Page 66 of Siren's Game

"Here you go." I turn my head and see him give a satisfied nod. "All good now."

"Thank you, Asher," I say softly. His hands remain in my hair, separating it into three strands and braiding it expertly so it doesn’t tangle right back again. I sigh when he stops, a twinge of sadness shooting through me when I realize he’s done.

He gets up to bring the brush and hair oil back to their rightful place and as I watch him, suddenly, my emotions start to run high.

Oh my God.

He's an insufferable dickhead. He can be downright mean and impossible to be around with all the teasing he’s doing.

But right now? Fuck. He’s showing me a completely different side of him. One that I was not prepared for at all, one that makes me wish all of this was real.

I open my mouth to say something. I don’t even know what. I just know that I want totalkto him.

Suddenly, both of our phones start buzzing incessantly at the exact same time.

"What the hell?" Asher wonders and unlocks his as he comes back into the living room. Mine is somewhere on the kitchen island, and I don't bother standing up.

Judging by the timing, it's the same cause anyway and I’m sure he will fill me in.

"Ah. Luca and Millie are official now." Asher turns his phone to me, and I stand up to take a closer look. "It's a cute picture, though."

He’s right. It’s an adorable picture of the two of them walking in a park, hand in hand, his adoring eyes on her as she says something animatedly.

I should be happy for them.

But instead, my heart drops and I gulp. Distracting from them was the only reason we've started this charade, and I know we said two months, but that was before I realized that this was more than I can handle.

The media knows now. There is no reason to continue. Nobody we have to distract. My eyes dart to him and I gulp.

Did he come to the same conclusion? Will we stop now?

Asher

Ihumalongtothe song on the radio as I wait for Luca in my car, drumming my fingers against the steering wheel and bobbing my head.

It's a nice day out today, spring in full swing. The sun is shining, it's getting warmer and I'm just in a hell of a damned good mood.

I should probably be feeling anxious.

Now that Luca and Millie's relationship has been public for a few days, the end of Kayla's and my charade should be looming over me—but it isn't. Not at all. The topic hasn’t even come up yet. Maybe it's delusion, maybe it's hope, but I don't think this is going to be over soon.

I’m especially sure because according to Kayla, Millie has found out about the real nature of our relationship. And yet, she has not broken up with me, although I think a few weeks ago she would have jumped at the chance to end our charade early.

And us breaking up would actually be a wonderful distraction from Millie and Luca, now that I think about it. I’m pretty sure if our relationship ended, that would be the media focus, not their newly discovered one.

So I'm definitely not bringing that topic up.

Something monumental has shifted between Kayla and me. After detangling her hair, I stayed over at her place for the night, even though I could feel something shifting between us, it cemented the later it got.

I didn't want to leave her completely alone, and it was already the middle of the night when she felt well enough to kick me out of her door. Not that she did.

When she told me to stay, I was sure I'd be catching some sleep on her semi-comfortable couch; read to book a massage for my sore back the next day.

Before I could even propose sleeping on the couch, she demanded I just sleep in bed with her.

"We've done worse things in it," she'd said with a snicker and scooted over to make space for me. Honestly, I was just thankful I didn't have to fold my body into her too-tiny couch and deal with a strained back the next few days.

It was weirdly nice. We didn't cuddle, because she’s apparently not a fan—I call bullshit on that but I wasn’t about to argue with her—and obviously we didn't fuck. In fact, we didn't touch again until I left the next morning and said goodbye with a quick hug.

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