CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Kaia
The waitress set our cappuccinos on the table. Kyle grinned, twirling a sugar packet between his fingers, a playful gleam in his eyes. He was looking at me like I was one of the desserts on the menu.
Crap.
When I’d run into him on campus, saying yes to coffee seemed harmless—two old friends catching up. I hadn’t thought he still liked me, but what if he did?
Did chatting over coffee count as leading him on? I hoped not.
He’d grown into a handsome guy—broad shoulders, light chestnut hair, dimples when he smiled—but I needed a relationship like I needed another hole in my heart. Between working to cover food and textbooks and drowning in student loans, romance wasn’t on the list.
I forced myself to relax. I was getting ahead of myself. He hadn’t said anything about dating. For all I knew, he could have a girlfriend.
“So, you teach dance?” he asked, breaking into my thoughts.
“Yeah.” I lifted the cappuccino to my mouth. “I love it.”
I taught kids and teens, and the studio was the best part of my days—along with the degree I was chasing.
“That’s cool. I’m too busy with football to work. Not that I’m in a rush to get a job.”
“Enjoy the carefree student life,” I said. Mine wasn’t carefree, but it beat high school.
Kyle cocked his head. “Listen, maybe we could—”
The door swung open, a blast of cold air rushing in. I rubbed my bare arms. I should’ve worn more than a T-shirt. Emerport was coastal, but November carried its own bite.
Footsteps thudded behind me. Something in their rhythm made my skin prickle.
Kyle exhaled hard. A tall figure in black loomed at our table.
My gaze dropped to the boots, and my hands balled into fists. No way. No fucking way.
“Kaia.”
Slowly, I looked up.
Asher’s dark eyes burned with challenge as he pinned Kyle, then softened when they landed on me.
“You need to come with me, Kaia.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Please.”
His cologne drifted over with the motion, my stomach fluttering in betrayal. Two years gone, and he still did this to me.
Nervous laughter spilled from Kyle. “Dude. We were catching up.”
Asher barely glanced at him. “It’s a family emergency.”
A family emergency? My eyes searched his face for clues, but his expression gave nothing away. He’d always known how to lock himself down—like the day he left me.
But maybe something really had happened. Even if it had, how the hell did he know where to find me? He didn’t know where I lived. We hadn’t spoken since the wedding.
I’d imagined our reunion countless times but never pictured him storming in on a coffee date with Kyle. Apparently, that night at the nightclub years ago hadn’t been enough.
“Kaia,” Asher pressed. “Please. It’s really important.”
He begged me with his eyes, shifting his weight.
I’d never seen him so nervous. I wanted him to look away, to stop pinning me with that gaze, but it stayed locked on my face, goosebumps prickling my skin.
It had been so long. I’d thought he no longer cared.
Yet he was looking at me like he used to—with warmth, affection, tenderness.
Why now? Why here?
Kyle cleared his throat, glancing between us like that night at the club.
I didn’t want my first conversation with Asher after all these years to happen in front of him. I stood, grabbed my jacket from the back of the chair, and gave Kyle an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Kyle. See you on campus, yeah?”
“Sure,” he said, eyeing Asher like he’d spat in his drink. At least now Asher really was my stepbrother. But what was the emergency?
Asher set a twenty on the table. His warm hand pressed lightly to my lower back as he steered me out of the coffee shop toward a black Mercedes SUV.
His car, I realized, as the locks clicked when he hit the key fob.
He held the passenger door open. “Get in, mi nina.”
My heart stalled for a beat. Mi nina? I bit my lip. How could he still call me that?
“What happened?” I asked, sliding into the seat. “Is there really an emergency?”
“Please, seat belt,” Asher said.
My hands trembled as I buckled in.
He started the engine and eased out of the lot. The air between us was so thick with unsaid words I could barely breathe. My pulse hammered, echoing in my throat.
His fingers trembled on the wheel. At least he wasn’t as unaffected by our closeness as he pretended.
I toyed with a ring on my index finger. “What’s the family emergency, Ash? Did something happen to my father? Your mother?”
He stopped at a red light. “No. They’re okay, I guess. I just…” His gaze tangled with mine for a second. “We need to talk, and I couldn’t wait another minute.”
So he’d crashed my coffee date just to talk? The spell he’d cast over me cracked. Blood roared in my ears. Two years without a word, and now he wanted to talk—because he’d seen me with Kyle?
“Stop the car,” I said past the boulder in my throat. “I want to get out.”
“No,” Asher said. “No, peque, please. Just—”
“Just what, Asher?”
His knuckles blanched as he gripped the wheel. “Just listen, okay?” He licked his lips. “There’s a little coffee shop a minute away. Let’s have a drink and talk. I need to talk to you. Fuck, Kaia, I need to explain.”
I stared out the window, spotting a park ahead. “Stop here. If we’re going to talk, we’ll talk at the park.”
“The park? It’s cold, peque. You’re not dressed for—”
I glared at him. He exhaled. “Fine. Okay. Anything you want.”
As soon as he parked, I bolted from the car. Asher followed, his footsteps echoing on the pavement. Aside from a girl walking her golden retriever, the park was empty.
“You crossed the line.” I faced him, heat rising under the biting wind. “You can’t just appear out of nowhere and lie to me.”
“I didn’t lie,” he whispered.
“You didn’t?” I wrapped my arms around my middle. “Then what’s with the fake emergency?”
His chocolate eyes held mine. “Would you have left that asshole if I’d just said I need to talk to you?”
“Asshole?” An angry laugh ripped from me. “You don’t even know him.” Heat crawled under my skin, buzzing through my veins. “You… God, you’re so—I could slap you!”
Asher stepped closer. “Do it.”
I backed away. I couldn’t think straight with him so close.
“I’m not kidding,” he whispered, voice taut. “Do it. I deserve it for how much I hurt you. It’s been a really fucking long time, and if hitting me makes you feel better, go ahead. I hate myself for what I did to us too.”
My eyes burned. “Why are you here?” I didn’t want to hit him. I didn’t think I could. But I was mad. And underneath it, hurt.
“Because we need to talk. I need to talk to you, and I’m begging you to listen.”
“Now?” Traitorous tears blurred my vision. I blinked them back, but it was too late. “What gave you the impression you could disappear for two years and come back like nothing changed? What if I’ve moved on?”
“Have you, mi nina?” His voice barely carried. “Have you moved on from us?”
“If I have, it’s none of your business.”
“No, peque.” He brushed a tear from my cheek, his touch hurling me back to when I trusted him to always be there. “Everything about you will always be my business because I love you. You can slap me, yell at me, do whatever you want—I’ll still be here.”
“Then where were you when it mattered?” My voice broke. “You ended things, and I respected that. I accepted your decision. Two years, Asher. Who gave you the right to demand anything now?”
“I’m not demanding, Kaia.” His tone cracked. “I’m begging. And I’m sorry. Sorry for barging in, sorry for lying about an emergency. I just… I need you to listen. Please.”
His voice was gentle, his eyes full of warmth, but how could I forget the pain of him walking away?
“Why should I?” I asked.
“You’re right. You owe me nothing.” He raked a hand through his messy hair, and ink peeked from beneath the sleeve of his jacket.
I caught his wrist. “What is this, Ash?”
He gave a sheepish smile. One word marked his skin. Nunca. Almost identical to mine.
“A reminder,” he whispered. “Of what we mean to each other. What this word means to us.”
So now he remembered? “I got mine as a promise never to forgive you.”
Asher shook his head. “You’ve never lied to me. Don’t start now.”
“Maybe I want to.” My voice quivered. “Maybe I learned from the best. You said never, then left anyway. Why should I listen? To torture myself?”
“No.” His hand lifted toward my face, then dropped when I shook my head. “I just want a chance to explain.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, shivering as I hugged myself. “I’m not ready, Ash.”
“Fuck.” His breath fogged in the air. “You must be freezing. Come on, I’ll take you home.”
I trailed him to the car, my mind spinning. Once inside, I buckled up as he cranked the heat. Tension radiated off him, like he was holding back words because I’d asked him to.
Silence wrapped around us. Even now, I preferred silence with him over conversation with anyone else—annoying as that was.
“Where do you want me to take you?” Asher asked.
“Somerset Road.” I clicked the belt into place. “In front of the home goods store.”
He nodded. As he leaned forward to start the car, the scent of his cologne drifted over. I closed my eyes, letting it fill my lungs. I’d missed him. So damn much.
Fifteen minutes later, he pulled up beside my apartment complex.
His throat bobbed with a swallow. Then his warm gaze swept my face, sending tingles across my skin. “Take all the time you need,” he said quietly. “But I’m not going anywhere. My number’s still the same. Call me when you’re ready to listen.”
***
When I got home, Alba was painting her nails on the couch.
I dropped beside her in silence.
“How was the date?” She glanced at me, then returned to the neat swipe of pink across her nail.
“A mess. Asher showed up out of nowhere. Said it was a family emergency, then admitted he just wanted me to listen.”
Alba set the bottle aside. “Did you?”
I waved a hand in front of her face. “Hello? Did you hear me? Asher showed up at a coffee shop in Emerport after two years of nothing.”
She blew across her nails. “But you knew he lives here.”
I sagged against the couch. “I knew Vortex is based here. I didn’t know he lived here. Maybe he doesn’t. The question is, how did he know where I was?”
Alba shrugged. “He must’ve stalked you.”
I snorted. “He’d need to care for that.” Or be as desperate as he seemed.
But why desperate now? How had he even found me?
My father and Sharon didn’t know my address.
They wouldn’t tell him anything anyway. After I said I’d cover college myself, my father washed his hands of both parental and financial duty.
He told me not to come crawling when I couldn’t pay off the loans.
Since South America, I’d only seen him three times.
Alba reached for the top coat. “Do you think Asher doesn’t care?”
“I don’t know what I think. Two years is a long time. A lot could’ve changed. It’s not like he promised he’d stay single.” We’d broken up for real—a messy, jagged break with hurt feelings and shattered trust.
He hadn’t texted. Hadn’t called. For all I knew, I never crossed his mind. Maybe he hadn’t been looking for me at all. Maybe he’d just stopped for coffee, saw me on what looked like a date, and decided he wanted to talk.
“I think”—Alba paused, weighing her words—“that you should talk to him, but only if you care about what he has to say. If you want to move on, he can’t stop you.”
“So, you don’t think talking to him is losing the last of my self-respect?”
“Not at all. It’s been two years, but you haven’t stopped thinking about him. Maybe you just need closure.”
I traced the tattoo on my wrist with my fingertips. “He tattooed the same word. And I have no idea why. You don’t leave someone and then etch the promise you broke into your skin.”
Alba froze mid-stroke. “I can’t decide if that’s sweet or concerning.”
“He’s always been intense,” I whispered. “I guess I’ll say yes to a conversation—but not until after the weekend. If I haven’t changed my mind by Saturday, I’ll call.”
I had too much to handle this week—exams, the kids’ Thanksgiving showcase rehearsals, and deciding whether to accept my father’s invitation to Forward Racing’s gala. There was still time, but he wanted an answer by Friday.
“I hate that I can’t go to the club opening with you,” Alba said.
“Don’t be. Your dad’s birthday is more important.”
My boss had scored invitations to the new club, and I was going with the girls from work. I wanted Alba there too. She wasn’t a clubbing type, but it would’ve been fun.
“It is,” she agreed. “Plus, I don’t see him enough anymore. By the way, I got you something. It’s on your bed.”
My monthly book package. “What am I going to do with you?” I said, standing. “You really should stop spending on me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Only if you stop acting like it’s a big deal.”
In my bedroom, my gaze landed on the pink package waiting on the bed. I unwrapped it carefully to find a special edition of The Little Prince—one I didn’t own yet.
And just like that, Asher filled my thoughts. I still couldn’t believe I’d seen him. Harder still to admit—even to myself—that it wasn’t talking to him I feared.
It was the chance that whatever he said would break my heart all over again.