Asher King's life has revolved around putting up an involuntary mask to hide his true self. With successful parents boasting about his 'pretend' success, Asher feels as though the life he is living was never his to begin with, and a home of happines...
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"Okay, shh," I say, interrupting the loud chatter between the people in the room. The room immediately gets silent except for Hayden's loud mouth.
I walk over and slap him on the back of the head.
"Owie," Hayden mutters, rubbing where I just hit him.
"I'm going to get Ash, so you need to be quiet until he gets out here."
Hayden nods and salutes me. I look around the room to make sure everything and everyone is in place.
"Remember, whenever you see me and Ash come out of the room, everyone needs to yell 'surprise.'"
"Yeah, we got it, Leo," Cecilia says and jokingly rolls her eyes. "Just go get him already."
"Who is this girl again?" Vincent says, pointing at Cecilia.
Cecilia turns to glare at him. "I can assure you that calling a female 'this girl' is guaranteed to get you no bitches."
Vincent raises his eyebrows and throws his hands up in surrender while Hayden is dying of laughter at Cecilia's comment.
"Sawyer, I thought you said that was a no-no word," Olivia mutters cutely from her spot on the couch.
Sawyer is sitting right next to her and glances at Cecilia since she was the one to use a curse word in front of the child. Cecilia looks unbothered. Sawyer quickly looks back down to Olivia, but with a little red tint on his cheeks.
Oh...that's definitely interesting.
"Adults are allowed to say it," Sawyer says with a smile and boops Olivia's nose. "But you aren't an adult, so it's a bad word for you."
Olivia giggles, "Okay, Soybean."
"Aw, Soybean...that's such a cute nickname," Amelia's bubbly voice says.
She jumps up from her barstool and kneels in front of Olivia.
"I'm Amelia," she says happily. "What's your name?"
Olivia buries her face in Sawyer's shoulder but still responds quietly. "Olivia."
"Oh my gosh! That's such a pretty name. Do you mind if I sit next to you?" Amelia asks.
She shyly shakes her head. Amelia plops down next to her.
"Do you like kids?" Jordan questions quietly from his spot on the other couch.
"I love them so much!" Amelia exclaims, and Olivia giggles next to her.
"Wow, can't relate," Cecilia mumbles.
"Yeah, random girl, I agree," Vincent adds, and Cecilia glares at him again.
I look back at Sawyer on the couch and see his eyes still glued to Cecilia.
