Happily Enemy After (Hawthorne Brothers 2)

I grip my stomach as I feel it churn.

“Fuck.”

“You want to fuck? Now?” Violet rolls her eyes.

“Well, yes,” I tell her with a lopsided grin. “But I also want to stay with…”

I stop talking as the churning in my stomach grows more intense. The next thing I know, I’m throwing up on the carpet.

Fuck.Chapter Twenty-FourViolet

“Fuck.” The curse leaves my lips as I see the puddle on the floor.

Well, this is a mess. Then again, I suppose it’s only to be expected since Asher is a mess. A drunken mess. And now, a passed out drunken mess.

Great. Just great.

I consider just leaving him to sleep it off in the cold corridor beside his puddle of vomit. But how can I after he just told me all those things, some of which were exactly the words I’d been waiting to hear?

I grab his arm, place it over my shoulder, and try to get him to his feet so I can bring him inside my apartment.

“Come on.”

Asher doesn’t wake up, but I somehow manage to drag him through the door and into the living room. I try to put him on the couch but fail so I just leave him on the rug.

I remove his vomit-soaked shirt and clean up his face with a damp towel. Then I fetch the duvet from the spare room and cover his body with it to keep him warm.

There. That’s better.

His face is still red and he still reeks of alcohol, but at least he doesn’t smell like vomit. And he’s sleeping soundly now. In the safety and comfort of my living room.

I sit on the couch and shake my head. Unbelievable.

I can’t believe he drank so much that he ended up like this. How old does he think he is? Twenty-one? But that’s not all I can’t believe.

I still can’t believe what he said about the first woman he slept with. What a bitch. And I still can’t believe he just poured his heart out to me. Yes, he’s drunk, but I can tell he meant every word he said.

He wants to be with me.

I reach down to brush some strands of hair off his forehead. Then I stare at his face and smile.

Asher wants to be with me. He finally said it, and now that he has, I just know I want the same thing. I want to give him another chance. I want to give us both a chance.

Maybe we’ll stay together. Maybe we’ll fall apart. Who knows? What matters is that we both decide to try.

That’s exactly what I’m going to tell Asher tomorrow. But first, I’ll have to make sure he remembers what he told me.

I draw a deep breath.

I sure hope he does.

~

“I remember,” Asher says as he sits on the couch beside me moments after waking up. “I remember trying to walk down the corridor and then falling. And then you showed up and we talked. I just don’t remember how I ended up here.”

“That’s because you passed out,” I tell him. “You threw up and you passed out.”

“I threw up?” Asher’s eyes grow wide. “In the corridor?”

“Yes.”

He glances down. “So that’s why I don’t have my shirt.”

I nod. “That’s why you don’t have your shirt.”

His eyebrows furrow. “Wait. I passed out in the corridor and you brought me in here? By yourself?”

“Yes,” I admit proudly.

“Your new boyfriend didn’t help?”

“Boyfriend?”

What is he talking about?

“The man who was here in your apartment,” Asher explains.

My eyebrows arch. “Oh. You mean Liam?”

“Yes, Liam.”

I laugh. He thinks Liam is my new boyfriend?

He gives me a puzzled look. “What’s so funny?”

“You making the same mistake I did.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Liam isn’t my new boyfriend.”

“He isn’t?” Asher’s eyes grow wide. Then they narrow. “Wait. Is he your house manager?”

“No.” I shake my head. “He’s an old friend of mine from Zurich. He’s a doctor.”

“Oh.”

“He’s here in Chicago because of a patient and he dropped by to see me.”

Asher nods. “I see.”

He touches his chin as he looks at me.

“So you and Liam aren’t in a romantic relationship?”

“No,” I answer.

“But he seemed protective of you.”

“Really?” My eyebrows furrow. “What did he say?”

“He wanted me to stay away from you.”

“Well, that’s because I kind of told him about you. Not that I wanted to. He… he just somehow got it out of me.”

“So you’re close?”

I shrug. “I guess. He’s like a brother to me.”

“Just a brother?”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Look at you being the jealous one for a change.”

“I need to know, Violet,” he insists in a serious tone.

Oh. Now he’s serious. I guess I need to get serious as well.

I clear my throat. “Liam is just like a brother to me. Nothing more.”

“Sure?”

“Sure.”

I see the relief on Asher’s face. I guess he really was jealous.

“Now, do you remember what you told me last night?” I ask him.