Asher Converse's Arc

Chapter 28 of 30

Asher had closed one door and told himself it stayed shut. Tucker took the friend and the cut, and the chain stayed under his collar. But a bar breeds late nights, and late nights breed knocks he doesn't expect. Near midnight the crowd thinned. Asher counted the till alone. Then a knuckle rapped his door upstairs. JD stood in the frame. He worked the door with Rowan, the tracker Chalam brought in, the one who hears men plan lies. Tonight he wore no shirt-collar buttoned up. His green shirt hung open to the belt. He leaned on the jamb and let Asher look. "You're up late," JD said. "So are you." "I heard you thinking down there." JD stepped in. "Wanted to see if the thought was about me." Asher set the coins down. He knew this game. He'd refused it once already, told JD not to mix want with work. But the room was quiet, and JD wasn't reading him now. He was just standing there, plain, waiting for a yes or a no. "Take the shirt off," Asher said. JD did. He pulled it back off his shoulders and dropped it on the chair. Broad chest, hair across it, the gold bracelet bright on his wrist. He raised one arm and made a fist. The muscle rose hard. "Flex," Asher said. He crossed the room. He laid his palm on the arm and felt it. Then his chest. Warm, solid, a heartbeat under the skin. "You're careful," JD said. "Even now. I can tell." "I'm not careful right now." Asher kissed him. JD kissed back, slow at first, then not slow. His hand came up to Asher's neck. It found the chain. Asher waited for the flinch, the fist, the wall. It didn't come. JD's thumb crossed the gold and moved on. He asked nothing. He hunted lies for a living, so he already knew whose chain it was, and he'd decided it didn't cost him the night. That was the difference. Tucker had grabbed for the story. JD let it lie. Asher stopped holding his breath and pulled him toward the bed. Morning came grey through the shutter. Asher woke with JD's arm across his chest, the bracelet cool on his skin. For once the chain hadn't been the wall. JD stirred and looked at him. No smile, no boast. "I'm still here for the fight," he said. "This changes none of it." "Good." JD sat up and reached for his shirt. "Your woman below. I meant what I told you before. You quit her, you'll quit us." He pulled the shirt on. "So don't quit her." Asher watched him button it. He'd let a man in and kept the road clear. The bar was still the door to the woman below. But now one of his crew had seen the whole of him and stayed. That was worth more than a clean wall. He rose and dressed. There was a fight coming, and the men in it trusted him now.