His End Game (MMG #1) (24 page)

The only thing I could think to ask was, “Have fun in Virginia?”

She cut her eyes at Dillon and threw him a nasty look.

Oops
.

Jennifer just sat there and silently glared at me.

I see someone holds a monumentally long grudge
.

Dana, deciding to finally answer my question said, “Virginia was fine.”

“Can Dillon serve us instead of her?” Jennifer asked. I wondered who she was talking to when Joss stepped up beside me.

“I’d be happy to serve you,” she told them.

Ouch
.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered in my ear,“help is on the way.” I raised my eyebrows in question but she just grinned maniacally.

“So, Ellie, have you run into Max lately?” Jennifer sweetly asked.

“Max who?” Dillon asked, shooting a winning smile at me.

Crap! I didn’t see him standing there
.

“Max McLellan, the guy that Ellie tried to steal from me.” Before I could defend myself, she struck again. “The guy who finally got so sick of her that he ran off and left her high…. and…. dry.” She elbowed Dana when she said this and they both started giggling.

Double ouch
.

I could feel Dillon’s eyes burning a hole through me.

“Like birds of a feather, bitches flock together,” Joss declared loud enough for everyone to hear.

Jennifer narrowed her eyes at Joss. “You know, I can get your fat ass fired for speaking to me like that.”

Joss laughed at her. “Really? The last time I looked, the name on the lease was not yours.”

As soon as the words left Joss’ mouth, Jennifer leaned forward, smiling evilly, and my heart dropped.

“Oh, I know good and well who owns this bar. I know him Good…And…Well, if you catch my drift.”

The hurt in Joss’ pretty blue eyes made me want to wring Jennifer’s neck. “You are a liar,” I hissed. “Don’t you dare believe a word that comes out of her mouth, Joss, she lies and always has. You, of all people, know this.”

Please tell me Kurt did not touch her
.
It was bad enough that Max had but Kurt too
?

Joss glared at Jennifer. “Don’t worry, Ellie, I don’t believe her for a second. I know my man.” I was proud of her for standing her ground. Even if she had her doubts, she wasn’t about to let it show.

“Ask him if you don’t believe me,” Jennifer smiled. I wanted to slap her silly.

Dillon, obviously had heard enough and stepped in. “Now Jennifer, don’t make me track down Kurt. If I do, I will make sure he bans you permanently from Dragonfly.”

“Why are you taking up for them?” Dana whined. “It’s us that are being attacked here. We just wanted to come visit you and get a drink.”

“Dana, you started this the night you showed up at Ellie’s. Now you are bringing it to my place of employment. Not cool,” he admonished.

I smiled as I watched her pout.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Joss stated. I could hear the tears in her voice and it made me fighting mad. I wanted to tell her that Kurt was going to marry her but I couldn’t. I watched her disappear through the back door while worrying that this was somehow going to hurt their relationship.

“Well looky here Lena, Darla’s at the bar!” I heard Polly shout as she and Lena made their way over to us.

Help had arrived
.

Jennifer looked over at Dana and whispered, “Who is Darla?”

I turned to hide my laughter and smacked into Dillon. “Sorry,” I said, as I placed both hands on his chest to steady myself and tried to keep from laughing.

“Ellie B, one day you are going to tell me all about this Max character,” he softly stated.

“Your girlfriend is glaring at us,” I informed him.

“I told you, she’s not my girlfriend.”

“Evidently she didn’t get the memo.” I recklessly chose that second to look up and right into his beautiful silver eyes.

Why do you have to be so enticing
?

He smiled. “I think you are jealous and
that
makes me very happy.”

Returning his smile, I patted him on the arm. “Keep dreaming boyo.” I could hear him laughing as I made my way back over to Polly and Lena. Joss returned from the back with red puffy splotches on her face and had obviously been crying. This infuriated me.

“You know, Ellie,” Jennifer snarled, “Max came to visit me at USC after he left you.”

Joss let out a gasp.

I so did not see this coming
.

Not sure that I had heard her correctly, I asked, “What did you say?”

“You all thought that something had happened to him. In all reality he just wanted to get away from here.”

Joss dove over the bar, grabbed a hunk of Jennifer’s bleach blonde hair and screamed, “That’s complete bullshit and you know it!”

“Ouch, you bitch!” Jennifer screeched. “It’s true! He spent the weekend with me getting his fix. And baby,” she preened, “I gave it to him.”

My pulse was racing. In my head I knew that she was lying, but in my heart? Well, that was a different story.

Could the Max I knew betray me like this? Would he? Did he? After all, the Max that I thought I knew, the one who would never leave me, did just that
.

Dillon watched me with a concerned look on his face. Dana jealously watched him. Polly and Lena appeared to be gearing for a brawl. I noticed Joss talking to someone on the phone. This was all too much and I couldn’t catch my breath.

Ending her call, Joss said, “I knew you were bitter about getting dumped, but this is low even for you, Jennifer.”

“What’s wrong Josselyn? Can’t handle the truth? ‘Cause I have plenty more where that came from.”

Dana started laughing. “This is priceless,” she crowed, patting Jennifer on the back, “you just killed two bitches with one stone.”

“That’s it!” Dillon roared, “both of you out!” The bar went completely silent.

“But…Dillon,” Dana cried as she tried to act all innocent.

“What the hell is going on here?” Kurt shouted. I hadn’t seen him come in but was glad he was finally here.

Jennifer immediately shifted to seductress. “Heeeey Kurt,” she drawled.

Joss clinched her teeth.

“I heard you were telling everyone that Max came to visit you
after
he disappeared. Is it true?” he asked, ignoring her eyelash batting and lip pouting.

“Mmmmhmmm, he did,” she purred. “You, of all people, know how much he enjoyed what only I could give him.”

Joss gasped, Kurt flinched and Dana laughed. I wanted to throw up.

I couldn’t listen any longer. I needed air. Flinging open the bar top, I bolted for the offices.

“Ellie wait,” I heard Dillon yell.

I barely made it to the staff room. I felt like I was going to pass out. Throwing myself onto the love seat, I dropped my head down between my knees, took a huge breath and let the tears flow.

Breathe. Don’t pass out
.

A few minutes later, I felt large hands rubbing up and down my back.

Dillon
.

“Have they left yet?” I asked him.

“Kurt kicked them out.”

“How’s Joss?”

“About the same as you. Looks like Kurt has some serious explaining to do.”

Crap! That’s what I was afraid of
.

“Who’s covering the bar?”

“Polly and Lena.”

Just the thought of this made me laugh.

“You want to talk about it?” he asked.

“Nope.” I shook my head at him. “It won’t do any good and it won’t bring him back.”

“How long has he been gone?”

“Way too long for it to still have this hold over me,” I barely choked out.

“Hey, come here.” Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me into his lap.

“When am I going to get past this? It shouldn’t still matter this much.”

“Maybe when you meet someone else it will fade. It’s hard to put your past behind you when there’s nothing better to replace it.”

Jerking my head up, I stared into his eyes. “You understand?”

He smiled sadly. “Better than you think.”

“Will you tell me about it?”

“Maybe…someday.” He stared at me for a minute and then, lowering his head, he gently placed his lips to mine.

I wanted it. I won’t lie. After all this time, I wanted this kiss from this man. My mouth opened in invitation and slowly he swept in. It felt good…really good.

Dillon yanked his head back mid-kiss. Before I had the chance to ask what was wrong, the door opened and Kurt and Joss both walked in.

Crap!

Since I didn’t hear anyone at the door, I didn’t have time to extricate myself from Dillon’s lap. From the look on Kurt’s face, he wasn’t too happy about this.

Good thing he didn’t see us kissing
.

Kurt told me to go home. He and Dillon would close up the bar. The entire time he talked to us, Joss just stood there quietly staring down at her feet. I was worried about her, but didn’t want to put her on the spot so I kept my mouth shut.

Kurt, being the nice guy that he is, walked me out to my car. I wanted a moment to say goodbye to Dillon but decided not to push it. When I asked him about being with Jennifer, he turned the tables and asked me about Dillon. There was no way that I was discussing Dillon with him so quickly changed the topic to Jennifer and Max. He, like me, felt that she was lying but I could see my doubt mirrored in his eyes. Neither of us was sure about anything.

I planned to go straight home but instead found myself driving toward Max’s old house. I hadn’t been back since it had sold. Seeing it after all this time brought back many memories. Life seemed so simple five years ago. I only ever doubted Max once. That was when Jennifer tried to interfere.

Funny…all these years later and she is still interfering and I am still spinning my wheels over the same guy
.

Parked in front of Max’s house, I was mired in my thoughts when a song came on the radio that characterized what I was feeling. I had to laugh at the timing. It was like Grace Potter jumped into my body and read my soul. Then, magically, she spun all of my thoughts and feelings out into a beautiful song.
Stars
.

Grace and I should have a talk. We seem to have a lot in common
.

On the drive home, I thought about everything that had happened. There were many problems traipsing through my head and none of them had solutions. By the time I got home, I wanted to scream. Instead, I called Piper and told her everything. She didn’t have any solutions either, but one thing she said stuck with me.
Always trust your gut
.

The next morning I woke up feeling clear headed and full of purpose. First, I needed to check up on Joss, then I was going to clean my house and last, I was going to call my dad. Joss didn’t answer so I left her a voicemail and started in on the house. After I finished cleaning the downstairs, I phoned my dad. He had been on my mind since we had last spoken.

“I’m coming for your surgery tomorrow,” I told him.

“Ellie, I don’t expect you to do that.”

“Also, pack a bag. I’m bringing you back to Charlotte until you’re better. You can start out on the sleep sofa in the office and, when you are able to handle the stairs, I’ll move you into one of the guest rooms.”

“Honey, this really isn’t necessary.”

“It is, dad, so deal with it.” The line went quiet and I wondered if he had hung up on me. “Hello?”

In a quiet voice, he said, “You just called me dad.”

Closing my eyes, I fought the urge to bang my head against the top of the desk. “Do we have a deal?” I asked.

“Yes,” he answered. “I’d like that very much.”

“Good, I’ll be there first thing tomorrow morning to take you to the hospital.”

“Thank you, Ellison.”

“You’re welcome Samuel.”

I hung up and immediately started cleaning the upstairs.

First thing the next day I headed for Raleigh. I hadn’t heard from Joss, so I decided to call her again instead of spending the next three plus hours in the car worrying about her. I was relieved when she answered.

“Sorry I haven’t called you back,” she said.

“Are you okay?”

“Well, after a horrible fight and sleeping in separate rooms, something we’ve never done before, I decided to hear Kurt out. He told me that the weekend after Max broke it off with Jennifer he was over at Bobby’s house with a bunch of people when Jennifer made a play for him. They were kissing and fooling around when they were interrupted by a couple of her friends. He didn’t gloss over it like I thought he would, Ellie. He told me that he fully intended to sleep with her that night. Apparently he went to get a beer and as he was stepping back into the room, he heard her talking about making Max jealous by sleeping with his best friend. Wanting no part of that, he says that he set down his beer and walked out.”