Mr. September: A Single Parent Romance (Calendar Boys Book 9)

by Nicole S. Goodin

  “Who are you meeting there?” he asks with his brows furrowed.

  “A nice family that I showed through a house last week. They didn’t want to make an offer and I think this place will be a better fit for them.”

  “So, you’ve met them before?”

  “Yes.” I sigh.

  “And is Jerome meeting you there?”

  I shake my head. “He’s picking me up from here. I thought that seemed like a better idea.”

  He nods in approval. “Alright.”

  “Yeah?” I ask cautiously. I don’t want to believe that I’ve won the battle prematurely.

  He’s been adamant all morning that he was coming with me to work – which normally wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, but with his current on-edge state, I couldn’t have him sniffing around. He’d scare off my buyer.

  “I would have preferred that we heard back from Officer Cleland before you left, but apparently those cops are on their own clock,” he grumbles.

  I refrain from laughing. It’s not even nine yet. He called late last night, putting whoever the poor sucker answering the phones was on blast, ranting and raving and demanding that they do something.

  We’re waiting to hear back.

  “He’s not going to be able to tell us anything.” I try to soothe him, but it’s no use, he’s back pacing the room.

  “Surely they can arrest him for this.”

  I’d love for that to happen, but unfortunately, we have no proof that he did anything at all to me, and when it comes down to it, I haven’t actually been threatened.

  The number the texts came from must have been a throwaway because when Brody tried to call it back, the line was dead.

  Even the police aren’t going to be able to do anything with that.

  “I guess we’ll find out when we hear back,” I reply and I can hear my voice shake.

  He stops pacing, strides across the room and envelopes me in his embrace, crushing his lips to mine in a kiss so passionate it takes my breath away.

  He’s got me in his arms, edging my ass onto the countertop before I can even say his name.

  “I’m sorry,” he says against my lips before shifting his focus to my neck and throat.

  “Sorry for what?” I tilt my head to allow him better access, my voice a breathy moan.

  “For being so crazy. I just can’t stand the thought of anything happening to you, Morgs. I really do love you.”

  He brings his face back to mine, his unkempt facial hair gently scratching my chin.

  He rests his forehead against mine. “I know I haven’t told you that properly yet, but I love you, so damn much.”

  “I love you too,” I whisper, my heart thumping in my chest. “You make me feel like the most important person in the world.”

  “You are.” He rubs his nose against mine. “If you could see yourself through my eyes, you wouldn’t doubt it, not for a second.”

  ***

  “Lover boy was a bit on edge this morning,” Jerome says, his brow raised at me as he navigates the streets to the house we’re scheduled to show.

  “Mmm hmm,” I agree, unwilling to say anything more.

  He was well on edge, but not without good reason I remind myself.

  He laughs. “So… has he moved in with you now or what?”

  I shake my head, but honestly, it feels a little bit like we’re living together. He won’t hear of me spending the night alone.

  “I’m not sure,” I admit, “honestly, I think if we were moving in, it’d be to his house not mine. That place is nice.” I grin.

  “You should go for it. He’s seems cool – you know, when he’s not acting crazy.”

  Jerome had a front-row seat to Brody’s performance at the house the other day when we found the graffiti and got the police involved. He knows exactly how protective my boyfriend is.

  I just shake my head in amusement.

  “He can chill, I’ve got your back today.”

  “I’m very reassured,” I mutter under my breath.

  Jerome isn’t exactly built the way Brody is. I’m not sure if physically he’d be any more use than me if it came down to it, but I’m grateful for his company nonetheless.

  I really do feel good about today though.

  He pulls up at the house and we’re greeted with nothing but a peaceful neighbourhood.

  There’s no graffiti, no calls, no texts, nothing for the entire viewing, and when it’s time to leave, we’ve even got an offer to present to our client – I was right, everything was fine here.

  “Well, you can call him and let him know that everything went just great.” Jerome chuckles as he buckles his seatbelt so we can head back home.

  I roll my eyes at him, but I do want to call Brody. He promised not to call me before I contacted him – I didn’t need him checking on me halfway through the viewing.

  I hit call on his number and wait.

  The phone rings only twice before he answers, “Morgs, thank god.”

  I huff out a laugh. “Hello to you too.”

  “Hey, baby, sorry, but look – we have another problem.”

  I take a deep breath. I’m so god damn over this. It’s just one thing after another.

  A call starts coming in on my cell, but I hit ignore, whoever that is can wait.

  “What’s going on now?”

  I glance at Jerome warily and he shoots me a sympathetic look. Seconds later, his phone starts ringing and he pulls over to answer it.

  “It’s the guy from the bar.”

  “Are you okay? Is Ethan—”

  “I’m fine. Ethan is at school. I’ll call him after his next class. He’ll be fine,” he interrupts me. “But, Morgs, Jonathon Orlando wasn’t the one who text you last night, or wrote that shit on your car… the police got what they needed to take him into custody yesterday. He’s been in a holding cell with no cell phone for the past twenty-four hours.”

  “What?” I gape. “But the words, they’re the same as the sign…”

  “Which means it was probably never him,” he says quietly. He sounds defeated.

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  Jerome tugs on my sleeve and looks at me like he has something he needs to say.

  “Give me one sec, slick, okay?”

  I hold my phone away from my mouth.

  “What’s up?” I ask. I notice we’re no longer heading in the direction of my house.

  “That was Russell, he tried to call you first, he’s had a family emergency and asked if we could take over his open home, it’s over the other side of town – multimillion-dollar property.” He glances at his watch. “It’s like, right now.”

  I groan, but I already know I’ll say yes. “Fine, fine, let’s just try make it quick. Hopefully all the rich people are busy today.”

  He nods and moves the car a little faster.

  “Brody?” I question.

  “I don’t like it, Morgs,” he says, the same as he did before I left this morning. He obviously heard our conversation.

  “It’ll be fine. An expensive property like that, one with alarms and security cameras is the least of my worries. In fact, if I could hang out there all day, it would probably be the best place for me.”

  “You’ll hang out nowhere but with me,” he growls. “I’ve got plenty of ways to keep you busy.”

  “Alright, slick,” I reply, my teeth sinking into my lip. “I like the sound of that.”

  “Be careful,” he says as we round the corner and drive down one of the most expensive streets in town.

  ***

  “I can’t believe they literally left the key under the door mat; rich people sure don’t give a fuck, do they?”

  I laugh, but don’t bother reminding him that we had to get through a pin-coded gate and past a bunch of security cameras just to get near the front door.

  “I think I hear a car,” he says, leaning towards the front door.

  “Alright, you go welcome them, I’ll just g
et this information set up and we’ll be good to go.”

  He nods and heads off out the front door, straightening his jacket as he goes.

  I glance out the window as I hear the rumble of an engine, and what I see makes me shiver.

  It’s a white sports car. Just like the one I was convinced was following me.

  It pulls up to a stop, the silver horse on the front shining in the sunlight, and I gasp.

  “Jerome,” I say, but my voice is barely above a whisper.

  I watch on in horror as a man steps out of the car.

  That horror turns to disbelief as I realise, I know this man.

  It’s Chad.

  It all clicks in my head. It’s Chad. It’s been Chad the whole time. This shit started when he turned up.

  I consider running. He might have been stalking me, but I doubt he knows I’m here right now – he couldn’t possibly, this was completely last minute, and filling in for a work colleague is something I hardly ever have to do.

  Unless he’s tracking me, this isn’t part of his plan.

  I clutch my chest and consider ringing Brody, but I can’t. I can hear voices now, and they’re coming closer.

  “Come on in, leave your shoes on, the polished concrete floors are very forgiving, Morgan is just inside.”

  “Morgan?” I hear Chad ask, and my heart thumps so loud I can feel it in my ears.

  I don’t know what he’s doing here – why he’s looking at a house in my town, the town I fled to, to escape him.

  “Yes, sorry, Russell has had an emergency, he’s asked Morgan to fill in.”

  Jerome steps into view, Chad’s blonde head visible now behind him.

  I’m shaking.

  I don’t know what the hell to do.

  He’s been stalking me, calling me a cock tease, all the while flirting with me to my face, hurting my son and threatening my boyfriend.

  I suck in a deep breath as Chad steps into the room and his gaze falls on me.

  He looks shocked, and I hope he is, because the game is over now.

  He’s stooped low over the years, but this is a new one.

  I’m about to open my mouth and scream at him when another blonde head catches my attention.

  Chad isn’t alone. Clasping his arm in hers is a petite blonde woman, with a very pregnant-looking belly and a huge shiny ring on her finger.

  “Morgan, this is Chad and Penny,” Jerome introduces me.

  The woman on my ex’s arm stares at me, but I can’t say anything. I look back to Chad, to see what he’ll do, but he just stares back at me, waiting for my reaction.

  Penny giggles. “I’m so sorry, sweetie, we should have sent a warning or something, I guess it’s not every day you get a superstar like my husband walk into your open homes.”

  “Husband?” I question, and I don’t know why I even care, but that’s the word that falls from my mouth.

  “Been married four years,” she replies proudly.

  “Morgan, right? It’s nice to meet you.” Chad steps forward, his hand extended. He looks nervous. I don’t know what to make of it.

  I gape at him, and without conscious thought I find myself shaking his hand, rather than clawing his eyes out.

  He’s pretending. For her.

  His wife doesn’t know who I am.

  I wonder if she even knows he has another child.

  I wonder if she even knows why they’re here.

  “I… um… I… I need to make a phone call,” I stutter.

  “Let me show you around,” Jerome suggests, gesturing for the two of them to follow him. He shoots me a look over his shoulder, but I can’t respond.

  Chad turns away from me, and I honestly don’t know if I’m in the twilight zone or what. I don’t know what the fuck just happened.

  “Poor thing, she’s star struck,” the tiny blonde woman says to the man who seems hell bent on destroying me and everything I care most about.

  They leave the room and I sag into a chair, my phone already in my hand.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Brody

  I dial Ethan’s number and wait for him to answer.

  He should be out of his first class by now and on his way to his second.

  “Hey, Brody, what’s up?” he answers.

  “I’m just checking in,” I say as I pace to the front window and pull back the curtain to see if Morgan has magically appeared out of thin air.

  “What’s going on?” he asks.

  I can hear the chatter of the other students in the background, talking and yelling in the hallways.

  “I don’t want you to stress, but there’s been a development in what’s happening with your mum, and I just told her I’d give you a call and make sure you were all good.”

  “I’m sweet. Is Mum okay?”

  “She’s good, bud, she’s real good, just being precautious,” I ramble.

  “Alright,” he replies warily, like he doesn’t believe me. I don’t blame him. Hell, even I don’t believe me.

  “Look, I’ll level with you, kid, some dodgy shit is going on, so if you hear anything that you don’t think is right, let me know, and if you see any white sports cars hanging around, let me know about that too,” I say as I run my hand through my shaggy hair.

  “A white sports car?” he asks loudly over the chatter.

  “Yeah, your mum thinks she might have been followed by one a few times.”

  I’m met with silence.

  “Ethan?” I question.

  “Dad drives a white sports car,” he replies, and his voice sounds haunted.

  “What?” I demand, even though I heard him loud and clear.

  “Dad,” he repeats. “His brand-new Mustang, it’s white.”

  Motherfucker.

  I take a deep breath through my nose.

  “Where is he staying?”

  “Ashbrooke Hotel,” he replies without thinking twice.

  I nod. That’s not far from here.

  “I bet it’s just a coincidence,” I say through clenched teeth, even though I’m sure it’s not.

  Ethan huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, like it was ‘just a coincidence’ that he came to visit right after he found out Mum had a boyfriend… and how he finally watched me play a game of basketball after he found out you were the coach.”

  “He’s never watched you play?” I question.

  “Nope. Never.”

  That breaks my fucking heart.

  My throat feels thick with emotion. I try to swallow it down.

  “That’s his loss, Eth, okay? You’re a good player and an even better kid, and the fact that he can’t see that doesn’t make it any less true, alright?”

  He’s silent.

  “Alright?” I demand.

  “Yeah… alright.”

  “I gotta go, alright, bud? Look after yourself and me or your mum will pick you up after school, okay? Don’t go anywhere without us.”

  “Thanks, Brody. Mum is lucky to have you. So am I.”

  I’m about to tell him that I’m the lucky one, not only to have her in my life, but him too, but he’s hung up.

  I rake my hands over my face in frustration.

  My finger hovers over the keypad, I’m about to call the police, but think twice.

  The police are just going to tell me that I don’t have any evidence and they’ll look into it.

  Looking into it isn’t going to cut it.

  I think this is something that might be better handled in-house.

  My phone rings in my hand and I’m half expecting it to be Ethan calling to say there’s something he’s forgotten to tell me, when I see Morgan’s name flashing across the screen.

  My heart drops and I hurriedly answer. She should be in the middle of the open house, not calling me.

  “Baby,” I breathe, “we need to talk.”

  “It’s Chad,” she whispers, “I think it was him the whole time.”

  I don’t know how she’s figured it out, but she knows, and that’s
the main thing.

  “I think so too, are you okay?”

  “No,” she replies, “he’s here.”

  ***

  “Where the fuck is he?” I hiss.

  “They left ten minutes ago,” she whispers, her voice shaky.

  I let her off the phone so I could drive and she could fill in Jerome about who he had just been dealing with.

  Chad fucking Jenson.

  The god damn psycho pretended not to know who Morgan was, even as he hurried his wife from the house.

  At least the prick had the good sense to get out of there smartly.

  If he were really smart, he’d have left town by now. Thing is, I bet he’s not that smart. In fact, I’m counting on it.

  I U-turn and head back downtown towards the hotel that Ethan told me Chad was staying at.

  “What are you going to do, slick?” she asks quietly.

  “I’m not sure yet,” I answer honestly, I feel like hitting him with my car, but that isn’t going to help anything or anyone.

  “Get Jerome to take you home, wait for me there,” I instruct her.

  “Brody—”

  “It’s fine, baby, trust me.”

  “I do. I love you,” she says.

  “And I love you too.”

  I hang up the phone and toss it on the seat.

  This is ending now, and not just this bullshit stalking business, not just scaring my woman and hurting her son, but the whole fucking thing.

  This sixteen-year saga has gone on long enough.

  Chad Jenson is nothing but a cancer in their lives and he’s going to learn that I don’t care how much he’s worth, I’m going to make him wish he never set foot in this town.

  I come to a screeching stop outside the hotel and jump out, slamming my door behind me.

  I jog into the lobby and scan the area, but there’s no sign of him.

  I should have got here before they did, just.

  I stroll around the area and pick a seat with a direct view of the doors.

  If Chad can pretend not to know Morgan, then he can pretend that he’s happy to see me too.