Page 102 of Gravehouse
“Ivy.” His voice hardens.
“Asher...” I mimic without stopping.
I need to get away... space... the mountain.
“Don’t, Venom…” One word. All it takes is one damn word and I’m ready to reconsider everything.
I stop, staring at the wall and thinking over the options laid out in front of me.
He knows. He has to know.
Does he? Does he think I’m running back to Emeric to tell him?Am I?I did the first time he tried to tell me…
Every organ in my body turns to ice.
I spin back around slowly, closing the distance between us in three steps, grabbing the front of his hoodie with both fists. God, this fucking hurts. Everything between us sits seconds from crushing us both. The secrets, the lies, the games.
“I know...” I choke on the words, unable to give him any more.
He angles his head a little, and it’s enough to push me forward.
“I know...” I force out, the burn in my throat swallowing half of it. “Who Le Boucher Sans Loi is.”
Asher goes still.
If I don’t spew it all out, it’s going to keep rotting. “I know who’s been hunting your family for eleven years.”
My hands slip, falling to my sides. “I know because I think I helped him.”
“Who?” He comes closer.
I hold his stare. “It’s Emeric, Asher. My boss.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
ASHER
I glareat myself in the mirror. Eyes dead, blood drying on my lip, and her words playing on repeat in my head.
Leaning forward, I spit in the sink and then wash it down, my head pounding with her words.
It’s Emeric. My boss.
I helped…
There’s a light knock on the door, and my grip on the faucet tightens until the pipes groan under my hand. I had to get the fuck away from her before I did something I couldn’t take back.
Another knock.
“Fuck off.”
“Asher, please…” Ivy’s voice tugs at my rage, and I swing the door open to find her standing there, eyes rimmed red, hair a mess, and fucking lip quivering.
How’d we get to this point?
“You want to know what this was?” I lean on the basin. I want to see her take these words, swallow them, choke on them—fucking whatever. “A job.”
