What If You

smile crossed my lips as I walked out the door and headed to the lobby.

19
Everly
As we were on our way to pick up Asher, the clouds rolled in and it became very dark and gray. The winds picked up and suddenly buckets of water fell from the sky.
“What the heck is going on? I didn’t hear anything about a storm,” Damien said as he pulled into the parking garage of the building. Suddenly his phone rang, and he put it on speaker.
“Hello, Asher.”
“Are you here yet? I’m looking out the window and it’s a monsoon out there.”
“I just pulled into the parking garage.”
I heard Asher let out a long sigh.
“Just send Everly up. We won’t be going to the hotel.”
“I’ll send her up now.”
I climbed out of the car and stepped into the elevator with Damien. He pushed the button to the fourth floor and inserted the key to the top floor where Asher’s penthouse was. I glanced over at him in confusion.
“I live on the fourth floor,” he spoke.
“Oh. I didn’t realize you lived in the same building.”
“You’re all set. The elevator will open directly to his penthouse.” He smiled.
“Thanks, Damien. Stay safe.”
“You too, Everly,” he said as he stepped off the elevator.
When the elevator reached Asher’s penthouse, the doors opened, and I stepped out onto the beautiful oak flooring.
“Hi there,” Asher spoke as he stepped from around the corner. “Looks like you were right.”
“Sorry. I wish I wasn’t.”
“Well, we’ll just have to make the best of it here. I don’t really cook so I’m not sure what to do about dinner.”
“Show me to your kitchen and I’ll see what I can whip up for us. That is if you don’t mind me taking over your kitchen.”
“No. Not at all.” He smiled. “Follow me.”
I was in awe of the beauty of his home. Just about every wall was encased with floor to ceiling windows. Oak cabinets, gray marble countertops and state of art appliances filled the kitchen space. The large island made of marble was the focal point of the kitchen as were the gray bar stools that sat around it.
“Can I make you a drink or pour you a glass of wine?” Asher asked.
I opened the refrigerator to see what he had and saw a few bottles of beer sitting on the shelf. Grabbing one, I turned and looked at him.
“I’ll have a beer.” I grinned. “I didn’t take you for a beer guy.”
“I’m really not,” he spoke as he walked over to his bar. “A friend of mine just moved back from Paris and he stayed here a couple of nights.”
“Oh. Why did he move back?”
“He and his girlfriend broke up and he wasn’t happy at his job, so he packed up and moved back to New York. We’ve been good friends since college.”
“Sorry to hear about his relationship, but I’m sure you’re happy he’s back.”
“Yeah. It’s good to have him back.”
I opened the freezer, took out a bag of frozen shrimp and set it on the counter. Opening the refrigerator, I grabbed an onion, green pepper, red pepper and some really sad looking mushrooms.
“Do you have rice?” I asked.
“Let me check. Yep. Right here.” He took out the box of white rice from the cabinet.
“Then we have everything we need for a shrimp stir fry.”
“Sounds good.” The corners of his mouth curved upward.
Taking a knife from the knife block, I handed it to Asher.
“You can start cutting up the veggies while I start the rice. The faster we can get this made, the faster we can eat.” I smiled.
He set the knife down and rolled up the sleeves of his light blue dress shirt.
“Why don’t you bring women here?” I asked as I filled the pot with water.
He glanced over at me. “How did you—forget it.” He let out a sigh. “This is my home and my personal space, and I don’t allow women in it. That’s what my suite is for.”
“Then I’m honored you let me into your palace.”
“Only because you were already here, and we couldn’t leave due to the storm. Don’t get too used to it, because after tonight, you won’t be coming back here,” he said as he continued to cut up the peppers.
My back was turned, and I rolled my eyes. “Be careful, you’re going to —”
“Fuck!” he shouted as he threw down the knife and grabbed a towel. “If you were going to tell me I was going to cut myself, you couldn’t have done it thirty seconds earlier?” he spoke in anger.
“I’m sorry but it doesn’t work that way. Next time, I won’t say anything. Let me see how bad it is.”
“Shouldn’t you already know that?” He made the irritation in his voice known as he held the towel around his finger.
“Stop being a smartass. Let me see?” I grabbed hold of his hand.
“Ouch! Be careful.”
I slowly unwrapped the towel and examined his finger.
“You need to run it under cold water. It’ll slow down the bleeding,” I said as I led him over to the sink. “I don’t think you’ll need stitches which is a good thing, because I’m not sure we’d make it to the hospital in this storm. Do you have any butterfly bandages?”
“I don’t know. There’s a first aid kit in the bathroom down the hall.”
“I’ll go check. Keep that finger under the water.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one feeling the pain.”
I pulled the first aid kit from the cabinet and dug through it. Luckily, there were a couple butterfly bandages in there.
“I found some,” I said as I took his finger and carefully dried it off.
“Ouch. For fuck sakes, Everly. Be careful.”
“Sorry.” I gave him a sympathetic smile.
After I put the bandage over the wound, I told him to go sit down.
“I’ll finish the stir fry. You go relax. And you might want to take some Motrin for the pain.”
“Good idea,” he spoke as he walked over to one of the cabinets in the kitchen.
I finished chopping the veggies