His End Game (MMG #1) (27 page)

“It sure didn’t sound like nothing to me,” Lena chimed in.

“I have to bail and, since Joss dropped me here earlier, I need a ride. Dillon, since you’re manager, you need to be here.
Ellie needs to stay and make the margaritas. Garrett can give me a lift. D, can you, Ellie and the girls handle it here until Garrett returns?”

This was not acceptable. If something was happening with my two best friends, then I needed to be there for them. “No way, Kurt. Dillon and Garrett know my recipe. They can stay and make margaritas. I’ll give you a lift.”

Completely ignoring me, he looked at Garrett and said, “Let’s go.”

What in the world was going on
?

“Kurt!” I yelled.

“We’ll talk later,” he shouted over his shoulder as they disappeared out the door.

I grabbed Dillon’s arm and squeezed. “Something is seriously wrong.” I couldn’t keep my worry from leaking out into my voice. “Maybe I should follow them?”

Grabbing the back of my neck, he squatted down until he was eye level with me and spoke gently. “Ellie Belly, if he wanted you to go with him he would have said so. Let him deal with it. He’ll talk to you about it later, plus, we have a bar to run and I really need your help, okay?”

“Okay.” I closed my eyes and prayed that everything was okay.

“That’s my girl,” he said. Then, kissing the top of my head, he let me go.

The night ended up being crazy busy. Kurt and Garrett never came back to the bar and no one called to tell us what was happening. By closing I was beyond worried. We were in the middle of wiping everything down when I realized that Dana hadn’t stopped by to terrorize us. This got me thinking and I turned to Dillon and asked, “Where were you last week?”

“Huh?” He gave me a strange look.

“Sorry, I know that was completely out of the blue, but you cancelled work last Saturday and Joss said you were gone for most of the week. I forgot to ask if everything was okay?”

He smiled sadly. “It’s fine now. I had to go home for my aunt’s funeral.”

“Oh My God! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay, really. She’s had cancer for a long time so we knew that it was coming. Still, it sucks when it finally happens.”

I wanted to hug him but, with Polly and Lena still around, didn’t want to deal with the aftermath.

As if reading my mind, he shouted for the girls to go home. I still had to take the aprons and bar towels to the laundry room before I could leave, so I headed in that direction. As I was turning on the washing machine, I heard the door click shut behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see who it was and my breath caught in my throat.

Dillon was standing there, his silver eyes feasting on me as if he wanted to swallow me whole. Then, slowly, like some kind of jungle cat, he advanced. My heart was beating out of my chest and, for a split second, I felt what it must feel like to be hunted. Before my fight or flight instinct completely kicked in, his mouth was on mine and I was being lifted up onto the top of the dryer. He stepped between my legs, grasped my upper thighs and yanked me forward to where every inch of his lower body was touching mine. His hard body pressed against mine made me yearn for something that I hadn’t had in a very long time.

I watched his head descend and, right as he was about to kiss me, he whispered, “I want you Ellie. I want to make you moan for me and then I want to hear you scream out my name when I’m inside you. Tell me you want that too.”

“I do… but.”

He placed his finger to my lips before I could explain. “Shhhhh. That’s all I need to know. I want you all night long… in my bed.” Touching his lips to mine, he asked, “come home with me?”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

It was too soon. Something was going on with Joss and Kurt and my dad was still at my house. I needed more time. I wanted to go with him, but a big part of me wasn’t completely sure.

As if reading my mind or the panicked look on my face, he asked, “If not tonight, then what about tomorrow night? Did Kurt schedule you to work? He mentioned something about it earlier but then he had to go.”

“He never said anything to me. I assume that I’m still off.”

“That’s okay. Why don’t you meet me here sometime before closing? You can either leave your car here or follow me back to my place. I’ll leave the logistics up to you.”

He kissed me again and I lost all reason. “Okay,” I breathed, “tomorrow night.”

He pulled back with a look of surprise on his face. “Really?”

“Yes.”

A little while later Dillon walked me out to my car and kissed me again before letting me go. If I wasn’t so worried about Joss and Kurt, I would have floated home on cloud nine. Instead, I debated whether to drive over to their place and check in on them. At the last minute, I remembered what Dillon had said about it not being my business and changed my mind.

I awoke Friday morning with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I had called and left Joss, Kurt and Garrett messages before going to bed, but none of them had called me back. My thoughts kept going back to the haunted look on Kurt’s face right before he took off last night. Something bad had happened and no-one was talking. My dad was busy with a deadline and holed up in his office. Looking at magazines wasn’t helping so I decided to call Piper.

“Hey girl,” she answered. “I was going to call you this afternoon.”

“You sound tired. Are you okay?”

“Not really.”

My heart dropped. “Are you sick? Is your family okay? Talk to me.”

After a moment of silence, she said, “I need something from you and I need you to not ask any questions.”

“Piper, you know that I would do anything for you.”

“I am in trouble, but I can’t talk about it and I really need to get out of Texas. The only place I want to be right now is with you in Charlotte.”

“You can’t or you won’t talk about it?” I needed for her to clarify.

“Both, I guess. I miss you.” I could hear tears in her voice.

What has she gotten herself into
?

“I miss North Carolina. I need to come home. I want to be there through the wedding planning for Joss. I don’t know what’s happening in your lives anymore. I feel so disconnected from everything.”

The more she talked, the more worried I was about what she
wasn’t
telling me. “So come home and stay with me.”

“Can I?” She sounded like a lost little girl instead of my strong-willed best friend.

“Of course you can. My dad is in my old room and using the front guest room as his office. You can take the back room.”

“Oh Ellie,” she sighed, “things are so messed up.”

I had a million questions, but first I needed to get her here. “When will you be here?”

“Soon.”

“I don’t like this at all, Piper. Will you eventually tell me what this is about?”

“I swear, if I talk to anyone about it, it will be you. I can’t right now. Just trust me.”

“Okay.”

I’ll leave it alone for now
.

After we hung up, I realized that I forgot to tell her about last night.

By seven that night I was done. I was hurt and angry. Joss and Kurt were missing in action and no one had bothered to return my phone calls. Dillon wasn’t expecting me until closer to closing, but I was sick and tired of waiting around so I decided to head to Dragonfly early. Maybe Garrett would be there and give me some answers.

I threw on my sexy new black lace bra, a sheer black long sleeved t-shirt and my tightest, most flattering indigo jeans. With my hair blown out, my eyes smoked up and my lips glossed, I was on fire. I told my dad I would be out for the night and to call my cell if he needed anything. He gave me a stern look but didn’t say anything.

Smart man
.

I threw on my biker boots and black leather coat, grabbed my packed bag and ran out the door.

Dillon’s awful music accosted me as I walked into Dragonfly. Instead of cringing like I normally did, I smiled.

Vintage Dillon
.

I spotted the one person I absolutely could not wait to see standing behind the bar and headed his way.

He was bent over talking to someone, but I couldn’t tell who it was from this far across the bar. However, I could see the familiar ‘I want to swallow you whole’ look on his face. This was the same look he had given me last night, only now he wasn’t directing it at me. The person he was hunched over turned their head enough for me to see their profile and it hit me, like a fist to the gut.

Dana

The closer I got, the more damning it looked. He was stroking the side of her face and talking to her in a tone too low to hear. Slowly, I approached. He had no clue that I was in Dragonfly, much less standing there watching his sorry ass. .

When will I learn
?

I was about to turn tail and run when Polly saw me. “Hey Ellie Belly!” she shouted.

Crap!

Dillon’s head shot up and his eyes landed on me, rounding in surprise. I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry at the guilty expression on his face. He looked down and yanked his hand from Dana’s as if he had been burned.

“What’s wrong?” I heard her ask. Following his eyes, she turned around in her chair. Her eyes narrowed into slits. “Oh, it’s only you,” she huffed. Then, as if I wasn’t there, she turned back to Dillon and said, “Keep telling me about what you’re going to do to me later tonight.”

I gasped.

This is what he’s been doing behind my back. I am so stupid
.

“Shut up Dana,” Dillon warned.

Gritting my teeth, I stepped up to the bar, leaned forward and asked, “Do you even have an aunt or was that also one big lie?”

Before he could answer, Garrett spotted me from the opposite end of the bar and shouted, “Hey Ellie! Dillon said you weren’t coming in until later tonight.”

I shot Dillon a look of disgust. “Of course he did,” I bitterly responded as I headed down the bar to Garrett, plopped my behind on the stool directly in front of him and yelled, “Hit me with a shot!”

He stared at me for a minute as if weighing his options and then asked, “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“What are you, my mother?” Then, sarcastically I answered for him. “Nope, you can’t be my mother because she’s dead. You’re not my father because he’s back at my house convalescing and, since I have no siblings, you can’t be them. So what does that make you? Oh yes, you are the bar-ten-der,” I spelled out, “and I…want…a…shot!”

He chuckled and slammed down two shots of Tequila. “Hell, I think the word convalescing alone should get you two.” We both busted out laughing and, like that, the tension was broken.

My smile quickly faded when Joss and Kurt appeared from the back. I waited patiently for Joss to step behind the bar before blasting her. “I want to know where in the hell you two have been? You haven’t answered my calls and I’ve been worried
sick. You, of all people know how cruel that is.” She paled and a look of pain flitted across her face.

What the hell
?

“Ellie,” Garrett warned, also seeing Joss’ facial expression.

I held up my hand to stop him from speaking. “You didn’t call me back either, so… don’t.”

Polly handed me a shot from her tray and, before anyone could stop me, I quickly downed it. Joss didn’t notice because she was busy whispering something to Garrett. Dillon, however, was staring me down. I wanted to poke both of his beautiful eyes out.

Give me a couple more shots and I might just try
.

I saw Lena heading my way with a tray of shots. A guy stopped her and, while she was distracted, I slid from my chair, snagged a shot from her tray and sucked it down.

When I returned to my stool, Dillon was standing in front of me. “It’s not what you think, Ellie.”

I looked up into his beautiful lying eyes. “No? Then by all means, slick, tell me how it is?”

His brow shot up. “Slick?”

Looking him up and down, I replied, “Yep, definitely slick.” This seemed to piss him off.

Good
.

“Another?” he asked while raising my empty shot glass.

“Nope, I’ll take a Shiner though.”

He plunked it down in front of me. “Can we talk?”