Chapter 78

Asher drugged?

That would explain the way his eyes couldn’t seem to hold focus, and why he could barely stand on his own. He didn’t just look weaker, he was weak. I doubted he could even throw a punch like this.

Had something been in the water? Was that why he had smacked the bottle out of my hands? Or at least, that was maybe what he suspected.

Regardless, he couldn’t fight like this. He’d end up getting hurt – or worse.

“Asher,” I said, trying to prepare myself. Yet despite how firmly I tried to steady myself, I could still feel my heart shattering into pieces in my chest. “You have to back out of the fight.”

Finally, Asher’s eyes found focus, directly on me. Through gritted teeth, he said, “No.”

In a show of defiance, he pushed himself away from the wall, but he wobbled on his feet, unsteady. If he took one step, he might fall flat on his face.

I inched closer to him, to catch him if he started to lean too hard one way or the other.

Yet his strong will won out and he stayed standing on his own.

Determination hardened in his cool blue eyes. “I will never agree to step away from your life, Cynthia.”

His words warmed me, but… they weren’t enough this time.

“I’m so, so grateful for that,” I told him. “But…”

Tears welled, threatening to fall. No happy outcome waited for us here. Either Asher left me now or he’d be forced to. I knew which of the two would be worse.

“I would rather watch you walk away than see you get hurt.” I brought my hands closer to my chest, as if I could physically hold together the breaking pieces of my heart. “I care about you too much, Asher.”

Asher’s steady gaze didn’t waver. “I care about you too.”

He reached up and brushed a freshly fallen tear away from my cheek with his thumb. As sweet as the gesture was, I could feel the tremor in his hands. It scared me.

“I won’t lose you, Cynthia.”

His confidence remained undeterred somehow, despite the weariness of his body. He lowered his hand with a soft huff. It must have tired him even to lift it.

“Asher, please –” I started, ready to beg. I’d grovel on my knees if I could keep him from behind hurt.

The look in his eyes stopped me. It almost seemed… sad, for a moment.

“Don’t ask me to go against my nature,” he said.

His prideful Alpha tendencies would never let him surrender. His feelings for me only amplified that.

There would be no stopping him. He would get in that ring and fight until he physically couldn’t anymore. He’d give everything he had, and then maybe even more.

To ask him not to was an insult.

I had to put my faith in him, or I would be the one causing him pain.

Still, I couldn’t say the words. I knew he wanted my support, but how could I consent to watching him fight to his potential death in the ring?

Even when I tried prying my lips apart, no words would come.

Disappointment flashed across Asher’s face, coupled with a twinge of hurt, but it was gone in a blink. His blank mask was firmly back in place.

A deep ache cracked out from my heart, down through the rest of my body.

Yet before I could apologize, another voice called out, mocking.

“Looking a little green there, Asher,” Joseph said, laughing.

Like Asher, Joseph wore a pair of boxing shorts, but he also had a white tank top. He had muscles of his own, more in his legs than the upper body, but on a whole, he was nothing compared to Asher.

A confident smile stretched Joseph’s lips. A vicious sort of happiness sparked in his eyes, giving him a maniacal façade. I’d never seen him so overwhelmingly pleased.

He was enjoying this.

The unparalleled level of his pleasure gave me pause, not just for how shockingly inappropriate it was.

Was Asher’s weakness his doing? Had he drugged Asher?

The water bottle remained on the floor before them. Joseph grinned down at it.

“You did this!” I gasped. Did his depravity know no bounds? I knew he would try something, but to do this… Drugging Asher was so underhanded, so illegal.

I looked at Asher, ready to try to convince him that we needed to tell someone. If they tested the bottle, and found the drugs –

Suddenly I remembered a conversation in months past, when Asher had made me call an Academy Academic Advisor. That advisor had told me that the Academy supported students who solved their own problems.

Would they even do anything if we told them Asher had been drugged? Or would they take it as a sign of weakness?

Joseph shrugged, nonchalant. “I don’t know what you mean, Cynthia. Though I suggest you say goodbye to Asher now. Not sure there will be time for it after.”

He left us then, disappearing toward the ring. He stopped at one of the Academy overseers, and pointed back toward Asher.

Asher would never give up.

I hated to give the idea thought, but…

Maybe I should say goodbye.

Asher’s eyes totally froze over, as did the rest of his body. He seemed stronger somehow, though I suspected this was an illusion brought forward by the strength of Asher’s will.

“I am not saying goodbye to you, Cynthia,” he said, voice deep and angry. “Not now. Not ever.”

Before I could reply, the Academy overseer came to join us. He watched Asher closely.

“Joseph said you weren’t feeling well.”

“I’m fine,” Asher said. “He’s just trying to stir up drama.”

The overseer narrowed his eyes, suspicious. “So you have no intention of forfeiting the match, as he implied.”

“None whatsoever,” Asher said at once.

The overseer nodded. “Good.” He glanced at me as he turned away, but didn’t otherwise pay me any mind.

He took a few steps, then stopped. The instruction for Asher to follow was clear.

Asher looked at me, but his mask was present. Even his eyes were too hard for me to discern any meaning.

Another moment, and he slowly but deliberately walked away. He only swayed a little.

With Asher on his way to the ring, I ran to find Aimee. She’d saved me a seat near the top of the bleachers. Yet the bleachers weren’t very big, so I would still be able to see every gory detail.

“You okay?” Aimee asked.

I vigorously shook my head.

She didn’t say more, just took my hands in hers and held them tightly. I was so appreciative to have an anchor, I clung to her like a lifeline.

Asher entered the ring. He and Joseph stood at opposite ends as the referee explained the rules. They’d be fighting like a kickboxing match, until someone tapped out or fell unconscious.

Both Asher and Joseph agreed to the terms, and the referee stepped back. A bell rang. The fight began.

Three minutes in, Asher’s false strength wavered fiercely. His breathing was heavy. He looked like a light breeze would topple him.

But he stayed standing, even as Joseph pummeled him with punches and kicks. Any attack he had tried to make of his own had been so sluggish, Joseph easily dodged them.

The crowd, who had all favored Asher in the beginning, expecting him to an overwhelming victor, began to turn. They booed at Asher now, disappointed by his poor performance.

“It’s like he wants to lose,” someone said. But I knew that wasn’t true.

I might have been the only one who knew how hard Asher was trying, to even still be on his feet.

Fear rattled me with each blow landed on Asher’s body. Any one of them might be the one to put him down.

And then, per the terms of the challenge, I’d never see him again.

Joseph would stay in my life. I could continue dreaming that he would help me make a perfect family for our baby, but…

My heart sunk. I could pretend that I wanted a family with Joseph, but the honest truth, when I let myself think it, was that the actual person I wanted that family with was Asher.

Joseph was consistently cruel to me. His crimes against me grew worse all the time. Asher was right, I kept letting Joseph off the hook. I made excuses every time he hurt me.

If I continued having Joseph in my life, he’d only keep hurting me.

But Asher… He was the total opposite. He cared for me.

I couldn’t lose him. Not like this!

So I stood up in the stands, cupped my hands around my mouth to help my voice carry, and shouted.

“I believe in you, Asher!”