their help. I didn’t need their opinions about what Elodie ad I were gonna do from here. It was our business, not theirs.

  “I know.” Dad pulled the anchor up and started the engine. “You can hide away here, and then when you have to come back, you will.”

  “Exactly.”

  “It doesn’t matter that you could come back to no business. The business you built from the ground up.” He shrugged, and I kept my attention on the lake house as we got closer to it. “It doesn’t matter that Elodie will be gone so long it’ll be even harder for her to come home.”

  “You don’t get it,” I gritted out.

  “Maybe I don’t.” He pointed at me, giving me the same dad look he did when I was in trouble. Only it didn’t have the same effect it did when I was a kid. “But you haven’t even spoken to Elodie about it.”

  “How do you know
we haven’t already spoken about it?” I asked, my voice rough. I didn’t want to shout—I hardly ever shouted—but I was on my last nerve. I didn’t need Dad and Ford to come here and tell me what to do. I didn’t need them to tell me and Elodie how to react. We both needed time. We both needed space. Space from home. Space from what would happen in a few months when we both had to face court cases.

  “I don’t.” Dad pulled close to the dock and cut the engine. “But from the way you’re acting right now, it’s enough for me to know you haven’t.”

  I didn’t say another word as he grabbed the rope off the dock to secure the boat, and as soon as it was tied, I jumped off, fully intending to find Elodie, whether she was back in the house or still in town. I needed to know she was okay. I needed to see if—

  “Son.” Dad’s hand grasped my arm to halt me. “We just want the best for you. The best for both of you.”

  My shoulders drooped as I stared at him. We were the same height, and although he was in his early seventies, he didn’t look it. “I know. I just…we need to figure this out ourselves. Whether that means we come back next week or next month.”

  Dad’s eyes widened. “You know if you’re not back for Christmas, your mom will have us all drive up here again, right?”

  The tense atmosphere started to lift, and I felt bad for the way I’d reacted. But it was because I was keeping a secret from him—from all of them—a secret I refused to reveal. Without using what happened to Elodie and the circumstances surrounding the assault, I knew I didn’t have a case. There were witnesses. Witnesses who were police officers. But I was still willing to take the chance to make sure Elodie was protected.

  “Can we just drop all of this?” I pushed my hand through my hair and ran my palm down my face. “Let’s just celebrate Thanksgiving and forget about everything hanging over our heads.”