Undeniably Asher (The Colloway Brothers Book 2)(105)

I ignore the last part. Like he’s a damn expert at relationships. “Good thing you’re not Alyse then.”

Our eyes haven’t left each other’s and, at this point, I don’t know what to think, what to believe, but I know this: I’m going to give her a chance to explain, because I don’t just want her, I need her. Desperately. And if there’s somebody else, as ego bruising as it will be, I’m going to fight for her.

I want her to choose me.

Conn walks back over to Alyse and kisses her on the cheek. “I’ll be just a phone call away if you need anything else, okay? I can be up here in a flash.” He glares at me when saying the last part. Then he walks to the door, but before he closes it, he drops a bomb that stabs me in the gut like a hot poker. “You do anything to her in anger again and you and I will have a big problem.”

I start to ask him what the hell he’s talking about when I see Alyse’s hand cover the right side of her neck. A wave of nausea hits me fast. I think back to how fury lit my blood on fire when I saw bruises on her arm from Finn. I feel absolutely sick. I am no better than that fucking loser.

“Fuck, Alyse. I’m…Jesus, I’m sorry.”

“I’m fine. Conn’s making it a bigger deal than it is.”

Sitting down next to her, I take the wine and reach behind me, setting it down. When I turn back, I gently remove her hand to inspect the damage I caused. My stomach rolls at the tiny bruises I already see forming. My eyes lift to see her watching me carefully.

“I’m—”

She places a finger to my lips. “Stop. I’m the one who should be apologizing.”

My eyes search hers. I can’t possibly be mistaken at the love and affection I see. “Pick me, Alyse,” I beg, unable to stop myself. I’ll get down on my knees and stay there for all my days if I need to. I’ll swallow an ocean full of salty pride if it would persuade her to be mine. “Choose me. I don’t know how to live without you anymore. I don’t want to.”

“Asher,” she breathes with a voice that’s beseeching. “There never was a choice.” I must look confused because she adds, “There is no one else. There’s only you. I’m in love with you. I want only you.”

“But I saw you with him. Last night.”

She takes a deep breath, blowing it out slowly. I hate that her eyes shift from mine briefly. “I have a lot of things I need to tell you. Are you up for it now, because it’s not a short conversation.”

I nod, but I’m not at all sure I’m ready to hear something that could turn my entire world on its axis again.

“Do you remember the accident I was in when I was eighteen?”

“Yes,” I reply wondering what in the hell that has to do with the fact that I saw her in another man’s arms last night.

“And you remember that the driver died?”

I nod.

Another big breath. I can tell this is hard for her. “He didn’t die.”

“Okay…” I stretch the word out, getting more confused by the second. “What do you mean he didn’t die? And what does any of this have to do with last night?”

“The guy you saw me with last night wasn’t Cooper. His name is Beck Mercado. He’s Cooper’s cousin. He was the driver in that accident. He was my boyfriend.” Her eyes sweep down briefly before delivering the killing blow.

“And the father of my baby.”





Chapter 42





Asher





An hour later my mind is reeling with everything she’s told me. Her dead boyfriend is alive and is her stepbrother, and his stepdad is married to Alyse’s runaway mother.

Both she and this guy have walked through hell and come out the other side. Different people, but they’ve come out nonetheless. It absolutely shreds me that she was pregnant with someone else’s baby, but I would be a hypocrite of epic proportions to ever think differently about her because of it.

As much as I’m seething inside with jealousy, I feel for the guy. He was put in a tough spot. The difference between us is that nothing would have kept me away from Alyse. Not a damn thing. Now I understand why Alyse has been so protective of her heart. Why she’s tried to keep me out.

“This is all a little unbelievable. Like a fucking soap opera or something,” I mutter, scrubbing a hand over my hair. Then I ask the question that I know without a doubt I do not want the answer to, but not knowing will eat my gut raw. It’s already bled far too much these past two weeks. “Do you…do you still love him?”

The way I saw him holding her makes complete sense now. He’s still in love with her. I didn’t have to see anything other than the tender way he held her in his arms, even in sleep, to know that. I have to know if she feels the same.