Read Heading East (Part 2 of 2) (The True North Series) for Free Online

movement across the street caught my attention as the front door of a painted green house opened and an old man made his way down the stairs. He walked across the street at a quick clip heading towards me, then knocked on my window. “Why are you parked here?” he demanded.
    I glanced up at Kat’s window, hoping the old man’s voice did not carry.
    He knocked again and shook his head. “Get out of here. Nobody sells drugs on this street, especially not to your kind.”
    I cracked the window. “I’m not buying drugs. I’m…” I paused. Only then did it dawn on me how I was acting. “I’m being overbearing.”
    “Well get your ass back home before you get jacked. This is not the place to idle around in your Bimmer.”
    I started the car and lifted my hand in parting, giving one last look up at the second story window before driving away.
     
    “What’s wrong?” Lisa, my forty-three year old assistant, asked me as soon as I walked in the offices of Kohl Media the next morning.
    I stopped in front of her desk and set my soft leather briefcase on top. “Why would you think there’s anything wrong?” I asked, adjusting the cuffs of my shirt.
    “Well, for one, you’re wearing this dark, menacing look,” she said with a hint of amusement on her ruddy, slightly roundish face. “You look like you’re going to bite someone’s head off.”
    “Then shouldn’t you be fearing for your life right now?”
    She chuckled, waggling a finger at me. “Sonny boy, I’ve been your assistant for two years. When have I ever been scared of you?”
    “You’re not beyond firing, you know,” I said, walking to my office. I sat behind the desk and looked at the numerous sticky notes all over my desk, each with a name, phone number, and message. “What the hell is all this?” I asked when she followed inside.
    She shrugged. “What can I say? You’re a popular man.”
    “Any word from Astral Records?”
    She shook her head. “Give it some time. It’s only been a month.”
    I nodded, then frowned. “It was good though, right? Sometimes I’m too emotionally invested in something that I no longer see it from an objective point of view.”
    She gave me an incredulous look. “It was fantastic and you know it. Your best stuff to date.”
    I exhaled through my nose and sat back. “Thanks, Lise.”
    “Now if you’re done fishing for compliments, I have some work to do.”
    Before she could exit the office I said, “Hold on.”
    “What do you need?” Lisa asked, putting a hand on her hip. “Coffee run?”
    “No.” I sat up and threaded my fingers together on top of the desk. “Well, yes, that too. But I need a favor.”
    “Oh boy, here we go.”
    “I’d like for you to purchase some curtains and a Taser.”
    “Curtains and a Taser?” she asked, biting down on her lips to keep from smiling. “Interesting Monday night you have planned for yourself there, boss. But I don’t judge. Hell, add a can of whipped cream and it’s my house every night.”
    “Okay, smartass, just get the stuff please?”
    “What color and length for the curtains?”
    “I don’t know, floor-length and neutral color? I haven’t been inside the apartment in question so I don’t know exactly.”
    “So these are surprise curtains?”
    “And a surprise Taser.”
    “My, my, my. Your romancing skills are definitely not what they used to be.”
    “My romancing skills are just fine, thanks,” I said through gritted teeth.
    “Whatever you say, Romeo,” she called over her shoulder as she sauntered out of my office.
     
    I tried to keep my mind off Kat while I was at work, but my thoughts kept wandering back to yesterday’s events when she’d blown back into my life like a stubborn, beautiful blizzard. And to have her agree to dinner meant that I was not beyond forgiveness. There was definitely hope for me yet.
    But my hands were tied when it came to her current accommodations. As much as I wanted to throw her over my shoulder and take