Page 2 of Dirty Deadly & Mine
“No,” Asher mutters, his eyes locking with mine.
“Asher, yes. Please,” I beg, turning with my arms outstretched, trying to block him from the authorities to protect him as best I can. “Think about this. If you kill him, who’s going to look after your mum? You’ll go to prison for the rest of your life, but this…” I nod down to Monty. “We can hire a good lawyer, and you’ll be out in a few years.”
“I can’t afford a fucking lawyer, Ms Bennett. You know that.”
“And you know I’ll do everything to help, Asher.” I take a step closer even as the police yell for me to step away. “I’ll pay for the lawyer. You know I’ll doanythingto protect you.”
Asher’s gaze darts over my shoulder, taking in the scene, and all the guns pointed at us right now. And then his eyes snap back to mine.
“Anything…” he asks, his brows shooting high as worry flickers over his expression. “Like risking getting shot by the cops?”
“Yes.” I breathe, fighting back a sob. “That’s what mums do.” My lips lift in the smallest smile, hoping he remembers how much I care about him. How I’ve been fighting for him for years.
But then… his eyes harden and his jaw ticks.
“You’re not my mum.”
“No, but I still care for you like a son, Asher. You know that.”
“Ash! Listen to her!” Ronan yells over the cops still demanding I step away.
“Asher,please. Jude and Ronanneedyou. Your mum needs you. Put the crowbar down. Surrender yourself and leave the rest to me.”
“What about you?” Asher asks, the tension starting to ease from his shoulders. “Doyouneed me?”
Me? He wants to know about me?
I frown at his question, but find myself nodding. “Of course.”
For a long moment, he just stares at me, his brown eyes scanning mine like he’s looking for something.
“I’m not worth the bother,” he whispers, his voice cracking with emotion he’s clearly trying to hold back.
Tears instantly glaze my eyes, burning as I stare back at him, and for a moment, the young man he’s grown into flickers away, leaving behind a young boy. It’s the boy my sons brought home one day after school, looking far too thin, his clothes a size too small and covered in dirt. He smelled like he needed three baths and had that look about him that screams troublemaker.
Yet he smiled timidly up at me as Jude introduced him. Gave me a nod and called me ma’am, which I quickly shut down, and then had the courtesy to remove his shoes, placing them neatly by the door.
He didn’t know that I noticed the bruises on his ribs later that evening when he agreed to take a shower and peeled off his shirt as I set the water temperature right. He didn’t notice that every meal I fed him was twice as large as the ones I fed my sons, which eventually helped put more meat on his bones. And he didn’t know that the clothes I kept buying for my sons, accidentally getting a size bigger, were really for him, so I wouldn’t make him feel like a charity case, allowing him to think he was simply borrowing their clothes.
I’ve tried to make him feel wanted. Loved. But I guess at the end of the day, a child craves that attention from their parents, something I’m all too aware of.
It’s not his fault he was dealt a shit hand by the way of parents. Sometimes I think fate sent him and his mother here to Hedgwick all those years ago so I could take care of him. If they had stayed in London, I have no doubt he’d be dead by now.
“Asher, don’t say that.” A tear pops from my eye as I lurch forward, cupping his face in my trembling hands. “Youareworth the bother. You’re worthso much, Asher Scott, and don’t you dare think otherwise.” More tears spill from my eyes, and finally, his match mine, pooling with tears. “Please surrender, Asher. Go into police custody, keep quiet, and I’ll arrange legal representation. Let me help you.”
I can see the struggle waging a war inside his head, his eyesdancing between mine as he heaves under the weight of his emotions.
“Will you… watch over my mum while I’m away?”
“Of course.” I nod, finally feeling the fight leave his body as his shoulders drop.
“Will you visit me… in prison?”
“Absolutely.” I nod. “Just try to stop me.” I smile through my tears, and he nods before the clang of the crowbar bouncing off the grass and landing on the path breaks through the bubble I didn’t realise we were in.
Slowly, Asher takes a step back, causing my hands to fall from his face, and he glances over my shoulder, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows.
For a fleeting moment, I see fear flicker over his expression before those brown eyes dart back to me.
