Until Series: Box set (52 page)

“Do you have baby stuff?” Jules asks, rubbing her stomach.

“We have a few things, but not many. They’re in that section,” I say, pointing towards the back of the store.

“Thanks,” Britney says. Jules walks off, leaving Britney standing in front of me, twirling her hair.

“Do you need something else?”

“You know she’s pregnant with Cash’s baby, so does she get, like, a discount or something?” Britney asks, making me want to punch her in her boob.

“Nope, sorry we don’t have any discounts here,” I tell her, walking to where November is sitting, trying to kill Britney with her eyes.

“Oh, well, okay then,” she shrugs, walking off. I do everything in my power not to roll my eyes at how big of a cliché she is, with her big boobs popping out of her top, and her even bigger bleached-out blonde hair that’s in desperate need of a deep conditioner.

November shakes her head looking over at Jules, who is holding up a pair of tiny blue socks. “So, how’s the wedding planning coming along?” she asks, and it’s my turn to shake my head.

“Between Trevor’s mom and mine, I haven’t done anything. The other day, they told me that my wedding colors were going to be lavender, mint green, and silver; they also informed me that we would be getting married under the weeping willow where Trevor proposed.” November laughs, making baby July smile at her. “You think that’s funny?” I ask, tickling her side. She squirms, holding out her arms for me to take her. “How is it that you get cuter every day?” I ask her, kissing her cheek. Her outfit today is a hot pink top, a frilly multi-colored skirt, tights, and white socks that look like ballet flats. She gurgles, shoving her face into my neck, rubbing back and forth the way babies do when they’re sleepy.

“It’s almost time for a nap,” November says, smiling and watching us. It’s times like this, when I’m holding July, that I can forget for a second that the thought of having a child makes me panic. “So how’s it working out with Kara?”

“It’s been awesome having her around. I really like her.”

“You guys should come to the house and visit.”

“Sure, let me know when,” I say. I look down, noticing that July has gone still; her eyes are closed, and her chubby little cheek is pressed into my shoulder, making her tiny mouth form a small pout. “That didn’t take long.” I smile, carefully handing her back over to November.

“She likes her Aunty Liz,” she says, putting July over her shoulder and covering her with a thin blanket. “So, what are your plans for the night?”

“I’m not sure. I know Trevor is working; I was thinking of going out to dinner with Kara. I feel bad that she’s all alone.”

“Well, Asher should be home kind of early. What do you say we all meet at the Italian place on Main around six?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Alright. Well, see you then,” she says, standing up and grabbing her bag. I walk her to the door, holding it open for her.

“See you at six,” I say, closing the door behind her.

“I can’t wait to see what Cash’s baby looks like,” Jules says, walking to the front of the store. I forgot that she and Britney were still here.

“Well, if he’s a Mayson, I’m sure he will be cute,” I say, not even thinking that my words could be misinterpreted.

“I’m carrying Cash’s baby,” Jules growls, leaning forward.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” I say softly, feeling bad.

“Whatever. Let’s go, Brit,” Jules says, dropping the few items she had in her hand to the floor, before walking out the door.

“Shit.” I sigh, pick up the stuff she dropped, and walk to the front of the store. My phone beeps a few minutes later. When I look at it, it’s a text from Trevor.

Trevor:
Jules called Cash bitching him out about you saying the kid wasn’t his.

Me:
It wasn’t even like that.

I text back, shaking my head at the stupidity of the whole situation.

Trevor:
Why would you say something like that to her?

Me:
I’m not even going to justify that stupid question with a response.

I type so fast that my fingers hurt.

Tossing my phone down on the counter, I walk to the back of the store to take stock.

“Anyone here?” I hear a deep male voice call from the front of the store.

“Be out in a second,” I yell, breaking down the last box, before putting it in the pile with the rest. “Hi, can I help you?” I look up when I walk into the main part of the store; the man in front of me takes me off guard he’s so stunning. I don’t even know if a guy should be called stunning, but he is. His skin is the color of dark caramel; you can tell that his heritage is most likely Hawaiian. His long black hair is pulled back into a ponytail at the base of his neck, showing off the features of his sculptured face. His high cheekbones, square jaw, dark lashes and amber eyes would take any woman’s breath away.

“Liz Hayes?” His deep voice rumbles; he’s dressed in a dark grey suit, with a silk, wine-colored shirt that’s unbuttoned at the neck.

“Yes,” I say, swallowing hard. His energy is so scary, that I dig my fingernails into my palms to avoid running.

“I’m Kai.” He sticks out his hand. I look down at it, noticing how giant it is, and quickly put my hand out. His engulfs mine.

I clear my throat, taking my hand back. “Nice to meet you, Kai,” I say, his mouth twitches, then he schools his features.

“I’m looking for your brother. Do you know how I can get ahold of him?” I shake my head no.

“You’re either very loyal, or very stupid.” He shakes his head. “Do you understand that when the truth comes out about your brother, there will be no help for him? He’s as good as dead.”

“The police—”

“Won’t be able to do anything for him.” He interrupts sternly. He walks around the store, his hands clasped behind him; his posture is relaxed, but his energy is still beating against me, making me feel immobile. When he makes it back to me, his hand goes to the inside of his suit jacket, making me flinch. “You watch too much television, Ms. Hayes.” He laughs, making me glare. “I want you to give your brother my number. I have a proposition for him.”

I take the card from him, holding it tightly in my hand. “Okay,” I say, as he walks to the door, opening it. Before it closes behind him, he turns his eyes on mine.

“You need to have another employee with you in the store if you’re going to be in the back, Ms. Hayes,” he says, sounding just like Trevor, making me roll my eyes. When I know he’s gone, I run to the door and lock it.

I pick up my phone to call Tim, who answers on the third ring.

“Is Kara okay?”

“Kara is fine, but a guy stopped by my store wanting to get in touch with you.”

“Are you okay?” he asks, sounding nervous.

“I’m fine, Tim, I just…I think that you should call him.”

“Liz-”

He starts to say something but I cut him off I don’t know why but I think that Kai might have a way of protecting Tim. “His name was Kai and he said that when the truth comes out about what you’re doing not even the police will be able to protect you. He said he has a proposition for you.”

I hear his sharp inhale “What’s his number?” I ramble off the numbers to him listening to him scratching them down. “I’ll call him sis, just promise me that you will look out for Kara.”

“I promise, just be careful Tim. I know I don’t really know what’s going on but you have people here that love you and need you to be safe.”

“Don’t worry about me just take care of yourself and Kara,” he says, hanging up, leaving me looking at the phone in my hand, hoping that whoever Kai is that he can help Tim out. As soon as I’m off the phone with Tim, it beeps with a message.

Trevor:
Don’t ever do that again.

The message leaves me speechless, and my gut clenches in anger. Part of me wants to text him back a big F-U; instead, I turn my phone off, do a last walk through of the store, and head to Mike’s to pick up Kara so that we can head out to meet November for dinner.

*

“Where the fuck
is your phone?” I hear growled from behind me. I look around the table at Kara’s pale face, November’s smirk, and Asher’s smile. Kara and I got to the restaurant early and got a table. November and Asher showed up fifteen minutes later with a sleeping July. We all ordered dinner, and I ordered wine. After the day I had, I need something to help calm my nerves. I didn’t want to tell Kara about my visitor; she was already stressed enough without dealing with anything else. When Asher first arrived, he looked at me from across the table like he was disappointed in me. That’s when I lost it and told them about what happened with Jules. I told them what I had said
exactly,
and that I didn’t like that the people I have come to care for thought that I was a bitch, when my words were taken wrongly, and I had apologized for being misunderstood.

I turn my head and look over my shoulder at Trevor, who is standing behind me with his arms crossed. He has another thing coming if he thinks that I’m going to be intimidated by him. “Oh, hey, honey. How are you?” I ask, turning my body to the side in my chair.

“How am I?”

“Yeah, you know, the normal greeting when you see someone that you haven’t seen for any length of time.”

“I see. Well, let me tell you how I am,” he says, taking a step towards me, holding his fingers out in front of him. “First, I was stuck in Nashville with a flat tire. I tried to call my doting fiancée to let her know what was going on, and not to worry about me.” I feel slightly bad about him being stuck but not that bad after what he messaged me so I shrug motioning my hands for him to continue on his tirade. “Second.” He growls leaning forward. “I get a call from my fiancée’s brother telling me about some new shit that my doting fiancée didn’t even bother to call and tell me about; and again, when I tried to call and make sure she was okay, I got sent to voicemail.” He takes another step towards me, his body inches from mine; he leans down, getting in my space. “Last, but not least, I go home and find that my sweet fiancée isn’t there, and hasn’t left a note, making me worry and wonder if she’s safe. Then, my brother calls to ask me if I’m going to be having dinner with him and my beautiful, frustrating, infuriating fiancée,” he growls, his eyes narrowing.

“Well, if my handsome jerk of a fiancée would have acted like he knew me at all, and would not have accused me of doing something I didn’t do, then had the nerve to tell me to never do it again, maybe I wouldn’t have turned my phone off,” I growl right back at him.

His jaw clenches, his eyes looking around the table before coming back to mine. “I’ve been worried about you.” He says softly, making my anger dwindle.

“I…I want to be so mad right now,” I say, wondering what the hell is wrong with me that I can’t even be pissed at him for any length of time.

“You want to, but you’re not.” He smirks, making me want to kick him.

“Don’t push your luck, Earl.”

He pulls me up out of my seat, wrapping his arms around me, his face going into my neck where he whispers, “You’re getting spanked for that.” I bite my lip to keep from moaning; his head comes up, his eyes looking over my face. “I love you, but don’t make me worry about you when it’s not necessary. Even if you’re pissed and you just answer your phone to tell me to fuck off, that’s better than not hearing anything from you and wondering if you’re okay.”

“Fine.” I roll my eyes, pushing at his chest, not ready to be over my snit.

“Are you done eating?”

“Yeah, we just finished.”

“You dropping Kara home?”

“Yeah, I drove her here.”

“Alright, I’ll meet you at the house.”

“Fine,” I grumble, he kisses my forehead, then tilts my face back to kiss my lips. Then, he lets me go, walking around the table, patting Asher’s back, kissing November’s cheek, and giving Kara a hug.

“See you at home, baby,” he says, before walking out the door of the restaurant.

“So, he’s a quick learner,” Asher says, smiling. November elbows him in the ribs, rolling her eyes, making me laugh.

“We should get home,” November says, standing. Looking at Kara, she asks, “You want us to give you a ride? You’re on our way.”

“Sure,” she shrugs, looking at me.

“That’s fine. I’ll just see you tomorrow at the store.”

We all pull out of the restaurant at the same time, with me heading in the opposite direction of them. When I pull into the driveway, Trevor is just opening his truck door. I watch him climb down with a case of beer in his hand. He sets it on the tail of his truck and walks to my car, where he opens my door, leans in, and unbuckles me.

“You got here quick,” he says, pulling me up into his arms, slamming my car door.

“Kara rode with Asher and November.”

“Good,” he says against my mouth, before biting my bottom lip. His hand tugs my hair to the side, his mouth opening over the skin of my neck. I love when he takes control of me. I moan, and his teeth scrape against me, traveling up to my ear and biting down. He picks me up, and then stops at his truck, grabbing the beer. I’m trying to get his clothes off as he’s walking. I have his plaid shirt unbuttoned, so I bend forward, licking his chest.