Without getting her coat, she threw open the door and stepped outside. The cold sucked what little breath she had left out of her lungs, and she welcomed the sting of negative ten-degree wind on her bare skin. Something to distract her from the ache in her chest.
Giselle ran after her, throwing a coat over Hailey’s shoulders. She didn’t say a word as they made their way to the dorm.
With only a few steps to go, Giselle froze in place, and Hailey followed her stare to the entryway, where Asher stood waiting. He opened the door.
“Giselle, would you excuse us?” he asked, indicating her inside.
“Hailey.” Asher turned his penetrating gaze to her, and his expression relaxed. There it was again: abject adoration. She bowed her head. He was looking at her like she was the only person on Earth.
She loved it. And hated it. No matter what he said next, she’d want him to kiss her. Actually, he didn’t need to say anything else, and she only briefly wondered if these were her own thoughts.
“Walk with me to the gazebo.” He held his hand out, and she took it.
“Why did you leave?” Her voice was flat.
“Why did you stay?”
He pulled her hand so that she ambled closer to him. Then he wrapped his arm around her.
“I wanted to say goodbye to Fin,” she said, her lip trembling, and he stopped mid-stride.
He cupped her face in his hands. When she looked up at him, her eyes pooled, and he brought his lips to hers, nipping her gently, and softly kissing her sobs. She put her hands over his on her cheeks and stroked them lightly.
“I’m so sorry, Asher,” she cried. “I feel like such a fool.”
“Don’t.”
His soothing voice was welcome, and he traced his thumb down the side of her cheek to her jaw. “Pádraig was tasked with bringing you here and keeping you here. He did it the only way he knows how—with charm and seduction.”
Hailey shivered. It was downright frigid outside, and she wished she had a hat. And pants. And boots.
Smiling kindly, Asher extended his warmth around her. She sighed, all of her muscles relaxed by the sudden reprieve from the cold.
“Did you tell him to humiliate me, too?” she asked bleakly, as another round of tears swam in her eyes. “Because that’s what he just did.”
He drew her into a tight embrace.
“Of course not, Hailey. I told him his job was done and that I no longer expected him to look after you." He dipped his chin and looked away. "I had no idea he would hurt you so deeply. Forgive me.”
So Asher had put Fin up to it after all. Fin had played her, and she’d fallen for his deceptive charm—hook, line, and sinker.
She felt sick.
“Hailey, I’ve neglected you, and I’m sorry. I will be around more often now.”
More often?She had no idea what that meant.
“Every day,” he whispered. “There is no other for me.”
Her heart found a handhold, and pulled itself partially out of her stomach, but she hesitated. She didn’t like Asher in her mind.
“Are you controlling my thoughts?” she blurted, studying Asher, but his expression didn’t change.
“I don’t think so,” he said.
She wasn’t sure how to respond, but she did imagine tiny bricklayers building a wall around her brain.
“What about Cobon’s plan?” That’s what really worried her...that Asher would even consider—no intend—to hurt her.
