Chapter 106

Asher looked down at me, blizzard waging in his eyes. I knew he wanted to push through me, fight Coach for me, and protect me. But my hand on his chest kept him in place.

“Please,” I said.

“You want to talk?” he said. “Then talk.”

“You can’t interfere,” I said.

“Cynthia –”

“I’m serious, Asher. This is my only chance. If we lose this chance, it could ruin everything for me.”

“You can’t be serious.” Asher’s face twisted in fury. “You are actually willing to do this? To go to this creep’s house and take these photos wearing who knows what, or how little? You will put yourself in this kind of danger?”

“I have to, Asher.”

“No, you don’t. Not if this is what he expects from you. It will keep getting worse, Cynthia. It will never be enough for him.”

He moved to step around me. I blocked his path again.

“Please, Asher. You can’t.”

“I will protect you from this asshole, Cynthia. No matter what I have to do.”

“All you had to do was grovel,” said Coach, suddenly behind us at the gymnasium entrance.

I jumped at the sound of his voice. Asher immediately stepped forward, placing himself between Coach and me.

“What are you talking about?” Asher asked.

“She didn’t tell you,” Coach said, smirking. “All I wanted for your blatant disrespect was the proper kind of apology. An Alpha, groveling on his knees, begging me to keep his pretty little girlfriend on the cheerleading squad.”

Asher looked back at me, confused. He searched my face for something – a denial, perhaps? When he didn’t find it, he almost looked… hurt.

“Asher –” I started.

He interrupted me. “All I have to do is apologize?”

“From your knees,” Coach said. He waved at the space immediately before him. “Right here, at my feet.”

Asher turned from me and stepped toward Coach. I grabbed his arm but he shook away my hold. I rushed to his front, pushing him back with both hands.

“Asher, please don’t. You don’t have to do this.”

“I do,” he said softly. “To protect you, I will. What use is my pride when you are in danger?”

“It’s just pictures.” I held his gaze, weathering the snowstorm. “I’d take a thousand pictures than ever ask you to lower yourself to this.”

“Good thing you aren’t asking, then.” He started to kneel.

Panicked, I wrapped my arms around his waist and bodily hoisted him as much as I could. He stopped immediately, perhaps sensing he might hurt me. I had no intention of letting him go.

Behind me, Coach laughed, cruel and loud, mocking. “Quite a lover’s spat. Too bad it doesn’t matter anymore. Spare your knees, Alpha brat. Cynthia already made her choice.”

Coach began to walk past us, but stopped before he could get too far. He turned back and winked at me. “See you soon, Cynthia.”

Laughing again, he turned and left us. My skin crawled for as long as I could hear his voice.

“Cynthia, I’m so sorry,” Nicole said, approaching me.

“It’s okay.” Stepping back from Asher, I pulled her into a tight hug. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head, fresh tears falling. “No.”

Asher and I walked Nicole to her dorm room. She didn’t say much more, just cried a lot. I didn’t know how to console her, especially with my own dark cloud hanging over my head and Asher’s glower following me through the halls.

Then Asher walked me to my room. I invited him inside, sensing we needed to talk.

He’d been acting frosty since Coach left us. Even with the door closed behind us, he crossed his arms and wouldn’t open his mouth.

I wished he would talk to me.

“I know you are angry,” I said. “But please understand that this is something I have to do…”

He went to the window and peered out. He didn’t say anything for a long while, but I knew he wanted to. So I waited him out. When he started speaking, I’d wished I’d started my own groveling much sooner.

“You didn’t tell me what he wanted from me,” Asher said.

“I didn’t.” How could I tell him that I was equal parts afraid he would agree to grovel and that he would refuse. I dreaded both outcomes.

He licked his lips. “You’ve been keeping a lot of secrets from me lately.”

“That’s not true,” I started to say, but stopped myself. It was true. Lilith, the apparitions, the swimsuit contest, the groveling. Each of my lies had been well-intentioned, but to Asher, it must have felt like one blow after the next.

His gaze dropped to the ground. “It’s almost like you are an entirely different person than when we first met. You are someone I don’t recognize anymore.”

The words sliced through my ribcage into my heart. I could see why he would be hurt… but a different person?

“It’s just a photoshoot,” I mumbled.

“But it’s not, is it?” He turned to me. The blizzard in his eyes had eased, though a frozen glacier lingered there instead, lonely. “It’s everything. You don’t trust me anymore.”

That couldn’t be what he thought. How often I depended on him! Yet the truth of it was there on the hard lines of his face. He looked at me as he would a stranger, and my whole heart cracked.

I couldn’t stand him looking at me like that, not after everything we’d shared together. Especially last night, when he had pushed me down into that bed and…

“You can’t mean that,” I said, heartbroken.

“Maybe you’re right.” He looked away, back out the window. “Maybe I’m the one who doesn’t trust you.”

I’d been keeping too many secrets, juggling them all as I’d needed them. No wonder he didn’t trust me!

And now, in the shock of his words, I wondered if his first instinct had been right as well. Maybe I didn’t trust him either. Not really. Not enough to share my deepest darkest secrets. Even though he’d done everything and more to earn that trust.

“Okay,” I said. “How about a truce, then?”

I stepped toward him, reclaiming his attention from the window. It felt like a victory.

He lifted one brow in question.

“I promise you that I will answer one question truthfully. Anything you want.” I crossed my heart with my finger. “All you have to do is ask and I will not lie.”

“Anything?” he asked.

I nodded. “I trust you more than anyone.”

Asher was much more than my protector. He was one of my dearest friends. To protect myself, I’d isolated myself and my secrets. But I didn’t need to do that anymore, not with him.

To keep me safe, he would keep my secrets safe too. Of that I was certain.

Asher watched me for a long moment. Then he took a breath.

I steeled myself, ready for him to ask me anything.

“How were you able to convince Brent to apologize?” he asked.

My world shifted sideways. I hadn’t been expecting him to ask me about that! I’d thought he’d pick a more recent problem, something about Coach, or even about Joseph.

He wanted to know about Brent?

No, I realized, he wanted to know about Lilith. And my ability.

Panic surged through me. He’d gone straight for my most precious secret.

“Don’t!” Lilith whispered in warning.

And my heart was torn.