Wicked Sinner

by Stacey Kennedy

  “Thanks for bailing me out,” Asher said, glancing toward the door.

  “Yeah, right,” Rhett said, taking the first client chair. “Like hell I’d throw myself in that pile of gossip.”

  Asher snorted a laugh as Boone dropped down into the other chair.

  Rhett’s head cocked as he regarded Asher. “I didn’t think you could possibly look more like shit since you put the ring on Remy’s finger, but you do.”

  A ring that she took right off after the ceremony and threw in the garbage. “I want silence.” He glared at his friend. “You’re not helping with that.” He thrust his fingers into his hair, tilting his head back and breathing deeply.

  When heavy silence drifted into the room, Asher straightened, finding Rhett watching him closely. “What?”

  Rhett lifted his brows.

  Boone frowned. “Talk.”

  Asher leaned back in his chair, pressing his fists to his head. “I don’t know how the fuck we got here.”

  “Married?” Boone asked.

  Asher nodded. “I had a plan. Fix my mistakes. Make her happy. Protect her. Let her go.”

  “But?” Rhett asked.

  Asher sighed. “We were never supposed to be married like this. I thought this was the best choice, and now, I think I’ve only hurt her more. I keep trying to fix all this shit, and the more I try to make things right for her, the more things unravel.”

  “Maybe you’re not supposed to fix anything,” Rhett said with a shrug.

  Asher leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk as a rookie strode by his office door. “Are you of all people giving me relationship advice?”

  Rhett nodded with a serious expression for a long moment, then burst out laughing. “Nah, I tried. Didn’t work. I wouldn’t know what the hell to do in your situation. You’re knee deep in it, and as far as I’m concerned, I’d run to avoid any more of a mess.” He hesitated, then grinned. “Actually, no, I’d probably tell you to go screw that redhead who’s been eyeing you at the bar, but I’m guessing that’s not helpful either?”

  Asher snorted. “Not particularly helpful.”

  “He’s not exactly wrong, though,” Boone said. “Maybe it’s time to stop trying to fix everything and just let the cards fall. You’ve both been through a lot. It’s time for some damn happiness in your lives.”

  Asher started at Boone. It was similar to what Remy had said last night. “I don’t want to hurt her again.”

  “Then don’t,” was Boone’s hard answer.

  Asher looked at Rhett for his input.

  Rhett gave an easy shrug. “I’m no expert here in all this shit, but it seems to me that you’ve been making her quite happy lately. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing. Seems pretty damn simple. Stop being a pussy, and go get your girl.”

  A frown tugged at Asher’s mouth. “Has anyone told you lately you’re a real fucking prick?”

  Rhett grinned. “Yup, Cindy told me last night.” He cocked his head. “No, wait, her name was Amanda.”

  Boone laughed.

  Asher didn’t. Tension ached in his muscles. All Asher knew was that when she threw that ring in the garbage, it was a direct hit to his chest. But Remy was still in danger. That had to be his priority. For now, he shoved that tension in his chest deep in his gut to deal with later. He stretched out his arms and then worked at the tension along his shoulders, glancing back at Remy’s cell on his desk. He’d been putting this off, knowing the last thing he wanted to do was send Remy anywhere near Lars or King, but it would be worse for Remy if she involved the cops.

  To keep her safe, Asher needed to let this play out.

  He lifted the phone. “We ready to do this?”

  Boone nodded. “Always ready.”

  Rhett gave a quick flick of his chin.

  Asher unlocked Remy’s cell phone with the password she’d given him before she headed off to the bank. He fired off the text to the number that had texted Remy’s last night with just the words “three days.”

  I’ve got what you requested. Let’s meet downtown.

  Not even a couple seconds passed before he got a text back.

  Meet at the square. Five o’clock.

  “King’s smart, I’ll give him that,” Asher said, confirming the place and time. “He picked the square to meet at rush hour.” The square was in downtown Whitby Falls, full of restaurants and pubs.

  “He’s better than smart,” Boone said with a frown. “He’s well connected. That has proven to give him an advantage time and time again.”

  “Then we’ll need to be smarter,” Asher countered.

  Boone’s gaze lit up, and he gave a slow building smile. “I’ve seen that look before. What do you have planned?”

  Asher had been over it all last night while Remy slept tucked safely in his arms. He’d thought out every scenario and every outcome. He’d considered the danger, the risks, and everything in between, until all he had left was a solid plan. “The only plan that I think will keep Remy safe.”

  Rhett leaned forward with interest. “Tell me—”

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Josh Silver, Remy’s lawyer, said with a knock on the door. “I thought I’d come let you know we’re all done at the bank. Just wondered if you needed me for anything else before I head off?”

  Asher quickly rose and offered his hand. “Thanks for coming in so quickly, Josh. Appreciate it.” They’d all gone to school with Josh’s older brother, who looked nearly identical to Josh with his amber eyes and blond stylish hair.

  Josh shook his hand. “No worries, glad to help.”

  Asher peeked out into the hallway, discovering it empty. “Where’s Remy?”

  “She left.”

  A beat. “What do you mean she left?”

  “She said she had somewhere to go,” Josh said slowly, looking between the men, obviously realizing he’d messed up. “Sorry, was I not supposed to let her leave?”

  Boone rose. “Did she have the money with her?”

  “Ah…”—Josh scanned the faces in the room—“yeah, it’s her money, I didn’t think to not let her leave.”

  “Call me if you find her,” Asher barked the order. He didn’t wait for Boone’s or Rhett’s response. He booked it through the station, hoping to hell that his new wife didn’t do anything stupid.

  Chapter 22

  Beneath the sunny sky on Remy’s rooftop garden, she sat in between her raised flowerbeds and sipped her Quick Luck tea made of one part orange peel, one part rose hips, and one part camellia. She already knew that Asher was arranging the time for the money drop later today, and right now, she needed a little peace in all the madness. She regretted not grabbing Salem on the way, wishing for some feline love, but her heart and head felt too jumbled to have even thought of anything at all but her need to come to her garden. Her one place of total peace. She reached out next to her, touching the leaves of the devil’s claw that had been dying. Now the plant thrived. The leaves were bright green and perky. Not much of a shock. After today, there was no danger around Remy anymore. At least none that didn’t involve her heart.

  “Everyone is looking for you.”

  Remy sighed. Of course the peace wouldn’t last. She glanced up to see Kinsley approaching while Peyton waited by the ladder, a cell phone pressed to her ear. A call to Boone, no doubt. “Figured as much,” Remy replied with a shrug. “I didn’t want to worry everyone. I was going to call Asher and let him know I came home, but I just needed a minute alone before everything got even crazier.”

  Kinsley dropped down, sitting cross-legged in front of Remy, her eyes fraught with worry. “Sweetie, you look so sad. What’s wrong?”

  Remy’s heart felt like it had gone through a cheese grater. “I married Asher this morning.”

  Kinsley’s mouth dropped open, but it was Peyton who sputtered as she sidled up to them, “Okay, that happened fast.”

  “Too fast, I think,” Remy admitted, realizing she should have thought harder about what the wedding woul
d do to her heart.

  Peyton took a seat next to Remy. “So, if Asher agreed to the plan, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing should be wrong,” Remy said, giving the plant one last stroke. “I’ve got the money. I’ll pay back Joaquin later today. I should be happy.”

  Kinsley reached for Remy’s hand. “But you’re not?”

  She heaved a long sigh, glancing down at her mug between her legs. “But I’m not,” Remy agreed.

  Silence spread out between them until Kinsley said softly, “Why would you not tell us about this? We’re your best friends. We could have been there for you today.”

  “I didn’t want to talk about it,” Remy admitted. “Maybe because if I talked about it, then it made it all real.”

  Peyton took Remy’s other hand. “It’s us, Remy. Talk to us.”

  The breeze blew through the garden and Remy caught the scent of the slightly musky vanilla-smelling hibiscus. “I just don’t know how I got here. It’s like I keep thinking it can’t possibly get worse and then it does. Today, I thought I could totally marry Asher. I’m this new strong version of myself. This is my mess, and I’ll clean it up. I don’t need Asher. But…” Her voice hitched.

  “But you do need him,” Kinsley said.

  Remy gave a soft nod. “I dreamed of my wedding day with Asher. The dress. The ceremony. The way he would smile at me. The love we had for each other. I had that whole day planned out in my mind for so long.” Her throat constricted, and her eyes welled. “Today I was good, strong, and then when the judge declared us husband and wife, it was like the guards around my heart fell.” Kinsley squeezed her hand tight as a tear dripped from Remy’s eye and landed on her leg. She couldn’t look up, face anyone. All she wanted to do was move on, and it seemed impossible. “I’ve been lying to myself. Pretending that I’ve got control of everything. I love him. I only want him, and when I can’t have him, I look in terrible places trying to pretend I’m over him. I love him so much, and it makes me so sad that he doesn’t love me back. That today wasn’t real. That today will never be real.”

  “I wouldn’t say that.”

  Remy’s gaze jerked up to Asher standing a few feet away, his intense gaze locked onto her. The air suddenly thickened, electricity pining in the space between them.

  “And that’s our cue.” Kinsley whistled and then gave Remy a tight hug. “Call me when all is said and done so I know you’re okay.”

  “Make it a three-way call,” Peyton said, kissing Remy’s cheek before following Kinsley to the ladder.

  Asher nodded at them and then approached with his long strides until he dropped down in front of Remy, one arm resting on his knee. He arched an eyebrow. “I’m listening, Remy.”

  She glanced down into her mug, butterflies filling her belly. “Well, I’m not exactly prepared for this conversation.”

  He tucked his finger under her chin, lifting her gaze to meet his intense stare. “You’re the strongest person I know. You’re prepared.”

  She drew in a long, deep breath, staring into his eyes that looked so different from the boy she used to know. Darker. Jaded. And somehow that made this conversation suddenly easier because Asher didn’t deserve those ghosts as much as she didn’t deserve them in her soul either. “I’ve been sitting here by myself, and thinking about everything, and it’s all made me realize that ever since you left for Washington, I’ve been on autopilot. It’s like for a long time I was thinking you were going to come back for me and our lives would go back to normal.”

  “I should have come back immediately.”

  Her breath caught at the raw emotion in his eyes. “No, you shouldn’t have,” she told him softly, cupping his face. “You needed time to recover and to heal from your mother’s death, and that’s okay. It’s all right that our lives took us in two different directions. I was young—”

  “I was a coward to leave you.”

  She slowly pulled her hand away, surprised by his answer. “How were you a coward? Moving away couldn’t have been easy.”

  “It wasn’t easy,” he said, glancing off into the distance with years of pain etched into his expression. Until he looked back at her, then he was only steady. “Leaving you was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life, but…I…” He drew in a long breath before blowing it out slowly and hanging his head. “When Mom killed herself, life stopped then. I could not trust that the dark shit I felt would not spill out and affect you. I thought leaving protected you from all that.”

  She scooted closer until her legs pressed against his. “I know that.”

  He took her hand in his, watching his fingers graze over hers. “Marriage terrifies me, Remy. Love is very hard for me. My parents were not good at it. And clearly I keep getting it fucking wrong.” His haunted gaze flicked to hers. “I’m scared of letting go and unknowingly becoming my father. I’m terrified of loving too much and losing myself like my mother did. I don’t know how to do any of this. I’m afraid if I let go of my control for a second, I’m going to destroy you, and that’s the very last fucking thing I want.”

  Her Asher. His pain. God, her heart broke a thousand times for him. “Well, the good thing is, you’re not your parents, and I’m not mine. Let’s do the one thing that they never got right.” She pulled her hands away to cup his face again, feeling the rough scruffiness of his five-o’clock shadow. “I know you’re scared. But let’s stay. Let’s fight for this. Let’s stop running.”

  He held her gaze for a beat, then placed his hands over hers. “I can’t say I’ll be perfect at this and not fuck up, but damn, I really want to try.”

  “I don’t need perfect. I just need you. I love you, Asher. I’ve always loved you,” she said softly, melting in the way his touch brushed across her skin.

  “Remy, I love you too,” Asher said when her eyes grew teary. “I’m going to make mistakes, but I want to build a life with you. You’re all that I have. All that I need. The only woman I have ever loved.” He went quiet, his eyes searching hers. “Today was real for me. But I absolutely want the real deal. To see you in the dress. To make you happy.” He got up and went on one knee. “Remy Brennan, will you marry me…again?”

  She laughed, and squeaked yes through the tears, throwing her arms around him. “Yes, of course!”

  Asher’s smile was real and honest and took her breath away. She tasted the sweetness between them in his kiss, and suddenly years of pain and heartbreak spilled out. She cupped his face as his kiss turned urgent with the same intensity she felt burning inside. An intensity that was better than new, happy love. What they had was love that was built through pain and memories. Real love. Honest love. Connected, touching, she knew this was where life began and ended for her. Always.

  She’d run and hid and pretended that she moved on, but there was no denying the truth anymore. Remy could exist without Asher; she simply didn’t want to. Life lost its flavor. Colors were duller. The air less breathable. And to live without him would be to live in a world that didn’t make sense, where everything fell apart. Asher was the glue that made life make sense. And she knew she was that for him too.

  Always and forever.

  Chapter 23

  Fifteen minutes before five o’clock, Remy grabbed the duffel bag off the passenger seat of her car and then locked the doors with her key fob. She was only a two-minute walk from the square. Her throat constricted, even though she knew this was what she’d been waiting for. Soon, Lars and Joaquin King would be behind her and she and Asher could settle into a new normal.

  She felt the weight of a stare on her back long before she turned around. It came as no surprise to find Asher frowning with his hands shoved in his pockets, scowling at her. “I’ve never seen you look so miserable,” she said with a laugh, adjusting the bag on her shoulder to slide her arms through his until she pressed herself tight against him.

  “I am miserable.” He glowered down at her. “I don’t want you doing this alone.”

  She wiggled against him a litt
le, hoping to make him feel better. “I need to do this alone,” she told him for the hundredth time today. “Besides, I’m in the middle of the square and surrounded by hundreds of people. Joaquin just wants his money. We all know that. I hand over the money, then this is done.”

  Asher stared hard a moment longer, then sighed and wrapped his arms around her neck, bringing her in close and kissing her forehead. “I still don’t like it. I don’t want you anywhere near King.”

  “Believe me, I don’t want to be near him.” She stood on her tiptoes, then pressed her mouth against his. “But I’ll be back before you know it and then we can put this all behind us.” Before she chickened out and changed her mind, she stepped out of his hold, and without looking back, headed down the street.

  Remy was no cop, no detective, no FBI agent, and the last thing she wanted to do was hand off money to anyone. Especially Joaquin King. It took a lot of people’s help to get her here, but she needed to take this last step alone. And as much as Asher hated that Joaquin had seen Remy’s face, Remy didn’t want Joaquin to see Asher’s either. They were on opposite sides of the law. Remy didn’t want those two squaring off.

  When she reached the corner of First Avenue, she nearly bumped into a couple walking hand in hand. Remy held the bag a little tighter. Two hundred grand was in this bag, and was also her path forward. String lights hung over the street from one side to the other that would light up the square once the sun went down. Each bar or restaurant had their own eclectic style, desperately trying to outdo the other with the best patio in the square. From elaborate lighting to gorgeous floral displays to gas fireplaces, there wasn’t a place that didn’t invite Remy in.

  She slowed when she reached the northeast corner of the square. When Asher told her how this would all play out, he picked this corner specifically because of the busyness of it. The thought that Joaquin could easily find her wasn’t very settling. She breathed deeply against the sudden surge of adrenaline pumping through her veins, trying not to let her mind run wild with the danger today presented.