Page 44 of Dr. Do-Right
“Hey, Hot Asher? I appreciate how cool you seem about all this, but what if this is all some big trap or something and she’s waiting for us down there?” Sonia made a decent attempt to sound normal, but her voice was shaking as hard as my knees were. As we made our way down the first flight of stairs, I clutched the handrail, so scared I could barely hold my own weight.
“You think this is our first day on the job? Gray’s talking my ear off right now, clearing the basement, then he’ll move on to the lobby, liaise with the emergency crews, and hopefully come hang with us for a bit. We’ll secure you in one of the police cars outside, if the cops play nice. You’ll watch the action, safe and sound, and then we’ll come back here when it turns out there was just a wiring issue or a drill or something.”
I bobbed my head, glancing back at Mal. His face was white, mouth bracketed in grim lines, but at least we were moving. We had a plan.
“Well, as long as you feel okay about it, because I’m about to pee myself.” Sonia stumbled down the last step of the next flight, nearly running into Asher’s back. His hand whipped out to catch her, and he looked down at her, their faces close.
“You been reading my kink journal, Beautiful Sonia?”
The laugh that cracked out of her mouth shattered some of the tension in my body. Over the alarms, I could hear Mal heave a sigh. Surely if we were in real trouble, Asher wouldn’t be making sex jokes.
“Hey, that’s my sister, man. Keep it clean while we’re all in a confined space, alright?”
“Confined spaces. Another item on my kink list. Y’all need to stop, or it’s going to get too hot in here.”
More laughter rippled around us, a few of my muscles unclenching. Still, though, I couldn’t help but notice while we swapped jokes and shuffled down the stairs, waiting for people to evacuate each floor before we moved forward, that Asher’s body moved in a fluid, practiced prowl. He wasn’t walking. He was stalking. Crouched, gun drawn, like he knew what to do with it. Even while he was putting us at ease, his body was bound by muscle memory to huddle close to the wall, padding on the balls of his feet.
I relaxed a little more every time we cleared another floor. Asher kept a constant running commentary, pulling our minds away from the fear and keeping us focused, even if it was on something ridiculous. He reported every floor we passed into his comms.
Around the fourth level, Grayson joined us, letting Asher melt silently to the back of our group to bring up the rear. Finally, the doors swung open to an empty lobby.
“Let’s get you over to the trucks. Looks like there was a small electrical fire on the East side of the building. They’ll have it out soon,” Grayson reported.
“If they run out of water in those hoses, Sonnie Sunshine over here can help.”
Sonnie whipped around to Asher so quickly, I nearly ran into her. “Shutup!”she shrieked.
I laughed so hard, I hardly paid attention as I crossed the courtyard and ducked into the police car. I was still laughing when it thudded shut, enclosing us in the safe, bulletproof vehicle.
***
“I’m telling Mom,” Mal warned, handing me a massive glass of wine before collapsing onto the couch. Further in the apartment, Asher and Grayson checked all the rooms and closets. The fire had been a brief and very ill-timed interval of drama. My nerves felt frayed, but we were safely ensconced in our apartment once more.
“You will not,” Sonia scoffed, sipping from her own glass and fixing a plate of hummus and crackers. Seemed like it was a girl dinner type of night. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to eat anything, but the appraising look Mal was giving me made me think he might force something down my throat.
“I’m just saying, you have an unreasonable amount of stories that end up with you in the back of a cop car.”
She really did, and she’d been regaling us with some of her best hits for the last hour while we hunched in the police cruiser, watching the fire and police people mill around, waiting for the all clear. I knew most of the stories, even though I’d onlybeen present for some of them. It was times like this when my mother’s warnings about “that Dobrev girl” seemed to hold a bit more water.
Sonia shrugged. “They usually let me go. It’s not like I end up in jail or anything.”
“Except for that one time,” I murmured, taking another swig. The wine felt nice on my throat. My mouth had been dry since the fire alarms went off. The liquid almost bubbled out of my mouth when I giggled at Mal and Sonia’s twin reactions of horror.
“You traitor, that was a secret!”
“You went tojail?Forwhat?!”
“Oh, come on. Even I knew about that one.” Asher sauntered around the corner, snagging a carrot off Sonia’s plate. “Kitchen and pantry all clear.”
“Guest rooms and study clear, too. I’m going to head back down and try and corral the security. I swear, one distraction and they forget how to do their jobs.” Grayson’s usually stoic face twitched in a sneer as he looped Siggy’s leash around his wrist. “I’ll take this one for a walk before we all settle in for the night.”
Sonia waited until we heard the elevator chime and the doors close before she raised her eyebrows at Asher. “I didn’t think people would have the audacity to be incompetent around him.”
He shrugged, grabbing another carrot before making his way to the fridge to pour a glass of water. “My brother has very particular and very high expectations. It makes him good at his job.”
I whirled, the wine sloshing in my glass. “Grayson is your brother?”
“Sure is.”
