I’m curled up in Asher’s bed three days later, carving my way through a pint of ice-cream at five o’clock, watching an old rom-com. Asher texted me this morning to tell me that his trip had hit a snag and has been extended by four more days. I almost threw my phone across the room. Instead, I put on one of Asher’s T-shirts and decided that rotting away and eating my feelings was the only option left for my sanity.
I’ve been missing Asher like crazy, and it’s only been made worse by the fact that I’ve been holed up in the penthouse by myself. Since he left, I’ve been living like a stir-crazy ghost, haunting the place. I’ve mostly been moping around in a state of lonely depression between working from home and my training sessions with Waters. I’m sure that makes me pathetic, but fuck, I didn’t realize how much I’d come to want and need Asher’s presence. I’d known I was in deep with how much our mini breakup hurt, but this has proven to me that I’m even worse off than I thought. Asher has been gone for ten days, and it feels like ten weeks.
One bit of good news is that I finally got cleared to go back into the office tomorrow, but now the excitement of that istainted by the fact that I’ll have to work for four days without Asher there.
A knock sounds on the bedroom door.
“Ms. Hale,” Ms. Graham calls. “You have visitors.”
Visitors?
I roll out of bed, wearing only Asher’s T-shirt, and pad across the room.
“Who is here?” I ask Ms. Graham through the door.
“Ms. Wilson and Ms. Morozov. Security just let them up, would you like me to invite them in?”
Surprise flows through me. “Yes.”
A minute later, Zahra and Lucy, my two best friends, practically burst through the bedroom door and head straight for me.
“This is a surprise,” I say, just as Lucy says, “Well, you look like shit.”
“Luce,” Zahra reprimands. “Take it easy on her.”
“That’s why we’re here, to make her feel less like shit,” Lucy says, breezily.
“Get over here, Ella Bella.” Lucy opens her arms, and we end up in a three-way hug. A sense of relief surges through me. God, I didn’t realize how much I missed my friends until right now. With everything that’s happened in the last two weeks, I’ve been so stuck in my own head that I haven’t thought about anything but my situation.
“What are you two doing here?” I ask, happiness bubbling inside me. “I didn’t know you were in town, Luce.”
“I finally made it in. I’ve been meaning to come since the incident with Kyle went down. He’s lucky your powerful boyfriend made sure he couldn’t post bail, otherwise he would have had some of my Morozov cousins here in New York paying him a not-so-friendly visit.”
I chuckle. Yep, I’m becoming more and more sure that Lucy’s family is highly involved in the mafia, and though her immediate family is based out of Chicago, I know she has somecousins who live here. It was the reason she was allowed to study at NYU in the first place; her father wouldn’t have allowed it without knowing she had not only a bodyguard, but also some family members who were always on standby if needed.
“Well, Kyle the asshole is firmly in jail, and we have some time before his case is brought before the courts, so for now, I can put it out of my mind.”
“I’ve been worried about you,” Zahra says. “You haven’t texted much, and the tone of your texts has become more and more morose. Since Lucy was finally able to make it to town, we thought we’d surprise you.”
“You guys are the best. Sorry if I’ve been a little distant. Things have been crazy here.”
“Asher has been gone for a bit on a business trip,” Zahra hedges.
I flop down on the bench at the end of the bed, and they sit on either side of me. “Ugh, I’m so pathetic. When did I become this girl? Asher’s been gone for ten days, but it feels . . .” I trail off, embarrassed to admit how painful his absence is.
Lucy raises a brow. “You miss him after ten days?”
“Like crazy,” I admit after a long pause, knowing I’m not fooling either of them. “And I still have four more to go.”
“But I thought this was an arrangement? I thought there were no feelings involved.”
“There weren’t supposed to be. But . . .” I let out a long breath, not sure what to say. “I feel like a fool in some ways, but I also feel like I can’t help it, so why fight it?”
“Are you falling for him?” Zahra asks.
“Fell is more like it,” I groan.
“You’re in love with him?” Lucy gasps.
