"Why does kindness have to have a reason Bella?" He asked.
I opened my mouth to say something but closed it because I realized that I didn't have anything to say.
"When did someone being decent to you become something that needed an explanation?" Asher continued.
The question hung in the air between us and I didn't know what to do with it. I wanted to argue. I wanted to find a hole in it, something to push back against.
But I couldn't because he was right and that was the most devastating part.
Somewhere along the way I had gotten so used to earning everything…every meal, every moment of peace, every small kindness …that someone offering it freely felt like a trap. Like there had to be a catch. Like I needed to find it before it found me.
I had been waiting for Asher to show his re
