Page 129 of Chasing Your Ghost

Ella wiped her damp cheeks, avoiding all of their eyes. “I mean, I know that, but it doesn’t make it any easier to tell people about what he did. It feels humiliating.”

Asher couldn’t take it anymore. He squeezed Riley’s waist before unwrapping his arm from around her. He drew the sheet off his legs and climbed out the bed, not caring that he probably looked ridiculous in his hospital gown. He strode right up to her and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

“You never have to feel embarrassed,” he said with force. “Not about this.”

He felt terrible for not realizing how hard it must have been for Ella to tell them the story, and with Noah and Chris present to hear it, it must have been a hundred times harder for her to admit to what Brett had tried to do to her. It was no wonder Riley had been the only one she’d come close to telling the truth to before it had been forced out of her. Telling another woman would be far easier than telling a man, no matter how close he and Ella were.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered against his chest.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he told her, and he meant it.

He couldn’t pretend to understand how violated and betrayed she must have felt when Brett had forced himself on her, but he could more than understand why she would have been too traumatized to go back to a place where nobody would be able to help her if Brett got his hands on her again. The thought alone made him want to scream and punch something, preferably Brett’s face.

Ella left shortly after that. She made an excuse about having to visit her grandmother, but Asher suspected she didn’t want to stick around after being so vulnerable around Chris and Noah. He knew she hated crying in front of people, so Asher was sure she must have been feeling awkward and uncomfortable.

When he returned to the bed, Riley wound their hands together and rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m glad you and Ella worked things out.”

“You know we’re just friends, right?” he asked, remembering the one relationship he’d had that had ended partly because she’d been jealous and suspicious of his friendship with Ella.

Riley laughed. Not the reaction he was expecting, but definitely a welcome one. “I know,” she assured him. “There’s no way you wouldn’t have made your move by now if you liked her, and I know I don’t need to worry about her trying to steal you away from me.”

“Why’s that?”

She leaned closer to whisper in his ear. “Because I happen to know she’s very much in love with someone else.”

Asher’s eyes widened. Ella had never mentioned having a crush on anyone before he’d been kidnapped, let alone someone she was in love with. “Who?” he whispered back.

She grinned at him, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “Take a guess.”

“Why don’t we leave these two lovebirds alone?” Chris suggested to Noah from where they were still standing in the room.

“And leave my stepsister unattended with Asher? No, thank you.”

“It could be worse,” Chris pointed out. “Imagine if it were me in the bed with her. At least Asher’s a gentleman.”

Noah chuckled. “True,” he agreed, and he didn’t put up much of a fight when Chris dragged him out of the room.

Asher returned his gaze to Riley and frowned in thought. “Is it that guy from her writing class? I think Ella mentioned him a while back.”

Riley’s grin grew wider. “Nope.”

“Tell me who.”

“Only if you guess right.”

“Come on,” he pleaded, giving her puppy-dog eyes. “Please?”

“Sorry, but she’d kill me if she found out I told you.”

“Come on. Tell me,” Asher urged, pulling his hand out of hers only to tickle her side.

She giggled and swatted at his hand. “You won’t get anything out of me,” she informed him, letting out a quiet shriek when he attacked her again with his fingers. “Your methods of torture won’t work.”

Asher smiled, lowering his head and brushing his mouth over hers in a feather-light touch. “I’ll have to try a different technique then,” he murmured against her lips.

“Let’s see what you’ve got,” she challenged him, so Asher gave it his all.

He slammed his mouth down on hers, parting her lips with his tongue. He gripped her chin and tilted her face up, deepening the kiss until the only air he breathed was hers and the only thing he could taste was her. He forgot all about the mystery man that Ella was in love with. He forgot that they were in a hospital room and that anyone could see them through the open door.

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