“Hey, honey, I'm going to take Nico to the bathroom. I’ll be right back. Can you order me a coffee and a cinnamon roll?”
“Take Nico to the bathroom? What am I, five?” I hear him mumble beside me and I giggle.
“Um, sure,” she says, her eyes large from shock then I hear her gasp and look behind me. Cash and Nick are walking in.
“Oh right. Liz, meet Nico,” I say, pulling his hand up, which I am still holding. “Cash and Nick, this is Liz. We will be right back.” I drag Nico with me down the hall and pull him into the bathroom. I see Liz give a slight wave to the guys and can tell she wants to bolt.
“Stay here,” I mumble, standing him in front of the mirror. I go into the stall to get toilet paper.
“We have to make this fast before Liz bails on me.”
“Are you this bossy with my brother?” Nico asks, his lips twitching. I smile and shrug my shoulders. He laughs.
“So, how do you know Liz,” he asks as I wet a paper towel and start 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 were there,” I say, glaring at him.
“We don’t have a harem.” He smirks, so I just shake 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 chuckles and I finish cleaning him up. Then, I turn toward the mirror and wipe the mascara off my face.
“You’re going to need ice for your eye,” I say to him through the mirror then turn to throw the garbage away. He ignores my comment and opens the door. “You need ice,” I repeat and he just shakes his head.
“I’ll be fine,” he says and my phone starts ringing, saving him from a lecture. I pull it out of my bag and see Asher calling. Crap!
“Hey,” I answer.
“Are you okay, baby?”
“Um, yeah. I just freaked and beat up your brother,” I whisper into the phone.
“I'm going to kick his ass. What the fuck 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 cross my fingers, praying that he doesn’t ask me anymore about it. I want to tell him everything but money always changes people.
“What the fuck?”
“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 fuck not?”
“Don’t you think we should have a break? I mean, we have been together all weekend.”
“A break?” he yells and I know 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 remember 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 whisper into the phone, knowing my temper is going a little crazy. “Liz is waiting for me. I’ll talk to you later.” I hang up and turn my phone to silent.
I walk to where Liz is sitting with Nick. Her head is bent, studying the coffee cup in front of her like it holds the secrets to the universe. I feel guilty for leaving her out here for so long. She looks up as I sit down across from her.
“I'm so sorry,” I tell her honestly. I feel bad that I made plans with her and they got completely messed up.
“It’s fine.” She smiles and looks over her shoulder at Cash and Nico, and I know that she is in hot-guy heaven. I laugh and she starts laughing too. Yep, we are going to be great friends.
I look up from her to see Nico and Cash walking towards us. Both are carrying coffee cups.
“Alright, sis,” Cash says, looking down at me. “We gotta go. We’ll see you this weekend, right?” His phone starts ringing and he picks up. “Yo, yeah, hold on.”