His End Game (MMG #1) (43 page)

Oh no! He’s talking to Max
.

My breath hitched and in a blink, he had his finger to my mouth. “You know what?” he clipped, sounding extremely put out. “instead of bugging me with this shit, why don’t you just ask your girlfriend Priscilla? She was in Dragonfly earlier tonight and told us all about your love for each other. You wanna know why you can’t find Ellie? Well, there you have it dickhead.” He hit end, turned off his phone and tossed it across the room.

“Dillon,” I breathed, completely shocked. “Why did you do that?”

“Because I am sitting here watching you hide like you’re the one who has done something wrong when you haven’t, Ellie. This is all on him, not you.”

This was too much. When I burst into tears he wrapped his arms around me and told me everything would be okay. I wanted to believe him, I really did. I let him hold me for a few more minutes. Then I made my way back to the fold out, crawled in next to Piper and waited for the sun to come up.

It was kind of Dillon to let me stay at his place, but I didn’t want to give him mixed messages. After inventory I would go home and face Max. I needed answers that only he could provide.

Before I do anything, I have to confirm the pregnancy
.

Piper brought me a pair of jeans and a long sleeved tee from the house. Since Dillon had lucked out of doing inventory, I gave him a hug, thanked him for taking care of me and walked Piper out to her car. She was heading home to shower and change for more interviews. We made plans to meet back at the house later.

I arrived at Dragonfly early and headed to the office. When I heard voices coming from the supply room, I veered in that direction.

“Joss…Kurt…” I called out.

“In here,” Joss yelled.

I peeked around the corner and was relieved that they were both fully clothed. “Hey guys.”

Kurt walked over and gave me a big hug. “Have you spoken with Max?” he asked.

“No. I just left Dillon’s and came straight here.”

He gave me a stern look. “You spent the night with Dillon?”

“And Piper,” I stressed.

“So you haven’t talked to Max yet?”

Joss cut in. “She said no Kurt. Are you hard of hearing?”

The last thing I wanted was them fighting over me. “I’ll talk to him when I get home, okay? I know what’s up, Kurt. I know all about his girlfriend.”

His jaw clinched. “If you think that, then you don’t know shit,” he rasped. “He is going crazy because he can’t get to you and here you are… all smiles after spending the night with Dillon. You haven’t got a fucking clue.”

My eyes widened in surprise. I had never seen Kurt this angry… at me. I placed my hands on my hips defensively. “For your information, I did not spend the night with Dillon. I slept on the sofa bed with Piper and what don’t I know, Kurt? That his girlfriend showed up and introduced herself to me? That she told me about their love for each other? By all means…fill me in!”

He blew out an angry breath. “Joss and I have to go get more bar towels and glasses at the supply store. While we’re there, call Max and talk to him. We’ll inventory when we get back.”

Why was he so mad at me when Max was the one who had the girlfriend? This made no sense. I was beginning to think I had screwed up and that maybe Gage was right all along.

Crap!

I phoned Dr. Cooper’s office fist and they confirmed what I already knew.

I’m pregnant
.

Taking a deep breath I started to dial Max. When I heard the chime on the bar door ding, I hung up.

Wow, that was fast
.

“I’m in the office,” I shouted. I heard the clicking of high heels on the floor and knew that it wasn’t Joss or Kurt.

“This must be my lucky day. I was hoping to find the bar owners here, but this is so much better,” Priscilla drawled. She stood in the doorway smiling. Her lustrous black hair was
pulled back in a high pony tail. She had barely a hint of makeup on her perfectly unblemished face and was wearing a baby blue camisole underneath a matching knee-length cardigan. Her skinny jeans fit her like a glove and were tucked into some badass leather wedged boots. She was everything I wasn’t and then some. She and Max complimented each other in beauty. The injustice of it made me want to cry and the urge to beat her over her gorgeous head with my phone was powerful. I felt that was probably a bad idea as I did not want to have my baby in jail. Instead, I took a deep breath, pasted a fake smile on my face and asked, “Can I help you?”

Not wasting any time, she said, “I had no clue that you were interested in Jack when I came into Dragonfly last night.”

“Max,” I corrected.

She cocked her head. “Pardon?” she asked, as if misunderstanding.

Yeah, right
.

“His name is Max.”

“No, his name
was
Max,” she informed and delicately perched her ass on the chair across the desk from me. “Now it’s Jack and has been for the past five years.” She threw me a look that made the hair on the back of my neck bristle. “Look,” she sighed dramatically, “I know that you dated Jack when you were like
fifteen
and that you had strong feelings for him. I also realize that you are having a hard time letting that go, but Ellie, Jack and I are together and have been for some time now. You dragging him back into the past is both confusing and hurting him. For your own sake…it is time to let him go.”

It was times like these I wished I was more like Piper and Joss. They would know exactly what to do or say. I didn’t know whether to challenge or placate her. My gut was screaming challenge while my head was saying placate and get her the hell away from me.

A strange look appeared on her face that made me slightly nervous. She leaned forward as if she was going to tell me a secret and in a half-whisper said, “I don’t want to hurt you, really I don’t, but you should know that Jack and I are in a relationship and have been for years. Our relationship has been extremely healthy both in and out of the bedroom. Do you understand what I’m telling you? Now, I don’t know about you, but hearing that sure would make me want to…. move on.”

This chick is nuttier than a fruit cake
.

I wanted her gone, but I also wanted answers. “Can I ask you a question?”

She smiled. “Sure sugar, anything to make this easier for you.”

“Have you ever seen the tattoo on Max’s back?”

She licked her lips and her smile turned wicked. “Oh, I’ve much more than seen it.”

I wanted to slap her. Instead, I sucked in another calming breath and carried on. “You do realize that Ellison Always refers to me, don’t you?”

Now looking somewhat pensive, she whispered, “What?”

Mocking her earlier movements, I leaned forward and half-whispered, “He has ‘Ellison Always’ needled permanently onto his back, Priscilla. My first name is Ellison.”

She flipped her hand nonchalantly through the air. “Honey, I don’t know about you, but most of us did crazy things when we were kids, including tattooing our high-school love’s name on us.

“Yes, but Max had this done only a few years ago when he was a grown man,” I clarified.

She gave me an award winning sigh. “Yes, but that was before he had
me
.”

Why am I sitting here trying to reason with her? It’s like beating a dead horse…..pointless
.

“In the past two years, has Max told you that he loves you?” Her eyes narrowed. “No?” I asked, already knowing the answer. “Have you made future plans together, talked about marriage and children?” I leaned closer. “Has he ever told you that you were the only one for him, his end game?”

She dropped her mask of kindness and a look of pure hatred rolled across her face.

And the real Prissy comes out to play
.

She cocked her head at me and I almost laughed. She looked like a viper deciding an angle from which to strike. “Tell me this,” she snarled. “If he loves you so much,
Ellie
,” she spat out my name, “then why did he have me, not you, in his bed last week, huh?”

I couldn’t answer this. I was pretty sure that it never happened, but being that I wasn’t in Kentucky and hadn’t spoken to Max in three days, I couldn’t be sure.

She knew she had me. “And if he loves you so much,” she continued, “then why am I the one that he’s been pounding in his office for the past two days?” she hissed. “In fact, he had me twice Tuesday night and once yesterday and it was epic!”

This hurt. I couldn’t help but think about how Max hadn’t called much from Kentucky and he was always in a bad mood when he did. On the flip side, there were the loving words he spoke and the gentle way he made love to me the night that he returned. Then again, he stopped talking to me and flinched away from my touch right after that. This happened about the time Prissy claims they were together.

I was confused and, based on the satisfied look on her face, she knew it. I straightened my spine. “I trust that if Max tells me that I’m the one he wants, then I’m the one he wants, Priscilla. Not you. I also trust that when he tells me that he loves me, he means it.” She smirked and I wanted to claw her eyes out. Instead, I went for the jugular. “And when I tell him that I am
carrying his child? What then? He’ll want to be with you? I don’t think so.” I protectively placed my hands over my stomach.

She shot up out of the chair and shrieked, “You liar!”

There was no doubt in my mind that I would have been in a world of hurt had the desk not been between us. Ignoring her outburst, I added, “It looks to me,
sugar
, like you are the one who needs to let him go and…move on. I am done with this conversation and with you being here. If you don’t want me to call the police then I suggest you leave, go back to Kentucky and find someone else to stalk.”

She burst into loud, messy tears.

I was trapped behind the desk, but that was where I intended to stay until she either left or was removed from the bar.

I was weighing my limited options when I heard Max shout, “Ellison!”

Thank God
.

“In the office!” I shouted back.

Max stormed into the office. His eyes landed on me and moved hungrily over my face. When he seemed satisfied that I was okay he turned to where Priscilla was sitting with a pretty fake pout on her face. The heat of his anger was tangible. “First, you show up in Charlotte unannounced claiming that your dad sent you,” he said in a scary I’m-about-to-lose-my-shit voice. “Then, when I called you out and told you to go home, you acted like a two year old. If that wasn’t enough, you showed up at Dragonfly knowing good and well who Ellie was to me and fed her a load of bullshit.” He clinched his fists. This was very scary Max and he was seething mad. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Now Jack honey,” she started, and reached her hand out to touch him.

He flinched and took a step back. “I never led you on Priscilla. I told you from the beginning that I was in love with
someone and that the first chance I got I was making her mine. You knew this and said you were okay with it. What will it take to get through your head that you mean nothing to me and never have? Will spending some time in jail do it for you? As of right now I am seriously tempted to make that happen.”

She gasped. “You don’t mean that, Jack.”

When she reached for him again, he again stepped back. “I don’t? Is that why I told you no more? Is that why I haven’t touched you in months? Is that why I had to get your dad to come and get you not once, but twice from the garage?”

Priscilla’s eyes darted to me and narrowed into slits.

Uh oh
.

“If you don’t want me, then why did you sleep with me in Kentucky and again the past two days in your office, here?”

Max’s brows lifted in disbelief. “What did you just say?”

“You heard me,” she snarled. “And the reason I came over here was to tell her all about it,” she nodded at me.

A quizzical look appeared on his face. “Wait a minute. How did you know I was in Kentucky?”

She blanched.

“Holy shit! It was you, wasn’t it? You tried to break in to the garage and when you couldn’t, you decided to torch it. Why?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, defiantly.

His jaw hardened and he glanced over at me. “For the record, we were in my office all of ten minutes the first day and twenty the second. Both times the door remained open and our conversations were recorded.” He turned back to Priscilla and in a low menacing voice said, “You have no idea who you’re fucking with.” He reached into his back pocket, pulled out his phone, dialed a number and began talking. “Mark, this is Max McLellan. Yeah, I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this but Priscilla Newman is back and is at Dragonfly right now. I need you to come and get her. She’s the one who torched my garage
in Kentucky and now she’s harassing Ellison. I want her in a cell until her dad picks her up. Before you let him take her, you need to let her know what will happen if she shows back up here in Charlotte.”

“Jack!” Cilla shouted.

After exchanging a few words about a restraining order he hung up. His eyes were on me the whole time he was on the phone. He stalked across the room, reached across the desk and snatched my hand. “Police will be here to get you shortly,” he said to Priscilla. Kurt and Jos were standing in the doorway watching us. “You two good to watch her until the police show?” he asked.