Page 50 of Chasing Your Ghost

“What?” Riley choked out. Had she imagined it, or had Asher just called her hot?

“I’ve seen you rocking Bon Jovi and Guns N’ Roses T-shirts, but I wasn’t sure you actually liked that kind of music.”

“Of course I like them,” she said. “Did you think I was wearing them just to look cool or something?”

He lifted his shoulder up in a shrug and laughed. “I don’t know. I just didn’t peg you as a rock fan.”

Riley glowered. “Why the hell not?”

“Uh, well, for one, you do ballet, and for another, because you’re way too nice,” he replied with a chuckle.

She gaped at him and then burst into laughter. “I didn’t realize you had to be mean to enjoy rock music,” she teased once she’d settled down into sporadic giggles.

“You know what I mean,” he groaned. “You have the dyed hair, sure, but you’re the kindest, most selfless person I’ve ever met.”

Riley’s teeth bit into her lip as she tried to fight back a far too chuffed grin. “You’ve seen me with Edith,” she argued. “Would a kind and selfless person be so unforgiving and bitter?”

“You don’t have to be a doormat to be a good person. Edith hurt you, and you have a right to be angry with her.”

“Tell that to Hugh,” she said, her lips pursing. “He hasn’t said anything, but I know he hates how I treat her.”

“He doesn’t know the full story,” Asher offered with a sympathetic smile. “I think if he knew, he’d understand.”

“Maybe.”

She stared at her laptop screen, wishing she could find answers to more than just Asher’s questions on there. She wished she knew how to deal with the pain of having your mother leave you because she was terrified of you, only to come back and take you to a priest in an attempt to rid you of the very thing that had come to define almost everything about you.

“Have you ever spoken to someone about what happened?” Asher asked in that gentle voice that should have made her feel like he was handling her with kid gloves but instead made her feel cared for and seen in a way she had never been before.

“Like a therapist?” she asked. “No.”

“It doesn’t have to be a therapist,” he corrected. “Just anyone who could listen and understand.”

“Other than my dad and now you, I haven’t told anyone.” She turned her head to look at him, licking her lips when she met his soft gaze. “I don’t exactly trust many people, and I don’t think I could share the story with someone I didn’t trust.” She didn’t have to say it for him to understand. Riley saw it in the slight widening of his eyes and the parting of his lips that he knew. She’d just told Asher she trusted him, and she meant it with every cell in her body.

This may have started with Asher needing her help, but somehow, going against everything her father had taught her, Riley now needed him too. It was a disaster in the making and a surefire way for her to get hurt, but she couldn’t bring herself to care about that as the last chorus of “American Idiot” played in the background.

Riley turned her attention back to her laptop, but her focus quickly returned to Asher when she remembered something vitally important. “You called me hot.”

Asher grinned. “I did.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but she had no idea how to respond, so she closed it again. “You’re not exactly a troll either,” she finally settled on saying.

He chuckled, the deep rumble doing strange things to Riley’s hormones. “Such high praise.”

She began typing into the search bar, but her cheeks were soon hurting from keeping in her smile.

“Riley?”

“Mhm?” she hummed distractedly, waiting until she’d finished the sentence she’d been reading before craning her neck to the side.

Asher smiled, but he looked more sad than happy. “I wish I could have met you before all of this,” he told her. “Before I was a ghost.”

Her lips parted as she drew in an uneven breath. She wondered if he was saying that because he wanted more than friendship from her. She was almost certain he did, and the thought both thrilled and terrified her.

“Me too,” she whispered.

14

---