58. Asher

I can’t remember falling asleep, but when I wake up, Lani is lying beside me. Her long black hair is draped across my pillow, and her naked shoulder is calling me like a siren. I brush my lips across it, then nibble my way up to her ear.

She lets out a sleepy murmur and a soft giggle, rolling over to face me.

Her brown eyes drink me in like I matter, and I soak in her gaze before pressing my lips to hers, then meandering down her body and taking my time paying attention to all her most sensitive spots.

Her fingers dig into my hair as I lick her clit and send her spiraling with an orgasm that rocks her entire body. She cries out my name, reminding me how important she is… why I’ve turned my back on blood for the sake of this woman.

Grabbing my shoulders, she urges me back up her body, sliding her tongue into my mouth and begging me to finish what I’ve started.

“I want you,” she whispers, kissing my whiskers and licking a line down my neck while I scramble for a condom.

She wraps me, then easily guides me inside her.

I take her slowly at first, filling her core and drinking in her ecstasy until I start to lose the ability to focus. She feels so fucking good encasing me that soon all I can feel is her wet heat wrapping my cock like a glove. She draws me in, her heels digging into my ass cheeks as she urges me deeper.

Our pants mingle together and we kiss each other’s breath, our rhythm picking up tempo. Her fingers draw deep lines on my shoulders as I suck her neck and she starts to gasp.

My pace quickens even more, and then I start to splinter. A choked groan oozes out of my mouth as I thrust into her and let myself go.

It’s fucking amazing, and she clings to me when I thrust again and bury myself as deep as I can go.

“Love you, baby.” She whispers the words repeatedly against my skin, and I revel in it.

She’s my woman, and I would do anything for her.

And that’s exactly what I say to my dad when I speak to him two hours later.

He called me as I was leaving a lecture, and as much as I wanted to ignore him, I figured, why delay the inevitable?

“They’ll crucify you for this,” Dad warns me. “Is she really worth it?”

“Dad,” I huff. “Even if she wasn’t mine and I’d found out what Harvey did… I still couldn’t stay silent. He can’t keep doing this. Someone has to stop him, and even if it means walking away from my Denver family, I’ll do it.” I hold my breath, almost afraid to ask the next part. “Will I, um… will I be walking away from my New York family too?”

Dad pauses, like he’s surprised I’d even ask that. After a thick beat, he assures me, “Of course not. You’re our son. And yes, it’s awkward right now, but our loyalties lie with you.”

I squeeze my eyes shut, still hating this great divide. Mom will be feeling it. Uncle Hayes is her brother. Her flesh and blood, and this whole thing will set them against each other.

Trudging down the stone steps, I find a bench in the sunshine and take a seat, ready to see just how far my father’s loyalties will go.

Pressing the phone to my ear, I will my courage not to fail me and quickly blurt, “Will you still be loyal to me if I tell you I don’t want to do the summer internship?” I wince and figure I might as well get it over with in one hit. “If I tell you, I don’t really want to work for Bensens Co?”

He goes deathly quiet for so long, I actually check my screen to make sure he’s still on the line. “Dad?”

“I was worried that might be the case. You weren’t exactly excited about that internship, and…” He sighs. “Asher, your whole life, you’ve always been so determined to walk to the beat of your own drum. We had to make you go to that boarding school, and I had already bought you a Harvard jacket when you went and picked Nolan U. I thought you were doing it just to piss me off, but…”

“I wasn’t, Dad. I didn’t pick Nolan to spite you. I wanted to play hockey here, and they have a great?—”

“Is that what you want to do? Go pro?” He sounds more than disappointed.

I ignore his tone and answer honestly.

“No. But I don’t want to work for you either. I’m more interested in small start-up businesses. Kind of like what Mom’s friend Desiree does. I want to build something from the ground up. I want to help people get started, working alongside them one-on-one. I don’t want to spend my days in high-rise buildings, in constant meetings with boards and businessmen who have been around the block a dozen times already.”

“You want to help people turn their dreams into realities.”

“Yes.” I nod. “And I know compared to what you do, that is so small-time and insignificant, but?—”

“It’s not insignificant.”

I’m so surprised he’s agreeing with me that I’m stunned silent for a moment.

“Look, I’m sorry if you felt like you couldn’t tell me this. If you felt like I wouldn’t support you. But it really disappoints me that you never thought to come forward with this.”

My lips part, and I blink at the green grass in front of me. “You never asked me what I wanted to do with my life. It was just assumed that I’d join the business.”

“Yeah, well, that’s on me, I guess.”

“Mom’s gonna be pissed.” I rub my forehead.

“She might surprise you.” I think I hear a smile in his voice, and it cuts a little of my tension. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Thanks,” I rasp.

“And as for the Harvey nightmare, just make sure all of your actions are aboveboard. Don’t try and take matters into your own hands and do something stupid.”

I wince. “I kinda punched him already.”

“So I heard.” He tuts. “But I’ve lined up my lawyers, and they’ll be ready to step in with legal aid if it comes to that. And let your lady friend know that we can support her, too, if she needs it.”

“Really?” I perk up.

“Son, if you love her enough to throw away free housing, then I’m guessing she’s pretty special to you.”

“She is.”

“Well, then, we’d like to meet her. How about you two fly back for the weekend? It’ll give us a chance to get to know her a little.”

“That’d be… Wow, Dad. That’d be great. I was not expecting you to say that.”

“Can you please stop sounding so surprised that I want to support you?” He kind of snaps the words, and I wince while also fighting a soft laugh. “You’re my son. And you’re an honorable man.”

The words ring through me so loud and clear, I get a little choked up. Those words are the closest thing to an I love you that I’ve ever heard, and I sit in them for a minute, soaking them up like they’re fucking gold.

“Now, I’m sure you have another class to get to, so I’ll let you go for now, but we have some more conversations to have, young man. We need to figure out where you’re going to live for the last year or so of college, and I’d like to look over whatever business plans you might have, make sure you’re on track with your ideas. I’m not taking over… just supporting.”

“Sure, Dad.” I raise my eyebrows, fighting a grin. “I’ll keep you posted on the housing thing.”

“There’s still some surplus left in your college fund.”

“Yeah, I know, but I want to make sure everyone at Hockey House is taken care of.”

“We’re not a charity, Asher.”

“I know that, but these guys are my brothers. I won’t leave them high and dry.”

He huffs, obviously not impressed by my answer.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll think of something.”

And I’d damn well better, because when I finally get home after my evening workout, I find a stack of flattened boxes resting against the wall in the living room.

I frown at them, then turn to find Liam giving me a glum smile. “Your uncle stopped by. We’ve got two weeks to get our asses out of here.”

“What? I thought we’d get ninety days. That’s the law, isn’t it?” I pull out my phone, starting a quick search to confirm that.

“Yeah.” Liam interrupts my frantic hunt. “But in two weeks, he’s gonna start charging us rent, and dude…” He cringes. “It’s astronomical.”

My lips part as he hands me a sheet of paper and I gape at the figures. “Eight thousand a month? That’s criminal!”

“Do you think he can get away with it?” Liam scratches the back of his head.

I work my jaw to the side, slapping the paper against my thigh. “I guess we could try fighting him, but by the time it all goes through, we’ll be out of this place anyway.”

“That’s what we figured, so…” Liam buries his hands in his pockets and shrugs. “Time to start looking for new digs.”

My frown is sad and desperate; I can feel it tugging my lips down and wrinkling my forehead.

“Don’t really want to be here anyway, after all this shit, you know?”

Liam’s murmured words ring true, and all I can do is nod my agreement.