Page 4 of Off Limits
"Shit,"Asher hissed, instinctively backing away from the window. His heel caught on an exposed root, sending him stumbling backward just as the door was wrenched open.
Light spilled out of the doorway, silhouetting Gabriel's powerful frame.
Up close, he was even more imposing than Asher remembered: broader through the shoulders, radiating a contained energy that seemed barely leashed. The way he filled the doorframe made Asher's mouth go dry, made something hot and unwanted coil in his stomach.
"Asher." His name in that deep voice sent an involuntary shiver down Asher's spine, made his skin feel too tight, too warm despite the cool night air. "What are you doing here?"
The question was absurd enough to snap Asher out of his momentary paralysis. He straightened. "I could ask you the same thing," he replied, aiming for confident but landing somewhere closer to defensively brittle. "Considering this is my property now."
Gabriel's expression shuttered, something complicated passing behind his eyes. "Ray didn't tell you."
It wasn't a question, but Asher answered anyway. "My father didn't tell me much of anything. We weren't exactly on speaking terms."
The words came out sharper than intended, edged with years of accumulated resentment. Gabriel flinched almost imperceptibly, and Asher felt a twinge of satisfaction at having cracked that stoic facade. Good. Let him be the one off-balance for once.
"You need to leave," Gabriel said, his tone making it clear this wasn't a suggestion. His hands flexed at his sides, and Asher noticed the way his knuckles had gone white. "It's not safe for you to be here right now."
Incredulous laughter bubbled up in Asher's throat. "Not safe? On my own property?" He gestured broadly at the surrounding trees, the starlit clearing. "What exactly is going to get me out here, Gabriel? Bears? Wolves? Or just uncomfortable conversations about why you're squatting in my shed?”
Gabriel's jaw clenched. "Asher, please?—"
"You didn't come to the funeral," Asher interrupted, the accusation tumbling out before he could stop it.
A month ago, standing at the graveside under another full moon, Asher had found himself searching the small crowd for Gabriel's familiar face.
He'd thought there'd be more time—time to fix things with Ray, time to prove he wasn't a complete failure, time to maybe come home when he had something to show for his years away.
Instead, he'd stood there alone, twenty one and orphaned, desperately wanting someone steady to lean on. Someone who'd known Ray as more than just a disappointed father.
Someone who might tell him it was okay that things had ended badly between them.
But Gabriel hadn't been there.
"Dad's oldest friend, and you couldn't even show up."
Something raw flashed across Gabriel's face: grief, guilt, or some combination of the two. "I couldn't," he said, voice strained. "There were... complications."
"Complications," Asher echoed flatly. "How convenient."
Gabriel took a step forward, then stopped abruptly, as if he'd hit an invisible wall. His whole body shuddered—just once, but violently enough that Asher noticed. When Gabriel retreated back to the doorway, his movements were too careful, too controlled, like he was fighting every instinct in his body.
The light from inside cast harsh shadows across his features, and Asher could see beads of sweat on his forehead despite the cool night air. Gabriel's hands weren't just clenched now—they were trembling.
What the hell was wrong with him? Asher had seen plenty of people high or coming down in the city, but this was different. Gabriel looked like he was fighting something inside his own skin.
"I'm sorry about your father," Gabriel said, and his voice came out rougher than before. He cleared his throat, tried again. "Ray was... he was a good man. A good friend. But you need to?—”
"Good enough that you have a key to his property?" Asher cut in, nodding toward the building. "Good enough that you're making yourself at home in his secret clubhouse?"
It was petty, childish even, but Asher had never been allowed in that building. And here was Gabriel, acting like he belonged to Asher’s home more than Asher ever had.
Gabriel's expression hardened, but there was something else there too—his breathing had gone shallow, quick, like he couldn't get enough air. "I had an arrangement with your father. One that doesn't concern you."
"Everything on this property concerns me now," Asher shot back, taking a step closer.
Gabriel actually backed up, hitting the doorframe with his shoulder. The reaction was so unlike the steady, unshakeable man Asher remembered that it threw him completely.
"Listen," Gabriel said, pressing the heel of his hand against his forehead like he had the world's worst migraine. "I have a medical condition. One that requires isolation during certain times. Your father knew. He let me use this building."
