The Asset (12 page)

I woke up crying and gasping. I saw the German shepherd first, head tilted, brow wrinkled, caramel eyes gleaming with concern. Then Ash’s face overtook the space before my eyes.

“Lia?” he said, caressing my hair. “Are you awake, sweetness?”

I lay on my side with my nails digging into my palms and my body curled around my knees, shivering for real. I must have kicked off the blankets. I didn’t think I could move even if I tried.

“It’s really cold in here,” Ash said. “It’s too cold for you to get warm. I’m going to take you to my room. Okay?”

I nodded and tried to get up, but my body refused to uncoil and the shivers made me an uncoordinated mess. Ash picked me up and carried me as if I were made of air and light. He limped out of my room, across the hallway and into his room, and deposited me gently in his bed.

The mattress was still warm from his body. The covers he tucked around me helped. Neil lay on top of my legs, lending me his doggy heat. Ash stoked the fire and then got under the covers, slipped his bare shoulder beneath my head and gathered me against him.

The heat of his body permeated through me, unknotting my muscles and defrosting the frozen fear.

I don’t know how long I lay there, listless and thawing, enjoying the soft strokes of his fingers running through my hair. He didn’t ask any questions and I was grateful for his silence. The nightmare haunted me and, when I closed my eyes, little red packets of incense streamed in my mind like an electronic news ticker.

“Try to relax,” Ash murmured in my ear. “No need to be upset. Go to sleep, Lia. You’re going to be all right.”

Eventually, my exhaustion prevailed. I succumbed to the calming rhythm of Ash’s heart. I had no fears, nightmares or dreams. For once, I simply slept.

* * *

I woke up to the smell of coffee and something else, something delicious that my stomach recognized with a loud growl. I stretched beneath the blankets. The fire roared in the little hearth. I was surprised to find myself in Ash’s bed, but then memories from last night flooded in.

Inasmuch as I avoided sharing beds with anyone, how on earth had I managed to sleep with him all night?

A glance at the alarm clock on the night table showed that it was almost eleven. What about my animals? I must have slept so soundly I didn’t hear the breakfast racket. I threw the covers aside and rushed down the stairs, stopping only to don my galoshes before careening into the kitchen.

“Hey, wait, whoa.” Ash caught me by the waist. “Where do you think you’re going without a coat? It’s freezing out there.”

“I forgot to feed the animals.” I tried to disentangle from his arms. “They must be starving—”

“Calm down, Lia,” he said. “They’re not starving. I fed them.”

I froze. “You fed them?”

“It’s not so hard to do.” He let go of me, turning his attention to the pan on the stove. “Camels, now those are a pain in the ass. They’re the nastiest sons of bitches.”

“You fed all of them?” I said.

“I did.” He turned the eggs with the spatula. “Nobody out there is complaining.”

“I’ll go check.”

“
After
you have your breakfast.” He plated the eggs.

“But—”

“Sit.” He pointed at the table. “Food first, animals later.”

With my brain still in a fog, I plopped down on the chair. He parked a full plate in front of me before he took his place beside me. I didn’t know how hungry I was until the eggs eased down my throat and warmed my empty stomach. My mouth exploded with the taste of bacon.

“This is amazing,” I mumbled with a mouthful of breakfast goodness.

Ash added a buttered biscuit to my plate. “Try this.”

“Hmm.” I swallowed. “It tastes just like your grandma’s.”

“She taught me all I know about cooking.”

I washed it down with a gulp of coffee and a sip of freshly squeezed orange juice.

“Better?” He dug into his breakfast.

“Much.”

“And the nightmare last night?”

“Gone.”

“You get those often?”

“Sometimes.” I glanced at Ash tentatively.

He sighed. “Nightmares suck.”

I caught a rare glimpse of his intimate pain. My heart sank a little. Nightmares were the mind’s ultimate hauntings, perverse, recurring and relentless. That’s why he slept so little. Heck, that’s why I slept so badly too. I wished I could do away with all of his nightmares.

“I hope I wasn’t too loud,” I said. “Did I wake you?”

“You weren’t loud enough,” he said, “until the end.”

“But...how did you know?”

“Neil is trained to recognize nightmares.” He bit into his biscuit, chewed and swallowed. “He alerted me that something was wrong. I knocked on your door, but you didn’t answer. When I opened the door, he went straight to you. That’s when I knew.”

“Thanks, Neil.” I sneaked a strip of bacon to the dog under the table.

“What happened to the furnace?” Ash said.

“It stopped working last night.”

He put another biscuit on my plate. “And you didn’t think to say anything?”

“The problem doesn’t affect your room,” I said. “The fireplace kept it toasty all through last winter. That’s why I rented out that room and not the other. To be honest, I didn’t realize how cold it would get in there.”

The little lines between his eyebrows deepened. “So my room used to be your room?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Who’d pay to stay in the other one?”

“You would,” he said crossly. “You paid a high price last night.”

“I have another blanket I can add to the pile.”

“You can’t possibly be thinking about sleeping in that freezer all winter.”

“I can try weatherizing the windows,” I said. “Or I can sleep downstairs on the couch.”

Ash made a face. “That old thing will likely wreck your spine for good.”

“Silas Ford doesn’t have the money to replace the furnace, but I’ll stop in when I go into town today and ask him again.”

“Why are you going into town?” he said. “I thought it was your day off.”

“I volunteer for Reverend Martin when I can. I deliver hot meals to some of the church members.” I checked the clock. “I’ll need to get going soon.”

“Mind if I go with you?” he asked.

I was surprised. “Do you really want to go into town?”

“No, but I’ve got some errands to run and I might as well get them out of the way.”

“All right,” I said. “I’ll do the dishes, get dressed and then see if I can get my car started.”

“Your car’s no longer at the bottom of the hill,” he said. “I jump-started it this morning and drove it up.”

“You did?” I gave Ash a hug that got shortened on the spot when it had a big impact on my body. “Um...” I reeled from the contact, but rallied. “That’s great, thank you.”

“And by the way,” he said. “There’s no way in hell you or I are ever getting into that death trap again. I survived the jungles of South America, Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m not riding in that rusted piece of shit and neither are you.”

“Hush, don’t let the car hear you talking like that.” I lowered my voice. “She’s easy to offend and highly temperamental. She might just quit altogether. What would I do without her?”

He rolled his eyes. “You should make her into scrap metal, that’s what you should do.”

“But—”

“It’s final,” he said. “I’m driving and we’re taking my truck. From now on, the truck is the designated primary transportation asset in and out of here.”

Right. I gave him a mock salute. Like he was going to take me everywhere I needed to go.

We drove to town in Ash’s immaculate truck, a smooth ride on winding backcountry roads. The sun ignited the aspens, which lit the hills with flaring reds and luminescent yellows. I lowered my window, enjoying the crisp mountain air and the stunning views with Queen’s “Princes of the Universe” blasting in all of its orchestral glory.

Ash looked relaxed at the wheel, reveling in the simple joy of driving, maneuvering the curves with obvious ease. Sticking out from beneath his knit cap, the ends of his hair fluttered in the breeze. He grinned whenever I smiled in his direction. The universe was playing with me again. Why did he have to be so darn good-looking?

Neil stuck his nose out the window and wagged his tail. His fur, tongue and lips flapped in the wind. I leaned back on the heated leather seat and shared in the moment’s perfection. I even dared to imagine that this could have been my life in some other dimension. I couldn’t remember a more beautiful day.

Our arrival to town put an end to the ride, but I stored the moment in my mind, eager to add to my limited collection of precious memories.

“Thanks,” I said. “That was awesome.”

He gave me the oddest look. “I don’t know many people who’d think of a drive as if it were a gift.”

“Well, I do.”

“We’ll do it again,” he said. “And wait until I take you to Heaven.”

“Heaven?”

“You’ll see.”

The mood in the cab changed when Ash parked the truck on Main Street. I opened the door and got out, but Ash lingered in his seat, toying with the leash while Neil hovered by his shoulder. No force in the world would get him to admit that he was having flashbacks, but he eyed the storefronts and the folks strolling by as if an attack was imminent.

I came around to the driver’s side door and leaned into the window. “You don’t have to get down if you don’t want to.”

He reached out and gently trailed my chin with his knuckles, a faint, brief caress. Was I imagining this? No. The buzzing in my spine proved that he’d disturbed my body’s molecular hive. The eyes that centered on my lips turned into pure cobalt. My knees buckled. I clung to the door. The lush look of his mouth pulled on my body like a magnet.

“Ah, Lia.” He took a deep breath. “What would I do without you? But I need to do this. I made an appointment.”

I forced my eyes away from his mouth. “Where are we going?”

“
We
?” His gaze met mine.

“I have some time yet before the meals are ready,” I said. “And if it helps...”

He put the leash on Neil, opened the door and limped out of the truck and onto the sidewalk, leaning on his cane as we made our way down the street.

It was unavoidable that people in Copperhill would notice Ash. Despite his limp, he made for a striking figure. Mrs. White, who ran the Laundromat, was the first one to come out on the street to say hello. He greeted her kindly. Mr. Stewart, the pharmacist, joined us at the curb. Ahead of us, the librarian pulled out her cell phone and called someone, before she too joined the group gathering around us.

I could tell the crowd tested Ash, but only because I’d learned to decipher his body’s language. Neil also offered me clues. The German shepherd circled Ash, trying to interpose himself between his owner and the others without much success. In a place where rumors flew as easily as text messages, more people kept coming out of the woodwork.

“Good to see you.” The owner of the hardware store shook Ash’s hand.

“Welcome back.” The stylists from the hair salon smiled in unison.

Reverend Martin pounded on Ash’s back. “It’s great to have you in town.” He beamed at Ash then turned to me. “Hi, Lia. The meals are almost ready. See you at the church in an hour or so?”

“I’ll be there,” I said.

I caught a glimpse of Charlie Nowak coming out of the coffee shop with Sheriff Wilkins. Charlie shot me a menacing look, something between “if you tell anybody” and “when I get my hands on you...” The blood drained from my face. He didn’t look much worse from our confrontation, but fear tightened the permanent knot clenching the pit of my stomach.

Ash leaned over and, excusing himself from the conversation, tugged at my sleeve. “You okay?”

“Sure.” I exhaled a sigh of relief as Charlie got into his truck.

Ash scanned the street before turning to greet Sheriff Wilkins. The tires of Charlie’s truck screeched when he swerved to avoid Barb Woods, who ran recklessly across the street to get a closer look at Ash. As she approached, I wished I had a sword and shield to repel her morbid curiosity.

“Why, Ash.” She hugged him way too tightly. “You look whole—I mean great—just that tiny itsy-bitsy scar on your face.” She traced the scar that split Ash’s eyebrow with her long witch’s nails. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure the scar will go away. In time, you’ll be your handsome, heartbreaker self all over again. Tell me.” She inched closer to Ash. “How many of those hajjis did you kill? Dozens? Hundreds?”

A muscle flinched on Ash’s face. Did Barb ever think before she spoke? She must have noticed my scathing glare, because she tried to dig herself out of the hole.

“I think the scar gives you character and the cane makes you look elegant.” She pinched an invisible speck of lint from Ash’s jacket. “Does the leg hurt? Does it hang limply, you know, like when you have a stroke?”

“Barb!” I had a mental image of me clawing out her eyes.

Ash tugged on my elbow. “It’s okay, Lia. Barb is just curious, that’s all. I can feel my leg fine, Barb. As for the cane and the scar, they weren’t my first choice, but I manage quite well and I don’t mind being ugly for a change.”

The half smirk, half grin he beamed on us could’ve melted glaciers. The small crowd chuckled, Barb included. Boy, he handled the situation with charm and poise. His temper was firmly under control. At that moment, if Ash had asked, every single person in the crowd would have followed him to Afghanistan’s highest passes. Me included.

“If you’ll excuse us,” Ash said, shaking hands and kissing cheeks. “We need to go.”

As soon as we turned the corner, I hugged him. “Well-done, Major Hunter.”

“Don’t patronize me, not right now.” He took off his beanie and wiped the sweat off his brow.

“I’m not patronizing you in the least,” I said. “I’m proud of you. You handled that like a pro, an officer and a gentleman. I might have punched that broad in the nose, but you scored a perfect ten on that one.”

He laughed.

“What’s so funny?” I said. “You said I needed practice
and
a new punching bag.”

“You’re funny.” He kissed the top of my head. “You’re just good to have around.”

My pulse quickened, a light, happy drumming, kind of like an Irish jig. I’d never had anyone say that to me. And then the little dance in my heart came to a screeching halt. Reality check. It had never been good for anybody on this earth to have me around and, delusions aside, my harsh reality was never going to change.