He stared at my phone for far longer than it would take to read the short ad ten times over. And he kept right on staring at it.

“Twenty-four thousand dollars,” I said again, squeaking a little. “It would pay my next year of school and possibly get me out of Aaron’s house. It’d be a launching point to get my feet on the ground.”

Asher had lost a few shades of color, but he still remained quiet and unable to tear his gaze from the phone.

“It’s not a big deal. It’s just acting. You know, the director yells action! We get into character. He snaps some pictures or films a bit for the trailers, and then, boom! End scene! We become ourselves again. No harm done. Acting. Not real. Pretend. All fake.”

Asher set my phone down on his dresser and stood, pulling his jacket back on without saying a thing.

“Where are you going?”

“I need that beer. Right fucking now.”

I scrambled off the bed and repacked my iPad into my backpack before snagging my phone and coat too, fearing Asher would drive away without me. He didn’t look happy. In fact, he was doing the whole processing, thinking, analyzing, considering every possible angle thing he liked to do with difficult situations. I knew that face.

At least he wasn’t putting me in a chokehold and waiting for me to tap out.

Yet.

Chapter Four

BREW BROTHERS WAS stupidly busy when we crowded in the front door. It wasn’t yet eight o’clock, but that was what happened on Friday nights this close to the university. Students drifted in to start drinking the minute they were done with classes.

Asher aimed for the bar without looking back. He’d been quiet on the drive over and wouldn’t look at me. His grip on the steering wheel was knuckle-whitening tight, and he may have burned rubber on a few corners, driving too fast. But the biggest indicator of his troubled mind was the silence. No music playing was a flashing neon sign of Asher’s mood. It was a rare day he didn’t have tunes on in the background. He lived his life to a soundtrack, and it was never silent.

He ordered two mugs of Coors Light, since that was on tap, and when the sexy brunette bartender with the voluptuous tits slid them across the bar, Asher snapped them up and marched away without a second glance.

Wow.

He was supremely pissed. It was a rarer day yet he didn’t flirt with that particular bartender. He’d been trying to get her in bed for over a year, and she was as locked up and as impenetrable as Fort Knox. Today, she didn’t exist in Asher’s world.