Dash: No. And we’re going to keep it that way.

Me: Don’t I get a say in this?

Dash: No. He’s family. He needs us, whether he wants to admit it or not.

I sigh and roll out of bed, needing to at least make a coffee run before I can have this conversation, but I decide that a shower is more important. Shower first. Coffee later.

After stripping down, I snag the towel off the hook on the back of my door, wrap it around me, and stumble my way down the hall. I’m rubbing the sleep out of my eye with the palm of my hand when I twist the knob to the bathroom door. It takes a second for my vision to adjust, but when it does, I see Asher. Naked. Standing over the toilet with his left hand braced against the wall, and his right hand… His right hand is wrapped around his length.

I can’t look away. God, he looks so different now. He’s broader, taller, more muscular. If I thought he looked like a man three years ago, he’s a god now. My eyes are glued to the way he works himself, the veins in his arms, the thickness of him. Something shiny catches my eye, and I gulp when I realize it’s a piercing.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to stare?”

My wide eyes snap up to his, and I feel my ears heat with shame. His challenging stare matches the unapologetic tone of his voice, and he continues to pump his length. I can’t apologize. I can’t even form a response. I’m unable to do anything but gawk at the sight before me. My teeth bite into my bottom lip, and I feel my nipples harden against my towel. Asher grunts, bringing my attention back to his face, and he’s staring right at my mouth.

“If you’re going to watch, lose the towel.”

Without thinking twice, I step inside the door and close it behind me. His eyes widen, just a little, as if surprised that I’m playing along to his game instead of running away. He’s not the only one. I don’t know why I’m still standing here.

We’re both in some kind of trance. The only sounds are those of our quickening breaths and the wet noises coming from his palm. I smell a familiar scent of vanilla and fruit right before I spot my Pink Sugar Plum conditioner on the granite sink next to him. His fist moves faster when he sees that I notice.

“You’re going to smell like me.” I don’t know why those are the first words that come to mind. Why does the thought of him using my conditioner set a fire inside me? I’m not normal. I’ve never felt like this before. I’ve never experienced such an erotic moment, and he hasn’t even touched me. I want to drop my towel and beg him to give me more of that feeling I only ever got a taste of. The feeling that only he’s ever been able to give me. But I won’t. I threw myself at him once, and I still haven’t recovered from the fall. I refuse to be that girl, content to survive on whatever scraps of attention he throws my way when it suits him.

Still, I can’t bring myself to look away—to walk away. I feel like he’s daring me to see this through, and I have some need to prove to him that I’m not a little girl anymore. The naïve Briar with stars in her eyes is long gone. He made sure of that.

I try to discreetly press my legs together to smother the throbbing between my thighs, but Asher notices. Of course, he does. His head falls back slightly, like it’s too much effort to hold it up, but his eyes are still locked on mine. Mine, however, start to wander. To his full lips and sharp jaw, his chest that’s damp with sweat, the cut lines of his lower stomach, and finally, to what’s in his hand, looking angry and impossibly hard. I notice his piercing again, and ever the petulant child, wonder when he got it and how many other girls have seen it. I hate all of them.

“Stop giving me that look before I give you something to pout about.”

&nbs

p; I reach behind me to open the door and leave. I shouldn’t be here. This shouldn’t be happening, especially not with my brother somewhere in the house. But Asher shakes his head, pinning me in place. I immediately obey his unspoken request without a second thought, and I mentally kick myself for it.

Asher must literally get off on his control over me, because then he’s coming in thick, white spurts into the toilet. His muscles tighten and his body tenses, but he looks at me, still taunting, still daring me to look away with his bored stare.

I swallow hard, but instead of leaving, I put one shaky leg in front of the other and force myself to walk right past him to the shower. Like what happened was no big deal. Like I didn’t just watch Asher Kelley jerk himself off. Like it wasn’t the most glorious thing I’ve ever witnessed.

Once I’m in, I toss my towel over the frosty glass door and turn the shower on. The hot water beats down on my chest, only intensifying the ache between my legs. I squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for Asher to make his move. Long seconds pass, and it feels more like hours, but then I hear the toilet flush, and the door slams shut a moment later.

What the hell just happened?

My stomach growls as I pretend to be doing something super important on my laptop at Starbucks, reminding me that I didn’t have time to scarf anything down earlier in my haste to get out of there. I’m hiding out, because Natalia probably hasn’t even rolled out of bed yet, and I needed to be somewhere other than my house.

After relieving the ache that Asher created in the shower, I threw on a pair of holey jeans and a white tank top and slapped on some makeup, all the while nervous that Asher was going to show his face again. He didn’t thankfully, but I was still unnerved by what transpired in the bathroom. I couldn’t focus on anything knowing he could be lurking around every corner of the house, but he was nowhere to be found.

Even when my favorite barista, Matt, tried to make small talk, I was still unable to focus on anything but the sight of naked Asher pleasuring himself with my conditioner. And the way he looked at me, completely unaffected and unapologetic.

Tossing my empty cup, I make my way toward the parking lot, skidding to a stop when someone blocks my path, only to find Jackson smiling down on me.

“Hey, what’s up? I didn’t get to say goodbye to you last night, and I tried to call, but your phone went straight to voicemail.”

Oh my God. I forgot about Jackson. And I don’t mean about last night… I mean, I literally forgot he existed. Ash’s been back in my life for less than twenty-four hours, and, like a solar eclipse, he’s already casting his shadow upon everything and everyone else. It’s exciting at first. You feel like you’re a part of something that doesn’t happen every day. And maybe you’re tempted to stay in the shadows. But then you realize that you need the sun. You can’t survive in darkness alone.

“Briar?” Jackson’s concerned hazel eyes assess me.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, my phone died. Sorry.”

“It’s cool.”

Tags: Charleigh Rose Bad Love Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net