Chapter 13
Asher stepped sideways to allow me room to enter. There was nothing but a long hallway behind him, the lights flickering softly as I walked inside and the door clicked shut behind me. I continued to plod along slowly, hearing his footsteps fall quietly behind me. Except he didn’t say anything.
Right before we rounded a corner, he slipped his fingers into mine, pulling me halfway behind him before anyone spotted me.
People too busy to notice that I wasn’t supposed to be here bustled around the massive room, past doors scattered along the outskirts with another hallway at the far side of the room.
He stopped walking and faced me, stepping into my body.
I stumbled backwards a few feet and bumped into the wall.
His entire frame swamped mine as I lifted my gaze to meet his honey-colored eyes.
A corner of his lip lifted into a smile, and he glanced to his left and right, checking to make sure we were completely alone in this desolate hallway.
“There’s magazines on the coffee table in the middle of the sofas.
Go park yourself there and hide behind one.
If someone asks where you’re supposed to be, just say that you’re waiting for studio three to open.
That’s where we are, and we are running a bit behind, so it’ll be a perfect cover,” he said, finally breaking the silence between us.
His eyes swung toward me once more, that mischievous, knowing sparkle back in them.
I slowly nodded, sucked into his gaze. Despite fighting with myself, self-control was fleeing my body.
I’d rejected him enough times, and my only intention in coming here was for my students, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.
With him this close, his hands on either side of my head, cocooning me into his world, I just couldn’t resist.
Leaning forward without hesitation, I tipped onto my toes and smashed my lips against his. He widened his eyes in shock, and I rapidly pulled away. His surprise turned to confusion while my cheeks became red hot, rosy embarrassment crashing through me.
Then suddenly his mouth was against mine once more, desperate and intense.
Closing my eyes, I melted into his velvet, seductive taste as his hands found their way to my waist. One massive palm pressed tightly against my lower back, shoving my hips against his body, his other fingers dug into my side, squeezing tightly.
I threw my arms around his shoulders, intertwining my fingers through his hair, and kissed him with all the ferocity I had. I didn’t care, not at this moment. Not in another thousand moments would I care if anyone saw. The high crashing through me was worth any consequences that would come.
My heart slammed against my ribcage, driving me tighter and more aggressively into him.
He didn’t hold back either, shoving his tongue into my mouth the moment he had a chance.
Desperation washed through the minty kiss, indentations from his rings on his fingers pressed deep into my body, mirroring the passion we were sharing.
More. Give me more.
Slowly, he slid his tongue out from my teeth and then gave me one last, soft kiss. Sweet and simple, ending this impromptu hallway make-out session with a whisper of something deeper than the physical intimacy we’d been sharing.
I kept my eyes closed, feeling his hot breath washing over my face. He hadn’t released his hold on my body just yet either.
“I’m not quite sure what I believe,” he whispered against my mouth.
“What’s that?” I asked softly.
“You’re constantly rejecting me, and then going and doing things like this. So, which is it?” He pecked my lips. I shook my head, my mouth brushing across his in the process.
Slowly, he removed his palm from my lower back and stepped an inch away. I opened my eyes and stared at his chest. His free hand wrapped around one of my wrists and pulled it away from his neck.
“Princess, look at me.”
I hesitantly lifted my eyes to meet his gaze, his fingers tightening around my wrist.
“What is it you want?”
I swallowed stiffly. You. I wanted him, and the longer I tried to fight it, the deeper the desire raged.
But I couldn’t admit it out loud. I would be dead if I did because Sydney.
Tera. All the consequences, even if they didn’t quite understand the power that he held over me.
Plus, he lived in a world that I couldn’t exist in.
Too much of my life could be exposed. Secrets kept buried could be revealed.
“What do you want?” I squeaked out instead.
He chuckled quietly, a devilish smile twitching the corner of his mouth upwards. His eyes darkened, and he suddenly shoved my hand between his legs. His palm swallowed my fingers, pressing them against his hard dick.
I didn’t resist as he slid my hand along his length, feeling it grow. He leaned forward, his mouth resting against my ear, and then spoke. “Can’t you tell?” he whispered, and then his tongue flicked out and danced across the edge of my lobe.
Chills shot through my body, a roaring fire bursting within my core. I could tell; oh, could I tell. He guided my hand back up his length and then slid it all the way back down, moving my fingers to cup as much as I could. Instinctively, I squeezed, not too tightly but enough to make him shudder.
Then he suddenly jerked my hand away from him, stepped back, and a cold chill swept between us.
My eyes met his gaze again, as he shoved his hands in the pockets of the black joggers he was wearing.
Even that didn’t do much to conceal his excitement, and I sucked in my bottom lip, trying to forget all I’d felt and could see.
He chuckled, knowing. “I have to get back. Stay hidden on that couch, and I’ll come get you when the coast is clear,” Asher said and then turned away, sauntering around the corner, disappearing from sight.
I was left confused and craving more. Part of me wondered if all he wanted me for was more sexual escapades, which at first had been exciting, and sort of still was. But the longer I spent time around him, the more I wanted…more.
Which was even worse of a problem. I was getting attached and unable to stop myself.
Heartbreak for both myself and Sydney was in the future, and I was no longer doing much to refrain from letting it happen. I had consciously chosen to kiss him. I had consciously not tried to remove my hand from his. I had done all of that.
I’d even shown up here all by my choice, fully aware and knowing of what being alone with him meant.
Taking a deep breath, I quietly walked around the corner and waded through bustling workers.
A man and woman rushed by me, immersed in a quiet but seemingly frantic conversation.
Nobody really seemed to care or notice that I was there as I found myself seated on a navy couch, my back facing the studio doors behind me.
Hanging on the wall across from me were several posters of different bands that this studio had contracts with.
My eyes drifted to the one of Void. There he was, ethereal presence and everything.
He was wearing that same low-cut, cut-off hoodie he had on today.
It showed off things that I’d once felt against my own bare skin.
And yes, the other members of his band were there—good looking too, I admitted.
But Asher. Asher had a hold on me that I couldn’t quite shake.
Sighing, I reached forward and slid a magazine off the glass coffee table. I didn’t even bother to see what one, I simply opened it up and held it up in front of my face.
“What are we going to do?” a man asked, his panic briefly fraying my solitude.
My mind was miles away, wondering that exact same thing.
What was I going to do? Because there was no denying what I wanted, but there was no denying the warning that Tera had explicitly stated.
More than once, I might add. And while her threats had only been mere words so far, I’d known Tera to follow Sydney into situations that veered out of simple conversation and into physical enforcements of threats.
“We are running out of time to figure things out,” a lady desperately pleaded behind me as wild footsteps paced on by again.
Same… The longer I waited, the more pain and damage I would cause.
A secret relationship with Asher might work.
I mean, everything already up to this point was a secret.
From everyone. More secrets. I honestly didn’t know what to do because no matter how strong of feelings I had for Asher, things hadn’t changed regarding Sydney.
Even if I agreed to a secret relationship with Asher, Sydney would still get hurt.
And when she’d been hurt by others before, she hadn’t been entirely afraid of hurting them back.
She wouldn’t do those things to me, would she?
Maybe it would hurt her less if I admitted I’d only slept with him and nothing more.
Something like actual committed terms was more serious than a fling.
And the commitment meant I put thought into it.
Though, fifteen years is a long time for a friendship.
Would she want to lose a fifteen-year friendship over this?
She might retaliate with the silent treatment for a bit, but nothing close to how she handled the cheerleader in high school who stole her boyfriend.
Sydney wasn’t best friends with that girl like she and I were.
She might slap me, but I could handle a little slap on my cheek.
Dead fish wouldn’t turn up in my vents at the house because Sydney lived there too.
I wouldn’t end up with a mysterious food poisoning like the cheerleader—