Chapter 12 Asher
Asher
PRESENT
Iheaded towards the stairs, after taking the time to clean up and spend some time alone, running into my brother as he was coming out of the bathroom. He looked happier than he’d been when he’d left to take Beau for a walk. I gave him a curious expression when he followed me down the stairs.
“What?” he asked, taking the steps two at a time. When he reached the bottom, he went to the entryway table and grabbed my keys.
“Where are you going this time?” I inquired, eyeing my car keys.
“You were the one who said and I quote ‘I’m not paying for that dogs food so you better make sure it has what it needs if it’s going to live here.’” He raised his eyebrows, ending his impression of me.
“I don’t sound like that.”
He wrinkled his nose, shrugging. “I’ll be back. I promise if I get him a toy, it won’t have a squeaker.” He turned the doorknob, heading out but I called him back.
“How is she?”
River moved his mouth to the side as if he was attempting to bite the inside of his cheek.
“Based on everything that’s happened, she’s doing better than I thought.
She is really trying here, Asher. If she is going to deal with these things and eventually rid herself of Chancellor Fowler, then she needs to trust us. All of us.”
I tilted my head to the side, crossing my arms over my chest. “Why do you say that like I’m the problem? I’m trying to keep all of you in fucking line and make sure nothing goes sideways.”
River looked up at the ceiling, groaning.
“I’m not calling out you specifically. She needs to handle the Grayson thing and she knows that, but in the meantime…
” He leaned forward, poking me in the chest with his index finger.
The king chess piece he had tattooed there in my view.
“Be nicer to her. You know you want to.”
“I’m realistic, River. If that doesn’t make me her favorite person, then so be it. At least we will all be alive when it’s over.”
He furrowed his eyebrows. “You are very dramatic. Dad pisses me off, but the man doesn’t scare me.” He let out a hmph, before adding, “She must have you wrapped around her finger if you are this wound up about something.”
“It’s called being concerned.”
“That’s one word for it.” He winked at me and turned to leave.
I ran a hand roughly through my hair, flexing my hands from all the tension I was trying to release.
I had spent my time doing everything I needed to do for when school started again and I wasn’t the least bit hungry.
I looked over to the couch, seeing Beau lazily staring at the TV screen.
A colorful cartoon was on and his eyes drooped a little, telling me he was starting to fall asleep.
He was kind of cute, I admitted to myself.
That couch would be covered in dog hair and I would most likely be the one to clean it because that’s what always happened.
Beau let out a loud sigh and I mimicked him.
I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water and headed back up the stairs when I’d chugged it in one sitting. River’s door opened as I passed it.
Riley jumped when she saw me staring at her. I scanned her face and then my eyes traveled down to my brother’s shirt and her bare legs.
“This feels a bit like déjà vu, doesn’t it?” I joked. “Are you also going to ask me if I spied on you guys having sex too?”
Her mouth dropped open. “You just have really weird timing, that’s all.”
“Perhaps,” I said nonchalantly, finding myself working very hard to not stare at the legs, her brown skin looked so smooth and I was aching to touch her.
I tried very fucking hard to not remember what was between those legs and how it felt to have her contract around me and come.
She opened her mouth to speak, but I ignored her, turning to my room and nearly ripping the door off its hinges to get inside.
I heard her footsteps following closely behind me. “I was figuring out a way to come and tell you that I maybe overreacted a bit to you claiming that I was going back to school, that I was sorry that your dad is just as insanely diabolical as the chancellor.”
“There is no need actually. I’ve been over your outburst for a while now.”
“I’m trying to be civil here, Asher.”
I gave her a forced smile. “Again, not necessary. I’m not the one you need to be deciding to have civil conversations with.”
She reared her head back, a look of shock on her face. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling the need to step back when she walked further into my room.
The instant memory of what happened here was always vivid anytime even a fragment of it entered my mind.
The way her eyes looked up at me when she took me in her mouth, so willing to let me fuck her throat.
I felt the overbearing need to throw her on my bed and do it all over again.
“Grayson is going to be helping us, so maybe find a way to make all of this less of a hassle for the people you seem to trust.”
Her brown eyes widened. “Oh, I’m sorry if my apprehension is a hindrance to you.
I am working my ass off to understand everything and find my footing.
Do I need to show my work, Professor? Do I need to get your approval before I can be graded on how well I’m moving on and improving?
” She pointed over at me and a canvas that was hooked on my wall flew off and hit the floor.
I looked behind me, thinking that anyone else in this situation would have been nervous or trying to calm her down.
I found her eyes again and noticed how all this was tied up in her emotions.
Anger was something that held a lot of weight, especially in magic.
Most definitely for magic that had never been nurtured.
“So, we’re back to overreactions again, hmm?” I placed my hands at my hips and waited for her response. I wasn’t riling her up on purpose, but I wasn’t going to run and coddle her either. She had River for that.
“I am going to step on that campus and know that he is probably around, watching me. I have to fucking pretend like that man didn’t just infiltrate my entire life in the blink of an eye.
He smiled about it, he fucking smiled about it and kill—” Her voice caught, almost as if she wanted to cry.
She wet her lips with her tongue and pushed her braids out of her face, steeling herself.
Little sparks of fire danced along her fingertips, and she focused her gaze on them, curling her hand into a fist so she wasn’t forced to look at what she’d created.
River and I knew about Marianne already, but even I wasn’t that much of an asshole to touch that subject.
That memory would haunt her forever; it was something she would never be able to change.
There were things that graced my mind, things I would rather leave in the past and didn’t like bringing it up because I didn’t want to relive it.
I had the luxury of doing just that because no one really knew about them.
We were all aware of her situation. She had nowhere to hide when it came to that loss she dealt with, so the best place to go was to retreat within herself, keep it buried down so that no one would inspect or poke at it. I heard her sniff and I focused my attention on her again.
“There are more lives than just ours when you really think about it and you want to stand in front of me, without an ounce of empathy and tell me in a less pretentious way that I should just deal with it better?”
“Don’t put words in my mouth, Riley. That is not at all what I said.
” I let myself step closer to her this time.
“You are allotted your time and space to grieve and feel fucking upset, but I won’t have you deciding at any random moment that we are changing the plan, that you don’t want to do this or that you are going to go it alone, whether that be due to Grayson or whatever reason that pretty brain of yours can conjure up. ”
I wasn’t sure if the heat I felt from her body was due to the fact that she could turn into a human inferno at any point or if it was entirely natural.
Up close, I got to notice more things, like the way her eyes were dilated and the nonchalant way I could tell she was pressing her thighs together.
Her shoulders were slightly tensed, and a light pink hue appeared on her cheeks from her frustration.
Her hoop nose ring glinted even in my dim bedroom light.
I could have kissed her. I wanted to kiss her. She could be so infuriatingly upset with me. Fuck, she could hate me, and I still wanted to kiss her and then let her leave because I wouldn’t let myself have anything more than that.
She huffed, her eyes narrowing to an almost lethal degree. “If I know you at all, you would have been fucking pissed at Grayson. You would be fighting against him, yet here you are defending him in some weird way.”
“Let me remind you again, don’t put words in my mouth.
I am not defending your little shadow wielder.
Rage and upset were my first reactions to what he did, but I realized something that I hope you are slowly figuring out.
You are all in your twenties and every thing that comes your way, every single inconvenience, causes you to think that there is no way out.
There are a few who are the exception, but he is not.
He’s a smart kid and you can’t just look me in the eyes, little liar, and tell me that isn’t true. ”
She sucked in a sharp breath and I sighed harshly.
“We’ve all fucked up, Riley. We’ve all made shitty decisions and some of those decisions deserve punishment.
The individuals also deserve to be heard and it may fucking hurt to listen, but you need to do it.
And then you speak on your demands, what you want and how you see things moving forward. ” My voice was stern and precise.