Until November (Until, #1)(42)

“We have to make this fast before Liz bails on me.”

“Are you this bossy with my brother?” Nico asked, his lips twitching. I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. He laughed.

“So, how do you know Liz,” he asked as I wet the paper towel and started wiping the blood from his face.

“I don’t really know her. I just met her the other day when I went into her store. She seemed sweet and some of the Mayson boys’ harem was there,” I said, glaring at him.

“We don’t have a harem.” He smirked, so I shook my head.

“Yes, you guys do but anyway, they were rude to her, so I figured that if they didn’t like her, I most likely would, no offense.”

“None taken.” He chuckled and I finished cleaning him up. Then, I turned toward the mirror and wiped the mascara off my face.

“You’re going to need ice for your eye,” I said to him through the mirror then turned to throw the garbage away. He ignored my comment and opened the door.

“You need ice,” I repeated and he just shook his head.

“I’ll be fine,” he said and my phone started ringing, saving him from a lecture. I pulled it out of my bag and saw Asher calling. Crap!

“Hey,” I answered.

“Are you okay, baby?”

“Um, yeah. I just freaked and beat up your brother,” I whispered into the phone.

“I'm going to kick his ass. What the f*ck was he thinking, doing that shit?”

“It’s fine. He was just joking around and I don’t think he will ever do it again.”

“Yeah, I heard. So, how was the meeting with the lawyer?”

“Oh…um…it was okay.”

“Well, what did he say?”

“Oh, you know, this and that, typical lawyer stuff.” I crossed my fingers, praying that he didn’t ask me anymore about it. I wanted to tell him but money always changes people.

“What the f*ck?”

“I’d rather not talk about this over the phone.”

“Okay. You can tell me tonight. Should we do takeout?”

“I'm staying at my dad’s tonight.”

“November, you’re not staying there. It’s not safe.”

“I’ll sleep in the guest room upstairs. My dad will be in the next room.”

“Have dinner with Mike then I want you in my bed tonight.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“Why the f*ck not?”

“Don’t you think we should have a break? I mean, we have been together all weekend.”

“A break?” he yelled and I knew that was the wrong thing to say. “Careful how you word shit. Right now, November, I'm already pissed off about you being out with Nick then you say you need a break. I might get the wrong idea.”

This is when I remembered that he can be a total jerk. “Are you serious right now? Wait, don’t answer that. I know you are,” I yell back. “I also told you that you have to trust me. That is not optional, Asher,” I whispered into the phone, knowing my temper was going a little crazy. “Liz is waiting for me. I’ll talk to you later.” I hung up and turned my phone to silent. I walked to where Liz was sitting with Nick. Her head was bent, studying the coffee cup in front of her like it held the secrets to the universe. I felt guilty for leaving her out there for so long. She looked up as I sat down across from her.

“I'm so sorry,” I told her honestly. I felt bad that I made plans with her and they got completely messed up.

“It’s fine.” She smiled and looked over her shoulder at Cash and Nico, and I knew that she was in hot guy heaven. I laughed and she started laughing too. Yep, we were going to be great friends.

I looked up from her to see Nico and Cash walking towards us. Both were carrying coffee cups.

“Alright, sis,” Cash said, looking down at me. “We gotta go. We’ll see you this weekend, right?” His phone started ringing and he picked up with a, “Yo, yeah, hold on.”

He pushed the phone in my direction and I knew it was Asher. I looked at it in his hand and felt like it was going to uncoil and strike out at me. Then, he shoved it closer and I had no choice but to take it from him.

“Hello.”

“Don’t ever f*cking hang up on me.”

“I—”

“See you at seven.” Then the line was dead.

“Crap,” I whispered.

“Is everything okay?” Cash asked.

“I guess we’ll see,” I told him truthfully, biting my lower lip. For the first time, I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Asher.

After the guys said goodbye, I debated on telling Liz I had a headache. I no longer felt like visiting. I wanted to go home and crawl into bed and cuddle with Beast. But I stayed. Nick was really nice, no flirting, just chatting. Liz was watching him closely. They had gone to high school together but didn’t know each other well.

After a while, we all said goodbye, and I told Liz to call me so we could meet up later in the week. I told Nick that I would talk to him when he got the stuff ready for me from his dad. Then, I got in my car and drove home.

*************************

I felt free. It was amazing. The landscape passed by quickly as I drove down a long stretch of country road. When I got home, my dad and uncle came out on the front porch and had me follow them around the side of the house to the garage. When we got there, I had no idea what was going on until they pulled the tarp off a shiny black motorcycle.