Alphas on Top

by Harper Sloan

  “I heard him, baby girl. Can you put him on the phone for me?”

  “Um, sure. Hold on. Dad wants to talk to you,” I say to Asher, holding out my phone. He slides it from my hand and kisses me on my nose then takes a step back, putting the phone to his ear.

  “Mike,” I hear him say. “Yeah, we’ll talk when I get there.”

  Then he hands the phone back to me. “Dad,” I say, hoping that with the tone I'm using, he understands that I'm not being stupid.

  “See you when you get here, baby girl. Love you.” He hangs up before I can tell him I love him too. Asher is watching me.

  “Is everything okay?” I ask, looking at the phone.

  “It’s all good, baby. Let’s eat.”

  “Okay,” I say, feeling dread creep up my spine. I know Dad is going to say something to Asher when we get to the house and I am suddenly nervous about going home. We walk back into the kitchen and Mrs. Mayson is standing at the stove.

  “Do you like grits?” she asks with a smile. I have no idea what grits are and she must have read the look on my face.

  “Okay, how about some eggs and toast?”

  “That’s fine. Thank you, Mrs. Mayson.”

  “Call me Susan, beautiful.”

  Okay. Do you have a bowl I can use to put Beast’s food in?” I ask Asher. He gets up and walks around the island to pull out a huge bowl. The kind that you would use to make cookies or bread in. He fills the bowl to the top. I watched this in horror, too stunned to stop him. I always measure his food so he doesn’t eat too much. I read online that you have to be careful with big dogs and their diets.

  “What are you doing?” I ask as Asher sets the bowl down on the ground.

  “Feeding the dog,” he says with an eyebrow raised.

  “You can’t feed him that much.”

  “Why not?” he asks.

  “Because I Googled it and they say to measure it.”

  “Babe, he’s a dog. He knows when to stop eating.” He’s looking at me like he thinks something is funny.

  “How do you know that?” I ask, tilting my head.

  “I’ve had dogs my whole life.”

  “Oh…” That's all I can say. Beast is my first dog and all the information I have is from Google. He chuckles and I kind of want to punch him in the arm for laughing at me.

  “Whatever,” I say, shaking my head. His arm goes to the back of my head and he kisses me. I can hear his mom laughing. Oh my God, how embarrassing.

  “You can’t kiss me in front of your mom,” I whisper when he pulls away.

  “Just did and it won’t be the last time.” I hear his mom laugh again and I look at her, smiling down at the stove. Her head comes up and she looks happy for some reason.

  “I love this, honey. Asher and his women, well, all my sons and their women, none of them ever came around. At first, I thought maybe they were embarrassed of me and their dad. Then, James and I were out one night and we saw Cash with this girl. Let me tell you…after that, I was glad they never brought anyone around if that was what they would bring home.”

  “I was lucky enough to meet some of those women first hand last night when Asher took me to the bar.”

  “He didn’t?” His mom looks over at Asher with narrow eyes.

  “He totally did.” I smile and look over at Asher who looks like he’s ready to strangle me.

  “Asher James Mayson, I thought I taught you better than that?”

  “Ma, we met the boys there to play pool. I don’t have any control over who goes to the bar.”

  “I can’t believe you took her to play pool for a first date.” She looks at me. “I swear I raised him better than that.”

  “It wasn’t a date,” I reassure her.

  “Jesus, Ma,” Asher grumbles. He looks at me and his eyes narrow. “It was a date.” All I can do is shake my head and smile.

  “You know, even when Asher was married, we never met the girl. All we knew was that they met when he was stationed in Texas and got married at a court house. We weren’t even invited.” I feel my heart drop into my stomach at the thought of him married. Stupid, I know. I mean, I was engaged and thought I would spend the rest of my life with the douche bag.

  “Ma, Jesus! What the fuck!”

  “Watch your mouth, Asher James.” She glares at him then looks at me. “Sorry, I thought you knew.”

  “Um, no. That’s okay. I mean, we just met and we all have a past. Some of it beautiful and some ugly,” I tell her. There are some things in my past that are ugly too. Like the guy I was going to marry before he slept with my mother. How much uglier can you get? Her eyes are soft and she gives me a sad smile.

  “So what are you kids planning for the day?” she asks, thankfully changing the subject.

  “Going home then I need to have my dad take me to get my car.” I am standing at the corner of the island. Asher pulls my hand, dragging me in between his legs. He has a hand on my hip and I look him in the eye and give him a death glare. He runs his fingers down the side of my face and smiles.

  “I'm gonna give Ma the key to your car. She can have Nico or Cash bring your car home for you. Then you need to pack up some stuff and bring it over. I’ll be out for a while, I gotta go up to Nashville to check on the job site and make sure the fire inspector doesn’t shut us down. I’ll give you a key so just come in and make yourself at home.”

  I know I have an ‘are you crazy’ look on my face, but he is telling me to stay the night again.

  “I'm not staying here,” I tell him.

  “You are staying here. Your dad works the club at night and doesn’t get home till after four in the morning.”

  “I'm not! I’ll just stay with my grandma,” I tell him, even though I don’t want to stay with her. She has three cats and every time I walk into her house, my eyes get so swollen that I can’t blink.

  “If you try to go to your grandma’s, I will go there and drag you back here so I suggest that you just come here and save us both the trouble.”

  “Are you crazy?” I ask, thinking that I know the answer is yes. “I'm not going to stay here.”

  “We’ll talk about it later.” I have a feeling that we are not going to talk about it later and that he is going to try to boss me into doing what he wants me to do. I glare at him again and he has the nerve to laugh. Then his mom slides some eggs and toast in front of us and then comes around the island and sits down. I move out from between Asher’s legs and sit on the stool between him and his mom. I turn towards her, completely dismissing him and he knows what I’m doing because he’s still chuckling. He grabs my neck and kisses me again.

  “Stop doing that,” I tell him, glaring.

  “Nope.” It’s all he says before letting me go and starting to eat.

  “So, November, have you been to Nashville shopping?” his mom asks.

  “Yeah, but only once. My grandma and I went up there to go shopping for a new computer.”

  “Oh, no, honey. I mean real shopping?” she says and I start laughing.

  “My grandma’s not a big shopper. We only went to Nashville once and before we left the house, she made me call the store we were going to and make sure that the stuff I needed was there and then had me put it on hold so all we had to do was walk in and pick it up.”

  “That sounds like her.” She laughs. “You and I need to do a girl’s day. We’ll leave early and hit the shops then go get a mani-pedi.”

  “Really?” I breathe. I went all the time with my best friend, Tia, to get mani-pedi. I would always get jealous of the girls who were there with their moms. I always wanted to do that.

  “Really,” she says, touching my face. “How about Sunday?” she asks.

  “Yeah, that would be great.”

  “It’s a date.” She is smiling again. “I never had a daughter. I kept trying for a girl and ended up with four boys. After that, I gave up. So this is going to be a lot of fun.”

  I had a mom, but my mom never asked me to go shopping
with her let alone go shopping and get our nails done. Suddenly, tears start to sting my nose and she pulls me in for a hug. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

  “Yeah,” I say, hugging her back.

  We finish breakfast, then I let Beast outside as Asher walks his mom to her car. When he comes back in, he just looks at me and says, “Gotta make a call.”

  I go to his bathroom to get ready. I put on black leggings and an oversized off-the-shoulder sweatshirt in a soft peach color. It matches my ballet flats perfectly. Then I braid my hair to the side and it falls over my breast. I put on some blush, mascara, and lip gloss, then I finish with peach body spray.

  I shove everything back into my bag and carry it with me to the living room. When I get there, Asher isn’t there, or in the kitchen, so I look out the sliding glass door. He is standing in the yard in a pair of worn out blue jeans, his light brown work boots, and a dark gray thermal that fits like a second skin. Just looking at him makes my mouth go dry. I watch as Beast comes running at him with a stick in his mouth. Asher wrestles it away from him and throws it as Beast takes off. He looks so beautiful, playing with my dog. Then I remember what he said earlier. If I’m not mistaken, he is kind of my boyfriend. With that thought, I want to do some kind of acrobatics…or maybe a cheer. He kissed me and introduced me to his mom. Well, technically she just showed up, but that had to count, right?

  Plus, he said this wasn’t casual even though deep down, I don’t completely trust what he was saying. But, I’ve decided that I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt until he proves that he doesn’t deserve it. He must feel me watching him because he turns around and smiles at me and my breath is stuck in my lungs. He calls Beast and they both come up the stairs at the same time and walk into the house. Without stopping to close the sliding door, he comes right to me, picks me up and kisses me. When he breaks away, I’m in another Asher kiss fog.

  “You ready?” he asks and all I can do is nod. He slides me down his body and kisses my nose. My legs are jelly so I hold onto his T-shirt to keep me from falling on my face. He smiles like he knows what he’s doing to me. I glare at him because no girl wants a guy to think that he’s got it going on even if he does. “Okay, babe, get your ass to the jeep.” He steps away and closes the door.

  I watch him move then realize I’m just standing here watching him. I’m finally able to break out of the fog and grab my purse and overnight bag. I walk to the door with Beast at my side, saying over my shoulder, “Don’t tell me to get my ass in your car. It’s rude!” Then, I open the door and walk out to his jeep. His laughter follows me.

  We pull up to my dad’s house and he is standing outside. I start to open my door when Asher stops me. “Wait till I come around and open your door.” This confuses me.

  “Why?”

  “Do you always have to ask questions?” I think about it for a minute then realize that I do always have to ask questions. Sometimes I ask questions that make no sense or questions that I know the answers to, but I still like to ask them. Asher is watching me and then he starts laughing.

  “What’s funny?”

  “Nothing, baby. Just wait till I come around to open your door. Will you do that for me?” Because he asks nicely and isn’t being bossy, plus he called me baby and I’m really starting to love that. I nod my head in agreement.

  “Good,” he says then kisses me softly and runs his nose across mine. I’m in such a fog that I don’t even realize that he’s gotten out of the car until my door opens and he’s holding a hand out to me. His jeep is one of the cool ones with giant tires that were made for taking into the hills to go mudding.

  “Do you go mudding?” I ask. Looking up at him, and not for the first time, I realize how tall he is compared to me. I come up to the middle of his chest and my head has to go way back to make eye contact. The good thing is I never have to worry that my heels will be too high. My ex never liked me wearing heels because he didn’t want me to be taller than him.

  “Mudding?” he asks, bringing me back to topic.

  “Yeah, you know, where you drive a truck through mud and… I don’t know what else you do when you go mudding.” He starts laughing again and I have no idea what is so funny, so I just wait till he gets control of himself.

  “I haven’t gone mudding since I was seventeen.”

  “Oh,” I say with disappointment. I kind of wanted to go. Not that I know much about it, but I saw a video once and it looked like fun.

  “If you want, we can take my four wheeler out and drive through some puddles during the next storm.”

  “Really?” I ask. That sounds like fun.

  “This is why you’re too much. Not too many women go from talking about getting manicures and shopping to wanting to get muddy.”

  “I'm versatile.”

  “Yeah.” He kisses me, and just when it starts getting good, my dad yells at me.

  “November!” Crap, I forgot where we are. I put my face in Asher’s chest and giggle. My dad is mad. I’ve never made my dad mad before.

  “November!” my dad calls again.

  “Oh, Lord,” I say, looking up at Asher. He is smiling down at me. I turn my head and my dad and Uncle Joe are standing on the porch. Both of them have their arms crossed and feet planted apart. I don’t think this is going to go well. Asher grabs my hand and starts walking. I am dragging my feet behind him, trying to avoid the confrontation that is coming.

  “Hi, Daddy. Hi, Uncle Joe,” I say in my sweetest voice. My dad knows my game because he’s glaring at me and Uncle Joe is shaking his head but his lips are twitching. Then I hear Asher chuckle and both Uncle Joe and my dad look at him like he has a death sentence.

  “Oh, geez,” I say, leaning my head back in exasperation. “I'm going to be twenty-five soon, so I'm way past the stage of my life where my dad tries to run men off,” I say, pinning my dad with a glare of my own.

  “You’re never too old for me to look out for you and to make sure that every guy knows that if he tries to screw you over, I will shoot him.”

  “Okay,” I say, looking up at Asher. “If you screw me over, my dad will shoot you.” Asher looks down at me and I can see that he wants to smile but he’s fighting it.

  “Go inside and pack, baby,” he says, running his knuckles down my jaw. I glare at him.

  “I'm not staying with you.” Geez, what is so hard to understand? We had one semi date. It’s way too soon to start nightly sleepovers.

  “You are,” he says in a tone that I'm sure would work on someone, but that someone is not me.

  “I'm not,” I say, my voice getting louder. I look at my dad for support but I see that he is now fighting a smile. Then, I look to Uncle Joe and he’s straight out smiling. What the heck?

  “Baby girl,” my dad calls and I look at him. “I think it would be best if you stayed somewhere at night until I can get a security system put in. But I agree that maybe Asher’s place isn’t the best bet. What if you went to stay with your uncle tonight?” Now I know I'm going to end up at Asher’s. My uncle is a hardcore biker and always has some biker babe staying at his place. My grandma and I stopped by his house one day and there were two random women, both basically naked, wandering around his house.

  Besides, he doesn’t really have room for me. His sons are both older so he turned one of their rooms into a work out space and the other room into an office. He has a couch but I would rather not sleep on it knowing that some woman could come out of his room at any point.

  Uncle Joe was married for eighteen years. From the time he found out that the woman was pregnant till his boys graduated high school. I never met the lady but from the stories I was told, she was a major bitch to him and his sons.

  At the time, he felt he was doing the right thing by keeping his family together. But as soon as my cousins went to college, he no longer felt the need to pretend who he was. I guess under the suits that he used to wear to work he was secretly a bad ass biker.

  “I'm staying
with Asher. No offense, Uncle Joe,” I say, looking at him with a smile and hoping he won’t be mad. He smiles back at me and I know he doesn’t mind.

  “What about your grandmother?” my dad asks.

  “I would stay with her but I'm afraid I might die from allergies.” My dad looks like he is trying to come up with somewhere—anywhere—for me to stay. The moon, a convent, prison, perhaps? I don’t think he cares as long as Asher is not there.

  “Baby,” Asher says, getting my attention. “I need to talk with your dad and uncle for a minute but I’ll be in to say goodbye before I leave.” He is looking down at me and then his eyes go to my dad.

  “Alrighty, then,” I say. I look at my dad and give him the look that says be nice. Then I start to walk away but I'm pulled back by my sweatshirt. I look over my shoulder at Asher and see he’s holding on to me.

  “You forget something?” he asks.

  “Uh…no,” I say, turning around to look at him and wondering what I could have forgotten.

  “Kiss me,” he says, with a completely serious expression. I can’t believe he just said that in front of my dad.

  “I'm not kissing you in front of my dad and uncle,” I hiss at him and he has the nerve to smile.

  “You kiss me or I’ll kiss you. Make up your mind, and make it quick. I need to talk to your dad then I’ve got shit to do.” I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him. He cannot be serious.

  “Don’t tell me to kiss you in fro—” I'm cut off when Asher pulls me to him and kisses me. It’s closed mouthed and ends before it really starts, but I'm speechless that he just did that in front of my dad. I try to pull myself together but I'm completely stunned by what just happened. Then, I hear my dad laughing and I look at him just to make sure I'm not imagining things.

  “Shouldn’t you be getting your gun or something?” I say, looking at my dad while throwing my hand out in Asher’s direction.

  “Nope,” he says, smiling. “Now I see what James was talking about when he called me this morning.” My dad re-crosses his arms over his chest and leans back on the heels of his boots.

  “Great! Just frickin’ great,” I mutter to the ground, rubbing my temples. I look up and glare at Asher. “Seriously, stop kissing me in front of our parents,” I say, pointing at him. Then I turn around and stomp all the way up the stairs and into the house. I slam the door for good measure before I realize that I left Beast outside. I open the door and call Beast but all three heads turn to watch me. I glare at all of them then slam the door again.