13. Asher
Asher
Me
Today has been terrible.
Sutton
Good morning to you too!
And how is that possible? It’s 8 am.
Me
I answered Noah’s text.
Sutton
I’m intrigued.
Me
I’ll explain later.
Sutton
Too much texting, I get it. Have you ever heard of voice notes?
Me
Because I love talking?
Sutton
Hmmm. Forgot about that. Oh well.
Well, I meant to send this to you last night, so hope it helps.
*sent photo*
She won’t sleep without the grizzly bear you bought her.
Screamed when I moved it last night as I got her in bed.
So although I was against it, she loves it.
Me
Today’s looking up.
“How the fuck did he convince you to come to this?” Jaxson asked, coming up next to me as I glared and shoved my phone back in my pocket.
My mood had improved marginally when Sutton sent me the picture of Sophie snuggled up with the grizzly bear I’d bought at the zoo. We’d seen the stuffed animal on our way out, and when Sutton pointed it out, I knew I couldn’t leave without it.
Sutton had tried to pay, which was almost insulting. I’d made more money in investments the whole time we were at the zoo than I had spent on the thing.
The things Sutton had shared with me, they hurt me deep in my bones.
The woman was pure goodness and she didn’t deserve the way those assholes had made her feel.
It didn’t sit right with me. But I could tell she wasn’t going to believe anything I said; some shit was too deeply ingrained.
So I would keep showing up, trying to prove to her that sometimes people did stick around.
It had been a hard lesson for me to learn too.
As soon as I remembered where I was, my mood soured again. “He lied.”
We both watched as Noah shook the man’s hand before he turned back to us, walking over with his arms outstretched and a big smile on his face. “We’re all set.”
“I’m leaving.” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared him down.
“No, you’re not.” Noah mimicked my posture with a smirk on his face.
“To be fair,” Jaxson said, looking around, “you did not tell us we were doing this.”
We were in some sort of warehouse filled with test saunas. I didn’t even know you could test saunas, but of course Noah had made it happen.
“I told you we needed to get something done for the spa.” Noah sent Jaxson an easy smile.
“Not what I was told.”
Noah laughed, earning him a narrowing of my eyes. Most people got uncomfortable with my intense scrutiny, but it didn’t even faze Noah. He’d been around me too long.
“You wouldn’t have come if I’d told you we needed to decide which sauna we wanted.”
“Don’t we hire people to do this?” Jaxson scratched the back of his head. “Plus, no way in hell am I getting in there in my suit. Dry cleaning is a bitch.”
“You send things out,” Noah pointed out as he moved to grab the bag he’d dropped by the door. Fucker knew he was blocking my exit. “Plus, most people just toss on a towel in the sauna.”
“Noah,” I snapped at him.
“Relax. You grunt more than you talk, which you should really work on.” He held the bag up in the air and waggled his eyebrows. “I brought swimsuits.”
“Bastard.” Jaxson shook his head.
“I am not doing this,” I said.
Thirty minutes later we were sitting in our third sauna. I was glaring at Noah as Jaxson lay down.
“I think this one’s my favorite.” Noah looked around, knocking on the walls like that was some sort of fucking test. “The list our designer sent said infrared saunas are the best for deep relaxation.”
“Doesn’t look like it’s working for Ash,” Jaxson muttered.
We’d all grown accustomed to Noah’s antics and knew it was better to go along with him than fight.
Didn’t think that would land me in saunas sweating it out to decide which one we’d have in our resort.
We had more than enough money to pay someone else to do it, yet here we were.
“I prefer to work my aggression out on a heavy bag, not sweat in a fucking box,” Jaxson snapped and pointed at me for support while I just rolled my eyes.
“I like that this doesn’t have steam.” Noah ignored both of us. “Would it be crazy to do both? Steam saunas have cardiovascular benefits.”
“Are you telling me that we did this only to decide on both?” I said, my voice low as I looked at him.
“Are you telling me that you don’t care about the quality of the services we have at the resort?” Noah tossed back.
“We’re all tall. It’s good to know you can fit three guys all over six feet in here,” Jaxson said, his hands now tucked behind his head and his eyes closed. He was probably running code in his head or some shit.
“It’s okay to admit it, Ash—you’re really happy you got this quality time with us.”
I just flipped him off.
“I can’t believe he stayed,” Will laughed as he looked at the picture Noah sent in the group chat of me in the sauna yesterday. We’d all had a meeting over lunch and were now shooting the shit.
Noah smiled. “He’s too dedicated to the resort’s success to leave.”
“Or you were blocking the door,” I muttered distractedly as I looked at my phone again while the men all talked around me.
Sutton hadn’t responded to me this morning. I’d been texting her good morning every day since I got her number, and she always replied. Except she hadn’t this morning. Texting usually annoyed me, but I liked texting Sutton. Her non response had me worried something was wrong.
“Knight,” I barked. The rest of the guys went quiet as he looked over at me with a raised eyebrow. “Is Quinn at work?”
He frowned and tilted his head to look at me. “Of course she is.”
“Do we think he’s microchipped her yet?” Oli asked, looking at Knight.
“He asked me if it was possible.” Jaxson smiled as he threw him under the bus.
“I just wanted to know if we could put it on her ring,” Knight muttered, not looking at all called out. He thought it was logical. “Why?” he asked me.
“Did she say if Sutton was in today?”
“Interesting,” Will mused.
“Didn’t ask her about her employees’ whereabouts, no.” Knight looked like he was fighting off a smile.
I ground my teeth together for a moment before I shook my head and stood up from the table. Quinn hadn’t responded to my text with the same question and I wasn’t going to blow up her phone. “Fine. Oli, we need to leave.”
“Great, now I’m stuck with an extra grumpy Asher. It was bad enough that we’re having to see Scott Services and Investments,” Oli muttered as he pushed up from the table, referring to the client we were going to meet that wasn’t delivering.
“Looks like Ash should have stayed in the sauna for longer,” Noah added.
I ignored all the men’s goodbyes as we headed downstairs to my truck.
Knight liked having a driver, mostly because it was Arthur, but I preferred driving. It was less practical in London but here I had no problem getting myself around.
Oli kept shooting me glances but I wasn’t going to talk first, so instead I just kept driving. An alarm went off on my phone as we stopped at a light. I checked it quickly before locking it. When the light turned green, I changed lanes and went left.
The timer was the one I’d set when I hadn’t heard back from Sutton by the time I normally did. I’d told myself that if I didn’t hear from her in three hours, then I would do something about it. I didn’t know what to do with feelings like this; I wasn’t exactly used to them.
“Uh, Asher buddy?” I glanced over at Oli before looking back at the road. “Meeting isn’t this direction.”
“Taking a detour,” I muttered as we continued out of downtown.
“Does this have anything to do with your question to Knight?”
I didn’t bother answering him. Instead Oli let out a laugh and shook his head, pulling out his phone. “Hi, this is Oliver Thorton. I just wanted to give you a heads up that we’re going to be late to our meeting with Scott.”
I hated being late but sometimes it was necessary. Like today.
Ten minutes later we were pulling up outside the Maria Knight Memorial Fund offices. I tossed the hazards on and got out, leaving my car idling up front. It wasn’t blocking any parking spots and I didn’t give a shit if they towed my car.
Throwing the office door open, I nodded at the front receptionist and didn’t pause on my way back. I was vaguely aware of Oli following behind me but I didn’t care. My chest was tight, hands clenched as I turned the corner to find Sutton’s desk empty.
“Fuck.” I ran a hand over my head, heading straight to Quinn’s office. Thankfully the door was open so I didn’t have to storm in.
As I did, both women turned to look at me. I crossed my arms, some of the tension in my chest lessening at seeing her face.
“Asher?” Quinn stood up, her eyes bouncing behind me briefly. “Is everything okay?”
Great, Oli had followed me all the way in which meant he was probably ready to text it all to the group chat. None of that mattered though as my eyes landed on the blonde woman who had turned in the seat with surprise on her face.
“Is everything okay?”
At my question, Sutton’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Me?” she asked, pointing at her chest, looking back at Quinn.
“Yes.”
“Uh…” She scratched the back of her head. “Yes?” She said it like a question.
“Where’s your phone?”
She looked up like she was trying to remember. “In my bag, I think. Why?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “You didn’t text me this morning. It’s reckless not to have your phone on you.”
Yeah. I knew it was the wrong fucking thing to say as soon as my mouth started moving. I saw Quinn flinch and Sutton’s face hardened as she stood up, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Are you saying that because of Sophie?” She didn’t let me answer. “Iris has my office number, Quinn’s number, and my family doctor’s number. Don’t you dare call me reckless.” Her voice was rightfully hard.
“I was just worried about you. It came out wrong.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Doesn’t give you the right to be an ass.” I heard Quinn snort.
I let out a sigh and ran my hand over my head. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I just pictured you in a ditch or alone at the hospital with Sophie.”
Her eyes and body language softened at my words. She uncrossed her arms and walked past me, heading toward her desk.
I turned and followed as she went to her bag and started digging around.
“I’m not always great at remembering my phone while I’m here,” she said as she opened another zipper.
I didn’t know how she found anything in that monstrosity.
“Sophie was not interested in waking up this morning and we were running late, so I tossed my phone in my bag early and once I was here I didn’t think about it.
” She pulled it out in victory, showing it to me.
“I was worried.”
She looked down and texted something and my phone buzzed in my pocket. “I’m not used to someone other than Iris worrying about me and she saw me as I left.” She had a vulnerable look in her eye as she glanced up at me. “I appreciate that you care, even if you were an ass.”
I didn’t know what else to say. I’d overreacted. With my brothers, I knew they could handle themselves. With Quinn, she had Knight watching her back. No one was watching Sutton’s back, so I needed to.
“I didn’t mean to worry you. I’m really not used to people texting me.”
I nodded then tapped her desk. “Glad you’re okay. I’ll talk to you later.”
She smiled softly at me as I looked back at Oli and nodded toward the door. I wasn’t going to explain what had just happened to anyone. I’d needed to know Sutton was safe and although I shouldn’t have snapped at her, I’d still needed to know.
“Want me to text you back every morning too?” Quinn asked as I passed her standing in her doorway. Amusement danced on her face and her eyes were bright.
I didn’t bother replying and headed back to my car with Oli trailing behind me. I could feel the fucking texts coming in on my phone. As I buckled in and pulled onto the road I glanced over at Oli.
“Not a fucking word.”