Chapter 6: Still with him?

It was as if Asher had timed Ruby perfectly.

Ruby was certain he knew she would count to twenty, thereby wasting the little time she’d had to run away before this exact scenario happened.

Why why WHY had she taken so much time!

Ruby opened her mouth to say ‘She was just leaving,’ but nothing came out. How could it, when the man standing before her in all his glory, was shirtless beneath the leather jacket he had on. Asher was tall. Really tall. He could be described as a big boy, and his towering height easily ate hers up.

His raven dark hair was slightly disheveled—like hers had been only seconds ago—and there was a smugness to his expression that made her wish she could slap it right off his face…or perhaps kis—

“Enjoy the show?”

Her entire face went raging hot as she swallowed saliva. Her throat seemed to have dried up all of a sudden. Where had her mind been wandering off too? “What show?”

Asher leaned against the edge of the dresser, as her chuckled. “We’re acting clueless now, I see.”

“Look, I came in here by mistake, okay. I was just leaving any way.”

She made a move towards the door but Asher didn’t budge from his position. His large frame literally swallowed the entire opening whole.

“Does my brother even know you’re here?”

That question got Ruby’s attention and she gave him a look that sat between confusion and irritation. “What?”

“Aiden. Does he know you’re in my room? Knowing my brother, I’m pretty sure he warned you to steer clear.”

“I don’t see how that concerns you.” She pointed out matter of factly even though she knew Asher was spot on. “I can be anywhere I want to be.”

Asher scoffed as he dipped his hands into his pocket and brought out a pack of cigarette. He took one stick out and pocketed the pack again. “In other words, he doesn’t know you’re here with me.”

“Uh, No no. I’m not anywhere with you. Not voluntarily. Don’t go about saying things like that, please. I told you this was a mistake.”

Ruby watched Asher play with the cigarette unusually; he rolled it between his index finger and thumb, then rolled it underneath his middle finger until it went back to his thumb.

Asher’s tutting drew Ruby’s eyes back to his face. “As far as I’m concerned, I can go about assuming whatever it is I want, Ruby. You’re the one who violated my personal space and what I do with my personal time.” He touched his heart in a way that said he was hurt but in a mocking kind of way.

“You’re insufferable.” Ruby sounded confident, but she was anything but that. Asher wouldn’t go about telling people what she’d done here, right? Okay maybe she shouldn’t have called him insufferable. But looking at him now, he didn’t seem to mind that she’d used that word on him.

If anything, Asher’s smirk only widened.

And Ruby’s attention was back to the cigarette once again. This time, Asher wasn’t rolling it between his fingers. He was now rolling the stick against his lower lip, as if to wet the mouth before lighting the tip. But Ruby noted there was no trace of a lighter near Asher. If there was, he wasn’t bringing it out.

Ruby was transfixed as she stood, watching Asher roll the cigarette against his lower lip. There was something almost distracting about how causally he did it, as if he had all the time in the world.

In turn, Asher’s gaze moved over her. It was like he took the opportunity to look her over since her mind was elsewhere. His gaze lingered briefly before returning to her face. There was nothing uncomfortable about it, but he looked at her with an appreciation that made her suddenly conscious of the dress she was wearing.

“Are you going to keep staring?” He drawled out.

The audacity of this man to point out she had been staring when he’d clearly been doing the exact same thing. She shot him a look. “You really do enjoy getting on my nerves, don’t you?”

That earned her a genuine laugh that made Ruby frown. “You tell me. You’ve always seemed so passionate when you’re angry.”

“It’s funny you say that, considering you often seem to be the reason I get angry.” She folded her arms, suddenly wishing she could find a way to disappear without having to walk past him.

Asher smiled and briefly looked away. He was back to rolling the cigarette between his fingers again, and Ruby suspected after a while, he would go back to rolling the tip against his lower lip once more, like he had done twice now.

Ruby suspected their conversation—if she could even call it that—was heading in the direction that would aggravate her like it had 4 years ago, in this same room.

Nothing as intense as what happened today had happened then, but Aiden had been staying in this room and Ruby had been in search of him when she’d come across Asher for the first time.

Of course he’d been as good looking as ever, and she knew he played soccer—football— in England, just as Aiden did back then before he would stop playing come two years’ time.

Everyone present that night had been ecstatic to have the famous Asher Kings on campus, and Aiden, coupled with the popularity of being on the U-21 team, had been everywhere except with Ruby, prompting her to look for him. But she’d found Asher instead, who hadn’t failed to question her character and choice in men.

According to Asher, he had seen her do things that went unappreciated and it irked him. At that time—possibly even now, Asher irked her too. So, all the same, they were even in the being ‘irked’ department.

The silence that seemed to stretch between them finally broke when Asher’s next words proved that Ruby was right when she’d said she knew where this conversation was headed.

“I didn’t think you were still with him.”

Her fingers balled into a fist at her side. She knew by ‘him’, Asher meant Aiden. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Asher shrugged carelessly as he repeated the sequenced pattern with his cigarette in hand. “I don’t know. I suppose I assumed you’d have developed better judgment by now.”

Ruby let out a laugh that lacked humor in it. “With you, Asher, I’ve found that I have two theories; you’re either really insensitive when it comes to talking, or you’re just really jealou—”

“I’d rather you don’t complete that sentence, Ruby.”

Although she was now quiet, there was a rebellious spirit in her that wanted to finish that sentence just to see what Asher would do. She didn’t like that he told her what to do and she most especially didn’t like that it sounded like a threat. Before she could stop herself, she muttered, “Or what?”