Asher (Inked Brotherhood 1)

“He was at Zane’s, huh?” She gives me a knowing look and a smirk.

Heat suffuses my face.

“Let me just call his cell and see if he’s done with whatever he’s doing and can join us for a drink.”

She rings up Ash, the light from the cell phone screen lighting up her face. Then she suddenly sits up straight. “Erin?”

The girl sharing Zane’s apartment? Why does she have Ash’s cell phone?

“He left the cell at your place?” Tessa taps her fingers on the bar. “You know when he’s coming back?” Her fingers still. “He’s gone? Has he said anything?”

“What do you mean, gone?” I whisper.

“But he’s coming back, right?” Tessa hunches over a little. “He took all his stuff? Are you sure?”

I blink.

“Thanks, Erin.” Tessa disconnects and places her cell on the bar.

“He must’ve gone back to his dad’s place,” I say.

“Yeah.” Tessa couldn’t sound any less convinced if she tried. “Erin arrived and he left. Typical.”

“What’s the connection?”

“Erin... She’s got some issues with the Devlin family. She doesn’t like having Ash there.”

I try to digest this. “Why?”

“Not sure. She dated Ash’s brother many years ago and obviously something bad happened that put her off the Devlins.”

“But if that was on Tyler, why would she hate Ash?”

“People often lump family members together, even if they aren’t to blame.” She raises a brow at me, and my face flames again, for a different reason this time.

I’ve done it. Why should I be shocked if Erin does it, too?

***

I hope Ash will call—from his dad’s house, or maybe he’ll return and get his cell from Zane’s. But nothing.

I try calling Zane’s apartment, but nobody answers. Erin’s probably out, and Zane hasn’t come back yet.

I find myself gnawing on a fingernail as I pace in my apartment. I feel like crying. How has it all gone bad? We haven’t had a fight. In fact, we made love. He made love to me. My first time, and it was amazing.

Ash was amazing. Everything was so perfect.

And now he’s vanished into thin air.

No, not thin air. I know where the house is: where mine used to be. I’ll go and confront him, talk to him in person, ask him why he can’t open up to me. What I have to do to make him trust me. Why the fighting and the secrecy.

I take the bus and get off at the stop down my old road. It feels so weird, standing here, years later. So many childhood memories. The little park where Tessa and I met after school to talk and play. Her aunt lived nearby and Tessa lived with her; her parents moved to Chicago when she was little.

Dylan would often join us, hiding from the other boys who made fun of him for playing with girls. Rafe would sometimes come over as well, and Zane, more rarely.

Then Ash’s family moved in. There’s the big tree in their garden where we’d climb up in summer and pretend we were on a desert island, looking out for ships to save us.

Ash loves water. He likes sitting in the parks, watching the boats and the open water. He can sit and gaze at the lakes for hours.