“Do you think he’s here because of Asher?” Knox asked Pick.
But I was the one who answered. “Of course he’s here because of Asher. Why else would he come here? Asher’s his son...not to mention the only eyewitness to seeing the guy kill his wife. It was probably Asher’s testimony that put him away. If he’s at all vengeful, hell yes, this would be the first place he’d come.”
“Wait. How did you know Asher was the only eyewitness?” Pick eyed me with a funny kind of suspicion. “Did he tell you that?”
I shrugged. “It...came up.”
“Shit,” Knox spoke up suddenly. “He’s headed this way. What do we do?”
Pick took control, pointing. “Knox, get Asher to my office. Now. I’ll get rid of this fucker.”
But Knox shook his head. “Screw that. You’re not dealing with Miller Hart by yourself. He’s old and pathetic, but untrustworthy as hell.”
“I’ll get Asher out of sight,” I offered.
Pick shot me a surprised yet grateful glance. “Thanks.”
As Knox leapt over the counter to follow Pick toward Miller Hart, I scanned the stage area for Asher. The karaoke machine started playing a One Direction song, so whatever he’d been helping a customer do, he must’ve finished. That meant he was probably headed back to the bar. So I started toward the stage to intercept him, weaving and sometimes pushing through people to get to where he had to be.
I ended up almost plowing into him as I dodged around a gossiping horde of women, and suddenly there he was.
We both pulled up short, not expecting to see each other.
His eyes went wide with surprise and what looked like leery apprehension. “Sticks. What—”
“Oh, thank God,” I blurted over him, urgently waving him to follow me as I darted toward a huge opening that led down a wide, but low-ceilinged hallway. “Come on, come on, come on. This way.”
I was shocked when he actually did come. “Why? What’s going on?”
“We need to get out of sight.” I clutched his upper arm as soon as we hit the less-crowded hall. “Which door leads to Pick’s office?”
Eyebrows crinkling with confusion, he pointed. “That one. Why? Wha...?”
I yanked him into the room with me and slammed the door. Then, panting hard, I leaned against it for good measure.
After stumbling off balance from my tug, he regained his balance to gape at me. “What the hell, man?”
“Sorry. I just...” I waved my hands to let him know I needed to catch my breath. Then I blew out a long, steady exhale and explained, “This is where Pick told me to take you.”
“Okay,” he said slowly, frowning hard. “And...why did he do that?”
“Uh...you know.” I waved his question away. “He’ll probably fill you in when he gets here, so...I’ll just let him explain everything.”
His lips parted as if he wanted to ask more, but with the adorable way his eyebrows kept quirking, he didn’t seem to know what he wanted to ask first.
“So, I stopped by tonight to apologize to you about earlier,” I rushed out, totally winging it, saying the first thing that came to mind.
Again, he looked thrown off balance by what I had to say. But a second later, he shook his head. “Why? I’m the one who made things weird.”
“No, you didn’t. You—wait, what? You didn’t make anything weird. Why would you think that?”
His shoulders tensed and he turned sideways away from me as if to shield some of himself. Looking totally uneasy in his entire body, he flailed out a hand. “You know,” he mumbled, not glancing my way. “By telling you so much shit about myself.”
I blinked. “Um...isn’t that what you do when you get to know someone; share little things about yourself?”
“Yeah, but...” He finally looked at me. “Those weren’t little things. And they’re not things I share with people...ever.”
“Oh.” Realizing he’d opened up to me more than he usually did, the significance of the moment took my breath straight from my lungs. A heaviness filled my chest, and I just wanted to...I don’t even know. But I certainly wasn’t taking Asher’s gift of confidence for granted.
So I shook my head, my voice softening, “You didn’t make anything weird...not at all.”
I didn’t realize I’d reached up to smooth my hair back behind my ear until my fingers grazed the short strands, startling me and reminding me I was still in guy mode. So I cleared my throat and stiffened my shoulders, trying for a more manly stance.
Asher cocked his head to the side as he frowned at me. “Then what were you apologizing for, and why did you race away as if I’d freaked you out?”
“Well, I...I was apologizing for having to rush off in the middle of our conversation. And I had to rush off because....because...” Shit, why was my brain so dead right now? I couldn’t think up one little lie to tell him.