Free Igniting Ash by M.A. Stacie Page B

allowing her time to explain what was going on. He doubted he could manage to speak anyway. Imagining the young boy, alone in a strange room was too much. Too personal.
    It caused his memories to burst free. Ones where he wore the hospital gowns, and doctors prodded his bleeding flesh while asking a multitude of questions he couldn’t answer. The memories made him shudder, lowering his body temperature but bringing him out in a sweat at the same time.
    Blinking rapidly, Asher pushed the thoughts away. He wasn’t prepared to revisit those times. He’d moved on. “I should take you home. You’re too stressed to drive your own car home. We’ll come and collect it later. When you’ve calmed down a bit.”
    Emma didn’t protest.
    “Sometimes it feels like the job I do is utterly futile,” she said, oblivious to Asher’s mental anguish. “We try to help them but we hit so many roadblocks. The doctors usually understand but they have rules they have to adhere to. It makes me feel useless.”
    “You’re not. You know you’re not.” She finally turned her head to make eye contact with him. “And I’m not saying I agree. Not at all, but I guess it’s all there to protect the kid.”
    “How does it? I’m here for him—to help him. I can’t do anything for him though, can I? I’m not allowed. I have to wait for his social worker. Or for him to run back to it all.”
    “Without question, visiting him helps and knowing that you are actually there for him. From what you’ve told me he has no one else.”
    “He has someone.” She sneered. “Someone he keeps going back to. Someone that uses him for target practice!”
    Asher hung his head and muttered his response. “Doesn’t mean he doesn’t love them.”
    Her gasp didn’t surprise him. He couldn’t explain why anyone would care for the very person who hurt them. And he’d lived it. So how was Emma going to understand? In her world there were good and bad people; she was helping the ones who had suffered. To him, life was way more complicated.
    Slowly, he raised his head, noting the way her eyes had grown wide. Her mouth was open, and her shock was evident in her features. He wished he’d kept his dumb mouth shut. By commenting, even that small amount, he revealed far too much to her about his past.
    Panic had nausea rising in his gullet. He needed to defuse her oncoming questions because once she started to ask about his past, he knew she wouldn’t stop. Asher couldn’t lie to her. Something about her got to him. Something about her made him want to tell her everything and have her say that he’d be okay now.
    Confused by his feelings, Asher tore his hand away from hers and started the engine. He could hear her spluttering, clearly trying to work out what had just occurred and what he’d said. Asher fixed his gaze on the windscreen and drove, unable to look at her.
    They remained silent—eerily so. Every sound the engine made appeared to be far louder than it should, and the bustle from outside was as clear as it would be if he had the window lowered. He was aware of every move Emma made, each time she shuffled, combed her fingers through her hair or sighed. Her little noises were driving him insane, leaving him gritting his teeth so tightly it made his jaw ache.
    He didn’t like this reaction. Not one bit.
    “Um, thanks again for coming to help me. I should have really called my dad, but my fingers just pressed away and then I was talking to you. Guess my subconscious knew you were the best person to talk to.”
    “Maybe,” he said curtly, gripping the steering wheel that bit tighter.
    “Meagan would have been useless. That’s if she’d arrived at all.”
    Asher scowled, quickly diverting his gaze toward her for a second. Anger laced his next question. “Why are you friends with her? She sounds so shitty.”
    Emma’s brows rose, taken aback by his abruptness. He hadn’t meant to be so rude, but his body’s reaction to her was irritating