Page 91 of Ash Storm

Ash

Ash opened the door and walked into the studio, using the towel around his neck to wipe sweat from his forehead.

He was feeling strangely optimistic. He’d had a good workout, and his knee wasn’t even hurting anymore.

He stopped short as he caught sight of Reka sitting at the kitchen table, staring blankly ahead, her cheeks so pale they looked bloodless.

He checked his phone surreptitiously.

Has something happened?

Did I miss something?

But no, there were no messages on his phone, and in any case, she seemed to be staring at something on the screen—on his laptop screen.

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking up at him through dazed eyes. “I didn’t mean to snoop.”

He approached slowly and turned the laptop to his side of the table, taking a quick look at the open browser. He clicked into Gmail and saw the picture of Zahra’s little girl.

Fuck.

So this is how it ends.

Reka would get up and leave, and he'd be all alone again. Though it made sense, though he’d been expecting it, the thought that it would happen like this, that she would leave thinking him capable of such a heinous crime, filled him with intense sadness.

He would have liked to tell her himself. To explain what had happened, so she could make up her mind what to believe.

But you didn’t tell her.

You had the chance to tell her, but you chose not to.

Because you were a coward.

He sighed. It was too late now, anyway.

“Now you know.”

Reka stared at him.

“Now I know?” she repeated slowly. “That’s all you have to say? Every minute that goes by, I know less about you, it seems.”

“Now you know what happened,” he said, waving at the laptop as if it contained the secrets of the universe.

Reka shook her head.

“Yeah. No.”

She stood up to face him, looking up into his eyes.

“That’s not how we’re going to do this. This is what we’re going to do. You're going to sit down and tell me what really happened.”

He sat slowly, dumbfounded, because her tone left no room for argument, and because he was so fucking tired. “What do you want to know?”

“Tell me what really happened. Because nothing in the world would make me believe that you, Ash Gunner, raped that woman.”

He let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. His hands shook. Tears filled his eyes.

“I know you didn’t rape that woman, Ash,” Reka repeated.