Call of the Raven (34 page)

Chapter
Nineteen

Misconceptions

The furnishings were
dark and
expensive looking black lacquer stuff. The bed was covered in black
silk sheets and matching feather comforter. The room smelled of
Ari’s strong cologne. She wondered just how many women had sat in
her place on his bed, and soaked in the huge sunken tub.

Through the walls she had heard them arguing.
Several times in the last hour Elle had thought about leaving and
saving herself a bunch of awkward embarrassment, but she sat in a
robe with nothing underneath. Her clothes along with her shoes had
disappeared, and out the window she could see fresh snowflakes
falling.

If she could just get through the night, she
would leave then. She would go and put distance between her and the
Lakes. Then they wouldn’t have to talk about her in the next room.
Then they wouldn’t have to worry about what they planned to do with
her. Starling at the sound of a knock, Elle saw it was the orange
haired girl, Kennedy standing in the door that led out to the hall.
Elle knew her room was just across the way but she knew she didn’t
want her in there either.

“Ostentatious isn’t it, the room?” She tossed
a stack of clothes on the bed. “He’s such a man-slut.”

“I got that feeling,” Elle said. The girl
didn’t look at her. She just crossed to the closet, opened the door
to reveal a row of dark suits and dress shirts, and took a brush
and mirror from a dresser top inside. When she dropped the items on
the bed, Elle noticed the long blonde strands clinging to the hair
brush. “And I guess that confirms it,” she laughed.

Kennedy ignored her. “Well when you’re
dressed come relieve me,” she said. “Oh and I ordered a pizza, but
if you don’t get over there quick that kids gonna scarf everything
up.”

“Thanks for the clothes. I’ll get them back
to you.”

“No need,” Kennedy wrinkled her nose. “I have
plenty and those are some I keep here for spares. I haven’t been
here
in over a year. They’re outdated.”

“Well, thanks anyway.” Elle noticed her slow
down on her way to the door, but she didn’t stop. Since arriving,
Kennedy had done nothing that articulated a welcome.

Taking the clothes to the bathroom, Elle
discarded the robe. She pulled on new undergarments that still
sported shocking price tags. The rest of the clothes were the same,
new, expensive and fit the style of a teenage girl. The jeans were
low rise, snug and showed off her curves. The shirt was light blue
and low cut. Elle had always downplayed her assets for fear Julio
would think she was trying to attract men. Now she feared what the
Lake’s would think.

At least along with everything else, Kennedy
had included an over jacket, a sporty looking white denim coat with
a zippered front and hood. She sat that aside. The bathroom was
steamed up from the hot bath and blow dryer, and her cheeks were a
little flushed from the heat.

After a quick brush through her hair, Elle
cleaned the bathroom, grabbed the jacket and stepped out. She had
her right arm halfway in the sleeve when she noticed movement. She
froze in mid-step and stumbled into the leather wing chair. The
first thing that flashed in her head again was Julio, but this time
it wasn’t him or even Ari. He didn’t have the same effect on her as
his brother did. Asher had the power to turn her into a bumbling
idiot.

He sat on the edge of Ari’s bed. His hair was
shiny and damp and slicked back from his face. He was clean shaven
and wearing different clothes—a pale blue tee-shirt that looked a
little snug and faded jeans. He was barefoot just as she was. His
bright blue hypnotic eyes moved slowly upward. She was wearing
Kennedy’s clothes, her hair and body was washed so she didn’t
stink. She could only hope he saw an improvement.

“I’m sorry if I scared you. I guess there was
no getting around that,” he said.

“You could have given me a head’s up.” She
pulled the jacket the rest of the way on, and quickly started
working on the zipper. The big v area in the front of the shirt
made her uncomfortable and exposed far too much of Julio’s
handiwork.

“Yes,” he dropped his eyes, “I should have
thought of that.”

“Ari’s not here. I thought he was with
you?”

“He was, now he’s not. I needed to talk to
you…alone.” He pursed his lips in thought.

She waited for him to resume, but he just sat
with an unreadable sort of glazed look, playing with a loose thread
on the knee of his jeans. “Look I can see that you’re struggling,
so I’ll speed things along,” she said. “I know I’m here because of
Ari. I heard you two arguing. I appreciate all of this, but I don’t
want to be a problem for anyone. But in my defense I’m not who you
think I am. ”

“No you’re not,” he quickly responded which
only fueled Elle’s frustrations. When he unexpectedly looked up and
she saw that a grin was playing on his perfect lips, she forgot
what she was about to say. “You’ve been kind Elle to accept my
family and me the way that you have--well apart from the occasional
remark. Others don’t always prove to be so generous especially to
me when they get a good look at me. I finally get the comment about
the Bonnie Tyler song. Nixon was kind enough to sing it,
repeatedly, while I showered, particularly the turnaround bright
eyes part.”

Elle was confused. “You mean I’ve been kind
to you because I didn’t freak out about your eyes?”

Asher nodded. “I usually hide them. The truth
is I may not be able to control my eyes, but I can control my
temper. I just choose not to. I would like to have the opportunity
to at least try. I have a proposition for you Elle, and if you’ll
join us for dinner, I’ll explain.”

“Kennedy ordered—”

“Pizza is not exactly the dinner I had wished
to extend to you. Grant meant a lot to me and it appears that even
though your time with his child was short, I know he would have
appreciated your compassion. I know that I do.” His head dropped.
Unlike his brother, Asher’s sincerity wasn’t as easy to clarify.
His words were somewhat stilted as though he had mentally made up
an entire conversation in his head, and now he couldn’t remember
his lines.

“I didn’t do anything for Mary other than
what I wished someone would have done for me. You don’t owe me
anything. I might have given you that impression—”

“I didn’t say anything about owing or
impressions,” Asher exhaled deeply. “Please understand that this is
hard enough on me.”

“Hard how, because I’m east side pregnant
trash? Yeah, I heard that word come up. I’m just not sure why you
felt the need to tell your brothers.” Elle scanned the floor for
her shoes. “I can’t face them now.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Asher examined
his hands. “That was never my intention. I’m not very good with
people just ask my brothers. But in this particular case I meant
hard as in the sense that you are a woman.” He emphasized the last
few words.

Elle realized she was staring, but she
couldn’t pull her eyes away from him. She had pictured him not much
different than Ari when it came to women. How could he not be? He
had all the elements of a paperback hero. Asher Lake was what
Sandra and her other coworkers at the library called eye-candy. She
had thought his behavior was due to her alone and for reasons other
than discomfort.

“You said you’ve read the
Tale of Two
Brothers
series, and if you’ve deemed anything from them at
all, then you have got to know that Pain and I share similar
qualities. And unlike his idiot doff of a brother with his
pretentious bachelor pad, and numerous women, Pain is what?” Asher
wanted her to answer so Elle thought hard but when she recalled
Pain’s vow, she couldn’t say the word out loud.

“He made a vow of celibacy and so have I,”
Asher answered for her. “It comes with the territory, a vow I’m
sworn to as Keeper. What I’m trying to say is on the account of
that I chose—” hesitating he closed his eyes and when he opened
them again, he met hers with earnestness, and she knew that he
wanted her to understand. “I chose a long time ago to avoid female
company whenever possible. That choice may have been easier for me
then, but now it leaves me ignorant in how to act, and that in turn
makes me uncomfortable.”

“You didn’t seem all that uncomfortable when
you were pulling me onto your lap and encircling me in your magic
bubble.”

Standing almost instinctively, Asher started
for the door. Midway across the room he stopped and turned back. “I
guess I deserved that, but I was trying to be straight with you. I
wanted you to understand where I’m coming from. I guess it was too
much to ask that you give me the courtesy of
not
trying to
embarrass me in the process.”

Elle could see the flush to his pale skin and
his sudden avoidance of her gaze. Up until that point he had been
at least trying to make eye contact and for that she felt bad.

“I guess if I understood your
point
I
wouldn’t be so on guard.” She said. “I understand your reason for
being uncomfortable around women, no not women, because in this
case we’re only talking about me. But if the only purpose of this
conversation is because you think I’m going to try and take
advantage of your vulnerability or any of you,” she mindlessly
waved a hand behind her toward the glowing Lake Inc. sign, “because
of that than you’re wrong.”

Asher glanced out the window with a great
deal of puzzlement showing in his eyes, and then as though the
meaning of her words became suddenly clear, he hurriedly crossed
the room, shaking his head as he neared. Instinctually since she
had lived years with Julio’s short fuse, Elle took a giant step
backward but when she came up short against the chair, she fell
back onto the seat. Asher moved to the bed and sat down directly in
front of her, and laced his fingers in front of him. He watched her
awhile, before he spoke.

“I may have trouble with communication but
just now when you pointed to my company, you made me realize that
this between us, isn’t just about me. You behaved the same on the
roof when I mentioned the Plaza and when you saw the limo you
actually panicked. You have formed an impression of us that is
unfair. Yes we’re rich. There is no denying that, but we’re not the
typical rich and famous. Don’t form an opinion of us because of
that, when
that
doesn’t matter to us at all.” This time
Asher pointed out the window.

“I’m sorry for embarrassing
and
judging you,” she said, “you make me just as uncomfortable Asher,
for several reasons.”

“Yes,” he chuckled, “I’ve seen that, but none
of the reasons are for what they should be. You have completely
accepted the paranormal aspects of us Lake’s and fallen victim to
reality.”

Elle nodded. “I guess that does seem odd to
you.” Since he was trying to hide the fact that he was smiling, she
guessed he didn’t mind.

“I have no doubt that my conduct seemed
unbecoming to you before,” he said. “No matter how unjustified, I
did have my reasons, but they weren’t however for the reasons you
believed. People hate me Elle and they’re trying to hurt my family.
I live under certain rules and guidelines that I don’t exactly
believe in that I am forced to maintain. There are many factors but
my anger wasn’t exactly aimed at you in general. I can’t expect you
to understand, but when it comes to you in particular, I stand in
no position to play anyone’s judge, and I would never intentionally
harm you.”

He met her gaze then and when his eyes
steadily moved over her face, she was the one that looked down away
from him. She didn’t want him to look at the bruises.

“Elle,” he continued, “to further reiterate
the matter of money and wrongly judging, I have this to say. We
ani-shifts can detect natures and not once did the thought of you
taking advantage of me or my brothers cross my mind. As a matter of
fact I was planning on insisting you accept my help, and I can be
quite stubborn.” When she glanced up this time there was a devious
smirk playing on his lips which sent her heart to fluttering in a
strange way.

Standing, Asher crossed the room again and in
about the same spot as before, turned back. “Ari was right,” he
said, “when he told you that there are things you don’t understand.
I had hoped to explain some of them downstairs. You can decide what
you wish to do though. You can join me for dinner and see what I
have to offer or you can eat pizza with Kennedy and Mary in the
other room.”

Elle stood up and moved across the carpeted
floor to where he stood and he watched her approach through the
veil of his hair. She hadn’t failed to notice that he didn’t say
anything about her leaving. “Then I’m no bother?”

“If you were a bother, you wouldn’t be here,”
Asher tilted his head back and looked at her through his long
lashes, “and I know Ari told you that. But since you are here tell
me something. Would you have just walked away?” He softly grunted
when she nodded. “And when you heard us arguing, how many times did
you think of doing the same?”

His lips quirked upwards into a devilish
smile when she stuck out her chin in an attempt to be stubborn and
not answer. “Well then, I believe you have helped me to make the
right choice.
You will
join me for dinner Elle. You seem to
need a little help deciding things.” This time his words were
final. There would be no more discussing the matter.

Elle couldn’t deny the urge to resist him but
Asher had his own way such as his brother Ari had his charm. She
was afraid of Asher’s intensity just as much as she was drawn to
him, drawn like a trusting bug to a Venus Fly Trap.

“Fine, but I need to say hello to Mary first.
She’s really freaked out, and maybe Kennedy has an extra pair of
shoes, mine have disappeared.”