Page 57 of A Lesson in Obedience
“River is very helpful. Now are you headed to your office?”
“Yes, are you planning to stalk me?”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
I hung up before he could think of some snarky way to respond and headed to the Department of Mental Magic.
My determined footstepsslowed when I realized I was now on the same floor as Asherandhis dad. The elevator doors closed behind me and I stared at Oliver St. James’ door, wondering if he was in his cushy office, so proud of himself and what he’d done. I wanted to rip off my ring and burn that entire half of the building down, hear him beg for me to save him from the flames while I just watched. I would treat him just like he treated my dad.
I knocked on Asher’s door, hearing a small laugh and then, “Come in.” His deep voice came through clearly and I turned the doorknob, surprised when I realized he wasn’t alone. A girl with fair skin and short dark hair sat across from him, a notebook in her lap.
“Can I help you with something, Miss Monroe?” Asher leaned forward in his chair, running two of his fingers over his lips.
“I—I didn’t know that you were meeting with someone.”
“Well, these are my office hours, so it’s always a possibility. Youcan email me if you want to make an appointment outside of them.” His voice was so professional and precise. I would have never guessed this was the same man who dry humped me against a door.
The girl tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and batted her eyelashes. “It’s totally okay. We were just chatting now; we got done a few minutes ago.” She tucked her notebook away in her bag, getting up. “Thank you, Professor St. James. You’re always so helpful.” I had to catch myself from letting a laugh escape when she legitimately bit her bottom lip. She left the room and took all the humor from that moment with her.
“How about I repeat my question. Can I help you with something?” Asher took a stack of papers from his right and grabbed a red pen.
I rushed over to his desk, curling my fingers around the edge. “I think you can. Help me understand why you decided it was a good fucking idea to open your big mouth to your dad.”
He stopped scribbling words down with his pen, placing it down next to his papers and looking up at me. “Excuse me?”
“You told your dad where I was that night. You ruined my entire plan.”
He pushed his chair back, standing up and meeting my stare. “How do you know that?”
“I had a nice chat with Chancellor Fowler today. One of what I assume to be his many random check-ins he’ll do.” I knew my face showed nothing but disgust. “That part isn’t important right now, what’s important is the fact that you didn’t tell me yourself.”
“Are you hoping that you’ll get an apology out of me?”
I scoffed. “I’m hoping for some kind of explanation.”
He licked his lips, keeping his eye contact with me. “You came in already upset, so what difference would it make?”
“I deserve to know. That’s why.” I leaned further in, bringing us a little closer.
He knocked his knuckles against his desk and walked around it. He pressed his fingers to his forehead and turned to stare at thewall. “You were hidinga lot,Riley. River is a fucking handful and yes, but I still don’t want him getting involved in avoidable things. He would do damn near anything for you, so I was safe to assume he was going with you.”
“Safe to assume? No, Asher, assuming anything is the dumbest thing you could have done. You told your dad! Grayson working with your dad hurt him, so this is literally no different!”
He whirled around, furrowing his brow. “I know, okay! I am well aware of the choices I made. You’ve been face to face with our dadonetime, Riley! He doesn’t have to use his powers to aggravate your mind; he’s gotten very good with just his words. He likes to speak so highly about how he wants the best for us and all this bullshit that I was just tired of it, so I let it slip. He wanted to be a good dad, so he should go check on his son.” He let out a sigh and shook his head. “I can admit it wasn’t the best laid plan, alright?”
“Your dad got me put in the hospital. I got lectured by my mom and was made to look like I was fucking insane. He told lies about me being erratic and hostile. If you had just kept your mouth shut, none of that would have happened.” I pointed my finger at him, trying to breathe through my anger. “You had the fucking audacity to fuck me and then throw me under the bus. Who does that?! You looked me in my eyes and gave me a lecture on trusting people. It’s laughable.”
I turned to go, so tired of being in this room. I caught the look of sincerity in his eyes before he wasn’t in my view anymore.
“Riley.”
“Fuck you. I’ll be sure to take this into account when you fuck me over to appease your father, yet again.”
A sharp tug on my backpack sent me spinning around to face him. Asher was just a few inches in front of me. “I didn’t know he was going to hurt you. I won’t apologize for always considering my brother, but I will apologize for putting you in harm’s way. I willneverbe okay with that.” His voice had this air of protectiveness that I hadn’t heard before until right now. He ran a hand down his shortbeard, actually avoiding eye contact with me this time. “You’re right though.”
My body went still from him actually admitting something like that. “What?”
“I shouldn’t have had sex with you and then made that choice. I’m sorry about that. I should have never let it go as far as it did.” He peered over at me and my heart beat a little faster with each second that passed. His green eyes fell to my mouth and I wanted to step back, leave the room and try my best to avoid both him and Grayson for a while, but then again, I wanted to step closer.
