Chapter 44 Asher
Asher
Ifinally took a minute to step out of River’s room.
I was tired as fuck and based on what many of the nurses said, he would be okay.
I didn’t see Grayson or Riley which was odd, but I couldn’t think about it long when I heard rattling inside River’s room.
I hustled towards the bedside table, seeing his phone light up.
The name on the screen was Riley’s mom. I hesitated, but picked it up anyway.
“Hello?”
“River?” she asked, her voice wary.
“Uh, no this is his brother.”
“Oh, umm Asher, right?”
I nodded and then realized she couldn’t see me, so I answered.
“Maybe you can help me figure out why my daughter hasn’t answered me. She likes me to think she has a lot of things handled, but I’m allowed to be worried. I’m over here pacing and all I would like is some confirmation that she’s alive and well. Not from her friends, but from her.”
I looked up at the ceiling, not having the patience for this and my brother’s dilemma, but I took in a breath through my nose.
I would be the same way about River if I was in her shoes, so I couldn’t fault her.
I also didn’t know how to answer her. The good part was Riley was alive but the bad part was I hadn’t no fucking idea where she was.
“I understand, Miss Monroe. Give me a minute, okay?”
I stepped out of the room, clutching River’s phone between my shoulder and my ear. I pulled out my own phone and started to send a text to Grayson, but then I saw him. He was getting closer as he walked down the hallway. He looked nervous and I hated it.
I tucked my phone away, putting Riley’s mom on mute before meeting Grayson halfway. “Where the hell have you been?” I searched around him. “Where’s Riley?”
“Don’t yell at me,” he scolded, walking towards one of the walls and leaning back against it.
“I’m not yelling at you. I could yell at you. Would you like me to yell at you, Grayson?” I got closer to him, clutching my brother’s phone in my hand.
He put his hands up to stop me. “No, not right now. When I tell you something, that’s when I need you to not yell at me.”
I gave him a confused look. Grayson let a heavy sigh leave his lips. “She’s with Chancellor Fowler.”
I couldn’t stop myself before I grabbed a handful of his shirt with one hand and pulled him forward, just to throw him back against the wall. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“Asher, wait!”
“You did this again?! Fuck, I told her to try to let your stupid ass back in and fucking forgive you, but you go and do this!” I shoved him back against the wall again. “You are so lucky we are in a hospital because I could fucking kill you right now.”
Grayson’s shadows came out and put pressure on my chest, shoving me back hard enough so that I hit the other wall. One of the nurses looked over her desk, eyeing both of us and we lifted our hand, trying to look innocent.
“It wasn’t me. Riley wanted to go.”
I blew out a breath, almost laughing. “That sounds ridiculous. You really think I’m believing that.”
He shrugged. “She begged me and I didn’t know what she planned to do, but I wasn’t going to let her go off and find, I don’t know, a more dangerous way to find him so I took her.”
I looked down at River’s phone, seeing Miss Monroe still holding on the other line. “Okay, so she’s with him, when do you go get her? Are we going to have to barge in there together?”
Grayson’s eyes dropped to the floor. “We don’t. We don’t do anything. She made the decision to stay for us, for everyone.” He looked towards where River’s room was. “I don’t like it and again, I promise you I didn’t know. I think she has her own plan, Asher.”
I turned around and ball my empty hand into a fist and punched the wall. “I can’t fucking deal with this right now.”
“She told me to not do anything. To wait.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “She wants us to trust her.”
“She wants us to—” I ran my hand through my hair, nearly forgetting how to breathe and letting out a very long breath. “She’s so agitating, fuck.”
“I have a feeling her stuff will be gone from the house when we get back and probably so will Beau. Chancellor Fowler, in a weird way, doesn’t want to upend her life, but he does want to be the person she constantly comes back to. We can be a part of her world, but can’t interfere with, you know…”
“Yeah, I get it. My father wanted me to choose between River or Riley and Riley ended up just choosing for me anyway.”
“Maybe we follow Riley’s lead, as painful as it may be. And she’ll let us know when she needs us.”
I brought the phone up to Grayson’s face. “And what am I supposed to tell her, huh? The man she ran away from finally has what he wants.”
He took the phone from my hand, keeping it away from me when I tried to get it back. “I’ll talk to her. Just go back to River. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Thanks.” I gave him a stiff nod and jogged back to River’s room. He was still very much asleep and I sat down in the uncomfortable chair in the corner. My knee bounced up and down with developing anxiety.
How the hell was I going to explain this to him when he woke up?
I pulled out my phone, starting to email the department chair about how I wouldn’t be in for a few days, but I stopped. I deleted my draft and pulled up my contacts. I found the number I wanted and hit the call button.
She picked up quickly, her greeting a bit exasperated.
“Hey, Corrin.”
“Riley just texted me. Very long conversation, but breathe easy, Professor.”
I sat up straighter in the chair. “She what?”
“We are going to talk more on campus later. Well, me and her, not you.”
“I do trust her…I just…ugh. What is she up to?”
She hummed. “I’m unsure of the grand plan but I have some science magic to make in the lab.” She got quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry about your brother. Full recovery, I hope?”
“Yeah, as long as he wakes up without issues tomorrow.”
“Focus on that.” It sounded like she took the phone from her ear to speak to someone else, then she was back. “I do have to go, but trust your girl, Asher. It’s a really attractive trait in a person if you didn’t know.”