Free Ash: A Bad Boy Romance by Lexi Whitlow Page B

you needed it.”
    Gently, she pushes my hand down and back onto the bed. “Ash—I need to go. I’d like to stay—but B is scared. My aunt—she said that Cullen came by, demanding more money and telling her he’d slit the throat of everyone who worked there.” There’s a quiver in her voice, even though she’s trying to stay strong.
    I sigh and sit up. It would be easier if she just hopped back in bed with me and forgot about this one little snag. Not that I have an idea of what to do—but there’s still time.
    The threat of danger is close, but it’s not yet here.
    Bianca never should have gotten involved with that man, and she never should have done it when she knew her niece was coming to live with her for a year.
    Summer walks away and heads to the door, stumbling over my rug in the dark, and I swear, I can almost smell her fear in the dark. There’s something awful about it all—I’ve caused fear every moment I’ve been a part of Cullen’s “Family.”  
    After the employees next week, Summer is the next target. Bianca has told her that Cullen won’t hurt her, but Bianca’s wrong. That’s always how it works—he goes after the money first, then the infrastructure, and finally, the family.  
    “Summer,” I say. I hear her pause by the door, keys jangling in her purse. But she doesn’t move. “Be careful. If Cullen is still around, I don’t want him to see you and get any big ideas.”  
    Stupid. There’s nothing you can do to protect him if he has them in his crosshairs. Fuck. This is so fucking useless.  
    This girl is special, and there’s nothing I can do for her. There’s got to be something .
    “I’ll be fine. B says Cullen won’t hurt me, right? So it’s okay if I go.”
    “It’s not okay if you go. You stay right here where you’re safe, Summer. You’re—”  
    Mine .  
    Before, I can finish, she opens the door and closes it behind her.
    I’m up and dressing as she flies down the stairs and out the front door.  
    “Damn woman. She doesn’t know who she’s dealing with.”
    He won’t go easy on Summer just because she’s a pretty little girl. Bianca might be an old friend, or so Cullen says, but she’s not family . And family is the only honor that crazy old Irish bastard has.  
    But now? I might be asked to hold her still while Cullen chops off a finger and Bianca watches.  
    In a matter of days, and there’s just about nothing I can do.  
    If I go after Cullen, his men will kill Bianca and Summer immediately.  
    There’s no money to scrounge up—not from me, not from Bianca or Summer or anyone.
    Just before I run down the stairs after her, something snaps in my brain.
    I laugh out loud, the sound echoing against the empty walls.  
    If I want Summer to live a life free of Cullen, I think this might be the only way. I just hope she doesn’t get any sentimental ideas about the whole thing. I’m not a sentimental man. As much as she might intrigue me, that’s as far as it goes—isn’t it?
    Or if she does get sentimental ideas—
    I stop the thought in its tracks.  
    This would be a business deal for the best lay I’ve had in years, and it’s nothing more than that.
    Surely she’ll understand.

    Present Day  

    I’ve made progress with Summer even though I shouldn’t have. I still wake up in the morning, thinking about the day she left. I didn’t even have the decency to say goodbye myself—I had another man do it for me. And worse, I lied.  
    I made him tell her I didn’t love her.  
    I made him tell her that I never wanted to marry her, that she needed to leave without me because I didn’t want to see her anymore. Something along those lines. I told him it was okay to improvise—whatever sounded worst.
    The thought makes me fucking sick now. When I saw her at that divorce lawyer’s place today, pencil skirt showing off her legs, her voice haughty and hurt and angry, I was taken back to that place all over again.  
    I married her to save