The Scars That Make Us (Second Generation Book 3)

Chapter 34

JACE

Nola and Catarina seem to believe that Asher being here is him trying to put out the olive branch, but I’m still not completely sold on his story. Catarina is happy though and anytime she is happy, I am too. I just want her to be herself and not be scared of anything. If having her brother here is what she wants, I’ll back off on the protectiveness. If he thinks for a second I put my guard down though, he’s mistaken.

I put my hand on Cat’s lower back as we walk into Pizza Ranch. It is as pizza parlor as you can get, smelling like pepperoni and garlic bread. The hostess finds us a booth, Nola and Asher on one side, Cat and I on the other. I let Cat have the outer side of the booth because I know she’ll probably need to use the restroom at least once during the dinner, joys of pregnancy.

We decide to order two large pizzas and share and order of cheesy breadsticks. I almost suggested we get two because Cat has been here four times this pregnancy so far just for the cheesy breadsticks, but I didn’t want to end up in the dog house so I kept my mouth shut. I slipped my hand under the table to find hers and give it a squeeze while she catches up with Nola and her brother.

“So Asher, what are you doing for work?”

“I’m working for Henny’s dad.”

“Doing what? You’re not a real estate agent.”

“Nah, not my thing at all. I’m categorized as a personal assistant, but I’m kind of just a do-anything guy.”

Cat giggles and that causes Nola to start and I can’t help but to laugh as well. “That’s a little TMI, Asher, even if you are my brother-in-law.”

“Okay, you three twelve-year-olds,” Asher chastizes, “I just meant that I do a lot of things WORK RELATED for him. Stuff like taking the truck to pick up things for staging houses and running errands, ordering shit for him, and putting out all those damn open house signs.”

“And is this something you see yourself doing for some time?”

“I don’t know, better than the alternative. Being under mom and dad’s thumb isn’t all it is cracked up to be. I don’t blame you for leaving, sis, but man Margot started getting on my ass more and more.”

“I’m not surprised, now that I’m not there and Tabby is always the goody goody. I’m sure you and Warren are getting too much of her shit.”

“She found my stash and flushed it. Fucking bitch.”

“Your stash?” I ask.

“My weed. Some good stuff in there too,” Asher looks longingly like he actually lost a friend or family member. “Anyway, I was talking to Henny and he said that he had that full floor in his condo that was basically its own place minus the kitchen, and then his dad had mentioned it was hiring and I was right on that.”

“Well, I’m happy for you, Ash. the longer you stick around, the more their claws will dig into you. That’s the life Tabby and Warren are meant for, but I don’t think it was ever supposed to be us.”

“You got that right.”

“That’s why when I ran into Asher and we started talking, I knew that he could still be saved.” Nola rubs her knuckles over Asher’s head and he brushes her off.

“How’s work going, Nola?” I change the subject a bit.

“Not bad. Still working with some assholes, but I switched to a different team after our last project and they’re so much easier to work with.”