Page 28 of Degraded Terms

“I didn’t force you out of the other class.”

She gives me a broken smile. “Congrats for not moving one piece into place. Let me go.”

“I don’t know if I can.” The confession slips out of me on a muttered breath.

Ava squeezes her eyes shut, then her hand comes up and curls around my wrist.

“Then give me time. I just need to think without you crowding me. Stop following me.”

Chapter 11

Ava

I’m frozenin my doorway, staring at the man lounging in my bed. When he’d canceled class for the rest of the week, a sliver of concern had eased its way into my heart. I worried that something had happened, or even selfishly thought his heart was breaking as much as mine had been.

Slamming the door closed, I stand there with crossed arms. “This isn’t space.”

Asher looks up from the book he’d been reading, discarding it on my pillow and sitting up. “I need to show you something.”

I frown, then shake my head. “I told you I want time to decide?—”

“It’s not a toy or game. It’s important.”

There’s a pleading in his eyes I’ve never seen before, but I don’t want to give him what he wants. If I do, then he’ll just keep pushing and I’ll fall back into him. He walks forward, stopping a step away and not touching me.

“Please, Ava.”

I let out a shuddered breath, never expecting him to use that word. “Fine.”

Dropping my backpack onto the floor, I concede and follow him out of my dorm. He walks slightly ahead of me, but I can see his fists curl as if he wants to reach out and grab me. My heart does a little flip when he doesn’t even glance around before opening his door for me to slide into his car.

He’s being reckless about our relationship and I selfishly preen as he pulls out of the parking lot. I keep my eyes on his dashboard as we drive off campus, not wanting to see any curious glances sent our way.

“You hungry?”

I shrug. “I guess I could eat.”

“Okay, we won’t be long. We can grab some food after.”

Raising my eyebrows, I glance at him. “Just extending your time?”

Asher shakes his head. “No. If you don’t want food after, I’ll take you home.”

“My dorm?”

He looks over at me, curious. “Do you have another home?”

I realize my attempt to clarify that he wasn’t going to take me anywhere else makes it look like I view his house as my home. I shake my head and his lips quirk once before he turns back to the road.

Twenty silent minutes later, he pulls into the park with a large field spanned before us and I glance around, confused. Asherpoints to the corner and I see a family running around each other. A man and a very pregnant woman with three children.

My heart constricts because the kids all have a dark shade of brown hair that is similar to Asher’s. A tingle builds on my dry tongue and my lungs squeeze in my chest. If he has a secret second family and I’ve just been a dirty secret mistress, I’m going to vomit in his fancy car.

“That’s my brother and his family.”

I blink, tears clearing my eyes and I collapse into the seat. He looks at me, bemused and I shake my head. “I thought…never mind.”

His knuckles tighten on the steering wheel. “That’s never going to be me.”

---