Chapter 0005

Without another word to Joseph, Asher carried me out of the room, down the stairwell, and into his own room.

His hands lingered on my shoulders. He brushed his thumbs lightly over tears of my shirt, where Joseph’s fingers had marred my skin with bruises.

The air between us felt charged. The silence was thick.

“Are you pregnant with Joseph’s baby?”

He likely already knew. To deny it now, would only make things worse. “Yes.”

He exhaled slowly, as if trying to keep himself calm. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I stepped back from him, out of his reach. He let his arms drop.

“Why would I tell you?” I asked. “None of this concerns you.”

His mouth pressed into a hard line. Fire sparked in his eyes. “Dylan talked about you all the time. His little sister, so sweet and innocent. Guess he doesn’t really know you at all."

“Don’t talk to me about Dylan,” I snapped. “And don’t act like you know me.”

He stared at me for a long moment, and I shifted under the weight of his gaze.

Then he grabbed his phone from his back pocket.

“What are you doing?” I asked at once, panicked.

“Texting Dylan,” he said simply, like that didn’t mean the end of my world.

“Why? You don’t have to do that.”

Asher’s thumbs moved fast over the phone screen. “Dylan asked for updates on you. I think this counts as a damn big update.”

“You can’t!” I jumped forward, reaching for his phone. He held it up high in the air, well above my head. “Please, Asher. Don’t!”

His fingers paused. He glanced down at me.

I knew I only had one chance to convince him. “If you tell him, he’ll come back, and if he comes back, he could ruin his whole future. You know how hard he has worked to be a part of the exchange program.”

“He’d want to know,” Asher said flatly. “And with a reason like this, maybe he should come back.”

“No, please.”

I held my hands to my chest. I wasn’t telling Asher the full truth. I didn’t want to give voice to my truest fears. But if it would stop Asher, then I had to.

“If Dylan finds out… If he comes back…” I closed my eyes and gathered my strength. “He’ll kill Joseph. Or try to. And he won’t just ruin his academic future but his entire life.”

I could imagine it. Dylan’s protective wolf tearing out of him, attacking Joseph.

If Asher was truly Dylan’s best friend, he would know I spoke a frightening truth. Dylan was so protective of me that he’d kill for me.

The quiet stretched. When I opened my eyes, Asher had lowered his phone.

“I’ll take care of it,” he said.

“You can’t tell him.”

Asher huffed a sharp exhale. His gaze fell to the bruises on my shoulders. “Only if you promise not to see Joseph alone again.”

Relief flooded through me. “Okay.”

He returned his phone to his back pocket and turned from me. I rushed from his room before he could say anything else.

 

Back in my dorm room, I paced again. I had found a moment of peace, but I knew it wouldn’t last.

I felt so helpless. With Asher in on my secret, who knew what he would do? He’d agreed not to tell Dylan for now, but what if he changed his mind?

And then there was Joseph. I was still reeling from his reaction. My shoulders ached.

Covering my face with my hands, I struggled to maintain any sense of calm.

A knock on my door sent me jumping nearly out of my skin.

I pulled myself together and went to the door. The boy behind it was an athlete I recognized from Joseph’s dorm. He handed me an envelope with my name on it.

It wasn’t Joseph’s handwriting. I sighed in relief, thanked the boy, and closed the door.

Opening the envelope revealed an invitation to a party at the athlete’s dorms, held the day after tomorrow. Scrawled along the bottom was a note addressed to me.

Come or I’ll call Dylan. – Asher

I crushed the envelope into a ball and threw it across the room. I didn’t want to go to any party. What could Asher possibly be thinking?

But I didn’t have any choice.

 

Two days later, I arrived at the athlete’s dorm for the party.

I scanned the crowd, and quickly found who I was looking for. I rushed across the room and cornered Asher near the drink table.

He lifted a plastic cup to me in greeting. I barely refrained from smacking it out of his hand.

“Why are you doing this to me?” I hissed. “You can’t possibly think there is anything I want to celebrate!”

He tilted his head and started walking. I followed him to a more private corner of the room.

Infuriatingly, he still didn’t say anything. He leaned against the wall with a type of lazy confidence that made me want to rage. Only the people around us kept me from yelling.

“You are the most insensitive man I’ve ever met,” I snapped. “Why would you force me to come here, knowing what you know?”

He continued to refuse to speak, rankling all of my nerves.

“Even a robot has more feelings than you!” I said, louder than I meant to. I relented at once, glancing around, but no one paid me any attention.

Asher looked at me then, a hard edge in his gaze. “Calm down, trouble maker.”

I frowned at him.

“You want to know why you’re here?” he said. “Look around.”

I wanted to argue that I already had, but his emotionless face had me holding my tongue. I looked around again, slower.

The room was full of beautiful women, with long legs and short skirts. A couple of them I recognized as fellow cheerleaders. Several more, I remembered their faces but not where I’d seen them before. The rest were strangers.

Everyone talked and laughed, having a good time.

Other than Asher, there wasn’t a man in sight.

“They’re all girls,” I said.

Asher lifted a brow. “And what else do they have in common? Or should I say, what do they have in common with you?”

Certainly they weren’t all pregnant. And only a few were dancers like me. No, there had to be something else that tied us together, for Asher to mention it.

Asher pushed off the wall, leaning over my shoulder instead. “Do you need a hint?”

I had one growing suspicion but I wasn’t sure it was possible. Or that Asher would take the time to arrange it.

When I looked up at him, his lips twitched like he meant to smile but couldn’t. “You guessed right.”

I hadn’t said anything, but he must have seen it in the surprise on my face.

“Look around, Cynthia,” Asher said. “A flirt? A secret girlfriend? They’re all here.”

He hummed, clearly satisfied with himself.

Watching him, I didn’t know what to think, or what to expect.

The hard edge in his eyes froze over, ice cold.

“Every girl in this room is one of Joseph’s conquests.”