“I promised I would. Wasn’t I meant to?”
“No. Of course it was okay for you to come. I just want to knowwhyyou did. Was it just because you said you would or…”
Is he feeling insecure? Or fishing to see if I’ve been crushing on him all of these years?
“Asher, you’ve been a big part of my life. I wasn’t just going to abandon you. You’re fa—” I stop myself before saying family, because even though he is to me, I just don’t know how to feel about that right now, so I change tactics. “I knew your mother wouldn’t visit.”
His brows dip in a frown, and a flash of hurt flickers across his expression. “So you came out of pity?”
“What?” I frown, shaking my head. “No. It wasn’t like that.”
“Then what was it like?”
Staring at him, I see the younger version of him behind his eyes, desperate for acceptance. The vulnerable boy, who just wanted a safe place to land.
I hate his mother for loving drugs more than she loved him.
“Like I said before,” I say, needing to clear the emotion from my throat. “You’ve been a big part of my life. You are… were like a son to me. I cared for you very much.”
For a moment he just stares at me, his expression so neutral that I can’t read him, but then he speaks.
“Am I still like a son to you?”
I shake my head quickly. “Heck no. That ship sailed the moment you walked out with no shirt on.”
Asher grins, his mood instantly lifting. “I’m irresistible, aren’t I?”
I laugh. “You’re cocky. That’s what you are.”
“So, you never looked at me any other way until my first night back? Even when you came to visit me?”
My cheeks heat at his question, and I know I should just be honest.
I noticed things… like how he started to get bulkier. I tried not to notice because he was Asher.
“I did notice you were no longer a boy,” I admit and shrug. “I might have wondered if there were any men my age like you.”
He beams. “Oh yeah? You were checking me out, weren’t you?”
I slap his shoulder playfully. “I never said that.”
“Yeah, you did.”
I’m about to protest again when Asher pulls me close and plants his lips on mine, stealing another kiss.
And just like that, I’m under his spell again.
The next time we come up for air, it’s like an ice bucket getting thrown on me when Asher’s phone rings, and Jude’s name flashes across the bloody screen.
I usher him out of my bedroom so fucking fast, throwing his clothes out in the hall as if the twins are here in person and about to pop up in my bedroom.
Jesus… I’m too old for this.
The twins invite him to a Sunday uni party, and when he goes to decline, standing naked out in the hall, I shake my head and mouth. “Go have fun with your friends.”
He looks wary as he agrees, listening to Jude give him the details as I close my door so I don’t have to keep looking at him in all his naked glory while my son is on the phone.
When he leaves later, he kisses me thoroughly as if to remind me not to start freaking out about this thing between us while he’s gone. It’s like he already knows me so well.
