Chapter Twenty-One
Rory
The next morning, I woke up early. Crawling out of bed and shushing Marlene at the door, I headed down to the kitchen, where I whipped up some coffee, as well as a few bowls of yogurt and fruit to get things started. My head was still spinning from the night before. We had acknowledged something true by taking Asher into our bed, and I knew there was no going back.
I grabbed my robe from the hook by the downstairs bathroom and tightened it around my waist. Typically, I only brought Frankie breakfast in bed when I was being particularly sweet and romantic. That morning, however, I had a slightly different intention.
If Asher really wanted to be our boy, I was going to treat him like it.
“Rise and shine,” I said, softly but firmly, as I opened the bedroom door. Asher was spread out on one side of the bed with his arms and legs spread wide, and Frankie was snoring into a pillow beside him.
I cleared my throat. “Rise and shine. Time to get the day started.”
They both blinked and yawned as they opened their eyes, turning to me with goofy, dazed looks. I smiled to myself as I set the tray on the dresser, then handed off mugs of coffee.
“What time is it?” Asher asked.
“Eight,” I said. “Time to get moving.”
Asher rubbed the top of his head. His hair was sticking out at odd angles, and his eyes were puffy from sleep. “Eight in the morning?”
I barked out a laugh and took a seat at the edge of the bed. “Eight in the morning,” I agreed, then sipped from my coffee. “We have a busy day ahead of us.”
“The rest of the work from yesterday shouldn’t take long to finish up,” Asher said with another yawn.
Frankie patted Asher’s leg, then turned to me with a smile. “No business talk in bed, now, gentlemen,” he said. “You’ll spoil the day.”
I kept my seat on the edge of the bed as we ate our yogurt and drank our coffee. Of course I wanted to crawl back in and go straight back to what we had left off last night. I could have spent all afternoon watching Asher impale himself on Frankie cock and gone for at least a few rounds of rolling around myself. But it wouldn’t be right of me to distract everyone, not when there was so much riding on the line for Asher.
By the time we were out of bed, Frankie turned some pop music on the radio, and the three of us got ready together in the big upstairs bathroom. I brushed my teeth over the sink while Frankie and Asher washed each other’s backs, and when Frankie stepped out to dry off, I jumped in, joking and laughing with Asher while we each shampooed. It felt so natural and right, in fact, so close to the weekday mornings that Frankie and I shared, I almost expected Ava to be waiting downstairs and felt a tinge of disappointment when she wasn’t there for our usual full breakfast.
“What’s the plan today?” Asher asked as we sat down at the dining room table for eggs, greens, and toast. He was scrubbed and moisturized, and his rosy cheeks glowed as he drank from his third cup of coffee. “You said we had a lot to get to.”
I shared a concerned glance with Frankie, then bit the bullet. “Franklin is going to steer the ship at home,” I said. “You and I are going to go find out what happened to your friend.”
Asher dropped his fork, then leaned back in his chair. “What? I told you—I can’t. It’s too dangerous.” He shook his head, his face falling as he cast his eyes on the ground, like the warmth of the morning had been cut by a sudden chill. “You don’t understand.”
“I understand,” I said firmly. “And I understand that, no matter what has happened, you’ll be a lot better off if you don’t try to run away.” I set my fork on the table, then stared at Asher until he met my gaze. “Do you understand? I want to help you, Asher, and this is the right way.”
Asher’s shoulders slumped, but he nodded. “Yes,” he said. “I understand.”
“Good. Now tell me, what do you know? You said two cars crashed, and it was the night before last?”
“That’s right,” Asher answered. “The car I was driving was Daryl’s, Daryl Pearson. I don’t know anything about the other people, though.”
My heart skipped a beat, and my muscles tensed. In a flash, my mind went back to the faculty dinner and the accident that had pulled Dorothy Pearson away.
“Say that name again,” I said, wanting to make sure.
“Daryl Pearson,” Asher said glumly. “He lives in Los Angeles. The car is registered there.”
Frankie sucked in a breath, and I realized he had put the pieces together also. The room started to spin around me as the truth set in, but I braced myself and nodded.
You didn’t say you would help him just so long as it didn’t inconvenience you, I reminded myself.Be a man and keep your word.
I pushed my thoughts back to the evening and what else I had overheard. If I remembered right, the assistant had mentioned the name of a hospital, not far from where we were. But I knew that calling the hospital would get us nowhere, considering patient confidentiality rights.
It was up to Asher to figure this one out.
