“Oh God! I'm going to pass out,” she moans.

“You won’t,” I tell her, slamming up into her harder, one hand tugging her nipples, the other traveling lower to play with her clit.

“I'm…I'm going to pass out,” she yells, as her body starts to convulse, her pussy strangling my cock.

“Fuck!” I yell, holding her hips. One, two, and three more stokes and I sit back on my calves, wrapping her legs back around my hips, then lean forward, untying her hands, pulling her up to me. Her body is boneless; her heart is beating a hundred miles an hour and both our bodies are covered in sweat.

“That was…that was…wow,” she whispers, then starts to laugh. “Were you in the circus?” she laughs louder, making me laugh.

“What?” I ask, confused.

“Well, I felt like some kind of circus performer standing on my head.”

“What kind of circuses have you gone to, perv?” I chuckle, making her laugh harder. Knowing that this is what I have to look forward to made me feel like a fucking king. Having a woman who was not only beautiful, but someone I could talk to about anything and laugh with was priceless.

Chapter 10

Liz

I look up as I see the door to the shop open. November walks in carrying July. “Hey, how’s it going?” I ask, putting out our new shipment of handbags.

“Good! I just got back from my dad’s. He had to get his July fix,” November says, walking back behind the cash register to sit on the stool.

“Is he still telling you that you can move home?” I ask, laughing. Mike doesn’t like to give up his time with his granddaughter, so lately, he has been telling November that she should move home so he can have full time access to her.

“No, he stopped saying that after Asher heard him and thought he was serious,” she smiles. “You should have seen the look on his face.”

“No way,” I shake my head. “Asher happy is slightly scary. Asher mad? No thanks.”

“Oh, he’s not that bad,” she says, kissing July all over her cute chubby face.

“So says the girl who’s married to him,” I laugh. The chime above the door goes off again. This time, Jen’s friend Britney walks in, with Cash’s baby-momma Jules. November and I share a look; both of us have been lectured about being nice. I don’t know Jules at all, but if she’s hanging out with Jen or Jen’s friends, I'm not sure that I want to know her. “Hi, can I help you guys?” I ask them, stepping towards the front of the store.

“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.