Chapter 15 Asher #2
The ball flies. She hits it. I hit it. We fall into a rhythm. It is chaotic at first—we miss shots, we get in each other’s way—but then, something clicks. We synchronize.
I set up the shot, she takes it. She traps the ball, I fire it up the ramp.
Our bodies move together, swaying with the machine. Her shoulder presses into my chest. My arm brushes hers.
It is the most intimate thing I have done in months.
We hit the jackpot. The machine screams.
“Yes!” she shouts, grabbing my arm.
The ball drains. Game over.
We stand there, breathing hard, flushed with adrenaline.
She looks at me. Her eyes are shining.
“We make a good team,” she says.
“We do.”
I look at the high score. We didn’t beat A.B., but we came close.
“I’ll drive you home,” I say. “It’s late.”
She hesitates, looking toward the exit. “I drove here. I just got my car back from the shop yesterday.”
“Leave it in the lot,” I say. “It is secure, and your cognitive function is depleted. You are too tired to drive.”
Her smile fades slightly, returning to the heavy reality of the night. “Okay.”
We are in my car. The atmosphere is different this time. It’s warm.
“I keep making you drive me home,” she says, looking out the window.
“Your car is unreliable,” I say. “Even with the mechanic’s repairs, an electrical failure can compromise the entire vehicle. You need a new car.”
“I can’t afford a new vehicle,” she says sharply. Then she sighs. “Sorry. Sore spot. Your brother reminded me on Monday that I have zero liquidity.”
My hands tighten on the wheel. “He did what?”
“He knows I dumped the whole signing bonus into my loans,” she admits quietly. “He knows I can’t pay it back if I quit. He trapped me, Asher.”
A spike of adrenaline hits my bloodstream, cold and sharp.
“I didn’t know that. Ethan didn’t put that in the report. He told us he convinced you to stay. He didn’t tell us he blackmailed you. He shouldn’t have done that.” I say, my voice stern.
“It worked,” she shrugs. “I stayed. I didn’t have a choice.”
“He used your vulnerability as a weapon. That is… unacceptable.”
I pull up to her apartment building. I put the car in park and turn to face her.
“Tessa,” I say. “If you want to leave… I’ll cover the bonus.”
She goes perfectly still. “Really?”
“I’ll write you a check,” I say. “Fifty thousand. Tomorrow. You can pay Ethan back and walk away.”
She stares at me, her mouth slightly open. “Asher… you can’t do that.”
“It’s not a loan,” I clarify. “Ethan created an unfair variable. I am balancing the equation. You shouldn’t be a prisoner here.”
“Why would you do that?” she whispers. “If I leave, I leave you too.”
“If you stay because you’re forced to,” I say, looking at her hands, “then I’ve already lost you. I want you to choose.”
She unbuckles her seatbelt. She leans across the center console.
“I am choosing,” she says.
She kisses me.
It is soft at first. Fast. Then I cup the back of her head, threading my fingers through her messy hair, and deepen it.
She makes a small noise in her throat and climbs over the center console. It is awkward. Her knee hits the gear shift. Her purse falls onto the floorboard.
But then she is straddling my lap, facing me, her legs on either side of my hips in the driver’s seat. The steering wheel is digging into her back, pressing her flush against me, but neither of us cares.
“Asher,” she gasps, pulling back just enough to look at me. The streetlamp illuminates the sharp need in her eyes. “Come upstairs.”
“Ethan—”
“Don’t overthink this,” she says fiercely. “I don’t care about Ethan. I don’t care about the rules tonight. Just come up.”
I look at the pulse beating in her throat.
“Yes.”
The door barely clicks shut before I have her against it.
This is different from the last time. Last time, I stopped. Last time, I calculated the risks. Tonight, I am ignoring the data.
I press my lips to the hollow of her throat. I taste the bitterness of concealer.
Beneath it, the skin is slightly raised. A mark. The logic snaps into place instantly: Ethan.
I kiss her neck anyway, inhaling her scent. It is intoxicating.
“Bedroom,” I rasp.
“Yes,” she breathes.
She leads me down the short hall. Her bedroom is small. A double bed with white sheets. A nightstand stacked with books.
She turns to face me. She reaches for the buttons of her blouse.
“Let me,” I say.
I push her hands away.
I want to see the mechanics of it. I want to uncover her layer by layer.
I undo the buttons, one by one. I peel the silk from her shoulders. I slide the skirt down her hips.
She is wearing simple white cotton underwear.
“Turn around,” I command softly.
She hesitates, then turns.
I look at her back. I trace the line of her spine with my finger. I see the faint yellowing of a bruise on her hip.
“Who did this?” I ask, touching it.
“Ethan,” she whispers. “On the desk.”
A spike of possessiveness hits me. Ethan marked her. He claimed her with force. He used his anger to brand her.
I won’t use force. I will use precision.
I kneel behind her. I kiss the bruise.
“He was rough,” I murmur against her skin.
“Yes.”
“I won’t be rough,” I promise. “I’m going to be thorough.”
I pull her panties down. I run my hands up the backs of her thighs, feeling the muscles tremble. I kiss the back of her knee. Then the inside of her thigh.
“Asher,” she gasps, her knees buckling.
I take her to the bed. “I’ve got you.”
I kneel between her legs.
“Maintain eye contact,” I murmur, my hands gripping her thighs, spreading them wider.
She opens her eyes, her chest heaving.
I lean down and press my mouth against her pussy.
She cries out, her fingers instantly tangling in the sheets. I take my time to ensure I am thorough. I drag my tongue right up the slick center, finding her swollen clit. I suck it into my mouth, hard.
She bucks off the mattress, gasping. I hold her hips down, pinning her in place. I pay attention to every flinch, every ragged breath, mapping exactly how much pressure makes her back arch.
I slide two fingers inside her while my tongue works her clit mercilessly.
“Please,” she begs. “Asher, please.”
“Almost,” I whisper against her wet skin, lapping at her as I take her right to the edge.
When she finally breaks, I lower her onto her back as she rides out the climax, flushed and panting.
I strip off my clothes and drop them on the floor. The need to be inside her is drowning out my need for order.
I pull a foil packet from my jeans.
“You have one?” she asks, her voice breathless.
“I’ve carried it since the beta launch party,” I admit, looking her in the eye as I tear it open. “I calculated the probability of us ending up here as low. But the probability of me wanting to be here was one hundred percent.”
I roll the condom over my hard cock and move over her.
I brace myself on my forearms, looking down at her face.
“You’re staring,” she whispers, her hands sliding up my chest.
“I want to remember exactly how you look right now,” I say. “Not as an employee. Not as a problem. Just Tessa.”
I shift my hips, pressing the broad head of my cock against her pussy, finding the tight entrance.
I push in.
It takes effort. She is incredibly tight, her internal muscles stretching to take my thickness. I sink into her wet heat, burying myself to the hilt in one slow, deliberate thrust.
“Oh,” she breathes out, her legs instinctively wrapping around my waist, her heels locking against my lower back.
I hold still, buried deep inside her, letting her body stretch and adjust to the size of me. I can feel the rapid flutter of her pulse through the thin wall of her chest pressed against mine.
Then I begin to move.
I bury myself in her, pulling nearly all the way out before driving back in again. She matches my rhythm instantly, her nails biting into my shoulders as our hips snap together.
“Asher,” she moans, tossing her head back on the pillow. “God, Asher.”
I watch the sweat bead on her collarbone. I watch the way her lips part. It is raw, unfiltered, and completely perfect.
She stiffens beneath me, her inner muscles contracting around me as her second climax hits her.
The feeling of her unraveling around me snaps the last thread of my control.
I drive into her, hard and fast, my vision blurring as a groan tears from my throat. I finish with a groan, collapsing against her shoulder as the world finally goes quiet.
There is only her.
We lie in the dark.
The only light comes from the streetlamp outside her window.
Tessa is asleep. Her head is on my shoulder, her hand resting flat on my chest, right over my heart.
I am awake.
My brain is coming back online, processing the events.
I slept with her.
Owen slept with her. Ethan slept with her.
We have all broken the rule. We have all crossed the line.
The system has failed.
But looking at Tessa, feeling the warmth of her breath on my skin… I don’t care about the system failure.
I care about the solution.
I reach for my phone on the nightstand. I dim the brightness. I open the group chat.
The chat has been silent since the launch party on Friday. Five days of absolute silence.
I type a message.
Me: The status quo is unsustainable.
I pause. I look at Tessa. I look at the bruise on her hip that Ethan left.
Me: We need to talk. All of us.
I send it.
Then I turn off the phone. I wrap my arm around Tessa, pulling her closer.
Tomorrow, the war begins. Tomorrow, we have to deal with Ethan, the contract, and the secrets.
But tonight…
Tonight, the signal is clear.