Page 57 of Chasing Your Ghost

Though the words were true, they felt wrong on Riley’s tongue. If she had pushed him to move on, she never would have gotten to know him as well as she had. He would have been just another ghost she’d helped. Just another name on the list.

He shook his head and crouched down so that they were at eye level. “I wanted to stay. You might have given me an excuse to stay here a while longer, but you’re not to blame for me still being here.”

“You know you can’t stay here forever, right?” she asked, the words tasting like ash in her mouth. “You have to move on.”

He closed his eyes and hung his head. “I know,” he sighed. “I just don’t think I’m ready to say goodbye to everyone just yet.”

“Has seeing them these last few days helped?”

He’d still been around a lot, but he’d spent more time checking in on his parents and friends than usual. He’d popped in every few hours to see how Riley was getting along and to make sure she wasn’t forgetting to eat, and she’d looked forward to his returns.

Though she knew he needed that time with his family and friends, she had selfishly found herself impatiently and eagerly awaiting his return every time he left and terrified that he would be dragged to that place of torture while he was gone.

“If anything, it’s only made it harder,” he admitted. “My parents are really struggling, and Ella… I’m worried about her.”

Riley frowned. “Noah told me you were driving back from her house that night. They said you used to go there a lot.” She hadn’t intended the words to sound like a question, but they did.

Asher chewed on his lip and settled himself down on the floor in front of her. “It’s not my story to tell, but yeah, she needed my help, and I tried to be there for her as much as I could.”

The incredibly stupid flicker of jealousy she’d been feeling was smothered as concern took over. “Does she still need help?”

He nodded, looking defeated.

“Asher, if it’s the kind of thing that the cops should be involved in—”

“No, it’s nothing like that,” he was quick to assure her. “It’s just… I was the only one she could talk to about this stuff, and now she has no one.”

“What about her parents?”

“They’re hardly ever home. Her dad’s a pilot, and her mom is a flight attendant, so they’re always away. And when they are there, they’re barely involved.”

“Wow,” Riley murmured, feeling even more pity for the girl Noah had been so cold toward.

“I know this isn’t your problem, but could you maybe, I don’t know, talk to her? Ask her how she’s doing?”

“I can try,” she said, not reluctantly but with hesitation. She didn’t know Ella and wasn’t sure how to go about it. “But can I ask you something? Why wasn’t she helping with the search parties?”

Asher’s brows drew together in a frown. “What do you mean?”

Riley’s eyes widened with the realization that Asher didn’t know. “Um, it’s just that Noah and Chris told me she didn’t help out.”

His eyes turned to slits. “Why the hell not?”

“I don’t know,” she replied, regretting even bringing it up. Hearing that his best friend hadn’t shown up to help find him after he went missing must have been like the biggest kick to the stomach imaginable.

Asher stayed silent as his jaw worked, his eyes seeming to glow with anger and hurt.

“I thought you knew,” Riley said softly.

“I only appeared in my house after all the search parties. I just assumed…”

“That Ella had been there?” she finished for him.

Asher nodded, his gaze falling to his clenched fists. “I know she’s struggling, but how could she not be there?”

Riley wished she had a better answer for him, but all she could say was, “I don’t know.”

She expected Asher to lose his composure, to scream or swear, but he simply swallowed the bitterness he must have been feeling and cleared his throat.

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