It had been weeks now, and Ash continued to avoid him. No matter when he showed up at the clinic, if Ash was there, he was either meeting with kids or managed to slip away before Drew could catch him to sit and talk. The one time Drew had swallowed his nerve and gone back to Ash’s high-end apartment building, he was informed by the concierge that“Mr. Davis isn’t home for visitors.”
The one thing he couldn’t deny was how good Ash was with the kids, especially the ones who came in, leery of the clinic’s good intentions, and disbelieving that anyone could help them. Then they met with Ash, and something resonated between him and those kids that validated all the hard work Drew had put into setting up this clinic. They talked to Ash, and he gave each child his life experience, giving them hope they too could escape and become a success.
Everything he’d ever dreamed could be accomplished in his life was happening.
Rachel had submitted her doctoral thesis, and she and Mike were stronger than ever. Jordan and Keith were planning a wedding in the not too distant future, as Keith had proposed to him over the summer. As usual, he was the one left alone.
He finished his chart on the last girl who’d shown up with a facial laceration she said she received from banging into the door when she woke up in the middle of the night. To Drew, the mark looked like the cut from the sharp edge of a ring, as if she’d been slapped and it cut her face. Though she vehemently denied it, she wouldn’t let them call her mother, coming instead with her older brother who stood to the side, his jaw clenched and hands fisted.
Drew knew that pugnacious look. The young man was spoiling for a fight, and Drew had no doubt he would go home and want to beat the crap out of whomever he thought had done this to his sixteen-year-old sister. He’d had Rachel talk to the two of them, and by the time they’d gone home, both had calmed down, and Rachel later told him she’d given them the number of someone who would talk to them free of charge about family abuse.
He threw down his pen and took off his glasses to rub his tired eyes. As it so often did when his mind wandered, he found himself thinking back all those weeks ago to that one amazing, intense night with Ash. Nothing could have prepared him for the feel of Ash’s mouth on his cock. No blowjob he’d ever gotten from a woman had even come close to the blinding, white-hot desire that had flamed through him. The mere thought of it set his cock twitching, swelling with an insistent need he’d neglected for far too long.
He should start dating again. Once he found a nice woman and started having sex on a regular basis, the strange fascination with Ash would fade. As a matter of fact… Drew opened the laptop on his desk, put on his glasses, and logged on to that dating website he’d registered with several months ago but had never used. Again, as he remembered, page after page of young women appeared, but this time he looked carefully at their profiles, making a list of the women he thought might be compatible with his lifestyle.
Finally, after about forty-five minutes, he had seven names. He e-mailed each one to see if they wanted to meet for coffee. First, he needed a cup for himself right now and a little snack. Mug in hand, he wandered over to the kitchen, brewed a cup of hazelnut, and stuck his head in the refrigerator to see what was there for the taking.
He’d grabbed a meatball sandwich when he heard Ash’s voice. His heartbeat quickened, as this was the first time since they’d parted on such bad terms that the two of them had been together, alone, in the office. Then another younger voice spoke, and Drew recognized it as Stevie, the boy Ash so desperately was trying to help. The sandwich forgotten, he walked over to Ash’s office to see if he could help.
When he approached the open door, he saw Ash, elbows on his desk, sleeves pushed up and shirt collar unbuttoned, looking tired, rumpled, and upset. Stevie sat hunched forward in his chair, his hands over his face.
“Anything wrong? Can I help?” Drew’s main concern was Stevie. Ash had filled him in from the beginning on the boy’s miserable home life. “Are you hurt, Stevie?” Drew strode into the room and dropped to his knees by the boy’s chair. He put his hand on Stevie’s arm, and his heart skipped seeing how even that slight, nonthreatening action caused the boy to flinch.
“Stevie?” Ash spoke in a quiet, affectionate tone Drew hadn’t heard before. “You can talk to Dr. Drew.”
When Drew glanced up, he caught a glimpse of the pain in Ash’s eyes before they shuttered, turning flat and blank. When the boy didn’t answer, Ash continued to press him. “Would you want me to talk to him for you?”
At Stevie’s tentative nod, a breath Drew wasn’t even aware of holding escaped him. He stood, as did Ash, and they left the room to stand in the hallway together.
It was the closest he’d been to Ash in almost a month. Drew could tell the man was under strain and not sleeping by the dark smudges beneath his tired eyes and exhausted appearance. None of which, of course, detracted from his overall beauty. Those glittering eyes still had the capacity to render him speechless.
This admiration of Ash didn’t help Stevie, though, which was why they were here in the first place. “Uh, so what’s going on? You two seemed very intense in there.”
Ash raked his hand through the tangles in his hair, and his shirtsleeve fell up his arm, revealing a fresh new bandage. Drew’s breath caught in his throat, and he was further sickened at the thought of Ash continuing to abuse his own body.
“We’re here to talk about Stevie, not me, correct?” Ash’s clipped tone screamedhands off, stay away, don’t ask questions.
Drew was never one for following directions.
“You’re still doing it, aren’t you? I’m begging you to get some help, before it’s too late.” In an instinctive, comforting gesture Drew reached out, but Ash pulled away from his touch.
“So you don’t want to help Stevie, is that what you’re saying?” Good deflection by Ash. First point to him.
“Of course I do. What’s going on?” Drew tried to smile but failed. For weeks now, he’d been frozen with unhappiness.
“Jordan saw him today. Severe bruising around his ribs, as well as a sprained wrist. Nothing permanent, but I’m trying to talk him into allowing Jordan to have Keith arrest the two other young men.”
“He won’t cooperate, will he?” Drew already knew the answer.
“Nope.” Ash shook his head in disgust. “He’s still too afraid. I’ve had child services over to the house, but they find nothing wrong and no one’s reported any problems. The parents aren’t the problem. It’s the older brother mainly. And Stevie’s scared to death of him. Maybe Keith could pay the boys an unofficial visit and scare the shit out of them.”
Drew thought for a moment. “It might work. Bullies tend to back off if they feel their secret is finally out. Want me to try to talk to him?”
Ash blew out a breath of exasperation. “You can try, but he’s so fucking afraid, he’s a heartbeat from running away.” He rested against the wall with a sigh, his eyes closed.
“Hey.” Drew took a step forward, close enough to see the trembling of Ash’s eyelashes against his cheeks. At his voice, the long black lashes fluttered open, revealing those odd, translucent eyes that picked up every color, like the reflection of diamonds. “How are you doing? I know you’ve been avoiding me.”
Drew caught a scent of vanilla and heat. Without thinking, he took another step closer, never taking his eyes from Ash. Drew’s gaze fell on the other man’s lips. The soft breaths of air touched him; it was as if he could feel the imprint of Ash’s mouth on his.
