The Love Story #34

Billy was waiting for Ash at the door. When he arrived, Billy grabbed him in a bear hug. “Thanks Ash, what did you say to her!”
“She called? That’s good. I told her it was inconvenient for us to bring them here, and that we would be getting an apartment close to them.” Ash walked into the AA room and sat next to Joe on the leather seat.
“I already found one. I started looking the minute you left. I’m going to check it out tomorrow!” Billy sat down next to him and picked up his beer. He felt more relaxed now that his fight with Ann was defused.
“How’s Lee?” Joe asked before he filled his mouth with a hand full of popcorn, his eyes glued to the game on TV.
Ash smiled, warmth spread through him at the mention of her name. He loved everything about her and how happy she made him feel. He saw her as a gift; a blessing the spirits had given him to fill the empty space in his heart. In such a short time he’d fallen in love with her, and he wanted to be with her every single second of the day. But he couldn’t do that, not just yet. “She’s fine, more beautiful each day.”
“Are body swaps possible because this doesn’t seem like the same brooding bad tempered rigid wolf I knew a few weeks ago?” Joe said stuffing more popcorn in his mouth.
“He’s having hot steamy sex now, that’s bound to change a man,” Billy said with a smile on his face.
“We’ve only made love once and it’s not about that…she’s…it’s just…” Ash’s smile grew wider. He didn’t have the words to describe exactly how much she meant to him.
“She’s the wind beneath your wings,” Billy teased.
“The air you breathe,” Joe added.
“The light at the end of your tunnel.”
“The ‘e’ in ‘me’.”
Billy stared at Joe with a baffled look on his face. “The ‘e’ in ‘me’? Where the hell did you get that from?”
Before Joe could say anything Dave crashed into the room. Automatically, they were on their feet, ready to attack, with growls bellowing deep inside them. When they saw it was Dave they relaxed.
“What’s wrong with you?” Billy yelled at him. Dave sauntered to Ash, completely ignoring Billy. His jaw was tight and his eyes were silver, his fists were clenched and it was evident he was making an effort to control himself. He was furious.
“What the hell are you doing with my daughter?” Everyone froze. They all had their eyes on Dave.
“What are you talking about?” Ash asked him, cold, angered by his approach.
“The girl you were just with, Merilee Jackson, or better known to her friends as Lee.”
Ash paled as he made the connection. He now understood why her scent and her sad eyes were so familiar to him. The scared little girl he once held in his arms and soothed was the same grown girl he was so very much in love with. He felt weak. He rocked back on his feet dizzy.
Dave continued, harsher than he was before. “She is my only surviving family. The one Sabrina abandoned at the hospital, the same one who escaped the slaughter in my house, the only Jackson who survived your stupid vendetta. The only one you have yet to kill.”
Ash sank in the seat. He was struggling to breathe. Dave’s words had knocked the wind out of him.
“He didn’t kill your family, Baku did!” Billy was fuming. He reached for Dave and turned him around to face him.
“It’s him Baku wanted to hurt! And my family died for it!” Dave yelled back.
“No, your family was killed for what you witnessed.”
“It wasn’t my fault you picked a fight in a public place!”
“Neither is it his, we tried to protect you! You should have stayed where Joe placed you, instead you ran to your family, in full view, for everyone to see!”
“I took them away didn’t I?”
“But you came back! That also isn’t his fault, it’s yours!” They were close to fighting. Billy’s eyes were silver now, his lips drawn back over his teeth.
“Stop!” Ash shouted. He was still pale, but he was tired of the fights, the guilt, the anger and the constant despair. He just wanted to live his life, with Lee. He was tired of Baku ruining his life, even when he wasn’t close by. He wasn’t going to let anyone destroy his new joy, not Baku, nor Dave
“It isn’t Dave’s fault it’s mine for failing to prevent it. You and your family were victims of circumstance. I, on the other hand, I’m his target for revenge, for constant amusement and torture. We tried to help you, but we couldn’t and for that I’m sorry. I will find Baku, and kill him once and for all.”
“I want you to stop seeing my daughter!” Dave completely ignored what Ash said, he didn’t care about that, he only wanted Ash miles away from his daughter.
Ash looked at him. He took this time to go through Dave’s thoughts to finally find out what he had been up to, since he was too occupied with being angry to block his thoughts.
He saw Lee grow up in Dave’s mind. It was like a comparison between the little girl before the murder and the growing girl after. He saw her change from a happy talkative little girl to a quiet closed off child who kept everyone away. He saw her sit in a corner alone watching other children play happily then she would curl up and start crying for her brother and sister. He saw the pain he knew years ago she would suffer.
“I’m sorry I can’t do that.”