Chapter Seven
Lyla’s acting weird, but then again so am I. I can’t get her out of my head. Or my heart, it seems. -Asher
Asher
Lyla’s acting weird. She keeps sending me sneaky glances and has barely said two words to me since the incident in the closet. To be honest, I’m barely talking to her either. Actually, I’m not talking at all. What do I say to the woman whom I’m wildly attracted to, but know I can’t have?
I turn over in bed again and bunch my pillow up. I punch it a few times for good measure. It’s one in the morning, for god’s sake. I’m almost forty. I should be asleep. I have to be up for…well, nothing. I’m off tomorrow. So is Lyla.
Lyla. Always Lyla. My gaze drifts to the picture of her, Mike, and I on the dresser. What would Mike say if he knew I wanted to date his daughter? That I thought of more than just dating her? That I thought of forever with her?
I shake my head and stare at the ceiling. He would probably laugh his ass off and then beat the shit out of me.
My last conversation with Mike was about Lyla. My mind goes back to that day.
I stood by his bedside adjusting some of the monitors while he slept, or so I thought. He startled me when his raspy voice said my name.
“Mike?” I asked tentatively and touched his hand. He hadn’t talked in a few days, so his voice surprised me.
“W…water?” he asked in a small voice.
I gave him a sip through a straw and winced as he struggled to swallow.
Mike had once been an invincible man in my opinion. He was robust and strong, built like Hulk Hogan, but a softie when it came to his daughter. He had become my role model over the last seven years and had spent more time with me than my dad ever did. Looking at him in that hospital bed had been heartbreaking for all of us. His muscles had withered away and his blonde hair, so similar to Lyla’s had fallen out after all the chemo treatments. He looked like a shrunken man. We had fought the tumors in his brain for over a year, but the tumors had won as they too often did.
Mike lifted a frail hand and gestured for me to come closer. “Asher, come here. I have something I n…need to tell you.” He licked his dry lips again and I tried to ignore the instinct to swab them again.
“I’m here. Tell me anything.” I blinked back sudden tears. I hadn’t cried in years. Not since I was a kid. Now, they threated to fall unbidden.
He placed a shaky hand on my arm. “Take care of Lyla,” he whispered. “Take care of my Lyla.”
I nodded. We had already had this talk. He knew I would always be there for her.
“No, you…you don’t understand. M…make sure she doesn’t get hurt. Doesn’t break her heart. Pr…protect her. M…Mary would want that. She would want her…” he pauses and takes a few deep breaths, “she would want her to choose a good man. Have children.”
My heart had nearly beat out of my chest. By that time, I was already gone for Lyla. And he was telling me to help her find a husband? I choked back the bile that came to my throat at the thought of her being with someone else.
I took one more look at Mike’s ashen face. He deserved peace. I could give him that.
“I’ll make sure, Mike. I’ll protect her at all costs. And I’ll make sure that she chooses wisely.” I squeezed his hand lightly and he nodded.
He fell asleep soon after that, and never woke up again. He died the next day. His final words were enlisting my protection for his beloved daughter.
I sigh, long and hard. I made my promise, and I would keep it. No matter how hard that promise was.
The doorbell ringing shook me out of my depressing thoughts. Who the hell would be ringing my doorbell this time of night?
I shuffle toward my front door slowly at first, until the fists on the door start and then the doorbell ringing over and over again. My feet move faster as I realize someone may need help.
I swing the door open, not sure what to expect.
The person standing there is literally the last person I expect to see.
Lyla pushes her blonde curls back from her face and gives me a lop-sided smile. “I…I’m here to sed…seduce you, Hot Doc.” She hiccups. “G…get ready to have your world rocked.”
She opens her peacoat to reveal a red negligee and then steps forward, stumbling headfirst into my arms.
The smell of alcohol is overwhelming, and I raise an eyebrow. My girl never drinks. What the hell happened tonight?