Until November (Until, #1)(61)

“Are you going to close the account?”

He keeps up the tickling. ”YES!” I screech my agreement about the dating site. “Please stop. I'm going to pee.” I was finally able to say a full sentence. He stopped immediately. I jumped up and ran to the bathroom without looking back. When I am walking back toward the kitchen, I hear Asher and his dad talking.

“I want this shit done.”

“Call Kenton and ask him to make November a priority. You can always send her to him to keep safe.” Hmm, that’s interesting. I’ve been wondering what Kenton did, but every time I ask about it, I get the run around.

His laugh held no humor. Then he answered, “He met November at the Christmas party and was getting ready to go in for the Kenton kill when I told him she was mine.”

“He would never cross that line and you know it.”

“The only thing I know is that I want this shit done.” He growled. “I'm too selfish to send her away. I wouldn’t be able to function knowing she was staying with Kenton.” I heard him take a breath. “If things escalate, I’ll take her to the cabin.”

“Your cousin is a good man. He’s also one of the best at what he does.”

“I don’t give a f*ck. You were not there. You didn’t see the way he looked at her. I know Kenton better than anyone. And unless something else happens, she stays here with me.”

“Your jealousy could end up getting her hurt,” His dad whispers and my heart starts beating double time.

“I would never let anything happen to her. I have my f*cking reasons for not trusting anyone with her.” I needed to quit eavesdropping, but it was like I was glued in place. “We don’t even know what’s going on. The only thing we know is she was attacked in New York. That may not have anything to do with what’s happening here.

“The card shows the New York City skyline. I think whoever is doing this knows her from New York. We don’t know if the attack and the things happening here are connected, but since she’s been in Tennessee, she has had two separate instances where she has been left poetry. The thing is messy. We just need to clean it up and put the pieces together. I'm going into town to the florist. I’ll call and let you know if I find out anything from them.

I could hear the frustration in Asher’s voice. In the meantime, I'm gonna talk to my friend in Jersey and tell him about what happened today.”

I walked out of my hiding place in the hall just as Mr. James was opening the front door. He tipped his head in my direction, his eyes soft on me. “I want you to be extra careful.” I could tell that his tone was not that of the sheriff, but as a man who cared about me like a daughter. “If you’re out, you need to watch who’s around you. If anyone makes you feel even the slightest bit of unease, you go somewhere where there are a lot of people and call me or one of my boys. As I told Asher, this whole situation is a mess. I just need to see if I can dig anything up that will straighten everything out. In the meantime, stay safe.”

“Thanks for everything.” I walk to him and hug him around the waist. He gives me a one-armed hug, his other arm full with his notebook, his plastic bag with the card inside, and a coffee cup.

“I'm sure Susan is going to be stopping by soon and will want to see for herself that you’re safe.” He was not wrong. Susan was a momma bear and very protective of her cubs. Since being brought into the family, she has taken me under her care and made it known far and wide that if you messed with me, you would have to deal with her.

“Okay,” I murmured. My real mother might not want me, but Susan loves me and she is better than anything I could ever ask for in a mother. Asher’s brothers are always giving me a hard time, telling me I am a suck up. I don’t care. Asher hooks me around my waist, pulling my back to his front.

“Talk to you soon, Dad,” Asher says, shuffling us to the door as his dad closed it behind him. He locks it and turns me around, his hands framing my face. “You okay?” I can see the worry in his eyes.

“I'm fine. I just want to know who is doing this and why.”

“Me too, baby,” he says, laying his forehead against mine.

“Is it me, or is that poem totally creepy?” I whisper.

“It’s not just you.”

“What do you think it means?”

“I don’t know, baby,” he said quietly. I wrap my arms tighter around him and hold on. I can tell he hates this more than I do.



Chapter 9


“Bye,” I call over my shoulder as I walked out of Temptations.

“Bye, honey,” Liz calls through the open door of her shop. I got up early to meet Liz for coffee and to explain to her about what happened yesterday. She knew I received flowers yesterday because I had called her, and everyone else I knew, to see who sent them. She, like everyone else, said didn’t send anything and asked why. I couldn’t explain the situation to at the time. Plus with each phone call, I got more and more scared and was too freaked out to tell anyone about what happened. Then Mr. James showed up and we found the card. So, I knew it was more than just a nice gesture from a friend.

After Mr. James left, Asher dragged me into the office, sat me at the desk, got my phone book and had me log onto the online dating site. He dragged me out of the chair, sat down, and pulled me into his lap. I poked around on the website and looked at any communications that I had received from guys. I clicked on my profile and the picture that I had used. I grunted a few times while reading some of the information I posted. We went to the section where people who contacted me left messages. I was surprised by the amount of inquires I received. Some were normal, others disturbing. The normal ones were just, would you like to have dinner with me questions. Others were, would you like to meet to have sex? Those surprised me. I never knew people used the internet for one night stand type of situations.