She picked up Gabriel and took Faith's hand. They went to his room. He was on the bed crying. "AJ? Can we come in?" He nodded. "Faith brought you a toy." They walked in and Faith handed him the toy. "Thank you, Sissy." He quietly replied. Faith smiled and looked at Ash "Mama." Then Gabriel copied her. AJ looked sad. "What's wrong AJ?" Ash asked. "I don't want to call you Aunty Ash. I want you to be my mommy. I'm sorry! I'll be good." He cried. "AJ honey, you can call me whatever you feel comfortable with. If you want me to be your mommy, then I am.” Ash explained.“Just because I'm not your birth mom, doesn't mean I love you any less. And it doesn't mean I can't be your mom now." Ash smiled. "Ok mommy." He smiled and minutes later it was forgotten. Rider hadn't called her since that first day. He had managed a few quick texts. A little after 4am, Ash was woken up. She went to check on Gabriel first. Cindy was sitting in the rocking chair. Ash walked around to see what she w
"That's where you're wrong. Angel signed papers naming me legal guardian if anything happened to her. Me and Rider have 50/50 custody. You can check the courthouse." She explained. "They both signed off on it. WE will be leaving. Try to stop me taking MY kids and I'll involve the cops!" Ash warned. James nodded and walked away. Scarlett helped Ash get the kids ready and load their stuff into the SUV. "I like you. I didn't think you had any of your sister in you. Thought you too meek and too agreeable. But now I see your more dangerous than your sister was! Mild but calculating. I like that a lot! Good for you!" Scarlette replied. "Thank you. I sent Rider a text. I told him where we would be. If you see him make sure he got it?" Ash asked. "Will do. Be safe." Scarlett replied. Ash checked them in to a local hotel with security. They could afford to stay there for a while. Rider refused to let her pay any bills except groceries, so she had a nice sum in the bank. She'd even starte
"You got your head out of your ass yet?" Scarlett demanded. "Fuck." Rider murmured. "I know you ain't stupid enough to not believe 100% what comes out of your "old lady's" mouth!" She retorted. "Keep this shit up and you'll lose another." Rider winced as he caught the dig about his lack of support. He was just trying to wrap his head around everything. Scarlett got up and left. Maddie took the stool beside him. "I was there when Ash had to take all three kids with her to the salon to get gum out of her hair. She didn't feel safe leaving them with Cindy.” Maddie explained.“I went by a couple times and saw Cindy cooking while Ash took care of the kids. I saw Ash cleaning up Cindy's messes. And Cindy sat on her ass smiling the whole time." Maddie explained. "You know Ash better than anyone. Do you really think she'd lie about something like this? Is she the type of person who would destroy her home to get rid of someone?" Maddie asked. Rider couldn't look at her. He felt ashamed o
"Multiple fights and trouble throughout middle school. Mostly juvenile stuff. Freshman year of high school she stalked and bullied a girl who went out with a guy she liked. Sophomore year, she beat up 2 girls for going on a date with the same guy." Sam replied. "He transferred to another school. Her junior year she started dating another boy. Afterwards he broke up with her stating she was stalking him and accusing him of being with other girls. He started dating another girl." Sam continued. "She received a beating, harassing calls, her picture and number put on a porn site, and an auto accident where her brake line was cut. Cindy was expelled as the IP address on the stalking and security footage led back to her." Rider read from his report Ash had gave him. "Her grandpa made restitution to the family and part of keeping her from being arrested was that she seek counseling and do her senior year online at home. As you can see the other two guys were tall, dark haired, and blue ey
He pulled her in the room and pulled her against him. Her back to his front. The woman started dressing. A couple seconds later a prospect showed up in the doorway. "Escort this bitch off the property." Rider ordered. He handed the prospect her purse. "Check her license and add her name to the no-fly list at the gate. Make sure you tell them to memorize her face. She's not to be on this property again." Rider demanded. The prospect nodded then grabbed the woman by the arm and pulled her out of the room. Rider shut the door and locked it. Ash crossed her arms. She was too mad and hurt to speak. "I know that look. So, I'm going to explain what happened. She spilled fruit juice on me, and I came up here to change. I'll admit I was stupid and didn't lock the door. I didn't know she followed me." He explained. “Ok.” Ash replied."After I rinsed my shirt, I realized it was on my jeans and took them off. Since it was red, I knew it would stain. Then when I turned off the water, I heard
She was trying to remember her last birth control shot. With the Veronica situation and then the Cindy problems, she had forgot. If what she thought was true, she knew Rider was going to be pissed. He had said more than once he couldn't handle more than the three kids they had. Rider hadn't even mentioned marriage to her. The couple occasions they talked about kids he just said he couldn't think of more .He said the three they already had were a lot to deal with and enough. Ash never pushed the topic. She called Maddie and asked if she'd go to the pharmacy for her. The last thing she needed was to have someone see her buying a pregnancy test. A half an hour later Maddie arrived. Ash went to her door to let her assistant know she needed privacy. "Mrs. Wilder please hold all my calls for the next thirty minutes." Ash explained. She closed her office door. Thankfully Ash's office had its own bathroom. Maddie had bought her three. She took the tests and then laid them on the sink
Some of the brothers chuckled until Ash glared at them. It made them all look away. She was fuming, but wasn't about to let him continue to treat her this way. "I changed the security code. Don't bother to try it. Don't want the alarm alerting the police or scaring your other kids to death!" Ash retorted. "The fuck!" Rider growled. "Don't fucking test me Rider! I already feel like pure shit with this pregnancy. I don't need your bullshit on top of it! You may not give a damn about this baby, but I sure as fuck do!" Ash warned. Then she stormed out slamming the door. Maddie and Scarlett were staring daggers at him. He grabbed the picture and went to his room. He sat on his bed and stared at it. He had so many mixed feelings. Ash told Shyanne that she would start using her every day during the week. She was really staying sick throughout the day. She barely kept water and saltine's down. AJ had started to ask about Rider. Ash finally texted Rider that his kids wanted to see him. He
Rider ran his hands through his hair. "What if the pregnancy changes her like it did Angel? They are sisters. I don't think I can go through that again. At times Angel was a nightmare to deal with. And I have the kids to think about too." "Any woman has the ability to go through that. Knowing Angel and Ash I just think it's not going to happen to Ash. Angel was moody and tough before the kids. I remember y'all bumping heads many times." Preacher explained. "Ash is calmer. Not to say she can't be tough. We've seen her get tough when pushed. But I think Ash has a smarter mind. Her strength lies in her ability to deal with people and strategize. It's what makes her one hell of a lawyer." Preacher explained. "Those girls situation made them tough. Angel physically and Ash mentally. And kids are resilient, they bounce back quicker than most adults." He explained. Preacher gave Rider a lot to think about. Then a text came in from Maddie. "Ash is in the ER. She passed out. They're worr