26. Holly
26
HOLLY
“Are you ready?” I called out, putting the finishing touches on my makeup. Of course, he was ready. He was a man. He’d been sitting on the couch for the last half hour, flipping through the channels as he waited for me to finish getting ready. I was the one holding up the night.
“Almost, baby!” he called out, trying to make me feel better. “Just getting my shoes on!”
I chuckled to myself and put my mascara away, then fluffed my hair one last time. Now that my face had returned to normal, I could go out in public without people looking at me with sympathetic gazes and eyeing Asher like he was a wife beater.
I grabbed my shrug off the bed and walked down the hall, smiling when I saw Asher fidgeting with something in his pocket. He looked so handsome no matter what he was wearing. Tonight, that was jeans and a white T-shirt with a black leather jacket. If it was possible, he was more handsome than the first time I met him.
“Ready?”
He nodded and headed for the door, but stopped and turned to me, cocking his head at me. “You’re missing something.”
I looked down at myself. Jeans, shoes, shirt, shrug, purse. “Nope, I’ve got everything.”
He pulled something out of his pocket and held it up in front of me, then opened his hand and let it dangle in front of me. A thin silver chain with an infinity symbol and pearls on either side swung from side to side as he grinned at me.
“Told you there was something missing.”
“Is that for me?” I gasped.
“Well, I was going to wear it, but it was the wrong size.”
I smacked his arm and held out my hand for him to put it on me. It was absolutely stunning, but what really struck me was when he turned my hand over and pressed a kiss to the inside of my wrist. God, he melted my heart.
“Thank you. It’s so beautiful.”
“Just like you.”
“Do yourself a favor and don’t talk like that in front of Noelle. I don’t think she can handle any more Hallmark moments right now.”
“Wyatt either,” he chuckled.
“I think we’re both insane for agreeing to a double date with them.”
“He said it’s been going good between them.”
I rolled my eyes as I walked past him out the door. “Good for Noelle could mean anything from she hasn’t shivved him to she kissed him.”
As he locked up, I pulled on my shrug and wrapped it tight, fighting off the night chill. He pulled me into his body as we headed to his truck. “Are you sure that’s warm enough? It might get cooler.”
“We’ll be inside most of the night. I don’t want to carry around a jacket the whole time.”
“I’d carry it for you, Holly Bear.”
“That’s sweet of you, but not necessary,” I smiled. He helped me into the truck as always, then grabbed his phone as he shut the door. I noticed he got a lot of calls lately that he didn’t answer, but I never asked him about them. I wasn’t ready to break our bubble yet. I knew the time would come that I’d have to make a decision, but since the night we’d talked and made up, I hadn’t been able to bring myself to really think about it again. The pain of him leaving would be devastating.
“So, have you ever been to this restaurant?”
“Nope. I hope it’s good. Noelle can be quite picky about her food.”
“No,” he said sarcastically. “Not Noelle.”
“You laugh now. Wait until you see her in action,” I grinned. “This one time, she ordered from a fast food restaurant and they brought her fries that were crunchy. She threw such a hissy fit that we got kicked out. Like, literally kicked out. The manager grabbed us by the arms and I’m pretty sure his foot hit my butt on the way out.”
“And yet you keep going out to eat with her.”
I shrugged. “Well, she keeps it entertaining.”
“Such a good reason to stay friends.”
“What about Wyatt?”
“What about him?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow at me.
“Have you ever gone out with him?”
“Nah, he’s not really my type.”
I smacked his arm. “You’re such a jerk. You know what I mean.”
Still laughing, he shook his head. “No, never hung out.”
“Why not?”
“Because.”
I rolled my eyes. Such a guy answer. “Would you care to elaborate?”
“Would I care to or you would like me to?”
“The second.”
“We’ve never hung out because we work together.”
“And?” I asked, waiting for him to give me more.
“And when I leave work, I go home. I thought that was pretty self-explanatory.”
“But don’t you guys talk about things?”
“Like feelings?” he grinned. “Do I bare my soul to him?”
“Or maybe just ask how his weekend was?”
He sighed heavily. “Why is this so important to you?”
“That you have friends? I don’t know. It’s a normal part of life.”
“I have you. That’s a pretty normal part of life and all I need.”
“And while that’s a completely lovely and wonderful answer, I will get sick of you eventually and need you to leave me alone for an afternoon.”
“So, I’ll go to a ball game or something.”
“Alone?”
“Why not?”
“Isn’t that boring?”
He glanced at me. “This is really bothering you, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s bothering me!”
I didn’t understand how he could just sit there with a silly grin on his face and act like it was no big deal to have absolutely no friends and only hang out with me. Was that normal? Not by my standards.
“What about you? Don’t you have any friends other than Noelle?”
“Yes, I have—I mean there’s?—”
“There’s who?”
I could hear the laughter in his voice. Crap, I fell into my own trap. “Fine, I may have only one friend, but I still have her.”
“I’m just saying, as you get older, people change and grow apart. That’s part of life.”
“Yes, but you should have at least one friend.”
“Like I said, I have you.”
I wanted him to have more than me. I loved having him in my life and getting him to myself, but he should have someone he could turn to for a guy’s night or just to hang out with. It just seemed wrong. And for some reason, the rest of the way to the restaurant, that’s all I could think about.
“Any chance I could get you to stop throwing me a pity party before we go inside?” Asher asked as he helped me down from the truck.
“I’m not throwing you a pity party. I’m throwing myself one on your behalf. It’s totally different.”
“Mm,” he nodded, taking my hand in his.
And that was it. All he had to say on the subject, which bothered me even more. He really didn’t care.
He guided me into the restaurant and waved when he saw Noelle and Wyatt already seated, signaling to the hostess as we walked past. It was a good thing he was leading because I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts of how he had no friends to think about where I was going.
“Uh-oh.”
I looked up at Noelle and frowned. “What?”
“You. What’s with the intense look? Another fight?”
“No.” I took my seat with a heavy sigh.
“Right, I’m totally buying that,” Noelle snorted.
“He looks perfectly happy,” Wyatt grinned. “It’s just her.”
“He has no friends!” I snapped, pointing at Asher accusingly. “And he doesn’t care. He says that I’m enough. What kind of psycho talk is that? I mean, who doesn’t want friends? I can’t even wrap my head around it!”
Asher placed his hand on my back and started rubbing in soothing circles. “Baby?—”
“Don’t you baby me. This is not alright. I don’t care what you did in a previous life or what you do now. Normal people need friends. And if you’re going to be friends with me, you’re going to have to find yourself at least one friend. I draw the line at not having any friends. It’s just plain weird.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Fine.” Then he turned to Wyatt. “Hey, man. Will you be my friend?”
“Sure.”
Then he turned back to me. “Feel better?”
I glared at him, ready to pick up a steak knife and shove it through his neck. I hated how casually he was acting about all this. “He’s just saying that to appease me. How do I know that you won’t go to work tomorrow and take it all back?”
“Because this isn’t the fifth grade and we’re not on a playground.”
Well, that was true. I looked at Wyatt, trying to figure out if he was the type to lie to me. It was a toss-up, but I decided to trust him. “Fine, but if I find out you two broke up, I’ll have your head.”
“Don’t worry,” Wyatt laughed, “I’ll get him a diamond ring and everything.”
“I had no idea you cared so much,” Asher teased.
I rolled my eyes and grabbed the menu. This night called for many, many drinks. “Noelle, what are you drinking?”
“Gin and Tonic.”
“Ugh. I did not want something that heavy to drink.”
“You don’t have to get what she’s getting,” Asher laughed.
“Girlfriends stick together.”
Asher raised an eyebrow at Wyatt. “Does that mean I have to order the same thing as you?”
“I don’t know. I was gonna get a Cosmopolitan.”
“Fuck that. We can’t be friends anymore if you order that.”
“Hey!” I smacked him. “That didn’t even last five minutes!”
“You never specified how long our friendship had to last.”
“You just said you would be friends tomorrow,” I shot back.
“Well, we can be friends tomorrow, but not tonight while he’s drinking a Cosmo.”
“Men are so complicated,” I muttered under my breath.
“Hey, you’re the one who insisted I get a friend. Take it or leave it.”
Noelle slapped her menu on the table. “I have a solution. You get a Cosmo with Wyatt and Asher can drink a Gin and Tonic with me. Then it’ll be like we’re sharing friends for the night.”
“I wasn’t actually going to get a Cosmo,” Wyatt laughed.
“And I’m not drinking when I’m driving with Holly.”
“Aww, how sweet,” Noelle said, rolling her eyes. “God, you make me want to puke. Wyatt, you wanna go to the bar?”
“Ha ha,” I said, shooting her a mocking smile. “Make fun of us all you want. Just watch, it won’t be long before you’re right here with us.”
“Making kissy faces and professing our undying love every five minutes?” Wyatt grinned. “I doubt that.”
“Not that it’s not sickeningly sweet. I have to admit, I was thunderstruck by his devotion when you were attacked by that psycho who wanted to flay you for your skin.”
“Carjacked,” I corrected.
“Not that he would have gotten far with a flat tire,” Wyatt muttered.
“And not when Asher showed up and beat the shit out of him,” Noelle chimed in.
I glanced at Asher, wondering if the mention of that day would make him lose it, but he seemed to be holding it together pretty well. “Well, thankfully, he didn’t get Brown Betty.”
“Excuse me, what?” Wyatt asked.
I raised an eyebrow at him. “What?”
“Did you name your vehicle Brown Betty?”
“Yes. Do you have a problem with that?”
“Other than the fact that it’s extremely weird?”
“It’s not weird. I had a teapot named Brown Betty. When I saw her, it fit.”
“Okay,” he laughed, looking around the table at everyone else. “But a teapot is a teapot. Your SUV is not. You can’t name your vehicle Brown Betty.”
“Well, that’s her name, so poo on you.”
“Oh, poo on me,” he snorted. “Asher, are you gonna let your woman talk to me like that?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know if I can stop her. She has a mind of her own. You can take the girl out of the outlaw, but you can’t take the outlaw out of the girl.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” I retorted, laughing at his nonsensical joke.
He wrapped his arm around my neck and pulled me in closer, pressing a kiss to my lips.
“Here they go again. All that PDA and Hallmark shit.”
I giggled against his lips, happier than I’d been since the day I was attacked. Everything was going perfectly. I slid my fingers over the scruff of his jaw and kissed him again. “I love you, Asher.”
“I love you, too, ba?—”
He pulled back and went still. All the color leached from his face as he shoved his chair back and stood suddenly, nearly falling over as he stumbled back a step.
“Ash?” I was about to get up and go to him when I felt a hand on my arm, holding me steady. I turned to see Wyatt holding me, but his eyes weren’t on me. They were on somebody behind me. Slowly, I turned and saw a very pretty woman with olive-toned skin and dark hair standing right behind me.
But she wasn’t looking at me. She was smiling at Asher. “Hello, Ash.”
My heart beat wildly in my chest as my gaze swung back to the man I loved, who just moments ago was kissing me. Now, he looked like he was about to pass out.
And then one name slipped from his lips. A name I never thought I would hear because she wasn’t supposed to be alive. He told me—and from the looks of it, he wasn’t lying to me. He was truly shocked. What the hell was going on?
“Jade.”