“Nah. No matter how well I play, I’m not going to be CEO anyway. And I don’t want to be. It’s too much hard work. No time for play.”
He winks at Claire. I give him a warning look before turning to her.
“Have you seen Joel?”
“Nope,” she answers. “I’m not my brother’s keeper.”
Her spunky tone takes me aback. So she didn’t just grow a foot taller and a couple of bra sizes bigger. She has claws now, too?
Asher laughs. I narrow my eyes at him.
“What?”
“You look like someone just poured a bucket of piss over your head,” he says.
That doesn’t make any sense. Then again, a lot of what Asher says doesn’t make any sense.
“Let me tell you something, little brother.” Asher places his arm around my shoulder. “Never ask a woman where someone else is. It’s not a good pick-up line.”
“I wasn’t—”
“Actually, don’t let a question be the first thing you give a woman. She’ll just seize the opportunity to shut you down before you’ve even started.”
“Like the great Asher Hawthorne has been shut down before,” Claire says.
Asher chuckles. “Seems like someone’s heard of me.”
I push his arm off. “You mean Claire has heard of the games you play? Of course she has. Joel knows so she knows.”
Asher’s eyebrows furrow. “You told Joel about my sex life?”
I shrug. “He’s my best friend.”
“And I’m your brother.”
“Who won’t shut up about all the women he has sex with. It’s not like it’s some big secret.” I point out.
“That’s weird,” Claire says. “He hasn’t told me about a single one. So, how many have there been, Asher?”
I look at her in shock. Did she just ask that?
“Oh, come on, Ryker.” She gives my arm a playful shove. “I’m no longer a child.”
My eyebrows go up. Is she saying she isn’t a virgin anymore?
“You sure don’t look like one,” Asher says.
I pull him aside.
“Stay away from her,” I warn him in words since the looks I’ve given him haven’t worked.
Asher still doesn’t seem the least bit thwarted.
“The question is, little brother, can she stay away from me?”
“Stop calling me that,” I tell him. “And I mean what I said.”
I grab Claire’s arm. “Come on. Let’s go somewhere else.”
I lead her away from Asher but not before he speaks again.
“I’ll go find Joel and keep him… occupied.”
I ignore him. Whatever. I just need to get Claire away from him. Far away.
Before I know it, we’re in the dining room, the smaller one where we used to have breakfast when I was a child. Right now, it’s empty. It looks like it’s been that way for a while. It’s quiet. And lonely. The rest of the house looks bright and festive, but there’s not a single Christmas ornament here, like it’s just been skipped over. Why?
“Damn it, Ryker.” Claire pulls her arm away. “Have you lost your mind since I last saw you?”
“Have you?” I ask her. “You know how dangerous Asher can be and you still let him corner you.”
She snorts. “We were hardly in a corner.”
Not my point. “Claire…”
“I can handle him, Ryker. I know you think I’m still five, but I’m nineteen now.”
“And he’s twenty-seven,” I remind her. “Almost a decade older than you.”
She shrugs. “So what? All men act the same age when it comes to women.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Oh, you’re an expert on men now?”
“I know more now,” Claire answers confidently with her hands on her hips.
I see. So she has had a boyfriend. And a lover. Maybe the same guy. Maybe not. Still…
“You don’t know Asher,” I tell her. “You can’t handle Asher.”
“I can.”
“Really? Because you looked like you were already falling into his lap.”
She puts her hands up. “I was just talking to him.”
“Yeah, right.”
She was flirting with him. And Asher was flirting back. And she was enjoying it.
“Wow, Ryker.” I hear the dismay in her voice. “When did you get to be so stuck up?”
“When did you get to be so desperate to suck dick?”
The moment the words have left my mouth, I regret them. Even more so when I see the pain in Claire’s wide eyes.
Joel is going to kill me.
“I’m sorry,” I apologize quickly. “I… shouldn’t have said that.”
Claire looks away and says nothing. Her shoulders droop. I suddenly have an urge to wrap my arms around her. Instead, I swallow the lump in my throat and apologize again.
“I’m sorry, Claire. I know you think I’m being a jerk, but I was just worried about you.”
She turns her back to me and places