Chapter 72

I watched Aimee as she tried to sneak into Brent’s dorm as I had earlier done. But the group Aimee tried to tag along with recognized her at once and knew she didn’t belong.

She was cast out onto the sidewalk faster than I had been. Joseph might have dragged me hard enough to bruise my wrist, but Aimee was outright tossed. Her elbows and knees scuffed. The sidewalk tore holes into her jeans, revealing red burned skin underneath.

At once, I rushed to her side and helped her up onto her feet.

I couldn’t reveal that I knew so much about her, since my fake social profile was a secret, but I didn’t have to be a careless observer either.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

When she was standing, she shrugged off my helping hands. “I’m fine.”

I tried not to take it personally. “What were you trying to do? You don’t live here.”

She glared at me. Unshed tears dampened her eyes. “None of your business.”

Then she turned and ran away.

“Aimee, wait!” I called after her, but she didn’t even look back. My use of her name only drew more unwanted attention her way, and people began snickering when she was gone.

“Was that you-know-who?”

“She’s got some nerve showing her face outside the athletes’ dorms.”

“I didn’t even know she still went here. Didn’t she drop out?”

My stomach sank. I’d tried to help and only made it worse. Maybe Joseph had been right. Maybe I should stop snooping around. Not for the reasons he gave, that I would only drag myself down. But because I only seemed to be making everything worse.

Embarrassed and ashamed, I returned to my dorm in a rush. But in the safety of my room, I saw the world a bit clearer.

I couldn’t listen to Joseph.

Asher had been proud of me for trying to help Aimee. And I’d been proud of myself too.

I couldn’t give up, not now. Not after everything I’d done.

So I opened my fake social media profile on my phone and messaged Aimee. She wouldn’t talk to real-me in person, I was a stranger. But on the phone, we were something like friends.

I typed, I saw you running on campus. You seemed upset. Are you okay? Did something happen?

Her message came quickly. You saw that?

Sorry, I replied. I couldn’t help but notice you.

It’s fine, she said. I just… I finally got a message from Brent. He wanted to talk, but he refused to leave his room. He wouldn’t send what he wanted in a message. I tried to get in to see him, but…

Brent wanted to talk to her? That was great news! Although, that he wanted to do so privately made me cautious. As the ghost baby, I had demanded he accept responsibility and atone for his past mistakes. Had I not made it clear enough that I meant publically?

Shaking the thoughts away for now, I focused on Aimee. Are you okay?

She messaged back, an honest answer that hurt deeply. I don’t know.

I talked with Aimee for a while, trying to lift her spirits, but she’d been so dejected. To finally hear from Brent after so long, and then he wouldn’t even leave his room to see her…

I thought of Asher and if, somehow, he lost the fight with Joseph. Would I have to stay away from him?

To have someone so near, yet impossible to reach…

Ug! This was why neither Joseph nor Asher should have agreed to this challenge from the start! If they had just asked me, I would have told them all the reasons it was a terrible idea.

But no one had asked me, and now I was set to lose one of them. Either the man I selfishly adored, or the father of my baby.

At least the fight hadn’t happened yet, so I could still spend time with whoever I wanted, without worrying about the repercussions.

And right now, I wanted Asher.

When he opened the door after I knocked, he seemed relieved to see me, shoulders slouching ever so slightly. I was relieved too. I hated when we argued. It felt like the whole world was tilted the wrong way when we weren’t in sync.

We stepped back into the room and I joined him inside.

I wanted to talk about the fight, and to clear the air between us. But first, I couldn’t forget about Aimee.

“I need your help again,” I said. “To get back into Brent’s room.”

Disappointment flashed across his features, but in a blink, it was gone.

“I don’t think it will work this time,” Asher said. “Whatever you did last time really shook him up. He’s absolutely terrified of something and won’t leave his room. He’s put the whole dorm on edge. We’d be noticed for sure.”

I sighed. Asher wouldn’t lie to me, and even Nicole at practice had said how she heard how strangely Brent was acting. Likely his teammates would be keeping an eye on him, let alone everyone else in the dorm.

If that was the case, there wasn’t much else I could do.

“Honestly, I’m impressed,” Asher said. “I wish I knew how you did it.”

I gave him a sad smile. “You know I can’t tell you.”

“A magician never reveals her secrets?” he asked.

“Something like that,” I said.

He nodded, like he was going to let it go. Maybe he would have. But seeing him like that stirred something in my chest. He seemed like… he was detaching himself from me.

Building up a wall between us. I felt it in my bones, more than I had visual evidence. But the feeling was restless, culminating between last night and right now.

Maybe he was bracing himself to let me go.

I never did answer his question. Do you… want me to lose?

Had my hesitation about the fight hurt him deeper than he let on? He hadn’t indicated it had hurt him at all!

But why wouldn’t it? He was a man with emotions, even if he kept them locked behind a cool mask of indifference. I knew that better than anyone.

We were friends, and I had let him believe that losing him wouldn’t absolutely destroy me.

“Asher,” I said, reclaiming his waning attention. I waited for him to look at me again before I said, “When I can, I will tell you what I did to Brent. It will take some time, but… I promise.”

I’d mark it on my calendar. I’d tell him on midnight, on the dot, of the ninetieth birthday.

He gave a curt nod and turned away from me.

My promises weren’t enough. He needed something else.

But I didn’t know what.

Watching him turn his back to me snapped my heart in two. I couldn’t let this be how things were between us. I had to fix this somehow.

Asher had always believed in me. Even now, he’d said whatever I had done impressed him.

I could fix this with him. I knew it.

But how?

In a flash, I remembered how when I trembled after discovering Joseph’s secret camera and confronting him, Asher had taken me into his arms. And in that hug, he had wordlessly conveyed his desire to stay with me, protect me, and be my friend.

Couldn’t I… do the same?

I could. Of course, I could.

Suddenly, I rushed forward, and threw my arms around him. I pressed my face near his spine and molded my body to his back.

He froze, not even breathing. His whole body tensed.

This wasn’t the reaction I had expected.

Had I overstepped?

Worried, I started to him let go.