Chapter 10

I waited outside Asher’s door for a long moment. Had he not heard me knocking? Was he not home?

No, I heard shuffling behind the door, and lowered voices. He was definitely in there.

I knocked again, louder.

Footsteps came closer, and finally, the door opened.

“Asher, I have to tell you… you…” The words died on my tongue as I took in the sight of him.

Only a thin, white tank top stretched across his chest. Aside from the straps of his tank, the curves of his wide shoulders and strong arms were on full display.

His torso tapered into a thin waist and narrow hips. He wore a pair of loose sweatpants but they hung low enough to show a strip of bare, pale skin beneath his navel.

My mouth went dry. My fingers itched to touch.

I slammed shut my eyes, trying to control the sudden, inexplicable desire that washed over me. But without sight, my other senses heightened, and I smelled him.

His heady, masculine scent – like pine and leather – crashed into me.

Lust sparked hot and fast within me, spreading up and down my limbs like wildfire. It settled in my core. I pressed my thighs hard together to offer some relief.

Eventually my embarrassment overtook my lust, and I blushed fiercely.

Why was my body reacting to him so strongly?

It had to be the pregnancy making my hormones run rampant. Asher was a good-looking guy. I’d probably react the same if it was someone else.

I couldn’t possibly be developing feelings for my brother’s intolerable, obnoxious best friend.

Ridiculous.

I breathed through my mouth to combat his overpowering scent. I tried remembering all the terrible things he’d said to me to push down my desire.

Maybe you don’t belong here. There, that helped.

Slowly, I trusted myself to open my eyes again.

Asher avoided my gaze.

He stood tall and tense. One of his hands held the doorframe, the other the door. He kept it close to his body as if to hide the room behind him.

Odd. I’d been in his room a few times by now. He shouldn’t have anything to hide.

Unless…

“Cynthia. What are you doing here? Did you submit your withdrawal request?”

“Is someone else in there with you?” I asked.

Asher clenched his jaw. His lack of reply was answer enough.

Any lingering shred of desire vanished. A new, ugly kind of heat simmered within me instead. I felt like I might throw up.

I stumbled back a step. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have come here.” Why did I come here? “I’ll go now.”

I turned away from him.

“Wait.” Asher caught my arm, his callous fingers curling around the inside of my elbow. “You don’t have to leave.”

His touch was electric. It ignited the remnants of lust within me. My knees turned to jelly, and I nearly collapsed.

But shame quickly followed. Here I was lusting for him, when he had another girl in there right now!

I yanked my arm from his hold.

“Cynthia,” he started, but cut short when someone pulled back the door.

The other woman was tall, with an hour-glass shape and red-coated lips. Her shirt was unbuttoned nearly down to her waistline. Her short skirt left little to the imagination.

She leaned into Asher and kissed him on the mouth.

He didn’t pull away, but he didn’t press in either. He stood tall and tense, same as he had since he first opened the door.

“You owe me one,” she said against his mouth.

When Asher didn’t move, she stepped back with a sigh. She glanced at me then, standing shocked in the hallway. She frowned at me.

“I wouldn’t think you’d spend your time with a little girl like this.” Her red lips pinched together in distaste.

“She’s different,” Asher said, a touch of cold creeping into his voice.

She scoffed.

His eyes cut into her, sharp and dangerous. “You forget yourself. You don’t get to interfere in my affairs.”

The girl paled at once. Then, huffing, she pushed past me and stormed away down the hall.

With her gone, some of the tension bled from Asher’s shoulders.

“I could have left first,” I said, ignoring the deep-rooted satisfaction inside me. The other woman had been dismissed but not me.

Asher shoved the door fully open and motioned for me to enter.

“No,” he said. “Keeping my promise to Dylan is more important than women.”

I entered the room. He closed the door behind us.

Inside his room, his scent was even stronger than before. Why had I not noticed it last time I was here?

I continued to breathe through my mouth. Pressing my hands to my heart, I urged it to slow.

Now wasn’t the time for this kind of reaction. I came here to tell him my decision, and I couldn’t do that through a lust-filled haze.

“Now,” Asher said. “I assume you came here for a reason. Let’s hear it.”

Asher’s domineering tone didn’t exactly quell my lust, but it did help me focus. With that focus, strength followed.

I faced him, determined. “I’ve decided to stay and pass my midterm as a cheerleader. I won’t leave the Academy before that.”

He furrowed his brow. “That is exactly what we agreed earlier that you couldn’t do.”

“I only promised to think about dropping out, and I did. After more thought, I realized it would be a mistake.”

“You aren’t thinking clearly.” He shook his head. “This is a childish dream, Cynthia. You need to face reality.”

“I can do this, Asher.”

“I know you want to have it all. That’s admirable. But it’s not possible for anyone, especially someone in your state.”

My state? Oh. He meant pregnant.

Yesterday, I would have taken his words to heart. I might have backed down in the face of his overwhelming certainty.

But not today. Today, I held Asher’s gaze. I lifted my chin.

He could likely tell something was different this time. He stepped closer, towering over me. But I wasn’t going to be intimidated by his height.

“Something could happen to you or the baby,” he said.

“Then I’ll take the blame. This is my choice. I’ve already talked to a nurse. I know I can exercise during the first trimester without worrying.”

His frown deepened.

“I’m so grateful to you,” I said at once. “I know you want to help me. Even if it’s just for Dylan’s sake, I’m grateful.”

“Cynthia.”

“But I have to own up to my actions, and that means I have to take responsibility for the baby myself.”

“You don’t know what you are saying.” His hands closed into fists, then opened again, restless. “You can’t play games with something like this.”

“I’m not playing games.”

“You’re just a kid, messing around.”

He was trying to get me worked up saying that, I could tell. I wouldn’t take the bait this time.

I felt at ease with my choice. Maybe Lilith was lending me her strength, maybe it was my own. I couldn’t tell. Honestly, it didn’t matter.

Nothing he could say would get me to change my mind.

Not even when he threatened, “I’m calling Dylan.”

I took a slow, steadying breath. Accepting responsibility meant also accepting consequences. I’d made my choice, now I had to live with it.

Asher, phone in hand, unlocked his screen.

I placed my fingers over it. “Stop.”

“No,” Asher said. Such a frustrating, impossible man.

I shook my head a little. Releasing his phone, I retrieved my own from my purse.

“I said ‘stop’ because…”

I held up my phone.

“I’m going to call Dylan myself.”