Six Boys and One "Nerd"

Chapter 23 - Nerds and The Past

     I jolt awake and find myself still in the hospital. It's fairly quiet except for the buzzing and whirring of the machine beside my bed. I was told that it was pumping blood back into me since I lost so much in the incident.

     I try to reach the cup of water on the bedside table but realize I'm going anywhere until the arm wrapped around my waist stops holding me captive. I instantly recognize that the mysterious arm belongs to Asher. He must've dozed off yesterday after I fell asleep. 

    I smile at his quiet snores and the slight drool coming from his mouth. He looks so peaceful and innocent that it makes me wonder if we are all just imagining that he's Edgewood High's troublemaker. Ashers stirs in his sleep a little and manages to nestle me into his arms. His body heat feels like a blanket on my skin that the hospital gown doesn't cover. 

      I twist around so that I'm facing him because I wanted to get a closer look at his face. I realize that he has a light sprinkling of freckles across his nose and cheeks. I see the bags under his eyes and creases in his forehead from several restless nights. His impeccable skin complexion is no match when compared to his beautiful eyelashes. My eyes flutter to his cheek where I notice a small scar that rests on his cheekbone. I wonder what it's from and bring my hand up to lightly stroke the scar that was clearly from ages ago. 

         I feel a cold, deadly chill wash over my body and instantly pull my hand away from his face. It's as if I can feel the pain he went through when receiving that scar. Suddenly Asher wraps his hand around mine and guides it back to his cheek. He gently places my hand on the scar and his eyes flutter open. "I know what you felt sweetheart, because I lived it." He whispers to me in a sluggish voice. "But how?" I ask confused as to how I could feel such a thing. He sighs and brings his hand up to stroke my cheek. 

        "I guess when a person holds everything in for so long, some of it has to escape there grasp at some point." He whispers to me with an expression full of more emotion than I've ever seen before. I have no idea what to say so I pull him into a passionate kiss instead. After a moment of shock, he quickly recovers and deepens the kiss.

        He continues to deepen the kiss even more until I realize that he's putting the words and thoughts that can't escape him into the form of a kiss. I feel the pain he's trying to forget and I hear the silent cries for help that he's asking for. I feel the weight of Asher's body pressed against mine and it sends a shiver of delight through me. My hands roam from his hair to his face, and then to his muscular arms until eventually, they find a very toned set of abs. My fingernails lightly graze the sensitive skin across his lower abdomen and I feel a groan escape from his throat. He hisses at me and breaks from the kiss to nip the skin of my collar bone. "Sweetheart, you have to be careful with what you're doing because I don't know if I can hold myself back much longer," Asher whispers to me and continues to pepper my skin with kisses until he reaches my lips once again. 

He places a tender kiss on my lips and my eyes flutter open. I find us a mere inch apart and silently admire my discovery of emerald green specks scattered across his smokey grey eyes. He brings his hand up to stroke my cheek. "Can I ask you something?" He asks with a nervous look. I curiously perk up and nod my head. "Um, I just was wondering why your mother hasn't come to see you yet." He mentions and I freeze. I wasn't expecting that to be his question. 

"Um, well my mom is just really busy with work and all and sometimes I guess she feels that it's more important than her daughter's life," I mutter and Asher wraps me into a hug. I sigh and feel my brain take me back to the night my life changed forever. 

Almost twelve years have passed since my mother received that phone call and I still remember stumbling into the kitchen to ask for a glass of milk because I couldn't sleep only to find her staring off into the abyss with a blank expression and tears rolling down her cheeks. It was that very phone call that slowly tore my mother apart until eventually, it tore our family apart. She became so engrossed in her work that she lost sight of her kids. I guess she never realized that losing her husband also meant that we lost our father.