Page 11 of Flirt
Damn, he didn’t know why he’d said that. He didn’t like confrontation, and he never, ever initiated it, but once the floodgates opened, he couldn’t stop the words from spilling past his lips.
“Sucks to be you, but you don’t own him, and he doesn’t owe you anything.” He looked Kyle right in the eye as he unfurled Asher’s hand and laced their fingers together. “I think it’s time for you to go.”
“Ash—”
“Doesn’t want you here.” Never once had he presumed to speak for someone, but in this instant, he felt justified,especially when Asher’s grip on his hand bordered on painful.
Kyle glared for a full minute, breathing heavily like a wounded rhino, before he spun on his heels and marched out of the café without so much as afuck you.
“I…I think…” His hand still locked with Cameron’s, Asher looked numb, and maybe a little lost.
Instinctively knowing he wouldn’t want to discuss what had just happened, Cameron gave him a reassuring squeeze and a gentle smile. “It’s okay if you need to go. Do you want me to call Nico and ask him to send Luke?”
Asher just blinked at him, and Cameron fought back a wave of anger at the prick who had put that look on his face. “Did you drive here?”
Clearing his throat, Asher flexed his hand, forcing Cameron to release him. “I’m good.” The light hadn’t returned to his eyes, but he stood and looked pointedly as his nearly full latte. “Thanks for the coffee.”
He opened his mouth like he’d say something else, but after a couple of starts and stops, he simply turned and strode out of the diner with his head down and his hands shoved into his pockets.
CHAPTER FOUR
“You didn’t see thelook on his face,” Cameron said, trying for a neutral tone and failing. “It was like someone punched him in the gut.”
“So, you thought you’d just throw yourself into the middle of it?”
Cameron held his hand up, halting Nico’s interrogation. They’d arrived back at his place half an hour ago, and the questions had come hot and fast from the minute they’d stepped through the door. Nico’s disapproval hung between them, tension thick in the air, but Cameron stood his ground.
“I didn’t decide anything.” His rising frustration with Nico’s attitude was quickly approaching its boiling point. “I just acted. You would have done the same.”
“He’s a big boy, Cam. He can take care of himself.”
Under different circumstances, he might have agreed, but he couldn’t get those cold, vacant eyes out of his mind. It was like something inside of Asher had died when he’d heard Kyle call his name.
“What does it even matter? I doubt I’ll ever see him again.” He shouldn’t feel as disappointed by that as he did. It shouldn’t hurt.
“If you ask me—”
“I didn’t.”
Nico smirked. “If you ask me, you dodged a bullet. That guy clearly comes with a lot of baggage.”
“That’s not very fair. Everyone has a past.”
“Yes, but not everyone has a past that includes and abusive ex-boyfriend.”
With the hostile way Kyle had invaded their space, Cameron had assumed the guy was an ex. The term “abusive” hadn’t really crossed his mind, but in hindsight, he should have seen it right away. No one looked borderline catatonic over a mere breakup, no matter how nasty it had been.
Thinking back to the café, Cameron examined Asher’s body language in a different light. The clenched hands. The shallow breaths. His racing pulse that throbbed in his neck. He’d been…scared. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have thought it possible for a man like Asher Dare to be afraid of anyone. Remembering the way he had practically sprinted out of the café afterwards, though, only deepened his suspicions.
“Oh, no. I know that look.”
Seated on his living room sofa, Cameron lifted his head and frowned. “What look?”
“That look like you have to save the whole damn world. News flash, Cam. Not everyone wants or needs to be saved.”
“I don’t think that.” He didn’t want to save Asher. Hell, he didn’t even know if Asher needed saving. Maybe he’d just been caught off guard by Kyle’s sudden appearance. “I barely even know him.”
Truer words had never been spoken. He’d engaged in exactly two conversations with the guy, and he wouldn’t consider either of them particularly deep. Asher dodged personal questions, and he’d shifted uncomfortably in his seat when Cameron had spoken of his own family. Then, there had been that thing Kyle had said about Asher not being interested in relationships.
