Chapter Forty-Seven
Asher
The phone is completely silent as I call her name again. I can’t hear her hurried breaths anymore, either.
I’m grabbing my keys and rushing to my car without a second thought. I don’t bother with a shirt or shoes. I type her address in the GPS and leave the connection to her open in the hopes that she’s still there.
“Answer me,” I grit out as I squeal out of the parking lot in my apartment complex. Her place is maybe ten minutes away if I don’t catch any red lights.
“Tera, I’m coming to you, ok? I should have told you in person, and I’m sorry. I got impatient again. Please say something.”
When I pause, I can hear a door slam in the background and Shade cursing then it’s quiet again.
“Fuck,” I choke out. I can only pray that she hasn’t run.
I slide into a parking spot close to her apartment and barely remember to grab the keys as I rush. I don’t hang up, but I keep the phone in my hand like a lifeline in case she picks up to curse me.
I take my frustration out on the door and pause to listen for any movement. When none comes, I start punching instead.
The door opens suddenly, forcing me to back up or fall inside. I should have chosen the forward momentum because Shade is standing there with his arms relaxed at his sides and a murderous look on his face.
“Asher. What a surprise,” he says flatly and takes a single step forward to block my access. He takes in the fact that I’m barefoot and shirtless, clutching keys and a phone. Then he looks at the parking lot to find my hastily parked car.
“Is she ok? Did she run?” I try to brush past him to see for myself without waiting for an answer, and he shoves me back with a strength he’s never shown before.
“Why would my bestie not be ok, Asher?”
“Because I told her what a fucking asshole I am, Shade. I don’t want to start anything with lies between us. I should have fucking waited, but she wanted me to talk now, and I broke. I fucking broke when I knew better. Now get the fuck out of my way.”
“You mean you didn’t tell her all this before you snuck off to the bathroom with her earlier? Shame, shame,” he smirks, but it’s more of a bitter curve than triumph. “This town is a cesspit for toxic men, I’m convinced.”
“I’m not going to tell you again,” I warn him as I focus on his relaxed stance. He’s hidden a lot more of himself than I first suspected, and I need to be ready to follow through.
“Let me talk for a second, Asher Florent Broussard,” he tilts his head as he considers me through narrowed eyes.
He knows my full fucking name?
“Tera is family to me. Imagine you were me for a second. You have four sisters. It won’t be that hard.”
His words sink in, and I frown. He knows my full name. And about my family. Who the fuck is this guy?
“What would you do to a guy that hurt your sister?”
“Kill him,” I answer honestly.
“You say that, and I know you mean it, but I bet you’ve never dug a grave before. I have, Asher. This is the only fuck up I’m giving you. I won’t be pathetic and threaten your family or any of that bullshit. You’re who I’ll focus on, and Asher? You don’t want that. Do we understand each other?”
When is Max going to stop being right about shit? This is just uncanny. A silent assassin adopted my angel.
“I understand,” I drop my defensive stance as I take him in. I don’t like all of the things he’s implying. I especially don’t like the threat he could bring to my family and Tera herself. But I get it. Although… the man is wearing cartoon pajamas. How is this real life?
“I’ll accept it as long as you leave my family out of it. Fuck, if I lose her, I’ll be ready for you to finish me anyway.”
“Good to know,” he nods and jerks his chin towards my car. “You might want to lock that up.”
I turn to see the driver’s side door hanging open, and he steps back to close the door in my face. I hear the locks turn over and seethe for a second. The blinds are open, and I can see his outline in the dark as he watches me grab something before I lock and close the door. I put the phone to my ear, but the only thing that greets me is silence. The connection is still good. She just hasn’t come back to her phone yet. I grit my teeth and hang up before I shuffle through my lock picks for the right tool and head back.
It gives me a cold chill as he watches me approach without expression. He even knows I can pick the locks?
Fuck me.
Tera
When the sound doesn’t come again, I stand on shaky legs and brush my teeth violently. I hate getting sick. I gargle a bunch of times in the hopes that I’ll feel less disgusting and then give up to take a shower. I try to do a quick scrub down because I don’t like looking at the changes in my body for very long, but I end up just sitting in the tub, watching all the soap suds flow down the drain.
When my fingers start to look like raisins, I turn the water off without getting up. I don’t hear any more knocking, and it’s as depressing as it is relieving. I hear the bathroom door click shut and sniffle. When did I start crying again?
“Would you hand me a towel, please? Since you’re being a selfish perv and invading my privacy. Bestie tax.” I stick a hand out of the curtain and make grabbing motions. When he puts one in my hand without a word, I mutter a wobbly thanks and wrap it around my shoulders.
I don’t hear the door open again and wait a few minutes. When there still isn’t any sound, I sigh roughly, “Shade, please get out of here. You obviously have stage fright, so no pee is coming. Give it up so I can get out of the tub. Don’t make me come out there naked. We’ll both throw up.”
“It’s me.”
My whole body clenches up at the sound of Asher’s voice. I huddle under the towel, staring at the curtain in horror. Did Shade let him in? That traitor! I thought he was hiding in his bedroom.
“Did you get sick?” His voice is choked as he asks. He sounds like he’s been gargling broken glass.
I shudder at the cold seeping around me and bring my knees up for warmth. I try to keep my breathing quiet, hoping that he’ll think I was an illusion and he’ll just go away soon.
Isn’t this illegal? I could call the police, right? Crap, my phone is still in my bedroom. Holy cow, Shade let a serial killer in the house. Or a serial booty caller. Either way, Shade is back in the bad book. Would he even hear me if I screamed?
The curtain twitches behind me, and I duck my head, burying my face in my knees and pretending I’m not here. The thud of a foot landing behind me makes me startle, and then he’s sitting down, drawing my rigid body between his legs to wrap his arms around me and bury his face in my shoulder. I hope the water he sat in is freezing.
“Go away,” I whisper desperately, trying to will my words into action.
“I don’t want lies between us. Ever.”
I try to pull my arms up to cover my ears as I start crying again.
“Max has been in my class for months, and he just started talking to me. I listened because he needed to vent.”
“He told you about me,” the harsh sobs start. I hate this. My throat is already raw. This is going to make it worse, but I can’t stop.
“He asked me to be in a relationship with him and his asshole boyfriend so I could be a counselor to the three of you. Who the fuck does that?”
Max does, of course. I suddenly feel like laughing, but if I let it out, it won’t be a happy sunshine sound. It will be a ‘Well, Tera had a good run, but we’ve got to lock her away now’ sound.
“He never talked bad about you at all. His anger was and is all on the emotionally stunted asshole. He wants things to work with you bad enough to ask a stranger for help. That took fucking guts. I told him he was crazy.”
My sobbing has drained me of any energy I had left, and I can’t resist as I’m forced to listen.
“I met up with them both tonight to let them know I’m in.” His voice gets rough as he turns his head towards mine, pressing kisses over my hair. “I want you. I’ve been obsessed with you since I first saw you. It’s fucking unhealthy,” he chokes out a laugh. “When you stopped showing up at class, I almost lost my mind.”
I sit, numb as his arms tighten around me. Suddenly, the grounding effect he has on me isn’t comforting. He’s keeping me locked down in some twisted version of reality without mercy.
“They didn’t know I met you. They have no say in how we do things together.”
I can’t think of a single thing to say. It doesn’t help that my brain is basically mush right now.
“I can’t,” my voice is so hoarse I cough a little with a wince. I don’t want to say anything else. There’s just too much hurt in my body right now to try and make sense of anything. My throat makes a clicking sound as I swallow.
“I’ve got you, angel.” He presses a hard kiss above my ear and scoots back to stand. I hear a lot of shuffling, and the door opens and closes. When he comes back, he has the blanket from my bed. I haven’t moved. He wraps it around me and picks me up, shifting me around, and then carries me to my bedroom.
When he lays me on the bed, I roll away from him to curl into a ball. I don’t care if I’m still wet. I’m not getting up again. I can hear him wandering around the room, and the lights click off. The sound of a cup getting set on the nightstand barely registers as my exhausted body gives up the fight to stay awake.