Asher (Completed)

Ian Smith

Asher's POV 


I blinked once, twice, three times and there he still was: Ian Smith, the young but old American money rich freelance art investor, wearing his usual bespoke three-piece suit and that devil-be-damned smirk.

I knew at that moment, I greatly resembled a bug caught in headlights. I finally stopped gasping and staring, to stutter out “Ian, what the hell are you doing here?”

He chuckled “Wow Asher. No, hi how are you, or please Asher the guy who basically funds my art career and vicarious lifestyle take a seat? Damn, I am hurt”, he replied, taking a seat next to me anyways.

I scowled at the action, the thought that he’d actually tracked me down too irritating to bear. 

I wanted more than anything to keep this part of my life separate, it meant too much.

So, the fact that he was now sitting across from Alistair- who was wearing a look of confusion and slight realization on his face- did not sit right with me. I sighed out my annoyance and repeated my question, putting more base in my voice to stress my frustration “Ian, what the hell are you doing here?”

He turned towards me again, still with that condescending smirk across his face “Well Ash, you don’t call, you don’t write, you just up and disappear. I was starting to get worried about you and the remainder of our five year contract”

I rolled my eyes and snorted “You following me around isn’t a part of that contract Ian; I travel, paint drawing inspiration from whatever country I land in, you and the agents then handle the sale and showings, including a few appearances at galleries here and there but nowhere in that did it say I would require a 26 year old multi millionaire stalker”

He laughed “Well yes, but I think it goes without saying that an investor would like to keep an eye on their investment. Now forget about that, why didn’t you ever tell me your friend was Alistair Morgans? And when are you going to finally introduce me?”

I pursed my lips before replying “Al, meet the douche investor, who as he’s said brought all my dreams as an artist; and Ian I didn’t tell you because you didn’t need to know”

Alistair jumped in after the introduction “It's alright, I know him, well of him. I never realised the rich investor guy was this Ian Smith. I’ve read a lot about you, you devote a lot of your time, effort and money to funding and building up talented creatives, giving them a reach to a world they could hardly imagine; then you donate half of your profit portion to different charities created for minority groups and fund various small art and music schools, programs and even festivals in third world countries. You’re definitely not as much of the ass you pretend to be”.

There was a stark silence after he was done speaking and I couldn’t help but glance over to Ian as I smiled internally; 

Alistair was right, Ian might put on a rough, playboy show for the benefit of the world, but he cared more than a lot of people I had met, a fact I’d picked up from being around the man constantly for three years now but that still didn’t quell his uncanny ability to get under my skin.

Despite our snarky remarks towards each other, we had both come to care for each other as friends these past years and I knew he was truly here because he was worried and he cared enough to not want to drag him into this dark part of his life;

Alistair was bad enough, he didn’t want to be the cause of stress or pain for anyone else especially someone he’d begrudgingly come to care about.

Ian seemed incredibly uncomfortable, owing to the influx of compliments from Alistair. He coughed loudly to fill the awkward silence, before raising a hand in the air “Hello, can my friends and I get a waiter around here?”

I chuckled, Alistair seemed to have that effect on both genders. I folded my arms, just thinking as I waited for whoever it was to come and get our orders; about two minutes had passed when I heard Ian yell out loudly “No fucking way”.

I jumped, sitting up straight and turning towards the cause of Ian’s excitement, and there she stood;

I say this with all seriousness, ever since Raine I hadn’t met any other woman who took my breath away simply from how she looked but as I turned, my breath caught in my throat and I choked on air from the sight of her.

She looked about 5’5 and was a goddess in her entirety; her skin practically shone and sparkled like brown gold, she had these long dark eyelashes that curled upwards framing her eyes perfectly, pouted bow shaped lips with a slim slightly pointed button nose.

She had makeup on, her lips covered in this dark purple lipstick but I knew that didn’t matter, that even without the added colour she’d still glow and look this gorgeous.

Her petite facial features complemented her slim frame well, she looked like a drawing or doll come to life and at that thought I gasped lowly hoping no one had heard; I knew I wasn’t so lucky when I found Alistair’s eyes on me, a smile on his face. 

I turned away quickly, to avoid him seeing my cheeks turn red from the embarrassment of being caught or even looking at all.

“Um, hi? , welcome to the coffee shack, where our coffees taste home brewed and our scones are freshly baked, I’m Layanne and I’ll be your server for today, what will you be having?”

Ian was practically buzzing from excitement “No no, forget all that. I know who you are, that’s the entire point. You’re Layanne Brooks, author of the Dominion books, I can’t believe it; you know every single of your five books made the New York times best sellers list?”

You know for someone who couldn’t take a compliment, you’d think he’d be better at telling when someone didn’t like too much attention. It was obvious, she felt caught out from the way she started rubbing on her left arm nervously.

“Um thank you, listen I’m really just here to take your order so could you please-”

For some reason although I had just met her; her being uncomfortable bothered me. 

So I replied “Forgive my idiot friend, I’ll have a mocha, medium sized, my friend will have a vanilla iced latte- large and the nosy idiot will have coffee black with cream and could we have your plate of freshly baked cookies with that please”.

She smiled gratefully, walking away notepad in hand. I turned to Ian, my annoyance at him swiftly returning “What was that?”. He turned towards me with a look that suggested I was the insane one
“Do you not know who that is?”
I huffed “No, and that still doesn’t explain why you basically ambushed her right now”. 

Ian slapped my arm “Forget all that. That waitress was Layanne Brooks and she is currently the biggest name in the novel world right now. I got so obsessed with her supernatural books, although she never put a face to her works I had to find out what she looked like”.

I snickered “Wow, who would have thought Ian Smith is a secret nerd”.

Ian rolled his eyes “No, I just happen to be well read in every thing, and it’s not just supernatural, they might not be as popular but she writes historical events, life stories in the form of fiction by writing it from the point of view of a character or herself smack in the middle; truly underrated really because I think that’s some of her best work”.

I put on a facade of disinterest, but really that she was so talented made her all the more alluring. I found my eyes drifting to her behind the counter workstation, before I saw her I barely noticed the bumbling counter in the shop, but now I couldn’t stop looking over there; at that thought I averted my eyes,  — what the hell was wrong with me.

Thankfully Ian pulled me out of my trance when he placed a hand on my arm, he smiled unabashedly “I just got a really great idea and before you shoot it down, please listen carefully”

I raised an eyebrow, my curiosity now peaked; I don’t think I was going to like this much “Go on”

Ian cleared his throat nervously, before replying “Well, meeting Alistair and just now finding out reminds me that so much of your life is a mystery, which makes your art all the more interesting of course, they are like broken puzzle pieces into that dark picture of your life but your fans have been wanting more; they love the mystery but want to connect with the artist more and then Layanne being here of all places, it’s practically fate”

I frowned; I really wasn’t going to like where this was going “What exactly are you getting at?”

He swallowed nervously “Well like I said, she’s currently the biggest name in the novel world, and it's not only because of her talent but also how young she is, just twenty. Now like I said before, although her life fiction novels are especially good, they are not as popular, now think about what the two of you could accomplish together, two young extremely talented individuals; think about what it could do for her, for you-”

I felt my blood turn ice cold “My life is not meant for public consumption or entertainment Ian, no!”

He sighed “Just think about it rationally, I mean with this you don’t even have to follow through with the next two years of your contract, you give me the art piece you’re currently working on, collaborate with Layanne and give insight into your life story and it’s done, you can basically freelance for me; I mean think about it this way, with the level of publicity in your life all of it is bound to come out sooner or later, this way you have control over it-”

I growled slamming my palm onto the coffee table “No, Ian!”

He sighed turning to Alistair who had just been observing everything “Talk to him please, I have a feeling that you see things from my point of view. I’m going to reintroduce myself to Layanne” he said as he pushed out of his seat walking towards the counter where Layanne seemed to be holding a tray filled with our coffee and baked goods orders.

As I stared over at Ian and Layanne, I could see Al genuinely trying to get my attention but I couldn’t hear him; not over the sound of my rushing heartbeat, which felt like it was hammering directly against my eardrums.

Just simply looking at her, I knew it wasn’t just my life story I was afraid of divulging. It was Layanne; the thought of being alone with her for hours on end.

I gasped and panted, taking in short breaths of air —
 
No, this cannot happen. I couldn’t do that to Raine.