Page 47 of Asher

She nodded, “Yeah, Pres. All good.”

I lifted a brow at her, “Didn’t know you were a brother.” I teased.

Usually, she would smile at that.

But she didn’t.

“Since when did I stop being Asher to you?” I asked her.

It had taken years, and I mean fucking years, for her to stop calling me Mr. Hendrix.

She shrugged.

Oh no. That wouldn’t fucking do.

“Chloe, what’s going on?” I asked.

My eyes stared intently down into hers.

For the briefest of moments, her cheeks pinkened.

Then she looked away, and in a soft voice I had to strain to hear, she said, “It’s nothing. Please, let it go.”

Like fuck. I wouldn’t let a goddamned thing go when it came to her, “Chloe...”

“Pres. Phone call.” I heard Whit say.

I squeezed her bicep gently, then said, “Chloe, talk to me.”

She shook her head, her eyes coming to mine for a minute, then flickering away, “You need to answer that call, Pres.”

I bit back a growl at her calling me that a-fucking-gain.

“Chloe,” I said.

She didn’t look up at me. She just stood there staring down at the tops of her shoes.

What I wouldn’t give to have the fucking right to place my fingertip underneath her chin, and lift her head, cause fuck, but I wanted to see those mesmerizing green eyes of hers.

It almost felt as though my day didn’t start unless I got a look at those beauties.

Perhaps that was why I had cropped a picture of her and Stella when they were both eighteen.

I cropped it so the only thing I saw was Chloe’s eyes.

Sighing, when she still didn’t look at me nor speak, I said, “I’ll stand here all goddamned day until you tell me what’s wrong. You don’t tell me; I can’t fucking fix it.”

“Asher. Phone, brother.” Whit was at my side now.

Not taking my eyes off Chloe, I said, “I’ll call whoever it is back.”

Whit started to say, “Ash...”

“Whit. Go. The. Fuck. Away.” I growled.

My eyes never once left Chloe’s face.

Fuck, but what I wouldn’t give to throw her over my shoulder and carry her to my office, press her body into the wall, and feel all that softness pressed to my hard body.

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