Chapter 204

“Chase,” Asher said, turning to his brother. “This is Cynthia.”

“Ah, there she is. A pleasure to finally meet you.” Chase stepped closer. Despite their similarities in appearance, Chase was far more expressive than Asher. His smile came easy, and was wide enough to show teeth.

For a moment, I just stared. Asher had never mentioned having a brother. Now that I thought of it, Asher hadn’t mentioned anything about his family at all.

I frowned at myself. What kind of friend was I, to never have asked him?

We were close enough to have bonded. Close enough that he knew most if not all of my secrets. And yet I still didn’t know a single one of his.

I wanted to know now, desperately, but I could hardly ask him with Chase standing right here.

For now, I pushed the guilt aside and, realizing I was being rude, quickly returned Chase’s smile. “Nice to meet you, Chase.”

I held out my hand and Chase shook it. Asher narrowed his eyes at his brother.

Chase grinned wider and held my hand a few seconds more than necessary.

Asher physically reached forward and separated our hands. His own lingered on mine a moment, lightly squeezing my fingers before he let go.

Chase laughed. The librarian shushed him.

I cleared my throat. “What, uh… brings you here, Chase?”

“Chase is a journalist from the local city newspaper,” Asher explained before his brother could say another word. “He’s going to help us.”

“Asher told me about your recent… difficulties.” For a moment Chase’s bright eyes flashed in anger, much like Asher’s did. The shade of Chase’s blue eyes was more muted than Asher’s though, almost gray. “I’m sorry for all you’ve gone through, Cynthia.”

I nodded, appreciating the gesture even if I didn’t want to talk about it. Even in my safest moments, like when Asher held me as we drifted to sleep, nightmares of that night still lingered in the dark recesses of my mind.

Even now, the very thought of Lamar made my hands tremble. I curled them into fists.

Asher stepped closer to me. Subtly, he placed his hand onto the back of my chair. Gently his fingers reached out and brushed along my shoulder.

I exhaled a long, slow breath.

I was safe.

Chase either didn’t notice Asher’s movements or pretended not to. He continued speaking.

“I plan to write an expose on this… Joseph, and his secret club. And in doing so, we’ll blow the lid off this whole cover up made by the school.”

My eyes went wide. “You’ll be able to do that?”

His strong resolve wilted a little. “Eh… yes?” He shook off the uncertainty. “It will take some investigative work before I can publish. It might be some time before we see the end of this. But we will see it happen, I can promise you that.”

Watching him talk, even in the way he moved his hands, was so like Asher and his gestures. Even if they didn’t look so similar, there would be no question they had grown up in the same household.

“This is our best shot at bringing Joseph to justice,” Asher said. “As well as the Vice President covering for him.”

Asher glanced around. I followed his lead. No one was near enough to hear us except the librarian, but with our voices low, even she would have to strain to eavesdrop.

Still, sometimes it felt like the walls themselves had ears.

“Let’s go back to our room,” Asher said to me. “We can talk more there.”

“’Our room?’” Chase asked, brows raised high.

Asher ignored him. I blushed.

With Asher’s help, I packed up my books. Asher noticed my slew of notecards and corrected worksheets.

“Having trouble with this?” he asked as he gathered them into two neat piles.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to keep it all straight.”

He hummed in acknowledgement, but didn’t ask more.

With my books in my backpack, he grabbed it from my shoulder and hooked it over his own.

That was something a boyfriend would do. My heart raced.

Chase cast us both knowing glances, but didn’t comment more than a soft chuckle.

When we returned to Asher’s room, Chase immediately zeroed in on the various objects of mine that littered the room.

A cardigan hanging over the back of a chair. Some makeup on top of the dresser. My toothbrush sitting beside Asher’s in a cup on the sink.

“’Our room,’” Chase said again, smirking at me.

Face red, I avoided looking at him.

Asher motioned towards his desk. “The computer is there, Chase. Load it up. I need to grab something real quick.”

Chase did as he was told, taking a seat in the desk chair. He turned on the computer.

Asher walked to his bookcase and searched, his finger tracing along the spines. When he found what he was looking for, he removed a slim notebook from the rest, then brought it to me.

When I accepted it from him, I noticed that the pages were worn with use. The cardboard cover had torn halfway down the front.

“My old notes.” Asher flipped open the ripped cover. Inside, were page after page of handwritten notes in Asher’s meticulous handwriting. “I struggled with the memorization at first too. It’s much easier when you break it down like this.”

He pointed to a sentence. The first letter of each word matched with a different part of the body.

“Mnemonic devices are incredibly helpful,” Asher said. “I can help you with it sometime. But this will get you started.”

Flipping through the pages, I could imagine Asher sitting at his desk writing page after page of notes, so dedicated and determined. Maybe with a little line between his brows.

“Thank you, Asher.”

He shook his head. “I hate to see you doubt yourself. I’ll help however I can.”

How different he was now, compared to the boy that had said I couldn’t do it, some weeks before. With every day that passed, those bitter memories were more and more distant. Someday, if things kept up this way, I might never think of them again at all.

As we looked away from each other, I noticed Chase was watching us again. His smile was soft, as if pleased. Did he approve of me?

I wondered how much Asher had told him about me, about the baby. Did he know someone else was the father, and he still approved?

It felt too good to be true. I wanted Asher’s family to like me, but I wouldn’t lie to them if Chase asked me.

Asher walked up to him and playfully tapped him on the back of the head. “The website.” Asher searched the desk drawer for Lamar’s scrap of paper and handed it to Chase.

Chase typed in the website address, then typed in Lamar’s credentials.

Nothing happened.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, coming up behind them.

“Read here.” Chase pointed at the screen. “The account’s been blocked.”

“Blocked?” I gasped.

“Try it again,” Asher said. “Maybe you put the password in wrong.”

Chase retried but with the same result. Leaning back in his chair, he elicited a soft string of curses.

Asher stood straighter, crossing his arms.

I stared at the screen in disbelief.

If the account was blocked, how would Chase get the evidence he needed for the article?

The investigation had only just started. Was it already over?