chapter 6

MOLLY

It never was with Ashton Walden.

He’d come in flanked with his security guards, and then the other time at the nightclub when he’d yelled at me before having me whisked away. I wasn’t altogether sure what went down that night, but I’d felt zapped from him. He had pierced me inside, and that feeling never went away.

I felt it again, all over again.

“What am I doing here?” I asked again, cursing internally as my voice dipped. A slight tremor slipped out.

Hearing it, Ashton stopped. His eyes flared slightly. “You and I have some things to discuss.”

I was shaking my head as he went past me, heading through the library and to the kitchen. A shiver trailed down my spine at the same time. “No, I don’t. I want to go home.”

I followed him, hugging myself in the opened doorway.

He acted as if he hadn’t heard me, pressing a button. A deluxe coffee machine appeared, and he pressed another button. It began rumbling, and soon the smell of brewing coffee filled the space.

God.

My stomach did its own rumble because I really loved coffee. It was a weakness for me. I never got that order in from my room.

“We have things to discuss.” He lifted his head, those dead eyes lingering on my clothes. “Business and your father.”

My toes curled in. “My father?”

There was another flash of emotion in his gaze, and was I imagining it? I thought I saw a softening come over his face, but then it was gone. He took out a cup and motioned to the island. “Sit, Molly.”

He angled his body so he was half leaning against his counter, half turned toward me.

God. His face was always so unreadable.

Nearly black eyes. Dark hair. A face that could’ve been an angel, though I knew he was anything but. Dangerous. Powerful. Sleek. A toned body, but it was so much more. He was both beautiful and so dark, so deadly, that I couldn’t contain a shiver. At every phase of his life, he’d always been good looking. He was pretty when he was young. When he was a teenager, he’d been hot. But now, my mouth was almost watering, and I hated that, but I couldn’t deny it. Now he was a masterpiece to look at, and my stomach dipped because I knew how ruthless he could be at the same time.

He was a dichotomy. That’s what he was.

I seated myself at the island, taking one of the barstools that lined the far side. “Did you hurt her that night?”

I wasn’t looking, but I felt him grow still. Very still.

“Hurt who?” he asked quietly.

I looked up. “That night. You came in and took Jess. You looked like you were going to hurt her.”

He didn’t answer, but his jaw clenched, and his eyes narrowed.

The coffee beeped that it was done. He set the mug down in front of me, surveying me in silence for another second. “I thought your friend was a mole.”

I took the coffee, pulling it closer to me before looking down at it. “Then you were being stupid.”

I still felt his gaze on the top of my head as he murmured, “It’s nice to see you have a spine. I wasn’t sure.”

I shoved back from the counter. “Fuck you.”

Gone were the functional thoughts from earlier, the nice thoughts of whose place I was in, and all the anger, the bitterness, the resentment swirled up now. Because of him. Because of what he thought about Jess. Or my dad. Probably more my dad, but Jess was the tipping point.

“You thinking Jess was anything but loyal just shows the asinine way of thinking your family operates. Your family,” I spat. “They could’ve put my father out of his misery long ago, but you didn’t. Your grandfather didn’t. You just kept adding to his debt until he’ll do anything for you now. That’s how I got here. My dad’s my contact person. I meant to change that, but I keep forgetting. I’m betting they called him, and he called you. Am I right?”

Ashton’s eyes narrowed even more. “I’d be very careful about how you insult family members of mine that were not long ago put into the ground.” Ashton was still leaning against the counter, but his head inclined forward. “And you’re wrong about your father. I called him.”

I flushed; my whole body felt it. “Why?”

“Because, Molly Everly Easter, you just became a part of the war that my family is involved in.”

I frowned. “How? It was a random robber. I’m assuming you got the CliffsNotes from someone. That guy had nothing to do with your war.”

“Detective Worthing does. I was told that he tried to question you about the robbery.”

“Because it was a robbery and he’s a cop.”

“He’s in the organized crime unit. He’s not a beat cop. He knows our family connections. That’s why he was there. So him showing up brings you into my business.”

I had no idea what he was talking about. “What?”

Ashton tilted his head to the side. “I was told Detective Worthing tried to question you at Easter Lanes?”

My body suddenly grew tired. “The ambulance got there first and took me to the hospital.”

“They weren’t at the hospital when I arrived.”

Right. To the hospital, because that made sense how I got here now.

“I guess? I remember talking to Nea and Sloane before I fell asleep. I woke up here, and—” I swallowed my register’s key! I gasped, grabbing for my stomach and looking down. Oh, god. That was in there. “I have a foreign object inside of me.”

“It’ll pass out of you within a day to two days.”

I jerked my head back up. “What does that mean? I’ll—”

His lips thinned again. “You’re going to shit it out. That’s what that means.”

Oooh. That was comforting, but also uncomfortable at the same time. I eyed him warily again. “You got the 411 on me?”

“Your father appointed me in his stead. It’s why they released you to me.”

I shot him a look as those fuzzies in my stomach started to warm up. He and I both knew I got released to his care because of his last name. “What am I doing here? I’d like to go home. I’d like my phone. I’d like to call my staff and make sure everyone and everything is okay.”

He reached behind him and opened a drawer. He lifted my phone out of it and leaned over, putting it on the island and shoving it to me. It glided over to me smoothly. “Your staff is fine, and I have a man at Easter Lanes, running it until you and I have concluded what we need to conclude.”

I started to unlock my phone but I stopped. “You have a man? Easter Lanes is not a part of your family’s business. You have no right to send a man over there, or to pick me up, or to have anything to do with me.”

“Except that’s where you’re wrong. Besides talking about Detective Worthing, that’s the other business you and I have to discuss.”

“What is?”

“Easter Lanes. The bowling alley your father ‘sold’ you.”

“What about it?”

“It wasn’t his to sell.”