I was awoken by a warm hand rubbing on my arm, the familiar scent of my sheets surrounding me, and the sounds of my heater kicking on. As I opened my eyes, I saw Mark leaning over me."I've been trying to call you, you scared me half to death." His voice was soft but his face told me how worried he had been."Sorry," I whispered, sitting up. "I had to leave the office and I was exhausted, so I came home."He slightly nodded but it was clear that he didn't believe me. "Says the girl with a tear-stained face, little bruises on her neck, and jeans with dirty knees." He ran his hand through my hair. "What happened?"The memory of my stalker invaded my mind as my bottom lip trembled. "It was so scary, Mark!" I turned my face into my pillow and bawled. "He came out of nowhere in the parking garage at work. He held me against the car and told me he was coming for me real soon." I visibly shook."Hell will freeze over before I let that son of a bitch near you." He continued to soothe me by ru
"You must be Tyler's girl. I'm Tristan!" He stopped in front of me and shook my hand."Yes. My name is Layla. Is the client ready to see me?" My professional side came out and Tristan must have noticed because he lightly laughed and then nodded."He's just finishing up with the press, but you can go in and see him anyways." He waved for me to follow him as we went inside.My heart pounded and in just a few minutes, I'd be face to face with Asher again, but this time I'd be in his world, not a romantic cabin in the mountains. I could do this.I took a deep breath and followed Tristan down a long hallway. It was filled with conference looking rooms with windows into the hallway but they were all empty as we passed by.Except for one.The one where Asher sat at the head of a table and smiled and laughed with some people taking notes as he spoke. I noticed two very beautiful women sitting next to him and they were looking at each other as if they'd known each other for years and maybe the
I let out a breath after I finished telling Asher everything that I needed to tell him, and by the look on his face, I knew he wasn't taking this well. My heart pounded in my chest and I stared into his eyes hoping he'd say something, anything."He... he was at your apartment? He knows where you live?" He sounded completely horrified, and it mirrored how I felt.I nodded, biting my lower lip. "Yeah, and I don't know what else he knows..."Now Asher looked more furious than before as he stepped away from me and started pacing back and forth, his hand going through his hair as he sighed out."Why didn't you call me?" He finally asked as he turned to stare at me, scolding me with his glare."We weren't exactly talking, Asher, and I didn't think you'd give two shits after I walked out on you." I swallowed, a lump forming in my throat, knowing that I should have called him but I just didn't have the guts to do it. Not to mention I didn't have his number either."Upset at you or not, Layla,
His pacing was making me more nervous and anxious than I already was and I wanted to yell at him to stop but my fear was holding my voice back. As I sat there in this chair, I felt my knee jumping up and down and my hands were shaking. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on out there. Had anyone been able to successfully call the cops? Was anyone else hurt? Was Alex dead? That last thought made me cringe. That poor kid. And finally the question that I had tried to ignore came roaring its ugly head. Was this linked to my stalker? Had he found me?But, how was that possible? I took a private jet here and I doubt the airport crew would tell a random stranger where the plane was headed, right? If it was my stalker, we were in trouble."I have a landline in my office, we can get over there and try to call out. If all else fails, at least my office is safer than this room. There are no windows and the door is reinforced steel, only a bulldozer is tearing that thing down once it's been
My heart was pounding and my arm hurt where Mark was digging his fingers into me."Mark, what are you doing?" I tried to pull my arm free once more but he gripped tighter which caused me to cry out in pain. Then I watched him reach behind him as he pulled a small hand-gun from his belt before pressing the cold metal against my cheek. I cried out in fear as hot tears filled my eyes."You wouldn't listen to me about. Creed or warnings from your best friend about her own brother. You keep crawling back to the two-timing piece of shit. So, I need you to see it from our point of view, that's what I'm doing, Layla." His voice was laced with a venomous sound and I had never heard it from Mark before. He was always such a gentle soul, not at all the person who was standing in front of me now.But his words confused me like none other. "What are you talking about, Mark? You never said anything to me about Asher other than he better treat me right or you were going to kick his ass." Or somethin
The pain was searing hot across my already tender skin as I cried out again, this time flying in the opposite direction of Asher and landing with a thud."You... mother-fucker!" Asher barked out, his voice filled with a gritty emotion. "I will f-fucking... kill you!" He was out of breath and clearly in pain.I turned to look up at Jake, who was now smiling and walking towards Asher before bending down in his face. "I'd be careful what you say, Creed, I'm not the one tied up on my knees right now." Then he laughed an awful laugh that sent chills over my skin as he got even closer to Asher's face. "I was going to kill you fast and get it over with, but now I think we'll keep you alive long enough so you can watch us fuck your girlfriend in all her holes."I felt my blood run cold again and then watched Asher struggle against his holds with pure rage, but Jake quickly quieted him up when he punched him in the jaw. I winced at the cracking sound it made as I watched Asher fall onto his si
6 MONTHS LATER"Babe, you ready?!" Asher's voice echoed up the stairs and I smiled at my reflection in the mirror."On my way down!" I yelled back as I applied a layer of lip gloss and shut the light off.The last six months have been brutal for both of us as we were still healing from our battle wounds, or so Asher liked to call them. I still had a small limp when I walked and was still going to physical therapy twice a week, but I wasn't hopeful anymore that all the feeling would come back to my toes and the doctor's didn't think it would either. At least I can still walk though.Asher on the other hand, had suffered far worse than me with his three broken ribs, cracked jaw bone, and several lacerations all over his body. Jake really did a number on him but it was good to see that he was almost back to 100% with a few waves of pain coming from his ribs.After the scariest day of our lives and living through it, I gave up Seattle and he gave up San Clemente and we were back in Portla
"If you can leave things in the past, then so can I. I just want you to be happy and if Creed makes you happy and he's good to you, then I'm cool with him."I felt tears well up in my eyes as I hugged him again. "That makes me so happy. I'm so glad you're home. But... what happens now? Are you going back to the military? How long are you going to be here?"He laughed. "Slow down, killer. I'm home for good. I was medically discharged. Driving over and IED and messing up my shoulder was enough to let me come home. Now I just have to figure out what to do next," he smiled at me, really smiled at me, "it's good to see you, little sister, you look great."My heart sunk when he told me about the IED and the thought of him being hurt, but I ignored it all for right now, knowing that he was just fine and sitting right here in front of me was enough for me to forget about it for now."You're looking pretty good yourself, soldier.""Layla?"I watched Dillon look over my head and for a moment a