Asher held my hand tighter than he ever had before as we drove away from the courthouse. The atmosphere in the car swirled, happiness surrounding all of us, and I suddenly felt a little bad for not telling him what I’d done beforehand. It had been weeks since I’d gone to Mr. Bennet’s office with Brody to make my statement, but I’d kept it a secret from Asher. Several times I’d nearly caved and told him what I did, but I didn’t want to give him the option of talking me out of what I’d done.
So, we’d all known he was coming home with us today, which was why we’d planned a party for afterward. It was yet another thing we could cross off our list, and now there was just one final date. One final court appearance and then we could put all of this behind us.
But I didn’t want to think about that, not right then. I wanted to bask in the way Asher’s fingers slipped between mine. I wanted to stare at the tattoos covering his body. I wanted to look into his eyes, knowing there were no secrets left between us.
“You’re heading the wrong way,” Asher told his dad. We were crammed in the back seat of the Mustang his dad owned, but I kind of liked it. It was cozy.
“We thought we could go back to our house for a little bit,” Lola said, turning in her seat to look at us. “That okay with you?” Her lips curved up, a telltale sign she was teasing him.
“I dunno, Lola. Maybe we should ask his permission. We wouldn’t want him to get all red-faced like he did back at the courthouse,” Brody commented.
Lola snorted. “He looked like a flamin’ hot Cheeto.”
I pursed my lips to try and keep my laughter in because she wasn’t wrong. As soon as he’d walked out of the room and saw us standing there, realization had clearly set in. I’d never seen him look like he was about to explode before, and any other time, I would have been scared, but I knew Asher as well as I knew myself. He’d never have taken his anger out on me.
“Ha, ha.” Asher shifted in his seat, his side pressing against mine. “You took me by surprise.”
“I know.” Lola winked at me. “Not nice being kept in the dark is it, son?” She paused for a second. “Taught you a lesson, though, huh?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Asher glanced down at me, his dark-brown eyes holding me captive. “Can we not talk about it anymore? I just wanna go home, get this damn suit off and—” He cut himself off as Brody drove on to their street and toward their house. Cars lined outside, and the drive was packed with several more as well as a couple of motorcycles. “What the…”
“Surprise!” Lola shouted, throwing her hands up in the air and nearly smacking Brody in the face.
“Jesus, woman. Give a guy a warning.”
Lola ignored him and clicked her belt off as Brody halted to a stop. “We thought you deserved a party.” She glanced over at me. “Both of you.”
“A…party?” Asher let his head drop back. “You know I hate parties.”
“I got red velvet cake,” Lola sang and opened the passenger door. “With cream cheese frosting.”
The silence stretched and finally Asher groaned out, “Well…I suppose we can’t let the cake go to waste.” His hand slipped from mine and he squeezed between the front seat Lola had moved forward and the edge of the passenger door. It was a tight fit, but he managed it just fine. He wrapped his arm around Lola’s shoulder and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Thanks, Mom.”
“You're welcome.” She stretched her arm around his waist and grinned up at him as they started to walk toward the front door, but I stayed exactly where I was, feeling a lump building in my throat.
Today was meant to be a celebration, but I felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. These people were Asher’s family, and without them, I wasn’t sure where I would be. Maybe I’d have escaped Knox, or maybe I would have still been tethered to him with no end point in sight.
“You okay there, darlin’?”
I jumped at the sound of Brody’s voice. “Shit, you scared me.” My heart pounded in my chest, and I placed my hand there, trying to calm it down.
“Sorry.” He crouched down near the open driver’s door and held on to the seat he’d pushed forward so I could get out. “It’s a lot to take in,” he murmured. I frowned, not sure what he meant until he tilted his head toward the house. “They’re a bunch of crazies if you ask me, but they’ll stand by your side no matter what.”
“I…I’ve never had that before.”
Brody nodded. “I get that.” He blew out a breath and stared up at the gray sky. “I was raised like you were. Trailer park. Deadbeat parents.” He paused and cleared his throat, the painful expression on his face obvious for me to see, but only because I understood it. “I could have easily gone down a different route—in fact, I did for a while—but then I was thrown into training and surrounded by people who supported me.” He shrugged. “I didn’t get it. Why would people want to help me? Why would people want to stand at my back and fight with me instead of against me?”
My breaths quickened the longer he talked because I felt exactly the same. I’d never had the support these people had, and now it was there, ready for the taking, but I was starting to wonder if it was too good to be true.
“It took me years to accept the people around me. But even now I still have the inclination not to trust. It’s built within me, just like it is with you.” His stare met mine, a silent conversation only I could comprehend shining in his eyes. “But this…” He pointed toward the house where the front door was still open. “This is the real thing.”
“I’m…I’m scared,” I whispered. “Scared the moment I get used to it that it’ll all be taken away from me.”
Brody shuffled forward. “I don’t make promises often, Elodie, because when I do make them, I have to mean them one hundred percent. But I’m promising this to you: even if you and Asher call it quits—which I doubt will ever happen—you’ll always have a place in this family.”
The thought of me not being with Asher had anxiety building up, but as Brody’s words sunk in, I relaxed a little. He understood where I’d come from. He understood the kind of life I’d led up until this point.
“Now, what do you say we head inside and get a slice of that cake before Asher eats it all?”