Page 73 of Scars Run Deep

“I’ll stick to my lane, thank you,” Asher said. “You keep doing your thing.”

“Really?” Killian asked.

“Yeah,” Asher confirmed.

Killian frowned. “Wait, is this some extended afterglow thing with you? You’ll switch back to your former position on that soon enough?”

“No.”

“No? I don’t get it. What is—”

“This is me evolving. That’s what you can call it, if you really need to label it. And I’m sure you do. You like things to be in concrete, clearly-defined terms. It gives you a nice sense of security.”

While Killian looked stunned, I rolled my eyes at Asher. “Let’s ban the psychobabble from dinner conversation, yeah? Keep it light and—”

“Cozy?”

I stilled, really not expecting that word out of his mouth. Ever.

“Hold up,” Jonah spoke with a mouthful of steak. “Afterglow? You two fucked earlier?”

Killian choked on one of the cheesecake chunks in his ice-cream, then thumped his chest, his eyes darting every which way and giving himself away in the process.

Asher ignored all that and focused on me, that unyielding drilling gaze of his zeroed in on me. “Well? Is that what this is to you? This coming together now? This dinner? Cozy?”

I snatched up the bottle of tequila and poured it into my glass, forcing myself to answer casually, “I wouldn’t say that.” I took a big gulp. “I mean, I wouldn’t exactly put it that way.”

“How would you put it then?” he pushed, like the relentless shit he was sometimes.

Sometimes? That was taking it really easy on him.

I took another gulp of tequila, wincing as it hit the back of my throat. It had been so long since I’d had a drop of alcohol that I was no longer used to the sensation. “The calm before the storm,” I told him.

“That’s what the last couple of days were. This is beyond that.”

“What are you driving at? Do you not like it?”

“I’m enjoying it actually.”

I frowned. “Then what—”

“I want to know what it means to you.” He shifted his weight and it seemed to take him great effort to force out, “Emotionally.” He grimaced right after and I caught Killian smiling and Jonah looking on stunned out of his freaking mind that Asher was going there.

Also, the fact that he was actually asking outright to find out where I stood and where my head was at, instead of crafting some elaborate mind game to get the answer without having to entertain the intimacy, was an evolution for him in itself.

I put my glass down and grasped his hand on the table. Giving it a squeeze, I told him, “It means the four of us connecting, breaking bread, bonding, spending time together and enjoying each other’s company.” I took a breath and admitted, “Wanting to grow closer, I guess.”

The intensity coming off him didn’t dissipate, though. Not even a little.

It was like he couldn’t let himself believe it.

“Then we’ll do this more often,” he announced. “Make it a recurring thing.”

“Instead of going our separate ways so much,” Killian said.

“It wasn’t intentional. We’ve just each got a bunch of things going on,” Jonah said.

“Speaking of that,” Asher said, returning my grip with our joined hands. “I’d like it if you would consider quitting your job at Fusion. You’re already busy with college. You’re taking on the role as my strategic second in this coming war.”

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