Asher(26)

“You’ve both been hurt by the same person.”

I stiffen. I don’t want to hear this. “I’m sorry if Ash’s been blaming himself for the accident, but you can’t compare that to what happened to me and Mom.”

“That’s not what I mean.” She sucks in a deep breath and gets up. Her high-heeled boots leave deep imprints in my fluffy carpet. “I just thought you might want to know why Ash never answered your calls or called you back.”

That gets my attention. “Why, then?”

Now she hesitates. That’s weird. She’s the one who wants to tell me, and it’s as if I’m pressing her for an answer.

“I feel like an old busybody telling you this,” she finally mutters, “but I know Ash would never tell you. His father beats him. I think it’s been happening for many years now. He never talks about it, but I gathered as much from Zane.”

Holy crap. The words slowly sink in, like hooks of ice. Cold seeps into my chest. “How long?”

“Not sure. Long before the accident.”

“I didn’t know.” He never told me. I never noticed. And he was my friend.

“You know now.”

Tess looks pissed. Is she mad at me? Is she right to be?

I try to remember Ash as he was that long ago. Bruised? Of course he was bruised most of the time. He couldn’t keep out of fighting and...

Oh no. It suddenly hits me how easy it had been to blame the bruises on the fighting. How nobody ever thought his dad had been the one to put at least some of them there.

I breathe past the knot of panic in my chest. “What does this have to do with Ash not calling me back?”

Tessa nails me with her gaze. “That night he left from here, his father beat him up real bad. Ash took off and left his phone at his dad’s house. That’s why he never got your calls. Zane found Ash and took him home with him.”

Jesus. “Is he okay?”

Tessa shrugs.

The knot in my chest gets bigger. I stand up as well, my body vibrating with tension. “I didn’t know all this.”

“Well, you do know. What are you going to do about it?”

She throws it as a challenge and before I can think of an answer, she picks up her purse. “I’m going home. Call me if you want to talk.”

I nod, numb, and watch her go.

Is this the reason why he became so distant, so violent back then? Why he pushed me away?

Why didn’t he tell me about it? Didn’t he think I’d stand by his side?

And now that I know... What am I going to do about it? Good question. What can I do? What do I want to do?

I sit back down. Ash.

My nightmare’s coming back—Ash in the car with me, Ash dying, and my fear that something has happened to him.

Something did happen to him, and the fear is back, fresh and biting.

I have to see him, if only to convince myself he’s fine.





***





Making the decision isn’t enough. I have to go through with it. But every time I pick up the phone, I hesitate. What if Ash doesn’t want to see me? What can I tell him? How can we repair a relationship that has been broken for so long?

Tessa’s words still echo in my ears. His father beat him real bad... My blood is like ice in my veins.

I lift my cell. He was there for me when those guys attacked me. He took care of me. He didn’t hesitate one second.

I call Tessa.

“Hey.” She sounds kinda distant, and I hate thinking it’s because of me, but one thing at a time. “That was quick. Not even two hours.”

“I need to talk to Ash.”

“Yeah.” Her voice breaks. “Yes, you do.”

I frown. “What’s wrong, Tess? Are you all right?”

She’s silent for a beat—a beat too long. “Sure, I’m fine.”

I swallow. “Have you had a row with your parents?”

“Yeah.”

“What did they say this time?”

“Nothing new. Just how I’m wasting my life and whoring my way through college. About how I should get back with Sean. The usual stuff.”

“Gosh, I’m so sorry.” Tessa’s parents are a piece of work. Rich and arrogant, they won’t let her breathe without their input. As for Sean—Tess has told me bits and pieces. An ex-boyfriend, and apparently an absolutely douche. She once said he hurt her, forced her, but never explained how. The more information I tried to get out of her, the more she clammed up. “Want to talk about it?”

“Nah. Not now.” She always says that. “Just call Zane and visit Ash. Do it, Aud.”

She makes a sniffling sound and my heart drops.

“I will,” I say. “And then tomorrow you and I will have coffee and talk, okay?”