Follow your heart, Nicole had told me once. I remembered those words now, watching Asher trapped in his own intense anger. “Cynthia?” Joseph asked. He was waiting for his answer. My heart wanted to stay with Asher. How could I leave him alone as he was? Whatever Joseph wanted to talk about c
You’re my best friend’s sister. It had hurt then. It still hurt now. I wouldn’t ask him again. I wouldn’t even bring attention to it. I would accept this closeness. I would take whatever I could get. It would have to be enough. “Asher,” I said, a tiny moan. I willed him to touch me too.
I stared at Joseph, mouth agape in my disbelief. He wanted me… to be his girlfriend? “Give me the chance to do things right this time.” Joseph offered a boyish smile. “Remember how much fun we had together? It could be like that all the time.” We’d had fun, sure. Back then, I had thought I was i
Asher was going to kiss me. I knew it, straight down in my core. Yet just as his lips brushed my lips in the barest of touches, someone whistled. “Get a room, you two!” one of the cheerleaders laughed. Another shushed the first. “Why did you interrupt them? It was about to get good!” “Don’t
The temperature around us dropped twenty degrees, at least. Asher’s voice was carefully measured as he said, “He what?” I knew he had heard me, so I shrugged. “I told him I’d think about it.” “What is there to think about?” I lifted my chin, defiant. “He says he’s changed.” “And you believ
Will you meet my parents? The question echoed in my head as if I stood on the edge of a great canyon. Meeting Joseph’s parents felt like a huge step forward. Usually boyfriends took their girlfriends home when they were serious about them. Maybe Joseph was that serious about me. Whether or not
Asher was smiling at that beautiful girl so easily. How rare were his smiles for me! White hot jealousy flashed through me. For one brief, delirious moment, I thought of bursting through those doors and tackling her as I had been taught at warrior training. But I quickly came to my senses. It wa
Bile rose in my throat. Hearing Joseph laugh about Aimee’s trauma made my entire stomach shift and churn. I swallowed it down and snapped, “Don’t talk about her like that!” With one glance at me, he stifled his laughter. “Hey, don’t be sick in my car.” If I was sick in his car, he’d deserve it