Whiskey Lullaby

Chapter 10-Ashton

Chapter 10

Ashton

Getting in the car, I tell Nick “Take me to the warehouse.” He nods and heads to the driver’s side. Pulling up at the warehouse, I walk inside. Rico hands me a pair of leather gloves and I walk in front of Mark, who’s hanging from chains hanging from a meat hook and his head is hanging. I put on the gloves and grab his hair, pulling his head up and he opens his eyes. “Who the f**k are you?” Mark asks, his voice hoarse. “Haha. You can call me Mr. Justice.” I tell him. “f**k you. Why am I here?” he asks. “You’re here because you hurt someone I care about.” I tell him, letting go of his hair and he keeps his head up, looking at me. “I don’t know you.” Mark says. “You’re right. You don’t know me, but I know all about you.” I tell him. “Really. What do you know about me?” Mark asks. “Your name is Mark Walker. Mother Janie. Father Marshall. I know you fathered a beautiful little boy named Jason. You treated his mother, Isabelle, like s**t before killing your son. I also know you paid her a visit a couple of nights ago and tried to choke her.” I tell him. Mark looks at me shocked and I can also see the fear in his eyes. “You see, Isabelle is very special to me, and I hate seeing her so upset. You have her believing that she was a horrible mother because she couldn’t protect her son from you. I can’t have that because when I’m done, she will be my wife, and we will give Jason some brothers and sisters to look down on. But you?” I ask as I lean down into his face. “I’m going to tear you apart, piece by f*****g piece. No one will ever see you again.” I tell him before turning to the table where my guys have laid out all of my tools.

I have my guys tie him up and lay him across a table. Rico has three buckets of water lined up next to the table. “This is for not treating Isabelle like the queen she is.” I say while Rico puts a t-s**t over Mark’s face and then I pour the bucket over his face. He sputters as he tries to catch his breath. “This is for drowning Jason.” I tell him before pouring the second bucket over his face. “And this is for daring to put your hands on what’s mine.” I say before pouring the third bucket over his face.

After using bolt cutters to cut off his fingers and toes, tossing them in the incinerator, I take the filet knife and start cutting off pieces of skin and tossing them in there as well before finally taking the knife and slitting his throat. “Clean this up.” I tell Rico as I head back out to my car and head home. Taking out my phone, while still in the car, I send a text to Izzy.

Good night sweetheart.

Good night Ashton.

See you in the morning baby.

See you in the morning.

The next morning, I knock on her door. When she opens it, I see her hair is down, instead of the ponytail she normally wears it in. “You look beautiful baby.” I tell her. “Thank you.” She says shyly. I cup her face and kiss her softly before leading her to the car. Once we’re in, I hand her the coffee I brought for her and the same three pastries that I brought her the morning before. “How did your night go?” she asks. “Better than planned. Did you sleep well?” I ask her. “I slept okay. Still not sleeping a lot.” She tells me. “How about we watch a movie tonight?” I ask. “That would be nice. Can we do it at my place?” she asks. “Of course. I’ll have food delivered.” I tell her and she nods.

That evening, we get off work and head to her house. Walking in, I tell her “Dinner should be here soon. Why don’t you get comfortable?” I ask her. “What about you?” she asks. “I brought something to change into.” I tell her and she says, “Bathroom is right there.” And points to the bathroom as she heads to her room. After we both change, we head to the living room and before we head to the couch, someone knocks on the door. “Food’s here. Head over to the couch.” I tell her and she nods. I get the food, and we eat.

After watching a couple of movies, she asks “You…um…wanna stay?” I smile softly and say “I do. But I don’t want you to think I expect anything. I just want to hold you.” I tell her and she smiles softly at me. Taking my hand, she leads me to her room, and we climb into bed. She lays with her back to me, and I snuggle up behind her. “Can I hold you?” I ask softly. She nods and I put my arms around her and feel her relax against me. I caress her stomach, and she stops my hand by lacing our fingers together. We lay there together and drift off to sleep.

I wake up in the middle of the night and her side of the bed is cold. I get up and walk to the hallway and listen. I hear crying coming from the door next to her bedroom and gently push the door open. I lean against the door frame and softly ask “What are you doing up baby?” She looks at me and quickly wipes her eyes. I walk over to her and take her hand. Pulling her to stand, I take her place in the rocker and pull her down into my lap. “Why are you crying baby?” I ask. She holds the teddy bear closer and smells it. “It doesn’t smell like him anymore.” She whispers. I pull her closer and just hold her. “I’m sorry baby.” I say before kissing the top of her head. “Why do you want me Ashton?” she asks softly. I cup her face and make her look at me. “I want you because you’re perfect. You are beautiful, smart, and I see how much you love your son.” I tell her. “My son that I couldn’t even protect.” She whispers. “Never say that again please. What happened to him was not your fault. You didn’t know that Mark would do that. You did nothing wrong.” I kiss her softly and say, “You know what I think about when I look at you?” She looks back up at me. “I think about you having my last name someday and about us having our own kids for Jason to watch over. They will know about Jason.” I whisper. “Ashton…” she starts but I cut her off. “Someday.” I whisper. “Someday maybe.” She says. I stand her up and she puts Jason’s bear back in his crib and she just stands there. “What do you say we go this weekend for me to meet Jason?” I ask. “Okay but only if I get to meet Karen.” She says. “Okay.” I tell her before leading her back to bed. She lays her head on my chest, and we fall asleep holding each other.