He didn’t even feel the pain of the angry red patches sizzling on his bare forearms and face. All of his focus, all of his concern, was on her. “Let’s go inside.”
Grabbing the tote in one hand and her in the other, he shut the truck’s door and brought Naomi into the house. Sam immediately trotted over, showering her with affection she barely seemed to notice.
“Come on,” Asher said, leading her into the living room and sitting her down on the sofa.
He put the tote bag on the floor then sat beside her. When her eyes met his again, he felt a withdrawal from her that had nothing to do with Michael or her ordeal today.
Something else was wrong here. If her wounded eyes hadn’t told him so, the stab of anguish that pierced him through the bond left no doubt.
“Talk to me, Naomi. Tell me where you’ve been.” He looked back at the tote full of large denomination bills and cursed under his breath. There had to be tens of thousands of dollars stuffed into that bag. “What are you doing with all of that money?”
“I was leaving Michael’s house after I talked with the police,” she murmured, her voice sounding rusty and unused. “I got a call. Michael’s number. Only it wasn’t Michael.”
“Slater.” Asher practically spat the name.
“He told me he wants all of his money back. Not just the money Michael and I took the other night. All of it. Everything I’ve ever stolen from him.”
Asher recalled the steep figure Cain had tossed around. “You don’t have that kind of money in that bag,” he said, dread coiling inside him when he realized where this conversation was going. “Tell me you didn’t plan on doing what Slater asked. You aren’t planning to go bring him that money, are you?”
“I’m not planning to,” she murmured. “I already did. Tried to, that is.”
He vaulted to his feet on a savage curse. “Holy fuck. What do you mean, you tried?”
She gazed up at him, a bleakness in her expression. “I ran into someone you know. I was on my way to find Slater at Moda and Cain was on his way out. Quitting and leaving town, according to him.”
Asher would consider that surprising newsflash later. Right now, the only important detail was the fact that Naomi had evidently come face to face with the former Hunter.
“What else did he have to say?”
“A lot of things, Asher. Mainly what he said was that I needed to be wary of you.” She stared at him, her soft sherry-colored eyes leaving him nowhere to hide. “He told me about your past. About the fact that you were part of the Hunter program, all of it. He warned me that I should leave Las Vegas and you and never look back.”
His chest felt as though it were being cracked open from the inside. He didn’t need to know the specifics of whatever else Cain had told her. The details didn’t matter. Everything between them had changed because of her conversation with the other Hunter.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Why did I have to learn it from someone else, Asher?”
He took a step away from her, unable to hold her accusing expression. “I didn’t want you to know.”
She exhaled sharply. “I guess that’s understandable. Hard to sell me on the fact that only you can protect me from a man like Slater, or even Cain, when it turns out you’re more dangerous than either one of them. Is that it? Don’t you think I deserved to know?”
“In the beginning, I saw no reason to tell you. And then . . . it wasn’t long before I hoped you’d never find out.”
She stood up on slightly shaky legs, then turned to head out of the room. Asher told himself he should let her go. She was right. He was worse than Slater and Cain combined. The things he’d done. The deaths he’d dealt at Dragos’s command. Scores of them, each one seared into his memory in total, vivid detail.
If Naomi left after learning all of that, he could blame no one but himself.
But he wasn’t ready to let her go.
God, he would never be ready for that.
Moving faster than her eyes could track him, he blocked her path. “You do deserve to know. As much as I wish you’d never find out all the things I’ve done, I owe you the truth. Even if it does make you leave me and never look back.”
“Is it true? Were you not only part of that awful program, but its executioner too? Did you really kill little boys and men—your brothers—for Dragos?” Her questions came rapid fire and hitching, a barrage of ugly truths. “Asher, my God.” Her breath caught sharply as her stark gaze studied him. “Did you really enjoy it so much that you used your gift to revel in their pain?”
So, Cain hadn’t spared a detail about his past. That came as no surprise. His Hunter brethren had plenty of reason to despise him, but Cain had one thing wrong.
“No. I didn’t revel in my duty. I hated every second of it. But I did it because I wanted to survive . . . and because if I didn’t carry out Dragos’s orders, someone else would. Or he would do it himself, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, least of all my brothers.”
He saw her struggling to accept what she was hearing from him. He felt her recoil emotionally through their bond. But she didn’t turn away from him. She wasn’t trying to leave and never look back. Not yet, anyway.
