Until Series(48)

“I’m okay now,” I tell him, wiping my face on his shirt.

“Did you just wipe your face on me?”

“Nope,” I say, smiling into his shirt, remembering Asher and the fake blood.

“Just checking,” he mumbles. I look up to see his lips twitching. His eyes scan my face and his thumb sweeps my cheek. “Have you talked to anyone about what happened?” I can’t talk. I just shake my head.

“Babe, you need to talk to someone.” I swallow and look down. I feel tears pooling in my eyes again. “Ah fuck,” he growls and hugs me tighter to him. Then he stands and pulls me with him, and then Cash is here hugging me.

“Hey, sis, you scared the fuck out of me.”

“Sorry,” I mumble while I try to smile. I like that he called me sis. He pulls back and Nick steps closer. Nico steps in front of him then I see the damage I caused. Nico’s shirt is ripped, his nose is bloody, and there are a few bruises under his eye.

“Oh my God,” I whisper. I walk to Nico and grab his hand. “Come on, we have to go to the bathroom.”

“What?” He stops and pulls his hand away. He looks at me like I’m crazy.

“We have to go to the bathroom,” I say slowly.

“This may have escaped you, but I have a dick. The only time I go into the bathroom with a chick is for a quick fuck, and that’s not happening, so no, we don’t have to go to the bathroom.”

“Yes, we do,” I yell. I grab his hand again and drag him down the sidewalk. When we get to the café, I see Liz. We make eye contact and her eyes almost pop out of her head.

“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.”