Last week, I had been outside looking around the area where they started digging for the pool, when Asher ran outside like the house was on fire. I stumbled and almost fell into the hole when he caught me and made me go back inside, saying that they had sprayed some kind of chemical in the area and I couldn’t be in the backyard. Once again, I agreed, but was noticing that the list of things I couldn’t do was becoming quite long. Then, this morning, I was on the phone with the salon in town, making an appointment to get my highlights touched up and to have a manicure and pedicure, when the phone was yanked out of my hand and Asher proceeded to tell the salon that I had to wait until after I had the baby to get my hair done, but that I could get a mani pedi. Then he kissed me senseless, and left the room before I could clear the fog and yell at him. Now he was out somewhere on the property, and I was on the back porch in front of the grill with a lighter and the book that seemed to be the root of all my problems. I was ready to kill him. I loved him, I was over the moon that he was happy about this baby and I knew that he meant well, but I swear, he wouldn’t be happy unless the doctor put me on bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy. The doorbell chimes and I look down at the book. I sigh and put everything down, planning on coming back to it as soon as I get rid of whoever is at the door.
“Stay,” I tell Beast as I go into the house through the sliding door. I walk through the living room and looked out the peep hole. I can’t believe my eyes. How the heck did she find me? I looked out the peep hole again, just to make sure that I’m not seeing things. Nope, not seeing things. My mother is standing on the other side of the door. I get off my tiptoes and take a step away from the door.
"Who's at the door, baby?" Asher asks loudly from behind me. I jump and spin around, putting a finger to my lips and using the universal symbol for ‘be quiet.’
“Who is it?” he asks again. This time, his eyes are narrowed. The doorbell rings again and my mom yells through the closed door.
"I can hear you in there."
"Crap," I hiss, glaring at Asher for blowing my cover. He walks to the door and unlocks it before I have a chance to block it or tackle him to the ground.
"Can I help—" Asher starts to ask but my mom cuts him off.
"Where’s November?" my mom snaps.
Crap! Crap! Crap!
“You are?” Asher asks in a low growl.
"Her mother." The air changes and I can feel the angry energy beating against my skin and it is all coming from Asher.
"What the fuck are you doing here?” he asks and I know this is going to go badly. I bend my head under Asher’s arm that is holding the door open.
"Mom, what are you doing here?" I say and her eyes come to me.
“I’ve been calling you and you haven’t answered.”
“You came to Tennessee because I haven't answered my phone?” I ask in disbelief.
“No, I came here because your fiancé’s in the hospital,” she says and my eyes narrow.
“Her fiancé is standing right in front of you.” Asher growled, taking his hand off the door and pulling me into his side.
“How did you find out where I lived?” I ask, completely ignoring the fact that she said my ex was in the hospital. I hope that he isn’t going to die or anything, but I’m not going to go to New York to sit at his bedside.
“The boy from the lawyer’s office told me.”
She looked up at Asher when his voice rumbled. “Nick?” My mom nodded. “I'm going to fucking kill him.” Asher was pissed.
“I'm her mother. Why wouldn’t he tell me where she lived?” she snaps, looking at Asher then back at me. “Why haven’t you returned any of my calls?”
“The last time I saw you, Mom, you made it clear that you were not interested in having a relationship with me.”
“You’re my daughter.”
“Yes, and you have never acted like my mother.” What the heck is going on? I feel like I’m in the twilight zone when I see tears form in her eyes.
“I’ve been worried.” My eyes narrow.
“What’s really going on?” Just then, my cell phone rings in the kitchen. I look up at Asher in a silent plea for him to not let her in. He nods and I hope that we are on the same wave length. I walk to the kitchen and pick up my phone, seeing that it is Mr. Stevenson.
“Hello,” I answer.
“November, this is Tom Stevenson.”
“Hi, Mr. Stevenson. How are you?”
“Could be better, darlin’.”
“Um, sorry to hear that,” I mumble, looking toward the front door to make sure Asher hasn’t let my mom in.
“Sorry to do this, but something just came up and I'm leaving my office in twenty minutes. If you can come now, I will put through the transfer. If not, we’re going to have to reschedule for tomorrow.”
“I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say, confused.
“Like I explained to your mother this morning, I know that your signature is on the transfer papers, but I or a notary public has to witness you signing the documents.”
“What?” I whisper.
“They have your signature, but from your tone, I take it that you didn’t know.”
“No,” I whisper again, moving down the hall so I can talk without my mother knowing. “You said they have my signature?” I ask, making sure I heard him correctly.
“Yes.” He pauses and I can hear papers shuffling in the background. “I double checked when I got the papers.”
“Oh my God,” I mumble into the phone, realizing why my mother is really here. “She’s here right now,” I say quietly, more to myself than to Mr. Stevenson.
“She’s at your house?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
“I'm calling James. Keep her there,” he says, hanging up.
“Okay,” I say to dead air on the phone. I look down the hall, trying to come up with a plan to keep my mom here until Asher’s dad arrives. I consider going outside and slashing her tires, but figure that might be a little extreme. Then, I thought about sicking Beast on her, but if she hurt my dog, I would be really upset. So, after a few more non options passed through my head, I decide to just invite her in and ask her if she would like something to drink. I leave the hallway.
When I reach the kitchen, I can see over the Island that Asher is sitting on the couch with his hands resting on top of his head. My mom is sitting on the coffee table in front of him. “I guess we weren’t on the same wave length after all,” I mumble to myself. Asher’s eyes come to me as soon as my feet hit the tile floor in the kitchen. He shakes his head. I narrow my eyes. My mom looks at me, smiles, and I see she has a gun in her hand pointed at Asher.
“What are you doing?” I scream as I start running into the living room.
“Don’t come any closer or I’ll shoot him,” she says and I stop at the edge of the living room. My heart is pounding as if it’s going to jump out of my chest. I look at Asher. His eyes are on me and he looks worried. His eyes drop to my stomach and they close, but not before I see pain flash across them.
“As I was telling your boyfriend here—”
“Fiancé.” Asher growls, glaring at my mom. I almost laugh. Only he would stop a crazy person with a gun to clarify our relationship status.
“As I was telling your fiancé,” my mom says, glaring back at Asher. Then she looks to where I'm standing. “You need to come with me.”
“Where?” I ask even though I know where she wants us to go. I just need to stall for time.
“You’ll see,” she says, standing. “Before we go though, you need to tie him up. I don’t need him coming after us.” She pulls some rope out of her bag. “This was for you, but it looks like we’re going to use it on him instead,” she says, throwing the rope at me. I catch it midair and look at Asher, trying to find a way to get out of this. “Come on, come on. We don’t have all day.” She motions to him with her gun. I walk slowly towards Asher. I don’t want to do this. Tears start to fill my eyes. I can’t tie him up.
I shake my head. “I can’t.” I sobbed, stopping a few feet from where he’s sitting.
“Either you tie him up or I’ll shoot him.”
I started sobbing. My breath hitches. “Baby,” Asher whispers, his hands start to come towards me. The gun goes off. “Keep your hands where I can see them,” my mom yells as I scream. Asher placed his hands back on his head with a look of pure rage on his face.
“Tie his hands behind his back and to his ankles. Do it now or I shoot him.”
“I'm so sorry,” I cry as Asher places his hands behind his back.
“Be strong, baby, for both of us,” he whispers, and I know he’s talking about our daughter.
“I will, I promise,” I whisper. I don’t want her to know that I'm pregnant. The day I started wearing the pregnancy pants I bought from Target, my baby bump showed up. Normally, I would wear something more form fitting to show it off. Thankfully, today I have on an oversized tee and leggings because we were lounging around the house. I worked on tying his arms behind his back then he lay with his chest to the couch and I tied his hands to his ankles. I am glad that he has on sweats and a long sleeve shirt so the rope doesn’t rub his skin. When I finish, my mom walks over to the couch and tests the knot I tied.
“Let’s go,” she says, waving the gun in the direction of the door. My brain starts to panic. Asher’s house is in the country. Who knows where his dad is or any of the other officers that work in the area. I have no idea how long it would take until someone shows up, but I can hear Beast scratching at the back door, trying to get in. I wish that I wouldn’t have locked him out there. “Come on. We need to go. You already held me up by not running to the car when I told you Chris was in the hospital.”
“I need shoes,” I tell her, hoping that it will buy me some time.
“I saw flip-flops outside the front door. You can wear those.”
“What are we going to be doing?”
“I'm not going to tell you again. Get in the car.”
“Okay,” I say calmly. I could tell that she was starting to panic. We walk outside and Beast runs around the corner of the house. He jumps through the air, landing right in the middle of my mom’s chest. The gun in her hand went off right before it flew through the air.
“Holy crap,” I yell, running for the gun. My mom is yelling for Beast to get off her. I fall to the ground, landing on my hip. I feel pain shoot up my side. I’ve got my finger around the trigger of the gun just in time to see my mom grab a hold of Beast’s mouth and start to pull his jaw apart. “Let go of my fucking dog!” I scream at the top of my lungs while trying to stand. I aim a warning shot near where she is lying on the ground. Her hands fly above her head. Beast stands above her, growling down into her face.
“November!” Asher yells from inside the house. I can hear the worry in his voice and I know that he wants me in there, but I can’t leave my mom alone until Asher’s dad shows up.