Promise Me (Asher Family #1)

Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

HUDSON

“Hudson Asher,” Linc nearly yells.

Almost everyone shifts their attention to him as he storms into the bar.

I pour a beer in front of a tourist, emerge from behind the bar, and nod toward my back office.

I knew this moment was coming.

The moment he marched his grumpy ass out of Sadie’s bakery this morning, I knew he’d be coming back to talk to me without Sadie around. A simple phone call or text would have still gotten across the point he’s about to make, but I understand why he wants to be here in person.

Thankfully, he waits until the door to my office is closed before he starts talking.

“What the hell, man? She’s moving in with you?” He tosses his hands up, letting them drop and slap his thighs loudly.

“She’s not moving in,” I say and sit in my chair. “She’s just staying another night or two.”

Honestly, after we closed the bakery and went back to my place, she made herself at home on the sofa with a book. By the time I left around ten, she was asleep on the couch. All this to say that Sadie and I haven’t exactly discussed her plan.

My heart races for a split moment at the idea of her being there when I get home.

It’s been years since I had someone waiting for me at the end of the day.

And now it’s Sadie.

“Well, tell her to go home,” Linc says, dropping into the chair opposite me. “Please.”

This time, I’m the one who holds my hands up.

“I will not do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m keeping the peace, just like you asked.”

“Don’t make it sound like you’re doing this for me.”

“I’m not,” I say and smile. “She’s going to be fine, Linc. Breathe. Give her some space.”

A deep wrinkle forms between his eyebrows as he leans back and glowers at me.

“Why aren’t you pissed about this? It’s my sister. You hate each other.”

Jesus. I can’t win here.

“I don’t know, man. She showed up, and she was … nice.”

He barks out a laugh. “To you?”

“Yes.”

“Impossible.”

“I thought so, too, but then I realized that if she was coming to me, she must really need a break.”

His face morphs from angry to defeated in a flash.

With one hand, he rubs his forehead. “I worry about her.”

“I know.”

He blows out a breath.

“At least it’s you. I trust you.”

“Thanks. ”

“Dad isn’t as worried. It’s weird. I know he is, but he keeps saying she’s just as grown a woman as she was three years ago, and she can make up her own mind on how to handle this, and I hear him, I do. I just?—”

“Hey,” I say, drawing his attention to me. “She’s going to be fine.”

I want to tell him that I know because I’ve been there, but again, just because I feel like I can relate to her right now doesn’t mean I relate to everything. I mean, hell, a part of me wishes I didn’t remember my love of hockey.

Linc needs to come to terms with his sister's accident on his own.

He nods. “Yeah. I know.” He stands up quickly. “I need to get some work done. I keep pushing things off for Sadie, and I should get caught up before morning.”

He moves toward the door but pauses to turn.

“You two seemed different this morning.”

“Because we weren’t fighting?” I laugh.

“Yeah. You almost looked at each other like …” His words trail off as he shakes his head. “I would love nothing more for you and Sadie to finally be friends.”

“Oddly enough, I wouldn’t be upset about that either.”

He keeps his eyes on me a moment longer. I get the sense he wants to say more, but he doesn’t.

He leaves, and I lean back in my seat.

Being friends with Sadie Collins sounds insane. Completely unbelievable. This town is going to lose their minds.

“Just don’t get too friendly, okay?” Linc pokes his head back into my office.

“Too friendly,” I repeat and stand as well because I, too, need to get back to work.

“Yeah. Too. Friendly.”

“We literally just started getting along today, Linc. ”

He clears his throat. “Yeah, I know, I’m just worried, and the idea of you two dating and then you break up, or she gets hurt, or you get?—”

“Hey, man, calm down.” I slap a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe you need more sleep than your sister.”

He huffs. “You might be right.”

We walk side by side out of the back office. As I walk him to the front door, no one is paying attention now.

“Take care of her,” Linc says, holding a hand up and walking away. He spins. “But not too much.”

“Fucking get some sleep,” I say with another laugh.

“I know, I know.”

He unlocks his car and gets in.

I don’t know which Collins to worry about more: the one who can’t remember how much she hates me and decided to crash at my place or the one I’ve been best friends with for decades and is suddenly worried I might make a move on his sister.

I step back into the bar and spot Sadie walking in from the back. She’s in different clothes now, so I assume she went back to her house to get a few things.

A few things.

So she can stay at my place.

With me.

Fuck.

She smiles and waves at me.

Betty notices, along with a couple of other regulars, and now, my worry is how the hell I’m going to pick all these jaws up off the floor.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so tired,” Sadie says on another yawn .

“You’ve been down here for hours,” Betty says. “Why don’t you go get some sleep? You can come to hang out with me during my shift tomorrow, too. I like having you around.”

From the other side of the bar, I roll my eyes.

These two have been laughing and telling stories since Sadie walked down here to get some food. I thought she’d leave as soon as she finished eating, but she and Betty got to talking. More customers showed up, sitting at the bar. I could feel their eyes on me and wondered if word had spread that the two of us were in the same place and not fighting.

“I like it too,” Luca says loudly and takes another drink of his beer.

Yep, my brother showed up, and he’s been grinning like a fool since the moment he walked in.

“Yeah, I’ve had a good night. The best in a few days, really.”

“Does your head still hurt?” Luca asks.

“Luca!” I snap.

“What?” He shrugs.

“Don’t ask her that.”

He grins. “It’s a valid question. She hit that shit hard.”

“Luca!” I scold again, this time lowering my head as I close my eyes. “Be respectful.”

He laughs, and suddenly, another sound hits me. Sadie is laughing, too.

Slowly, I open my eyes to look at her.

She’s watching me.

“So, let me get this straight. You’re just a grump with everyone.”

“Yep,” Luca answers.

“Damn, I thought I was special.”

“Oh, you get the worst of it by far. No one in this town gets him as worked up as you.”

Oh hell .

“Luca. Aren’t you done?” I ask.

“Am I talking too much?”

“Yes, you are.”

“I like it,” Sadie cuts in.

“Me too.” This is coming from Betty. “To be honest, you’re a lot less grumpy and pissed today than usual.”

I open my mouth to defend myself, but Sadie speaks first.

“You would think that with his new roommate situation, he’d be a bit more in stick-up-his-butt mode.”

Luca chuckles. “Hud, have a roommate? Sure okay. Who?” He sips his beer.

“Me.”

And then my brother's beer sprays out of his mouth and all over Betty, who isn’t even fazed.

She just smiles, moving to greet a couple of new customers as she wipes her shirt off.

“You two are living together?”

“Just briefly,” I answer.

My brother’s gaze bounces back and forth between us.

Then he slaps himself.

Sadie jumps back, but I just watch him.

“Are you done?”

“No. Because”—he points between us and then around the bar. He’s being overly dramatic—“I have to be dreaming this. I’m sitting at a bar with you and Sadie. No one is fighting. You have both been laughing and now you live together.”

As if on cue, Sadie laughs.

“Sounds about as wild as the fact that I can’t remember the last three years of my life.”

“Sure as shit does.”

“Luca.”

“What?” he says again and glares at me .

He needs to stop. She has enough on her mind. Now he’s bringing it back to the memory thing, and she doesn’t need that.

“I’m sorry you can’t remember anything. That fucking sucks.”

I’m about to tell him to get out, but I see Sadie smiling at him.

“It does fucking suck,” she replies. “Really fucking sucks.”

“Okay, my little foul-mouth buddies, let’s dial it back.”

“Okay, Dad,” Luca says sarcastically.

Feeding off him, Sadie says, “Yeah, Daddy, my bad.”

The three of us fall silent just then, and Luca clears his throat, tossing a twenty on the counter and getting up.

“It’s really my time to leave now.”

“Bye!” Sadie says to his retreating back.

“See you later,” he says with a wave.

“Why don’t I hang out with your brother more?” she asks me when it’s just us.

“Probably because he’s related to me.”

She taps her nose. “That’s probably true. I think I'm going to go upstairs and crash. How late do you work?”

I glance at the clock on the back wall.

“For a few more hours.”

“Okay.”

She hesitates and then sighs. “I need to get my wallet from my purse. I have no idea why I didn’t bring it down here with me.”

“Go get some sleep, Sadie. This one is on me.”

She cocks her hip and crosses her arms.

“Maybe I hit my head harder than I thought because not only are we not fighting, but you also just bought me dinner.”

I toss the bar towel over my schedule and lean onto my forearms, grinning.

“Are we joking about what happened already? ”

She shrugs.

“Beats crying about it.” She moves toward the back door. “See you in the morning, Asher.”

I wink.

“See you in the morning, Collins.”

She smiles and then disappears.

A throat clears behind me, and I startle.

“Jesus, Betty, where did you come from?”

“I came from the other side of the bar, but I think you forgot that there are other people in here.”

“What?”

She shakes her head.

“What?” I repeat.

“Nothing.”

I cross my arms. “Your face doesn’t say that it’s nothing.”

“Okay, fine. You were clearly just flirting with Sadie.”

“I was not.”

“You were.”

Betty has lost her mind.

“Fine. Deny it. But don’t come crawling to me when you need advice.”

“I won’t,” I say, grabbing Sadie’s empty water glass and putting it in the bucket with the others that need to go to the kitchen.

First, Linc thinks I’m going to hit on her, and now Betty thinks I’m flirting.

What is wrong with everyone?