Page 60 of Where the Stars Heal

A slow smile spreads across my face, my cheeks flushing with warmth at being caught, and I sink further into the bed, the moment leaving me with a lightness my heart wants to keep forever.

Returning with a washcloth, Asher kneels on the side of the bed. I go to take it from him but he pushes my hand away.

“Let me look after you,” he says.

The warmth of his words wrap around me, and I let my legs fall open, allowing him what he needs.

A comforting silence falls between us, and I soak it in. I’ve never felt this kind of peace with anyone before. Never felt so at ease, so truly seen, so entirely at home. The safety of him, the way he looks at me like I’m the only thing to exist in his world, the way he holds me together when I’m falling apart, the way he brings me to the brink of pleasure and walks with me through the chaotic path of my mind. Losing him will send me straight through to hell, and I won’t survive it. I barely survived Hunter leaving, barely stitched together the pieces of Mom leaving me. The hole that lives inside of my chest will never heal, never fully mend, and ifsomething were to take him from me, that emptiness would grow and swallow me whole.

Asher slips his discarded shirt I was wearing back over my head, pulling it down. Taking my hand without a word, he pulls me up and leads me through his house.

“I want to show you something,” he says as we step outside through the back door.

A breath catches in my throat when I see what he’s leading me to. Asher’s yard is simple and small, but right there to the right nestled just off the deck is a swing. My heart skips as I take a step forward, my hand rising to cover my mouth in shock.

Looking back at Asher, I see the nervous smile he’s trying to hide. Without hesitation, I reach for his hand, pulling him with me. With slow steps, we approach the swing. It’s built on two big posts that connect at the top, with thick rope where chains would usually be. The chair is wooden with a high back and is big enough to seat two. Warm lights wrap around the armrests, casting a soft glow. Emotion clogs my throat, and I blink quickly, my eyes pricking with unshed tears. He did this for me, giving me my own escape in his home. A home that is so bare from his personality, so empty of his life, and yet he’s put a little piece of me in here.

Taking a seat, Asher wraps his arm around my shoulders, tucking me in closely to him.

“Look up,” he says into the quiet night.

I tilt my head back, and a gasp flies from my mouth. There are stars everywhere. Ones that shine bright and ones that are lit with a dull glow. They’re endless, lighting up the darkness in a peaceful way. Asher’s hand strokes my arm, soothing me as the warm night wraps around us in a comforting embrace. The hum of insects and rustling grassfills the silence between us, and the faint scent of the blooming flowers drifts from the fence line and lingers in the air. I let out a long content sigh, curling my legs up beneath me. The weight of the world seems to fade, leaving nothing but us, the stars, and our healing hearts.

“You did this for me?” I say, more an observation than a question.

“I’ve never taken the time to look up and stare at the stars until I met you,” he pushes the swing softly back and forth, “and now I couldn’t imagine a night without them. They shine on the darkness that’s wrapped around me. They remind me of you, and I’d like to think that maybe… maybe Aiden is up there watching down on me.”

His arm tenses around me for a brief moment at the mention of his cousin before he relaxes again, leaning back into the swing. I let his words sink in, cementing this moment in my mind as the butterflies in my stomach spin and tumble.

“Can you tell me what happened?” I ask, my voice cracking with uncertainty.

The muscles in his jaw clench as he works through his thoughts. He shifts beside me, tilting his head back to gaze at the endless sky.

“Aiden and I,” he says hesitantly, and I tighten my arm around him, pressing myself against his side, silently offering my support. “We were messed up in the head, partied a lot, and fell into the wrong crowd. Our parents hated it, disowned us after the third run-in with the cops, but we were so far gone we couldn’t bring ourselves to care. We took all the drugs we could find, smoked all the weed, and went out every weekend. We thought we were untouchable.”

A flicker of sadness sweeps past his face, and my chesttightens at it. I reach for his hand, lacing my fingers through his, and he squeezes lightly. I don’t speak, letting the silence stretch on between us as I give him time to process. His eyes meet mine, and for a brief moment, I see the lost boy in the depths of them.

“Aiden found his way into selling pills,” he whispers.

Unease weaves through me, and I wait for him to continue. He stares up at the stars as if he’s searching for the answers among them. My heart races, and my foot begins to shake under me, unsure of where he’s going with this.

“A drug deal went bad… That nightmare I had earlier,” his eyes shift to mine, full of despair and agony, “was Aiden’s final moments. He couldn’t pay what he owed, and so they shot him dead. Right there. In front of me. On an empty and cold street.”

His voice cracks at the end, and something inside me shatters. Tears prick my eyes, the weight of what he just told me settles heavy on my chest, and my mind drifts back to the first time he caught me on my sleeping pills, the anger that radiated off him, the way he worried about me bringing something here. I didn’t understand it then. I thought it was just him being an asshole. But now it all makes sense. He was terrified of history repeating itself, terrified of his ghosts crawling back.

He must see it all click into place. The moment I piece together why he was Mr. Angry at the beginning. A lone tear slips down my cheek, and my lip trembles, an unspoken understanding passing between us.

Asher’s hand squeezes mine. “There was so much blood,” his voice breaks, “and I was so high… I couldn’t do anything but hold him, sob, and scream for help.”

We stop swaying on the swing, the creak of the ropes fading into the night. I move to straddle him, my kneespressing into the wood as my arms wrap tightly around his neck.

His face presses into my chest, and I feel his shoulders shake, his pain rippling through every tense muscle in his body. I hold him to me, allowing him to feel it all.

“Does anyone else know about this?” I murmur.

“Just your brother.”

I pull back just enough to see his face, a small smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. Hunter’s always been a protector, always done right by people, held their secrets close, and offered a safe place to feel without judgment.

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