Chapter Sixteen #2
“Look, there’s the realtor.” Smiling like she’d just found some hidden treasure, she waved enthusiastically to the silver SUV that pulled into a parking spot along the curb. “Don’t be such a killjoy. Let’s at least see the inside before you completely write it off as a dump.”
When she hurried away to greet the real estate agent without waiting for a response, Cameron sighed and dug his phone out of his pocket. He snapped a couple of pictures of the outside, then sent them to Asher.
Cameron: This is apparently “cute. ”
A few seconds later, Asher sent back a picture of an enormous whiteboard that had been completely covered in photographs, diagrams, and red marker.
Asher: I’ll trade you.
Cameron: Deal. Maybe you’d have better luck talking some sense into my sister, because she’s not listening to me.
Asher: It’s not that bad. Just needs a little TLC.
Cameron rolled his eyes so hard his head hurt. He couldn’t believe Asher was actually siding with Natalie. What the hell did they see in the place anyway?
Asher: What’s the inside like?
Cameron: Haven’t seen it yet.
Asher: Then, how do you know it won’t work? Maybe it’ll surprise you.
Cameron pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned in frustration. What the hell was even happening? The guy hated doing his own dishes, but he thought some disgusting building one strong wind away from falling over might surprise him.
Before he could begin to figure out how to respond to that, his phone vibrated with another incoming message .
Asher: Gotta go. Talon is glaring at me. Let me know how it goes.
Cameron: I will. Good luck.
Asher: Love you.
He read the last message three times, grinning like a complete sap, before he sent back his response.
Cameron: Love you.
He was still smiling when Natalie joined him with the realtor in tow, a middle-aged man with hooded eyes and slack jowls that reminded Cameron of a basset hound.
His recent shift in mood didn’t mean he was any happier about having to actually step inside the building, though.
He loved his sister, but if he ended up with tetanus—or worse—he was never going to let her forget it.
“Okay,” he said, tucking his phone back into his pocket. “Let’s get this over with.”
~
Asher didn’t know what he’d done to piss off Talon, but the guy seemed hellbent on torturing him.
They’d been at it for hours, pouring over the same information again and again until Asher thought his brain would start bleeding.
While he agreed it was a good idea to be prepared, he honestly doubted Meredith Tripoli was interested in what kind of coffee he drank, and even if she asked, he didn’t need to rehearse a freaking answer.
“Asher, please focus.” Sitting across the table from him in one of the conference rooms at Platinum360 Public Relations, Talon exhaled a long, suffering sigh.
“Now, there’s a chance she’ll ask about the other boys involved in the Mitchell Faraday case.
You’ll want to keep your answers sympathetic but not specific. ”
That wouldn’t be a problem since Asher hadn’t seen or spoken to any of them since the trial. “I don’t even know where they ended up.”
“Don’t you watch the news?”
“Not if I can help it,” he answered honestly. Since he’d been the headlining story for quite a few media outlets lately, watching the news didn’t hold much appeal.
Apparently, Talon disagreed. Sighing, he reached across the table for a leather-bound folder atop a stack of crisp, white papers. Placing it in front of him, he flipped it open to a page toward the back.
“Matthew Westcomb,” he read. “Died shortly after the trial from a drug overdose.”
Asher flinched back but didn’t say anything. As sad as it was, it didn’t surprise him. Maybe that was callous, but he’d been there. He knew what it was like to want to escape reality and numb the pain by any means necessary.
“I believe you’re already aware of Kyle Ander’s past. ”
He nodded. A group home. A couple of foster families. Multiple incarcerations. He didn’t know all the details, but he knew enough.
Talon continued to stare at him for a few seconds before his gaze lowered back to his notebook. “Christopher Shirley died from HIV related complications seven years ago.”
Asher’s hand twitched on the tabletop, and he struggled not to fidget in his seat.
His stomach did a slow roll, forcing bile up into his esophagus.
Talon didn’t say when Chris had contracted the virus, and Asher didn’t ask.
He’d been diagnosed with a pretty bad case of chlamydia when he’d been admitted to the hospital at seventeen.
While it had been uncomfortable and embarrassing, even then, he’d known it could have been so much worse.
“And no one knows what happened to Daniel Kirkland,” Talon finished. “There’s no record of him after his last appearance in court. He could have changed his name, the same as you did.”
Or he could be dead like the other two.
Asher felt ill. He’d been friends with those boys more out of circumstance than any real bond. He had honestly tried not to think about them too often, but when he had, he’d always hoped that things had turned out for the best. Clearly, that hadn’t been the case.
Two dead. One missing. One in and out of jail since the age of seventeen .
If not for Luke, any one of those could have been his story.
“Like I said,” Talon continued, “you want to be sympathetic, but don’t make it personal. It was a tragedy. Time can’t heal all wounds. Try to avoid saying ‘I’ too often.”
Asher nodded numbly. It was kind of disturbing how dispassionately Talon spoke about such horrors. “Yeah, I got it.”
Closing the folder, Talon folded his hands together over it. “Now, they’ll interview you and your parents separately, then bring you out together toward the end of the segment. From the clips I’ve seen of your mother’s interviews, you should be prepared for a lot of tears.”
Of that, Asher had no doubt. She was becoming quite the actress, able to turn on the waterworks like a kitchen faucet.
“She’ll probably try to hug you as well,” Talon added, “because that would look great for the cameras.”
An involuntary shudder vibrated through Asher. “No.”
“I thought as much.” Talon offered him one of his rare smiles. “In that case, your best bet to avoid that kind of situation is to remain seated and keep her eyes averted. Ideally, they’ll have you separated on either side of Meredith, but I can’t make any promises. ”
Not for the first time, Asher considered if he was really doing the right thing by agreeing to the interview with his parents.
He knew Cameron had reservations about the situation, and they weren’t completely unfounded.
Confronting his parents on live television had the potential to backfire and blow up in his face.
Talon was right in thinking his mother would cry, but would the audience believe her tears? Asher sure as hell didn’t. Could he sit silently while his father told lie after lie about him? He had his doubts.
Still, it was his best chance to get the truth out there.
Whether the public would support him was out of his hands, but it was a chance to finally face his fears and put the past behind him.
He wasn’t that fourteen-year-old boy anymore.
He was a grown man, a successful author, and a lot less fucked up than he probably should have been given the circumstances.
As Luke had so sagely reminded him, the only power Suzanne and Lawrence Derringer had over him was the power he gave them.