Page 5 of Off Limits

I’d figured out I was bi years ago, and even though Asa was the furthest thing from my type, my treacherous body still reacted to him every time I saw him.

Asa met my gaze, his expression stony and his eyes blank. Another thing that hadn’t changed since we’d met eight years ago. At least his attitude made it easy to ignore my inconvenient attraction to him. And it reminded me that what happened between us had been a colossal mistake.

The kids all started talking at the same time, their words blending together into an excited din and knocking me from my thoughts. Tanner poked me in the thigh with his small finger, and Chloe grabbed my pant leg, holding tight like she was afraid I might be swept away.

Chuckling at their antics, I shifted my attention from Asa and glanced down at them. Ruby immediately put her arms up and made grabby hands at me, silently asking for uppies.

I scooped her up and settled her on my hip. My heart melted a bit as she rested her head on my shoulder and wrapped her thin arms around my neck, snuggling into me.

I’d worried it would take time for the kids to get used to me again after being gone for so long. Chloe had only been three when I left for college, and Tanner had just turned one. I’d only seen Ruby a handful of times since she’d been born, and not at all in the past year.

Those fears had thankfully been unfounded, and it had only taken a few hours for them to warm up to me the first time I’d come over after moving home.

There was honestly no better feeling than seeing their excitement and elation every time I saw them, and I was grateful for the chance to get to know them better and be there for them as they grew up.

Unlike most people in my life, their happiness came from a place of love. There were no strings or ulterior motives attached to their smiles and affection. They loved me because I was their big brother, and they didn’t give a damn aboutmy accomplishments or the other things that were usually a prerequisite for people giving a crap about me.

“I want to show Dex my room,” Tanner announced, giving up his poking and grabbing my hand.

Tanner was six, but he was small for his age, and his hand looked tiny in mine.

“He’s already seen your room,” Chloe said, shooting her brother an exasperated look.

She might only be eighteen months older than him, but she had more sass than most adults I knew, and I loved that for her.

“He hasn’t seen my rocket sheets,” Tanner countered, tossing her a triumphant look.

“How about you take the kids upstairs until everyone starts arriving?” Miranda suggested. “That’ll give me a chance to finish getting everything set up down here.”

“Yeah, sure.” I avoided looking at Asa and instead turned my attention to my little siblings. “How about I check out Tanner’s sheets, then maybe we can get you guys ready and into your party clothes?”

Something told me that Ruby’s bright pink pajamas and the mismatched sweatpants and t-shirts Tanner and Chloe were sporting weren’t the outfits Miranda wanted them to wear for the party.

“Can you fix my braids?” Chloe asked, pushing a hank of hair that had come loose from one of the twin French braids that fell over her shoulders. The braids had obviously been done yesterday, and a mess of flyaways and locks of hair had come loose from the weave, making her look a bit like she’d put her hand on one of those electricity balls that made people’s hair stand on end.

Ruby’s hair was loose around her face, but the mess of tangles in it told me that it hadn’t been brushed since she woke up.

“I’m not quite at French braiding yet,” I said apologetically. “I can do regular braids, but I’m still learning how to do the fancy ones.”

“Asa can show you,” she said with a bright grin. “He does thebestbraids. Nails too.” She held up one hand to show off the soft pink polish on her nails.

Ruby nodded her agreement against my shoulder.

“Who cares about braids and nails.” Tanner dug his heels into the floor and tugged on my arm hard enough his whole body bent at an angle. “I have rocket sheets,” he reminded me like that was the most important thing in the world.

“Right,” I let him pull me toward the kitchen door. “Let’s go check those out, then we’ll get our party clothes on and Asa can fix your braids,” I said to the kids.

I was almost out of the kitchen when I heard Miranda light into Asa again, belittling him for forgetting to pick up tape and making her already busy day even more difficult.

He didn’t say a word, not even when she called him stupid and blamed him for the kids not being ready yet.

Wordlessly, I followed my siblings to the stairs, her voice fading away the further from the kitchen I got.

Miranda had always been harsh on Asa, way harder on him than she’d ever been with me or the other kids, but had it always been this bad?

Asa was annoying as fuck, and he seemed to delight in pissing people off and making them lose their shit, but he wasn’t the type to fight or even argue with people. He preferred a more passive-aggressive approach and tended to just let people berate him, even when he wasn’t in the wrong.

I’d heard her lecture him hundreds of times over the years for things even dumber than not picking up tape, but for some reason, I didn’t like that she was talking to him like that today. And it bothered me that he was just standing there and taking it.

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