Free Asher by Effy Vaughn Page A

He’d left us in the end anyway.
                  Momma turned back to me. “Where were those letters?” she asked.
                  “Loose floorboard in the attic,” I told her.
                  She nodded. “I should have checked that place out before I let you move up there. I knew you were sweet on that girl. She looks just like her momma but she ain’t a thing like her. She’s got her daddy’s heart and Luke Monroe is a good man. He tried to make it work with Millie even when he knew she was crazy. Millie ran off and left him with that little girl and it was the best thing that could have happened to Dixie. She didn’t need that woman in her life. She turned out to be a fine woman,” Momma paused, then reached over and squeezed my arm. “A woman your brother loved enough to propose to her. Remember that, okay?”
                  Remember that.
                               

DIXIE
     
                  Scarlet’s white Camaro came down my long driveway. I sat in the porch swing watching as she made her way to the house. We hadn’t talked much in the past two days. She seemed to get that I needed some distance with Asher being back.
                  She really had no idea how crazy things had gotten.
                  When she stopped and her car door swung open, I realized that she may be my best friend, but there were some thing I just wasn’t ready to talk to her about. I wasn’t telling anyone about this until I got myself mentally ready to tell Asher that we weren’t related. Once I realized that my daddy was my daddy and that he loved me even more than I had even known, I was left knowing that this horrible secret that kept Asher from me was no longer there.
                  Running to him had been the first thing I thought of doing, but then I remembered Steel. I had to deal with Steel. And what if… what if this had been too much for him and Asher didn’t love me that way anymore. I just… I had to think. I sat on my porch and listened to my mom humming as she cooked lunch, knowing that I was safe. This life wasn’t about to be pulled out from under me.
                  “Since my best friend couldn’t pick up a phone and call me or heck even text me, I figured I better come check on her. The Sutton boys got you in a tangled web yet?” she asked as she walked up the steps to the front of the porch that wrapped around my house.
                  “Sorry. I’m spending a lot of time with my thoughts,” I told her patting the empty spot on the swing beside me. “Sit. Talk,” I said.
                  Scarlet flicked her red hair behind her shoulder and smirked. “Fine, but only ‘cause you’re sexy,” she teased, then sat down beside me. She gave the swing a big push with her legs then pulled them up in front of her tucking her knees under her chin. “Brent said there’s been some drama.”
                  I nodded. “Yeah, you could say that. But right now I just want to stay away from it and get some peace. I have to talk to Steel, but not yet.”
                  Scarlet sighed. “Please don’t tell me you’re gonna break it off with him. He loves you. Don’t mess it up because of Asher’s sexy ass. He ain’t worth it.”
                  She didn’t know. Any of it. But hearing her talk about Asher like he wasn’t worth fighting for was hard. He was so worth fighting for. Steel did love me and I had to figure out if what I had felt for him was love. I knew without a shadow of a doubt I was in love with Asher. I adored him. He was everything I’d ever wanted. But he was also dangerous. He could hurt me so easily. And he might not want me.
                  Steel did. At least I thought he did before he found out the truth.
                  “You talked to Brent today?” I