“Go get ‘em, slugger.”
“I never played baseball, Dad.”
“Go get ‘em anyway. Tell me how it goes. The PG-13 version, preferably. And remember to bring them for dinner one day.”
“I’ll remember.”
I let myself out the front door, and twenty minutes later I was knocking on Lukas’s door. He answered with a furrow in his brow, Lara at his side.
“You haven’t knocked on the door in years, Jax. No one does.” Lukas stepped aside and let me in. Lara moseyed her way over to me as I toed out of my shoes.
“Yeah, well, you might want to adjust that policy now that you have a boyfriend. I know none of us would mind walking in on that, but he might.”
Lukas’s cheeks turned pink, and he cleared his throat. “I’ll have to remember to address that with the guys then. And not that I’m not happy to see you, but I am curious about what brings you by.”
“I came to talk about Asher.” Suddenly nervous, I ran my hands through my hair. Had I thought this out? Not really? Was I just kind of winging it and hoping whatever I ended up doing would work? Yep. One hundred percent.
Lukas narrowed his eyes and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Lara, bored of me, wandered off down the hallway.
“Well, the way I see it, you’re the closest thing he has to family now. You stepped into the whole big brother slash parental role ever since Leo died. And I know he’s had it kind of rough lately, and things haven’t been exactly smooth sailing between you two, but you’re still important to him.”
Lukas’s gaze was unwavering, and it made me feel like he could see right through me. Not that I was hiding anything from him, but it still unnerved me. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this nervous.
“Spit it out, Jax.” Lukas almost smiled but he managed to flatten his mouth again. Giving away no emotion.
“I like Asher, a lot. And I guess I want to take him somewhere special, but you know him better than I do. So I was wondering if you had any suggestions on how I could win him over.”
Lukas grinned. Wide and wolfish. “Are you asking permission to date Asher?”
“Well, no. I’m asking for your approval, I guess. I know you’re protective of him, and I know that you’d want whoever he was with to treat him right. You know I will… and so will Blue.”
“So you and Blue are interested in Asher?” Lukas questioned, but there was a look in his eyes that told me he already knew the answer.
I nodded. “So, will you help me?”
TWENTY-SIX
BLUE
Crashing sounds camefrom the other side of the door as I lifted my hand to knock. Someone had let me into Asher’s building on their way out, so my presence was going to be a total surprise. I figured I owed him an apology and maybe an explanation. There was a not-so-muffled stream of swear words coming from behind the door, and I took that as my opportunity to interrupt whatever was going on in there. The sound of my knocks made Asher’s apartment fall silent.
The door swung open and Asher was already apologizing before he realized who was standing there.
“Shit, sorry. I’m just moving stuff out and—” All at once Asher’s mouth caught up with his eyes and he shut up. His cheeks turned a violent shade of pink. “Sorry. I thought you were one of my neighbors. I’m just trying to get this stuff packed up so I can take it out of here.” Asher waved a hand to the pile behind him. And right on cue, his carefully stacked tower of items slid over. Asher’s shoulders slumped.
“Do you need a hand?”
“You wouldn’t mind?”
He stepped aside so I could enter. Stacked near the entryway there was an assortment of bags and boxes. A familiar-looking cowboy hat sat on top of one of the piles.
“Is that Leo’s?” I asked, my gaze stuck on the hat.
“Yeah. Uh… It’s been sitting around. All this stuff is Leo’s, and it’s just rotting away in my closet. I’m actually taking it all to Lukas’s. Leo loved to take on different roles. I think in another life he wanted to be like a proper actor, you know.” Asher grabbed the hat and looked at it, a little fondly. A little sad. “I don’t want it to just rot away so I’m giving it to Lukas for the studio. The guys can all use these props and remember Leo.”
“What’s the other stuff?” I pointed at a couple of boxes.
“Oh, mostly albums and movies that I don’t want. I kept what I like, but Leo and I didn’t always agree on everything. All this stuff is going to Lukas’s. The guys can just kind of help themselves to whatever they want. I didn’t know what to do with it, and this felt better than just throwing it away or dropping it off at a random thrift store.” Asher put the hat down and tucked his hands in his pockets. “That sounds dumb, I know.”
