When I married Joan, I felt like I was doing the right thing when she claimed to be pregnant. I was going to be involved in my child’s life, regardless of how I felt about the baby’s mother. It helped that she was hot and had a mouth like a fucking cyclone. Then, I was on my way home from an assignment, a man I considered a brother, stopped me before I went home and broke down.

First, I thought someone we knew died but then he told me that he slept with Joan. When I went home that night, I kicked her ass out and told her my lawyer would be in touch.

A week later, she came to me crying, saying that she miscarried the baby. I knew right then that she played me. When I asked her for paperwork from the hospital, she couldn’t give me any. Fucking cunt.

“And I’ll let her know that she can’t stay here unless I'm here,” Mike said, bringing my mind back in focus.

“Thanks, Mike. I’ll hit you up later this week if I hear anything from New York.”

“Sure thing, bud. Talk to you then.” I hung up with Mike then grabbed my keys and a water bottle from the fridge.

“Jeep, Beast.” I see him waiting at the front door when I get around the corner. I never thought I would want a dog again, but I like having him here. And I know how loyal he is to November. We just need to work on him knocking her down every time she lets him inside. That shit would not be funny if she were pregnant. An image of November, round with my child, filters through my head and I stumble into the wall.

“Holy shit,” I say out loud, leaning into the wall and trying to pull myself together. I take a few deep breaths then push away and walk to the door, stumbling out to my jeep. I open the door for Beast to jump in. I stand outside for a few minutes, letting the cool air help calm me. The fucked up part is that I'm not even afraid.

“Shit,” I say, shaking my head. Part of me wants to make her that way as soon as possible. Scrubbing my hands down my face.

“Trevor,” I yell as I walk into my brother’s house. I go into the kitchen and grab a beer and take a drink when Jen walks in. Now I know what the fuck my brother’s been doing.

“Hi, Asher,” Jen says, running her hand along my arm. I turn around and hold her wrist.

“Don’t.” I drop her hand, taking a step back.

“So, the rumors are true? Never thought I’d see the day that Asher Mayson was pussy whipped. Though, for the life of me, I don’t see—”

“Time for you to go, Jen,” Trevor says, cutting her off while putting on his shirt.

“What? I thought that we could hang out for a while. You know, watch a movie or something…” she says in a whine. I almost feel bad for this bitch. Then I remember that she’s a bitch and will never be more than an easy fuck. The same thing she was to me.

“When have we ever watched a movie?” He shakes his head. “You drove out here to fuck. I gave you what you wanted and now you need to leave.”

Shit, my brother was harsh, but then again, I never had to deal with kicking chicks out of my house. That was a lesson I learned early on. Unless you want them showing up at your house all hours of the day and night never invite them there.

“Okay. Will you walk me out?” she asks and I see my brother’s face change, and I know exactly what he’s thinking.

“Look, Jen. You and I know this will never be anything more,” Trevor says softly. I see her face go hard.

“You’re a fucking joke,” she says, poking him in the chest. “I had to fake it every time we were together,” she yells, her voice getting louder.

“That’s why you kept coming back? Look, I don’t have time for this shit. Now get the fuck out of my house and don’t come back.” I watch as my brother crosses his arms over his chest and glares down at her. Then, she turns and looks at me, and I know I'm next on her tirade.

“I hope you know that your bitch is going to find out the way you guys treat women,” she says, glaring at me. “And when she leaves your ass, I will be there cheering her on.”

“She knows how I treat bitches, and trust me, Jen, you were one of the biggest. Now, I suggest you get the fuck out of here like Trevor asked you to, or I will call the sheriff and have you removed.” I watch her stomp to the counter and grab her bag, and hear her stomp down the hall. Then I hear the door slam.

“Jesus, she’s a pain in the ass,” Trevor says as he scrubs his hands down his face. “You do know that the women in town are in a fucking tizzy because of your ass, right?” he asks and I raise my eyebrow at him. “Seriously, they think that now that you’ve settled down, we’re all going to follow in your footsteps and start handing out rings. I'm mean, if I had a November of my own, I might consider it, but there’s only one of her and I don’t see you being done with her anytime soon, so that doesn’t give me much hope.”

“I'm never going to be done with her. And if by some chance this shit doesn’t work out, she’s off limits,” I say, being one hundred percent serious. I have never cared if my brothers went after a chick I fucked. But if one of them even thought about getting with November, I would kill them, brother or not.

“I fucking knew it.” He clapped his hands. “So the Mayson curse is real. Fall in love on sight and all that bullshit.” I wanted to laugh. From the time I was young, my father and grandfather told me and my brothers that we were cursed. They said that we would only find one love. When we met the woman who was ours, it would be like an explosion. Nothing else would matter but her. We all thought it was bullshit. Now I wasn’t so sure.

“The moment I met her, I knew that she was the one, as cheesy as that shit sounds,” I say, taking a slug from my beer.

“Wow,” Trevor says, looking stunned. “I don’t blame you, man. She’s fucking hot and funny.” There were a lot of things that November was. Hot and funny were only a couple. She was also a good person and that was hard to find in a woman these days.

“So, are you ready to get this shit done, or did you call me out here to gossip with you?” I ask, done talking about her. Part of me wished I was the only person who knew her. I didn’t want to share her with anyone.

“Let me get my boots and we can go. The truck is in the garage. It shouldn’t take long to pull the engine.”

I take a swig of my beer and watch my brother leave the room. I couldn’t wait for this day to be over.

Chapter 6

I wake to a ringing off in distance. I know it’s the alarm. I'm silently praying that Asher turns it off before I'm so awake that I can’t fall back asleep. I cuddle deeper. He’s pressed into my back. His arm leaves my waist, and finally, beautiful silence. His arm comes back around me, pulling me even deeper under him, and I feel his breath on the back on my neck.

The goosebumps he’s causing are bringing me to the surface of consciousness. It’s Monday, the day after shopping with his mom. I got back to his house at around eleven. He and Beast were waiting out on the porch for me when we pulled up. He kissed his mom then helped me carry all my new stuff into the house, where he threw them into his closet. Yes, threw, not set them down nicely. He swung his arm back and threw them through the open closet door. When he turned around, I could tell that he missed me as much as I missed him.

The next thing I knew, my clothes were gone. He picked me up, threw me onto the bed, and made slow love to me. It was so beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes. I was glad that the darkness hid them from him. Afterwards, he pulled me close and dragged the blanket over us. I had my head in the crook of his arm and his fingers were at my hip.

We both talked about our day. He told me that he helped Trevor pull an engine from a truck he was rebuilding. I never knew that you could pull an engine from a car, or truck, for that matter, and I really had no idea why you would ever do that. Our conversation went something like this:

“Did you have fun with Trevor?” I asked, running my fingers along the ridges of his abs.

“No, but we did get the engine pulled from his truck.”

“Why would you take the engine out? Doesn’t a car need that to run?” Yes, I'm stupid, I know, but hey, I'm a New Yorker. We hardly drive. We take the subway or a taxi to most places, and if my car needs a mechanic, I take it to Juan and leave it with him. I don’t hang around to see what he’s doing while my car is in the shop, which is probably why my bill at the mechanic is always a lot…hmm. I could feel him laughing silently then he couldn’t hold it and burst out in a loud laugh, and I started to get offended.

“Yeah, your car needs an engine to run. He just wants to put a stronger one in his truck.” This fascinated me. I mean, who knew that you could change your engine and get a faster one?

“Cool,” I whispered, thinking that I should get a faster engine for my bug.

“Not gonna happen,” he said, looking down at me. Then he kissed the top of my head. I grinned into his chest, thinking it was funny that he thought he could boss me around. I seriously couldn’t wait to pull up to meet him riding a motorcycle.

“How was it shopping with Ma?”

“Um, let’s just say that I will only be going shopping with her every few months. I felt like I should have prepared better. Maybe ran around Target a few times, or even went to the strip mall and marched into each of the stores a few times. She’s a serious shopper, and if they had a competition, I'm sure she would come in first place.”

“Yeah, that’s Ma,” he said through his laughter. Then, I wrapped myself tighter around him, listening to his heartbeat and feeling him run his fingers through my hair. I fell asleep feeling like this was exactly where I was supposed to be.

I dozed off again, only to be woken by the sound of the alarm going off again. I felt his lips kiss my shoulder, and his tongue run up my neck just below my ear, where he kissed me again. Then he squeezed me to him. His warmth left me and I felt the cool air rush in behind me, and heard the alarm go off. I rolled over until I was lying where he had been, and pulled his pillow down and wrapped myself around it. I could hear the shower, and I opened one eye and looked at the time. It was dusk out, and the alarm said it was five thirty. I couldn’t believe that he had to get up so early. I had to get up by nine so I could get ready and go to the lawyer. I saw the closet light come on and I lifted my head.

Asher was wearing a towel, and I watched in fascination as he pulled it off and pulled on a pair of black boxers that molded to his thighs and ass. He seriously had the most amazing body of anyone I had ever seen. He must have felt me looking because he turned around, smiled, and shook his head.

“Go back to sleep, baby. It’s too early for you to be up.”

“Do you always wake up so early?” I asked, cuddling back down into the bed.

“Depends on the job.”

“Hmm,” was all I was able to get out before I fell back asleep. I felt my hair slide off my neck and lips just below my ear.

“I’ll be home around six, and I’ll call you when I take lunch, baby.” I felt him kiss me again, but I was too far gone to get any words out, so I grunted my agreement. I heard him chuckle then he kissed me again before he left.