Until November (Until, #1)(75)

“I didn’t know about the attack in New York. I didn’t know she was going to do that to you,” he says the words quickly.

“Okay,” I say. My pulse speeds up when he looks at me again.

“I’ve been watching her.” He looks around. “She’s been in town for a while now. I wanted to warn you. I tried to scare you into going back to New York, but instead you decided to stay here with that guy.”

“How did you try to scare me?”

“Broke into your apartment and left you notes.”

“The poetry?” I ask, just to clarify.

He nods, looking around again. “We need to leave soon.”

“No, you need to leave.”

“I can’t leave without you.”

“I think that you need help,” I say, as I see Kenton looking through the crack in the door.

“I love you. We were getting married.”

“Please just leave. I'm happy. Can’t you be happy for me?”

“Weren’t we happy?” he asks.

I shake my head. “Chris,” I say softly, “we were a lie that you and my mother cooked up. You were my first everything, and it was all a lie so you both could collect money that I didn’t even know I was going to receive.”

His eyes close like he’s in pain, his head tilts toward the ceiling. I watch out of the corner of my eye as Kenton steps into the room, gun drawn.

“I loved you though.”

“Love isn’t like that, Chris. I'm sorry. I hope you get help so that one day you will know what love is but that isn’t love.”

His eyes meet mine and I can see the sadness in them.

“I want you to put your hands on your head and turn around slowly,” Kenton says. Chris’s head swings in his direction. When he registers the gun in Chris’s hand, Kenton’s hands go to his head. Then his gaze comes back to me.

“I'm sorry.”

I nod my head and watch Kenton pull cuffs out of his pocket and attach them to Chris’s wrist.

“What the f*ck?” Asher’s voice cracks through the room like thunder. He looks me over then takes a step towards Chris. Kenton blocks him.

“See to your girl,” Kenton says quietly. I can tell that he’s having a hard time not beating the crap out of someone. I think anyone would do for him right now after everything that happened yesterday. Me being in danger today is playing havoc with him.

“Are you okay, baby?” he asks, taking a step towards me.

“Yeah.” I nod my head as he pulls me into his arms. “It’s over,” I whisper into his chest.

“Yeah,” he agrees.



Epilogue


“Again, again!” Emma screams as Asher picks her up again, tossing her through the air and into the pool. He’s been doing the same thing for the last ten minutes. I look around for someone to help me at eight and a half months pregnant. It’s hard to get my ass out of our lounge chairs unless I roll out, get on my hands and knees then stand. There are too many people around for me to do that today without really embarrassing myself.

“Need some help?” I look up to see Kenton standing over me.

“God, yes.” I moan. “I swear, this little girl is going to be a dancer,” I tell him and watch as he smiles.

“The pool turned out awesome,” he says once he pulls me up. I look around. He is not wrong. The pool is amazing. It has a hot tub that is connected to it, along with so many flowers and plants that you would think we were in the jungle.

“Yeah, Jack did an amazing job,” I say and look over at him. “So, where is Christen or Tina or Lisa or—”

“Very funny,” he says, cutting me off.

I start to giggle and feel my belly bouncing with my laughter then I feel a kick that’s so hard, I stop immediately and grab Kenton’s hand and pull it towards my belly.

“What?” he started. Then, his eyes get big and drop to my stomach. “Holy shit!”

“Yeah, now imagine that on your bladder.” I laugh.

“That’s so amazing,” he says and his hand starts to rub my belly.

“Now, I know that it’s obvious by the huge ring on her finger that she’s taken, but if you happened to miss that, you definitely can’t miss the fact that she’s obviously pregnant.”

I laugh and see Kenton looking at Asher with something that looks a lot like envy in his eyes. I know he doesn’t want me, but I think deep down he wants his own family.

“Yeah, both those are hard to miss,” he says, smiling.

“How’s it going, man?” Asher asks him while pulling me into him.

“Good. Busy. I'm seeing someone and things are good.”

“Just one someone?” I ask, knowing his history. Since I’ve been around, there has been someone different at each event.

“Yeah, just one.” He smiles and shakes his head.

“That’s great,” I whisper, laying my head on Asher’s chest. He doesn’t look like someone in love though, so I wonder if he’s just trying to settle down because he is lonely. “You should invite her next time we all get together.”

“Baby, leave the man alone. He just said he’s seeing someone, not that he is picking out a ring.”