Page 73 of The Ruse

“So you kissed Asher, and then got stuck spending the night with him?” Ava slapped her leg and laughed like I’d just told her the funniest story she’d ever heard. “That is amazing.”

“It’s not funny.” I glared at her. “It’s terrible.”

Ava just kept on laughing. “I think this is my favorite story that you’ve ever told me.”

I picked up my pillow and smacked her on the head with it to get her to shut up. But she just blocked it with her hands and tossed it to the other side of the room. She said, “I bet Asher was a good kisser.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “I mean, you’ve noticed his lips, right?”

Had I noticed them?

Um, of course. I wasn’t blind, and he hadreallynice lips. Somewhat pouty and a deeper pink that looked amazing against his light tan skin.

A memory of how they’d felt against mine flashed into my mind before I realized what Ava had said.

“Why were you looking at Asher’s lips?” I asked, feeling somewhat territorial over them for some reason. “You already have a boyfriend.”

“Just because I’m notlookingdoesn’t mean I don’t notice things.”

“Well, I just hope Nash doesn’t find out,” I said. “He’d go nuts.”

“Eh, he’d get over it.” Ava waved the thought away like it would be nothing for Nash to find out that I’d kissed his mortal enemy. “Especially when he finds out it was a mistake meant for him.”

“Maybe.” I thought about it for a moment. Then I shook my head and said, “Just promise you won’t tell Carter, okay? I already have Cambrielle sworn to secrecy, so I’d like to keep this just between us girls.”

“And Asher, of course.” Ava winked. “I bet he loved it.”

Had he?

I’d had a hard time reading him. He was confusing in a way that I sometimes felt like I was getting whiplash.

One minute he was being all flirty and basically daring me to kiss him again. And then the next minute, he was talking about Bailee in a way that told me he had loved her so hard and might not get over her anytime soon.

But even with that confusion, he never said he’d hated our kiss.

I let my mind wander back to the kiss, and when the thought of him actually enjoying it fluttered across my mind, my stomach flipped.

I liked the idea of Asher liking our kiss and wanting to kiss me again.

I liked that thought way more than I should.

Ava’s phone and mine dinged at the same time, bringing me out of my daydream. It was a text from Brendon.

Brendon:I’m about two minutes away from the school. See you soon.

“Looks like we better head downstairs,” Ava said.

“Yeah,” I agreed, slipping my phone into my back pocket.

I would just have to try to figure out later the mystery of how Asher really saw me. As for now, I would focus on decorating a Yule tree and having Sunday dinner with Brendon and Mack, and most definitely not think about the fact that I might have a crush on two guys I was in a musical with.

20

ASHER

“Is theresomething going on between you and Elyse?” Miss Crawley pulled me to the side during our rehearsal on Friday afternoon. “Any tension that is making it hard to work together?”

Elyse and I had just finished running through the choreography for “All I Ask of You”for the fifth time this afternoon, and just like what had been happening all week, Elyse froze whenever we got to the part where Raoul and Christine were supposed to kiss on the rooftop.

There we’d be, singing all the right lyrics, hitting all the notes, and moving across the stage the way the choreographers had instructed us to. But then the music would crescendo, and as I would try to pull Elyse into my arms, a look of panic would suddenly fill her eyes. She’d get all anxious and freeze up, and before I could follow through with the kiss we were supposed to have, everything would go off the rails.

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