Page 70 of Group Studies
Ashe nodded. “He’s seven.” He waited for me to nod before he kept talking. “I grew up with my arranged partner.”
“Are you married?” I couldn’t stop myself from interrupting.
Ashe put a hand on the dresser, further boxing me in. “Shit no, Kitten. It wasn’t what either of us fucking wanted. Fifteen-year-olds are fucking idiots. We decided to knock her up to get out of it. To say the results were complicated is an understatement.”
He struggled with himself for a moment. “I love my son a lot. But fifteen is too young to be a dad. In the end, her family got custody, and mine sent me off to MA academy to teach me some discipline. I’d gone to the wrong fucking rodeo as a teen.” Ashe squeezed his eyes shut and sighed before opening them. “I ignored my gift for healing and blew off my aggression with my fists. MA academy straightened me out and gave me purpose.”
I waited for him to add, ‘like they're doing for you,’ but he didn’t.
“My son thinks I’m his uncle, and I’ve not seen Penelope in years.” He leaned forward. “I never felt for her what I feel for you. I’ve never felt for anyone what I feel for you.”
I looked away from his intense gaze, my heart racing.
He cupped my cheek. “I fucking owe it to myself to see where this goes. I’ll tell you as many times as you need to hear it. You're worth whatever crap you and your crazy boyfriend get me into.”
“Beryl’s not my boyfriend,” I said immediately.
Ashe shook his head. “Whatever you say. He’s mine now, too; I guess that’s how this works. Fucking complicated Rimmed Mages.”
I snorted. My stomach chose this very moment to rumble.
Ashe bent down and brushed a kiss across my lips. “I’ll not kiss you again until you fucking ask me to, and I’ll sleep on the couch. This isn’t about fucking sex; it’s about us. The washroom is downstairs anyway. I usually take a piss in the middle of the night.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Now, who’s being super romantic.”
Ashe smiled, though like always, it got lost in his facial hair. He backed away from me, bonking his head on the roof.
I bit my lips together to keep from laughing.
With a curse, he made his way down the stairs.
Taking deep breaths, I calmed my racing heart. As much as I still felt betrayed, I believed him. But believing someone and trusting them wasn’t the same thing.
I wanted my friend back, my Ashe. The one I thought I knew.
“We can leave when you tell me where your scales are,” Ashe’s voice came up from the first floor.
I scowled and followed him down. “Are you reporting it to the MA?”
“Fuck no,” Ashe said. His pinched face came into view, and I stopped on the stairs, enjoying being taller than him for once. “I’m still writing reports, but the MA doesn’t need to know everything. Fuck, that’s hard to say. I told you, I’m helping you gain control, and the more I help, the fewer laws you’ll break, hopefully”
I wrinkled my nose. This Ashe was not my friend, even if he was holding back information from the MA to help me. “Am I corrupting an MA officer?”
Ashe glared at me. “What happened to ‘not Ashe! He’s just a good person.’”
Heat curled in my cheeks. “Officer Keres told you?”
Ashe grinned. “He even showed me the recording from the director’s office.”
I bit my lips shut. Director Flemmings told me she didn’t have a camera in her office.
I popped my lips and took a deep breath. “Ashe, the innocent student I was worried about.” Jabbing my finger at him, I flounced down the stairs. “Ashe, the evil twice decorated MA officer who doesn’t even need to worry about the Aptitudes, can take care of his own moral code.”
I stepped lightly onto the floor, and grabbed one of Ashe’s massive paws with both my hands. “My scales are safe with someone I don’t want to get in trouble. I’ll let you know if I need help getting them back.”
My stomach growled again.
Ashe ran his hand down his beard and studied me before shaking his head. “Fine, you can tell me later.”