A Walk Through Fire
Loose Id Titles by Felice Stevens
A WALK THROUGH FIRE
Felice Stevens
www.loose-id.com
A Walk Through Fire
Copyright © November 2014 by Felice Stevens
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from Loose Id LLC. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Image/art disclaimer: Licensed material is being used for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted in the licensed material is a model.
eISBN 9781623006228
Editor: Maryam Salim
Cover Artist: Valerie Tibbs
Published in the United States of America
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This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning
This e-book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. Loose Id LLC’s e-books are for sale to adults ONLY, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.
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Dedication
To my children. Don’t let anyone ever kid you. Going to work every day is the easy part. Being your parent is the toughest job I’ll ever love. I’m proud of the adults you are growing up to be and happy you want to share your joys and sorrows with me still. I love you to the moon and back.
Acknowledgment
I can’t begin to acknowledge everyone who touched my life while writing this book, but there are those who, without their encouragement, help, and virtual bottles of wine, this book would never have been written.
To my wonderful editor, Maryam Salim. Thank you for making this book the best it can possibly be. I’m lucky to have you. Hopefully one day I will learn my characters can only do one thing at a time.
To all the amazing readers I’ve met online, I give you all the biggest virtual hugs and kisses. Thank you for taking me into your home and my characters into your hearts. It’s every writer’s dream to be published and read. I’m the luckiest person to have found you all. I hope to live up to your expectations.
To the authors I’ve met who have given their advice so freely and unstintingly, this novice thanks you. Your help has meant more to me than I can ever express. You will always be my inspiration to strive to be the best I can possibly be.
To my RWA-NYC chapter-mates, you all have been the most amazing cheerleaders. I don’t know of a more supportive group of men and women. You guys are all amazing.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank a few of the people whose off-line and often off-the-wall help made this story possible. Julia Tagan, thank you for your encouragement, insight, and intelligence. Your support and our lunches mean the world to me.
To Danelle Harmon, I thank you for your continued love, friendship, and insight to this crazy world.
To Lindsey Ross, I don’t even know where to begin. I’ll start with a thank-you for being my friend and one of the few people I can always turn to no matter what. Your love for these guys is one of the main reasons these books are happening. Don’t ever let anyone dim your sparkle; you are an amazing woman.
To Sandy Owens, thank you for your friendship, your critiquing, and overall help. I feel lucky to share this journey with you. Thank you for loving my guys and joining me in embracing this genre, where love is love. One day I’ll make it to North Carolina, and we will share that glass—who am I kidding—those bottles of wine in person.
Chapter One
Death comes in all forms
. Asher Davis usually wasn’t this morbid or pensive reviewing divorce or separation agreements that passed his desk, but the dissolution of a marriage after only six months seemed depressing, even to a jaded and cynical person such as himself. All the dreams the happy couple had planned must have crashed and burned in an inferno of pain and anger so devastating, any thought of repair was impossible.
“Let this be a lesson to you, Walker.” Ash slid the file to the associate sitting across from him at the conference table. “It probably would’ve happened sooner or later. For some reason, men and women insist on pairing off and remaining faithful, despite evidence to the contrary that it isn’t normal to do so.”
The newest member of Frank and Davis shot him an uneasy smile, and Ash suddenly remembered Walker himself was a recently engaged man.
Even though he’d never been married, never even come close to a relationship with anyone, for that matter, he’d seen and heard enough gruesome stories to know how hard people had to work to make a marriage work. Compromise, trust, and that thing called love. He shuddered, swallowing hard.
Not his problem. He was there to make sure his client, the young and lovely Jackie Klein, got out of her marriage with everything she had coming to her so her rich daddy could pay the firm’s retainer. The rumor of her immediate postmarital infidelity didn’t trouble him in the least. He wasn’t being paid to care about anything.
“Have you finished reviewing the file, Walker?”
“Yes, Mr. Davis. It appears Mrs. Klein was seen on numerous occasions leaving the brownstone of David Westlake. These appointments would take place at random times of the day, while her husband was at work.”
“Walker.” The associate’s gaze met his over the table. “Mrs. Klein is our client. I’m not interested in who else she was fucking.”
Walker’s face flushed, and he gulped. “Um, right. So, Drew Klein, from everything we can see, went to work at the same time every morning, came home at the same time each evening, and aside from a weekly night out with his friends, stayed home every night.”
“Sounds like a crashing bore,” drawled Ash. “No wonder she cheated on him.” He flicked his fingers on the table. “Go on. Please tell me something interesting.”
“I’m afraid that’s it, sir.”
“So it’s basically a no-fault. They’ve passed that magic six-month period, and now we, the greedy legal team, get to hammer out all the goodies in the divorce agreement. At the end of the day, she gets her freedom to screw her way through the city if she wants, he gets his freedom from a cheating bitch, and we get our money.” He stood and smiled down at Walker, who closed and stacked the files in preparation for the client meeting. “Let’s go and end this farce. I’ll meet you in the conference room in five.”
He watched Walker stride down the hallway to the conference room where the parties were meeting. As he did before every meeting, Ash took a moment inside his office’s private restroom to check his reflection in the mirror. Navy-blue suit, white shirt, and bright green tie, all sharp, clean, and fresh. No matter that this was his firm and his name now joined Jacob Frank’s on the door, he still had something to prove to himself, that he wasn’t that poor little gay kid from the wrong side of the tracks. The one whose parents had abandoned him.
He was Asher Davis, and he mattered.
From his wallet he pulled out the only snapshot he’d ever possessed. It was taken on his law-school graduation day, of him and the firm’s founder, Jacob Frank. He towered over the tiny man, but only physically did he best Mr. Frank. The man was his better in every way possible. Asher had managed to secure the scholarship Mr. Frank set up at his law school, and had worked like a dog to make sure he would have a place at the law firm of Jacob Frank when he graduated. No one had been a tougher negotiator than his boss, and there was no one he’d wanted to work for more.
Why Jacob Frank took to him, Ash would never know. Mr. Frank often joked that Asher was the son he’d never wanted, but it was said with such fondness in his warm brown eyes that Ash would get a funny feeling in his chest. Then Mr. Frank would brusquely ask him to recite the facts of his next case and drill him to make sure he was always prepared for class.
Looking down at the picture in his hand, Asher blinked against the surprising burn in his eyes. Though he’d been gone two years now, some days Jacob Frank’s presence was still as strong as if he’d risen from his chair a moment before. Ash would never forget Mr. Frank’s final words to him.
“Ash, my son. Let go of your past. It’s the only way you can take control of your future. Rise above your pain. Don’t grow old, alone and unloved, like me. You have been the greatest source of comfort and joy to me. I wish you love and peace in your heart.”
“I’ll always try to make you proud, Mr. Frank.” He touched the man’s face. “You did fine on your own, and so will I.”
Replacing the picture carefully, he smoothed back his hair and, like a chameleon, wiped away any evidence of sorrow and loneliness, replacing it instead with his confident, devil-may-care smile. He left his office and closed the door behind him.
As he pushed open the doors of the conference room, Ash scanned the room. Of course he’d already met his client and her father, Richard Sachs. “Hello, Jackie, dear. Hello, Richard.” He kissed Jackie Klein’s cheek and shook her father’s hand, then turned to greet her soon-to-be ex-husband, Dr. Drew Klein, and Klein’s attorney, Peter Dent.
“Peter, how the hell have you been?” The two shook hands, and Ash smiled his first real smile of the day. He and Peter had been inseparable in law school since they sat next to one another in their section, and neither would’ve made it past that horrific first year without each other’s help. “It’s been way too long.” Peter Dent was lucky in that his father was one of the premier family lawyers in the city, ensuring him a job when he graduated. Ash had needed to keep his grades high enough to hold his scholarship.
“Ash, my man, I’ve been meaning to call, but you know how it is with the wife and kids.” A faint tinge of red crossed Peter’s cheeks, but Ash let it ride. He didn’t begrudge Peter his family life; heck, he actually liked his wife, Lisa, even if she did think she was the gay matchmaking princess with all the men she’d tried to fix him up with over the years.
Ash’s gaze slid to the pale, dejected man at Peter’s side, and extended his hand. “Dr. Klein, I presume? I’m Asher Davis.”