by J. D. Light
"Was it you?" When he didn't answer after a few moments, I swallowed hard. "The gorillas in my locker all the time. Was that you?"
"Yes," he whispered, after another pause. "That was me too."
"Why?"
"Why did I give them to you?" His voice cut out slightly, and he cleared his throat, while I tried to ignore the way his warm skin felt under my hands.
I didn't understand why my sex drive seemed to be waking up when I couldn't even remember the last time I'd even thought about sex.
I licked my lips, surprised to watch his eyes follow the movement. "Yeah," I whispered. "Why?"
"I liked you." His breath was warm on my lips, and goosebumps popped up along my skin.
The soothing circles turned into more of a firm caress, his touch no longer light as his other hand slid up the center of my back until his palm was cupping the back of my neck.
"Like a friend?" I asked, huskily, my body thrumming.
"Um, Ash?" Kendrick said, still in the hallway. "Your sister's here."
"What?" Asher growled, letting his head fall back on his shoulders. "She's not supposed to be here until… some other time. Don't let her come in."
"I'm pretty sure she can body-slam me through the earth's crust," my brother said, making me laugh, even as my excitement to see the person I'd trusted most all those years ago, but hadn't seen in person since I'd left.
"Tell her I'm naked." He pursed his lips as he brought his head back down, so he could look at me and I shivered as his fingers kneaded my neck.
"Ew," said a voice I hadn't heard in years outside of a video every now and then on social media. "Is Warren naked too? There is also a naked man on the lawn. You two getting freaky already?"
I chuckled and rolled my eyes, liking the slightly more confident way she sounded. I'd known she'd finally found her calling when she became a counselor at an after-school program for kids whose parents didn't have the money for after-school daycare about three years ago, and met the woman who'd stolen her heart the year before.
In high school she'd been a shy, but fierce friend. She was a year older than Asher and me, but within hours of me being there, she'd basically claimed me as one of hers and protected me like her little puppy. I'd always been so grateful for Ellory's friendship in those days, and probably more-so later on in life, because she'd always kept the bullying I'd received to a minimum.
Asher pressed his thumb into the skin of my neck, running it up and down the muscle there, making me shudder and meet his eyes. "I need to get dressed."
I nodded, but it actually took me longer than necessary to process what he was saying, while looking into his pretty brown eyes as his fingertips dug into my flesh, making me shudder.
"Oh," I said in surprise when the words actually registered. "Right."
I glanced at his bare shoulders, suddenly aware I was going to have to find a somewhat graceful way to climb down off of his lap with a hard-on while trying not to stare at his gorgeous body. Apparently, I really liked to challenge myself.
Licking my lips, I eased backward off of his lap, somehow managing to get both of my feet on the floor without completely embarrassing myself, and held eye contact with him the whole way. I was a nice clean getaway, and I could almost ignore what I was pretty sure was a massive erection pointing straight up at the sky at the edge of my vision.
Almost but not quite. Turning my back, I tried to gain my composure when I wanted nothing more than to turn around and straddle him, then take him down to that bed. The man was too fucking gorgeous and too fucking tempting.
I was usually a pretty stubborn person. Once I made up my mind on something, it was nearly impossible to change it, but there I was, letting Asher Douglas, who I'd sworn I would never have anything to do with ever again, get under my skin.
"Okay, I'm decent," he said, and I turned, barely resisting the urge to say the hell you are when I took in the broad, naked, chest and shoulders, and perfectly chiseled abs. And his half flagged dick wasn't necessarily doing anything to help either, since it was pushing out the front of his pants obscenely.
I blinked at it for several moments until he groaned, grabbing a pillow off of the bed, and pressing it to his front, rolled his eyes when I looked up at his face. "That's not helping, Warren."
I sucked my lips between my teeth, trying not to laugh, just as I caught sight of someone coming into the room, and I turned to see one of the best friends I'd ever had just as she froze.
"Oh, my God!" She said excitedly, giving me an obvious and charismatic once over. "You're so fucking gorgeous." She pouted, glaring over at Asher before looking back at me. "I wish you were my mate."
Laughing, I shook my head and opened my arms, ignoring the look the siblings shared and the way Asher made a cutting motion in the air just before she shrugged and threw herself at me.
"What about Tabitha?" I asked, as she squeezed me so hard, I felt a couple of my ribs scream out in protest.
Whatever had passed between them was forgotten as we made our way to the living room and she told me all about her wife, who turned out to be her mate, and that they were thinking about starting a family. She told me all about how they met at a concert that neither of them actually wanted to be at, but had been dragged to by friends.
Apparently, they'd been out in the lobby, getting beer and trying desperately to take their sweet time, so they didn't have to go back in. It had been pretty easy to pass time after that. Tabitha had taken the shifter news pretty well, mostly because she'd seen signs that things weren't completely normal with Ellory and her family.
And best of all, Ellory was a wellspring of information on Asher. Like the fact that he was indeed gay, and his first crush had been on a cartoon character, that he'd named his cat six different times when he was eight, but the thing ended up just being called the cat until he died peacefully in his warm bed at the ripe old age of sixteen.
"He wasn't always that pretty," she said, getting out her phone and pulling up a cloud app. "He was an ugly child."
Ellory turned the phone around to show me a little blond boy, about ten years old, with enormous eyes and freckles taking over his whole face. His hair, clearly in need of a cut, stood up in all directions and he was wearing a too-big T-shirt and too-small shorts that ended mid-thigh.
"Wait, this is you?!" I asked on a laugh, taking the phone and cradling the thing as I looked down at the most adorkable little human I'd ever seen.
"He was a willful child. You are looking at the hair and outfit of a kid that refused to listen to anything anyone else said." Ellory crossed her arms, sitting back into the couch and shaking her head. "Dad said he needed a haircut. He vowed he'd never cut his hair again. Mom said he needed to get rid of those shorts because they were too small. He wore them and then hid them from mom, because he knew she'd throw them out if she found them. I told him the shirt he wanted at the store wasn't the right size for him, but he got it anyway with his allowance."
"How the hell did you get that?" he growled, where he was leant over the back of the couch behind me, looking at the phone over my shoulder.
I tried not to shudder as his breath ghosted over the sensitive skin of my neck, but my body reacted anyway.
"I have the one of you feeding the ducks in nothing but a cape too," Ellory said, taking the phone from me to swipe through the old pictures. "He almost got something nibbled off that day."
"That goose was an asshole," he grumbled, reaching out to try and snag the phone from her, but she was fast, immediately putting it out in front of her where he couldn't reach, while his shoulder pressed against mine and his hand landed next to my thigh on the couch.
He was stretched out to his max, one foot still planted on the floor behind the couch while his body was leaning over the top and his arm was extended as far as it could go in the direction of the phone. He probably could have gotten it, but he would have had to take me out to get to it, and I knew, somehow, he was unwilling to do that.
He struggled for several moments, before growling and climbing back to plant both feet on the floor to stand up completely behind the couch. "Why are you doing this to me?"
"Just go get your bag," Ellory said, turning to wink at me before glancing over her shoulder at her brother. "I swear I won't tell him about that time you got that candy stuck up your nose from the back so you couldn't even blow it out."
"You just told him," he complained, his voice going higher, bordering on a whine.
"But, I didn't tell him it was because you had candy in your mouth when Aunt Tara threw that hammer at her boyfriend and accidentally hit that enormous shield our parents insisted on hanging above the entrance to the door and the shield fell, and nearly cut his foot off, so Aunt Tara got pissed at Dad, because he had the thing in the first place, and Aunt Marissa had to restrain Mom, so she didn't kill the woman, and everyone was screaming at each other while the boyfriend lay on the floor sobbing about his foot, and you laughed so hard, you sucked the tiny little candy down your throat, then coughed it up and somehow got it stuck in the back of your nose." As her speech came to a close, the little nymph smirked, and I covered my mouth, trying not to laugh… until I turned around and saw the look on Asher's face.
His eyes were narrowed, and his lips were pursed. His arms were crossed over his still bare, still gloriously naked chest. "I should have let Mom leave you that time we took that trip to the mountains and you got out to pee and she took off, thinking you were sleeping under the covers. I almost did, but I knew she'd kill me if she had to go back for you later."
"You're mean!" she yelled, smacking at him over the back of the couch, but he backed up, laughing. "I was seven!"
When she couldn't reach him, she turned back around, huffing before turning to me. "You could look up his nose and see the blue candy, but he couldn’t blow it out. He had to snort it like a loogie."
Asher groaned, letting his arms drop to his sides like a kid not getting his way, and I smirked up at him. "That's sexy."
I could tell by the look on his face that he just barely resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at me or flip me off. Glaring back and forth between his sister and me, he licked his teeth and turned toward the door. "I'm going to get my stuff. Both of you stay away from the windows, okay?"
***
I sat nervously on the edge of the tiny bed in the guest room, looking down at the phone in my hand, knowing if I opened the thing, I'd find the video I'd talked Ellory into finding for me.
Asher had stayed over at Turner and Kendrick's a while and I got the impression he was giving me time to bond with my old friend. It was nice, but a strange part of me I didn't understand missed Asher the entire time he was gone.
When he'd gotten back, he'd rolled his eyes at us as we sat laughing on the couch, but there was a kind smile on his face that made my chest ache as I played over the last six years of misguided hatred toward a man who, after watching the video, I realized didn't deserve it.
She'd watched me watch him as he headed down the hall, taking his bag to his room, then going directly into the bathroom, and she'd smiled, reaching out to run her fingers through the hair on the top of my head.
"He's a really good guy, Warren," she whispered, leaning close so I could hear the barely-there sound, no doubt trying to keep her brother from hearing it. "I know for a fact, that man would do absolutely anything to make you happy. He was crazy about you back then, and would drive me crazy with questions. Any time he found a gorilla, he'd get it for you."
And then, she'd kissed my cheek and left, telling me to lock the door after her, leaving me a little stunned.
I heard the shower shut off in the hall and my stomach immediately dipped. It was several long moments before I heard the door open, and a few short ones until he came around the door jamb, wearing a pair of sleep pants resting low enough on his hips to show off the very top of his pubic hair, and scrubbing his head with a towel while holding a wad of dirty clothes in his other hand.
"Oh," he said, coming to a stop, the towel slowly lowering from his head. "You are in here. I thought I was just imagining that your scent was getting stronger."
I blinked at the strange comment before shaking my head. It must have been so different living as a shifter than living as a human. Scents weren't something I had to worry about on a daily basis, and for that I was grateful when I thought of all the times my human nose picking up on the smells around me was bad enough.
"Why didn't you ever tell me?" I asked, watching him as he made his way over to the plastic hamper in the corner near the closet.
He frowned, looking over his shoulder at me as he dropped the clothes inside, and then turned to face me. "Tell you what?"
I opened my phone and pressed play on the video, watching as his face grow angry before he shook his head, turning away.
"What about it?" he growled, crossing his arms, then walking over to the wall to lean on it and watch me.
"You pushed me out of the way."
That had been obvious once I saw it from the angle the cameraman had been in. He'd looked down at me, actually standing up from where he'd been leaning on his car, and he'd smiled immediately. When I'd blurted yes like an idiot, he'd blinked in confusion, until Jasper running toward us like a crazy person with a bucket in the air caught his attention, and then he'd shoved me out of the way, taking a great deal of the dog shit on his legs and feet. The other two had come from different angles, while he was already sending Jasper a pretty terrifying look, and the other two had covered me in more of the stuff.
He'd started screaming at the three and even Jasper, the guy who'd always walked around all puffed up talking about what a badass he was, had run from him.
He'd immediately dropped next to me on the ground where I was convulsively throwing up, rubbing my back until his sister got there.
After seeing that video, I felt like I owed him a huge apology, and I felt absolutely horrible. The man had been nothing but a sweetheart to me in all of our encounters and I'd lumped him in with the rest, thinking of him as a bully.
"I could have hurt you like that." He growled, looking down at his crossed arms. "There are a million ways I could have kept you from getting covered in shit, but I saw him coming toward us so fast, I just reacted." He raised his head, meeting my eyes, and I could see the self-disgust on his face. "As a shifter, I could have crushed your fucking ribs. And I didn't even save you from it, because I'd been too damn distracted to see Ben and Daniel coming up on both sides."
"Is that why Jasper went after you?" I asked, standing from the bed and moving across the room to stand in front of him. "Because you were trying to help me? Because you got so mad at him and Ben and Daniel?"
He shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable as I stood in front of him, a smile creeping up my face. "Partly. He was also pissed, because I was the one that reported them for… you know."
"You didn't help them at all, did you?" I asked, my chest aching again and hating that I'd never gotten the nerve to watch that video back then. I could have been friends with him the entire time.
"No." He let his arms drop to his sides as he pushed himself off of the wall.
"The note?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"I didn't write it." He shook his head, rolling his eyes. "I almost wrote one similar a few times, but I didn't have the balls."
"You… What?" I blinked at him a few times, remembering the note and how romantic I'd thought it was before I realized it was a hoax.
"The presents in your locker were the closest I could get to telling you."
"Wha… I… I don't know what. Why didn't you tell me? It's been six years. You had to know that I was blaming you. I thought you were a part of it."
It just didn't make since to me. Why let me think the worst of him if he really did like me in the way that he'd implied twice, and his sister had implied once.
"It wouldn't have changed anything that had happened," he said quietly. Calmly. "You still wouldn
't have wanted to go back to that school, and you seemed happy at your other school. I didn't want to bring something up if you had already started healing." He smirked, rolling his eyes. "And I didn't have the balls."
"What do you mean I was happy at my other school?" I asked, tilting my head to the side as I glared up into his face. "You didn't know my brother yet at that point. How did you know I was happy there?"
He cringed and looked around like he was waiting for someone to come save him. “I watched you to make sure.”
“You…” I stood there stunned, my mouth hanging open. “Okay,” I said slowly, reaching up to rub the hair at the back of my head. “How? Why?”
“I’d follow you sometimes,” he said, smiling hesitantly. “When you were out and about.”
“Uh… follow me?" I squeaked out, not sure whether or not to laugh at how very Bella I felt in that moment. "Follow me how?"
He sighed, shrugging, but he still had a self-deprecating smile on his face. "Probably whatever creepy way you're thinking, right now."
"Okay. Huh." I narrowed my eyes, taking a step closer—close enough to feel the heat from his skin—and I shuddered, loving how warm he was, and wishing I could rub myself all over him. "You still haven't told me why. Why the gifts? Why the stalking? Why?"
"I really, really liked you," He said, reaching out to pinch the fabric of my shirt and tug gently, before meeting my eyes. "From the moment you ran into me that day and nearly broke your cute little nose, I was drawn to you." He licked his lips and swallowed hard. "Not quite the way I'm drawn to you now, though it was pretty freaking close, but I think, even then, I knew how important you were going to be in my life. I just didn't realize how yet."
When he gave another tug, pulling me against his body, I grabbed his biceps, letting my hands run up and over the muscles of his arms to settle on the back of his neck.
"I don't know which way is up right now," I whispered, as his hands slid around my hips to the small of my back, pressing my body as close as possible without climbing inside me.