Page 23 of Blossoming Dahlia

A violent ringing pierced the silence of the kitchen, causing us both to freeze. Asher finally moved away from me, untangling himself from my legs to grab his phone off the table. “Cross here.” He answered, his voice sounding a little strained as he engaged with whoever was on the other end of the phone.

I picked up my coffee, which is a little cold now that it has been sitting for a while, and took a couple of sips, watching Asher pace around his living room. It felt like someone had stuck a live wire under my skin, every nerve ending practically ready to combust with desire. Now that I’d had a taste of him, I wanted more. I needed his hands on me like I needed the air in my lungs. When he finally returned to the kitchen, he stayed frustratingly out of reach, but he was smiling, so that meant good news at least. “They got a lead on Curing, outside the city. Hunter is out there now leading the team,” he announced, and I sighed in relief. “It does mean that we’re stuck here for now, but hopefully we’ll hear from Hunter by tonight,” he told me, and I nodded, my head buzzing a little from the information.

“We should have breakfast,” Asher mused, opening the fridge and closing it with a quick scowl. “Damn, right. I’ll uh, I’ll order us something.” He sighed, pulling out his phone again. He wasso animated and light this morning, I wondered if it was from the news or from what we’d been doing shortly beforehand. Sliding off the counter, I walked past him, trailing my fingers up his arm as I passed. I found my bag where I’d left it by the bed last night and hunted around for a clean outfit. Asher was still busy getting us food so I snuck off to the bathroom, changing into a pair of soft, comfortable leggings and an oversized band t-shirt I’d gotten at a music festival several years ago. It had been through the wash so many times it felt like a cloud against my skin, so I didn’t bother to put on a bra underneath it. It was not like we were going out anywhere today, anyway. I splashed a little water on my face and combed my hair, trying to make myself look a little more presentable. My lips were still swollen from his kisses, and I tried to ignore the throb between my legs as I gathered up my clothes and walked back outside.

Asher was finished on the phone again, and he seemed to be in the process of making some more coffee, I guessed he gave up on his cold mug as well. He turned when I entered the kitchen area, his eyes roving over my body in a way that had me blushing. “Food’s on its way?” I asked, and the words seemed to take a moment to reach him.

“Hmm? Yes, sorry,” he mumbled, his eyes shooting back up to mine. “I went for a sort of brunch feel. Also, I thought we could have a movie day since we’ll be stuck inside.” He smiled, and I grinned back.

“Sounds perfect,” I told him, and I took his chair at the table while he finished getting the coffee going. Once the coffee was brewing again, he hovered by the machine and rubbed the back of his neck, seeming a bit adrift. “Should we pick out a movie?” I offered, and he nodded, walking over to the couch. I followed after him and took a seat next to him, letting my leg rest against his. He scrolled through our options, and I noticed that he’d skipped right to the thriller section just for me.

“How about this one?” he suggested, stopping on one at random.

“Final Destination? It’s got a whole series,” I replied. “Have you watched any of them?” Asher shook his head. “Perfect, I’ve only seen the first one.” I smiled. “We should see if we can get through all of them.”

“Sounds good to me,” he replied, pressing play and settling back on the couch. I tucked myself against him, more obvious about it now that he’d shown his own interest in me. I let my leg shift up a bit so it was partially draped over his thigh, and he rested his hand on top of it like it had always belonged there. It was almost possible to forget about the outside world as we cuddled in our safe little bubble. Asher’s warmth wrapped around me like a protective shell, and I relaxed into him as the movie started, completely content.

“So the monster in this is… death?” he asked incredulously, his thumb stroking my knee absently.

“Yeah, pretty much,” I replied. “They cheated it once, so now they have to pay the price.” I tilted my head to look up at his face, and he was the picture of concentration, trying to understand the premise of this campy movie. I could still feel the ghost of his lips on mine, and I wanted more. I wanted his mouth, his hands on my skin. I was desperate for it, even the touch of his hand on my leg was enough to spark the fire building up in my core. I was so distracted by my own thoughts I could barely focus on the movie, and I couldn’t help but steal glances at Asher’s face every so often, wondering what was going through his mind right now.

A phone ringing nearby jolted us both out of our comfortable silence, and Asher glared at it for a moment, mildly irritated, before answering. After a brief conversation, he hung up and his hand left my leg as he stood up. “Food’s here.” He smiled, disappearing around the couch. I sat up, feeling suddenly adriftnow that his warmth vanished, but he returned just a few moments later with arms laden with bags.

“Are you sure you ordered enough?” I asked teasingly as he set the bags down on the coffee table. There was enough here to feed ten people from the looks of things.

“I wasn’t sure what you would like,” he replied seriously. “So I got some of everything just in case.” Butterflies filled my stomach as he walked away to grab plates and cutlery, and I began opening some of the containers and setting them out on the table. I was not sure how, but he’d managed to find a brunch place that delivered. There were waffles and pancakes, scrambled eggs and what looked like eggs Benedict, as well sausage, bacon and toast. He waited for me to take what I wanted first, watching as I made my selections. I wondered if he would file this information away for later, in case we needed to get breakfast again, and the thought made me smile. Once we had dished up, he passed me a bottle of orange juice, which I cracked open and sipped gratefully. We’d missed a decent chunk of the movie because neither of us had thought to pause it, but Asher didn’t seem to mind, settling back beside me with his food as we tried to catch up.

After I ate what must’ve been three waffles, I brought my plate to the sink, leaving Asher to finish his food. I grabbed us more coffee and sat back down beside him, setting his mug on the table in front of him. He was entirely focused on the violent scene in front of us, his fork stalled halfway to his mouth as his face twisted in confusion, probably trying to work out whether or not what was happening was actually physically possible.

I smiled and tucked my feet up beside me, sipping my coffee as I alternated between watching the movie and watching Asher’s reactions. He was so annoyingly smart, I would have thought that goofy movies like this would frustrate him more than anything else, but that didn’t seem to be the case at all. Oncehe seemed to be finished with his meal, I set down my mug and grabbed the leftover food, packing it up and storing it in the fridge. I didn’t hear him get up, but Asher suddenly appeared behind me, holding a couple more containers. “We can do this later, you know,” he told me, his lip turning up in a small smile.

“I hate leaving leftovers out. Dishes, sure, but food should get put away before it spoils,” I explained, grabbing the containers from him and sticking them in the fridge with the others. He smiled and nodded in agreement, returning to the table to grab the rest of the containers. Together we made quick work of the mess, setting the dishes in the sink for later and tossing the rest in the garbage. I felt like I could relax properly again, now that everything was cleaned up. I settled back onto the couch in my usual spot while Asher refilled our coffees and took his seat next to me, his arm going around me, tucking me against him.

There was something so natural about this, it felt so peaceful and so… right. My eyes prickled unexpectedly with tears, and I realized that I felt normal, which was something I hadn’t felt in a long time. We finished the first movie and started on the second, and other than Asher checking his phone periodically for updates on if my kidnapper had been found, it felt almost like a date.

His arm was still draped over my shoulders and his fingers were busy toying with a strand of my hair idly, I wasn’t even sure he was aware he was doing it. My lack of sleep from last night was catching up with me, and I relaxed in his arms, my eyes drifting closed even with the violence on screen in front of me.

Chapter fourteen

Dahlia

Aringing startled me back into the present, and I felt Asher’s body stiffen beside me as he answered, pausing the movie for the first time. I saw his face twist into a frown, and his voice was hard as he snapped a running string of questions into the phone. I sat up, following him with my eyes as he began to pace around the room, my heart starting to pound with an uneasy rhythm.

“Okay, I’ll be right there,” Asher replied sharply, hanging up and shoving his phone into his pocket. “We need to go, right now.” He pulled off the t-shirt he was wearing, tossing it to the side as he headed over to his dresser. Grabbing a black tank top and pulling it on, he followed that up with a rigid-looking vest that hugged his body tightly. I guessed it was some kind of bullet-proof vest. He shrugged a dress shirt over top, and I couldn’t even tell he was wearing the vest once it was done up.

“What happened?” I asked nervously, grabbing my coat off the hook by the door and sliding on my shoes.

“They said Hunter got hurt following the lead, but it doesn’t make sense.” He frowned, raking a hand through his mess of dark hair. “He’s at the hospital, we need to meet him there and find out what happened.”

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat, following close behind him as he headed out the door. He was practically glued to my side as we hurried down to the car, and I could feel the anxiety pouring off him as we walked through the parkade and began driving. His knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel, and I wondered just how badly Hunter had been injured.

We made the drive in near silence, and I felt the tension growing the closer we got to the hospital. Asher nearly leapt out of the car, and he actually put his arm around me as we walked inside. I didn’t think it was anything romantic at this point, it felt protective, almost possessive the way he held me close to his side, his hand resting lightly on his gun until we got inside the building.

Hunter was in the ICU, and his room had two officers posted outside, similar to my hospital stay. They let us through without a word, and I almost gasped when I saw Hunter laying in the bed. It was hard to reconcile the man I knew with the broken and bruised shell of a person unconscious in front of us. His handsome face was covered in bruises, his nose broken and one of his eyes swollen completely shut. Stitches ran down the other side of his face, from his forehead all the way to his chin, like someone had tried to slice his face right in two. One of his arms was in a cast, and his free hand wasn’t much better, with all of his fingers in splints. All except one, I realized with sickening horror. His pinky was missing, bandages covering the space where it should’ve been.

I heard Asher swear under his breath, finally breaking away from my side to go to his partner. “He was tortured,” I rasped,dropping into a chair behind me as my legs gave out. Asher nodded dully, his lips pressed into a thin line as he studied his friend.

Asher put his hand on his partner’s shoulder, his face twisted in pain. “I should have been there, I’m so sorry,” he told Hunter hoarsely, and guilt washed over me, making my stomach roll. We’d been cozy and happy in our little bubble while he’d been suffering alone for god knew how long. I could tell that the guilt was eating away at Asher too, he couldn’t even look at me, and my eyes stung with shame.

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