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Asher ran a hand down his face, his expression contorted with pain. “I become his puppet.”
I didn’t know what that meant but I could feel the torment radiating from him.
“My father was never the athletic type. He didn’t play football or run track or anything like that. His talent was computers and tech. Figuring out how things work and making them work better. I was never interested in that stuff and I was always a big disappointment to him. Football... that was my passion, and I was good at it. Not as good as Jason,” he gave me a wry smile, “but I could have had a good college football career. So the deal was I got to play at Rixon if I walked away from football in college and focused on academics.”
“Asher, that’s not—”
“Fair?” he scoffed. “My old man doesn’t care about that. All he cares about is his business and making sure I’m ready to take his place and finally become the son he’s always wished he had.”
“What about your mom? How does she feature in all this?”
His expression darkened and I knew I’d hit another chord. “She’s the reason I got four years.”
“What do you mean?”
“Before high school, Dad tried to make me quit football, said it wasn’t becoming of a Bennet. He’d never hid the fact he resented he got me instead of a carbon copy of himself. When I was a kid, Mom sheltered me from a lot of that, but I didn’t realize just how much she protected me until I got older.” His eyes settled on a spot on the floor, his fists curled tight and rubbing against his thigh.
I reached for him, uncurling his fingers and sliding them between mine. Asher looked at me and I smiled. “I’m right here,” I whispered.
“Mom knew how important it was for me to play with Jason and Cam. So she sacrificed herself,” he almost choked over the words.
“I don’t... what do you mean?”
It was her husband, it didn’t seem like that big of a deal for a wife to support her husband, unless… “Asher?” I said when he didn’t answer. His eyes were closed, his chest rising and falling with his ragged breaths.
“When I say he’s mean, Mya.” Asher’s eyes opened. He looked broken and it made my heart ache. “He isn’t just mean with his words.”
“Oh.” The unspoken words hung between us.
“Did he ever… hurt you?”
“When I was younger, he’d get so mad at me. Mom always stepped in though. I thought she tempered his anger, but he’d take it out on her when I wasn’t around. She was good at hiding it but there’s only so much makeup can disguise. Thankfully, he was away a lot for work so it was just the two of us and Serena, the housekeeper. But then the summer before high school he started going on about how it was time for me to learn the business and show more interest in my future.
“We got into a big fight when he said I couldn’t try out for the football team in high school, but Mom intervened, made me leave the house. When I finally returned, they sat me down and told me that they had come to an arrangement. Mom would start accompanying Dad on his business trips and I got four years of football with my friends. He’d always wanted her to be more involved, but she wanted to raise me.”
There was so much I wanted to ask. So much that didn’t make sense. But I could see the emotional toll it had taken on Asher to finally tell someone the truth.
To tell me.
So instead of pushing for more than he was ready to give me, I shuffled closer to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever told anyone the truth.” Asher eased back to look at me. “I’m glad it was you, Mya.”
“I won’t tell a soul.”
“I know,” he said. “I have to tell them eventually. They’re already asking why I haven’t formally committed to the Pittsburgh Panthers next fall. They don’t know it’s because my future is already sealed at Pittsburgh, and it doesn’t involve football.”
“They’d understand.”
“Maybe. But I don’t want it to come between us, not when we only have a few months left of senior year. Besides, you know what Jason is like. If he found out the truth…”
He wouldn’t be able to bite his tongue. Because despite all his flaws Jason Ford protected those he cared about, and Asher was like family to him.
“There’s more, isn’t there?” I couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out. But something about the whole thing didn’t sit right with me.
“Yeah,” Asher let out a weary sigh. “If I don’t keep my end of the bargain and go to Pittsburgh like a good little lap dog, Dad will cut me off. No trust fund, no college, no future.”
“There are other ways, Asher. Scholarships for one.” I knew from Felicity that he’d been offered at least two athletic scholarships.
