Four Brothers and a Bride

Chapter 193: Chapter 193

DEMI

"How is he?"

Ashton finishes signing the file Gris is holding open for him before looking up atwith his weary eyes. "Not too

good. He's still shaken up and multiple sessions with his therapist per week hasn't proved helpful, yet." He

expels a long breath. "I think it will take stbefore he fully recovers from the shock." His eyes finally

meet mine, and stays on them intensely. "I can’t imagine if something that horrible had happened to you. | bet

I'll lose my marbles too."

His blue eyes heat up my insides, makingflush terribly. Gris goes into malfunction, clearing his throat and

stuttering excuses as he hurriedly leaves us but Ashton never flinches of embarrassment for one second like |

am doing. I'm probably overthinking his words. Swallowing, | tuck my hands under his desk.

"You haven't askedwhy | am here, at your office."

He reclines in his seat and strokes his jaw. "I didn’t think | needed to. You're obviously here to see me."

"Actually, I'm not." | enjoy the flicker of surprise and the slight dent in his ego as he leans forward with serious

eyes.

"What do you mean?"

To lighten the mood, I'm briefly tempted to drag this one out but there'll be other opportunities. | adjust in my

seat. "I don’t want to keep any secrets from you, Ashton. | want to be an open book from now on, not just for the

sake of our relationship but because | am sick of being constantly misunderstood." | take a shallow breath to

ease off the tension building up as he pays rapt attention to the words coming out of my mouth.

"If this is about Ashley spooking you outside the bathroom and pretending to beback at my house, you don’t

have to feel guilty." He givesa warm smile while | gape at him in shock. "I...uh, | figured it out, and | also had

a talk with Ash. It won't happen again."

| hadn't planned on telling him that because | didn’t want the brothers to keep fighting because of me. There's

already too much tension around his family, their company and even my new relationship with Ashton to rattle

him with Ashley’s games.

"I'm sorry | didn’t have the courage to tell you | messed up. | should know you better than that."

"No, that’s not why you didn’t tell me." His smile deepens. "I know you better than that. I'm grateful for your

maturity." He leans over the table and presses his lips to mine when | meet him halfway. "No need to apologize.

It was an honest mistake and the prevailing circumstances had you distracted." He pads my jaw with his thumb

before plunking back on his chair.

| moisten my tingling lips. "Thank you but that’s not the only thing | wanted to talk about."

With his somber expression back on, | find it hard to concentrate. How do | go from his unflinching trust in my

loyalty and character to casting aspersions on his? His move just made this conversation more difficult than |

envisioned.

"Hey, everything okay?" He wonders, seeing how nervous | am. The usual relief that floods my chest whenever

he givesa reassuring smile fails to kick in as he reaches forward to cover his hand over mine. "It's okay. Tell

—

"| paid Liam a visit three weeks ago." Curiosity clouds his face instead of the anger or disappointment | am

prepared for. It lulls the pace of my nervousness to a crawl. When he says nothing in response, | proceed with my

eyes dipped to my knees. "He...um, he...he sold Billion-Err."

"That's stale news, Demi." Circling his desk, Ashton comes to ease a hip on it next to me. "I'm sorry about the

damning post the new editor made of you. I'm doing all | can to sniff him or her out. Like Liam, this person is

exceptionally good at hiding their identity but | am working on it." He skims my jaw with his finger. "I'm sorry you

keep getting roped into my family’s mess."

| jerk my face away from his hands and rise to my feet, pacing. "Please, this isn't about that. If you'd just let me

finish..." | catch myself and quickly lower my tone. "I'm sorry Ash, | just...I need to get this out there."

"Okay. I'm listening."

We lock eyes, hard. "The things that were written about me, did you not find any of it strange?"

"I don’t understand."

"The part about us? Our first time? How did they know that? | only told Anna and she already swore she never

mentioned it to anyone else."

Ashton massages the bridge of his nose. "Asher clued in and | had to admit we had been intimate but | certainly

didn’t tell him when or where." He stares deeply at me. "You suspect someone we know fed that part to the new

editor?"

"Worse. | suspect someone we know IS the new editor."

ork

To my astonishment, he doesn’t react much. "That's easy. Every culprit my family has always uncovered

happened to be someone we knew and not a total stranger. Okay, Demi, could you stop pacing? Please? Come

sit down." He stretches an arm towards the seat | earlier vacated, a plea on his face. To his disappointment, |

drop on the couch. "Okay, walkthrough your suspicion. Who is it?"

But | can’t. | honestly can’t tell him | suspect one of his family members.

"I don’t know, Ash. I've been confused ever since Liam toldthe new editor's nends with Rollins."

"What?"

The sudden grit in his voice catchesoff guard as he stands up.

"Liam told you that?"

"Yeah. | thought he was messing withat first but after that new post, I’ve been thinking a lot, scared to even

imagine that a member of your family might still be out to get rid of me." | swallow the rest of my rant when |

notice how distant his eyes have become. "Ash? Ashton?"

"I'm sorry." He blinks, then comes to sit next to me. "This is...crazy. | know my family probably fits in that

category but this? I'd like to think that even if a member of my family purchased Billion-Err despite all we've

been through as a result of that blog, surely they wouldn't deign to hurtwith it."

He doesn’t sound very convinced as he makes his argument. We both know that a few members of his family

would definitely not mind him being a casualty if it means they get rid ofin the end.

Ashton shakes his head, rebutting the obvious truth of the situation. "Ashley wouldn't dare and Asher’s been

turning a new leaf."

Now, his words are comical.

"I'm not accusing either of them but Ashley did impersonate you only recently. As for Asher, | might agree that

he’s been a lot kinder than | have cto expect of him but | know he still considersa bad omen for your

family. For that reason, he'll definitely be unapologetic about whatever moves he resorts to in order to get rid of

——

Ashton takes my hand. "I assure you, | didn’t give him any details about that night. Plus, Asher would own it if he

bought Billion-Err. It's an ego thing for him to stand by his actions especially when he’s convinced it was done

with the family’s best interest at heart. | think Liam was messing with you. It can’t be anyone of them."

| gulp silently as a nagging fear claws up my throat. Liam's words are indeed messing with me, especially the

part about the real culprit being the last person I'd suspect; Ashton.

He was the only other person there that night. It was our little adventure, was supposed to be our little secret

even though we both fumbled that part. There's absolutely no way this man who had loved every inch of my

body and stirred my soul in more ways than one could be capable of being as devious as Liam wantsto think.

| am not prepared to believe it. He has no reason to stabin the back. HE LOVES ME. He already forgave me

just like | forgave him and his family. He holds no grudge againstand even if he did, he would never resort to

such tactics to hurt me. | have to find a way to get Liam's voice out of my head before | ruin the magic between

Ashton and I.

So, | lean forward and kiss him

passionately to his surprise. It works.

The noise in my head @Vieterfs. When

pultbddkPevade his head in my

hands and admire his beautiful face.

f q 0

It's riddled with amusement and a

smidgen of mischief. The content is

on novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

"Well, that was...unexpected." His jaw drops when | straddle him on the couch.

"And now?" Lust fleets across his eyes as | reach to unzip his pants. "Does Gris know not to disturb us?" | tug his

earlobe with my teeth.

"He won't be coming in till lunch break. That gives us a good twenty minutes."

| cackle when he flips our positions

before slamming his lips on mine. It

was supposed to be a distraction

from the warring thoughts in myn

head, nl it trned Vuktd Be exactly

9 9 q ,

that! Since the rainy night, we've only

ever done it at night in his house, with

the light settings turned low to mimic

our first time. Seeing his face

hovering over mine in daylight, his

body fully clothed except for his

undone zipper through which his

hardened cock juts out, | struggle not

to feel shy. The content is on

novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

| shut my eyes and moan softly when

he slides inside my wet core, enjoying

the slow strokes that ASCII

up. Tangling mfindelsn his air, |

pill Rim dite and engage in a long

q a ’

kiss. Minutes later, we're both

spasming through orgasm. He buries

his face in my hair afterwards,

catching his breath while my fingers

draw lazy patterns on his back. The

content is on novelenglish.net! Read

the latest chapter there!

| feel a lot better, more limber.

"| love you." | whisper to him.

He raises his head with a smile on his lips. "I love you more." Then, he pulls away to zip up his pants and fix his

hair. "Are you thirsty? C'mon. it’s almost 12. | have a special bottle I've been saving..."

He almost rolls his eyes when someone taps on the door. | adjust my clothes and smoothen my hair just before

he admits Gris in. Gris only pokes his head in.

"What is it?" Ashton asks him.

"Sorry sir but we need you at the show room. There's been a little snag with the client who took one of the cars

for a test drive."

"It's okay." | assure Ashton when he slides an apologetic glance my way. "I'll wait for you."

"Thank you. I'll make it quick. Feel at home. Help yourself to whatever you need and call if you need anything

else." Hesitantly, he escorts Gris out the door.

| fluff my hair with my hands while admiring his office space. A silly, goofy smile stretches my lips as | approach

his desk and remember my previous visits as Ashley’s wife. Things had been intense between Ashton and | even

back then.

A notification slides in just as | am running a finger over his Mac Book. Though, it merely flashed for less than

five seconds, | instantly make out the short message.

[The second blog piece about Demi is ready. Review it and letknow when you want it published]