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“Please, Juliette,” he asks earnestly before I can refuse. “Think about that night. The stars, the beach.”
My eyes flutter shut. The night I fell in love with him. Fuck, he’s really trying to make me cry.
“I’m not that girl anymore.”
“I know you’re not. And I know it’s my fault. But at the very least, I owe you an explanation, Julie. Just this once,” he pleads.
I must be weaker than I realized because I find myself nodding. “Okay,” I mumble.
“Thanks, beautiful. Are you free now? I can come get you.”
“No. Text me the location and I’ll come meet you.”
I should have left work hours ago, anyway. I was just trying to avoid a billionaire and his mansion full of secrets.
“Alright, Juliette.”
I take a deep breath before heading for the employee facilities to take a shower and get changed. I slept here last night—one of the perks of working at a hotel is that there are rooms available to staff that have to stay through the night. And when Francine asked if I could work the night shift in the kitchen, I took it. I’ll probably take it again tonight.
I can’t keep living like this, though. I’m going to have to start looking into apartments in the city. Living with Xander was a bad idea. But I don’t let myself think about that right now. Asher sends me directions to a restaurant thirty minutes away, and I’m so distracted that I decide it would be better to take an Uber instead of driving.
As soon as I walk into the restaurant, I see him. He’s seated with his back facing the door so he doesn’t notice me yet. I take slow, measured steps towards the table. Asher must feel my presence because he turns around before I can reach him, getting to his feet and turning to look at me with so much emotion shining in the depths of his eyes.
A part of me was expecting him to look the same way he did five years ago, but he doesn’t. He’s changed. His dark hair is longer and he has a beard, which I don’t like on sight.
“You need to shave,” I find myself saying.
Asher grins. “Most people like the beard.”
“You look like an overgrown rat,” I state, moving to take a seat on the chair opposite his.
He doesn’t look that bad, though. He’s wearing a black leather jacket over a blue shirt and jeans. Asher Blake has always been attractive in a special way. The kind of attractive that should be a red flag because you just know a lot of women are gunning for his attention, but he never seemed to realize that. That’s what drew me to him in the first place. He was so good looking but he wasn’t a player; he didn’t seem to revel in any attention at all. Asher was always happy as long as he was racing on the tracks or searching for the next adrenaline high. He did dangerous shit all the time and I met him at a time in my life when I was looking for escape. We fell in love hard and fast. We were together for a year before he decided I wasn’t worth it anymore.
I’m sorry, Julie. I have to leave and you’ll probably never see me again.
That was all I got. He sent me that text and completely disappeared from my life. He dropped out of college and because he was always so mysterious I didn’t know his family or anyone connected to him outside the life we built. It was cruel. He left without any form of explanation.
“I thought you were dead,” I say, when he continues to stare at me like he can’t believe I’m here.
I make sure to avoid eye contact. I’ve fallen prey to the beauty of those deep-set hazel eyes before. And I don’t plan to ever go back there.
“You were probably better off thinking that, Julie. But we both know you didn’t believe it.”
“I was worried,” I say, struggling to control my emotions. “You left without a goodbye and I couldn’t find you anywhere. I did think you died!”
It hurt less to think that instead of the alternative. But now that he’s standing in front of me, I realize he really did leave me. I expect to feel pain at the realization but I feel nothing. I’m numb. Asher Blake has no control over me anymore.
“I fucked up.”
That cracks me up. “You think?”
His eyes flash with some unknown emotion. “It wasn’t easy for me either, Juliette. You think I wanted to do that to you? I just had to leave. I couldn’t stay in Virginia anymore.”
“Why not?” I ask. “And don’t bullshit me, Asher. I’m owed a fucking explanation. It’s the only reason I’m here.”
He stares at me for a long moment before nodding.
“My mom died,” he says quietly. I suck in a breath at that. I had no idea.
