“Oh, your hot-as-hell best friend?”
I shrug. “I don’t know about hot-as-hell—”
“How do you stay just friends with him? I’d bang him every chance I got.”
“Angie!” I say, appalled. “You’re, like, ten.”
She laughs, her green eyes full of playfulness. “Just because you’re old and crusty doesn’t mean the rest of us are babies. I’m eighteen and ready to mingle.”
This is why Lucy wanted me to watch her. Horny little shit.
“Jeez, send you off to college, and you’re ready for a good time.”
Angie grins, looking just like her mama. “Whatever. You are just as busy as I am.”
Shit, she’s not wrong. I flash her a suggestive grin as I lean back, pressing my water bottle to my forehead. It may be cold outside, but it’s hot as hell in this gym.
“For real, for real. How?”
“How what?” I ask, confused.
“Do you stay just friends?”
“Because we are.” I shrug. “We’ve been best friends since we were kids.”
“That’s so weird. No hookups?”
“No,” I say simply. “We’re just friends.”
“Is he gay?”
“What in the world!”
“Seriously,” she says, laughing. “No red-blooded dude can resist you. You’re so damn hot, and he is too. Y’all should get together, have hot-ass sex, then have a hot-ass wedding, and then have hot-ass kids. It’s really a service to the world.”
I just blink. It’s the only thing I’ll allow myself to do. I may love Angie, and she’s family, but I don’t confide in her. That’s reserved for Asher and my cousin slash best friend, Posey Adler. And I don’t even confide in Posey concerning Asher. It’s quite complicated. “I don’t know how to answer that.”
“With the truth?”
“The truth is, he’s my best friend. No feelings. Just friends.”
She gawks at me, and then her lips curve. “Fine, can I get the hook-up?”
I snort and ignore the anger bubbling inside me. He isn’t even here, and people are already thirsty for him. “I don’t hook people up with my best friend. You want him, you gotta go after him.”
“Will do,” she says in her sassy way. When she gets up, I swallow hard and ignore my instinct to text Asher to tell him to be on the lookout for Angie. He just got out of a serious relationship. Yes, it’s been almost five months, but still. He really thought he’d marry his ex, but come to find out, she was gay. It was unfortunate, but I think we both knew. She hit on me a lot. With him around—and sometimes when he wasn’t. It was weird, but Asher always thought she was just playing around.
Yeah, she wasn’t.
I know it broke his heart when she told him her true sexual preference, but it’s better that it happened before they were married. I kind of hate her for holding on to him for as long as she did. Pretty sure she knew she was a lesbian, but she kept the relationship going. I think it might have been because she was embarrassed, but I don’t know why. Love who you want.
Though I also think it was really because Asher is so damn good. He is just wonderful. So easy to talk to. Funny as hell. Loves his parents and his siblings. He makes everyone feel special, and he’s romantic. He’s everything I want, but for some reason, I keep hooking up with total assfucks. No one has ever measured up to Asher. He’s pure good, and because of that, I want to protect him. Not saying Angie would hurt him, and he could probably use a random hookup, but I don’t know… It doesn’t sit right with me. I don’t want him with anyone I know. It’s easier that way. I don’t know why it’s easier, but it is.
The rest of practice goes by fast, and after showering, I head to the airport. I can’t wait to see him. It’s been almost nine months since I’ve seen his face, and it seems like years. After parking and finding my way to the spot where he’ll exit the terminal, I take my sign out of the bag and hold it up. He texted me that he was on his way, so I know he’s coming soon. I can’t wait for him to see my sign. I’m basically bouncing on my toes as I wait. Each person who comes out, I hold my breath, hoping it’s him. It seems like hours, but it’s only minutes, and then I see him.
When he left for school three and a half years ago, he was skinny and dorky-looking. Gone is that boy; I’m pretty sure he ate him. Now, at almost six two, Asher is built like a hockey player instead of a scoreboard engineer. He’s the guy who can fix any jumbotron in any arena. I’m pretty sure the only reason he came back to Nashville was because he would have a job with the Assassins. I really didn’t think he would settle here; there are way more arenas in California, and he wouldn’t have to live with his sisters. Problem is, his ex wouldn’t move out of their apartment. She said they could be roommates.
Asher would have rather taken a fist up the ass than do that.
He has dusty-brown hair, lighter now from the California sun. His blazing gray eyes aren’t hiding behind his thick-rimmed black glasses. He has contacts now, and that pisses me off because I loved his glasses. His face is made up of hard features, his shoulders are huge as hell, and those lips…they’re thick and luscious. He squints at my sign, and I grin wider. My mom tried to talk me out of it, but I knew he would get a kick out of it.
ASHER BROOKS, WELCOME HOME FROM SEX REHAB!
As I knew would happen, a huge grin covers his face, and my heart stops. His laughter fills the airport as he comes toward me. I would go to him, but he’s still behind the security desk.
“You’re such an ass.”
I’m breathless. I feel like crying, I’ve missed him so much, but I’ve planned this welcome for so long. “I hid the pornos and cleared out all the sex toys. We’ll make it the full thirty days!” I joke, and he shakes his head. Finally, he’s within reach, and he drops his bags as I jump into his arms, hugging him tightly. I wrap my legs around his waist, and it’s almost unreal. He used to be smaller than me, and now he’s huge. He hugs me just as hard, and to bystanders, we probably look like long-distance lovers. I want to correct them, but what’s the point? They don’t matter. Only we matter.
When he pulls back, his blazing gray gaze meets mine. “Really? Sex rehab?”
I grin from ear to ear. “I had to get you back for the mental rehab sign when I came to see you.”
He snorts. “Oh yeah, that was a good one.”
“I thought so.”
He beams. “I missed you, Ally T.”
My heart soars. “I missed you, Ash B.”
His laughter thrills me as he pulls me in close, and I hug his neck tightly. I nuzzle my face in his neck, getting overwhelmed by his cologne. Suddenly, I remember why it is so easy for me when he is gone.
I’m not reminded of how completely and utterly in love with him I am.
Chapter Two
Asher
I didn’t realize how much I missed Ally until I have her in my arms.
I’ve missed her, of course; she’s been my best friend for years. But it was hard to go from seeing each other daily to only on FaceTime. The great thing about us, though, is that we talk every single day. Sometimes every hour. Even with us living apart, our lives are so intertwined distance means nothing to us. But it’s one thing to talk to someone at every waking moment, and it’s a whole other to be in their arms.
Ally gives the best hugs.
She never lets go until you do. I could literally hug her for hours, and she wouldn’t let go. She also smells like heaven. I know she wears Bonbon eau de parfum because I bought it for her years ago, and she’s never changed her scent. I love it. It fits her perfectly, and I’ve missed it. She’s always been unbelievably beautiful with her long brown hair that she’s put highlights in since the last time I saw her. Her eyes, my favorite thing about her, have specks of gold in their green depths right now since she’s so excited. Her face is flushed, and I love how happy she is. I can’t believe she talked me into coming home.
In all honesty, it didn’t take much convincing.
While I’m now back in Nashville, Tennessee, I hadn’t been planning on returning. I love it here, but my family is exhausting. Don’t get me wrong. I love them more than life itself, but it’s real hard to hang out in your perfect, high-scoring-hockey-player older brother’s shadow, and then act as a referee for two little sisters. Aiden has always been the star son. My mom ran off with him when she got pregnant because she thought my dad cheated. Then many years later, they reconnected with my dad, Mom found out he didn’t cheat, and a great love story happened. Now, they’re married and raising all these kids. Because of everything that went on when he was little, Aiden has always been extra loved to make up for the time they messed up. I’m loved, but I’ve often felt like I’m second best to him.
Then there are my sisters. You can’t ignore them or not love them. They demand attention. Both beautiful and perfect in their own right, they’re also crazy as fuck. Stella is astonishing, striking, smart, and going places. I don’t know if Emery, the youngest and also possessing all the same characteristics as Stella…in her own way, is jealous of her or what. But Emery tries to kill Stella at least once a week. I wish it weren’t in a Netflix documentary kind of way, but I think it might be.