Rooming With Ash

Rooming With Ash: Chapter 14

When Ash came out of the bathroom, I was still sitting on the bed, phone in hand, trying to process the conversation I had just had. As the door began to open, I readied myself to pounce immediately and demand some answers from him. I wanted to know why I hadn't been informed about the breakup, and what exactly said breakup meant for us. I was prepared to ask all the questions I needed to, but when he actually opened the door though, it was a different story.

He walked out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a pair of black sweatpants, and my eyes immediately zeroed in on his body. The sight of which – even with all of its wounds and bruises – left my skin hot and my mouth dry. He seemed more comfortable now since I had already seen what his new, bruised up body looked like. It wasn't necessary for him to hide it anymore.

As he laid his eyes on me, everything I had prepared to say to him disappeared from my mind. How could I think up a lecture while looking at such a wonder? This man was literally so beautiful. A marvel to just watch exist.

He was rubbing some kind of cream gently over the scar on his chest as his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth tilted upwards into a curious smile. "Is everything okay?" he asked, confusion tucked into the lines on his forehead.

I looked up and met his gaze, and once he saw the look in my eyes, the cheeky look in his own subsided. It was instead replaced with worry. "Keira," he said, watching me hesitantly, like he was afraid I would scream if he made any sudden movements. "Keira, what's going on?"

Placing my phone down on the mattress beside me, I took a breath, not at all sure how this was going to go down. Maybe there was a reason he didn't tell me about the breakup... What if bringing this up upset him? That definitely wasn't something I wanted to do, but I needed answers. I needed at least to know where all of this left me before I really drove myself crazy.

"I just talked to Riley," I began, waiting a second to see if he could tell where this was going. He could. "She told me that the two of you ended things...over a week ago."

Ash's eyes that had been full of worry relaxed as he let out a long breath and nodded, twisting the thumb of his right hand into the palm of his left. I could tell that there was a lot bubbling underneath his surface, but he seemed too unsure to say much of it. I still couldn't gauge how he was feeling. He hid his emotions so impeccably while I, in contrast, could do little more than sit there with 'I'm stunned' written all over my face.

"Yeah, we did," he said.

I waited for him to continue and elaborate on why exactly I hadn't been informed about any of it. With a frown and an are-you-going-to-finish look, I cocked my head to the side expectantly.

He sighed. "Keira...what do you want me to say?"

"What kind of – what do you mean what do I want you to say?" I demanded. "I want some answers! You let me think and talk like you were still together for over a week, Ash! Why didn't you just say something to me? I don't understand..."

Ash averted his gaze down to his hands and nodded. "Mind if I sit next to you?" he asked.

The gentleness of his voice immediately sobered me up. I wasn't sure why I'd expected him to be angry – this wasn't that Ash. I nodded, scooting over on the bed. "Uh – yeah," I mumbled.

He gave me a careful smile before walking over to the bed and sitting beside me. I watched him wrap his hands around each other as he stared at the ground right in front of him. His hair was still wet and I could see the little droplets of water running down the side of his face. I followed their path as they rolled down past his jaw and then onto his neck, only stopping once they got caught in his collarbones.