The Thief

18. Lies

Asher

"Do you have any twos?"

I look at my hand. "Go fish."

August grunts and draws from the deck. He sat with me again the next day and the day after that and I guess we're sort of friends now. Or at least allies. We sit in the rec room with most the other people.

"Asher King?"

I look over my shoulder to see a guard standing at the door scanning all of us. "That's me," I say, raising a hand.

"You have a visitor."

I set the cards down. "A visitor?" I'd been here for over a week and no one had come except my lawyer and they'd always said your lawyer is here.

The guard nods. "I know, I'm surprised anyone would come visit you too."

I look at August; he shrugs. We don't talk a ton, but it's good to have a someone. They let us into the rec room because we've been "good" since we've been here. We usually play cards and ignore everyone else.

I walk out of the room and follow the guard down the many halls. As I turn a corner I see who it is. Evane. She smiles as I sit down across from her.

"Hi."

"Hi." I smile too.

"How've you been?" she asks.

I take a breath. "Uh... I guess as good as you can be in here. What about you?"

She smiles again. "Good. Things have quieted down a bit and Merrik told me about his girlfriend that he's supposedly had for a while and I guess he's going to propose to her, so that's exciting."

"Some good news, I'm glad. You... you're not being bullied or anything, right?"

She shakes her head. "I mean, people still whisper sometimes, but it's not too bad. Tom still calls me a nerd, but it's... different, I guess. He's not doing it to be mean."

"That's good." I absentmindedly put my hand on top of hers.

"There's a lot of talk about you, though."

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone saw you get arrested. It makes sense that they would wonder."

"You haven't told them anything?" I ask.

"No, I didn't know if you wanted me to." She shrugs.

"What are people saying?"

She bites her lip. "Some think that because Paco sniffed you out that you're some sort of drug lord or bomber, others think you killed someone, the rumors are endless really."

I chuckle.

"What?" she asks.

"It's just funny because rumors brought us together and now they're going to separate us."

"Separate us?" I nod. "Why would they separate us?"

I lick my lips. "Well if I go to juvey then we won't be able to see each other. And if I don't... you probably still won't want to see me."

"Asher, why would you think that?" She puts her other hand on top of mine. "You should know that after going through all those rumors myself that I know what people will think. But you should also know that I don't care. I don't know all the reasons why you did what you did, but knowing you they had to be good reasons."

I want two things in this moment. One, to tell her all about Todd and the twins. Two, I desperately want to kiss her.

I glance around and wonder if anyone would stop me from doing the second. There's guards scattered throughout the room, some within a few feet and eyeing our hands. They wouldn't let me get within a foot of her.

I take a deep breath. "I have to get out of here."

"I could have told you that. Do you have a plan for court?"

"My lawyer has been going off the idea that I didn't steal anything worth much, so my sentence shouldn't be huge."

"That's all?"

"I don't..." I hesitate, "I don't have anything else."

She rolls her eyes. "I know that's not true. Something was going on with Todd and whatever it is you're too scared to admit." She leans closer. "Asher, he doesn't have any power over you in here."

My heart rate picks up just thinking about it. "It's not me I'm worried about."

A confused look comes across her face. Then she sighs. "I'm trying to help you, Asher, like you helped me."

"I don't do well with help."

She stands. "I know. You want to fix everything, but Asher," Evane looks me in the eye, "you can't fix yourself when the tape that's holding you together is a lie." She starts to walk away.

"Evane." I stand. She looks back at me. I want to say so many things but none of them seem to reach my lips. "I..."

She comes back to me and plants a kiss on my lips so quick that I could have imagined it, if not for the taste of her left on my lips. "Let me know when you're ready." And then she's gone. Gone before I can speak. Gone before the guards could register the kiss. Gone I can gather the courage to tell her the truth. Gone.

Hey everyone, how's it going? I hope you're all enjoying the story. What do you think is going to happen? Will Asher tell Evane the truth about Todd? What kind of sentence will he get when he goes to court? Let me know in the comments and if you liked this chapter please give it a vote! Thanks for reading!