She looked up at him with her eyebrows furrowed before her eyes landed on me and she avoided eye contact and turned around.
“Who’s your friend?” He nudged his chin toward the woman, not bothered by Preston using the wrong name to refer to him.
“This is Bridgette. She’s my client for a case I am working on. We are here to grab some coffee and discuss her case. Which is private, by the way.” He gave me a pointed look, causing Asher to move in front of me.
“Right. Has Faith met her yet? I mean, if you’re working so closely with this woman, it’s only natural for her to meet your fiance, right?” he asked.
The woman’s eyes met mine and she pressed her lips together in an attempt to smile. “Hi, Faith was it? I knew Preston was getting married but never knew his fiance was so pretty.”
I shook my head of the doubts and smiled. “Thanks for the compliment, Bridgette. I hope your case gets settled. Preston’s a good lawyer so I’m sure everything will go smoothly.”
Preston’s eyes blazed as he glared at me. “Right, well, we have to get back to business. I’ll see you at home,” he gritted out the last part.
“I’ll make sure she gets home safely.” Asher wrapped an arm around me and walked me out of the coffee shop and to his truck. I couldn’t bring myself to look back at them as we drove off.
“Sorry Faith, I forgot you hadn’t finished your bagel.” Asher frowned, glancing at me.
“It’s fine.” I blinked away unshed tears.
“That was weird.”
I shrugged it off. “He’s a lawyer. He meets with his clients at restaurants and shops. It’s not that weird.”
“It’s not right.” He reached over and squeezed my hand. “You should be informed of all the meetings. Especially with other women. It just seems like he doesn’t care to involve you.”
I sighed and squeezed his hand. I loved the comfort Asher provided me. “It used to bother me when we first got together. I used to think he was cheating on me. I broke down when we first started dating and he explained it all to me and told me it was part of the job that I’d have to get used to because there was nothing he could do about it.”
“That’s not how a relationship should work.”
“How would you know?”
His grip tightened. “I would never treat someone I cared deeply for like that.”
“When have you ever cared deeply for someone?” I snapped. I pulled my hand away.
He flinched and rested his hand on the steering wheel. “It was a long time ago.”
I swallowed the hurt that was creeping up. “There was someone before Preston who I thought was perfect for me. But he left me without any explanation.”
“Sorry you had to experience that. It happened to me before. It fucking sucks.”
“Yeah, it does,” I fired back. I couldn’t believe someone did the same thing to him as he did to me. I wondered if that was why he wanted to talk about it. Maybe to ease his guilty conscience. I didn’t know, but deep down, I wished it was more than that.
My stomach tightened as I laid eyes on Faith. She was listening to Linda spout God knows what as she ate her lunch. I hated to tell her, but I didn’t have a choice. As I walked up to their table in the library I coughed, gaining their attention.
“What’s wrong?” Faith asked, worry lines creasing on her forehead.
She always could tell when something was wrong with me. I guess that much hadn’t changed.
I swallowed hard, willing my stomach not to lurch. “I need to talk to you about one of your students in private.”
She wrapped her sandwich back up and put it in her lunch box, standing up. “Is everything okay?”
My head shook. “No, but I’ll explain.”
“What’s happening?” Linda asked, eying me.
“Nothing you should worry about,” I said, not glancing in her direction.
“Asher, you’re scaring me. What the hell is going on? Which student?” Faith asked, beside me as we walked out of the library and toward my office in the gym.
She kept up with my fast pace walk on the way and I didn’t say anything until we were in my office with the door locked.
“Which student?” she asked again, as she collapsed on the chair on the other side of my desk.
I leaned against the desk in front of her. “Rosie.”
Her brows furrowed. “Jenkins?”
I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my forehead. “She reached out to me about abuse in her home.”
Her face fell. “I’ve...met her parents. They’re both very involved. There’s no concern, I mean, no red flags that I was aware of.” She paused. “What did she tell you?”
I grabbed Faith’s hands and squatted down in front of her. “Not her parents, her uncle. He apparently recently moved in with them. She told me he made her uncomfortable and when I asked what she meant, she told me he touches her when her parents aren’t around. She still doesn’t understand what’s happening. Just that she doesn’t like it.”
Tears welled up and trailed down her cheeks. “H-Her uncle? Why didn’t she tell me?”
“She broke down during a self-defense lesson when her classmate grabbed her. I think it triggered something. I took her to the side and she told me everything. The things that the child explained no child should know about.” I dry heaved and covered my mouth.
Her eyes were panicked as she looked around the room, sniffling and wiping the tears that continued to roll down her cheeks. “We have to report this!”
I squeezed her hands again. “I already reported this to Mr. Higgins.”
Her shoulders slumped and she leaned forward. I sucked in a breath when her head leaned on my shoulder. Having her this close was doing things to me. The warmth I got from comforting her was selfish. I was taking advantage of
