Page 14 of Off Limits

Asa: can we talk?

I reread the short text and chewed on my lip. What could he possibly need to talk to me about?

I hadn’t seen him since Ruby’s birthday and hadn’t expected to see or hear from him until the next family event.

Curiously, I scrolled up to see when the last time we’d exchanged texts was. My neck and chest flushed when I saw the time stamp from four years ago, right after I’d gone back to school after Christmas break.

Not wanting to rehash that mess, I typed out an answer.

Dex: why?

He read the text so quickly he had to have been waiting for it.

Asa: are you going to be a dick about this?

Dex: depends on why you want to talk

Asa: I need to ask you something

Asa: please

I paused, my thumbs hovering over my keyboard. Whatever was going on sounded serious. He wasn’t the type to saypleaselike that unless he really meant it. I might not like Asa, but he was still my stepbrother, and even though our parents treated him like shit, they’d never let me live it down if I blew him off and something happened to him.

Dex: I have some time now. Is this a text convo?

Asa: in person is better

Asa: there are too many variables for miscommunication over text

He wasn’t wrong about that. We had trouble communicating with each other when we could see body language and hear tone. Text would be a nightmare if this was serious.

Dex: do you want to come over? Or meet somewhere?

Asa: come over. This isn’t something I want to talk about in public

Dex: I’ll be up for the next hour. If you don’t get here by then, it’ll have to wait until tomorrow night

Asa: address?

I typed it out for him.

Asa: be there soon

I waited to see if he’d message again, then tucked my phone away when the screen went dark.

An unexpected visit from my stepbrother wasn’t how I wanted to spend the last hour of my already busy night, but at least it should be quick. Asa was a man of few words when he wasn’t being a sarcastic dick, and it wasn’t like we’d get distracted with chitchat.

I had no clue where he lived or how far away he was, but I went to work getting prepped for tomorrow while I waited.

Twenty minutes later, I buzzed him into the building. A weird sensation settled in my stomach as I waited for him to make his way to my apartment, and I was feeling weirdly off-kilter by the time I opened my door for him.

“You look like shit.”

He shot me a flat look. “Thanks,” he deadpanned.

I waved him inside. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean you look terrible.”

I’d never seen him like this, not in all the years I’d known him. Asa was the most stoic and closed-off person I knew. It didn’t matter what his mood was; he always looked unbothered and bored.

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