Stone Cold - Ashby Crime Family

Bonnie’s landlord nodded and wiped his arm across his forehead. “Yeah, she’s traveling light. Almost like she’s on the run from something.”

I picked up three bags and a laptop carrier. “We good?”

“Yeah.”

I shoved Bonnie’s shit in the trunk, got back in the car and hit the gas, dialing Ma while I drove and telling her everything. “I have all her stuff so she can stay with us.”

After a long beat she spoke. “You did the right thing Calvin. Hurry home.”

I got back to Ashby Manor as fast as I could so that Ma and Maisie and Kat could get Bonnie back to the pain in the ass that was easy to keep at a distance. “Even baby brother is a hero,” Kat said with a laugh, pulling the passenger door open before I turned off the car.

“Make yourself useful and grab her things from the trunk.” She nodded and headed towards the back of the car. “In the front.”

“You mean the frunk?” Kat laughed at this joke that made every time my Tesla was brought up, almost always by her. “If you insist on driving a toy car you should at least use the fun cartoon names.”

“You have stocks in oil I don’t know about?”

“There’s so much about me you don’t know little brother.” She smirked to hide the truth, but growing up in this family, all of us had a few secrets we kept to ourselves. “I’ll grab her things.”

I lifted Bonnie in my arms again and this time the smell of alcohol was strong enough I had to breathe through my mouth while I carried her into the main part of the house and up to the gold guest room where Ma waited at the door.

“Has she woken up?”

“A little groaning but that’s about it.” I was happy to see our doctor was already in the room, ready to take care of her. “She’s got a good bump on the back of her head and footprints all over her upper body.” That fucker kicked her. More than once. The thought made me see red. Fucking red and I promised myself when I got clean in high school that I would never let myself get that angry ever again.

“She’s in good hands, Calvin. Lie her down.” I did as Ma said but I couldn’t move, watching for any signs of distress.

“I’m sure you have something else to do.”

When Ma got that look in her eye, all I could do was say, “Right.” I left the room after giving Bonnie another glance. I knew she’d be safe with the doctor who’d been working for the family for as long as I could remember, setting broken bones and stitching scars off the books. “I’ll be working if you need me.”

“Don’t act without speaking to your brother.”

An image of Jasper made me grind my teeth. “I won’t. For now I’ll just access the footage from Bullets & Beer to see what I can find. When I find it, I’ll take it to Jasper.”

She gave a short nod of acceptance, though we both knew there was no other answer she would have accepted. “Good.”

It took a few minutes to access the footage because Bullets & Beer took up the two top floors of Black Stallion Casino, which meant there were thousands of camera angles—inside and out—to access. When I did, I had to work hard to keep my anger in check, working on the yoga breathing exercises I’d learned after a failed stint at a fancy Malibu rehab.

By the time I had my breathing under control, I found what I was looking for and took it to Jasper. I found him exactly where I knew he would be at this ungodly hour, at Ma’s side.

“The fucking Crusaders did this, not some rando junkie or homeless person.”

Jasper and Ma looked up at me. Both of them wore those slightly bored expressions as if they were humoring a little kid. I fucking hated that expression.

“What are we talking about?”

I ignored my brother’s condescending tone and nodded toward his phone when it buzzed.

“It’s too fucking late,” I said, managing to keep my temper in check, “or early in the morning to fucking argue with you. And I’m tired. So I’m only going to say it once. We’re talking about the wannabe Crusader punks who stalked Bonnie all night and beat her up just before she got home. You can look for yourself.”

Jasper looked down at his phone, wincing the same way I did when I watched three fucking teenagers stomp her more than a dozen times in the stomach and ribs and chest and back. He knocked back a shot of whiskey and asked, “And how is this Ashby business?”

Jesus, Mary and Joseph. How can he be so dense?

I stared at Jasper for a long moment just to make sure this was the same man who’d protected me, hell all of us, from Da’s never ending drunken wrath. Breathe. “For starters, because we all know she had nothing to do with that priest’s death, or any of the others for that matter. This is on us and we owe her. The poor girl has nothing. No family, no job, nothing. All because she was accused of something she didn’t do.”