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RILEY'S MOTHER HAD BEEN EXTREMELY PRESENT IN HER LIFE RECENTLY. She had been around Riley and Asher more than usual and had taken any chance she could to watch the boy play. Riley was thrown off by it, to say the least, because she doesn't even know the rules to football.
"Can I come in?" Gwen asked her daughter after she answered the door to her.
Riley shrugged her shoulders as she stepped aside, allowing her in. "So, what's this about?" Riley asked, confused. "You never show up like this out of the blue."
"Well," Gwen started, "I need to make this quick because I'm meeting Jacob in ten minutes, but I wanted to ask you something about your brother."
Riley furrowed her brows. "Asher? Is everything okay?"
"That's actually what I need to ask you." Gwen trailed off.
Riley furrowed her brows again. "Mom, you're scaring me. What's wrong with Asher?"
Gwen sucked in a heavy breath before letting it out in a sigh. "I think he may be using steroids."
Riley's eyes widened and her mouth dropped agape. The air had been taken straight from her lungs and throat felt dry. There was no way. Asher would never do that, she thought. "A-Are you sure?" Riley asked in disbelief, "Maybe he's just gotten better?"
"Riley, you've seen him perform more than I have," Gwen told her daughter. "You should notice that his skills have improving way too fast. It's unnatural."
"But this is Asher we're talking about." Riley told her mother. "He wouldn't even know where to get steroids."
Gwen let out another sigh as she opened her mouth, only for her words to be cut off when she felt her phone ring in her purse. She pulled to put and gazed at it before letting out a grain. "I-I have to go, but please, talk to him. He may listen to you."
Riley nodded. "Y-Yeah, I will."
Gwen offered her daughter one last smile before she left the Adams' house. Riley watched as the door closed and listened as her mom's heels clicked on the floor, followed by the roaring of her car as it sped down the street. Riley had no words, and she was completely frozen. She didn't want to believe Asher had been using steroids, or anything for that matter, but it all made sense.
Riley couldn't help but listen to that gut feeling in the pit of her stomach, the one that told her to search his room for the evidence. The one that told her to betray his trust to get some answers. She didn't want to listen, but she knew she had too, for the sake of his health.
The girl raced up the stairs at the speed of light. She passed her room before she landed in front of Asher's, Pushing the door open, the girl hadn't been worried about getting caught, especially since he was out with Olivia, and probably wouldn't be home until the next day.
