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

“Sorry,” I mumbled while I tried to smile. I liked that he called me sis. He pulled back and Nick stepped closer. Nico stepped in front of him then I saw the damage I caused. His shirt was ripped, his nose was bloody, and a few bruises under his eye.

“Oh my God,” I whispered. I walked to Nico and grabbed his hand. “Come on, we have to go to the bathroom.”

“What?” He stopped and pulled his hand away. He looked at me like I was crazy.

“We have to go to the bathroom,” I said 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 yelled. I grabbed his hand again and dragged him down the sidewalk. When we got to the café, I saw Liz. We made eye contact and her eyes almost popped 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 heard him mumble beside me, and I giggled.

“Um, sure,” she said, her eyes large from shock then I heard her gasp and looked behind me. Cash and Nick were walking in.

“Oh crap, Liz. Nico,” I said, pulling his hand up, which I was still holding. “Cash and Nick, this is Liz. We will be right back. I dragged Nico with me down the hall and pulled him into the bathroom. I saw Liz give a slight wave to the guys and could tell that she wanted to bolt.

“Stay here,” I mumbled, standing him in front of the mirror. I went 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 asked, his lips twitching. I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. He laughed.

“So, how do you know Liz,” he asked as I wet the paper towel and started 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 was there,” I said, glaring at him.

“We don’t have a harem.” He smirked, so I shook 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 chuckled and I finished cleaning him up. Then, I turned toward the mirror and wiped the mascara off my face.

“You’re going to need ice for your eye,” I said to him through the mirror then turned to throw the garbage away. He ignored my comment and opened the door.

“You need ice,” I repeated and he just shook his head.

“I’ll be fine,” he said and my phone started ringing, saving him from a lecture. I pulled it out of my bag and saw Asher calling. Crap!

“Hey,” I answered.

“Are you okay, baby?”

“Um, yeah. I just freaked and beat up your brother,” I whispered 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 crossed my fingers, praying that he didn’t ask me anymore about it. I wanted to tell him 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 yelled and I knew 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 remembered 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 whispered into the phone, knowing my temper was going a little crazy. “Liz is waiting for me. I’ll talk to you later.” I hung up and turned my phone to silent. I walked to where Liz was sitting with Nick. Her head was bent, studying the coffee cup in front of her like it held the secrets to the universe. I felt guilty for leaving her out there for so long. She looked up as I sat down across from her.

“I'm so sorry,” I told her honestly. I felt bad that I made plans with her and they got completely messed up.

“It’s fine.” She smiled and looked over her shoulder at Cash and Nico, and I knew that she was in hot guy heaven. I laughed and she started laughing too. Yep, we were going to be great friends.

I looked up from her to see Nico and Cash walking towards us. Both were carrying coffee cups.

“Alright, sis,” Cash said, looking down at me. “We gotta go. We’ll see you this weekend, right?” His phone started ringing and he picked up with a, “Yo, yeah, hold on.”

He pushed the phone in my direction and I knew it was Asher. I looked at it in his hand and felt like it was going to uncoil and strike out at me. Then, he shoved it closer and I had no choice but to take it from him.

“Hello.”

“Don’t ever fucking hang up on me.”

“I—”

“See you at seven.” Then the line was dead.

“Crap,” I whispered.

“Is everything okay?” Cash asked.

“I guess we’ll see,” I told him truthfully, biting my lower lip. For the first time, I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Asher.

After the guys said goodbye, I debated on telling Liz I had a headache. I no longer felt like visiting. I wanted to go home and crawl into bed and cuddle with Beast. But I stayed. Nick was really nice, no flirting, just chatting. Liz was watching him closely. They had gone to high school together but didn’t know each other well.

After a while, we all said goodbye, and I told Liz to call me so we could meet up later in the week. I told Nick that I would talk to him when he got the stuff ready for me from his dad. Then, I got in my car and drove home.

*************************

I felt free. It was amazing. The landscape passed by quickly as I drove down a long stretch of country road. When I got home, my dad and uncle came out on the front porch and had me follow them around the side of the house to the garage. When we got there, I had no idea what was going on until they pulled the tarp off a shiny black motorcycle.

They explained that it was a 2011 Ninja 250r. It was small—perfect for my height and weight. It also didn’t have as much power as a bigger bike, so there was less of a chance of me doing damage to myself or someone else. I only half listened to them. I mean, I had a motorcycle. How flipping awesome was that?

Uncle Joe told me that one of his boys bought it for his son when he wanted to learn to ride. Now he was upgrading to a Harley so he was ready to sell it. I didn’t care. I loved it. He also got me a white helmet with hot pink and black airbrush writing that says baby girl on the back.

I jumped up and down when he handed it to me. They showed me how to ride for over three hours after I changed into jeans, boots and a leather jacket. Then, they finally let me go out on the road. In the country, there was no traffic. You might come across a truck or two, but normally, you would be the only car on the road for miles at a time. It was perfect. I was in love and knew that I would be doing this often just to clear my head.

When I started up my dad’s driveway, I saw Asher’s jeep and my good mood left just as quickly as it came. “Great,” I whispered to myself. I pulled up in front of the garage. I got off the bike, took off my helmet and shook out my hair. Asher walked up with Beast following behind him. He was wearing a red thermal and a pair of dark jeans along with his brown boots. He also wore a white baseball hat with black writing. I had never seen him in a hat before and he looked hot. Well, hotter than normal.

“Hey,” I said and started pushing the bike into the garage. He took over and pushed it all the way in then took the cover from me and tossed it over the bike.

“So, I guess this is one more thing that I have to worry about?” he asked, and even though I knew what he was talking about, I still asked.

“Sorry?”

“The bike,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes on me.

“My dad and uncle got it for me. I like riding it and I'm going to keep it.” I crossed my arms over my chest, copying his stance and daring him to say something stupid like, “You can’t keep it.” Then I would have informed him that he was going to be the only thing not kept if he thought he could tell me that I couldn’t have my bike.

“Just promise that when you’re on this shit, you’ll always wear a helmet, jeans, boots, and a jacket.”

“Promise.” I smiled and his eyes narrowed on my mouth.

“Now tell me why you were out with Nick.”

“I wasn’t out with him,” I said, completely exasperated. “I went to his dad’s firm, he asked me to lunch and I said no thank you and that I had plans. I felt bad, so I asked him if he wanted to go with me and Liz for coffee.”

“Uh hum,” he said, pulling one of the belt loops of my jeans, forcing me to take a step in his direction.

“Uh hum?” I repeated with a raised eyebrow.

“Where are you sleeping tonight?” he asked, pulling me closer and dipping his head towards my neck.

“In bed,” I answered but my brain was being dragged into an Asher fog with the way he kissed the skin below my ear.

“What bed?” he whispered as he bit my neck.

“What bed am I supposed to sleep in?” I breathed deeply as he started nipping on my earlobe.

“Mine.”

“Hmm.” I moaned as he pressed into me.

“So, where are you sleeping, November?” He growled and his hand fisted into the back of my head, his mouth hovering over mine. My eyes fluttered open. “Where are you sleeping, baby?” he asked against my mouth.

“With you,” I whispered, feeling powerless against him.

“That’s right. Always with me.” My brain registers his words but before I can make him clarify what he means, his mouth is on mine and my brain goes deeper into an Asher fog. His kiss feels desperate, like he’s branding me with it. When he pulled away, he pressed his forehead against mine. I ran my hand along his jaw and his eyes opened at my touch.