Twelve

PRESENT DAY

 

I was getting tired, and it was hardly even eleven in the morning.

Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” came on the radio and I reached forward to turn it up, not caring if any of the cars around me could hear the bass through the closed windows. I needed these words right now.

I started singing along, softly at first and playing with the earrings in my right ear. I replaced all six piercings in that ear—the four lobes, the snug, and the helix—as well as two lobes and the tragus in my left ear. My nose piercing closed up, but it had been a pain in the ass anyway.

I went and pierced something else, though. I spent the last of what was set aside as pleasure money—after the tattoos—on a Monroe piercing, a rich, pretty black stud in my upper lip made to look like a beauty mark.

I was no longer the Asher Spence who graduated from Chattanooga High—the outcast, the foster kid, the loner.

I was a newer version of her and I vowed to try and love her. I was going to have to forgive myself of my failings.

I shook my head, tuning back in to the music. I was so trapped in my thoughts that I missed damn-near the entire song. I sang out the last of the chorus, drumming my hands on the steering wheel during one of the bigger moments.

I was nearing a town and I saw as a traffic light ahead of me turned red. I turned down the music and eased to a stop, my eyes momentarily going to my rearview mirror out of habit. I settled back into my seat and let my hands drop to the lower curve of the steering wheel, ready to sit.

I should have stayed on the freeway. These traffic lights were killer when you were tired.

I reached over to the passenger seat, intending to grab another can of Monster—my heart could kill me later from this caffeine overuse—but before I could reach it, the car was jarred forward.

I braced my hand on the passenger seat, gripping the wheel with my other. With the forward action, my seatbelt jarred into my left arm and through the soft area of my stomach.

I sat up, looking over at my arm where the belt cut into me and saw an angry red mark, before looking into my rearview mirror again. Where there were once no cars, there was now a folded up gray one.

Oh my God.

I did a quick mental check of myself before rushing to unbuckle myself and getting out. I brought my hand to my mouth at the damage to the car behind me—screw the car I was borrowing.

I mean, I’d have to call Hunter sooner than I wanted—the back end of the car was pretty beat up—but the car behind me was wrecked.

Apparently, though, the driver was fine.

The door pushed open and out charged a pissed off blonde who looked to be about my age.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” she yelled, paying me no mind and turning back to the car behind her. She waved a hand out toward her car, pointing to the driver behind her.

“Do you have fucking eyes?” she continued.

Aside from the bitching women I just left back at Parris Island, I didn’t think I ever met a girl who swore as much as I could. I mean, Carter could, but she was different.

I pulled the sleeves to my long-sleeved t-shirt down so I could hold on to the sleeve hems with my fingers, walking near the girl. “Hey, are you ok?” I asked her, but she didn’t hear or notice me.

“The light was fucking red!” she continued on as a guy came out of the third car. When he straightened, the blonde gasped out loud. “You!”

“Ace, it was—”

“Don’t you Ace me, Caden Jax Morgan!”

I lifted my brows. Ok, so they knew one another.

“Avery—”

“Were you following me?” she continued to rant.

I puffed out my cheeks. Apparently this wasn’t going to get resolved quickly. I left my cell in the car but before I could go back to get it, I could hear a police siren.

“And then you can’t even watch where you’re fucking going?!”

I looked back to the ranting blonde. She was livid.

But then again, looking at her car, I would be too. She’d been the pickle in the middle and there was no insurance company that would deem that car not totaled. The front was pushed halfway in, and the trunk area of her car matched the front. He had to have been going pretty quickly for him to push her into me as hard as she was.

“Avery, it was an accident.”

She crossed her arms and shook her head. “I’m so pissed at you right now, CJ,” she mumbled through her teeth, finally turning toward me, her face morphing from the raging woman to a sincere female. “I am so sorry,” she said, addressing me. Her tone, too, took a complete one-eighty. “Are you ok?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Are you? Ok?”

“I’m fine. My car’s not,” she said, projecting it over her shoulder at the blond guy who was CJ, “but I’m fine.”

I took in both of these people. He was buff and easily six foot. She was about my height and while I certainly wasn’t a weakling—I could do my share of pull-ups, after all—her arms were decently cut for a girl, her toned shoulders bared by a tank top on this warmer fall day.

This was Wisconsin. Land of cheese and beer. What the hell did these people do to look like that? Both of them, too?

A set of cop cars came to a stop behind our accordion of cars and four cops total moved from their cruisers and toward us. One of the cops addressed us all, making sure everyone was ok, before he went to the CJ guy, and two of the others came toward the girl—Avery?—and me; the fourth cop was walking around the wreckage and taking pictures.

I told my story, what little of it I had, and waited for the next step.

I would have to call Hunter.

Days ago, I called him at the insistence of Carter, and at his insistence, he brought a car to me. It was a beater car, he called it; said he kept it around for rainy days but was in the market for another.

When I said I couldn’t take a car from him, he again referred to me as a Douglas.

I’d only known Carter for nine weeks, didn’t know this guy from Adam, but apparently there really was no going back.

Hunter had been very much Carter’s duplicate. Like his sister, he was blond but it was a deeper, darker shade and where Carter had blue eyes, Hunter’s were a stormy gray. He was a nice guy too, and thankfully didn’t pull any flirtatious lines with me.

I don’t know why, but after Carter told me about Shane and Kellie, I had fears about meeting her brother.

Ok, so I did know.

I didn’t trust men at the moment, and guys that flirted were a dangerous breed.

My fears had been so deep, I nearly didn’t call him—but I would have felt bad down the road. I had the ability to finally have a friend; I was going to keep Carter there, no matter the distance.

“Hey, you got a place to go? Someone to call?” Avery asked, bringing me back to now. The cops had us grab what we needed from our cars a little bit ago; I grabbed my phone and the small duffle that held a single change of clothes.

Now, I realized the cars were being loaded up to go to shops.

When they asked if they had permission to take it, or if I wanted it taken somewhere specifically…I didn’t have a place to tell them. The business card to the shop was now in my back pocket; I’d have to give the information to Hunter.

“Yeah, um.” I frowned and looked around the area. “Yeah, I can call someone. I have to call someone, actually,” I told her.

“Avery, let me take—” CJ tried cutting in but she held her hand out.

“Go, CJ. I’ll talk to you later when I’m not so angry with you,” she answered in a surprisingly calm voice. However, she remained turned toward me.

“I’m lea—”

“Yeah,” she said shortly, now turning to face him. The calm was quickly dissipating. “I know.”

“I won’t be home—”

“I got it, CJ. I know.”

He stared at her a moment before shaking his head. “Whatever. Call me when you’re ready to come off your damned fucking high horse.”

“Fuck you and your damned ‘high horse,’” she yelled at his retreating back, throwing air quotes in the air.

There was some serious rift between those two, and it likely had little to do with the car accident.

Avery turned back toward me. “I saw that you had out-of-state plates. Do you have somewhere to go?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, shrugging it off.

She considered me before offering her hand. “Avery Prescott.”

I let go of my shirt sleeves and pushed them up my arms before taking her proffered hand. “Asher Spence.”

“My mom’s on the way. I was supposed to meet my little brother for coffee in a bit. If your ride doesn’t get here in that time, we can take you someplace.”

She seemed nice enough.

And I had nowhere to go.

Could I trust her? That was the biggest question.

“Just let me make my call and then yeah, I guess you could take me to a hotel or something.” I turned away before I could catch her response, pulling out my phone. The only number I had dialed on this phone was Hunter, making it easy to pull him up right away.

Even Marie didn’t know I’d failed at life already. That was a phone call I wasn’t sure I could make.

As the phone rang in my ear, I hoped that Hunter wouldn’t answer.

Just let me leave a message…

Finally, a prayer of mine was answered.

“Hey, this is Hunter. Leave a message.”

I walked further away from Avery, an arm crossed over my chest and hooked on my arm that was holding the cell to my ear. “Hey, Hunter, it’s Asher. Um, I’m in Wisconsin, near the border, I think. I was just in Chicago. Anyway. I was in an accident. Your car was just towed to a shop but I wasn’t sure what you wanted to do. I can absolutely try to pay you back, unless your insurance just totals the car. I mean, the damage isn’t terrible; I was in front. The trunk is a little dented up but I don’t know. You called it a beater so maybe it’s not worth fixing. I don’t know if totaling it is something you would do. I can always find a rental or something, so please don’t worry about me. I am so sorry. Um.” I let out a deep breath and looked around.

What the hell was I going to do now?

Tears threatened but I blinked them back.

“Yeah. I’m sorry. Let me know what you want to do. Thank you, Hunter. I’m sorry.”

I pulled the phone away and completely shut it down, afraid of him calling and being pissed. I mean, I ruined his car. He had every right to be mad.

With another breath, I turned back toward Avery and attempted a smile. “Alright, I’m good.”

Avery and I walked across the parking lot we’d been ushered into, and toward a curb. After Avery sat, I followed suit, resting my arms on my drawn up knees, the hems of my shirt sleeves between my fingertips once again.

“It’s totally none of my business,” she started, looking straight ahead toward the strip mall across the way, “but do you really have a place to stay, to go?” This time, she looked at me. “You’re from out of town, and there can’t be a whole lot of anything in that bag of yours.” She shook her head and a kind smile blossomed over her face. “I mean, if you want us to drop you off at a hotel, that’s totally cool, or I’m sure my mom and I could figure something out.”

Now I was starting to feel like a charity case. “I’m good,” I tried reassuring her. I shifted on the stoop and clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palms through the fabric of my shirt sleeves.

“We have a guest house that you’re more than welcome to use, I’m sure. Usually one of my brothers or sisters uses it when they come home, but it’s not being used right now.”

I bit my lip and listened, not sure how much I should invest in this place I broke down in.

“I’m sure you could use it for an indefinite amount of time,” she continued. “My brothers are all out of town for a few months, and my sisters are both doing their own things.” Then she frowned, her gaze on my face focusing more. “How old are you?” Her eyes widened. “Shit, are you a runaway?” She shrugged, a baffled look on her face as she looked away. “It would completely make sense. Out of state, very few belongings…”

This time, I couldn’t help but smile and I shook my head. “No, not a runaway. I’m legally on my own, so there’s nothing to worry about there. I’m seventeen,” I admitted, lowering my eyes to look at my feet.

“I guess you look older than seventeen,” she mused. I wasn’t sure if I should take offense to that statement. “But I can definitely see that you’re young. Hm.” Avery looked forward again and I could see the wheels turning in her head. “I’m going to have to insist you use the guest house,” she said with a few nods of her head. “I won’t be around that much; I’m finishing up a marketing degree,” she shrugged, “but my parents would love having you around, I’m sure. The youngest of us, Porter, is leaving this weekend and they’re going to be empty nesters. Do you like photography? I could talk my mom into you helping out around the studio. Yeah.” Avery nodded. “Yeah, this will work.”

She was still looking across the parking lot, her eyes squinting as she processed whatever it was she was deciding for me.

I should jump in. I should not allow her to do this.

I was my own person, dammit! This was a new me. I didn’t need someone else making life plans for me. It was my turn to figure out what was best for me.

…But this was a seemingly good opportunity. A place to stay. A potential job maybe even—and in something I enjoyed! I didn’t have to stay long, maybe only a week or so until I figured out what I was doing with Hunter’s car. Or maybe a month. Maybe if Carter stayed in the states after graduation and wasn’t given an overseas assignment, I could stay with her while I figured out where to go in my life.

I didn’t know this Avery girl from the back of my hand but again, I thought she seemed nice enough.

“Ah, here’s my mom,” Avery said, breaking me from my trance and standing up. A sporty red convertible, vanity plates stating LUVXI, pulled up near us and Avery waited for me to stand. No sooner than I did, the driver’s door opened.

A woman pulled herself out, a woman Avery looked an awful lot like. “You and your brother are going to send me to an early death, Ace,” she said with a kind smile, one that wasn’t too different from her daughter’s.

“Wasn’t my fault!” Avery said, her hands up in the air. “That damned CJ…”

Her mom’s face morphed into laughter. “CJ, ‘ey?”

Again, I gathered there was a little more to the Avery and CJ story than simply “he hit her and she was mad at him for totaling her car.”

“Yes, CJ,” Avery muttered, crossing her arms. “Anyway, this is Asher. She needs a place to stay and enjoys art,” I never confirmed that, I thought, but she kept going, “so I thought maybe she could help with that assistant position you were considering opening. She could stay in the guest house and whatever.”

I lifted my brows but couldn’t come up with the words to say. This girl just plowed right through when she wanted something—or wanted to do something.

I opened my mouth to cut in, needing to stand up for myself, when her mom walked over and extended her hand. “Ryleigh Prescott. It’s very nice to meet you, Asher.”

Willingly, I shook her hand. “I am so sorry. This was all Avery’s idea. I can go to a hotel. I’ll be fine.”

Ryleigh smiled and laughed, shaking her head. Where her daughter’s hair was long—nearly to her waist—Ryleigh’s was cut short in one of those forward-slanted bobs. She shared the same blue eyes with Avery and looked far too young to have a daughter Avery’s age—and however many other kids she had. Sure, she had laugh lines by her eyes and maybe her hair was highlighted to hide grays, but this was a woman who looked young and loved and…

She was the motherly type that I never truly thought existed.

Yeah, Tracy made me think it was possible—not considering her choice of husband—and Marie, too, made me believe it, but this woman, with her smile and her open laughter, and the look she gave her daughter?

“We have the space, Asher. Even if it’s just to get back on your feet.”

I found myself caving and agreeing far quicker than I would have liked. “Ok.”

 

Ryleigh dropped us off at Starbucks, telling Avery that she’d be back for us in an hour, and that “…your brother is not allowed to leave before he kisses his mom goodbye.”

I thought that was kind of cute.

Before we walked in, I turned on my phone and saw that Hunter definitely called back while I had the phone off. With my heart pounding in my throat, I turned to Avery. “I have to return a call about the car.”

“No worries. Do you want me to order something for you? My brother is probably here already.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t even stomach the thought of coffee or espresso right now. “No, I’ll be fine. I’ll be inside in a minute.”

I moved off to the side, pulling out a chair and sitting down under one of the big green umbrellas as Avery walked in, my thumb hovering over the return call button. Before I could talk myself out of it, I pressed the button and brought the phone to my ear, sucking in my lips as it rang in my ear.

I watched as people filtered in and out the door, my eyes snagging on a taller guy with messy brown hair.

He was pretty for a guy.

I shifted in my seat and dropped my eyes to the round table in front of me.

I had no business finding men attractive. Not with what I just left. Not with the new life I was forming for myself.

I didn’t think I’d ever truly be comfortable in the presence of a guy anymore. Certainly not one-on-one, with no one around to witness everything.

Not now, knowing what men were absolutely capable of.

My mind quickly went into imagination over-drive, with my body on a bed and a man looming over me. I was crying. I was hurting.

I swallowed back my panic, not having fully realized that my nerves of returning Hunter’s call, mixed with the unwanted attraction to a stranger, had left me in this state.

“Hey,” came through the line, Hunter’s slightly gruff voice snapping me to attention. “You’re ok?

“I am. I’m so sorry,” I rushed out. With the phone between my ear and shoulder, I pulled my sleeves down again, fisting and playing with the hem in my left hand as I returned my right back to the phone.

“It was just a beater; it’s cool. But you’re ok. Carter would kill me,” he said, a laugh making its way through the telephone lines.

It was enough to start and calm my nerves.

“I killed her pet ants once. She’s never forgiven me,” he continued.

I let out a watery chuckle, my eyes instantly filling, my throat tightening with emotion.

“Do you need another ride? I can’t make it out to…Wisconsin, you said? But Tuck is back home. I mean, it’s Montana, but he can get on a plane much easier than any of the rest of us.”

I shook my head as I listened to Hunter’s easy voice, his easy acceptance. This man hardly knew me, met me in person over a matter of minutes, and was obviously doing his damnedest to be sure I was ok—it didn’t surprise me that he was trying to keep my emotions at bay too.

How in the hell did I live seventeen years with families who were closed off, only to immediately find two who were open and giving and so damned good?

I knew appearances could be deceiving. I would be better off not trusting either of these families, but I wanted to. I wanted to believe there were good people in this world.

Surely there had to be.

And maybe the Douglas and Prescott families were those people.

“No, I’ll be ok,” I finally answered.

There was a pause on the line before Hunter spoke again, the jesting in his voice gone. “Seriously, though, Asher. You need anything, you call us. I’ll be sure to give Carter your number.”

Again, tears threatened. “Ok. Alright, I will. And thank you.”

“Anytime, Ash. I’ll see you around.”

 

I took a moment to compose myself before walking in to meet back up with Avery, and to meet her brother. I pulled open the door and walked through the threshold, into the busy Starbucks. Again, I pushed up the sleeves of my shirt as I looked around to try and find Avery.

During my search, I found a short hall leading to the bathrooms and made my way in that direction. I needed a mirror. It wouldn’t do me any good to show up at the table with puffy eyes from the almost-tears I shed.

In the bathroom, I washed my hands and splashed at my face, taking in my reflection.

I no longer looked tired.

I no longer looked afraid of what the day was going to bring.

I found myself wanting to smile at my reflection.

I didn’t want to believe that my life was meant to take me through the steps it did at my last foster home—no one wants to believe that their life is supposed to take those steps—but those very moments brought me the Douglas family, and while I wasn’t sure what this guest house thing was going to bring me, it at least was giving me a soft place to land—after a wreck, no less.

It was a good reason to smile.

I stepped back out of the bathroom and found Avery at a table near a window. She was speaking to a man…the good-looking one who caught my attention when he walked in.

Oh god, that was her brother?

I felt my face flush as I walked toward them.

“Oh!” Avery said when I neared, her eyes locking onto mine. “Porter, I wanted you to meet my new friend. I met her earlier and she’ll be staying in the guest house while she gets back on her feet.” She stood and walked toward me as I came to a stop near their table. Her brother—Porter—turned in his chair, his eyes following his sister.

I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my jeans, no sure what to do. When he stood, my heart began beating faster.

When his gaze lifted to mine, my heart stopped.

This was going to be a problem…