Page 59 of Forgotten Prejudice

“How’s Paris?” he asked, his question surprising me.

Deciding not to linger on his discomfort from my touch, I pulled my phone out and swiped through the gallery to a recent picture I’d taken of my kid. “He’s almost five, can you believe that?” I said, handing Ash the phone.

Ash’s lips curved into a big smile as he studied the photo. “He looks so much like you,” he said, using two fingers to zoom in on Paris’s adorable face and wavy blond hair, which was as long as mine.

“He really does,” I said proudly, then took my phone back and looked at the picture myself. “You should see him in the water. He catches waves better than me.”

“He surfs?”

“You bet. Aiden and I taught him.” I scrolled through the gallery until I found a video of him catching a wave last week. “That kid was born to surf.”

Ash looked stunned while watching the screen, and once again, I saw a glimpse of the boy I grew up with. A boost of warmth filled my gut, and I couldn’t help but smile like an idiot until my face fucking hurt.

“We should go surfing together sometime.”

Suddenly, his face fell. “I don’t really surf anymore.”

That came as a shock to me, and I gasped. “What? How come—”

His phone rang, cutting me off midsentence, and I managed to see the name “Soren” on the screen right before he got up to take the call. I couldn’t hear what he was saying since he walked away. As he talked, I tried to understand how the fuck it could be that Ash, of all people, had quit surfing. I planned on asking him what happened, but he didn’t leave room for any questions when he returned.

“I need to go.”

Short, simple, no explanation.

I forced a smile because I didn’t want him to go.

“So soon?”

He nodded.

“Let’s meet up for coffee again, okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” he said, but I knew he didn’t mean it. He was always such a lousy liar.

“Let me walk you to your car.” I jumped to my feet before he could refuse and began walking beside him until we got to his Porsche Cayenne, which was one hell of a good car. I almost forgot his boyfriend was loaded as fuck. Now that I no longer had my family’s money, since they’d literally disowned me, I’d saved every penny until I could afford my first motorcycle. It wasn’t my dream bike, but it was definitely a start for a twenty-two-year-old guy.

Ash was ready to climb into the car when he stopped and turned to me, a small, soft smile on his lips.

“I’m happy you’re doing well.”

They were such simple words to say, yet they meant so much. The only problem was that the way he said them almost felt like a goodbye, and I wasn’t ready for that. Today was only the beginning of me trying to fix what I’d broken and not some stupid closure for our friendship.

Shoving my hands in my sweats pocket, I nodded. “Thanks. By the way—” I cocked my head at him. “—I didn’t say it earlier, but you look really good, Ashy.”

His face flushed red, and he swallowed hard before clearing his throat. “Yeah, well, bye.” He then climbed into his car and drove off, leaving me feeling giddy as fuck.

Our short meeting only confirmed one thing to me, and it was that I was still head over heels for my best friend.

Kai

The next day went by in a flash. It started before sunrise at the fish market, where I got supplies for the restaurant. As soon as I was done there, I went back to the kitchen for preparation and only stepped out of it once service was over. Thanks to me doing the morning preparation, Chef gave me the pass on cleaning.

Tired from today’s work, I reached my bike, dying to get back home. I was so busy that I didn’t have time to reflect on meeting Ash last night. It was a surprise, and honestly, I couldn’t wait to see his pretty face again. And although meeting after so long was fun, I was also shocked by how much he’d changed. He no longer surfed? What the fuck was up with that? Another thing was his odd reaction whenever I brought up his relationship. He seemed so uncomfortable—

“Is that your bike?” a bubbly voice asked, snapping me out of my head.

Looking aside, a woman around my age with long brown hair and big green eyes was checking me out while her group of girlfriends waited behind her, giggling.