Chapter Three
ASHER
“Shit,” he yelled, as Daisy about fell off the chair. “Clear the couch.”
Jerome was quick to empty it. Asher picked up Daisy and gently placed her on the couch.
“Is she going to be all right?” Jerome asked. “I didn’t mean to scare her or give away that you own the place. I thought she knew, since she was in your office. Is she going to be all right? I’ll pay for any medical bills—”
“Take a breath,” Asher interrupted him. “She’s going to be all right. I think she’s just gone through a lot in the past hour."
“Can I get her anything?” he asked.
He turned to face worried Jerome. “You can get a glass of cold water and maybe a sweet treat if we have any. And don’t tell anyone about this.”
Jerome nodded and rushed out of Asher’s office. This was not how he thought his night was going to go.
“Everything is going to be okay,” he gently said as he stroked her hair. “I’m going to take good care of you.”
He should have locked the door when he went to get the first-aid kit, but he didn’t want her to worry and think he was going to do something to hurt her. Now he realized that he should have explained and done it anyway.
“Here you go, boss,” Jerome handed him some M&Ms and a bottle of water.
“Thank you,” he replied. “What did you need?”
Asher opened the first-aid kit and took out the antibacterial wipes and band aids. He needed to clean her hands before they got infected.
“There was a customer asking for you. A petite woman with a pixie cut,” Jerome said.
Asher hummed as he started to clean Daisy’s hands. “Did she go anywhere, or is she still waiting for me?”
“She was leaving with a man when I grabbed water and snacks,” Jerome explained. “She said to take care of her friend.”
Sighing, he ran a hand over his face. “I’m going to have a talk with her.”
Did Elsha understand what she just did? Daisy didn’t know Asher that well, and her friend had just left her with him.
“I’ll go get back to work,” Jerome awkwardly said and left the room.
Asher turned his attention to the passed-out Daisy and gently stroked her hair again. Was she so scared and nervous that she fainted, or was it a health reason?
Asher picked up her phone and turned it on, hoping to find out if she had any health issues he should know about. A pit bull graced her lock screen.
“Who is this lovely puppy?” he murmured and unlocked her phone.
He would have to discuss not having a password on her phone. Did she know how dangerous it was for her not to have a password? Anyone could get into her phone.
Asher pulled up her notes app and briefly looked over the titles, trying to figure out if any of them were health-related.
None.
Sighing, he clicked on her health app, but there was no information on there, either. Maybe she didn’t have any health conditions he needed to worry about, but the way she had been acting all night told him otherwise.
That was another thing he was going to talk to her about. She needed to put herself first in these types of situations. She needed to take care of herself.
Daisy moaned, and he quickly put her phone down and cupped her cheek.
“Shh, you’re okay,” he whispered. “Everything is okay.”
Her eyes slowly blinked open, and he smiled.
“Wh-what happened?” she asked.
“Here’s some water and a couple of M&Ms in case your blood sugar is low.” He handed them to her as she sat up on the couch. “You passed out in my office.”
Her eyes went wide as she held onto the open water bottle. “Your office,” she whispered.
Asher nodded. “Yes, my office. I own the bar Sip, Tip, and Bang and am one of the co-owners of BTS. How are you feeling?”
She looked around the office, the color in her face not returning.
“Everything is going to be okay. Why don’t you eat a couple M&Ms and drink some water before we talk about anything else?” Asher said.
She nodded and put several candies in her mouth. She hummed in delight and quickly ate some more.
“Why don’t you take a sip of water?” he urged her.
Her nose wrinkled.
“Little One, I’m going to need you to take a couple of sips.” His tone was harder this time.
He didn’t know for sure whether she was a Little, but the way she had been acting and who she was friends with indicated that she might be. Elsha didn’t like hanging out with anyone who wasn’t a Little, since hers came out at random times.
“Don’t wanna,” she mumbled.
“I know you don’t want to, but I need you to,” he said. “It’s for your health. You know how important health is, don’t you, Little One?”
She looked at the water bottle before lifting her gaze up at him, her face torn.
“Come on, just a couple sips,” he encouraged her.
“Then I can have more M&Ms?” she asked.
He chuckled. “Just a couple.”
She brought the bottle up to her mouth and took several medium-sized sips before handing the bottle back to him.
“Yuckie.” She shook her head. “No more.”
“What do you normally drink?” he asked.
Asher didn’t know if he wanted to know the answer to that.
“Soda, energy drinks, tea, sometimes coffee,” she replied as she ate a couple more candies, oblivious to the horror across Asher’s face.
“When do you drink water?” he asked.
She froze, staring at him. “How long was I out for?”
His eyes narrowed on her. “We are not going to change the subject.”
“I need to know, so I can write it down,” she mumbled and peered around. “Where is my phone?”
Worry rushed through him. “Do you have a medical condition that I should know about? I looked at your wrists and didn’t see any medical bracelets. I did look very briefly at your phone to see if you had any notes, but I couldn’t find anything."
“Y-you went through my phone?”