“How were the NPCs made?” Levi asked. “The characters. Jasper, Tyler, the others. How did your team decide on their personalities? Their designs?”
Asher’s jaw tightened. A small movement. He could feel it happen and he couldn’t stop it.
“The design team went through a lot of horror media,” he said. The words came out with the right cadence — conversational, informative. “Films, games, novels. They pulled character archetypes — the stoner, the jock, the nerd, the final girl. Amalgamations of a bunch of source material. Nothing —”
I don’t want him thinking about them. Not Jasper. Not Tyler. Especially not fucking Elliot.
“Do you want to meet Paul?” he asked suddenly.
Levi blinked. “Paul? I mean — I’ve met Paul.”
“You met him in doctor-mode, not my lame stepdad-mode.” Asher leaned back on the couch. “He’s not interesting, but he’s…well, he’s Paul. He’s the closest thing I have to family and you’re my family now. So…you know. You should meet.”
Levi was making that weird face he made when he was really confused.
“He’ll like you,” Asher continued. “But to be fair, he likes everyone. He’s very agreeable.” He was already reaching for his phone. “I’ll call him.”
“Right now?”
“Why not?”
“Because you just — Asher, I asked you about the NPCs and you changed the subject.”
There you are. You’re so beautiful when you’re suspicious of me.
He dialed Paul anyway. The phone rang twice. Paul picked up the way Paul picked up everything — cautiously, as if the phone itself might be a threat. “Asher? Is everything…are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I want you to come to the house. Tomorrow. For dinner,” Asher said, grinning at Levi and giving him a thumbs up. Levi’s eyebrows chased his hairline as he continued to give Asher that cute confused look.
“Asher,” Paul’s voice dropped , the way it dropped when he was about to say something he’d been rehearsing, “we need to talk about the c-suite —”
“Not right now, Paul, I’m calling for a more important reason. Do you understand?”
Paul went quiet.
He always did.
“Come to my house for dinner tomorrow,” Asher said. “Bring something Levi can eat — nothing too heavy, he’s still working on solids. Something with noodles.”
“Levi…Levi Mercer? He’s — he’s there? With you?” Paul’s voice rose considerably. “Asher, when I took you to his apartment, you said it was just for closure. Why is he there with you?”
“He lives here.”
“Asher, is he —” Paul’s voice had the particular strain it got when he was deciding between asking a dangerous question and swallowing it. Paul always swallowed it. “Is he okay?”
“He’s making soup.” Now Asher was getting confused. Why did Paul sound like Asher just threatened him? “Just be here tomorrow for dinner.”
“Why?”
“Because families eat dinner together. Is that complicated?” Asher rolled his eyes.
Paul exhaled slowly, which is what he usually did right when he was about to cave. “Fine. Tomorrow. What time?”
“Six o’clock, Paul. Noodles.”
He hung up.
Levi was watching him from the kitchen, the corners of his mouth upturned slightly, like he was trying to hide his amusement.
