Page 122 of The Harder You Fall (Rixon Raiders 3)

We stepped off the elevator a few seconds later, and I immediately saw him.

“Asher...” I breathed, his name a pained sigh on my lips. He was standing against the wall, his head tipped back, eyes closed. Someone had tried to clean the blood off his hands and face, streaking red all up his neck and arms.

Jason spotted us first, his eyes darkening when they landed on me. “Hey,” he said slowly approaching us. “I thought I told you—”

“Jason,” Flick warned. “She has every right to be here.”

“I just want to see him,” I sniffled. “To see how he is.”

“His mom’s bleeding out in the OR. How do you think he is?”

Guilt slithered through my chest as I gaped at him. This wasn’t the guy who had held me earlier, offering me comfort and reassurance. This was the formidable Jason Ford I’d heard so much about. The guy who protected his own and guarded his heart. The guy who wasn’t afraid to draw lines in sand between him and his enemies.

I’d stood on the same side as him until now.

“I...” Tears clogged my throat.

“Jason, that isn’t fair.”

“Fair?” He snapped at Flick. “None of this is fucking fair, babe. I just had to hold my best friend while he puked his heart and soul up because he thinks his mom is going to die. Do you know what that feels like?”

They started arguing, their hushed voices and harsh words born out of fear and frustration. I inched down the hall, desperate for Asher to look at me. Needing him to acknowledge I was here. But when his eyes finally found mine, there was nothing but pain.

He pushed off the wall and began to move toward me. I wanted to run to him, to throw myself into his arms and beg him never to let go. But I didn’t move a muscle.

“Hi,” I said at the same time as he said, “Mya.”

I gave a small half-hearted laugh, relief seeping into every fiber of my being that he was standing here with me. “I came straight away,” the words rushed out. “Is there any news?”

Asher swallowed, raking a hand through his blood tinged hair. “Not yet.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, stepping forward to hug him.

I just needed to touch him, to know he was okay.

“Mya.” Asher stepped back, my hands grasping thin air. “You shouldn’t have come.”

“W- what?” My arms went around my waist; but I wasn’t shielding myself this time, I was holding myself together.

“You can’t be here right now.”

“But I came... for you. I want to be here for you, Ash... I’m here for you.” I was rambling now, but everything was slipping through my fingers.

“You should go.”

Go?

He wanted me to go?

It made no sense.

He needed me.

We needed each other.

“Mya, why don’t we go downstairs to the cafe and get a drink?” Felicity gently grasped my arm.

“Asher?” I whispered when his broken gaze dropped to the floor.