Page 21 of Rejected by My Stepbrother Alpha (Billionaire Shifter Club #1)

O ne by One

Ivy

“Are you ready to go in?”

I took a deep breath to prepare myself. Damian and I were standing outside of the location Anya had chosen for all of the tech companies to meet to present our ideas.

My heart was slamming against my chest as I stared up at the luxury hotel where I had lost my virginity.

In a cruel twist of fate, the Alpha king's representative had chosen for us to meet in the hotel where Asher and I had made love seven years ago.

My eyes trailed up the white stone building and stopped on the expansive windows on the top floor.

Those seemingly innocent windows mocked me.

Which one was the room Asher and I had stayed in?

My hands began to shake as I remembered Asher's warm body pressed against mine and his hazel eyes staring at me like I was the most precious thing to him as he slid into my wet center.

It had been three days since the wolf attacked me. The morning after the attack, my father and brother went into the woods to look for the wolf, but they didn't find anything. My father didn't want Adrian or I to go anywhere alone for the time being, and he was looking into hiring extra guards.

Healer Emery had treated my wound, and although the injury still throbbed faintly on occasion, the scar was almost gone thanks to my rapid healing abilities as a shifter.

Every time that Damian told me that Asher tried to get in contact with me, it was like a harsh blow to the stomach.

Damian always assured me that he had gotten rid of “that asshole” since he knew that Asher had rejected me, but a small part of me wanted to talk to Asher whenever he called.

I wanted his deep voice to float into my ear and make me shiver.

I wanted to be the one to tell him I was all right after he had saved me.

But that was ridiculous. I'd already made the decision to stay away from Asher.

He had the chance to build a life with me seven years ago, and he had cast me aside.

He wasn't going to get another chance at a relationship with me, and he sure as hell didn't deserve to have a chance to have a relationship with his son. What if Asher cast him off, too?

“Ivinia? Are you nervous?” Damian asked since I hadn't answered his question yet.

I shook my head and tightened my grip on my briefcase.“Sorry, I spaced out there for a second. I'm not nervous at all, actually.” We walked through the large glass door. “Are you?”

“Not in the slightest,” my brother said with a grin. “We're prepared as we can be, and we’ve got a solid idea.”

My heels made sharp click-clacking sounds on the marbled lobby floor. “I couldn't agree more.”

Over the past few days, Damian and I had spent most of our time in video conferences with our team back home to develop a product idea that we believe will revolutionize safety in our kingdom.

The lobby was bursting with people, but a helpful sign by the front desk indicated that our meeting would be in Ballroom A. The same one that Asher's dad’s gala had been held in.

“Oh, great,” I muttered as Damian and I made our way down a carpeted hallway.

“What?” Damian asked curiously .

“Nothing.”

When we got to the corridor outside the ballroom, the space was full of people. The ballroom doors were closed.

“Guess they are going to call us one by one,” Damian said as his eyes scanned our competition.

There was a waiting area with chairs and tables filled with water bottles and a coffee station.

Immediately, my eyes went to Asher, who was in the corner with Cooper.

The men were speaking in hushed tones with their heads together.

My mouth went dry as I studied my former Mate.

He was wearing all black today, including his tie.

His light-brown hair was artfully arranged, and his brown-green eyes held a look of worry.

I smoothed down my black pencil skirt and checked the collar of my black blazer. With a jolt, I realized that Asher and I were matching in all black.

Just like we had matched in all white the night we made love.

As if Asher could read my thoughts, he glanced up. Our eyes met, and when he saw me, a look of immense relief crossed his face. The worry lines on his face cleared, and his mouth bloomed into a bright smile.

Has he been worried about me since the attack?

That thought made the ice around my heart crack slightly.

Even though Cooper seemed to be in the middle of a sentence, Asher began to stride across the room, headed right for me. His eyes never left mine, and my entire body flushed as his eyes slowly traveled down it.

“Are you two going to stand there all day?” a loud, obnoxious voice said from behind Damian and I. “Move over to the side so that other people can get into the room.”

With effort, I tore my eyes away from Asher and looked behind me to see a vaguely familiar-looking man with salt and pepper hair.

Damian frowned at the man’s rudeness.

I gestured to the side of us that was full of open space. “We’re not blocking anything,” I said.

The rude man ignored this and glared at Damian and I. “Don’t waste your time here, kids. This account is as good as mine.”

With that, he left us and walked over to a woman with her hair slicked back into a severe bun who looked like she hadn’t smiled a day in her life.

“Who was that?” I wondered out loud.

“Silas Shepard,” Asher answered.

I spun back around, and my stomach swooped. Asher was closer than I had expected, and his nearness made all of my common sense disappear.

“He’s one of our direct competitors for the account,” Asher continued as his eyes scanned my face. “The woman he’s talking to is Ginger Howard. They are working together on the project. Just like we should be.”

Damian stepped in front of me, blocking Asher.

“That’s not happening,” my brother snapped.

“I was talking to Ivinia,” Asher responded coldly, then looked back at me. “How are you feeling after the attack? How is your injury healing?”

Before I could answer, Damian stepped directly in between us, completely cutting off my view of Asher since my brother was so damn tall.

“Back off,” Damian growled.

Asher’s expression darkened, and he opened his mouth to retaliate, but the ballroom doors opened.

“Asher and Cooper,” Anya called from the doorway. “We are ready to see you now.”

“I’ll talk to you later,” Asher said in a gentle voice that made my pulse quicken.

All I could do was stare at him. I was so torn about my feelings for that man. As I watched Asher walk away, my heart ached as the distance between us grew.

Stop right there.

I needed to remember all the reasons I had not to trust Asher. And why was he being so nice to me? Was he just trying to use me to get the Alpha king account? I wouldn’t allow him to use me just to reject me like he had done all those years ago.

“I hate that guy,” Damian muttered as Asher and Cooper walked through the ballroom doors.

But before the doors closed behind him, Asher looked back one last time at me.

“Yeah, me too,” I agreed.

But I was terrified that I still loved him, too.

“Damn it,” Damian said as we walked out of the hotel front doors a few hours later.

We had just had a meeting with Anya, Asher, and Cooper. After all the presentations were over, she had asked the four of us to stay behind. She said that our companies would have a better chance of winning the project if we worked together because our ideas complimented each other.

“Well, we obviously can’t work with them,” Damian said as he loosened his tie. “Not after what he did to you.”

I shielded my eyes from the bright, afternoon sun. I was torn. On one hand, I’d been the one to ask Damian to refuse to work with Asher’s company. And my rational mind knew I shouldn’t allow him back into any part of my life.

But part of me wanted nothing more than to spend more time with Asher.

And that part of me was an idiot.

Don’t allow him into your life again!

“We’re just going to have to try our best to get the account alone,” Damian muttered more to himself than to me.

“Wait, Ivy! Please just let me talk to you for a second.”

I paused on the sidewalk and spun around.

Asher was hurrying toward us. Cooper had rushed out of the meeting as soon as it was finished. I overheard him telling Asher that he had a lunch meeting scheduled with an important client.

When Asher was beside me, he put a gentle hand on my arm. Even that small amount of contact made desire pulse through me.

“You need to back up,” Damian told Asher with an icy tone.

Asher took his hand off of me but turned to Damian with a hostile expression .

“Is there a problem?” Asher asked.

“A problem?” My brother let out a sharp laugh that held no humor.

“Of course there is. I know what you did to Ivinia. I know how you broke her heart and humiliated her in front of your whole pack. And now you have the audacity to speak to her like nothing happened? Hell will freeze over before we work with you. Don’t ever come near her again, or you’ll regret it. ”

“I appreciate your concern for Ivy, but she’s a grown woman who’s perfectly capable of speaking to whoever she wants to,” Asher said with a calm voice that seemed forced. He turned his back on Damian to talk to me again. “Please, can I just speak to you alone—”

“Did you not hear me?” my brother snapped. “You need to back up.” Damian’s hand shot out to grasp Asher on the shoulder, but Asher spun around to face him at the same time. This caused Asher to accidentally dodge out of the way of Damian’s hand.

But that meant his hand came right for me and accidentally grazed the side of my face.

I jerked back, surprise shooting through me.

My brother’s eyes widened in horror when he saw he had accidentally hit me. Asher growled at Damian in anger.

“It’s fine,” I assured them. “Honestly, it didn’t hurt at all. You barely touched me.”

“I’m so sorry—”

Asher cut Damian’s apology short by leaping in front of me.

“You’ll regret that!” he yelled as his hands trembled with rage.

The two of them advanced toward each other.

With a sickening jolt, I realized they were about to fight.