What If You

Burger Bar in Greenwich Village. As we were sitting at the table eating lunch and having a conversation, I noticed a man sitting at the bar kept staring at me. As much as I tried not to notice, he made it difficult. My client had to cut our lunch short by fifteen minutes because her son’s school called, and she needed to go pick him up. I hugged her goodbye and stayed back to finish my salad. Just as the waiter re-filled my glass of water and walked away, the man from the bar approached my table.
“Excuse me. I apologize for staring at you, but I wasn’t sure. Are you Everly King?”
“Yes.” I cocked my head at him, not knowing who the hell this guy was.
A smile crossed his face as he sat down across from me.
“My name is Noah, and we have a mutual friend in common: Asher Remington.”
“Oh. You must be the best friend who just moved back from Paris.” I smiled.
“Yes. I’m the one.” He chuckled as he extended his hand.
Placing my hand in his, I froze as images and scenes infiltrated my mind.”
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Taking in a deep breath, I let go of his hand.
“I’m fine. It’s nice to meet you.”
“And you as well. I just had dinner last night with Asher and he told me about you.”
“Really? What did he say? All good I hope.” I nervously smiled.
“Of course. He showed me your picture on your business website. So when I saw you walk in, I thought it was you, but I wasn’t one hundred percent sure. My apologies for staring the way I did.”
“That’s okay.” I could feel the heat engulf my body. Looking at my watch, I took my wallet from my purse. “I’m so sorry to have to cut this short, but I have another client I need to meet,” I said as I threw some cash on top of the bill and stood up.
“No problem. I understand. Hopefully, we’ll have another opportunity to talk. I told Asher last night that the three of us should have dinner together.”
“That sounds great. Looking forward to it. It was nice to meet you, Noah.” I lied as I walked out of the restaurant.
The moment I stepped out of the restaurant, I let out a deep breath and placed my hand on my chest as I walked down the street at a fast pace and turned the corner. I hailed a cab, went home and poured myself a glass of wine. Picking up my phone, I dialed Asher’s number. After a few rings, it went to voicemail.
“Asher, it’s Everly. I need to see you tonight. There’s something I have to tell you and it’s very important. Call me back as soon as you get this.”
After my Zoom call ended, I picked up my phone and still no call or text message from Asher. Maybe he was in a meeting. He wouldn’t purposely ignore me. Or would he? Suddenly, my phone rang, and it was him.
“Hello?”
“Everly, what’s going on? What do you have to tell me?”
“Not over the phone, Asher. I’ll meet you at your penthouse tonight. And don’t worry, I’m not staying. But it is important that we talk.”
“Is seven-thirty okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll see you then.”
“I’ll let the doorman know you’re coming, and he’ll let you up.”

23
Asher
I didn’t like the sound of her voice. There was an urgency in her tone. A pleading to see me. I stopped on the way home and picked up a pizza and salad. I wasn’t sure if she’d eaten, but I was hungry, and pizza sounded good. As I was walking down the stairs after changing out of my suit, I heard the elevator ding.
“Hi,” I spoke as I walked over and kissed her cheek.
“Hi.” She smiled.
“I don’t know if you already ate, but I got us a pizza and a salad.”
“That sounds great.”
“Then go sit down and I’ll get the plates.” I gave her a smile.
She looked beautiful and seeing her tonight took a lot of the stress of the day away. But I was worried about what she had to talk to me about. I set the pizza and salad on the table and took the seat across from her.
“I’m sorry. Can I get you a glass of wine?” I asked.
“It’s okay,” she said as she got up, went over to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of beer. “I’ve had enough wine today.”
I arched my brow at her as a smirk crossed my lips.
“I didn’t realize you were a day drinker.”
“I’m usually not.”
“What did you want to talk to me about?”
She sat there for a moment moving her fork around in her salad.
“Everly? What’s wrong?”
“I met your friend, Noah, today.”
“Really?” I asked with surprise. “Where at?”
“The Burger Bar in Greenwich Village. I was meeting with a client and he was there. He kept staring at me.”
“He probably recognized you. I just showed him your picture last night.”
“Yeah. That’s what he said when my client left, and he walked over to my table and sat down. How well do you know him?”
“I know him very well. We’ve been good friends since Harvard. We used to do everything together. Why? Why are you asking me this?” I narrowed my eye at her.
“Don’t give him the money, Asher.”
“How do—Oh that’s right, you fucking know everything.” I slammed my hand on the table and rose from my seat. “You don’t get to do this to me again.” I pointed my finger at her. I went over to the island and gripped the edge of the marble countertop. “I think you should leave, Everly, and I think it’s best if we don’t see each other anymore. But I’m sure you already knew I was going to say that.”
“No. Actually I didn’t.” She got up from the table and threw her napkin on her plate. “Your friend is a murderer, Asher. He murdered his girlfriend, and he’s using you to leave the country. Have a good night.” She