Chapter 24
When his coughing stopped, he gulped down the water. I continued rubbing his back and didn’t go back to my seat until his breathing had returned to normal.
“Better?” I asked, and he nodded. “I didn’t mean to make you upset.”
He waved off my apology. Leaning back in his chair, he studied me. His eyes flitted over me, took in every detail from the top of my head and all the way down, as far as he could see. I had to sit on my hands again so I wouldn’t fidget under his intense scrutiny.
“Why did you come back?” he finally asked, his eyes still glued to my face.
“I wanted to see Asher,” I whispered.
“Why?”
I looked away. How much should I tell him? Would he find me weak and unworthy and go back to his normal, hostile self when he learned the truth? But he’d appreciated my honesty earlier, and I really wanted to connect with him.