He shakes his head once.
Damn you, Old Reina.
I pull myself out of that trance and focus on the now. “Let me talk to Jason alone.”
The slight improvement of his mood vanishes, and his hold tightens around my hand. “Fuck. No.”
“Hear me out.”
“No, and that’s final. There’s no fucking way I’m leaving you alone with him.”
This isn’t the time for his jealous possessive episodes, dammit. “We’re friends, Ash. You’re not. Jason will be more comfortable talking to me alone.”
“We’ll do it together or not at all.”
“You’re so fucking stubborn, d
o you know that?” I glare up at him.
“Not as much as you.”
With that, we both head over to Jason, who has been watching our interaction closely.
“Hey, Reina.” He smiles, his gaze flitting to Asher’s fingers in mine.
“Hey, Jason.” I smile back, trying to dissipate the tension floating in the air. “I was hoping we could talk to you?”
“We?” He appears wary as he glances between me and the tension ball by my side.
“Yes, we,” Asher says with a calm he sure as hell doesn’t feel. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“No.” Jason pauses. “It’s just that I have nothing to talk about with you.”
That’s not good. If Jason means that, he won’t divulge anything in Asher’s presence.
“When it comes to whatever relationship you had with my sister, yes, you do.”
I dig my nails into Asher’s skin, trying to shut him up. I’m sure he sees the way Jason has straightened. He hit a nerve, and if he doesn’t back off right now, we’ll lose our only thread to the truth.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jason maintains his cool façade.
“What did Ari tell you that day?” Asher’s threatening aura might as well have turned into smoke and be looming over us.
“She just told me to take care.”
Asher steps forward and I know he’s about to grab Jason, or worse, smash his fist into his face. He’s provoking him, and Asher has been volatile since the morning. It’s almost similar to the resurfacing of the old Asher with his quick fist and ever-changing moods.
I grab his arm with my free hand and say, “Do you know anything else? Something that could help us in uncovering the reason behind her death?”
Jason lifts a shoulder. “No, not really.”
He’s lying.
Even though there are no obvious tells, I can sense he’s hiding something. As I predicted, he’ll never say it in front of Asher.
Jason smiles at me. “If you need anything, you know where to find me.”
And with that, he gets into his truck and leaves the mansion.