Locke Brothers Series

by Ashley, Victoria

  21

  Kadence

  Being out in public, doing normal everyday activities is something I know Aston doesn’t do very often. Maybe never. Which makes this moment so damn special, only making it that much easier to allow myself to fall for him even deeper than I already have.

  I’m lost in this man, and I don’t care who knows.

  When we walked in the door over thirty minutes ago and asked for a table, I could see the way people looked at him. I could see in their eyes how much they feared him.

  Could see the judgment.

  Didn’t matter to him though. All that seemed to matter was him taking me out and treating me to the night he believes I deserve.

  He’s barely taken his eyes off me since we sat down, and I love it.

  But truthfully I don’t need these kinds of things from him. I don’t need a nice dinner out in public for him to show me how much he cares.

  I realized that the second we walked inside and all I wanted to do was get him alone again.

  All I need is for him to touch me the way he does.

  For him to kiss me and take me like no other man ever has or ever will.

  As much as I love us being here right now, showing everyone that he’s mine and I’m his, I want to do something for him. I want to show him that I don’t need this nor want it.

  He’s what I want. We’re what I want.

  “Let’s get out of here.” I toss my napkin on the table and walk over to him, leaning down to wrap my arms around his neck. “Take me to your place. I’d rather be alone with you. There are too many eyes on my man, and I don’t feel like sharing you… ever.”

  His lips curve into a small smirk as he stands up and yanks me to him. “You don’t want to finish your food first?”

  I smile and shake my head. “We’ll take it to go and eat it for a late-night snack. I don’t have anywhere to be tonight now that Melissa knows I’m yours.”

  With a small growl he leans in and bites my bottom lip, pulling it into his mouth. Goose bumps cover my flesh as I feel the tip of his tongue swipe across where he just bit me.

  He doesn’t bother pulling his mouth away from mine as he digs into his pocket with his free hand and tosses some cash onto the table.

  “Fuck, baby. I love the sound of that.” He possessively grabs my hip and begins walking us to the door. “Let’s get the fuck out of here so I can have you to myself. Forget the food. There’s plenty at the house.”

  * * *

  We’ve been stretched out on Aston’s couch for the last hour, the house empty, his brothers gone. Although I didn’t finish my dinner, I’m feeling full, content. As if being here with Aston in the comfort of his arms is all I need.

  But what makes me feel even better is the fact that Aston went out of his way earlier, went against his comfort, and took me out. I still haven’t stopped thinking about how he did that for me. He may be a hard-ass who thinks he has no heart, that his soul is black, but he’s proved to me more than once that that isn’t the case.

  My heart goes crazy the moment Aston sits up and kisses my forehead, before he stands to his feet.

  “How about we get some fresh air, talk out on the porch?”

  I sit up and smile. “Yeah, okay.” I want to talk to Aston, want to get to know him more, to have him know more about me.

  I get off the couch, and we head toward the back of the house. I notice he grabs his guitar one the way out.

  Once we’re sitting down, he looks over at me, this intensity on his face, but this softness comes through when our eyes meet.

  “Tell me what makes you happy,” he says the sincerity in his voice not masked by the harshness that is all Aston.

  I glance up at the sky, the stars so bright among the darkness.

  “I’ve never really thought about it,” I answer honestly. I think about his question, about when I was truly, really happy. “Melissa has always made me happy. She’s my best friend, but you know who really makes me happy?” I glance at him.

  He’s picking at his guitar, but I can tell he’s listening to me.

  “You make me happy. So happy, Aston, and that kind of scares me.”

  He sets his guitar down, and before I know what he’s doing, he’s pulling me onto his lap.

  I rest against his chest, his body big and warm, hard and masculine.

  “You make me fucking happy too, more than I ever thought possible in my life.”

  I smile at that, knowing how he feels. It’s how I feel, too.

  “Tell me about your mom? Tell me what happened to her.” He squeezes me tighter to him, his warm lips brushing against my neck as he speaks again. “Tell me everything I should know about you. I want to learn every fucking thing.”

  Closing my eyes, I lean my head back and rest it against his shoulder. “My mother was mentally ill. Severe depression and anxiety that no pills seemed to fully control. She’d been through a lot in her life that no one understood, and when you live in a small town… people talk.” I stop to release a small breath, thinking about how damn much I miss her. “It got so bad that my father up and left her with barely even a good-bye. Left us both as if we were nothing, and eventually she realized she couldn’t handle being here any longer. She couldn’t handle being in her own head, and she took her own life.”

  A tear slides down my cheek the moment Aston’s lips gently press against my neck to comfort me. “I’m sorry, baby. Sometimes a person’s own mind is their worst enemy. I know that feeling all too well, and it can consume you, making it so damn hard to breathe.”

  “It’s been over a year now,” I continue. “I stayed in town at first, trying my best to move on with everyday activities, but it became overwhelming with everyone around me always bringing her up and making snide remarks about her death.” A small breath escapes me when I feel Aston’s thumb run across my cheek, swiping the tear away.

  I take a few seconds to regain my composure before I attempt to go on. “Melissa kept telling me to move in with her and forget about our hometown. Finally, I found my way here. So here I am. Here with you under the stars.”

  “I’m so fucking happy you listened to Melissa.” He kisses my neck again and buries his face in it, his arms holding me protectively. “Remind me to thank that roommate of yours one day. Fuck, I owe her for bringing you here.”

  For long moments we stay this way, the remembrance of the soft tune he’d been strumming filling my head and the stillness of the night surrounding me as he holds me.

  But as I feel myself drifting off, feeling so comfortable in his arms, the sound of tires crunching on the gravel driveway rouses me.

  “What the fuck?” Aston says, his voice harsh, dangerous.

  We rise and walk around the house when we hear what sounds like a truck approaching. By the way Aston pushes me behind his back and how tense he’s become, I’m going to assume this is some bad shit.

  22

  Aston

  The truck comes to a stop in front of the house, and I know that this isn’t going to be a good fucking night.

  I recognize the truck from the house across from where Melissa lives, and know the fuckers we offered a beat down to have decided to come back for a little vengeance.

  I had a feeling they’d want to retaliate, especially when I noticed that fucker watching Kadence’s house. I just had no idea they’d actually have the balls to do it.

  But only one guy gets out of the car—at first, anyway. The tinted windows make it hard to see if there’s more inside, but this fucker would have to have a death wish to come alone.

  It’s the same prick who’d been mean-mugging me the whole time I fucking watched his ass at Kadence’s house.

  It’s the same fucker who I beat the shit out of and smashed his face into the arm of the couch.

  I might need to call my brothers. I can handle this prick, even his asshole friends if one chooses to join him. But any more and there will be trouble, a lot of fucking trouble.

  That’s w
hen I’ll need my sadistic brothers.

  “Hey, remember me, you fucking asshole?”

  “Go inside, Kadence.” I hope she actually fucking listens to me.

  I’m thankful as hell when I hear her close the door behind her.

  I stare at the asshole in front of me and notice the gun he’s got in his hand. It’s close to his body, and from the way he’s tense, his finger twitching on the side of the gun, I’m almost positive he’s never actually fired the thing in his life.

  That makes for a pretty dangerous situation. He’s working on emotion, and although that might make him sloppy, it might also make him unstable … even more so than he was.

  “You made a huge fucking mistake by coming here. You know that, right, motherfucker?”

  He grins, trying to keep his grip on the pistol firm, but I can see his hand shaking. This kid doesn’t want to use that thing.

  Hell, maybe he doesn’t have to.

  Reaching for my guitar, I grin and walk down the steps, keeping my eyes steady on his, knowing that I’m intimidating him.

  It’s then that I hear one of his asshole friends coming at me from the side. The prick tried to be slick by walking the property instead of arriving in the truck.

  Too bad for them King is out walking the property and will hunt them down real fucking soon. This one got lucky to get past him unnoticed.

  Knowing this could possibly be a huge fucking mistake, I take my eyes off the kid with the gun and slam my guitar into the other guy’s face, knocking him down into the dirt.

  I take my anger out on his face, slamming my broken guitar into him repeatedly until his face is covered in blood and the knife he was holding slips out of his hand, allowing me to kick it away.

  Turning back around, I toss the guitar down and come at pistol kid before he can get brave enough to use that thing.

  I hear the sound go off right before I feel the bullet slam into my shoulder, pain spreading throughout my arm, stunning me for a short moment.

  This has Kadence rushing out of the house to make sure I’m not dead. I immediately push her behind me to keep her out of his shooting range, but before I can react, she’s holding out the pistol I had sitting downstairs on my bed, and aiming it at the guy.

  I don’t know what in the fuck is going on, but my girl is fierce as fuck. Maybe a little too fierce.

  “Put the gun down, or I won’t hesitate to use this thing.” She takes a step closer to him, but I quickly throw my uninjured arm out, keeping her back. I can feel her body shaking, but I can tell by the tone of her voice that she means business. “I mean it. Do it! Don’t even think for one second that I would hesitate to put a bullet in your chest.”

  As much as I love the fact that she’s just as willing to protect me as I am her, I couldn’t let her pull that trigger even if she wanted to.

  This is my life. It’s the life me and my brothers chose. There’s no way in hell I’m letting her get her hands dirty to save my ass.

  Holding my shoulder, I keep my eye on the fucker, taking in every movement he makes, waiting for just the right time to make my move.

  “Nah-ah. Nope.” He waves the gun at us while talking. “This motherfucker and his brothers came into my house, roughed us up, took our money, and broke fucking bones. No one does that shit and gets away with it. Locke brothers or not. Well tell me, motherfucker…” He cocks back the hammer and begins walking toward us. “Where are your brothers to fight now?”

  The closer he gets, I can see the sweat trickling down his forehead, this asshole clearly not confident with that pistol he’s aiming at me. Maybe worried that even that won’t be enough to save him.

  And if his friends don’t come out to help him soon, worrying is what he should be doing.

  “Stop walking!” Kadence shouts. “Right now, damn it!”

  This has the asshole laughing, throwing him off his game. If you’re going to use a gun, you should know to never take your eye off the enemy, not even for a split fucking second.

  He made a mistake with that, giving me just the time I need to take charge of this situation before he can put another bullet in me or, hell, Kadence.

  Quickly, I snatch the pistol from Kadence’s hand and stalk toward him, pressing the barrel right between his eyes.

  I push past the pain, ignore it as I focus on this bastard.

  “Who said I need my brothers?”

  Truth is I wish I had my brothers here, but if this fucker thinks I can’t handle him on my own, I’m about to show him exactly how fucking crazy I am.

  “Kadence,” I growl. “Get back inside and lock the fucking doors. Now.”

  She says no at first, but finally takes a few steps back toward the house once she hears King’s bark coming from somewhere down by the river.

  Ace comes from out of nowhere, dragging another one of the assholes by his neck as if he’s a rag doll.

  Once she sees that one of my brothers have now joined me, she rushes into the house and locks the door as told.

  I warned this motherfucker that coming here was a huge mistake.

  He’s about to see just how fucking huge.

  Now it’s time to push that point home.

  23

  Kadence

  I don’t know what the hell came over me, but when I heard that gunshot, fear of losing Aston took over and before I knew it, I was rushing outside with Aston’s pistol in my hand.

  As soon as he sent me inside the first time, I ran down to his room, knowing there’d be a gun on his bed. I remembered seeing it before we got comfortable on the couch earlier.

  Melissa would kill me if she knew I’d risked my life for Aston tonight—risked my life in general—and that I’m hiding out in the Locke house while there’s a possible war breaking loose just outside.

  I’m not going to lie; I’m terrified. Terrified for Aston and his brothers, although I have a feeling I shouldn’t be.

  The whole town knows how dangerous the Locke brothers are. They can handle themselves, and I’m pretty sure this can’t be the worst situation they’ve been in.

  Still, I can’t stop my body from shaking as I think of the worst possible scenario. The thought of losing Aston has my stomach rolling, feeling as if I’m about to lose my dinner.

  It’s quiet outside. Too quiet, as if they’ve somehow managed to take this situation away from the house. Possibly into the woods, where I know their pit bull got ahold of one of those assholes attempting to sneak around the property.

  Who knows how many more are out there. They’re most likely outnumbered.

  Twenty minutes go by. Then forty, before I finally hear someone yanking on the door handle, trying to pry it open.

  My heart sinks, my stomach twisting into nervous knots until I hear Sterling’s voice, telling me to unlock the door.

  Before I know it, I’m standing in front of the door, pulling it open to see Sterling and Ace looking back at me, both of them splattered with blood and looking a bit roughed up.

  Panic immediately starts to kick in, my worry for Aston taking over until he rounds the corner, smiling up at me as if to tell me not to worry.

  On instinct I rush over to him and throw my arms around his neck, crushing my lips to his.

  He kisses me back hard, so fucking hard that I somehow end up biting my bottom lip.

  Once we pull away from the kiss, he cups my face, his gaze meeting mine. “Don’t ever risk your life for me again, Kadence. Yours is worth so much more than mine ever could be. Got it?”

  “You might have the whole world fooled,” I say while keeping my eyes locked with his beautiful blue ones, “but not me. I see the real you. I feel the real you, and it’s so much better than you think. Don’t ever tell me you’re not worth it.”

  “All right, time to break this mushy shit up and get this damn bullet out of your arm, little brother.” Sterling slaps him on the back and flashes me a smile. “You’re one badass chick. Looks like you’re more than capable of handling a Locke. Just d
o us all a favor and don’t get yourself killed.” He winks and calls for Ace to join him in a different room, where I’m guessing they plan to take care of Aston’s shoulder.

  What in the hell have I gotten myself into?

  But even thinking that, I can’t help but smile.

  * * *

  Aston

  I hear the sound of the bullet hitting the sink, smell the blood filling the air, and feel the tugging as Ace bandages the wound up.

  “All right, you’re good, little brother.” Ace secures the bandage and steps back with a smirk, proud of his handiwork.

  “You’re not going to the hospital?” Kadence says with shock in her voice, looking between the three of us.

  Sterling is the one to speak. “It’s a gunshot wound. That would draw too much attention. It went in clean, and we’ll watch it. He’ll be fine. You’re both lucky as fuck we pulled up when we did, but just remember our job is to protect you. You’re one of us now, Kadence, but that doesn’t mean you fight for us. When things get dirty, you run, got it? Plain and simple.”

  Kadence nods her head, offering a small smile, seeming pleased to be called one of us.

  “Good. We’ll leave you.”

  Ace and Sterling leave, and I stare at Kadence, taking in her expression.

  “I’m fine, baby.” I can see she’s worried, so I pull her in and hold her, wanting nothing more than to comfort her. This woman that was willing to risk her fucking life for me.

  “That was insane,” she whispers.

  “Yeah, it was. I wish you hadn’t been involved.” I pull her back and look into her eyes. “Sterling was right. You may be one of us, but I never want to see you out there on the battlefield again. Let us protect you and never the other way around. Promise me.” My voice is hard, wanting her to know how damn serious I am. “Fucking promise me now.”

  “I promise,” she says, a little breathless as her eyes search mine.