Shift (The Disciples' Daughters #2) by Drew Elyse Page B

her words, I let her make that play. It took her a while before she went on. “I guess I never wanted to think about it when I was with you. You didn’t go to school with us, so you didn’t know them. You didn’t know what they were saying to me. When I was with you, I could pretend it wasn’t happening.”
    I didn’t like it, but I could accept it. Wasn’t like I could change the past anyway.
    “Why didn’t you tell me once I transferred?”
    The fear and worry in her eyes was not something I liked seeing. The fact that she didn’t answer me, I liked even less.
    “Were you afraid I’d believe them?” I asked, hoping like hell that wasn’t it.
    Ash just shrugged again.
    Fuck.
    “Dammit, Ash. How could you even think that?”
    Her head went down, her beautiful face disappearing behind her security blanket of curls.
    “I just couldn’t stand it if you thought of me that way.”
    Her words hurt to hear. It hurt to think she even worried about that for a moment, let alone weeks. Still, I heard what she wasn’t saying and saw the opportunity I’d been waiting for.
    “Why?”
    “Why?” she echoed.
    I didn’t say anything else, just waited for my answer.
    She gave me one, but it wasn’t what I was looking for. “Because you’re my best friend.”
    “Is that all I am to you?”
    Her head came up in surprise. “What?”
    I wanted her to say it. I wanted her to admit she hadn’t thought of me as a friend any more than I had of her. I wanted it, but I was tired of waiting.
    I took two steps closer until she was pressed to my chest again, thrilled when she didn’t retreat. Without a word, I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck and kissed her.
    It was perfect. Absolutely fucking perfect. Her lips were sweet, soft, exactly like I’d been imagining for years.
    No, they were fucking better than that.
    It killed me to pull away from them, to end that kiss, but I did.
    “I don’t think of you as just a friend, Ash.”
    She stared up at me, her pink lips—ones I was dying to get back to kissing—parted slightly, her wide eyes blinking like she was dazed.
    “You gotta give me something here, babe,” I pleaded.
    Then, my girl—my beautiful, incredible fucking Ash—gave me something. Lifting up onto her toes, she pressed her lips to mine.
    That was it, everything I needed. It was the only thing I would ever need. Ash in my arms, giving me her sweet kiss…still, she gave me more.
    Pulling back only an inch, her words whispered across my mouth. “I don’t think of you as just a friend either.”

    And that was it. That was how Ash and I began. From that day, she was mine and I was hers. I swore nothing would ever be able to change that.
    Until something did.
    I lost her, a fate I never could have imagined. For nearly five years, I had to get on with life without her in it.
    Until she came back.
    For whatever fucked reason, I’d convinced myself that was it. She’d left. She’d gone off and had Emmy. She’d kept that beautiful little girl from me. I was pissed, more pissed than I could ever remember being, and I was done.
    Until Cami told me Ash took off.
    I hadn’t really known what the fuck I was doing when I jumped on my bike and sped over there. It had been instinct—pure and simple. Taking care of her was engrained in me, down to my soul.
    Standing there with the memory of Ash’s first kiss in my head, I knew.
    I was moving through the house then, my feet carrying me right to her door. I had the clarity of mind to knock instead of barging in, but I was about to lose patience when the door opened. There, in an oversized Disciples’ supporter tee she’d worn to bed for years, her eyes slightly reddened from tears, was my Ash.
    Mine.
    “Go away, Sketch.”
    Not a fucking chance.
    I backed her into the room. She fought it until I muscled my way passed the doorframe. She threw up an arm and turned her back to me, walking away to put space between us. I shut the door and flipped the flimsy lock