Chapter 86

I couldn’t breathe. Images flashed through my head faster than I could fully comprehend them. Asher and I holding hands. Asher opening doors for me. Asher kissing my cheek or my forehead or the back of my hand.

Asher kissing me softly on the lips. Introducing me as his girlfriend. Sitting side by side at the movie theater with a single bucket of popcorn between us and his arm thrown over the back of my seat.

Being Asher’s girlfriend was a fantasy I thought I’d never see bear fruit. Yet here we were, with Asher suggesting it.

Granted, he’d only meant it to be make-believe.

Was I strong enough to pretend it was fake, when in reality, it was what I really wanted?

A fake relationship with him would be a temporary situation. Eventually, we would split like nothing ever happened and go back to being friends.

Knowing what Asher was like as a boyfriend might ruin me. How would I ever want anyone else after tasting the best? If I accepted, I was destined for lifelong disappointment when Asher and I were through.

Yet how could I say no? Accepting this proposition would let me live through my dearest fantasies – ones I would never experience otherwise.

If it meant I could have him, even for a while, even for pretend, wasn’t it worth the inevitable heartache?

Asher watched me closely as I weighed every option. His blank face was carefully managed. Even his eyes were an icy wall. He wouldn’t sway me one way or the other.

The choice was fully my own.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll be your girlfriend. Your, uh, fake girlfriend, I mean.”

Immediately, Asher’s chilly façade cracked and relief shone through. “Good.”

He inched closer to me, towering above me. I had to crane my neck back to look up at him.

Slowly, he followed the line of my shoulder with one hand, inwards toward my neck. With a ghost-touch, he traced the edges of his mark on my skin.

“I’d better to add to this, then,” he said.

I inhaled sharply and held my breath.

“Anyone who knows me, knows I wouldn’t stop at one.”

Briefly, a shot of envious rage struck through me, but I quickly quashed it. Asher wasn’t out with other girls now. He was here, with me. He wanted to mark me with proof of his claim.

“We need to make it believable,” I whispered, breathless.

Asher moved in a blur, wrapping me up in his arms as his mouth descended onto my neck. I tilted my head, eagerly surrendering to his whims.

He sucked mark after mark on the column of my throat. When he used his tongue to soothe away any pain, my legs nearly gave out. His arms tightened around my waist, holding me upright.

I bit back a moan when he added teeth. With claw like fingers, I brushed my fingers through his hair. I kept them firmly planted at the back of his head, desperate to keep him right where he was, mouth blazing at the base of my throat.

I needn’t have worried. He sucked at my neck like a vampire, with clear intention of going absolutely nowhere.

When, long moments later, he did pull away, and I released him, I could feel tiny bruises of pleasure-pain up the full length of my neck.

He licked his red, kiss-swollen lips. “I may have gotten carried away.” He didn’t appear the least bit sorry. Instead, he stared at my throat in open appreciation and pride.

I couldn’t reply, entirely speechless. Want buzzed through my body, simmering under my skin. I longed to mark his skin just as lovingly, but before I could suggest it, Asher checked his watch.

“It’s almost time for your cheerleading practice,” he said. “I’ll walk you.”

I wondered when he had time to learn my schedule so thoroughly, though I wasn’t surprised. Asher took his vow to Dylan seriously. Knowing where I was seemed like an important facet of protecting me.

Thoughts of Dylan made my stomach twist. If he knew what I was doing with his best friend, he’d likely not approve!

Well, Dylan wasn’t here right now. And this arrangement with Asher was only temporary anyway. Likely Dylan wouldn’t even find out.

The realizations cooled me, and I followed Asher to the door.

Asher held my hand the entire walk to the gymnasium. He even came inside with me, so the others could see.

As the others gawked, he pulled me into a hug, and placed a soft kiss into my hair. “I’ll see you later, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart. Sweetheart?!

My face burned hot. When he pulled away, he winked at me. Smug, irresistible jerk! He knew just what he was doing to me.

I watched him leave, all the way to the door, before I gathered the courage to face the cheerleading squad.

Most of the girls stared openly at my neck. Nicole gave me a huge smile. Someone mumbled, “Holy shit.”

Elena was the only one who gazed daggers at me. If we had been alone, I genuinely believed she might have tried to strangle me.

I cleared my throat. Asher had said I should straight up tell them so there would be no room for doubt. “Asher and I have officially become a couple.”

“I can see that,” someone snickered. “Just looking at your neck.”

Half of me felt self-conscious by the remark. I wanted to keep Asher’s ravenous nature to myself. The other half, the louder one, wanted to show off. Something inside me rumbled with satisfaction.

Let them see that Asher is mine.

“If this display is to get me to stop spreading the truth, you can save it,” Elena snapped. “It doesn’t matter what you and Asher have now. You still could have hooked up with Coach in the past. Or maybe Asher just doesn’t know –”

“I don’t keep secrets from Asher,” I said. “Nothing has ever happened between Coach and me.”

“How cute.” Elena’s voice dripped with venom. “Little Cynthia gets a hot boyfriend and suddenly thinks all her mistakes can be erased. I won’t stand for it.”

“Ug, let it go, Elena,” Nicole said, crossing her arms. A few of the other girls chimed in, too. If Cynthia had a boyfriend like Asher, what need would she have for Coach? If she could lock Asher down, she’d be set for life.

Elena seethed, outrage visible in her twitching brow, her sharp smirk, and the incessant tapping of her finger against the crook of her arm. Still, she didn’t say anything more, and for a moment, I thought she’d let the matter drop and accept defeat.

I should have known better.

The minute Coach emerged from his office, Elena turned on him.

“Coach! It’s time to come clean. We all know your dirty little secret.”

Coach froze, face paling. He swallowed hard. “What are you talking about, Elena?”

“You’ve been giving Cynthia special treatment for weeks,” Elena said. “We know how she is. Put two and two together, and it’s obvious. You two are having sex.”

I gasped. I couldn’t believe she actually accused Coach. Most of the other girls were speechless too, though they again began casting suspicious looks my way.

Elena was so sure she was right, she went after Coach himself. That held sway. Elena risked serious trouble if she was wrong.

“Elena,” Coach said, voice hard. “You are out of line.”

“Am I?” Elena pressed. “There’s no other reason for you to be giving Cynthia such special treatment. And having her ‘help in your office’ as punishment? Don’t make me laugh. We all know what you are up to in there!”

“She’s been helping me file paperwork,” Coach said.

“I’m going to report you,” Elena said. “Let the ethics committee decide if you are lying.”

Coach’s eyes found mine. He looked a little desperate.

He could easily save himself by telling the truth about me and my pregnancy.

But he wouldn’t do that…