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“If he defaulted on the loan,” I pressed. “When I first came here, you said that he needed to pay what he owed in three weeks, or I would stay permanently.”
Ash shifted his weight uncomfortably in his chair.
“Why are you bringing this up now?” he asked, pulling the napkin from his lap to place beside his plate on the table.
I offered him a quick smile.
“I was just curious,” I answered honestly. “There’s no real reason I’m asking.”
He nodded slowly. “I don’t know,” he replied. “I hadn’t thought about it, and it’s a moot issue, isn’t it?”
Bravely, I asked the second question, now that I was on a roll. “Have you heard from my father?”
Ash exhaled slowly, his lips twitching uncertainly, and I caught a flash of something in his eye, but it was gone before I could identify it.
“Briar, you have been free to leave for weeks,” he reminded me gruffly.
Ashamed, I looked down before raising my head to meet his gaze again.
“No! No, I know that,” I assured him. “And I don’t want to go anywhere.”
He eyed me, trying to mask the glimmer of hopefulness, but I caught it.
“I’m not asking because I want to leave,” I promised. “I’m just wondering if my father ever really intended to pay off that loan.”
Uneasily, Ash sat back in his chair, and I saw the wheels of his mind turning.
When I first arrived, he hadn’t minded telling me all awful things about Father, but now…
“I haven’t heard from your father,” Ash told me flatly. “But I don’t expect to hear from him, either. Not yet.”
I swallowed and nodded, forcing a smile. “So he hasn’t called to check on me, either,” I mumbled, voicing my true thoughts aloud.
“Oh…” Ash sighed. “No, Briar, but you can’t take that personally. Given our arrangement, I'm sure he wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing that.”
I lifted my head and looked at him, catching his reassuring nod. “Honestly, I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten about you and intends to pay off the loan. Even us assholes care more about our families than anything else.”
My body perked up with interest.
“You do have a family!” I breathed, relieved to hear something about his background finally. “Are any of them here? In MacShire?”
Ash balked, and I wished I hadn’t been so bold, asking him. I should have known he would clam up and shut down again. But before I could backtrack on my question, he spoke again.
“I had a family once,” he confessed, the admission soulful and oddly angry. “But it was so long ago now, it seems like that life is not a part of my past.”
I lowered the fork that was still in my hand, cautious not to make any sudden moves, lest I stop him from completing his story.
“In many ways, I’m glad I’ve managed to forget about them—my parents, in particular.”
Pulse quickening, I realized what he was saying. There was a sibling, too!
“Back in those days, we didn’t have the same clinical terms for everything that we do now, but the common day name for them both would be malignant narcissists, I suppose.”
I drew in a shaky breath, somehow unsurprised by the declaration. Men didn’t grow up to be as cold and ruthless as Ash without some kind of sordid background.
“It’s a blessing they’re dead,” Ash continued without a lick of emotion.
“Were they demons?”
