After Asher Keating spoke, Leah Sinclair breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly ladled soup for the three of them.
"Leah, don't just stand there. Eat with us," Ethan Shaw said, chewing on a piece of beef. "Do you have any alcohol?"
"Yes. What kind would you like?"
"Anything's fine."
Leah brought out a selection, and Ethan Shaw grabbed a can of dark beer. He took a long sip. "Ahh, that's refreshing! This is the best home-cooked meal I've had all month. I've been eating out every day, and I'm about to throw up."
"You're welcome to come over for dinner more often, if you'd like." Leah was a little embarrassed by his compliment, but she was delighted.
She then poured herself a drink and said, "I haven't had a chance to properly thank you all. So, let me take this opportunity to thank you for taking care of me. I'll drink this first as a token of my respect."
Ethan Shaw smiled mischievously. "It was nothing. Besides, even if it was just because this is the first time Asher's ever taken a girl out, we would've looked after you."
Leah blushed. After downing her drink, she hastily poured a second and looked at Asher Keating. "Thank you, Asher. These last few times… if it hadn't been for you, I… In any case, thank you."
Asher Keating picked up his glass and clinked it against hers. "It was nothing."
Leah then toasted Ethan Shaw and Riley Sterling. Only after completing the round of toasts did she truly relax and start eating her meal in peace.
She hadn't cooked in a long time, but she thought it tasted pretty good herself. While Ethan Shaw and the others talked, she ate quietly, her eyes crinkling with a smile.
Asher Keating glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She had just popped a piece of beef brisket into her mouth, her cheeks puffed out like a little hamster hoarding food. He couldn't help but smile.
"Leah."
Ethan Shaw suddenly raised his glass with a serious expression. Leah didn't know why, but she quickly picked up her glass as well.
Ethan Shaw seemed a little embarrassed. He cleared his throat and said, "To be honest with you, if Asher hadn't shown up yesterday, Riley and I… we probably wouldn't have been able to save you."
Riley Sterling also raised his glass. "He's right. The Sterling Family isn't someone Ethan and I can afford to mess with. Asher's flight was delayed, and he wasn't responding to our messages. Honestly, we were both terrified."
"Please don't say that. I'm already so grateful that you two came at all under those circumstances. If you hadn't gotten there so fast, it would've been over for me much sooner. I never would have lasted until Asher arrived."
Leah smiled. She'd never had many friends. When she was little, because of her cousins, the other kids in the village would just follow their lead and bully her. That didn't even stop once she started school.
If anyone tried to befriend her, her cousins would bring their group and beat that person up too. Over time, Leah learned not to get close to anyone, becoming quiet, withdrawn, and a loner.
It wasn't until she worked hard to get into university in Riverfall and met Sheila Hughes and her other two roommates that she finally had true friends.
But she had only just met Ethan Shaw and Riley Sterling. It was true, as Ethan had said, that they looked out for her on Asher Keating's account. Yet, before yesterday, she and Asher really didn't have any kind of special relationship.
They had come for her without hearing a word from Asher, even though they knew they couldn't afford to cross Morgan Sterling. And for them to be so frank with her about it today… Leah felt deeply gratified.
She had met so few kind people in her life, so she especially cherished those who showed her any goodness.
The three of them clinked their glasses, drank, and then laughed together. That single drink seemed to wash away the lingering trace of guilt that had been weighing on Ethan Shaw and Riley Sterling since the night before.
"If I hadn't come yesterday, what was your plan?" Asher Keating suddenly asked.
Ethan Shaw and Riley Sterling looked at her with curiosity. Leah was silent for a moment before answering, "I don't know. If I could, I would've taken him down. If I couldn't, then I would've taken myself out. One of us had to go down."
Asher Keating's hand tightened around his glass.
"Badass!" Ethan Shaw gave her a thumbs-up. "You were actually thinking of taking down Morgan Sterling? Do you have any idea who he is?"
"No, but I don't like him. He was smiling the whole time, but the way his eyes looked at me… it made me really uncomfortable."
Leah shivered, remembering how Morgan Sterling had stared at her last night. It was like a wild animal eyeing its prey.
"Yeah, that's true," Riley said. "He's always been creepy. But it's for the best. You're not at Azure Bay anymore, and Asher laid down the law. He probably won't keep targeting you… right?"
As he said the last word, even Riley Sterling sounded a little unsure. After all, Morgan Sterling and Asher Keating's rivalry had been going on for a long time.
"Let's see him try."
Asher Keating scoffed. He slowly lit a cigarette. Leah, who was sitting beside him, turned her head just in time to see it. His long, slender fingers held the lighter, his head tilted slightly to one side.
The flame flickered in the reflection on his glasses. This version of Asher had a roguish air about him. For some reason, she suddenly blushed.
'How can even the simple act of lighting a cigarette make Asher look so much cooler than Morgan Sterling?'
Seeing Leah blush, Riley Sterling started to tease her. "Leah, what are you blushing about? You certainly weren't this shy last night when you were asking Asher to kiss you."
Ethan Shaw chimed in, and the teasing reminded Leah of what had happened in the elevator. Her face grew even redder. 'This is absolutely mortifying,' she thought, quickly standing up. "I'll go wash some fruit for you all."
Asher watched her beat a hasty retreat, then laughed and kicked Ethan Shaw lightly. "Alright, you two. Just drink."
"Tsk, tsk. Getting protective already, Asher?"
They were mostly done eating, so they moved to the sofa to chat. Leah brought them a plate of washed fruit, then cleared the table and went downstairs to take out the trash.
Once Leah was out the door, Ethan Shaw finally asked Asher, "So, Asher… are you really keeping her?"
"Do I look like I'm joking about something like this?" Asher leaned back lazily on the sofa.
"Tsk. Well, it's for the best. Leah really isn't suited for that place. She looks all docile, but she's got a spine of steel. Yesterday, when she got to her fourth drink, she made a deal directly with Morgan Sterling. She said if she finished the glass, he had to grant her one request. And he actually agreed. After she drank it, she had me give Ben Coleman three hard slaps, said it was to pay him back. She must have remembered him hitting her yesterday, and the time before that too. She kept a tally," Ethan Shaw said with a click of his tongue.
"So she's not just brave, she holds a grudge too," Riley Sterling laughed. "Serves him right, though. I couldn't stand that pervert either."
Asher laughed as he listened. 'That girl isn't just brave, she's stubborn as a mule. But having a bit of a temper isn't a bad thing. Even though I got her out of Azure Bay, I can't be there to protect her all the time.'
'If one of my people is just a pushover anyone can bully, then there's no point in them being one of my people in the first place.'
Meanwhile, Leah returned after taking out the trash. Just as her elevator door opened, she ran into someone from the apartment across the hall returning home.
"Leah?"
"...Dr. Hale?"