Until Series(30)

“Alrighty, then,” I say. I look at my dad and give him the look that says be nice. Then I start to walk away but I’m pulled back by my sweatshirt. I look over my shoulder at Asher and see he’s holding on to me.

“You forget something?” he asks.

“Uh…no,” I say, turning around to look at him and wondering what I could have forgotten.

“Kiss me,” he says, with a completely serious expression. I can’t believe he just said that in front of my dad.

“I’m not kissing you in front of my dad and uncle,” I hiss at him and he has the nerve to smile.

“You kiss me or I’ll kiss you. Make up your mind, and make it quick. I need to talk to your dad then I’ve got shit to do.” I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him. He cannot be serious.

“Don’t tell me to kiss you in fro—” I’m cut off when Asher pulls me to him and kisses me. It’s closed mouthed and ends before it really starts, but I’m speechless that he just did that in front of my dad. I try to pull myself together but I’m completely stunned by what just happened. Then, I hear my dad laughing and I look at him just to make sure I’m not imagining things.

“Shouldn’t you be getting your gun or something?” I say, looking at my dad while throwing my hand out in Asher’s direction.

“Nope,” he says, smiling. “Now I see what James was talking about when he called me this morning.” My dad re-crosses his arms over his chest and leans back on the heels of his boots.

“Great! Just frickin’ great,” I mutter to the ground, rubbing my temples. I look up and glare at Asher. “Seriously, stop kissing me in front of our parents,” I say, pointing at him. Then I turn around and stomp all the way up the stairs and into the house. I slam the door for good measure before I realize that I left Beast outside. I open the door and call Beast but all three heads turn to watch me. I glare at all of them then slam the door again.

This time, I can hear laughter from the other side. “Whatever,” I mumble as I make my way down to my apartment.



Sitting on Asher’s back deck with my Kindle in my hand, my feet up on the railing, my head tilted back and enjoying the sun on my face, is practically paradise. I can hear Beast running back and forth in the yard, chasing something. I let my mind wander to thoughts about my day.

After my tantrum, I went down to my apartment and looked around. It was obvious that my uncle and Dad had been busy. The red was gone and there were three full garbage bags. I walked around to see if anything was missing but couldn’t find anything out of place. The chair and couch were now garbage because the cushions had been slashed. I walked into my bedroom to make sure everything was in its place and it looked perfect. There were even yellow roses sitting on my side table. I walked to them and noticed the card.

You deserve beauty. Why are you forcing me to become ugly?

“What the heck?” I whispered. These were from the person who broke into my apartment. My hand started to shake and I wanted to cry. I knew my family had worked hard to make that space special for me and now I didn’t even want to be down there. I sat on the ripped couch and had my face in my hands, thinking about how I was going to fix this. I smelled Asher and he pulled my hands away from my face. He was crouched in front of me and looked worried.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, thinking he and my dad got into it.

“I think I should ask you that,” he said, pulling me up then sitting on the couch with me in his lap.

“Whoever did this left me flowers.” I felt Asher freeze underneath me as I handed him the card.

“What the fuck,” he whispered.

“How am I going to fix this?” I asked. “Everyone worked so hard for me to feel welcome and now this is happening and I don’t even know why.” He started rubbing my back so I cuddled into his chest with my head under his chin.

“I’m going to give this to my dad. The rest is just stuff, baby. Your family is just glad that nothing happened to you.” He ran his fingers along my jaw then kissed the top of my head, I couldn’t help but to sigh. I wanted to close everything off and pretend that this wasn’t happening.

“I’m glad I wasn’t here when it happened,” I said, cuddling closer.

“November,” my dad called from the top of the stairs. “Nick Stevenson is on the phone. He says he needs to talk to you.” I felt Asher’s body go tight under me again. I lifted my head to look at him and he was pissed.

“Nick who?” I called up the stairs.

“Nick Stevenson. His dad is a lawyer in town.”