Asher: Heartless Devils MC (7 page)

She tried to endure, but his touch, though gentle, still hurt like a bastard, so she twisted and hissed as he probed.

“I think they are just bruised. Your face is a little scraped up, too. You need some painkillers and something to help with the swelling. Ibuprofen should work for both. I’ll get a cold press too,” he said, as he stood up and moved into the kitchen, efficiently gathering the supplies he need. He returned with a two pills in his hand, a glass of water, some ice wrapped in a towel, and another warm wet cloth he used to clean the scrapes on her face. Finished with her face, he pressed the towel to ribs, as she downed the pills and water.

“Where did you learn to talk like that?” Jenny asked, as she waited for the pills to work.

“The accent? I grew up in Dalton, Georgia. I lived there until I was about twelve. That’s when my mom dragged me down here, chasing some guy. I’ve lost most of the accent,” he said with a grin, “but I can still talk like that when I want too,” he finished, the Foghorn Leghorn accent back in full force.

“Did you find out anything?” she asked.

“Nothing we didn’t already know. You?”

“Nothing useful. Only that leader is some Asian dude that lives in North Bay and has a boat. Oh, and they plan to run the city sometime soon.”

Asher snorted out a laugh. “Good luck with that. But we didn’t know that he lived in North Bay or was Asian. That may be a bit of useful information when we find him.”

“We?” she asked hopefully.

“We. I didn’t think you were stupid enough to get mixed up in this alone. I see now I was wrong and look what happened. I’m not an idiot. I don’t believe for a second that you have any intention of stopping, do you?”

Jenny smiled broadly and shook her head. “Not a chance.”

He glared at her a moment before his face softened again. “Fuck. Your dad is going to shit a brick. Then, he’s going to cut my nuts off.”

“So don’t tell him. Look, we can do this when the club can’t. The Trifectas don’t know us. Once we find out who, and where, we can go to the club, right? They will never know what hit them.” She issued a huge yawn and sank back onto the couch, her eyes heavy as she watched his face while he thought it over. 

Asher was caught between a rock and a hard place. If he refused to help her, she would surely try slip away and get into more trouble. Look what she had done in just one day. He never expected her to get into trouble so quickly. He had planned to let her stew for a day while he did a little snooping then return with some tidbit of information to placate her. Not only had that not gone to plan, she had gotten the shit kicked out of herself and nearly raped in the bargain.

But if he did help her, the Boss was going to have his balls for breakfast.
God dammit! I knew this assignment was going to be a pain in the ass!

“Okay,” he finally said. “But you have to listen to me and do…” He trailed off, as he realized she wasn’t listening to him. With a sigh he rose from his chair and quietly walked to the back of the house, pulling the comforter with the Harley-Davidson logo off his bed, and returning to the living room. He carefully adjusted her position and draped the comforter over her.

He looked at her a moment before he kissed her on the forehead. “You sure are a pain in my ass,” he murmured with a smile before he flipped the lights out and retired to his own room for the night.

***

Jenny swam up out of the darkness, the smell of coffee and the sound of running water pulling her from slumber. As she struggled to sit up, she hoped the sound of the shower would prevent Asher from hearing her hisses and groans of pain.

When he appeared, she was upright, if a little slumped, still trying to scrape the gunk off her tongue. She wanted to go home and get a shower, but she knew she wasn’t going anywhere on a motorcycle today.

Asher had a collection of unopened toothbrushes, so at least she could brush her teeth, but she need clothes and underwear for after her shower. After breakfast, having elicited her promise to not leave the house, he agreed to ride to her apartment and get her a couple of changes of clothes. She explained what she wanted, where he could find them, and hustled him out the door.

While Asher was out, she decided to have a little snoop around his house to get a better sense of the man behind the leathers. Wincing slightly, she got to her feet and started peaking in the kitchen cabinets. Dishes. Junk. Cutlery. Nothing interesting, just general cupboard things that people accumulate. All the interesting things would be in his bedroom.

It was dim inside but still bright enough to see by. It was neater than she would have thought, but then thinking about it, she realized the whole house was quite tidy. She stopped first at the chest of drawers. A quick root through that only revealed clothes and underwear. Nothing exciting. She moved over to the bedside table that contained two drawers. The top drawer contained a box of condoms, some lotion, and a box of tissues along with his socks. Chuckling softly, she moved to the bottom drawer. She was surprised to find a tin of used drawing pencils, but no evidence of any drawings. Under the tin was a box filled with photographs. Setting it on the bed, she settled in to have a look.

On top were pictures of Asher as a baby, moving through to him being a young boy then to a young teenager. There seemed to be a skip of a few years, then photos of him as an older teen with long hair and dark glasses on a motorcycle, looking like he thought he was so cool. Jenny smiled as she moved through them, seeing Asher’s life in a series of 4x6 splashes of color. She spotted her dad in some of them, looking much younger than he did now even though it was only about a decade ago.

As she neared the bottom of the box, she found pictures of Asher with a young woman. He was in his early twenties, as was the woman. She had jet black hair and piercings in her lips and nose. Her eyes were outlined to be dark and dramatic, and her lips were colored a deep red. They were smiling and obviously very happy. The next picture was of them in bed together, the standard couples’ pillow shot, gazing at each other and obviously deeply in love.

She felt a strange pang in her chest at the sight. Was she jealous? Who was this woman? Moving through the pictures, there were a lot more of them together. She eventually came across evidence of his drawing talent, a beautiful sketch of this strange woman whilst she was fast asleep, lying across the bed, nude but sophisticatedly so. Her hair was falling down her back and across her face in loose, wild, tumbling curls. There were only two more photos after that drawing. In each of them, neither looked as happy as they did in previous pictures. She carefully placed the pictures back in the box as she found them, softly closing the drawer when a voice made her jump.

“See anything interesting?” Asher was standing in the doorway, his face expressionless.

Her mouth dropped open in shock, as her face burned, wondering how she hadn't heard him coming back. He moved across the room to sit beside her, his expression turning sad, as he looked at the drawer she had been poking through.

She couldn’t meet his eyes, twisting her hands into a knot. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been snooping.”

He sighed and took her by the chin, gently turning her face so she had to look at him. “Her name was April,” he started. “I met her when I was twenty-one. We spent a couple of happy years together until she decided we were no longer right for each other.” His voice was monotone, and she knew the memory was still painful for him, even now. “She left and lives somewhere on the West Coast now. I think she’s had a couple of kids. Not mine,” he chuckled at her gasp of alarm. “She had her first more than a year after she left.”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, both for her actions and for how he had been treated.

“Yeah. Me too,” he said softly.

Chapter 6

The next day was Christmas Eve. The reason she hadn’t heard the heavy rumble of his Harley the previous day was because he had returned in her car. They used it in the morning to return to her apartment to collect the presents she had purchased and wrapping paper to wrap them. Then, they spent the rest of the day at his place. As she wrapped presents, he let it slip that when he bought the house, he had found an ancient Christmas tree, ornaments, and lights in the attic.

She insisted he get it down to brighten the place up a bit, and after a fair amount of begging and using all her womanly wiles, he relented. The tree was a sad looking affair, but she placed all of the presents under it anyway. That evening they sat on the couch, Jenny in her comfortable sweats, saying little, sipping a very nice brandy and watching the lights blink until she began to feel sleepy. She was tucked in close to Asher’s side, a position that seemed so natural and fitting; it was as if they had been doing it for years. She was just nodding off when Asher slipped from under her. She roused herself briefly, as he kissed her softly on the lips, laying her back on the couch. With a deep and contented sigh, she snuggled in and breathed deep, just able to detect his lingering scent. He pulled the plug on the tree’s light on his way to his room, and she smiled into the darkness, until the darkness of sleep took her.

***

Christmas morning they both rose early and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of French toast and eggs. Jenny presented him with a box from under the tree, something she had ordered from the same leather shop where she purchased her own riding leathers. It was a long black leather jacket with what first appeared to the Harley-Davidson logo embossed on the back, but closer inspection revealed that
Harley-Davidson
had been replaced with
Heartless Devils
.

Asher slipped into the coat, tugging at it, and approved of the fit. It was too long to be much use while riding, but it was a fine piece, and he would wear it proudly.

“Thank you, Jenny. You didn’t have to do this.”

“I know. But I wanted to. You look stunning in that. Dangerous, but sophisticated. Very sexy.”

With a grin, he reached to the back of the tree and returned with a small box in his hand. He handed it to her, and she opened it excitedly. Inside, she found a ring and bracelet set on the finest silver chain. The two pieces were connected by another length of the same chain that split into a “V” in the center of the back of her hand and connected to the bracelet at the edges of her wrist. At the bifurcation was a small pendant with a delicate carving of her motorcycle on it.

“This is stunning! Wherever did you find it? And with my bike on it, too!”

“I had it custom-made. I took them a picture of your bike, and they engraved it.”

After she worked out how to put it on, she admired the way it appeared on her hand and decided it was by far the sexiest piece of jewelry she owned. She could feel the tears welling in her eyes at his thoughtfulness and pulled him into a hug.

“Thank you, Asher. Thank you so much.”

“It was my pleasure,” he whispered softly as he held her. When she stepped back, they moved into a chaste but lingering kiss almost by instinct.

Wearing their gifts from each other, they decided that getting the rest Jenny’s present giving out of the way was the first order of the day. They loaded her car up with the dozen or so presents and drove around the city delivering gifts and cheer to her friends. The last stop was the small townhouse her father had taken near the clubhouse. He had moved out of their big house, putting it on the market, unable to face the home without Melissa in it.

They found him with a group of his longtime friends from the club, all sitting around sipping at their liquor and celebrating the day.

“Dad!” Jenny exclaimed as she let herself in. “Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas, Jen,” he responded, clasping her in a hug before shaking Asher’s hand. “Will you be staying?”

Jenny grimaced, as her father compressed her sore ribs, but her smile was back when he released her. “No, I’m afraid not. We just thought we’d swing by and drop off your presents.” She smiled around at the four other guys in the room. “You look like you’re having fun,” she said, as she handed over her father’s gifts, an iPhone to finally welcome him into the technological age, and his standard bottle of Glenlivet 25-year-old scotch. He accepted them with a beaming smile, which would surely change once he opened the phone. Then, he handed them each a glass, pouring a splash from last year’s bottle.

“Nice coat,” he said as he looked over Asher’s attire. “Are you two getting along better now?”

They glanced at each other awkwardly before Asher responded, “I don’t know what you mean, Boss. We’ve always gotten along.”

John had a good laugh at that, and they all chatted a while before Jenny and Asher made their departure.

“Don’t you spend Christmas with your family?” Asher asked, as Porsche’s engine whined to life.

“Not for the last couple of years. I always had other plans. Now it would be weird to take it up again. He seemed happy, so it’s probably better this way.”

Asher glanced at her doubtfully before backing out of the guest parking and pulling out into the nearly deserted street.

“I want to go to my place, okay? I need to get a few things,” she said.

“What?”

“For one thing, you have almost no seasonings or spices other than salt, pepper, and ketchup. And I want my apron. You’ve seen me cook. I get stuff everywhere. And beer for Christmas dinner isn’t going to cut it. I have a bottle of wine that will be perfect.”

Asher rolled his eyes. He didn’t even like wine but having a beer with turkey did seem a little strange. “You know, Denny’s is open. They have turkey and dressing, the works, and you don’t have to cook it. That’s where I normally go.”

“I would rather eat my shoes.”

He snorted out a laugh. “Okay. Fine.”

“Why don’t you go fill the car up and pick me up back here?” she said as he stopped the car in her parking place.

“I think I should come up with you.”

“Oh for pity's sake. It’s a secured building. Nothing is going to happen to me. Just go fill the car up, and I will be right here waiting on you when you get back. We need to hurry or dinner is going to be late.”

He thought about it and relented. She was right. They were already in the secured garage, and nobody had made a play for her other than that dumb ass at the bar… and she had started that by being where she shouldn’t have been. “Okay. I won’t be but a few minutes.”

As Jenny headed up to her apartment, her mind once again returned to April. Why had she decided to leave? They certainly seemed happy in the photos, and she could vouch that it wouldn’t have been a problem in the bedroom department. How could any girl walk away from that?

She strolled past the empty security desk, but she didn’t give it much thought. There was supposed to be a guard there 24/7, but they had to use the bathroom sometime, and she had seen the desk empty before. She rode the elevator up to her floor, mentally checking off the spices she would need. She swiped her key card and pushed her door open, stepping into the room. She had just stepped inside when she realized it hadn’t beeped at her as it normally did. She was turning back to the door in puzzlement when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Before she could turn, she felt a piercing pain in the back of her head, followed by blackness.

***

Asher drummed his fingers on the wheel of her car. “I’ll just be a minute, she says. I’ll be waiting when you get back. Just wait here. I won’t be long, she says,” he muttered under his breath. He glanced at the clock in the car. It had been more than fifteen minutes now. Swearing slightly, he got out of the car and headed up to the apartment to see if she needed a hand and what was taking her so long. As he walked down the hall towards her door, he began speeding up in mild alarm. The door was ajar, which was very un-Jenny like. He pulled his weapon and moved inside where he saw the floor lamp that lived beside the door had been knocked to the ground and smashed.

“Jenny? Jenny!” He moved quickly to the bedroom and then the bath beyond, but there was no sign of her. Other than the lamp having fallen over, there was no sign of anything happening at all. “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath, as he raced out of her apartment and down the stairs, not bothering with the elevator, desperately trying to catch up to people who had taken her. People he didn’t know, taking her to places unknown.

***

When Jenny returned to consciousness a few minutes later, she was in a cargo van with several turns of duct tape around her wrists and ankles and another piece across her mouth. She was lying on her side, and the ribs rubbing against the floor of the van were aching, an unpleasant counterpoint to the splitting headache. There were voices coming from the front of the van, chatting away in a language she could not understand though it sounded oriental to her. She was afraid to move and alert her captors she was awake, but she couldn’t remain in her current position. Thumping and kicking, she managed to sit up to relieve the pressure on her ribs. Her head was pounding, and the swaying motion of the van was making her feel sick.

She gagged and had to fight hard to not vomit—vomiting with the tape over her mouth could be kill her. She took some deep breaths through her nose and began screaming through her taped mouth, kicking and slamming her back into the side of the van.

“Shut the fuck up, bitch!” a dark haired man yelled from the front, as he looked between the seats.

She screamed louder, throwing herself around hard enough that she could feel the van rocking on its springs.

“Keep it up and I’m going to come back there. Trust me, you won’t like it if I do. No one can hear you anyway, so all you’re doing is pissing me off. Just shut the fuck up, play nice, and this will go much smoother for everyone, all right?”

The man turned back around and picked up his conversation again. She quieted down, trying to think of another tactic. She tried listening for distinctive sounds, like they did in movies, so she could figure out in which direction they were going, but it was useless. She could tell she was on an interstate because the van was moving at high speed and not stopping. It meant they were probably moving north on I-95, but she could tell nothing else. She didn’t even know how long she had been out, so they may not even be in Miami anymore. Tears began trickling down her cheeks, and she began to swallow hard to make sure she didn’t choke.

***

Asher banged through the stairwell door and skidded to a stop at the security desk. He looked behind the horseshoe shaped desk to see the guard on the floor, shot four times in the chest, and obviously dead.

“Fuck!” he snarled, as he ran across the lobby, ignoring the garage elevator in favor of the steps again. It had to be the Trifecta! He pounded down the steps and burst into the garage, sprinting at top speed to Jenny’s car. At least he knew now where to start looking. North Bay village. He threw himself into the car, started it, and roared backwards out of the parking space, flinging the car around before jamming it into first. He nearly sideswiped a car entering the garage, as he pulled out into the street, but he didn’t even flinch from the near miss. Time was against him.

He jumped every light, ignored every traffic law on the books, and took every chance as he wailed his way to I-95, the quickest way to North Bay. Once on the interstate, he punched up John’s number on the hands-free device.

“Hello?”

“John! It’s Asher! Jenny has been snatched! I’m—”

“What?” Jenny’s father cried in alarm. “How?”

“Took her from her apartment while I was putting gas in her car. Shot the security guard. I think they are taking her to North Bay.”

John was quiet for a moment. “We’re coming. We’re all coming,” he said, his voice deadly calm, then he was gone.

The cavalry had been alerted, but he was going to be there first, and he pressed down a little farther on the throttle, dipping and weaving through traffic as the needle on the speedometer inched toward 130.