Big Bad Boys A Romance Collection - Penny Wylder Page 0,22

safe. That, and I can keep hiding the cash from your father. If at least, after all this, that’s the only small vengeance I can get from this mess, well, I’ve made my peace with that. I only wish I could get the money to Eric’s family, but, of course, no way to do that without tipping off your father too…”

“I’ll do it,” she says.

Now it’s my turn to stare at her in surprise. “Ashley…”

“No, please, I mean it. It’s the least I can do. Damon, after everything you’ve been through… Let me help you with this. Let me do this one thing, right this one wrong.”

I search her gaze one last time. If Ashley’s lying right now, this could ruin everything. Get her father’s grubby hands on that cash, get me killed, since I won’t have any leverage left to hold over him, any more reasons for him to keep me alive. But if she’s lying right now, then she is the best goddamn actress I’ve ever met. Because I see nothing in her big brown eyes but pain and heartache and… something else.

Maybe… affection?

Ashley leans in and kisses my lips once more, softly. “Let me do this for you,” she whispers against my mouth.

Just then, someone pounds on the door to the room. “Time’s about up, lovebirds!” the guard shouts through the metal door.

Ashley doesn’t move, doesn’t reach for her clothes, even though she’s still stark naked. Hell, so am I. Neither of us cares. Not right now.

“I’m assuming your father knows where I lived?” I whisper.

She nods.

I pull her close, just as keys jimmy in the lock. “Under the floorboards of my bedroom, there’s a key. Take it to the lockers at the bus station. Farthest one at the back. It’s all in there.”

The door swings open, and I reach down to yank the sheets up to cover Ashley, just in time, as the guard elbows his way inside. Walton. I never liked that guy.

“Well, you two certainly don’t waste any precious seconds,” Walton comments. Then he sneers and eyes Ashley’s body beneath the sheet. “Not that I can say I blame you, Tell. What I wouldn’t do to get a piece of that ass…”

“Close the damn door,” I hiss through clenched teeth.

“Your visitation hour is up.”

I shift in bed, so that Ashley can remain lying down, safely covered. Then I shove to my feet and plant myself facing Walton, not bothering to cover anything. I’m at least a head taller than him, and have plenty more muscle to go around, judging by his narrow arms under that drab uniform. “Close the door and let my fiancée get dressed,” I repeat.

He narrows his eyes. “You don’t get any extra time, Tell.”

“I’m not asking for extra time. I just want her to be allowed to dress herself properly, without an audience gawking at her.” I lift a brow, pointed. “Or would you like me to explain to your supervisor what inappropriate terms you were using to address my fiancée?”

His jaw tenses, tightens. I can practically see the tiny cogs churning behind his eyes, as he calculates whether he’d win over me. But then he glances at the bed, probably remembering Ashley’s surname, or the reason we’re in this private room—because her daddy is one of the most powerful men in the state. Without another word, Walton turns around and slams the door behind him.

“Thank you,” Ashley says, as I reach down to hand her her bra.

“Anything for you,” I say, and as the words come out of my mouth, I realize they’re true.

She smiles. Steps up beside me and wraps an arm around my neck. I bend down for one last, long, lingering kiss. I’ll have to savor this one. Have to remember what she tastes like, smells like, feels like, in all the long, lonely years to come.

When we pull apart again, she’s still smiling. “My turn to do you a favor, Damon Tell,” she whispers.

7

“It’s here?” Dad asks.

I pause in the doorway of the room and nod.

“It can’t be,” he says. “We already searched this room. We searched the whole damn house.”

“Do you trust me or not, Dad?” I ask.

He scowls. “I don’t trust Damon Tell, and he’s the one whose information we’re working with.”

“No. We’re working with my information now,” I reply. That, at least, is true. After all, I already came here ahead of time, got the key, which was exactly where Damon told me it would be, underneath the floorboards of his bedroom.