Page 55 of The Fate Of Us

Pain coated Asher’s face, the surroundings of the bar blurring and fading intonothingness. “He never showed up, did he?”

All I could do was shake my head, letting it fall like I’d lost that last bit of strengthI’d been clinging onto. I hated the way I could feel tears begin to border my lash line, threatening to spill and decorate my cheeks with seven years’ worth of grudges and deleted texts and hatred for the boy I loved.

But then I felt something. My skin warmed as I noticed the hand on my chin, strongand safe, delicately tugging it upwards to meet an ocean of sapphires.

I couldn’t help but gulp, before my eyes fell to his mouth.“He was an idiot, for leaving you like that.” I tried to let my head fall, but Asher’sgrip on me wouldn’t let it drop an inch. “If he couldn’t see what was waiting for him while he lived his life, just as you were doing, then he’s a bigger fool than I took him for.”

The remnants of the cherry that had existed in my mouth came back to life, pullingme closer to Asher, only slightly.

“The next time I saw him was at the table read for Defenders.” Asher’s head fallsback slightly, the words ‘oh shit’ reading on his face, as his hand falls from my chin.

I still kept my eyes on him. “Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted the ground toswallow me up more than I had when I saw him again. So much time had passed, but it was as if there was only a day that separated us. I was so overwhelmed, and when I eventually remembered that he left me stranded there that day, I saw red.”

Asher’s head dropped to the side, his expression stilling.

“So that’s how we exist now. We don’t dare talk about why he never showed, we stayout of each other’s way, we’re civil when we’re around other people, or have to attend events together. And now—”

“And now you’re co-stars who play childhood friends to lovers.” Asher realised.

“Irony’s such a sweetheart like that.”

A few beats of silence graced us, like we both needed the quietness and frail humfrom the bar’s music to re-enter the conversation, before my attention fell to Asher’s parting mouth.

“That night you guys invited me out with you, I told him to leave us so I could haveyou all to myself.” His voice was so solemn, so painful, like admitting that hurt as much as seven daggers thrown between his shoulder blades.

“What?” I shuffled my body to face him.

“I caught how much he liked you, he told me that he knew he wanted to be more thanfriends with you, and I know I’d only known you for a few weeks then, but I liked you. A lot. And I saw the way you looked at him, too. Like you were in love with him.” He paused, his eyes holding mine, and his hands skated to catch mine. “I’m only telling you this in case that was… the reason he never came back to you. In case it was my fault.”

Something in my gut told me it wasn’t, and while I should have been happy that I wasone step closer to solving the mystery that’s kept me tossing and turning for so long, it only made my heart ache more.

“Asher… we were all kids, we had no idea what we were doing, we all mademistakes. I’m pretty sure I called you an asshole more times than I should’ve.”

We both synced our laughs, the air thinning out, easiness drifting in and settlingaround us.

“So, how are you finding it then, working together?” he questioned, settling back intothe booth and finishing the last of his drink.

“It’s hard, but I knew it would be. We haven’t been this close in so long; even whilefilming Defenders, we always kept our distance.” I recalled what had happened today, how I’d stormed off, too frustrated to even sit next to him. “But this one… it’s hard. Harder now you’re here.”

“Is that so?”

I tilt my head and playfully narrow my eyes at him. “Asher, you just admitted that youand he have some weird angst between the two of you, all because you both liked me, and I liked both of you.” his eyes squeezed shut as his head fell back. “It’s like a fucked up love triangle, only what makes this worse is that we have a whole crew and half the world watching us—”

“You likedbothof us?”

His words hung between us, in the space that separated our faces, that had, somehow,gotten far closer than I intended them to get. Guilt and shame reminded me of their presence, but, as if the colour of his eyes had spelt me, I simply ignored the feelings prying me away from being close to him.

“At a moment in time, yes. I did.” I breathed, my hands slipping from his, falling against his lap. I felt himtense and saw how he couldn’t tell what the feeling was as he dropped my gaze.

Was I watching Asher Hartford experience being nervous for the first time?

“And now?”

“Well, one of you hates me, and apparently now has a thing for blondes.” My gazefell, remembering the photo of Nate and Amber, their smiles pure as anything. “And the other… I’m not too sure how I feel just yet.”

Our heads were practically one. Our foreheads brushed, his lips a breath away frommine. It would be so easy to steal a kiss, to let him steal one from me. The rage I felt towards Nate was persuading me to do just that, to close the space and kiss Asher Hartford.

But just as my eyes were starting to flutter shut, my lips prepared to part, and my chest was rising and falling at a pace that made me dizzy; Ifelt him shift away.

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