“I do. I’d even fight Jax for it, but if you’re game for that threesome, Jax and I would take good care of you.”
Something in Asher’s gaze shifted when I said we’d take care of him, but before I could think too much about it, he shuttered his expression.
“I want to do the shoot,” he announced at the same time Jax appeared. Asher flicked his gaze to Jax, who had put a shirt on, covering the broad swath of tattoos across his chest, but not the ones on his arms. “With both of you,” Asher added.
“That sounds good. How about the three of us go grab something to eat and hammer out some of the details?” Jax said. “My treat.”
There were other studios I’d worked with who didn’t let the talent have much of a say in what the scenes they were going to do were or how they would go. I’d been on other sets where you showed up, you fucked who they said, how they told you to fuck them, and then you left. I should have liked the distance that created between me and my scene partners, but it had never sat quite right with me and I tried not to book those gigs anymore.
Ash looked torn but eventually nodded. “Okay.”
Jax pulled his keys out of his pocket but before he could offer to drive us all, I interjected.
“I took the bus here, so how about I ride with Ash, and we’ll follow you to… where were you wanting to go?” It wasn’t subtle, but I wanted a few minutes with Ash on my own.
Jax nodded. “My car is a mess anyway.” He reached up and scratched the back of his neck. “We could go to Bennett’s.”
“Sounds good to me. Ash?”
“Sure, whatever.” Then it was like his brain caught up with the conversation and his body jerked. “Wait. We’re going to a restaurant and sit around and talk about how the two of you are going to fuck me?”
The blush that spread up his chest and neck was pure mortification, and I realized my mistake. Ash might have been around the work, but he hadn’t beeninthe work. The transition had to be a bit strange for him. I made a mental note to do a better job of remembering that he was new to a lot of this.
“Well, when you put it like that, it sounds crass,” I said, feeling a touch sheepish that I’d suggested a public place for the meeting. “We could go to my place. I live near there, so it’s easy to find.”
Asher shrugged. “Sure.”
Jax nodded at me and then called Lara. With a groan, she heaved herself to her feet and lumbered over to Jax for ear scratches.
“Quick,” he said. “Make a clean getaway while she’s distracted.”
Ash reached back and scratched her rump. “Later, girl. Be good.”
“Lara doesn’t have the energy to be a bad dog.” I pulled the door open and waited for Asher to walk through it before looking back at Jax. Jax pulled his gaze away from Asher’s retreating form. Neither one of us knew exactly what happened or how bad Asher was taking it.
“See you at my place,” I said to Jax.
“Text me your address. I’ll grab some food on the way over to give you two a chance to talk.”
“Okay, uh. Yeah, that’d be great actually.” Whipping my phone out of my pocket, I texted him my address.
“You still vegetarian?” he asked, glancing at the message I’d sent.
My stomach did a funny swooping thing when I realized that he’d remembered. Jax and I weren’t close, but that was more my doing than his. And he might be inked like a biker and built like a jock, but he was more like a regular guy. The kind of guy you’d bring home to meet the parents.
Not my parents. They were pieces of shit who disowned me. But normal, loving parents.
“Yeah. Uh. Thanks. I have to…” I motioned to the door and then practically ran from Jax and his kindness and his stupid good memory of people’s food preferences. Asher was waiting in his car for me, the engine idling when I slid into the passenger seat.
“Sorry.” Buckling my seatbelt, I gave him what I hoped was an apologetic smile. “I was giving Jax my address. He’s going to stop and grab food for us on his way over.”
“Not sure I’m hungry, but whatever.” Asher put his car in reverse and backed out of the driveway. It dawned on me then that I knew this car. This had been Leo’s. Most of Leo’s money had gone to looking after Asher, but the car had been his one indulgence. It wasn’t anything fancy. Actually, it was sickeningly practical, but that was Leo.
I told Asher where I lived, and we drove in silence for a few minutes. Then Asher’s shoulders slumped. “What did Lukas tell you?”
“Me? Lukas didn’t tell me anything. He said you left.”
“That’s it?” Asher’s voice was strained and small.
