Asher (Inked Brotherhood 1)

Other people dress up to go to their job interviews. I’ll have to look badass tomorrow tonight to receive the go and enter the cages to fight. I’ll cut my hair short. Maybe leave the top longer and spike it with gel. I’ll borrow Zane’s hair trimmers. He won’t mind.

I’m tugging on my hair with one hand, fishing in my pocket for the keys with the other, when I realize someone is sitting on the steps leading up to the next floor.

I stop still. That red hair, the wide green eyes... “Auds?” I swallow hard. “What are you doing here?”

“What does it look like?” Looking uncertain, she stands up, smoothing her hands over her black stretch pants. God, she has great legs. “I was waiting for you.”

“Why?”

Her mouth goes flat and tight, and anger flashes in her eyes. She marches up to me, hands on her hips. “Why do you think? You showed me...” She huffs. “Showed me yourself and then left, just like that. I wanted...” Uncertainty returns to her gaze.

“You wanted what?”

She shrugs and her eyes fill up. But the expression on her face isn’t disgust or hatred. I can’t place it.

I have no clue what she wanted to do, but whatever it was, it made her come over to Zane’s apartment, wait for me here.

I look down at the keys in my hand. This is a bad idea. Another one on a long list of them. This girl makes me want things I shouldn’t, hope for things I can’t have.

And still I make the wrong decision, because I can’t help myself. “Come on in.”

She walks ahead of me into the living room, her hands twisting together. I draw the curtains shut and light the lamps around the main area with the sofa.

“I think there’s tea,” I say, and head toward the kitchen, because I’m not used to playing host and I need a moment to collect myself. “I’ll heat the water.”

Her footsteps follow me. “Why did you leave?”

“You were upset with me.” I fill the kettle with water and plug it in, but don’t turn it on yet.

“No, not with you.” She stands behind me and her hands slide over my hips. “I’m angry with myself for not knowing this.” Her fingers travel up my back and rest over the scars.

I shiver. “I only wanted to make you comfortable.”

“I know. You always did that. Always managed to make me feel good about myself.”

A knot forms in my throat. “Before I made you hate me.”

“That was why you left the previous time, isn’t it?” Her warmth seeps into the back of my body. She smells of something floral and sweet. “After you saved me from those guys at the campus and Tessa came.”

“You told her...” I bite my tongue. “It doesn’t matter.”

“I know what she said I told her. If you’d stayed, you’d know I replied that I never hated you. God, Ash, it’s the truth.”

I clench my jaw, still trying to wrap my head around that. Trying to believe it in my heart. It isn’t easy, after all this time.

“So what are you here for?” I’m not sure where we stand at this point. I only know my body is reacting to her presence, same like every time, and my jeans are getting tighter and tighter. Soon I’ll need to adjust myself and I still don’t know what she wanted back at her apartment. What she wants now.

“You showed me your scars. I’ll show you mine,” she says.

I still. “You don’t have to. It was a terrible idea.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Her hands slip down, to my lower back. “I’m glad you showed me. I needed to know.”

“No, you didn’t.” Anger flares inside me, a spark of heat. “You don’t need to know anything like that. You’ve had enough on your plate and I didn’t mean—”

“Ash.” She moves away from me, and I can’t help but turn.

I have to see her face, have to see...