Ray rose as soon as Asher did, closing his eyes briefly and holding his breath to stop a sigh coming out.

"It does. It does make a difference to me. But I wanted to be sure it did to you too." Because surely that meant Asher thought he was different now. It meant Ray was with someone who wasn't bad and who didn't go against almost everything Ray believed in.

"My timing coulda been better, yeah." But he wasn't sorry he'd asked.