“You okay? You look a little flushed.”
Rebecca looked at the coffees and then to his worried face. She was still thinking about that dream, the feeling of Asher’s lips against her skin and his fingers causing her such pleasure and that made her feel guilty.
“Yeah, I just, had a strange dream is all,” Rebecca said as she smiled and returned the kiss.
“Oh yeah, about what?”
Rebecca cursed in her head, not expecting him to press on any further about the subject.
“Can’t remember much, it was just about one of my patients, I’m going to see him later.”
Rebecca went to grab a coffee and let the warm dark liquid go down her throat.
“Asher Conner right?”
Rebecca nearly choked on her coffee in surprise as he said Asher’s name so nonchalantly.
“How did you know?”
She placed the coffee down and grabbed a napkin cleaning the mess she made nervously.
“I ran into Joy and she told me,” he said calmly. Rebecca made a mental note to strangle Joy when she saw her; the girl couldn’t keep her mouth shut to save her life. Although, Rebecca wasn’t quite sure at that moment why she was hiding Asher from Brian.
“So you had a dream about him?”
Rebecca mentally prepared herself for the conversation that was about to ensue when Brian asked her the question. It was like walking through land mines. She had to be careful.
“Yeah but like I said I can’t remember much,” Rebecca said in a tone that suggested she was done talking about it. Even in her dreams Asher Conner was causing her trouble.
“Okay. You have work today?”
“Yes actually, I’m making a house call later this afternoon but that’s it.”
“To Asher Conner’s house?”
Rebecca let out a heavy sigh and turned to Brian crossing her arms across her chest; a landmine had gone off.
“Is that a problem Brian? He is my patient.”
“No problem, it’s just you have to be careful with those guys, they’ll try to take advantage,” he said shrugging his shoulders.
“Jealousy doesn’t look good on you,” Rebecca said as her eyebrow raised to him. From the start, Brian knew who her patients were. It was never a problem before. Suddenly now it was.
“I’m not jealous,” Brian said defensively as his arms were now crossed over his chest.
“Then why the sudden concern?”
“He has a reputation with women that’s all. I’m looking out for you Rebecca.”
“Okay Brian, your concern is duly noted,” Rebecca said as she turned around and headed to the bathroom to clean up. Maybe Brian was right but that didn’t mean he could treat her like some high school girl with a crush. She knew what she was doing and it hurt that he doubted that.
“Are you mad?”
Rebecca heard the question from her bathroom but decided that it would be best to not say anything. She had gone from hurt to angry at his jealousy. She thought he was different, and now she was starting to wonder about that. It was too early in their relationship for them to be fighting about such nonsense, especially about a man that was her patient. In any case, Rebecca knew herself and if she spoke, the words to come out of her mouth would not be nice ones. She didn’t reply.
Before she headed to the bathroom, she heard angry footsteps walk away followed by the front door shutting with such force that it vibrated the walls. Rebecca rolled her eyes as she disappeared into the bathroom.
“Asshole,” she said.
*****
The fight with Brian still had Rebecca heated as she drove to Asher’s mansion. Brian’s jealousy was displaced and uncalled for. It wasn’t like she was cheating with the guy; he was her patient and that was it. And that dream was just a dream. It wasn’t real.
Even with the self-convincing she was doing, Rebecca couldn’t help but to feel a little bit of guilt. She was starting to feel something for the athlete and it was becoming increasingly troublesome. Maybe after this visit she would put some more distance between them.
As she did before, Rebecca approached the gated house but found something was different this time. There were many cars parked inside the gate and the dull beat of music could be heard even from where she was.
Rebecca rubbed her temples; Asher was in there having some sort of party knowing that she was coming over. As tedious as it would be, she wondered if she should call and lie to say something came up.
“I drove all the way here though,” she said to herself with a sigh as she stared at the gate. She supposed it would be best to get the visit out of the way and go home and try to patch things up with Brian.
Before she could step out of her car and make herself known through the intercom, the gate suddenly began to draw back. Rebecca decided it would better not to question it, and slowly drove her car into the property. Once she found a parking lot amongst the sea of high-priced foreign cars, she stepped out and retrieved her medical bag. The bass of the music became louder as she approached the house; Rebecca wondered then what the occasion was to host a party on a Wednesday afternoon.
Rebecca went to the door, pressed the doorbell, and waited for someone to answer. In a matter of seconds, the door opened to reveal the man she met the first time she had arrived at this house.
“You don’t strike me as a partier,” Rebecca said playfully.
The man remained unamused by her joke but stepped aside to let her into the house crawling with people.
“Where is he?”
“I will take you to him,” the man said calmly as he began to walk in front of her.
“May I at least get your name?”
This was Rebecca’s second time meeting with the man of few words. She figured if she had to keep making house calls she should at least learn his name.
“Stephen.”
“I can remember that, thank you Stephen,” Rebecca said. Stephen took them up the stairs and down a hallway.
Eventually, they had reached a closed door. Stephen knocked on the door. In response to the knocks, a muffled voice came from the other side. While Rebecca had no idea what the voice was saying, it was enough for Stephen to reach for the door knob to grant her access.
There on a king size bed, Asher lay watching an old horror movie. He turned to her and smiled, signaling her over to him. Stephen left, closing the door behind him.
“I’m confused,” Rebecca said as she grabbed a stray chair on her way over to his side.
“About what?”
“Well it looks like there’s a party happening downstairs but you’re up here looking like you’re ready for bed.”
Asher let out a laugh as he watched her place the chair down beside him, and sat on it.
“Yeah my buddy needed the space to celebrate something. I don’t remember all the details. But anyway I’m letting him use my house for the night.”
Rebecca supposed she understood that, as odd as it sounded. In any case the room they were in was huge and in fact she couldn’t hear the commotion or music from downstairs.
She shrugged and left the topic alone as she placed the medical bag on her lap to search for the neck brace she promised to deliver.
“I don’t think I need that right now,” Asher said as his eyes intently watched her rummage through her bag.
“Why’s that?”
Rebecca was genuinely interested to hear whatever excuse he had to give her.
“I can’t party in a neck brace,” he said frankly as he took the device from her hand and examined it.
“You really shouldn’t be partying period with that neck injury,” Rebecca retorted, obviously confused by this nonsense she was dealing with.
Asher squinted his eyes and leaned in really close causing Rebecca to lean back as far as she could against the chair. The familiar feeling of her heart beating out of her chest returned as those ice-blue eyes seemingly stared into her soul.
“What,” Rebecca said, as the silence gre
w to be too much for her.
“Something happened, you’re all tense,” said Asher.
Rebecca looked at this man with slight awe. Was it that obvious that she was still upset about the fight earlier? It couldn’t be; one of the many things Rebecca was amazing at was hiding when she was feeling upset.
“Nothing happened,” Rebecca lied as she grabbed the neck brace from him.
“Trouble in paradise maybe?”
If there was seriously trouble in paradise it was because of him but she wasn’t going to give him the luxury of saying so. Instead, Rebecca waved off his comment and placed the neck brace on him. Asher managed to grab her wrist and pull her onto his lap in one swoop. Surprised and not quick enough to react, Rebecca found herself on her back with Asher hovering above her, his face just inches from hers.
“What are you doing?”
Rebecca sat there with her breaths becoming increasingly shallow at the sudden closeness.
“Come with me downstairs, have a quick drink, get your mind off things, meet a few celebrities and if you still want to leave after that I won’t stop you.”
Rebecca looked up at the athlete who was not letting her escape from the compromising position he had put them in.
“When’s the last time you had any fun anyway?”
The sad fact was Rebecca couldn’t even answer that question. She had been so consumed with her practice that there wasn’t much time left for fun. She barely had time for her relationship with Brian, the both of them were busy and frankly only had time for dinner dates and sex. It was beginning to become routine.
“Fine, one drink.”
As Rebecca admitted defeat, Asher removed her from on top of him and helped her to her feet. He took her hand and led her downstairs to where the light was dim and the music filled the space.
All the while a mischievous grin graced his face.
*****
As much as she hated to admit it, Rebecca was star struck at that moment. She was introduced to all sorts of celebrities ranging from music artists to actors to sportspeople. It also turned out Asher’s friend was a very well-known actor. His house was being renovated which is why he had asked to use Asher’s place.
Rebecca was genuinely having the time of her life; she chatted and made connections. Somewhere in between socializing, she tried to call Brian to let him know what the situation was but he didn’t seem to be answering, so she settled on leaving a voice message. Rebecca went on to dance and realized how much she missed it, she hadn’t danced in years and the feeling was exhilarating, Brian didn’t like dancing so they never even considered doing it. Not to mention the drinks the bartender was feeding her were amazing. So amazing in fact she hadn’t realized that she had knocked back a few too many. In truth, she hadn’t consumed that much alcohol since her 21st birthday and the feeling of genuine intoxication was not comfortable in the least.
Rebecca found herself sitting on a couch with Asher kneeling before her handing her a glass of water. She noticed that he didn’t look worried or in distress at her current state; in fact he looked rather pleased with himself.
“Looks like you were having a little too much fun there, doc,” he said with a grin as he tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ear.
“Shut up,” Rebecca whined as she drank the water like it was the cure to all her troubles. Her body was on fire from all the alcohol and she couldn’t decide if she wanted to go dance some more or allow her body to black out.
Asher eventually would make that decision for her as he stood her onto her feet and led her down the hallway to one of the guest bedrooms. Rebecca hoped that her body would hold out until she had reached a bed where she could properly collapse.
“Hey, your phone is ringing,” Asher said looking down at her before reaching to open the door. Rebecca sighed feeling like anything other than trying to walk was a task that would be difficult for her brain to handle.
Asher closed the door behind them before leading her to the queen sized bed and placing her on it carefully. Her phone continued its incessant ringing as she tried to coordinate her hands to reach for it in her pocket. When she finally did retrieve it, her eyes widened to see that it was 2 a.m. and Brian had been trying to reach her all night. Rebecca quickly answered the call, trying to sober up in that instant.
“Rebecca, where the hell are you?”
She couldn’t help but to cringe. The anger in his voice resonated loud and clear. He really didn’t need to speak to her like that.
“I tried calling Brian and I left you a voice message, I went to see Asher and I got caught up chatting with other people here.”
Even in her intoxicated state, Rebecca knew this conversation wouldn’t end well. She didn’t want to lie to make things worse but she knew that Brian was furious and would be even more furious to know that she was spending this time with the wealthy Casanova athlete rather than him.
“Are you drunk right now? Your words are slurred. Where are you? Are you at his place? Dammit Rebecca I told you about him.”
The string of questions and the loud and judging tone of his voice only began to anger Rebecca.
“Excuse me for having a little fun, I dedicate my whole life to helping others and then pleasing you, I never get time to enjoy myself and now I’m the bad guy? I’m not even sleeping with Asher he’s showing me a good time!”
At this point Rebecca was yelling into the phone with tears streaming down her face. It might have been the alcohol fueling her anger but everything she said she meant.
“Ever since you met this man, you’ve changed, you’re not like this Rebecca, let me come get you,” Brian pleaded with her on the other line.
“No, I don’t need your ride and I don’t need an insecure and jealous man who can’t trust me.”
Rebecca threw her phone across the room hearing it make contact with the wall, and then fell back on the mattress covering her eyes. The tears coming from her face were of anger and sadness; she had technically just broken up with Brian and she wasn’t sure if that had been the right thing to do.
Asher, who had been standing there the whole time in silence, came to sit beside her with a box of Kleenex conveniently in his hands. He took her hands away from her teary face and began to wipe the dampness with a Kleenex. He then got into bed beside her and pulled the covers over their bodies as he wrapped his arms around her slightly trembling form.
Rebecca looked up at him once the tears had stopped flowing from her eyes.
“Sorry,” he whispered as she clutched onto his chest.
“Why are you sorry,” Rebecca questioned and found herself melting into his body. His smell, the way he felt as he wrapped his arms around her made her feel safe and loved. It was strange, but even though she’d always thought her sex life with Brian was great, it just wasn’t as good as this. She never felt this way when she was in bed with Brian.
“I’m the reason this happened,” he said in a tone that didn’t make Rebecca believe he was actually sorry. Either way, part of her felt that her breaking up with Brian would have happened regardless if Asher was in the picture or not.
Rebecca didn’t respond to his apology. She just hung onto his form. She felt his hand stroke her back gently, and her eyelids began slowly to drop. Her mind went blank and all she could hear was his heartbeat and the steadiness of his breathing. His hand continued to stroke her back in a way that almost felt like it was soothing her problems away.
*****
Rebecca had woken up that afternoon still in Asher’s warm embrace. Surprisingly, she did not feel the punishing effects of a hangover as she expected from a night of heavy drinking and thanked her lucky stars. Rebecca looked up to see that Asher was still very much asleep, which was okay because she liked being in his arms. She nestled into his body a little more and wrapped her arms around him slowly. Her hand traveled up and down his back gently driven by curiosity. Eventually her hand snaked under his shirt and up and down his back once again. She could feel
the permanent scars that were scattered all over his olive skin.
“Nosey.”
Seeing the scars again revived Rebecca’s earlier curiosity about their origin.
“What happened?” she said.
Rebecca had been curious about his scars ever since she saw a glimpse of the when they first met. She looked up at him waiting an answer and found that he was looking at her to.
“Rough childhood, like I said. I don’t talk about it, in fact the only person that knows what happened is Stephen.”
Asher averted his gaze from hers leaving Rebecca to wonder what kind of horrible human being would hurt a child in such a way.
“So who is Stephen to you?”
“He’s my uncle. He’s taken care of me ever since my parents were put away, and he has always been there for me, even after all the times I’ve caused him trouble. He’s also the one that got me into basketball; he’s the reason why I’m here.”
Rebecca found herself clutching on to Asher as he told her these very personal things.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that as a child,” Rebecca whispered into his chest.
“I don’t think I would be here if it wasn’t for those tough times.”
Rebecca looked up at him and felt an overwhelming sense of emotion. It must have been so horrible for him. Asher met her eyes once again and let out a chuckle.
“What? Do you want to kiss me?”
Rebecca let out a laughed as she inhaled the tears back.
“Yes actually I do,” she said as she leaned up and pressed her lips against his. They embraced one another tightly as the kiss deepened. Rebecca moaned into his mouth as he grinded his lower body against hers. At that moment she didn’t want anything more than to feel him inside of her.
She broke the kiss leaving them both panting slightly for air.
“I want you,” he said as he sat up and pulled her up with him, he must have read her mind.
“But only if you want it.
Rebecca bit her bottom lip and nodded. With that he had her on her back with both her wrists pinned down to the mattress.
“Say it,” he demanded.
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