The shivering chilled right to the bone. Two concussions, a broken clavicle, a deviated septum --- Asher wasn’t a stranger to physical pain in the past and he’d gotten through it on his own. He never liked to back down so he often paid the price. On the ice that fact was just amplified. This morning he’d been feeling the repercussions. The repercussions of... everything. His mind was racing despite the fact he didn’t want to move an inch. His stomach lurched with hands pressed to his abdomen. There was a wicked pounding in his head as he spotted his phone light up out of the corner of his eye and play the irritating little notification noise.
He ignored it, pulling his pillow over his head and rolling over to where he heard one of his dogs grunt at him for moving around. Curling up in a ball, the pains in his stomach dulled to a throb. He fell back asleep. His headache pierced his temples when the notification went off again. How long did he zone out for? A low, irritated groan left his mouth and he rolled back over to look at his phone though a stream of incomprehensible swears left his mouth for not turning down the brightness last night. ‘Two new notifications from: Mira Forrester’ --- huh? What did she want this early in the morning? They’d started talking again... however little it was, but his thoughts weren’t completely straight right now.
( 10:00 AM ) » We’re on our way!
( 10:26 AM ) » We’ll be there in half an hour.
Well, he’d passed out for about twenty minutes. Asher stared at his phone through one eye with the other still closed. He tried to process what he was reading --- coming? Why was she coming ove--- “Oh shit.” The words were spat out and he pursed his lips before dropping his phone off to the side and rubbing at his eyes vigorously with heightened annoyance at himself. “Fuck!” Growling, he drove his fist down onto the mattress only to lurch forward with a sharp pain in his stomach. His mouth hung agape in a mixture of confusion and pain, hand pressed to his stomach.
A few second later, a wet nose was shoved in his face followed by sloppy puppy kisses on his cheek. With his free hand, he scruffed at the dog’s neck. “Ugk. . . Hazel, stop.” He murmured, trying to push her away as he scooted to the edge of the bed despite the figurative knife in his side. The golden retriever hopped down off the bed and turned to look at him with her tail wagging before noticing he didn’t look like himself. The next Asher looked, she was gone. There were still two sleeping dogs on the bed. He sighed, using his nightstand to help him get up off the bed. As soon as he was upright, the room started spinning around him. Any other day, he would’ve laid back down and reschedule everything, but today --- it actually mattered.
He hadn’t seen Ethan in years. He’d been in what? Middle school? High school? It was a sin that he couldn’t remember how old he was. He wanted Mira to bring him to see him. He knew he couldn’t go home and see him. He wasn’t ready to face their old man just yet. He missed his little brother, though. He missed both the twins and Ryon, of course, but he knew how they could be. The twins stuck to each other --- the both of them together was a force to be reckoned with if they had a grudge to hold. If he could work on them separately, there was a chance. A day out --- a day to talk. That’s all he asked.
He wasn’t sure how Mira convinced him to come, but he owed her a lot for what she was doing and there was no chance in hell he was going to back out. His nerves were starting to act up now too. Asher made it to the bathroom, gripping onto either side of the sink and staring into the mirror. The man he saw staring back looked like shit --- eye a little red from where he could tell he’d been hit. He’d been hit before, but this was worse than that. His memory of what happened that previous night was shit after he’d left the arena.
Oh well, it didn’t matter. He opened up the medicine cabinet, pulling out a bottle and looking it over. His brows knit together. It didn’t seem like there were that many left. Unscrewing the cap, he dumped out two of the little white pills and tossing them back. Ducking his head under the faucet, he washed them down before wiping his mouth off on the back of his hand. Checking the time, he sighed with relief that he still had a good twenty minutes to get ready.
A shower later, he felt a little better. Well enough that he was moving a bit faster. A few minutes later, he was dressed. He lingered at the bathroom door again, looking inside as he finished putting on his belt. There was still a dull pain laying just underneath his skin. The type he’d had for a while now. He sighed --- walking inside and grabbing the same bottle from before. He looked at his name on the label. Two (2) tablets every 6 hours as needed. He chewed at his bottom lip. Popping the lid off again, he spilled out two more of the pills and placed them in his mouth. Washing them down the same way, he tightened the cap back up and shoved them into the medicine cabinet. Grabbing his coat, he was out the door to meet Mira and Ethan outside.
