The Harder You Fall (Rixon Raiders 3)

“You’re such a cheese ball.”

“Too much?” He grinned. “I’m sure I can think up some other adjectives...”

“No.” My fingers ran up his chest finding his jaw. “I think I got it.”

Asher fixed his mouth over mine again, slipping his tongue between my lips. My little voice of reason silently screamed at me to stop, but with every stroke of his tongue, every press of his lips, it grew quieter and quieter until all the reasons why this was a bad idea melted away.

I let my hands glide over his shoulders, tangling my fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck. Asher broke the kiss, brushing his nose over mine, before tracing his lips over my jaw and down the slope of my neck. Sucking and nibbling and grazing his teeth against the sensitive skin, sending thousands of tiny shivers rippling through me.

“I want you, Mya,” he rasped. “I need you.”

The sheer desperation in his voice had me gripping his chin and lifting his face to mine. “What happened yesterday, Asher?”

Indecision flickered in his eyes. He wanted to tell me, but something held him back.

“What happened with your ex?” he countered.

Damn him.

We were back to this. Both of us needing more, neither of us willing to share. But one of us had to make a move, to give an inch.

Something told me it wasn’t going to be him.

Taking a deep breath, I started. “Jermaine is... was my best friend.” I pushed Asher off me gently, needing air. He sat back, raking a hand through his perfectly messed up hair.

“We grew up together, were in the same class at school. Our mamas always used to joke that we were two halves of the same whole.” Asher let out a small breath and my eyes slid to his. “I won’t lie to you, Asher. He was my everything.”

“What changed?” His voice was tight.

“I don’t need to tell you that where I come from, it isn’t like Rixon. When you’re a kid it’s easier to ignore what happens on street corners, but once you hit high school it’s reality. Drugs, gangs...” I hesitated, unsure of how much to tell him. Not because I was protecting Jermaine, that ship had long sailed,

but because I was protecting myself.

If I told Asher, if I let him into that part of my life, there was no undoing it. I’d forever be the poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks.

“He fell in with some bad people. Things got out of control and he got hurt.” I got hurt, the words teetered on the tip of my tongue.

Asher’s brows bunched together as he studied me, seeing right through my defenses. “And...”

“And I knew I’d lost him. Next time it wasn’t going to be a gang jumping him, roughing him up. It was going to be a car rolling by with a gun. My mama wanted me out of there and my aunt was all too willing to let me stay with her. Your turn,” I said, wavering under the intensity of his stare.

Asher, like Felicity and Hailee and everyone else at Rixon High, knew one version of Mya. Sure they saw the military boots, the denim overalls, and plaid shirts, but she was still a tamed down version of herself. Because I knew the other version of Mya, the real version, and this place, these people, wouldn’t mesh.

“My dad is an asshole,” Asher deadpanned, his face devoid of emotion.

“Okaaaay. I don’t really know what to say to that.”

“Everyone thinks he’s this awesome self-made man who provides for his family but he’s a mean son of a bitch. A real devil in sheep’s clothing.”

“No one else knows this?”

He shrugged, not meeting my eyes. “Money talks, I guess. And don’t get me wrong, on the face of it, he’s generous. He donates to charity, helps out my friends’ families. Supports the team. But everything comes with a price where Andrew Bennet is concerned.”

“And you have to pay it.” I whispered.

“Four years.” Asher tugged at the ends of his hair. “He gave me four years of high school, but senior year is almost up.”

“What happens after high school?” Dread slithered up my spine.