Chapter 40 Asher
Asher
EARLIER
Riley hadn’t looked all that focused in my class and I didn’t blame her.
I went through the normal motions but always kept her in my sights.
Her witch friend would whisper to her and she would answer back, but nothing about her expression ever changed.
A simple coven meeting held so much unknown for her.
I had a plan in place. Precautions. I kept telling myself that everything would be just fine and the fact that I was even letting my confidence falter was some kind of mistake.
I tapped my pen on my desk remembering how she’d let Corrin go ahead of her and waited for everyone to filter out.
She’d slowly made her way around my desk and waited just a quick moment before kissing me.
It was a desperate kiss that told me she wanted everything to be fixed, she wanted to rewind all of this and go back to when things were easier.
I pulled away knowing that things stopped being easy the minute we’d decided the four of us being a ‘thing’ was feasible.
Her lips had pulled into a small smile before leaving.
I’d checked on River multiple times throughout the day, even though he occasionally updated me through his telepathy. Chancellor Fowler had been quiet, surprisingly. That made me nervous but not enough to call this whole thing off. Villains had to take a moment of rest at some point, right?
Two more classes, an hour spent in my office planning coursework and finally I headed straight to my car.
I didn’t know my father’s schedule completely, but I least knew how Mondays went.
He had a bunch of emails to get through in the morning, various meetings throughout the day, lunch with some of the other deans and then back to whatever the fuck he did in his office the rest of the day.
Eventually somewhere between five and six o’clock he went home.
It was slowly getting dark when I pulled up. The sun hadn’t completely set, but it was descending towards the trees little by little. I walked into the house and was met with my father coming down the stairs.
“Asher, I’m surprised you’re here,” he acknowledged, looking me up and down.
“Well things change.”
“And your brother wasn’t in his classes today. Do you know anything about that?” he asked, gruffly.
“He wasn’t feeling good, so better safe than sorry.” I bit the inside of my cheek. “I did want to talk to you about him. I thought it might be better if we did it away from the school, just you and me.”
“You’re finally ready to have a civil conversation?” My dad rolled up the sleeves of his button down.
I grinded my molars together. “You call threatening both of us and everyone else, civil? Is that what all those other times we’ve spoken were to you?”
He raised one of his eyebrows. “Even you know I could be far meaner, but I am choosing not to be. Chancellor Fowler is not a bad man, Asher. He wants his family to be stronger than ever, and so do I. I don’t understand your aversion to that.”
I nearly choked on how flippant he was being about everything, but I couldn’t say I was surprised. “You and I will never agree that he is a good man in any way, but I talked to him. River, that is.”
He hummed, turning to walk towards the back of the house. “Did you now?”
I followed behind him, stepping outside when he opened the back door.
“As much as I don’t appreciate your heinous version of discipline when it comes to him, his safety does matter.
Not that I think you really care much about that, but I did tell him that letting Riley do what Chancellor Fowler asks was for the best.” The words rolled off my tongue with ease, but they tasted bitter and awful.
“I need to look at this logically and Riley will be fine, but River has you as a parent, so he doesn’t have the same protection as she does. ”
“As a parent, you want the best for your children and even as adults, they tend to forget where they came from, so they need to be forced down a peg by any means necessary. He wants to learn lessons the hard way, you both clearly do, but it seems like you are finally being the older brother I knew you could be.” He spoke like everything he said was fact and maybe I’d inherited that need for control from him, but at least I knew when it was enough.
I never wanted to truly hurt anyone for the sake of myself.
“He doesn’t like it, but as long as Chancellor Fowler sees she’s doing what she needs to do then they’ll be fine. Their relationship can be maintained, right?”
He ran his finger over his bottom lip, eyeing me. “I believe so. The shadow wielder too, if that’s what Riley wants. And you want no part of a relationship with her?”
“Excuse me?” I asked, furrowing my brow.
“Let’s not play dumb. It’s not becoming of someone with your education. Besides, someone who fights so hard for a person they claim is just their student is fooling themselves.”
I bit my bottom lip so hard I thought I tasted blood. “No, I don’t want to complicate things more. Eventually if all goes well, River will graduate, move out and take her with him. Riley can try to have some kind of relationship with him or whatever that looks like and she won’t be my issue.”
My dad nodded, looking up at the sky, watching as the sun kept slowly hiding behind the trees. “I could persuade Chancellor Fowler to take out his efforts on the shadow wielder instead.”
I waved my hands in front of me. “I wasn’t saying to go after Grayson in light of River not being an option.”
He looked at me as if I had three heads.
“My boy, your brother and his friend still need to learn a lesson, and he hasn’t quite decided which one will get the brunt of it, but I suppose you’ve made the choice easier.
” He grabbed my arm and squeezed. “I am so very happy you’ve come to see my side of things.
You’ll learn to love the feeling of power once this is over and that girl does right by her father. ”
He got his keys from his pocket and walked past me towards the door. “Stay awhile. Your mother is in the master bedroom; she’d love to see you.”
I caught the door before it closed, falling into step with him. “Where are you going?”
“If you must know, I’m meeting with Chancellor Fowler.”
“You’re going back to the school?”
“I never said that.” He stopped, turning around and scoffing at me. “Would you like to come with me? I’m sure he would love to know how cooperative you’re being, but of course, that means that you would be in league with us and that means unbridled loyalty.”
That made me uneasy. “Are you going to his house?” That was likely the place Grayson had shadowed Riley to.
“It is quite nice. His family clearly did well for themselves. Are you coming or not?”
My first instinct was to say no, but then again, I would rather I get physically close than anyone else. “Sure, that sounds—”
My dad held his hand up, silencing me. His eyes looked far away, the same way River’s did when he was using his powers. His lips curled up into a snarl before he gave me his attention. “Do you take me for a fool, Asher?”
“No…”
“Truly, do you? Your brother may be under the weather, but he seems to have no issue fumbling around in Riley’s mind and possibly Chancellor Fowler’s?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about?”
He laughed, holding his stomach. “He couldn’t just sit back and let things be as they should.
He’s bold, I’ll give him that, but clearly not smart enough to not get caught.
He just had to tend to that girl, didn’t he?
Clearly, your brother is going to have to learn things the hard way.
And no I don’t mean that little mind game that happened at the university. ”
I ran in front of him, confused and thrown off guard. “What are you going to do?!”
“I won’t do anything.”
He shoved me to the side, heading out the front door and towards his car.
“Dad, just leave him alone. I’ll talk to him, okay?”
He huffed, unimpressed. “Like you talked to him before? I should reprimand you for lying to me, but you’ll take on your brother’s pain just like you’ve always done.”
He opened up his car door and I slammed it closed before he could climb inside. “Dad, I’ve never asked you for anything. Just please, stop.”
He grabbed my shirt and tugged me closer to him.
“Pleading is for the weak. Get out of my way or I’ll make sure Erik takes his frustrations out on everyone you’ve grown to like or care for.
Your girl will end up with only you and you know what happens when there is no one left, Asher. Resentment. Is that what you want?”
My mouth dropped open and for the first time, my bravado was gone. My mouth was dry and all I wanted to do was call Grayson to check on Riley and find my fucking brother.
He slapped my cheek and got into his car, slamming the door and getting out of our driveway so quickly that I’d only blinked before he was gone. I went into my head, searching for my brother, but every time I tried to talk to him…I was kicked out.
I looked up towards our house and saw my mom peeking out through the curtains of their bedroom.
She loved us but she was a coward. I kept trying and trying to get mentally get to River.
I’d worked with him, but it wasn’t enough.
Dad was too pissed off and River was so vulnerable when it came to Riley.
I tried again and my head hurt from the resounding hit that connected with it, like something was kicking me out and making it count.
Sweat percolated at the back of my neck and I raced to my car, every breath getting harder to take in.
I fumbled around for my keys, finally getting my car started and racing down the street.
I swerved around a car, practically running a red light. My phone lit up with a text from Grayson. I picked up my phone with one hand, keeping an eye on the road as best I could.
GRAYSON
Riley SOS. I brought her to the house. Ike is here but River isn’t. He doesn’t know where he went.
I got another text from Mateo, having to slam on my brakes when I realized the car in front of me had stopped.
MATEO
Corrin wants me to take her to your house, but I don’t know if I should. Is Riley okay? What the hell happened out there?
I wish I fucking knew. I slammed my hand against the steering wheel. Fuck, fuck, fuck.