All the Truths (Lies & Truths 2)

Reina-Ellis: Please?

I don’t expect him to reply. It’s a stretch, but I’m ready to try every option right now. Not only do I need to clear my name, I also need Asher to let go of the ghosts of the past.

My screen lights up.

Cloud003: Tomorrow. Seven. Blackwood Grand Hotel. Room 1003.

I stand in front of room 1003 at seven o’clock.

From what I’ve gathered about my odd relationship with Cloud003, we never met in person. We never had an encounter outside the Halloween parties.

So why does this hall seem familiar? Why does it feel like I’ve stood in a similar hallway before? I had the same feeling of the unknown.

No.

I have to do this. Besides, I’ll just talk to him and go. I brought my security with me. If I don’t come out in fifteen minutes, they’ll call, and if I don’t reply, they’ll come for me.

I pull on the sleeves of my denim jacket. I dressed in jeans and a white top, nothing too out there.

Maybe all this tension is because I don’t want to do any of this behind Asher’s back.

I told him I was going out with Lucy and Naomi, and I did catch a ride with them, but as soon as we were away from campus, I had my security guys drive me here.

They only report back to Alex, and he won’t ask what I was doing here. Even if he does, he won’t tell Asher.

Besides, I’m doing all this for that asshole. If he had let me talk to Jason last night, I wouldn’t be forced to meet him in a hotel room as if I’m a cheater.

I’m not a cheater.

With one last deep breath, I knock on the door. A few seconds pass but no reply comes.

I knock again. Maybe he’s not here yet? Well, it is seven, and he seems to be punctual, so—

My thoughts shatter when the door opens. The man standing in front of me isn’t Jason.

No.

He’s the last person I expected to find here.

Dark jeans accentuate his powerful thighs and a gray T-shirt stretches against his bulging muscles.

The eyes that shouldn’t be staring at me right now capture my soul in their merciless hold.

“A-Asher?”

“The one and only, my slut.” He grabs me by the arm and pulls me inside.

I’m too stunned to react or even move. It isn’t until the door closes and he pushes me against it that I slowly come out of my stupor.

/> “W-what are you doing here?”

Oh, God. Oh, no.

My slut.

He called me his slut. Only one person calls me that, and it shouldn’t be him. But maybe Asher saw our exchange? Maybe he knew I was meeting Jason and came to ruin it?

Why aren’t any of those options registering in my head? Why does it keep rejecting them as if they hold no weight?