I dedicate this story to a disabled angel gone too soon. 💕

*ASHER'S POV*

March 9, 2020.

Before I even opened my eyes, I knew something wasn't right about today.

A lost feeling that caught up with me faster than consciousness. It came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time as I stirred my body, but from my toes to my fingers, there was nothing more than a dull soreness, which my brain was too groggy to process.

Whatever it was, it could wait a few more hours. I was already leaning towards going back to sleep, turning on my side with my hand reaching out as always, only to end up flat on the cold and empty mattress.

The lost feeling. Now, I felt where it came from, and I was awake.

"What's the fuck?" My heavy eyelids opened too fast to check under the comforter, like I could have missed the plump curves. But even through the dots of blackness, it didn't take me long to come to the conclusion.

Spot already chill, comforter back in its place, daylight barely peeking through the closed shutters, and just a hint of sex scent remaining in the air.

I had enough years of practice to know how far she could be by now, and the possibility pulled me on my feet in less than three seconds as I grabbed my boxers on the alarm clock, almost tripping on a bra on my way out of the bedroom.

Though not even that could draw me a smirk. My jaw was only getting tenser, the more I crossed clothes scattered everywhere, the more I walked through the hallway, until I reached the light at the end of the three steps separating me from the living room and...

Here they were, these thick thighs my hands had been searching for, now clad in ripped jeans as she was kneeling in the middle of the room.

"Trying to sneak out?" I asked, the question seething through my gritted teeth, almost as much as it did inside, when Althea jumped, turning to me.

"Oh, baby, you scared me!" Her doe eyes found my figure leaning by the doorframe before she even readjusted the glasses on her nose.

Then it was her sweet, peachy perfume reaching me before she even joined me, and finally, her slim fingers on my naked chest. But I pulled away before she could lean on her tiptoes.

"No, of course not. I just wanted to let you rest a little bit more for your big practice today, and you needed it after last night..." She trailed off, her smooth purr echoing the rest in the silence.

At least, until my flat tone cut it off. "So you're still going?"

I didn't acknowledge her words, nor her coy smile. I couldn't.

So I kept my attention on the item she'd been kneeling in front of when I'd walked in, its gray shade attracting my glare among all the colors around.

"Yes, I think we've agreed about it last night."

"Agreed?! That's how you're doing now? You think fucking me will solve that?"

Clearly not because that suitcase was still there, half zipped up, like our fate.

"Do I need to remind you you're the one who jumped on me?" she retorted calmly, too calmly as she nodded to the wall beside us, where I'd taken her, rough and fast, and seeing her pursed lips, I was tempted to do it again, hear her crying out my name rather than her quiet hostility.

"And you gladly continued." I imitated her gesture towards the bedroom where we'd had the other rounds, where we should have been at this instant. "What was it? Some sick goodbye sex and a 'sorry for lying to you'? Is that why you were so generous?"

Ironic how her lips parted in a perfect O as she gasped, shaking her head slowly. "Oh no, don't you dare say that! You know it has nothing to do with this."

"I don't know anything anymore after you lied to me for months." I took a step back, my head bobbing from one side to the other too, faster than hers though.

"I already told you I didn't know when I applied. It's the first time the internship is in New York and not LA, and they only announced it with the shortlist last month. I've never meant to lie, I just..." She sighed, searching for the words to put it smoothly, yet it was too late when my breath was still knocked out from the blow last week.

"I didn't want to add you more stress during the draft selections."

"Oh, yeah, the selections I've waited for one season to be sure I'll be taken in the Lakers and stay here with my girlfriend?" I threw my hand around in a mix of frustration and argument, as it waved in front of the large 'HOME' sign on the wall, and she raised her finger to thwart it like in some kind of rock-paper-scissor, in which of course, she had a needle.

"No, the selections you've waited for one season because of the foul you pulled in front of the recruiters. Don't pretend it's only for me."

The sewing needle pierced through the paper. But the rock broke the needle.

My fists clenched like stone at the memory of the bastard I'd knocked over for her and a comment about her peachy booty. Though that, I wouldn't tell her now, or ever. So I just let my fingers run through my hair, my head dropping in defeat.

"And what about Ashea taking over LA? That was the plan."

"It's still the plan." She sneaked her arms around my waist, nestling against my chest as the warmth of her body slowly melted the tensions in mine. "Just a little delayed. I'd get my master's, gain some field experience, and then come back here to see the Lakers become number one again."

Oh, she was good, aiming at all my weaknesses and leaving me cornered between her deep brown eyes and the lower lip she rolled under her teeth.

I was almost leaning in when my gaze flickered to the cold steel gray of the suitcase over her shoulder.

"In two fucking years! Two fucking years! Do you know what can happen in two fucking years?" I roared, unwrapping her arms from around me as I pulled away, needing some distance.

I wasn't melting anymore. I was a fusing volcano as I started pacing around the narrow hallway.

"Yes, I can realize my dream, work for Kiddom, the best children's clothing brand in the US."

"And forget me."

"You're impossible to forget, Ash. We'd talk every day through the phone, and video calls, without even counting all the games you'll have on the East Coast. Lots of people manage long-distance relationships now."

It sounded so easy when she was saying it, her hopeful voice unwavering despite all my spits of arguments, like the ocean watching the eruption of the volcano, and with the clash of our two opposite forces, no one was winning.

Though no one was backing down either, as we continued the same fight as the previous days.

"Yeah, and most of them break up before a year."

"Some also come back stronger. Look at Kylie and Paxton."

"I'm not my brother, and it's not a break of six months. It's two fucking years and thousands of miles!"

"Don't you think we can go beyond that?"

I didn't get to answer when her phone beeped from the living room, the short ringtone I recognized as her alarm catching all her attention.

"Oh no, I'm gonna be late for my classes!"

Just like that, she was the one going in circles between the cluttered coffee table, the side shelf, and even the kitchen counter on the far left, while I stared, dumbfounded.

"I left you some sauteed broccoli for lunch, and don't forget to go to your parents' to water the plants. Your mom sent me two messages already, and apparently, most of their stopovers are canceled with the—"

"Are we really gonna pretend it's like any other day? Or are you just hoping to get rid of me with your broccoli poison?"

She shook her head in reply, but I didn't know to which question, as her impatient gaze only crossed mine when I walked in front of her, and still, she quickly sidestepped me.

"I don't have time to fight right now. So maybe we can talk once you come back to your senses?"

"When? In two fucking years?!" I whipped round to find her fingers already on the zip of her suitcase, closing it with a firm and experienced pull.

"No, I was hoping you could join me at the airport before my flight, or if you don't want to... we can talk when I'm back in two days, because I'll be back, and everything will still be the same."

Then why was she glancing frantically around, checking if she hadn't forgotten anything?

"And we probably won't even have a reason to fight anymore because in case you don't remember, it isn't sure. We're 50 to go, and they'll only take five people, and if we count that most already have their Bachelor, contrary to me, I have even less chances to—"

"You'll get it. It's sure. You're mad talented, and diploma or not, no one has an ounce of your creativity. So it is sure," I ground out through clenched teeth, hating the hopeful smile it pulled at the corner of her lips, and even more how it tugged at the strings inside my ribcage as she asked,

"You think so?"

"Yes, and then, you're gonna find some billionaire CEO, in suit and tie, like in those books you read, and ditch me."

"Really? You know that it isn't real life, right? Handsome CEO billionaires are thin on the New York ground." Her coy smile turned into a laugh, the mere sight of it supporting my arguments.

From the orangey of her parted lips to the faint pink radiating on her dark skin, to the golden glasses framing her doe eyes, and to the purple highlights in her black curls, she was a unique rainbow, outshining the California sun. So around the clouds and concrete of New York, she would attract the attention of everyone.

And I wasn't even talking about her cropped green sweatshirt, drawing my gaze to all the wrong places as she turned to the shoe closet, where she kept her spectrum of heels.

"I appreciate that you show interest in my reads, but if you wanna know, the new popular trope is sports romance. You can ask the cheerleaders in miniskirts, throwing themselves at you at every game."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The hint was clear, and even twisted and underlying in her tone, it wrapped around my throat. But like a masochist, I followed her in the hallway, huffing ragged breaths,

"In the three years and three months since we're together, I've never even spared a glance at any other woman, and now, you're jealous?! What it's gonna be next? You accusing me of cheating?"

"What?!" She spun on her heels — one heel, more exactly, as the other boot remained in her hand, pointing accusingly at me. "You're the one who started insinuating I would ditch you for another man! It's always the same with you— Argh, you're..."

Here we were. My breath halted. My heart went silent. Even the traffic outside stopped as she threw her head back, and I waited for Althea Vesper's first curse word.

It would really be the end then, the end of the world.

But no, only a slow exhale left her parted lips as she lowered her head, and with a poised calm that made me lift an eyebrow, she slipped on her other shoe.

And fuck, Cinderella had nothing on her as she lifted her chin to compensate for the few inches her high heels didn't bring her over me, and her gaze bored straight into mine.

"You're my one, first, and only, and you know it."

The air thickened with each of her intent words, turning our breaths into heavy pants that only fueled the sparks between us.

It could explode at any second, yet none of us was moving.

"For now." I retaliated, a last spit of lava thrown into the ocean, although I wasn't sure what we were fighting for.

At least until she leaned away, slowly, like the waves. "I guess I won't get my good luck kiss?"

Her eyes lingered on my tight lips, her own plump ones staying close like an open invitation.

If my hand just reached out, I would feel their sweetness melting against mine, flashbacks from last night tickling me like a foretaste. But the emptiness I was met with this morning quickly spoiled it, along with the thought of what would come after.

Good luck or goodbye kiss, I didn't want to give her that kind of kiss.

So I'd rather not give her any, even if it was a battle against the impulse in all my nerves. The kind of battle, where my knuckles were white from holding back, and my muscles were torn apart as I watched her chest deflate under my blank stare.

I was so tense I couldn't even utter a word, making her last question echo deafeningly between us before it was replaced by the snap of the lock when she turned to the door.

Then, it was the wheels of her suitcase and her heels clicking on the floor.

Nothing else, no 'I love you', no 'see you later', not even a quiet glance. She walked out as swiftly as a low tide, leaving me with brewing lava, and when I reached out, the door was already closed, my hand landing in a fist against the wall.

I didn't even know what was the worst: the pain shooting up my arm until my chest or the shattering sound of the HOME sign falling on the floor. No, it was her judgemental stare as I still refused to move and glared back at one of the many photos.

'You're an idiot!' she'd told me before I'd clicked that pic, but right after, she'd burst out laughing as I'd chased her on the beach, something that could never happen when she would be in New York.

***

"I'm an idiot."

The biggest idiot, as it had taken me too long to realize, and it wouldn't be the flashing orange light that would contradict me.

Yet even if the traffic light and the 'school zone' sign under had helped me come back to my senses, my words were only directed towards the phone in my hand.

"I don't want to lose you. So long-distance relationship, thousands of miles, and two fucking years, I'm down for anything." I sighed, my lips tugging into a half-smile like she could see me as I glanced down at her doe eyes on the screen. "And if your offer is still open, tell me what time's your flight. Love you."

The traffic signal still flashing, I took it as a sign to click 'send' and restart the car before another car arrived behind.

Lotus Bay's people weren't used to traffic jams like LA drivers, and they were even less patient. I knew it, since I'd grown up here, and my fingers were drumming each millisecond on the steering wheel as I took the road back to Los Angeles, throwing impatient glances at my phone on the passenger seat.

When it finally rang with the typical notification sound, I was already halfway, and I couldn't wait for the next stop at the sight of the sender.

Peachy.

My hand jumped as fast as my heart, both to the phone, and once I'd checked the highway was clear, my gaze followed.

'The biggest idiot, but you're lucky I love you.

And Asher Rohan never loses, right?'

I could picture her playful smile and lifted eyebrow, even as I threw a glance through the windshield, and when another text followed instantly, her voice was in my ears, like a promising whisper, growing even louder than the Italian curses my mom would have thrown at me if she'd seen me staring at my phone while driving.

'My flight is at 7. I'll be waiting 💋'

That, that was us, the sweet banter, the pull-and-tug, the innuendos. Not the battlefield of last week.

And fuck, that lips emoji! She would be the death of me... I could almost taste her addicting taste as I licked the bottom of my stretching smirk and typed a reply.

'I'll be there at 6 ;)'

One hour was the time needed for a proper good luck kiss, wasn't it?

Maybe I was planning for more than that, and tingles of anticipation pushed my foot on the gas as I focused on the road again.

It was there, at the end of the way, in a few hours. Her lips on mine, us sneaking into an LAX bathroom... I could even picture us doing the same in New York airport when I would visit her, and I was about to glimpse us beyond those two fucking years.

What I didn't see coming, however, was the heavy truck in the opposite lane, swerving out of the straight road and plowing into me.

It all happened so fast. One second, I saw the horizon line and Althea and I's future. The next, it was the shadow of the truck, the steering wheel I turned with all my strength, and as I realized in the same second that I couldn't avoid it, everything flashed backward...

The pain I'd been too blinded to notice in her brown eyes before she'd turned to the door this morning, last night's bliss, her laughter on the beach, every date, every single moment until that day when I'd first crossed her gaze.

CLIFFHANGER!! It's my way of welcoming you into this story lol. 😅😘

More seriously, what do you think of Asher so far? He's definitely something else, and I'm loving writing him!

Whose heart I've already broken? If so, here are some tissues 🤧🤧, you'll need them for what's to come in the following chapters. 🤫🤭

I want to hear all your thoughts in the comments!! And if you liked this first chapter, don't forget to vote ⭐ and add the book to your library/reading lists to be the first to know when I update the next chapter 👀.