He'd gone beyond his player ways for her.
She'd grown beyond her traumatic past for him.
Together, their love was beyond.
Until one fatal accident.
__________
When she loses the love of her life in a car crash, Althea has nothing left in California...
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*ALTHEA'S POV*
October 28, 2023.
"M'rning, Peachy."
I jolted as high as if I'd woken up from a dream at the quiet, gravelly voice in my back, although all my nerves were fully aware of the pinch of my nails on my forearm as I tried to shake away any hazy flash from last night before turning to meet Asher's bright gaze.
At least, he wasn't freshly shaven and groomed. But his bedhead and morning stubble made my nails dig deeper into my skin.
"You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Just tired. I didn't sleep well last night..." I shrugged, glancing toward the double doors to check if any kids arrived. There wasn't.
Of course, he'd chosen the only quiet moment in the busy morning to show up, and even Oliver and Carol had left to escort some kids to their physiotherapy, making the usually lively room so empty, which surely explained the loud echo of my heart when Asher asked,
"Oh, so that's why you didn't come for the PT this morning?"
"What? N-no, no, it has nothing to do with it," I defended quickly. Too quickly, when I hadn't been attacked by anything but a reminiscing surge of warmth at his choice of words.
"S'not because you woke up late?" His eyebrows furrowed, the shade of worry coming with it making the green even more piercing under. "Then why?"
"Oh, um, this, yes, yes, it is because I was late. Just not because I didn't sleep well or because of whatever was in my drea—nightmare. Just because I was late," I stammered, forcing my lips closed as my voice sounded more and more cracking.
It was the truth though. I'd come—arrived late this morning because I'd spent too much time in front of the mirror, preparing myself mentally for this PT, and it wasn't the dream in itself that was the problem; it wasn't the first dream I'd had about Asher, waking up in damp sheets.
Yet it was the first time I had to face his penetrating gaze after. Even if I was currently avoiding it, turning towards the kids' lockers to make sure their jackets and bags were orderly—they had been before.
"A nightmare you say? Looks like it's really shaken you."
"You can say that," I mumbled under my breath, still feeling the aftershocks rattling through my nerves as loudly as the locker doors when he added,
